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diff --git a/28629.txt b/28629.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1e21047 --- /dev/null +++ b/28629.txt @@ -0,0 +1,15590 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Phoebe, Junior, by Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant + +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: Phoebe, Junior + +Author: Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant + +Release Date: April 28, 2009 [EBook #28629] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHOEBE, JUNIOR *** + + + + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Marcia Brooks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net + + + + + + + +Chronicles of Carlingford + +PHOEBE, JUNIOR + +MRS OLIPHANT + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + CHAP. PAGE + + I. THE PASTOR'S PROGRESS 1 + + II. THE LEADING MEMBER 9 + + III. MR. COPPERHEAD'S BALL 16 + + IV. A COUNTRY PARTY 26 + + V. SELF-DEVOTION 31 + + VI. A MORNING CALL 38 + + VII. SHOPPING 45 + + VIII. THE DORSETS 52 + + IX. COMING HOME 59 + + X. PAPA 67 + + XI. PHOEBE'S PREPARATIONS 74 + + XII. GRANGE LANE 81 + + XIII. THE TOZER FAMILY 88 + + XIV. STRANGERS 96 + + XV. A DOMESTIC CRISIS 104 + + XVI. THE NEW GENTLEMAN 113 + + XVII. A PUBLIC MEETING 119 + + XVIII. MR. MAY'S AFFAIRS 127 + + XIX. THE NEW CHAPLAIN 134 + + XX. THAT TOZER GIRL! 142 + + XXI. A NEW FRIEND 148 + + XXII. A DESPERATE EXPEDIENT 155 + + XXIII. TIDED OVER 164 + + XXIV. A VISIT 169 + + XXV. TEA 177 + + XXVI. THE HALL 185 + + XXVII. A PAIR OF NATURAL ENEMIES 192 + + XXVIII. THE NEW PUPIL 200 + + XXIX. URSULA'S ENTREES 209 + + XXX. SOCIETY AT THE PARSONAGE 217 + + XXXI. SOCIETY 224 + + XXXII. LOVE-MAKING 230 + + XXXIII. A DISCLOSURE 236 + + XXXIV. AN EXTRAVAGANCE 244 + + XXXV. THE MILLIONNAIRE 251 + + XXXVI. FATHER AND SON 258 + + XXXVII. A PLEASANT EVENING 267 + +XXXVIII. AN EXPEDITION 273 + + XXXIX. A CATASTROPHE 281 + + XL. THE SINNED-AGAINST 287 + + XLI. A MORNING'S WORK 298 + + XLII. A GREAT MENTAL SHOCK 307 + + XLIII. THE CONFLICT 312 + + XLIV. PHOEBE'S LAST TRIAL 326 + + XLV. THE LAST 336 + + + + +PHOEBE, JUNIOR. + +A Last Chronicle of Carlingford. + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +THE PASTOR'S PROGRESS. + + +Miss Phoebe Tozer, the only daughter of the chief deacon and leading +member of the Dissenting connection in Carlingford, married, shortly +after his appointment to the charge of Salem Chapel, in that town, the +Reverend Mr. Beecham, one of the most rising young men in the +denomination. The marriage was in many ways satisfactory to the young +lady's family, for Mr. Beecham was himself the son of respectable people +in a good way of business, and not destitute of means; and the position +was one which they had always felt most suitable for their daughter, and +to which she had been almost, it may be said, brought up. It is, +however, scarcely necessary to add that it was not quite so agreeable to +the other leading members of the congregation. I should be very sorry to +say that each family wished that preferment for its own favourite +daughter; for indeed there can be no doubt, as Mrs. Pigeon asserted +vigorously, that a substantial grocer, whose father before him had +established an excellent business, and who had paid for his pew in Salem +as long as any one could recollect, and supported every charity, and +paid up on all occasions when extra expense was necessary, was in every +way a more desirable son-in-law than a poor minister who was always +dependent on pleasing the chapel folks, and might have to turn out any +day. Notwithstanding, however, the evident superiority of the +establishment thus attained by Maria Pigeon, there is a certain +something attached to the position of a clerical caste, even among such +an independent body as the congregation at Salem Chapel, which has its +own especial charms, and neither the young people who had been her +companions nor the old people who had patronized and snubbed her, felt +any satisfaction in seeing Phoebe thus advanced over them to the honours +and glories inalienable from the position of minister's wife. All her +little airs of bridal vanity were considered as so many offensive +manifestations of delight and exultation in her rise in life. Her +_trousseau_, though pronounced by all competent judges not half so +abundant or fine as Maria Pigeon's, still called forth comments which +nobody ventured to indulge in, in respect to the grocer's blooming +bride. A grocer's lady has a right to anything her parents can afford; +but to see a minister's wife swelling herself up, and trying to ape the +quality, filled the town with virtuous indignation. The sight of young +Mrs. Beecham walking about with her card-case in her hand, calling on +the Miss Hemmingses, shaking hands with Mrs. Rider the doctor's wife, +caused unmitigated disgust throughout all the back streets of +Carlingford; and "_that_ Phoebe a-sweeping in as if the chapel belonged +to her," was almost more than the oldest sitter could bear. Phoebe, it +must be added, felt her elevation to the full, and did not spare her +congregation. Sometimes she would have the audacity to walk from the +vestry to the pew, as if she were an office-bearer, instead of coming in +humbly by the door as became a woman. She would sit still ostentatiously +until every one had gone, waiting for her husband. She quite led the +singing, everybody remarked, paying no more attention to the choir than +if it did not exist; and once she had even paused on her way to her +seat, and turned down the gas, which was blazing too high, with an air +of proprietorship that nobody could endure. + +"Does Salem belong to them Tozers, I should like to know?" said Mrs. +Brown. "Brown would never be outdone by him in subscriptions you may be +sure, nor Mr. Pigeon neither, if the truth was known. I never gave my +money to build a castle for the Tozers." + +Thus the whole congregation expressed itself with more or less +eloquence, and though the attendance never diminished, everybody being +too anxious to see "what they would do next," the feeling could not be +ignored. Phoebe herself, with a courage which developed from the moment +of her marriage, took the initiative. + +"It never answers," she said, solemnly, "to marry one of the flock; I +knew it, Henery, and I told you so; and if you would be so infatuated, +and marry me when I told you not, for your own interests--" + +"They're all jealous of you, my pet, that's what it is," said Mr. +Beecham, and laughed. He could bear the annoyance in consideration of +that sweet consciousness of its cause which stole over all his being. +Phoebe laughed, too, but not with so delicious a gratification. She felt +that there were people, even in Salem, who might be jealous of him. + +"The end of it all is, we must not stay here," she said. "You must find +another sphere for your talents, Henery, and I'm sure it will not be +difficult. If you get put on that deputation that is going down to the +North, suppose you take a few of your best sermons, dear. That can never +do any harm--indeed it's sure to do good, to some poor benighted soul at +least, that perhaps never heard the truth before. And likewise, perhaps, +to some vacant congregation. I have always heard that chapels in the +North were very superior to here. A different class of society, and +better altogether. These Pigeons and Browns, and people are not the sort +of society for you." + +"Well, there's truth in that," said Mr. Beecham, pulling up his +shirt-collar. "Certainly it isn't the sort of thing one was accustomed +to." And he lent a serious ear to the suggestion about the sermons. The +consequence was that an invitation followed from a chapel in the North, +where indeed Mrs. Phoebe found herself in much finer society, and grew +rapidly in importance and in ideas. After this favourable start, the +process went on for many years by which a young man from Homerton was +then developed into the influential and highly esteemed pastor of an +important flock. Things may be, and probably are, differently managed +now-a-days. Mr. Beecham had unbounded fluency and an unctuous manner of +treating his subjects. It was eloquence of a kind, though not of an +elevated kind. Never to be at a loss for what you have to say is a +prodigious advantage to all men in all positions, but doubly so to a +popular minister. He had an unbounded wealth of phraseology. Sentences +seemed to melt out of his mouth without any apparent effort, all set in +a certain cadence. He had not, perhaps, much power of thought, but it is +easy to make up for such a secondary want when the gift of expression is +so strong. Mr. Beecham rose, like an actor, from a long and successful +career in the provinces, to what might be called the Surrey side of +congregational eminence in London; and from thence attained his final +apotheosis in a handsome chapel near Regent's Park, built of the whitest +stone, and cushioned with the reddest damask, where a very large +congregation sat in great comfort and listened to his sermons with a +satisfaction no doubt increased by the fact that the cushions were soft +as their own easy-chairs, and that carpets and hot-water pipes kept +everything snug under foot. + +It was the most comfortable chapel in the whole connection. The seats +were arranged like those of an amphitheatre, each line on a slightly +higher level than the one in front of it, so that everybody saw +everything that was going on. No dimness or mystery was wanted there; +everything was bright daylight, bright paint, red cushions, comfort and +respectability. It might not be a place very well adapted for saying +your prayers in, but then you could say your prayers at home--and it was +a place admirably adapted for hearing sermons in, which you could not do +at home; and all the arrangements were such that you could hear in the +greatest comfort, not to say luxury. I wonder, for my own part, that the +poor folk about did not seize upon the Crescent Chapel on the cold +Sunday mornings, and make themselves happy in those warm and ruddy pews. +It would be a little amusing to speculate what all the well-dressed +pew-holders would have done had this unexpected answer to the appeal +which Mr. Beecham believed himself to make every Sunday to the world in +general, been literally given. It would have been extremely embarrassing +to the Managing Committee and all the office-bearers, and would have, I +fear, deeply exasperated and offended the occupants of those family +pews; but fortunately this difficulty never did occur. The proletariat +of Marylebone had not the sense or the courage, or the profanity, which +you will, to hit upon this mode of warming themselves. The real +congregation embraced none of the unwashed multitude. Its value in mere +velvet, silk, lace, trinkets, and furs was something amazing, and the +amount these comfortable people represented in the way of income would +have amounted to a most princely revenue. The little Salems and +Bethesdas, with their humble flocks, could not be supposed to belong to +the same species; and the difference was almost equally marked between +such a place of worship as the Crescent Chapel and the parish churches, +which are like the nets in the Gospel, and take in all kinds of fish, +bad and good. The pew-holders in the Crescent Chapel were universally +well off; they subscribed liberally to missionary societies, far more +liberally than the people in St. Paul's close by did to the S. P. G. +They had everything of the best in the chapel, as they had in their +houses. They no more economized on their minister than they did on their +pew-cushions, and they spent an amount of money on their choir which +made the singing-people at St. Paul's gnash their teeth. From all this +it will be seen that the atmosphere of the Crescent Chapel was of a +very distinct and individual kind. It was a warm, luxurious air, +perfumy, breathing of that refinement which is possible to mere wealth. +I do not say there might not be true refinement besides, but the surface +kind, that which you buy from upholsterers and tailors and dressmakers, +which you procure ready made at schools, and which can only be kept up +at a very high cost, abounded and pervaded the place. Badly dressed +people felt themselves out of place in that brilliant sanctuary; a muddy +footprint upon the thick matting in the passages was looked at as a +crime. Clean dry feet issuing out of carriage or cab kept the aisles +unstained, even on the wettest day. We say cab, because many of the +people who went to the Crescent Chapel objected to take out their own +carriages or work their own horses on Sunday; and there were many more +who, though they did not possess carriages, used cabs with a freedom +incompatible with poverty. As a general rule, they were much better off +than the people at St. Paul's, more universally prosperous and +well-to-do. And they were at the same time what you might safely call +well-informed people--people who read the newspapers, and sometimes the +magazines, and knew what was going on. The men were almost all liberal +in politics, and believed in Mr. Gladstone with enthusiasm; the women +often "took an interest" in public movements, especially of a charitable +character. There was less mental stagnation among them probably than +among many of their neighbours. Their life was not profound nor high, +but still it was life after a sort. Such was the flock which had invited +Mr. Beecham to become their pastor when he reached the climax of his +career. They gave him a very good salary, enough to enable him to have a +handsome house in one of the terraces overlooking Regent's Park. It is +not a fashionable quarter, but it is not to be despised in any way. The +rooms were good-sized and lofty, and sometimes have been known to +suffice for very fine people indeed, a fact which the Beechams were well +aware of; and they were not above the amiable weakness of making it +known that their house was in a line with that of Lady Cecilia Burleigh. +This single fact of itself might suffice to mark the incalculable +distance between the Reverend Mr. Beecham of the Crescent Chapel, and +the young man who began life as minister of Salem in Carlingford. And +the development outside was not less remarkable than the development +within. + +It is astonishing how our prejudices change from youth to middle age, +even without any remarkable interposition of fortune; I do not say +dissipate, or even dispel, which is much more doubtful--but they +change. When Mr. and Mrs. Beecham commenced life, they had both the +warmest feeling of opposition to the Church and everything churchy. All +the circumstances of their lives had encouraged this feeling. The +dislike of the little for the great, the instinctive opposition of a +lower class towards the higher, intensified that natural essence of +separatism, that determination to be wiser than one's neighbour, which +in the common mind lies at the bottom of all dissent. In saying this we +no more accuse Dissenters in religion than Dissenters in politics, or in +art, or in criticism. The first dissenter in most cases is an original +thinker, to whom his enforced departure from the ways of his fathers is +misery and pain. Generally he has a hard struggle with himself before he +can give up, for the superlative truth which has taken possession of +him, all the habits, the pious traditions of his life. He is the real +Nonconformist--half martyr, half victim, of his convictions. But that +Nonconformity which has come to be the faith in which a large number of +people are trained is a totally different business, and affects a very +different kind of sentiments. Personal and independent conviction has no +more to do with it than it has to do with the ardour of a Breton peasant +trained in deepest zeal of Romanism, or the unbounded certainty of any +other traditionary believer. For this reason we may be allowed to +discuss the changes of feeling which manifested themselves in Mr. and +Mrs. Beecham without anything disrespectful to Nonconformity. Not being +persons of original mind, they were what their training and +circumstances, and a flood of natural influences, made them. They began +life, feeling themselves to be of a hopelessly low social caste, and +believing themselves to be superior to their superiors in that +enlightenment which they had been brought up to believe distinguished +the connection. The first thing which opened their minds to a dawning +doubt whether their enlightenment was, in reality, so much greater than +that of their neighbours, was the social change worked in their position +by their removal from Carlingford. In the great towns of the North, +Dissent attains its highest social elevation, and Chapel people are no +longer to be distinguished from Church people except by the fact that +they go to Chapel instead of Church, a definition so simple as to be +quite overwhelming to the unprepared dissenting intelligence, brought up +in a little Tory borough, still holding for Church and Queen. The +amazing difference which this made in the sentiments of Mrs. Phoebe +Beecham, _nee_ Tozer, it is quite impossible to describe. Her sudden +introduction to "circles" which Mrs. Pigeon had never entered, and to +houses at the area-door of which Mr. Brown, the dairyman, would have +humbly waited, would have turned the young woman's head, had she not +felt the overpowering necessity of keeping that organ as steady as +possible, to help her to hold her position in the new world. Phoebe was a +girl of spirit, and though her head went round and round, and everything +felt confused about her, she did manage desperately to hold her own and +to avoid committing herself; but I cannot attempt to tell how much her +social elevation modified her sectarian zeal. Phoebe was only a woman, so +that I am free to assign such motives as having a serious power over +her. Let us hope Mr. Beecham, being a man and a pastor, was moved in a +more lofty, intellectual, and spiritual way. + +But however that may be, the pair went conjugally together in this +modification of sentiment, and by the time they reached the lofty +eminence of the Crescent Chapel, were as liberal-minded Nonconformists +as heart could desire. Mr. Beecham indeed had many friends in the Low, +and even some in the Broad Church. He appeared on platforms, to promote +various public movements, along with clergymen of the Church. He spoke +of "our brethren within the pale of the Establishment" always with +respect, sometimes even with enthusiasm. "Depend upon it, my dear Sir," +he would even say sometimes to a liberal brother, "the Establishment is +not such an unmitigated evil as some people consider it. What should we +do in country parishes where the people are not awakened? They do the +dirty work for us, my dear brother--the dirty work." These sentiments +were shared, but perhaps not warmly, by Mr. Beecham's congregation, some +of whom were hot Voluntaries, and gave their ministers a little trouble. +But the most part took their Nonconformity very quietly, and were +satisfied to know that their chapel was the first in the connection, and +their minister justly esteemed as one of the most eloquent. The +Liberation Society held one meeting at the Crescent Chapel, but it was +not considered a great success. At the best, they were no more than +lukewarm Crescent-Chapelites, not political dissenters. Both minister +and people were Liberal, that was the creed they professed. Some of the +congregations Citywards, and the smaller chapels about Hampstead and +Islington, used the word Latitudinarian instead; but that, as the +Crescent Chapel people said, was a word always applied by the bigoted +and ignorant to those who held in high regard the doctrines of Christian +charity. They were indeed somewhat proud of their tolerance, their +impartiality, their freedom from old prejudices. "That sort of thing +will not do now-a-days," said Mr. Copperhead, who was a great railway +contractor and one of the deacons, and who had himself a son at Oxford. +If there had been any bigotry in the Crescent, Mr. Copperhead would have +had little difficulty in transferring himself over the way to St. Paul's +Church, and it is astonishing what an effect that fact had upon the mind +of Mr. Beecham's flock. + +Mr. Beecham's house was situated in Regent's Park, and was constructed +on the ordinary model of such houses. On the ground-floor was a handsome +dining-room, a room which both Mr. and Mrs. Beecham twenty years before +would have considered splendid, but which now they condescended to, as +not so large as they could wish, but still comfortable. The drawing-room +above was larger, a bright and pleasant room, furnished with +considerable "taste." Behind the dining-room, a smaller room was Mr. +Beecham's study, or the library, as it was sometimes called. It was +lined with book-cases containing a very fair collection of books, and +ornamented with portraits (chiefly engravings) of celebrated ministers +and laymen in the connection, with a bust of Mr. Copperhead over the +mantelpiece. This bust had been done by a young sculptor whom he +patronized, for the great man's own house. When it was nearly completed, +however, a flaw was found in the marble, which somewhat detracted from +its perfection. The flaw was in the shoulder of the image, and by no +means serious; but Mr. Copperhead was not the man to pass over any such +defect. After a long and serious consultation over it, which made the +young artist shake in his shoes, a solution was found for the +difficulty. + +"Tell you what, Sir," said Mr. Copperhead; "I'll give it to the +minister. It'll look famous in his little study. Works of art don't +often come his way; and you'll get a block of the best, Mr. +Chipstone--the very best, Sir, no expense spared--and begin another for +me." + +This arrangement was perfectly satisfactory to all parties, though I +will not say that it was not instrumental in bringing about certain +other combinations which will be fully discussed in this history. The +Beechams were mightily surprised when the huge marble head, almost as +large as a Jupiter, though perhaps not otherwise so imposing, arrived at +the Terrace; but they were also gratified. + +"It is quite like receiving us into his own family circle," Mrs. Beecham +said with a glance at her daughter, Phoebe, junior, who, with all her +pink fingers outspread, was standing in adoration before that image of +wealth and fabulous luxury. + +"What a grand head it is!" cried the young enthusiast, gazing rapt upon +the complacent marble whisker so delightfully curled and bristling with +realistic force. + +"It looks well, I must say, it looks well," said Mr. Beecham himself, +rubbing his hands, "to receive such a token of respect from the leading +member of the flock." And certainly no more perfect representation of a +bell-wether ever adorned any shepherd's sanctuary. + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +THE LEADING MEMBER. + + +Mr. Copperhead, to whom so much allusion has been made, was a well-known +man in other regions besides that of the Crescent Chapel. His name, +indeed, may be said to have gone to the ends of the earth, from whence +he had conducted lines of railway, and where he had left docks, bridges, +and light-houses to make him illustrious. He was one of the greatest +contractors for railways and other public works in England, and, by +consequence, in the world. He had no more than a very ordinary +education, and no manners to speak of; but at the same time he had that +kind of faculty which is in practical work what genius is in literature, +and, indeed, in its kind is genius too, though it neither refines nor +even (oddly enough) enlarges the mind to which it belongs. He saw the +right track for a road through a country with a glance of his eye; he +mastered all the points of nature which were opposed to him in the +rapidest survey, though scientifically he was great in no branch of +knowledge. He could rule his men as easily as if they were so many +children; and, indeed, they were children in his hands. All these gifts +made it apparent that he must have been a remarkable and able man; but +no stranger would have guessed as much from his appearance or his talk. +There were people, indeed, who knew him well, and who remained +incredulous and bewildered, trying to persuade themselves that his +success must be owing to pure luck, for that he had nothing else to +secure it. The cause of this, perhaps, was that he knew nothing about +books, and was one of those jeering cynics who are so common under one +guise or another. Fine cynics are endurable, and give a certain zest +often to society, which might become too civil without them; but your +coarse cynic is not pleasant. Mr. Copperhead's eye was as effectual in +quenching emotion of any but the coarsest kind as water is against +fire. People might be angry in his presence--it was the only passion he +comprehended; but tenderness, sympathy, sorrow, all the more generous +sentiments, fled and concealed themselves when this large, rich, costly +man came by. People who were brought much in contact with him became +ashamed of having any feelings at all; his eye upon them seemed to +convict them of humbug. Those eyes were very light grey, prominent, with +a jeer in them which was a very powerful moral instrument. His own +belief was that he could "spot" humbug wherever he saw it, and that +nothing could escape him; and, I suppose, so much humbug is there in +this world that his belief was justified. But there are few more awful +people than those ignoble spectators whose jeer arrests the moisture in +the eye, and strangles the outcry on their neighbour's lip. + +Mr. Copperhead had risen from the ranks; yet not altogether from the +ranks. His father before him had been a contractor, dealing chiefly with +canals and roads, and the old kind of public works; a very rough +personage indeed, but one to whose fingers gold had stuck, perhaps +because of the clay with which they were always more or less smeared. +This ancestor had made a beginning to the family, and given his son a +name to start with. _Our_ Mr. Copperhead had married young, and had +several sons, who were all in business, and all doing well; less +vigorous, but still moderately successful copies of their father. When, +however, he had thus done his duty to the State, the first Mrs. +Copperhead having died, he did the only incomprehensible action of his +life--he married a second time, a feeble, pretty, pink-and-white little +woman, who had been his daughter's governess; married her without rhyme +or reason, as all his friends and connections said. The only feasible +motive for this second union seemed to be a desire on Mr. Copperhead's +part to have something belonging to him which he could always jeer at, +and in this way the match was highly successful. Mrs. Copperhead the +second was gushing and susceptible, and as good a butt as could be +imagined. She kept him in practice when nobody else was at hand. She was +one of those naturally refined but less than half-educated, timid +creatures who are to be found now and then painfully earning the bread +which is very bitter to them in richer people's houses, and preserving +in their little silent souls some fetish in the shape of a scrap of +gentility, which is their sole comfort, or almost their sole comfort. +Mrs. Copperhead's fetish was the dear recollection that she was "an +officer's daughter;" or rather this had been her fetish in the days when +she had nothing, and was free to plume herself on the reflected glory. +Whether in the depths of her luxurious abode, at the height of her good +fortune, she still found comfort in the thought, it would be hard to +tell. Everybody who had known her in her youth thought her the most +fortunate of women. Her old school companions told her story for the +encouragement of their daughters, as they might have told a fairy tale. +To see her rolling in her gorgeous carriage, or bowed out of a shop +where all the daintiest devices of fashion had been placed at her feet, +filled passers-by with awe and envy. She could buy whatever she liked, +festoon herself with finery, surround herself with the costliest +knick-knacks; the more there were of them, and the costlier they were, +the better was Mr. Copperhead pleased. She had everything that heart +could desire. Poor little woman! What a change from the +governess-chrysalis who was snubbed by her pupil and neglected by +everybody! and yet I am not sure that she did not--so inconsistent is +human nature--look back to those melancholy days with a sigh. + +This lady was the mother of Clarence Copperhead, the young man who was +at Oxford, her only child, upon whom (of course) she doted with the +fondest folly; and whom his father jeered at more than at any one else +in the world, more even than at his mother, yet was prouder of than of +all his other sons and all his possessions put together. Clarence, whom +I will not describe, as he will, I trust, show himself more effectually +by his actions, was like his mother in disposition, or so, at least, she +made herself happy by thinking; but by some freak of nature he was like +his father in person, and carried his mouse's heart in a huge frame, +somewhat hulking and heavy-shouldered, with the same roll which +distinguished Mr. Copperhead, and which betrayed something of the +original navvy who was the root of the race. He had his father's large +face too, and a tendency towards those demonstrative and offensive +whiskers which are the special inheritance of the British Philistine. +But instead of the large goggle eyes, always jeering and impudent, which +lighted up the paternal countenance, Clarence had a pair of mild brown +orbs, repeated from his mother's faded face, which introduced the oddest +discord into his physiognomy generally. In the family, that is to say +among the step-brothers and step-sisters who formed Mr. Copperhead's +first family, the young fellow bore no other name than that of the +curled darling, though, indeed, he was as far from being curled as any +one could be. He was not clever; he had none of the energy of his race, +and promised to be as useless in an office as he would have been in a +cutting or a yard full of men. I am not sure that this fact did not +increase secretly his father's exultation and pride in him. Mr. +Copperhead was fond of costly and useless things; he liked them for +their cost, with an additional zest in his sense of the huge vulgar use +and profit of most things in his own life. This tendency, more than any +appreciation of the beautiful, made him what is called a patron of art. +It swelled his personal importance to think that he was able to hang up +thousands of pounds, so to speak, on his walls, knowing all the time +that he could make thousands more by the money had he invested it in +more useful ways. The very fact that he could afford to refrain from +investing it, that he could let it lie there useless, hanging by so many +cords and ribbons, was sweet to him. And so also it was sweet to him to +possess a perfectly useless specimen of humanity, which had cost him a +great deal, and promised to cost him still more. He had plenty of useful +sons as he had of useful money. The one who was of no use was the apex +and glory of the whole. + +But these three made up a strange enough family party, as may be +supposed. The original Copperheads, the first family, who were all of +the same class and nature, would have made a much noisier, less +peaceable household; but they would have been a much jollier and really +more harmonious one. Mr. Copperhead himself somewhat despised his elder +sons, who were like himself, only less rich, less vigorous, and less +self-assertive. He saw, oddly enough, the coarseness of their manners, +and even of their ways of thinking; but yet he was a great deal more +comfortable, more at his ease among them, than he was when seated +opposite his trembling, deprecating, frightened little wife, or that +huge youth who cost him so much and returned him so little. Now and +then, at regular periodical intervals, the head of the family would go +down to Blackheath to dine and spend the night with his son Joe, the +second and the favourite, where there were romping children and a +portly, rosy young matron, and loud talk about City dinners, contracts, +and estimates. This refreshed him, and he came home with many chuckles +over the imperfections of the family. + +"My sons buy their wives by the hundred-weight," he would say jocularly +at breakfast the day after; "thirteen stone if she is a pound, is Mrs. +Joe. Expensive to keep up in velvet and satin, not to speak of mutton +and beef. Your mother comes cheap," he would add aside to Clarence, with +a rolling laugh. Thus he did not in the least exempt his descendants +from the universal ridicule which he poured on all the world; but when +he sat down opposite his timid little delicate wife, and by his +University man, who had very little on the whole to say for himself, +Mr. Copperhead felt the increase in gentility as well as the failure in +jollity. "You are a couple of ghosts after Joe and his belongings, you +two. Speak louder, I say, young fellow. You don't expect me to hear that +penny-whistle of yours," he would say, chuckling at them, with a mixture +of pride and disdain. They amused him by their dulness and silence, and +personal awe of him. He was quite out of his element between these two, +and yet the very fact pleasantly excited his pride. + +"I speak as gentlemen generally speak," said Clarence, who was sometimes +sullen when attacked, and who knew by experience that his father was +rarely offended by such an argument. + +"And I am sure, dear, your papa would never wish you to do otherwise," +said anxious Mrs. Copperhead, casting a furtive frightened glance at her +husband. He rolled out a mighty laugh from the head of the table where +he was sitting. He contemplated them with a leer that would have been +insulting, had he not been the husband of one and the father of the +other. The laugh and the look called forth some colour on Mrs. +Copperhead's cheek, well as she was used to them; but her son was less +susceptible, and ate his breakfast steadily, and did not care. + +"A pretty pair you are," said Mr. Copperhead. "I like your gentility. +How much _foie gras_ would you eat for breakfast, I wonder, my lad, if +you had to work for it? Luckily for you, I wasn't brought up to talk, as +you say, like a gentleman. I'd like to see you managing a field of +navvies with that nice little voice of yours--ay, or a mob before the +hustings, my boy. You're good for nothing, you are; a nice delicate +piece of china for a cupboard, like your mother before you. However, +thank Heaven, we've got the cupboard," he said with a laugh, looking +round him; "a nice big 'un, too, well painted and gilded; and the time +has come, through not talking like a gentleman, that I can afford you. +You should hear Joe. When that fellow talks, his house shakes. +Confounded bad style of house, walls like gingerbread. How the boards +don't break like pie-crust under Mrs. Joe's fairy foot, I can't make +out. By Jove, ma'am, one would think I starved you, to see you beside +your daughter-in-law. Always had a fine healthy appetite had Mrs. Joe." + +There was nothing to answer to this speech, and therefore a dead silence +ensued. When the master of the house is so distinctly the master, +silence is apt to ensue after his remarks. Mrs. Copperhead sipped her +tea, and Clarence worked steadily through his breakfast, and the head of +the family crumpled the Times, which he read at intervals. All sorts of +jokes had gone on at Joe's table the morning before, and there had been +peals of laughter, and Mrs. Joe had even administered a slap upon her +husband's ruddy cheek for some pleasantry or other. Mr. Copperhead, as +he looked at his son and his wife, chuckled behind the Times. When they +thought he was occupied they made a few gentle remarks to each other. +They had soft voices, with that indescribable resemblance in tone which +so often exists between mother and son. Dresden china; yes, that was the +word; and to see his own resemblance made in that delicate _pate_, and +elevated into that region of superlative costliness, tickled Mr. +Copperhead, and in the most delightful way. + +"How about your ball?" was his next question, "or Clarence's ball, as +you don't seem to take much interest in it, ma'am? You are afraid of +being brought in contact with the iron pots, eh? You might crack or go +to pieces, who knows, and what would become of me, a wretched widower." +Mr. Copperhead himself laughed loudly at this joke, which did not excite +any mirth from the others, and then he repeated his question, "How about +the ball?" + +"The invitations are all sent out, Mr. Copperhead; ninety-five--I--I +mean a hundred and thirty-five. I--I beg your pardon, they were in two +lots," answered the poor woman nervously. "A hundred and +thirty-eight--and there is--a few more--" + +"Take your time, ma'am, take your time, we'll get at the truth at last," +said her husband; and he laid down his paper and looked at her. He was +not angry nor impatient. The twinkle in his eye was purely humorous. Her +stumblings amused him, and her nervousness. But oddly enough, the most +furious impatience could not have more deeply disconcerted her. + +"There are a few more--some old friends of mine," she went on, confused. +"They were once rather--kind--took an interest; that is--" + +"Oh, the baronet and his daughters," said Mr. Copperhead, "by all means +let's have the baronet and his daughters. Though as for their taking an +interest--if you had not been a rich man's wife, ma'am, living in a +grand house in Portland Place--" + +"It was not now," she said, hurriedly. "I do not suppose that any one +takes an interest--in me now--" + +Mr. Copperhead laughed, and nodded his head. "Not many, ma'am, I should +think--not many. You women must make up your minds to that. It's all +very well to take an interest in a pretty girl; but when you come to a +certain age--Well, let's proceed, the baronet--" + +"And his two girls--" + +"Ah, there's two girls! that's for you, Clarence, my boy. I thought +there must be a motive. Think that fellow a good _parti_, eh? And I +would not say they were far wrong if he behaves himself. Make a note of +the baronet's daughter, young man. Lord, what a world it is!" said Mr. +Copperhead, reflectively. "I should not wonder if you had been scheming, +too." + +"I would not for the world!" cried the poor little woman, roused for +once. "I would not for anything interfere with a marriage. That is the +last thing you need fear from me. Whether it was a girl I was fond of, +or a girl I disliked--so long as she was Clarence's choice. Oh, I know +the harm that is done by other people's meddling--nothing, nothing, +would induce me to interfere." + +Mr. Copperhead laid down his paper, and looked at her. I suppose, +however little a man may care for his wife, he does not relish the idea +that she married him for anything but love. He contemplated her still +with amused ridicule, but with something fiercer in his eyes. "Oh--h!" +he said, "you don't like other people to interfere? not so much as to +say, it's a capital match, eh? You'll get so and so, and so and so, that +you couldn't have otherwise--carriages perhaps, and plenty of money in +your pocket (which it may be you never had in your life before), and +consideration, and one of the finest houses in London, let us say in +Portland Place. You don't like that amount of good advice, eh? Well, I +do--I mean to interfere with my son, to that extent at least--you can do +what you like. But as you're a person of prodigious influence, and +strong will, and a great deal of character, and all that," Mr. +Copperhead broke out with a rude laugh, "I'm afraid of you, I am--quite +afraid." + +Fortunately, just at this moment his brougham came round, and the great +man finished his coffee at a gulp, and got up. "You look out for the +baronet's daughters, then--" he said, "and see all's ready for this ball +of yours; while I go and work to pay the bills, that's my share. You do +the ornamental, and I do the useful, ha, ha! I'll keep up my share." + +It was astonishing what a difference came upon the room the moment he +disappeared. Somehow it had been out of harmony. His voice, his look, +his heavy person, even his whiskers had been out of character. Now the +air seemed to flutter after the closing of the door like water into +which something offensive has sunk, and when the ripples of movement +were over the large handsome room had toned down into perfect accord +with its remaining inhabitants. Mrs. Copperhead's eyes were rather +red--not with tears, but with the inclination to shed tears, which she +carefully restrained in her son's presence. He still continued to eat +steadily--he had an admirable appetite. But when he had finished +everything on his plate, he looked up and said, "I hope you don't mind, +mamma; I don't suppose you do; but I don't like the way my father speaks +to you." + +"Oh, my dear!" cried the mother, with an affected little smile, "why +should I mind? I ought to know by this time that it's only your papa's +way." + +"I suppose so--but I don't like it," said the young man, decisively. He +did not notice, however, as after second thoughts he returned to the +game-pie, that his mother's eyes were redder than ever. + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +MR. COPPERHEAD'S BALL. + + +This ball was an event, not only in Mr. Copperhead's household, but even +in the connection itself, to which the idea of balls, as given by +leading members of the flock, was somewhat novel. Not that the young +people were debarred from that amusement, but it was generally attained +in a more or less accidental manner, and few professing Christians +connected with the management of the chapel had gone the length of +giving such an entertainment openly and with design. Mr. Copperhead, +however, was in a position to triumph over all such prejudices. He was +so rich that any community would have felt it ought to extend a certain +measure of indulgence to such a man. Very wealthy persons are like +spoilt children, their caprices are allowed to be natural, and even when +we are angry with them we excuse the vagaries to which money has a +right. This feeling of indulgence goes a very great way, especially +among the classes engaged in money-making, who generally recognize a +man's right to spend, and feel the sweetness of spending more acutely +than the hereditary possessors of wealth. I do not believe that his +superior knowledge of the best ways of using money profitably ever +hinders a money-making man from lavish expenditure; but it gives him a +double zest in spending, and it makes him, generally, charitable towards +the extravagances of persons still richer than himself. A ball, there +was no doubt, was a worldly-minded entertainment, but still, the chapel +reflected, it is almost impossible not to be a little worldly-minded +when you possess such a great share of the world's goods, and that, of +course, it could not be for himself that Mr. Copperhead was doing this, +but for his son. His son, these amiable casuists proceeded, was being +brought up to fill a great position, and no doubt society did exact +something, and as Mr. Copperhead had asked all the chief chapel people, +his ball was looked upon with very indulgent eyes. The fact that the +minister and his family were going staggered some of the more particular +members a little, but Mr. Beecham took high ground on the subject and +silenced the flock. "The fact that a minister of religion is one of the +first persons invited, is sufficient proof of the way our friend means +to manage everything," said the pastor. "Depend upon it, it would be +good for the social relations of the country if your pastors and +teachers were always present. It gives at once a character to all the +proceedings." This, like every other lofty assertion, stilled the +multitude. Some of the elder ladies, indeed, groaned to hear, even at +the prayer-meetings, a whisper between the girls about this ball and +what they were going to wear; but still it was Christmas, and all the +newspapers, and a good deal of the light literature which is especially +current at that season, persistently represented all the world as in a +state of imbecile joviality, and thus, for the moment, every objection +was put down. + +To nobody, however, was the question, what to wear, more interesting +than to Phoebe, junior, who was a very well-instructed young woman, and +even on the point of dress had theories of her own. Phoebe had, as her +parents were happy to think, had every advantage in her education. She +had possessed a German governess all to herself, by which means, even +Mr. Beecham himself supposed, a certain amount of that philosophy which +Germans communicate by their very touch must have got into her, besides +her music and the language which was her primary study. And she had +attended lectures at the ladies' college close by, and heard a great +many eminent men on a great many different subjects. She had read, too, +a great deal. She was very well got up in the subject of education for +women, and lamented often and pathetically the difficulty they lay under +of acquiring the highest instruction; but at the same time she +patronized Mr. Ruskin's theory that dancing, drawing, and cooking were +three of the higher arts which ought to be studied by girls. It is not +necessary for me to account for the discrepancies between those two +systems, in the first place because I cannot, and in the second place, +because there is in the mind of the age some ineffable way of +harmonizing them which makes their conjunction common. Phoebe was +restrained from carrying out either to its full extent. She was not +allowed to go in for the Cambridge examinations because Mr. Beecham felt +the connection might think it strange to see his daughter's name in the +papers, and, probably, would imagine he meant to make a schoolmistress +of her, which he thanked Providence he had no need to do. And she was +not allowed to educate herself in the department of cooking, to which +Mrs. Beecham objected, saying likewise, thank Heaven, they had no need +of such messings; that she did not wish her daughter to make a slave of +herself, and that Cook would not put up with it. Between these two +limits Phoebe's noble ambition was confined, which was a "trial" to her. +But she did what she could, bating neither heart nor hope. She read +Virgil at least, if not Sophocles, and she danced and dressed though she +was not allowed to cook. + +As she took the matter in this serious way, it will be understood that +the question of dress was not a mere frivolity with her. A week before +the ball she stood in front of the large glass in her mother's room, +contemplating herself, not with that satisfaction which it is generally +supposed a pretty young woman has in contemplating her own image. She +was decidedly a pretty young woman. She had a great deal of the hair of +the period, nature in her case, as (curiously, yet very truly) in so +many others, having lent herself to the prevailing fashion. How it comes +about I cannot tell, but it is certain that there does exist at this +present moment, a proportion of golden-haired girls which very much +exceeds the number we used to see when golden hair had not become +fashionable--a freak of nature which is altogether independent of dyes +and auriferous fluid, and which probably has influenced fashion +unawares. To be sure the pomades of twenty years ago are, Heaven be +praised! unknown to this generation, and washing also has become the +fashion, which accounts for something. Anyhow, Phoebe, junior, possessed +in perfection the hair of the period. She had, too, the complexion which +goes naturally with those sunny locks--a warm pink and white, which, had +the boundaries between the pink and the white been a little more +distinct, would have approached perfection too. This was what she was +thinking when she looked at herself in her mother's great glass. Mrs. +Beecham stood behind her, more full-blown and more highly-coloured than +she, but very evidently the rose to which this bud would come in time. +Phoebe looked at her own reflection, and then at her mother's, and sighed +such a profound sigh as only lungs in the most excellent condition could +produce. + +"Mamma," she said, with an accent of despair, "I am too pink, a great +deal too pink! What am I to do?" + +"Nonsense, my pet," said Mrs. Beecham; "you have a lovely complexion;" +and she threw a quantity of green ribbons which lay by over her child's +hair and shoulders. A cloud crossed the blooming countenance of Phoebe, +junior. She disembarrassed herself of the ribbons with another sigh. + +"Dear mamma," she said, "I wish you would let me read with you now and +then, about the theory of colours, for instance. Green is the +complementary of red. If you want to bring out my pink and make it more +conspicuous than ever, of course you will put me in a green dress. No, +mamma, dear, not that--I should look a fright; and though I dare say it +does not matter much, I object to looking a fright. Women are, I +suppose, more ornamental than men, or, at least, everybody says so; and +in that case it is our duty to keep it up." + +"You are a funny girl, with your theories of colour," said Mrs. Beecham. +"In my time, fair girls wore greens and blues, and dark girls wore reds +and yellows. It was quite simple. Have a white tarlatan, then; every +girl looks well in that." + +"You don't see, mamma," said Phoebe, softly, suppressing in the most +admirable manner the delicate trouble of not being understood, "that a +thing every girl looks well in, is just the sort of thing that no one +looks _very_ well in. White shows no invention. It is as if one took no +trouble about one's dress." + +"And neither one ought, Phoebe," said her mother. "That is very true. It +is sinful to waste time thinking of colours and ribbons, when we might +be occupied about much more important matters." + +"That is not my opinion at all," said Phoebe. "I should like people to +think I had taken a great deal of trouble. Think of all the trouble that +has to be taken to get up this ball!" + +"I fear so, indeed; and a great deal of expense," said Mrs. Beecham, +shaking her head. "Yes, when one comes to think of that. But then, you +see, wealth has its duties. I don't defend Mr. Copperhead--" + +"I don't think he wants to be defended, mamma. I think it is all +nonsense about wasting time. What I incline to, if you won't be shocked, +is black." + +"Black!" The suggestion took away Mrs. Beecham's breath. "As if you were +fifty! Why, I don't consider myself old enough for black." + +"It is a pity," said Phoebe, with a glance at her mother's full colours; +but that was really of so much less importance. "Black would throw me +up," she added seriously, turning to the glass. "It would take off this +pink look. I don't mind it in the cheeks, but I am pink all over; my +white is pink. Black would be a great deal the best for both of us. It +would tone us down," said Phoebe, decisively, "and it would throw us up." + +"But for you, a girl under twenty, my dear--" + +"Mamma, what does it matter? The question is, am I to look my best? +which I think is my duty to you and to Providence; or am I just," said +Phoebe, with indignation, "to look a little insipidity--a creature with +no character--a little girl like everybody else?" + +The consequence of this solemn appeal was that both the Phoebes went to +Mr. Copperhead's ball in black; the elder in velvet, with Honiton lace +(point, which Phoebe, with her artistic instincts, would have much +preferred, being unattainable); the younger in tulle, flounced to +distraction, and largely relieved with blue. And the consequence of this +toilette, and of the fact that Phoebe did her duty by her parents and by +Providence, and looked her very best, was that Clarence Copperhead fell +a hopeless victim to her fascinations, and scarcely could be induced to +leave her side all night. The ball was about as remarkable a ball as +could have been seen in London. The son of the house had contemplated +with absolute despair the list of invitations. He had deprecated the +entertainment altogether. He had said, "We know nobody," with a +despairing impertinence which called forth one of his father's roars of +laughter. And though Mr. Copperhead had done all he could to assume the +position of that typical Paterfamilias who is condemned to pay for those +pleasures of his family which are no pleasure to him, yet common-sense +was too much for him, and everybody felt that he was in reality the +giver and enjoyer of the entertainment. It was Mr., not Mrs. +Copperhead's ball. It was the first of the kind which had ever taken +place in his house; the beginning of a new chapter in his social +existence. Up to this moment he had not shown any signs of being smitten +with that craze for "Society," which so often and so sorely affects the +millionnaire. He had contented himself hitherto with heavy and showy +dinners, costing Heaven knows how much a head (Mr. Copperhead knew, and +swelled visibly in pride and pleasure as the cost increased), which he +consumed in company with twenty people or so of kindred tastes to +himself, who appreciated the cost and understood his feelings. On such +people, however, his Dresden china was thrown away. Joe and Mrs. Joe +were much more in their way than the elegant University man and the +well-bred mother, who was "a poor little dowdy," they all said. +Therefore the fact had been forced upon Mr. Copperhead that his circle +must be widened and advanced, if his crowning glories were to be +appreciated as they deserved. + +The hunger of wealth for that something above wealth which the +bewildered rich man only discovers the existence of when he has +struggled to the highest pinnacle of advancement in his own way, began +to seize this wealthy neophyte. To be sure, in this first essay, the +company which he assembled in his fine rooms in Portland Place, to see +all his fine things and celebrate his glory, was not a fine company, but +they afforded more gratification to Mr. Copperhead than if they had been +ever so fine. They were people of his own class, his old friends, +invited to be dazzled, though standing out to the utmost of their power, +and refusing, so far as in them lay, to admit how much dazzled they +were. It was a more reasonable sort of vanity than the commoner kind, +which aims at displaying its riches to great personages, people who are +not dazzled by any extent of grandeur, and in whose bosoms no jealousy +is excited towards the giver of the feast. Mr. Copperhead's friends had +much more lively feelings; they walked about through the great rooms, +with their wives on their arms, in a state of semi-defiance, expressing +no admiration, saying to each other, "This must have cost Copperhead a +pretty penny," as they met in doorways; while the ladies put their +flowery and jewelled heads together and whispered, "Did you ever see +such extravagance? And what a dowdy _she_ is with it all!" This was the +under-current of sentiment which flowed strong in all the passages, and +down the rapids of the great staircase; a stream of vigorous human +feeling, the existence of which was as deeply gratifying to the +entertainer as the sweetest flattery. The lord and the ladies who might +have been tempted to his great house would not have had a thought to +spare for Mr. Copperhead; but the unwilling applause of his own class +afforded him a true triumph. + +Amid this throng of people, however, there could be little doubt that +the one young lady who attracted his son was the least eligible person +there, being no other than Phoebe Beecham, the pastor's daughter. Almost +the only other utterly ineligible girl was a pale little maiden who +accompanied Sir Robert Dorset and his daughters, and who was supposed to +be either their governess or their humble companion. The Dorsets were +the only people who had any pretensions to belong to "society," in all +those crowded rooms. They were distantly related to Mrs. Copperhead, +and had been, she gratefully thought, kind to her in her youth, and +they had no particular objection to be kind to her now that she was +rich, though the Baronet, as Mr. Copperhead always called him, winced at +so rampant a specimen of wealth, and "the girls" did not see what good +it was to keep up relations with a distant cousin, who though so +prodigiously rich was of no possible use, and could neither make parties +for them, nor chaperon them to the houses of the great. When they had +received her present invitation, they had accepted it with surprise and +hesitation. Chance only had brought them to London at that time of the +year, the most curious time surely to choose for a ball, but convenient +enough as affording a little amusement at a season when little amusement +was ordinarily to be had. Sir Robert had consented to go, as a man with +no occupation elsewhere might consent to go to the Cannibal Islands, to +see how the savages comported themselves. And little Ursula May, another +poor relative on the other side of the house, whom they had charitably +brought up to town with them, might go too, they decided, to such a +gathering. There was no Lady Dorset, and the girls were "girls" only by +courtesy, having passed the age to which that title refers. Such good +looks as they had were faded, and they were indifferently dressed. This +last circumstance arose partly from the fact that they never dressed +very well, and partly because they did not think it necessary to put +themselves to much trouble for poor Mrs. Copperhead's ball. Their little +companion, Ursula, was in a white frock, the sort of dress which Phoebe +had rebelled against. She was all white and had never been to a ball +before. This little party, which represented the aristocracy at the +Copperhead's ball, went to the entertainment with a little expectation +in their minds: What sort of people would be there? Would they be +"frights?" They were not likely to be interesting in any other way, the +Miss Dorsets knew; but to little Ursula a ball was a ball, and meant +delight and glory she was aware, though she did not quite know how. The +expectations of the party, however, were strangely disappointed. Instead +of being "a set of frights," Mrs. Copperhead's guests were found to be +resplendent in toilette. Never, even under a ducal roof, had these +ladies found themselves in such a gorgeous assembly, and never before, +perhaps, even at the Duchess's grandest receptions, had they been unable +to discover a single face they knew. Sir Robert was even more appalled +by this discovery than his daughters were. He put up his glass and +peered more and more wistfully into the crowd. "Don't know a soul," he +repeated at intervals. Poor Sir Robert! he had not thought it possible +that such an event could happen to him within the four seas. Accordingly +the Dorsets clung, somewhat scared, to Mrs. Copperhead's side, and +Ursula along with them, who looked at the crowd still more wistfully +than Sir Robert did, and thought how nice it would be to know somebody. +Unfortunately the Miss Dorsets were not attractive in personal +appearance. Clarence Copperhead, though he was not indifferent to a +baronet, was yet not sufficiently devoted to the aristocracy to do more +than dance once, as was his bounden duty, with each of the sisters. "It +seems so strange not to know any one," these ladies said. "Isn't it?" +said Clarence. "_I_ don't know a soul." But then he went off and danced +with Phoebe Beecham, and the Miss Dorsets stood by Mrs. Copperhead, +almost concealing behind them the slight little snow-white figure of +little Ursula May. + +Clarence was a very well-behaved young man on the whole. He knew his +duty, and did it with a steady industry, working off his dances in the +spirit of his navvy forefather. But he returned between each duty dance +to the young lady in black, who was always distinguishable among so many +young ladies in white, and pink, and green, and blue. The Miss Dorsets +and Ursula looked with interest and something like envy at that young +lady in black. She had so many partners that she scarcely knew how to +manage them all, and the son of the house returned to her side with a +pertinacity that could not pass unremarked. "Why should one girl have so +much and another girl so little?" Ursula said to herself; but, to be +sure, she knew nobody, and the young lady in black knew everybody. On +the whole, however, it became evident to Ursula that a ball was not +always a scene of unmixed delight. + +"It is very kind of you to remember what old friends we are," said +Phoebe. "But, Mr. Clarence, don't be more good to me than you ought to +be. I see your mother looking for you, and Mr. Copperhead might not like +it. Another time, perhaps, we shall be able to talk of old days." + +"There is no time like the present," said the young man, who liked his +own way. I do not mean to say that it was right of Phoebe to dance with +him, especially dances she had promised to other people. But he was the +personage of the evening, and that is a great temptation. Mr. Copperhead +himself came up to them more than once, with meaning in his eyes. + +"Don't be too entertaining, Miss Phoebe," he said; for he saw no reason +why he should not speak plainly in his own house, especially to the +minister's daughter. "Don't be too entertaining. This is Clarence's +ball, and he ought to be civil to other people too." + +"Oh, please go away!" cried Phoebe, after this admonition. But Clarence +was sullen, and stood his ground. + +"We are going to have our waltz out," he said. "It is not my ball a +bit--let him entertain his people himself. How should I know such a set +of guys? I know nobody but you and the Dorset girls, who are in society. +Parents are a mistake," said the young man, half rebellious, half +sullen, "they never understand. Perhaps you don't feel that, but I +should think girls must see it sometimes as well as men." + +"Girls don't use such strong expressions," said Phoebe, smiling, as they +flew off in the uncompleted waltz. She danced very well, better than +most of the ladies present, and that was the reason Clarence assigned to +his mother for his preference of her. But when Mr. Copperhead saw that +his remonstrance was unheeded by the young people, he went up to Mrs. +Beecham, with a rich man's noble frankness and courage. "I am delighted +to see you here, ma'am, and I hope you have remarked how well Miss Phoebe +is entertaining my boy. Do you see them dancing? She's been away from +you a long time, Mrs. Beecham, as girls will when they get hold of +somebody that pleases them. Shouldn't you like me to go and fetch her +back?" Mrs. Beecham, with cheeks that were very full blown indeed, and +required a great deal of fanning, called back her child to her side at +the end of that dance. She scolded Phoebe behind her fan, and recalled +her to a sense of duty. "A pastor's daughter has to be doubly +particular," she said; "what if your poor papa was to get into trouble +through your thoughtlessness?" + +"I was not thoughtless, mamma; forgive me for answering back," said +Phoebe, very meekly; and she showed no signs of sulkiness, though +Clarence was carried off and kept from approaching her again. + +Unfortunately, however, when Clarence was removed from Phoebe, he fell +into still greater peril. The eldest Miss Dorset and her mother, both of +them with equally benevolent intentions, introduced him simultaneously +to Ursula May. "The poor little girl has not danced once," Mrs. +Copperhead, who had recollections of standing by herself for a whole +evening, unnoticed, whispered in his ear, and Miss Dorset spoke to him +still more plainly. "We brought her," she said, "but I cannot get her +partners, for I don't know anybody." And what could Clarence do but +offer himself? And Ursula, too, was a good dancer, and very pretty--far +prettier than Phoebe. + +"Confound him! there he is now for ever with that girl in white," said +his father to himself, with great rage. Dozens of good partners in pink +and blue were going about the room. What did the boy mean by bestowing +himself upon the two poor ones, the black and the white. This disturbed +Mr. Copperhead's enjoyment, as he stood in the doorway of the ball-room, +looking round upon all the splendour that was his, and feeling disposed, +like Nebuchadnezzar, to call upon everybody to come and worship him. He +expanded and swelled out with pride and complacency, as he looked round +upon his own greatness, and perceived the effect made upon the +beholders. When that effect did not seem sufficiently deep, he called +here and there upon a lingerer for applause. "That's considered a very +fine Turner," he said, taking one of them into a smaller room. "Come +along here, you know about that sort of thing--I don't. I should be +ashamed to tell you how much I gave for it; all that money hanging there +useless, bringing in nothing! But when I do buy anything I like it to be +the very best that is to be had." + +"I'd as soon have a good chromo," said the person addressed, "which +costs a matter of a five-pound note, and enough too, to hang up against +a wall. But you can afford it, Copperhead. You've the best right of any +man I know to be a fool if you like." + +The great man laughed, but he scarcely liked the compliment. "I am a +fool if you like," he said, "the biggest fool going. I like a thing that +costs a deal, and is of no use. That's what I call luxury. My boy, +Clarence, and my big picture, they're dear; but I can afford 'em, if +they were double the price." + +"If I were you," said his friend, "I wouldn't hang my picture in this +little bit of a hole, nor let my boy waste his time with all the +riff-raff in the room. There's Smith's girl and Robinson's niece, both +of them worth a cool hundred thousand; and you leave him to flourish +about all over the place with a chit in a white frock, and another in a +black one. I call that waste, not luxury, for my part." + +"I don't want to sell either the boy or the picture," said the rich man, +with a laugh. But nevertheless he was annoyed that his son should be +such an ass. Miss Smith and Miss Robinson were as fine as their +milliners could make them. The first of these ladies had an emerald +locket almost as big as a warming-pan, and Miss Robinson's pearls were a +little fortune in themselves; but the chosen objects of that young +idiot's attentions wore nothing but trumpery twopenny-halfpenny +trinkets, and gowns which had been made at home for all Mr. Copperhead +knew. Confound him! the father breathed hotly to himself. Thus it will +be seen that unmixed pleasure is not to be had in this world, even in +the midst of envious friends and the most splendid entertainment which +money could supply. + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +A COUNTRY PARTY. + + +"Very funny, now," said Sir Robert. "I don't know that such a thing ever +happened to me before. Give you my word for it, I didn't know a single +soul, not one; and there must have been a couple of hundred or so there. +Jove! I never thought there were as many people in England that I didn't +know." + +"How could you know Mr. Copperhead's friends?" said Sophy Dorset. "What +I wonder is, that she should have asked us. Not but that it was amusing +enough, once in a way, just to see how such people look." + +"They looked very much like other people, my dear. Finer, though. I +haven't seen so many jewels at an evening party for ages. Very much like +other people. Fatter, perhaps, the men, but not the women. I notice," +said Sir Robert, who himself was spare, "that City men generally have a +tendency to fat." + +"They are so rich," said Miss Dorset, with gentle disgust. + +She was the quiet one, never saying much. Sophy, who was lively, +conducted the conversation. They were all seated at breakfast, later +than usual, on the morning after the Copperheads' ball. It was a hazy +morning, and the party were seated in a large sitting-room in the "very +central" locality of Suffolk Street, looking down that straight little +street upon the stream of carriages and omnibuses in the foggy distance. +It was not for pleasure that this country party had come to London. Sir +Robert's second son, who was in India, had sent his eldest children home +to the care of his father and sisters. They were expected at Portsmouth +daily, and the aunts, somewhat excited by the prospect of their charge, +had insisted upon coming to town to receive them. As for Ursula May, who +was a poor relation on the late Lady Dorset's side, as Mrs. Copperhead +had been a poor relation on Sir Robert's, London at any season was a +wonder and excitement to her, and she could not sufficiently thank the +kind relations who had given her this holiday in her humdrum life. She +was the daughter of a poor clergyman in the little town of Carlingford, +a widower with a large family. Ursula was the eldest daughter, with the +duties of a mother on her much burdened hands; and she had no special +inclination towards these duties, so that a week's escape from them was +a relief to her at any time. And a ball! But the ball had not been so +beatific as Ursula hoped. In her dark blue serge dress, close up to the +throat and down to the wrists, she did not look so pale as she had done +in her snow-white garments on the previous night; but she was at the +best of times a shadowy little person, with soft, dark brown hair, dark +brown eyes, and no more colour than the faintest of wild rose tints; but +the youthfulness, and softness, and roundness of the girl showed to full +advantage beside the more angular development of the Miss Dorsets, who +were tall, and had lost the first smooth curves of youth. To Ursula, not +yet twenty, these ladies looked very mature, almost aged, being one of +them ten, and the other eight years older than herself. She looked up to +them with great respect; but she felt, all the same--how could she help +it?--that in some things, though the Miss Dorsets were her superiors, it +was best to be Ursula May. + +"Poor Clara!" said Sir Robert. "She was always a frightened creature. +When I recollect her, a poor little governess, keeping behind backs at +the nursery parties--and to see her in all her splendour now!" + +"She would keep behind backs still, if she could," said Miss Dorset. + +"Think of that, Ursula," cried Sophy; "there is an example for you. She +was a great deal worse off than you are; and to see her now, as papa +says! You may have a house in Portland Place too, and ask us to balls, +and wear diamonds. Think of that! Though last night you looked as +frightened as she." + +"Don't put such demoralizing ideas into the child's head. How it is that +girls are not ruined," said Miss Dorset, shaking her head, "ruined! by +such examples, I cannot tell. They must have stronger heads than we +think. As poor as Cinderella one day, and the next as rich as the +Queen--without any merit of theirs, all because some chance man happens +to take a fancy to them." + +"Quite right," said Sir Robert; "quite right, my dear. It is the natural +course of affairs." + +Miss Dorset shook her head. She went on shaking her head as she poured +out the tea. She was not given to eloquence, but the subject inspired +her. + +"Don't think of it, Ursula; it is not the sort of thing that good girls +ought to think of," and the elder sister made signs to Sophy, who was +reckless, and did not mind the moral effect of the suggestion. + +"Poor Mrs. Copperhead! I shall never have a house in Portland Place, nor +any diamonds, except Aunt Mary's old brooch. I shall live and die an old +maid, and nobody will waste a thought upon me," said Sophy, who made +this prophecy at her ease, not expecting it to come true; "but I don't +envy poor Clara, and if you marry such a man as Mr. Copperhead, though I +shall admire you very much, Ursula, I shan't envy you." + +"Is young Mr. Copperhead as bad as his father?" said Ursula, simply. + +She was so far from thinking what meaning could be attached to her +words, that she stopped and looked, wondering, from one to another when +they laughed. + +"Ha! ha! ha!" said Sir Robert; "not so bad, either!" + +Poor Ursula was extremely serious. She turned with relief to Miss +Dorset, who was serious too. + +"My dear, we don't know much about Clarence; he is a heavy young man. I +don't think he is attractive. Have you had a letter from the Parsonage +this morning?" said Anne Dorset, with a very grave face; and as it +turned out that Ursula had a letter, Miss Dorset immediately plunged +into discussion of it. The girl did not understand why the simple little +epistle should be so interesting, nor did she perceive yet what the +laughter was about. To tell the truth, Ursula, who was not clever, had +thought young Mr. Copperhead very _nice_. He had asked her to dance when +nobody else did; he had talked to her as much as he could have talked to +Sophy Dorset herself. He had rehabilitated her in her own eyes after the +first disappointment and failure of the evening, and she was prepared to +think, whatever might be said about the father, that the son was "very +kind" and very agreeable. Why should they laugh? Ursula concluded that +there must be some private joke of their own about Clarence (what a +pretty, interesting, superior name Clarence was!) which she could not be +permitted to know. + +"If you talk like that," said Anne Dorset to Sophy, "you will set her +little head afloat about good matches, and spoil her too." + +"And a very good thing," said Sophy. "If you had put the idea into my +head, I should not be Sophy Dorset now. Why shouldn't she think of a +good match? Can she live there for ever in that dreadful Parsonage, +among all those children whom she does not know how to manage? Don't be +absurd, Anne; except an elder daughter like you here and there, you +know, girls must marry if they are to be of any consequence in the +world. Let them get it into their heads; we can't change what is the +course of nature, as papa says." + +"Oh, Sophy! it is so unwomanly." + +"Never mind; when a man chuckles and jeers at me because I am unmarried, +I think it is unmanly; but they all do it, and no one finds any fault." + +"Not all surely; not near _all_." + +"Don't they? Not to our faces, perhaps; but whenever they write, +whenever they speak in public. When men are so mean, why should we train +girls up to unnatural high-mindedness? Why, that is the sort of girl who +ought to make a good marriage; to 'catch' somebody, or have somebody +'hooked' for her. She is pretty, and soft, and not very wise. I am doing +the very best thing in the world for her, when I laugh at love and all +that nonsense, and put a good match into her mind." + +Miss Dorset turned away with a sigh, and shook her head. It was all she +could do. To encounter Sophy in argument was beyond her power, and if it +had not been beyond her power, what would have been the good of it? +Sophy had a story which, unfortunately, most people knew. She had been +romantic, and she had been disappointed. Five or six years before, she +had been engaged to a clergyman, who, finding that the good living he +was waiting for in order to marry was not likely to come through Sir +Robert's influence, intimated to his betrothed his serious doubt whether +they were likely to be happy together, and broke off the engagement. He +married somebody else in six months, and Sophy was left to bear the +shame as she might. To be sure, a great many people were highly +indignant with him at the moment; his sin, however, was forgotten long +ago, so far as he was concerned; but nobody forgot that Sophy had been +jilted, and she did not forget it herself, which was worse. Therefore +Miss Dorset attempted no argument with her sister. She shook her gentle +head, and said nothing. Anne was the elder sister born, the +maiden-mother, who is a clearly defined type of humanity, though rare, +perhaps, like all the finer sorts. She resolved in her own mind to take +private means for the fortification and preservation of Ursula, whose +position, as elder sister of a motherless family, interested her +especially as being like her own; but Anne owned within herself that +she had never been so young as little Ursula May. + +Ursula, for her part, thought very little about the question which had +thus moved her cousins. She thought Mr. Clarence Copperhead was very +nice, and that if she had but known as many people, and had as many +partners as that young lady in black, she would have enjoyed the ball +very much. After all, now that it was over, she felt that she had +enjoyed it. Three dances were a great deal better than none at all, and +to have that pretty white frock given to her by Sir Robert was no small +matter. Besides, for in this as in other things the uses of adversity +are sometimes sweet, the pretty dress, which no doubt would have been +torn and crumpled had she danced much, was almost quite fresh now, and +would do very well at Carlingford if there should be any balls +there--events which happened occasionally, though Ursula had never been +lucky enough to go to any of them. And Cousin Sophy had given her a set +of Venetian beads and Cousin Anne a bracelet. This good fortune was +quite enough to fill her mind with satisfaction, and prevent any undue +meditation upon good matches or the attentions of Clarence Copperhead. +Ursula was as different as possible from Phoebe Beecham. She had no +pretensions to be intellectual. She preferred the company even of her +very smallest brothers and sisters to the conversation of her papa, +though he was known to be one of the most superior men in the diocese. +Even when her elder brother Reginald, of whom she was very fond, came +home from college, Ursula was more than indifferent to the privileged +position of elder sister, by which she was permitted to sit up and +assist at the talks which were carried on between him and his father. +Reginald was very clever too; he was making his own way at the +university by means of scholarships, the only way in which a son of Mr. +May's was likely to get to the university at all, and to hear him talk +with his father about Greek poetry and philosophy was a very fine thing +indeed; how Phoebe Beecham, if the chance had been hers, would have +prized it; but Ursula did not enjoy the privilege. She preferred a +pantomime, or the poorest performance in a theatre, or even Madame +Tussaud's exhibition. She preferred even to walk about the gay streets +with Miss Dorset's maid, and look into the shop-windows and speculate +what was going to be worn next season. Poor little girl! with such +innocent and frivolous tastes, it may be supposed she did not find her +position as elder sister and housekeeper a very congenial one. Her +father was no more than Incumbent of St. Roque, an old perpetual curacy +merged in a district church, which was a poor appointment for an +elderly man with a family; he was very clever and superior, but not a +man who got on, or who did much to help his children to get on; and had +Ursula been of the kind of those who suffer and deny themselves by +nature, she would have had her hands full, and abundant opportunity +afforded her to exercise those faculties. But she was not of this frame +of mind. She did what she was obliged to do as well as time and +opportunity permitted; but she did not throw herself with any enthusiasm +into her duties. To keep seven children in good condition and discipline +in a small house, on a small income, is more, it must be allowed, than +most girls of twenty are equal to; only enthusiasm and self-devotion +could make such a task possible, and these qualifications poor little +Ursula did not possess. Oh! how glad she was to get away from it all, +from having to think of Janey and Johnny, and Amy and little Robin. She +was not anxious about how things might be going on in her absence, as +kind Miss Dorset thought she must be. The happiness of escaping was +first and foremost in her thoughts. + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +SELF-DEVOTION. + + +"Mr. Copperhead's manner is not pleasant sometimes, that is quite true. +We must make allowances, my dear. Great wealth, you know, has its +temptations. You can't expect a man with so much money and so many +people under him to have the same consideration for other people's +feelings. He says to this man go and he goeth, and to that man come and +he cometh." + +"That is all very well," said Phoebe; "but he has no right, that I can +think of, to be rude to mamma and me." + +"He was not exactly rude, my dear," said Mrs. Beecham. "We must not say +he was rude. Clarence ought to have divided his attentions more equally, +we must admit, and his father was annoyed--for the moment. I have no +doubt he has forgotten all about it long ago, and will be as pleasant as +ever next time we meet." + +"I am quite sure of it," said the pastor, "and at the worst it was but +his manner--only his manner. In short, at the committee meeting +yesterday nothing could have been nicer. He went even out of his way to +send, as it were, a kind message to Phoebe. 'I needn't ask if Miss Phoebe +enjoyed herself,' he said. Depend upon it, my dear, if there was a +temporary annoyance it is both forgotten and forgiven, so far as Mr. +Copperhead is concerned." + +"Forgiven!" Phoebe said to herself; but she thought it wiser to say +nothing audible on the subject. Her father and mother, it was evident, +were both disposed to extend any amount of toleration to the leading +member. It was he who was the best judge as to what he had a right to be +annoyed about. The family party were in Mr. Beecham's study, where the +large bust of Mr. Copperhead stood on the mantelpiece, the chief +decoration. How could any one be so wicked as to rebel against the +influence of so great a personage? Phoebe had her own ideas, but she was +wise and kept them to herself. + +"And now," said Mrs. Beecham, solemnly, "what is to be done, my dear, +about this letter from my good papa?" + +Phoebe was standing in front of a book-case, apparently looking for a +book. She said nothing; but it was easy to perceive by the erectness of +her shoulders, and the slight movement that ran through her, that her +attention was fully engaged. + +"Ah, yes indeed, what about it?" the pastor said. He put down the pen, +which he had been holding in his hand by way of symbol that, amiable as +he was, his attention to his woman-kind was an encroachment upon time +which might be more usefully employed. But this was a serious question; +he had no suggestion to offer, but he sat and twiddled his thumbs, and +looked at his wife with interest suddenly aroused. + +"There is a great deal to be thought of," said Mrs. Beecham, "it is not +a simple matter of family devotion. Of course if I had no other ties, +nor other duties, everything would be easy. I should go at once to my +poor suffering mamma." + +Mrs. Beecham was a clever woman, but she had not been able to get it out +of her mind, owing to the imperfections of her education in youth, that +it was a vulgar thing to say father and mother. "But in the present +circumstances," she continued, her husband having given his assent to +this speech, "it is clear that I cannot do what I wish. I have you to +think of, my dear, and the children, and the duties of my position. On +the other hand, of course I could not wish, as poor mamma's only +daughter, to have my sister-in-law called in. She is not the kind of +person; she is underbred, uneducated. Of course she would be thinking of +her own children, and what would be best for them. My parents have done +all that ought to be expected from them for Tom. Considering all things, +what they have to dispose of ought to go to Phoebe and Tozer. But Mrs. +Tom would not see that." + +"It is very true, my dear; I don't suppose she would," said Mr. Beecham, +with an anxious air. + +"Mrs. Tom," said his wife, with some heat, "would think her own had the +first claim. She maintained it to my very face, and after that what have +we to expect? It's us that are Tozers," she said; "as for you, Phoebe, +you belong to another family. I put it in my own language of course, not +in her vulgar way." + +"It is a very serious question altogether," said the pastor, with some +solemnity. "I don't see how you can get away, and I don't know what is +to be done." + +"Whatever is to be done, I won't leave poor mamma in the hands of Mrs. +Tom," cries Mrs. Beecham, "not whatever it costs me. She's capable of +anything, that woman is. To have her in the same town is bad enough, but +in the same house nursing poor mamma! You and I would never see a penny +of the money, Henery, nor our children--not a penny! besides the +vexation of seeing one's own parents turned against one. I know very +well how it would be." + +Mr. Beecham ceased twiddling his thumbs. The crisis was too serious for +that indulgence. "The position is most difficult," he said, "I see it +all. It is easy to see it for that matter, but to decide what are we to +do is not easy. To go back to Carlingford after so many changes, would +it be good for you?" + +"It would kill me," said Mrs. Beecham, with energy, "you know it would +kill me. Envy drove us out, and envy would bring me to the grave. I +don't deceive myself, that is what I see before me, if I tear myself +from all my duties and go. But on the other hand----" + +"Listen, mamma!" cried Phoebe, turning round suddenly; "if grandmamma is +ill, and you are afraid to leave her alone, why not send me?" + +Both her parents turned towards Phoebe, as she spoke; they listened to +her with wonder and consternation, yet with admiring looks. Then they +looked at each other consulting, alarmed. "You!" said Mrs. Beecham, and +"You!" echoed the pastor, repeating in his great astonishment what his +wife said. + +"Yes, indeed, me--why not me? it would be only my duty," said Phoebe, +with great composure. "And there is nothing to keep me from going. I +almost think I should like it--but anyhow, mamma, if you think it +necessary, whether I like it or not--" + +"Phoebe, my darling, you are the best child in the world," cried her +mother, rising up, and going to her hastily. She gave her a kiss of +maternal enthusiasm, and then she looked at her husband. "But should we +take advantage of it?" she said. + +"You see, my dear," said Mr. Beecham, hesitating, "you might find many +things different from what you are used to. Your grandpapa Tozer is an +excellent man--a most excellent man--" + +"Yes, yes," said his wife, with some impatience. She was as conscious as +he was of the great elevation in the social scale that had occurred to +both of them since they left Carlingford, and knew as well as he did +that the old people had remained stationary, while the younger ones had +made such advances; but still she did not like to hear her husband +criticize her father. What there was to be said, she preferred to say +herself. "Yes, yes," she said, "Phoebe knows there is a difference; they +are old-fashioned folks, and don't live quite as we live. Some things +would strike you very strangely, my dear, some things you would not +like; and then Phoebe may be, for anything I can tell, at a turning-point +in her own life." + +"If you mean about the Copperheads, mamma, dismiss that from your mind," +said Phoebe. "There is no sort of hurry. We may be thrown together in +after-life, and of course no one can tell what may happen, but in the +mean time there is nothing of the sort in my mind--nor in any one +else's. Do not think of that for a moment. I am at no turning-point. I +am quite ready and quite willing to go wherever you please." + +Once more the parent pair looked at each other. They had been very +careful not to bring their children into contact, since they were +children, with the homelier circumstances of the life in which they +themselves had both taken their origin. They had managed this really +with great skill and discretion. Instead of visiting the Tozers at +Carlingford, they had appointed meetings at the sea-side, by means of +which the children were trained in affectionate acquaintance with their +grandparents, without any knowledge of the shop. And Mr. Tozer, who was +only a butterman at Carlingford, presented all the appearance of an old +Dissenting minister out of it--old-fashioned, not very refined perhaps, +as Mrs. Beecham allowed, but very kind, and the most doting of +grandfathers. The wisp of white neckcloth round his neck, and his black +coat, and a certain unction of manner all favoured the idea. +Theoretically, the young people knew it was not so, but the impression +on their imagination was to this effect. Mrs. Tozer was only +"grandmamma." She was kind too, and if rather gorgeous in the way of +ribbons, and dressing generally in a manner which Phoebe's taste +condemned, yet she came quite within the range of that affectionate +contempt with which youth tolerates the disadvantages of its seniors. +But the butterman's shop! and the entire cutting off from everything +superior to the grocers and poulterers of Carlingford--how would Phoebe +support it? This was what Mr. and Mrs. Beecham asked each other with +their eyes--and there was a pause. For the question was a tremendous +one, and neither knew in what way to reply. + +"Phoebe, you are a very sensible girl--" said her father at last, +faltering. + +"I beg your pardon, papa. I don't think you are treating me as if I were +sensible," said Phoebe. "I know well enough that grandpapa is in +business--if that is what you are afraid of--" + +"Has been in business," said Mrs. Beecham. "Your grandpapa has retired +for some time. To be sure," she added, turning to her husband, "it is +only Tom that has the business, and as I consider Mrs. Tom +objectionable, Phoebe need not be brought in contact--" + +"If Phoebe goes to Carlingford," said the pastor, "she must not be +disagreeable to any one. We must make up our minds to that. They must +not call her stuck up and proud." + +"Henery," said Mrs. Beecham, "I can put up with a great deal; but to +think of a child of mine being exposed to the tongues of those Browns +and Pigeons and Mrs. Tom, is more than I can bear. What I went through +myself, you never knew, nor any one breathing--the looks they gave me, +the things they kept saying, the little nods at one another every time I +passed! Was it my fault that I was better educated, and more refined +like, than they were? In Mr. Vincent's time, before you came, Henery, he +was a very gentleman-like young man, and he used to come to the ---- +High Street constantly to supper. It wasn't my doing. I never asked +him--no more than I did you!" + +"Your father used to ask me," said Mr. Beecham, doubtfully. "It was very +kind. A young pastor expects it in a new place; and a great many things +arise, there is no doubt, in that way." + +"Not by my doing," said the lady; "and when we were married, Henery, the +things I did to please them! Thank Heaven, they know the difference now; +but if they were to set themselves, as I could quite expect of them, +against my child--" + +"Mamma," said Phoebe, tranquilly, "I think you forget that it is me you +are talking of. I hope I know what a pastor's daughter owes to herself. +I have had my training. I don't think you need be frightened for me." + +"No; I think Phoebe could manage them if any one could," said her father, +complacently. + +She smiled with a gracious response to this approval. She had a book in +her hand, which of itself was a proof of Phoebe's pretensions. It was, I +think, one of the volumes of Mr. Stuart Mill's "Dissertations." Phoebe +was not above reading novels or other light literature, but this only in +the moments dedicated to amusement, and the present hour was morning, a +time not for amusement, but for work. + +"Phoebe don't know Carlingford, nor the folks there," said Mrs. Beecham, +flushed by the thought, and too much excited to think of the elegancies +of diction. She had suffered more than her husband had, and retained a +more forcible idea of the perils; and in the pause which ensued, all +these perils crowded into her mind. As her own ambition rose, she had +felt how dreadful it was to be shut in to one small circle of very small +folks. She had felt the injurious line of separation between the +shopkeepers and the rest of the world; at least she thought she had felt +it. As a matter of fact, I think it very doubtful whether Phoebe Tozer +had felt anything of the kind; but she thought so now; and then it was a +fact that she was born Phoebe Tozer, and was used to that life, whereas +Phoebe Beecham had no such knowledge. She had never been aware of the +limitations of a small Dissenting community in a small town, and though +she knew how much the Crescent congregation thought of a stray +millionnaire like Mr. Copperhead (a thing which seemed too natural to +Miss Beecham to leave any room for remark), her mother thought that it +might have a bad effect upon Phoebe's principles in every way, should she +find out the lowly place held by the connection in such an +old-fashioned, self-conceited, Tory town as Carlingford. What would +Phoebe think? how would she manage to associate with the Browns and the +Pigeons? Fortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Tozer had retired from the shop; but +the shop was still there, greasy and buttery as ever, and Mrs. Beecham's +own respected papa was still "the butterman." How would Phoebe bear it? +This was the uppermost thought in her mind. + +"You know, my darling," she said afterwards, when they had left the +study, and were seated, talking it over, in the drawing-room, "there +will be a great deal to put up with. I am silly; I don't like even to +hear your papa say anything about dear old grandpapa. He is my own, and +I ought to stand up for him; but even with grandpapa, you will have a +great deal to put up with. They don't understand our ways. They are +used to have things so different. They think differently, and they talk +differently. Even with your sense, Phoebe, you will find it hard to get +on." + +"I am not at all afraid, I assure you, mamma." + +"You are not afraid, because you don't know. I know, and I am afraid. +You know, we are not great people, Phoebe. I have always let you know +that--and that it is far finer to elevate yourself than to be born to a +good position. But when you see really the place which poor dear +grandpapa and grandmamma think so much of, I am sure I don't know what +you will say." + +"I shall not say much. I shall not say anything, mamma. I am not +prejudiced," said Phoebe. "So long as an occupation is honest and +honourable, and you can do your duty in it, what does it matter? One +kind of work is just as good as another. It is the spirit in which it is +done." + +"Oh, honest!" said Mrs. Beecham, half relieved, half affronted. "Of +course, it was all that. Nothing else would have answered papa. Your +uncle Tom has the--business now. You need not go there, my dear, unless +you like. I am not fond of Mrs. Tom. We were always, so to speak, above +our station; but she is not at all above it. She is just adapted for it; +and I don't think she would suit you in the least. So except just for a +formal call, I don't think you need go there, and even that only if +grandmamma can spare you. You must be civil to everybody, I suppose; but +you need not go further; they are not society for you. You will hear +people talk of me by my Christian name, as if we were most intimate; but +don't believe it, Phoebe. I always felt aspirations towards a very +different kind of life." + +"Oh, don't be afraid, mamma," said Phoebe, calmly; "I shall be able to +keep them at a distance. You need not fear." + +"Yes, my dear," said the anxious mother; "but not too much at a distance +either. That is just what is so difficult. If they can find an excuse +for saying that my child is stuck up! Oh! nothing would please them more +than to be able to find out something against my child. When you have +apparently belonged to that low level, and then have risen," said Mrs. +Beecham, with a hot colour on her cheek, "there is nothing these kind of +people will not say." + +These conversations raised a great deal of thought in Phoebe's mind; but +they did not change her resolution. If it was necessary that some one +should go to look after her grandmamma, and keep all those vulgar people +at bay, and show to the admiring world what a Dissenting minister's +daughter could be, and what a dutiful daughter was, then who so fit as +herself to be the example? This gave her even a certain tragical sense +of heroism, which was exhilarating, though serious. She thought of what +she would have to "put up with," as of something much more solemn than +the reality; more solemn, but alas! not so troublesome. Phoebe felt +herself something like a Joan of Arc as she packed her clothes and made +her preparations. She was going among barbarians, a set of people who +would not understand her, probably, and whom she would have to "put up +with." But what of that? Strong in a sense of duty, and superior to all +lesser inducements, she felt herself able to triumph. Mrs. Beecham +assisted with very divided feelings at the preparations. It was on her +lips to say, "Never mind the evening dresses; you will not want them." +But then the thought occurred to her that to let the Carlingford folks +see what her daughter had been used to, even if she had no use for such +things, would be sweet. + +"No, Henery; she shall take them all," she said to her husband. "They +shall see the kind of society my child is in; very different from their +trumpery little teas! They shall see that you and I, we grudge nothing +for Phoebe--and I dare be sworn there is not one of them like her, not +even among the quality! I mean," said Mrs. Beecham, hastily, with a +flush of distress at her own failure in gentility, "among those who +think themselves better than we are. But Phoebe will let them see what a +pastor's family is out of their dirty little town. She will bring them +to their senses. Though I hesitated at first when it was spoken of, I am +very glad now." + +"Yes; Phoebe is a girl to find her level anywhere," said the pastor, +complacently. And they forgot what she would have to put up with in +their satisfaction and admiration for herself. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +A MORNING CALL. + + +Sir Robert Dorset and his daughter called, as in duty bound, upon their +relation two days after her ball. "You had better come with us, Ursula," +said Miss Dorset. "Sophy does not care about visits, and Mrs. Copperhead +asked a great many questions about you. She is very tender-hearted to +the ---- young." Anne had almost said to the poor, for it is difficult +to remember always that the qualifications by which we distinguish our +friends when they are not present, are not always satisfactory to their +own ears. "She was like you once, you know," she added, half +apologetically. Ursula, who was not in the least disposed to take +offence, did not ask how, but assented, as she would have assented had +Cousin Anne told her to get ready to go to the moon. She went upstairs +and put on her little felt hat, which had been made handsome by the long +drooping feather bestowed upon her by Sophy, and the blue serge jacket +which corresponded with her dress. She had not any great opinion of her +own good looks, but she hoped that she was "lady-like," notwithstanding +the simplicity of her costume. This was her only aspiration. In her +heart she admired the tall straight angular kind of beauty possessed by +her cousins, and did not think much of her own roundness and softness, +which seemed to Ursula a very inferior "style;" but yet if she looked +lady-like that was always something, and both Sir Robert and his +daughter looked at her approvingly as she stood buttoning her gloves, +waiting for them. + +"If there are other city gentlemen there mind you make yourself very +agreeable, Ursula," said Cousin Sophy, which vexed the girl a little. +Whether the people were city gentlemen or not, of course, she said to +herself, she would try to be _nice_--was not that a girl's first duty? +She tried for her part to be _nice_ to everybody, to talk when she +could, and receive the recompense of pleased looks. To walk with her +friends up the long line of Regent Street, with many a sidelong glance +into the shop-windows, was very pleasant to Ursula. Sometimes even +Cousin Anne would be tempted to stop and look, and point things out to +her father. Unfortunately, the things Miss Dorset remarked were chiefly +handsome pieces of furniture, beautiful carpets, and the like, which +were totally out of Ursula's way. + +"There is just the kind of carpet I want for the drawing-room," Anne +said, looking at something so splendid that Ursula thought it was good +enough for the Queen. But Sir Robert shook his head. + +"The drawing-room carpet will do very well," he said. "It will last out +my day, and your brother will prefer to please himself." + +This brought a little cloud upon Anne Dorset's placid face, for she too, +like Mr. Beecham, had a brother whose wife it was not agreeable to think +of as mistress in the old house. She went on quickly after that looking +in at no more shops. Perhaps she who could buy everything she wanted (as +Ursula thought) had on the whole more painful feelings in looking at +them, than had the little girl beside her, whose whole thoughts were +occupied by the question whether she would have enough money left to buy +her sister Janey one of those new neckties which were "the fashion." +Janey did not often get anything that was the fashion. But at any rate +Ursula made notes and laid up a great many things in her mind to tell +Janey of--which would be next best. + +Mrs. Copperhead was seated in a corner of her vast drawing-room when her +visitors arrived, and her pale little countenance brightened at sight of +them. They were the nearest approach to "her own people" that the poor +soul possessed. She received their compliments upon her ball with +deprecating looks. + +"I am sure you are very good--very good to say so. I am afraid it was +not much amusement to you. They were not the kind of people--" + +"I scarcely knew a soul," said Sir Robert; "it was a curious sensation. +It does one good now and then to have a sensation like that. It shows +you that after all you are not such a fine fellow as you thought +yourself. Once before I experienced something of the same feeling. It +was at a ball at the Tuileries--but even then, after a while, I found +English people I knew, though I didn't know the French grandees; but, by +Jove! except yourself and Mr. Copperhead, Clara, I knew nobody here." + +Mrs. Copperhead felt the implied censure more than she was intended to +feel it. + +"Mr. Copperhead does not care about cultivating fashionable people," she +said, with a little spirit. "He prefers his old friends." + +"That is very nice of him," cried Anne, "so much the kindest way. I +liked it so much. At most balls we go to, people come and ask me to +dance for duty, pretending not to see that my dancing days are over." + +"She talks nonsense," said Sir Robert. "Clara, I must trust to you to +put this notion out of Anne's head. Why should her dancing days be over? +I am not a Methuselah, I hope. She has no right to shelve herself so +early, has she? I hope to see her make a good match before I die." + +"So long as she is happy--" said Mrs. Copperhead, faltering. She was not +any advocate for good matches. "Oh, there is Mr. Copperhead!" she added, +with a little start, as a resounding knock was heard. "He does not often +come home so early; he will be very glad to see you, Sir Robert. Are you +going to stay long in town, Miss May?" + +"Not long, only till the children arrive," said Anne, looking +compassionately at the rich man's nervous wife. She had been quiet +enough, so long as she was alone. Now a little fever seemed to be +awakened in her. She turned to Ursula and began to talk to her quickly-- + +"Do you like being in town? It is not a good time of the year. It is +nicer in May, when everything looks cheerful; but I always live in +London. You will come back for the season, I suppose?" + +"Oh no," said Ursula. "I never was in London before. Cousin Anne brought +me for a great pleasure. I have been twice to the theatre, and at the +ball here." + +"Oh yes, I forgot, you were at the ball--and you danced, did you dance? +I cannot remember. There were so many people. Oh yes, I recollect. I +spoke to Clarence--" + +"I danced three times," said Ursula. "I never was at a ball before. It +was very nice. Mr. Copperhead was so kind--" + +"What is that about Mr. Copperhead being kind? Was I kind? I am always +kind--ask my wife, she will give me a good character," said the master +of the house, coming up to them. "Ah, the Baronet! how do you do, Sir +Robert? I don't often see you in my house." + +"You saw us the other evening," said Sir Robert, courteously, "and we +have just come, Anne and I, to let Clara know how much we enjoyed +it. It was really splendid. I don't know when I have seen so +much--um--luxury--so great a display of--of--beautiful things--and--and +wealth." + +"Glad to hear you were pleased," said Mr. Copperhead, "no expense was +spared at least. I don't often throw away my money in that way, but when +I do I like things to be regardless of expense. That is our way in the +city; other people have to make a deal of gentility go a long way, but +with us, who don't stand on our gentility--" + +"It is not much to stand upon, certainly, in the way of giving balls," +said Sir Robert. "I quite agree with you that money should not be spared +when a good effect is to be produced. Anne, my dear, if you have said +all you have to say to Clara, you must recollect that we have a great +deal to do--" + +"You are not going the moment I come in," said Mr. Copperhead. "Come, we +must have some tea or something. Not that I care very much for tea, but +I suppose you'll be shocked if I offer you anything else in the +afternoon. Haven't you ordered tea, Mrs. Copperhead? I can't teach my +wife hospitality, Sir Robert--not as I understand it. She'd see you come +and go a dozen times, I'll be bound, without once thinking of offering +anything. That ain't my way. Tea! and directly, do you hear." + +"Yes," said Mrs. Copperhead, in a nervous tremor; "bring tea, Burton, +please. It is rather early, but I do so hope you will stay." She gave +Miss Dorset an appealing glance, and Anne was too kind to resist the +appeal. + +"To be sure they'll stay," said Mr. Copperhead. "Ladies never say no to +a cup of tea, and ours ought to be good if there's any virtue in money. +Come and look at my Turner, Sir Robert. I ain't a judge of art, but it +cost a precious lot, if that is any test. They tell me it's one of the +best specimens going. Come this way." + +"You won't mind?" said poor Mrs. Copperhead. "He is very hospitable, he +cannot bear that any one should go without taking something. It is +old-fashioned, but then Mr. Copperhead--" + +"It is a most kind fashion, I think," said Anne Dorset, who had a +superstitious regard for other people's feelings, "and Mr. Copperhead is +quite right, I never say no to a cup of tea." + +Just then Clarence came in with his hands in his pockets, so curiously +like his father in his large somewhat loose figure, as unlike him in +aspect and expression, that even the gentle Anne could scarcely help +smiling. When he had shaken hands with Miss Dorset he dropped naturally +into a seat beside Ursula, who, dazzled by his position as son of the +house, and flattered by what she called his "kindness," was as much +pleased by this sign of preference as if Clarence Copperhead had been a +hero. + +"I hope you have recovered my father's ball," he said. + +"Recovered! Mr. Copperhead." + +"Yes, you think it uncivil; but I myself have scarcely recovered yet. +The sort of people he chose to collect--people whom nobody knew." + +"But, Mr. Copperhead," said Ursula, "if it was his old friends, as your +mother says, how much more noble of him than if they had been fine +people he did not care for! As for me, I don't know any one anywhere. It +was all the same to me." + +"That was very lucky for you," said the young man. "My good cousins did +not take it so easily. They are your cousins, too?" + +"Oh, yes--they are so good," cried Ursula. "Cousin Sophy laughs at me +sometimes, but Cousin Anne is as kind as an angel. They have always been +good to us all our lives." + +"You live near them, perhaps? Sir Robert has been kind enough to ask me +to the Hall." + +"No, not near. We live at Carlingford. It is not a place like the +Dorsets'; it is a poor little town where papa is one of the clergymen. +We are not county people like them," said Ursula, with anxious honesty, +that he might not have a false idea of her pretensions. "I have never +been anywhere all my life, and that is why they brought me here. It was +by far the most beautiful party I ever saw," she added, with a little +enthusiasm. "I never was at a real dance before." + +"I am glad you thought it pretty," said Clarence. "I suppose it was +pretty; when the rooms are nice," and he looked round the handsome room, +not without a little complacency, "and when there is plenty of light and +flowers, and well-dressed people, I suppose no dance can help being a +pretty sight. That was about all. There was no one worth pointing out." + +"Oh, there were some very pretty people," said Ursula; "there was a +young lady in black. She was always dancing. I should have liked to know +her. You danced with her a great many times, Mr. Copperhead." + +"Ah!" said Clarence. He was not more foolish than his neighbours, but it +flattered him that his dancing with one person should have been noticed, +especially by a pretty creature, who herself had attracted him and +shared the privilege. "That was Miss Beecham. I did not dance with her +above three or four times. Of course," he said, apologetically, "we are +old friends." + +Ursula did not know why he should apologize. She did not intend to +flirt, not having any knowledge of that pastime as yet. She was quite +simple in her mention of the other girl, who had attracted her +attention. Now having said all she could remember to say, she stopped +talking, and her eyes turned to the elder Mr. Copperhead, who came back, +followed by Sir Robert. There was a largeness about the rich man, which +Ursula, not used to rich men, gazed at with surprise. He seemed to +expand himself upon the air, and spread out his large person, as she had +never known any one else do. And Sir Robert, following him, looked so +strangely different. He was very reluctant to be so led about, and, as +it were, patronized by the master of the house, and his repugnance took +a curious form. His nose was slightly drawn up, as if an odour of +something disagreeable had reached him. Ursula, in her innocence, +wondered what it was. + +"Here's the Baronet, Clarence," said Mr. Copperhead, who was slightly +flushed; "and he doubts the Turner being genuine. My Turner! Go off at +once to those picture people, Christie, whatever you call them, and tell +them I want proofs that it's genuine. I am not the sort of man, by +George! to be cheated, and they ought to know that. They have had many a +hundred pounds of my money, but they shall never have another penny if I +don't get proofs. It ain't pleasant, I can tell you, to hear the +Baronet, or any one else for that matter, running down my pictures." + +"I did not run it down," said Sir Robert, with another little curl of +his nostrils. (What could there be in this grand big house that could +make a disagreeable smell?) "I only said that I had seen copies that +were so wonderfully good that none but an expert could tell the +difference; that was all. I don't say that yours is one of them." + +"No; nor no one shall!" cried Mr. Copperhead. "We shall have the +experts, as you call them, and settle it. By George! there shall be +nothing uncertain in my house. You can tell the men it is Sir Robert +Dorset who suggested it. There's nothing like a title (even when it +isn't much of a title) to keep people up to their work. Not meaning any +disrespect to Sir Robert, I could buy him and his up five times over. +But I ain't Sir Robert, and never will be. Say Sir Robert, Clarence, my +boy; that'll bear weight." + +"It was an unfortunate observation on my part," said Sir Robert, +stiffly. "I have a picture myself, which I bought for a Correggio, and +which is a mere copy, I believe, though a very nice one. I hold my +tongue on the subject, and nobody is the wiser. Anne, my dear, I think +we must go now." + +"That would never suit me," said the rich man; "holding my tongue ain't +my way, is it, Mrs. Copperhead? What! going, after all, without your +tea? I am afraid, ma'am, the Baronet is touchy, and doesn't like what I +said. But nobody minds me, I assure you. I say what I think, but I don't +mean any harm." + +"Oh, no," said Anne, drawing herself up, while her father took leave of +poor little tremulous Mrs. Copperhead. "We really must go; we have +stayed longer than we meant to stay. Ursula--" + +"Your little companion?" said Mr. Copperhead. "Ah; you should take care, +Miss Dorset, of these little persons. They stand in the way of the young +ladies themselves often enough, I can tell you. And so can Mrs. +Copperhead; she knows." + +He laughed, and both Anne and Ursula became aware that something +offensive was meant; but what it was, neither of them could make out. +Mrs. Copperhead, whose intelligence had been quickened on that point, +perceived it, and trembled more and more. + +"Good-bye, dear," she said to Ursula in an agony. "Though we are not +cousins, we are connections, through your kind Cousin Anne; for she lets +me call her my Cousin Anne too. Perhaps you will come and pay me a visit +sometimes, if--if you can be spared." + +"Oh, yes; I should be very glad," said Ursula, confused. + +She did not understand why Sir Robert should be in such a hurry, when +both young Mr. Copperhead and his mother were so kind. As for the other +Mr. Copperhead, he did not interest Ursula. But he went down to the door +with them in an excess of civility, offering Anne his arm, which she was +obliged to take, much against her will; and even Ursula felt a passing +pang of humiliation when the footman threw open the great door before +them, and no carriage was visible. + +"Oh, you are walking!" said Mr. Copperhead, with one of his big laughs. + +After all, a laugh could hurt nobody. Why was it that they all felt +irritated and injured? Even Sir Robert grew scarlet, and when they were +outside on the broad pavement turned almost angrily upon his daughter. + +"I tell you what, Anne," he said; "not if it was to save my life, shall +I ever enter that brute's doors again." + +"Oh, papa; poor Mrs. Copperhead!" cried kind Anne, with a wail in her +voice. That was all the reply she made. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +SHOPPING. + + +Next day a telegram came from Southampton, announcing the arrival of the +little Dorsets, which Ursula rejoiced over with the rest, yet was +dreadfully sorry for in her heart. "Now we shall be able to get home," +the sisters said, and she did her best to smile; but to say that she was +glad to leave London, with all its delights, the bright streets and the +shop-windows, and the theatres, and the excitement of being "on a +visit," would be a great deal more than the truth. She was glad, +sympathetically, and to please the others; but for herself, her heart +fell. It was still winter, and winter is not lively in Carlingford; and +there was a great deal to do at home, and many things "to put up with." +To be sure, that was her duty, this was only her pleasure; but at +twenty, pleasure is so much more pleasant than duty. Ursula did not at +all rebel, nor did she make painful contrasts in her mind, as so many +young people do; asking why are others so well off, and I so badly off? +but her heart sank. All the mendings, all the keepings in order, the +dinners to be invented with a due regard for the butcher's bill, the +tradespeople to be kept in good humour, the servant to be managed, and +papa, who was more difficult than the servant, and more troublesome than +the children! If Ursula sighed over the prospect, I don't think the +severest of recording angels would put a very bad mark against her. She +had been free of all this for ten wonderful days. No torn frocks, no +unpleasant baker, no hole in the carpet, no spoiled mutton-chops, had +disturbed her repose. All these troubles, no doubt, were going on as +usual at home, and Janey and the maid were struggling with them as best +they could. Had Ursula been very high-minded and given up to her duty, +no doubt she would have been too much moved by the thought of what her +young sister might be enduring in her absence, to get the good of her +holiday; but I fear this was not how she felt it. Janey, no doubt, would +get through somehow; and it was very sweet to escape for ever so short a +time, and have a real rest. Therefore, it must be allowed that, when +Ursula went to her bed-room after this news arrived, she relieved +herself by "a good cry." Two or three days longer, what difference could +that have made to those children? But after her headache was relieved in +this way, the cloud dispersed a little. The thought of all she had to +tell Janey consoled her. She counted over the spare contents of her +purse, and calculated that, after all, she would have enough to buy the +necktie; and she had all her presents to exhibit; the ball-dress, that +unhoped-for acquisition; the Venetian beads; the bracelet, "Which is +really good--_good_ gold; fancy!" said Ursula to herself, weighing it in +her hand. How Janey would be interested, how she would be dazzled! There +was a great deal of consolation in this thought. In the afternoon her +cousins took her out "shopping," an occupation which all young girls and +women like. They bought a great many things "for the spring," and "for +the children," while Ursula looked on with admiration. To be able to buy +things three months in advance, three months before they could possibly +be wanted, what luxury! and yet the Dorsets were not rich, or so, at +least, people said. + +"Now, Ursula," said Cousin Anne, "we have made all our purchases. +Suppose you choose frocks for the children at home." + +"Oh, me?" cried poor Ursula, forgetting grammar. She blushed very red, +and looked, not without indignation, into Anne Dorset's mild eyes. "You +know I have not any money; you know we can't afford it!" she cried, with +starting tears. + +"But I can," said Cousin Anne; "at least, I have some money just now. +Money always goes, whether one buys things or not," she added, with a +little sigh. "It runs through one's fingers. When one has something to +show for it, that is always a satisfaction. Come, this would be pretty +for little Amy; but it is you who must choose." + +"But, Cousin Anne! Dresses! If it was a necktie or a ribbon; but +frocks--" + +"Frocks would be most useful, wouldn't they? One for Amy, and one for +Janey. I suppose Robin does not wear frocks now?" + +"He has been in knickerbockers these two years," said Ursula, half +proud, half sorry; "and the worst of it is, they can't be made at home. +Papa says, boys' clothes made at home are always spoiled, and the tailor +is so dear. Oh, Cousin Anne, are you really, really going to be so very, +very good--!" + +Mrs. Copperhead came into the shop while they were choosing. Poor little +woman! she who trembled so in her own house, how everybody bowed down +before her at Messrs. Margrove and Snelcher's! It was all she could do +to extricate herself from a crowd of anxious officials, all eager to +supply her with everything that heart could desire, when she saw the +little party. She came up to them, almost running in her eagerness, her +small pale face flushed, and leaned on Anne Dorset's chair and whispered +to her. + +"You will not be angry, dear kind Anne. You are always so good to +everybody. Oh, forgive me! forgive me!" + +Ursula could not help hearing what she said. + +"There is nothing to forgive _you_, Mrs. Copperhead." + +"Oh, dear Anne! But I am more than myself, you know! He does not mean +it; he never was brought up to know better. He thinks that is how people +behave--" + +"Please don't say anything, dear Mrs. Copperhead." + +"Not if you will forgive--not if you will promise to forgive. Poor +Clarence is heart-broken!" cried the poor woman. "He is so frightened +for what you must think." + +"We don't think anything," said Sophy, breaking in; "it is one of our +good qualities as a family that we never think. Come and help us; we are +choosing frocks for Ursula's sisters. She has two. What are their ages, +Ursula? You, who live in town, and know the fashions, come and help us +to choose." + +And how respectful all the shopmen grew when the nameless country party +was joined by the great Mrs. Copperhead--or rather the great Mr. +Copperhead's wife, at whose command was unlimited credit, and all the +contents of the shop if she chose. One hurried forward to give her a +chair, and quite a grand personage, a "head man," came from another +counter to take the charge of pleasing such a customer. Ursula could not +but look upon the whole transaction with awe. Mrs. Copperhead was a very +humble, timid woman, and Mr. Copperhead was not nice; but it was +something to command the reverence of all the people in such a grand +shop--a shop which Ursula by herself would scarcely have ventured to +enter, and in which she felt timid and overwhelmed, saying, "Sir" to the +gentleman who was so good as to ask what she wanted. But here Mrs. +Copperhead was not afraid. She gave herself up with her whole heart to +the delightful perplexity of choice, and when that matter was settled, +looked round with searching eyes. + +"Don't they want something else?" she said, "it is so long since I have +bought any children's things. It reminds me of the days when Clarence +was little, when I took such pride in his dress. Come with me into the +cloak room, my dear, I am sure they must want jackets or something." + +Ursula resisted with pitiful looks at Cousin Anne, and Sophy whispered +into Mrs. Copperhead's ear an explanation, which, instead of quenching +her ardour, brought it up instantly to boiling point. Her pale little +languid countenance glowed and shone. She took both Ursula's hands in +hers, half smiling, half crying. + +"Oh, my dear," she said, "you can give me such a pleasure, if you will! +You know we are connections, almost relations. Let me send them +something. Dear children, I wish I could see them. Come and look at the +little jackets and mantles. I have often thought, if Providence had +given me a little girl, what pleasure I should have had in dressing her. +Hats too! I am sure they must want hats. Come, my dear, come and look at +them." Ursula did not know what to do. A little pride and a great deal +of shyness kept her back, but Mrs. Copperhead was too much in earnest to +be crossed. She bought a couple of very smart little upper garments for +Amy and Janey, and then, clandestinely taking no one into her +confidence, for Ursula herself, and gave secret orders to have them all +sent to the Dorsets' lodgings that night. She was quite transformed so +long as this transaction lasted. Her languid countenance grew bright, +her pale eyes lighted up. + +"You have given me such a pleasure," she said, holding Ursula's hands, +and standing up on tip-toe to kiss her. "I am so much obliged to you. I +could almost think that Clarence was little again, or that he had got a +little sister, which was always my heart's desire. Ah, well! often, +often, it seems better for us not to have our heart's desire, my dear; +at least I suppose that is how it must be." + +"I do not know how to thank you," said Ursula, "you have been so +kind--so very kind." + +"I have been kind to myself," said Mrs. Copperhead, "I have so enjoyed +it; and, my dear," she added, with some solemnity, still holding Ursula +by the hands, "promise you will do me one favour more. It will be such a +favour. Whenever you want anything for yourself or your sister will you +write to me? I am always in London except in autumn, and I should so +like to do your commissions. People who live in London know how to get +bargains, my dear. You must promise to let me do them for you. It will +make me so happy. Promise!" cried the little woman, quite bright in her +excitement. Ursula looked at the two others who were looking on, and did +not know what to say. + +"She thinks you are too expensive an agent for her," said Sophy Dorset, +"and I think so too." + +Mrs. Copperhead's face faded out of its pleasant glow. + +"There are two things I have a great deal too much of," she said, "money +and time. I am never so happy as when I am buying things for children, +and I can see that she will trust me--won't you, my dear? Must we say +good-bye now? Couldn't I take you anywhere? Look at that big carriage, +all for me alone, a little light woman. Let me take you somewhere. No! +Ah, Cousin Anne, you have not forgiven us for all you said." + +"We have some other things to do," said Anne, drawing back. As for +Ursula, she would not at all have objected to the splendour of the +carriage. And her heart was melted by the lonely little woman's pathetic +looks. But the other ladies stood out. They stood by while poor Mrs. +Copperhead got into the carriage and drove off, her pale reproachful +little face looking at them wistfully from the window. It was afternoon +by this time, getting dark, and it was a tolerably long walk along the +lighted, crowded streets. + +"Cousin Anne, I am afraid we have hurt her feelings," said Ursula; "why +wouldn't you go?" + +"Go!" cried mild Anne Dorset; "get into that man's carriage after +yesterday? Not for the world! I can put up with a great deal, but I +can't go so far as that." + +"She never did any harm," said Sophy, "poor little soul! You see now, +Ursula, don't you, how fine it is to marry a rich man, and have +everything that your heart can desire?" + +Ursula looked at her wondering. To tell the truth, Mrs. Copperhead's +eagerness to buy everything she could think of for the unknown children +at Carlingford, the manner with which she was regarded in the great +shop, her lavish liberality, her beautiful carriage, and all the fine +things about her, had brought Ursula to this very thought, that it was +extremely fine to marry a rich man. Sophy's irony was lost upon her +simple-minded cousin, and so indeed was Mrs. Copperhead's pathos. That +she was very kind, and that she was not very happy, were both apparent, +but Ursula did not connect the unhappiness with the fact that she was a +rich man's wife. Mr. Copperhead certainly was not very _nice_; but when +people got so old as that, they never were very happy, Ursula thought, +and what had the money to do with it? She looked confused and puzzled at +Sophy, wondering what she meant. Yes, indeed, to marry a rich man, to be +able to buy presents for everyone, to make the children at home +perfectly happy without any trouble to one's self! Could any one doubt +that it was very nice? Alas! Ursula did not think it at all likely that +this would ever be in her power. + +"Poor Mrs. Copperhead!" said Anne, as they made their way along the +crowded street, where it was difficult for them to walk together, much +less to maintain any conversation. And presently Ursula, keeping as +close as possible to her cousin's side, but compelled to make way +continually for other passers-by, lost herself in a maze of fancies, to +which the misty afternoon atmosphere, and the twinkling lights, and the +quickly passing crowds lent a confused but not unpleasing background. +She was glad that the noise made all talk impossible, and that she could +dream on quietly as they glided and pressed their way through the +current of people in Oxford Street and Regent Street, as undisturbed as +if she had been shut up in her own room--nay, more so--for the external +sights and sounds which flitted vaguely by her, disguised those dreams +even from herself. Mrs. Copperhead had once been poorer than she was, a +poor little governess. What if somewhere about, in some beautiful house, +with just such a carriage at the door, a beautiful young hero should be +waiting who would give all those dazzling delights to Ursula? Then what +frocks she would buy, what toys, what ornaments! She would not stop at +the girls, but drive to the best tailor's boldly, and bid him send down +some one to take Johnnie's measure, and Robin's, and even Reginald's; +and then she would go to the toy-shop, and to the bookseller, and I +can't tell where besides; and finally drive down in the fairy chariot +laden with everything that was delightful, to the very door. She would +not go in any vulgar railway. She would keep everything in her own +possession, and give each present with her own hands--a crowning delight +which was impossible to Mrs. Copperhead--and how clearly she seemed to +see herself drawing up, with panting horses, high-stepping and splendid, +to the dull door of the poor parsonage, where scarcely anything better +than a pony-carriage ever came! How the children would rush to the +window, and "even papa," out of his study; and what a commotion would +run through Grange Lane, and even up into the High Street, where the +butcher and the baker would remember with a shiver how saucy they had +sometimes been--when they saw what a great lady she was. + +A dreamy smile hovered upon Ursula's face as she saw all the little +scenes of this little drama, mixed up with gleams of the shop-windows, +and noises of the streets, and great ghosts of passing omnibuses, and +horses steaming in the frosty air. How many girls, like her, go dreaming +about the prosaic streets? It was not, perhaps, a very elevated or +heroic dream, but the visionary chariot full of fine things for the +children, was better than Cinderella's pumpkin carriage, or many another +chariot of romance. Her cousins, who were so much her elders, and who +shuddered in their very souls at the thought of poor Mrs. Copperhead, +and who were talking earnestly about the children they expected next +morning, and what was to be done with them, had no clue to Ursula's +thoughts. They did not think much of them, one way or another, but took +great care not to lose her from their side, and that she should not be +frightened by the crowding, which, after all, was the great matter. And +they were very glad to get back to the comparative quiet of Suffolk +Street, and to take off their bonnets and take their cup of tea. But +Ursula, for her part, was sorry when the walk was over. She had enjoyed +it so much. It was half Regent Street and half Carlingford, with the +pleasure of both mixed up together; and she was half little Ursula May +with her head in the air, and half that very great lady in the +dream-chariot, who had it in her power to make everybody so happy. +Between poor Mrs. Copperhead, who was the most miserable, frightened +little slave in the world, with nothing, as she said, but time and +money, and Ursula without a penny, and who always had so much to do, +what a gulf there was! a gulf, however, which fancy could bridge over so +easily. But the dream was broken when she got indoors; not even the +quiet of her own little room could bring back in all their glory the +disturbed images that had floated before her in the street. + +This was Ursula's last day in town, and there can be no doubt that it +was of a nature, without any aid from Sophy's suggestion, to put a great +many ideas into her mind. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +THE DORSETS. + + +Next day the little Dorsets came, an odd little pair of shivering +babies, with a still more shivering Ayah. It was the failing health of +the little exotic creatures, endangered by their English blood, though +they had never seen England, and talked nothing but Hindostanee, which +had brought them "home" at this inhospitable time of the year; and to +get the rooms warm enough for them became the entire thought of the +anxious aunts, who contemplated these wan babies with a curious mixture +of emotions, anxious to be "very fond" of them, yet feeling difficulties +in the way. They were very white, as Indian children so often are, with +big blue veins meandering over them, distinct as if traced with colour. +They were frightened by all the novelty round them, and the strange +faces, whose very anxiety increased their alarming aspect; they did not +understand more than a few words of English, and shrank back in a little +heap, leaning against their dark nurse, and clinging to her when their +new relations made overtures of kindness. Children are less easily +conciliated in real life than superficial observers suppose. The +obstinate resistance they made to all Anne Dorset's attempts to win +their confidence, was enough to have discouraged the most patient, and +poor Anne cried over her failure when those atoms of humanity, so +strangely individual and distinct in their utter weakness, helplessness, +and dependence, were carried off to bed, gazing distrustfully at her +still with big blue eyes; creatures whom any moderately strong hand +could have crushed like flies, but whose little minds not all the power +on earth could command or move. Strange contrast! Anne cried when they +were carried off to bed. Sir Robert had escaped from the hot room, which +stifled him, long before; and Sophy, half angry in spite of herself, +had made up her mind to "take no notice of the little wretches." + +"Fancy!" she said; "shrinking at Anne--Anne, of all people in the world! +There is not a little puppy or kitten but knows better. Little +disagreeable things! Oh, love them! Why should I love them? They are +John's children, I believe; but they are not a bit like him; they must +be like their mother. I don't see, for my part, what there is in them to +love." + +"Oh, much, Sophy," said Anne, drying her eyes; "they are our own flesh +and blood." + +"I suppose so. They are certainly Mrs. John's flesh and blood; at least, +they are not a bit like us, and I cannot love them for being like her, +can I?--whom I never saw?" + +The illogicality of this curious argument did not strike Anne. + +"I hope they will get to like us," she said. "Poor little darlings! +everything strange about them, new faces and places. I don't wonder that +they are frightened, and cry when any one comes near them. We must trust +to time. If they only knew how I want to love them, to pet them--" + +"I am going to help little Ursula with her packing," said Sophy hastily; +and she hurried to Ursula's room, where all was in disorder, and threw +herself down in a chair by the fire, "Anne is too good to live," she +cried. "She makes me angry with her goodness. Little white-faced things +like nobody I know of, certainly not like our family, shrinking away and +clinging to that black woman as if Anne was an ogre--_Anne!_ why, a +little dog knows better--as I said before." + +"I don't think they are very pretty children," said Ursula, not knowing +how to reply. + +"Why should we be supposed to be fond of them?" said Sophy, who was +relieving her own mind, not expecting any help from Ursula. "The whole +question of children is one that puzzles me; a little helpless wax image +that does not know you, that can't respond to you, and won't perhaps +when it can; that has nothing interesting in it, that is not amusing +like a kitten, or even pretty. Well! let us suppose the people it +belongs to like it by instinct--but the rest of the world--" + +"Oh, Cousin Sophy!" cried Ursula, her eyes round with alarm and horror. + +"You think I ought to be fond of them because they are my brother's +children? We are not always very fond even of our brothers, Ursula. +Don't scream; at your age it is different; but when they marry and have +separate interests--if these mites go on looking at me with those big +scared eyes as if they expected me to box their ears, I shall do it some +day--I know I shall; instead of going on my knees to them, like Anne, +to curry favour. If they had been like our family, why, that would have +been some attraction. Are you pleased to go home, or would you prefer to +stay here?" + +"In London?" said Ursula, with a long-drawn breath, her hands +involuntarily clasping each other. "Oh! I hope you won't think me very +silly, but I do like London. Yes, I am pleased--I have so many presents +to take to them, thanks to you and to Cousin Anne, and to Mrs. +Copperhead. I am ashamed to be carrying away so much. But Carlingford is +not like London," she added, with a sigh. + +"No, it is a pretty soft friendly country place, not a great +cold-hearted wilderness." + +"Oh, Cousin Sophy!" + +"My poor little innocent girl! Don't you think it is desolate and +cold-hearted, this great sea of people who none of them care one straw +for you?" + +"I have seen nothing but kindness," said Ursula, with a little heat of +virtuous indignation; "there is you, and Mrs. Copperhead; and even the +gentlemen were kind--or at least they meant to be kind." + +"The gentlemen?" said Sophy, amused. "Do you mean the Copperheads? +Clarence perhaps? He is coming to Easton, Ursula. Shall I bring him into +Carlingford to see you?" + +"If you please, Cousin Sophy," said the girl, simply. She had not been +thinking any thoughts of "the gentlemen" which could make her blush, but +somehow her cousin's tone jarred upon her, and she turned round to her +packing. The room was littered with the things which she was putting +into her box, that box which had grown a great deal too small now, +though it was quite roomy enough when Ursula left home. + +"Ursula, I think you are a good little thing on the whole--" + +"Oh, Cousin Sophy, forgive me! No, I am not good." + +"Forgive you! for what? Yes, you are on the whole a good little thing; +not a saint, like Anne; but then you have perhaps more to try your +temper. We were always very obedient to her, though we worried her, and +papa always believed in her with all his heart. Perhaps you have more to +put up with. But, my dear, think of poor Mrs. Copperhead, for example--" + +"Why do you always call her poor Mrs. Copperhead? she is very rich. She +can make other people happy when she pleases. She has a beautiful house, +and everything--" + +"And a bear, a brute of a husband." + +"Ah! Does she mind very much?" asked Ursula, with composure. This +drawback seemed to her insignificant, in comparison with Mrs. +Copperhead's greatness. It was only Sophy's laugh that brought her to +herself. She said with some haste, putting in her dresses, with her back +turned, "I do not mean to say anything silly. When people are as old as +she is, do they mind? It cannot matter so much what happens when you are +old." + +"Why? but never mind, the theory is as good as many others," said Sophy. +"You would not mind then marrying a man like that, to have everything +that your heart could desire?" + +"Cousin Sophy, I am not going to--marry any one," said Ursula, loftily, +carrying her head erect. "I hope I am not like that, thinking of such +things. I am very, very sorry that you should have such an opinion of +me, after living together ten days." + +She turned away with all the forlorn pride of injury, and there were +tears in her voice. Sophy, who dared not laugh in reply, to make the +young heroine more angry, hastened to apologize. + +"It was a silly question," she said. "I have a very good opinion of you, +Ursula. Ten days is a long time, and I know you as if we had been +together all your life. I am sure you do not think anything a nice girl +ought not to think; but I hope you will never be deceived and persuaded +to marry any one who is like Mr. Copperhead. I mean who is not nice and +young, and good, like yourself." + +"Oh, no!" cried the girl, with energy. "But most likely I shall not +marry any one," she added, with a half sigh; "Janey may, but the eldest +has so much to do, and so much to think of. Cousin Anne has never +married." + +"Nor Cousin Sophy either." Sophy's laugh sounded hard to the girl. +"Never mind, you will not be like us. You will marry, most likely, a +clergyman, in a pretty parsonage in the country." + +"I do not think I am very fond of clergymen," said Ursula, recovering +her ease and composure. "They are always in and about, and everything +has to be kept so quiet when they are studying; and then the parish +people are always coming tramping upstairs with their dirty feet. When +you have only one servant it is very, very troublesome. Sir Robert never +gives any trouble," she said, once more, with a soft little sigh. + +"Papa?" said Sophy, somewhat surprised; "but you would not--" she was +going to say, marry papa; but when she looked at Ursula's innocent +gravity, her absolute unconsciousness of the meanings which her chance +words might bear, she refrained. "I think I must send Seton to help +you," she said, "you can not get through all that packing by yourself." + +"Oh yes, I am not tired. I have put in all my old things. The rest are +your presents. Oh, Cousin Sophy!" said the girl, coming quickly to her +and stealing two arms round her, "you have been so good to me! as if it +was not enough to give me this holiday, the most delightful I ever had +in my life--to send me home loaded with all these beautiful things! I +shall never forget it, never, never, if I were to live a hundred years!" + +"My dear!" cried Sophy, startled by the sudden energy of this embrace. +Sophy was not emotional, but her eyes moistened and her voice softened +in spite of herself. "But you must let me send Seton to you," she said, +hurrying away. She was excited by the day's events, and did not trust +herself to make any further response; for if she "gave way" at all, who +could tell how far the giving way might go? Her brother John had been +married at the time when Sophy too ought to have been married, had all +gone well--and, perhaps, some keen-piercing thought that she too might +have had little children belonging to her, had given force and sharpness +to her objections to the pale little distrustful Indian children who had +shrunk from her overtures of affection. She went to her room and bathed +her eyes, which were hot and painful, and then she went back to Anne in +the sitting-room, who had opened the window to reduce the temperature, +and was resting in an easy chair, and pondering what she could do to +make the children love her, and to be a mother to them in the absence of +Mrs. John. + +"I have been talking to Ursula, who is always refreshing," said Sophy. +"I wonder whom that child will marry. She gave me to understand, in her +awkward, innocent way, that she preferred papa. A laugh does one good," +Sophy added, slightly rubbing her eyes. Anne made no immediate answer. +She scarcely heard indeed what her sister said. + +"I think we shall get on after a while," she said, softly. "They said +their prayers very prettily, poor darlings, and let me kiss them without +crying. After a while we shall get on, I don't fear." + +"Anne!" cried Sophy, "you are too much for mere human nature: you are +too bad or too good for anything. I begin to hate these little wretches +when I hear you speak of them so." + +"Hush!" said Anne, "I know you don't mean it. Easton will be very +strange to them at first. I could not go to India for my part. A crust +of bread at home would be better. Think of parting with your children +just when they come to an age to understand?" + +"John, I suppose, did not take children into consideration when he went +away. You speak as if children were all one's life." + +"A great part of it," said Anne, gently. "No, dear, I am not clever like +you, and perhaps it is what you will call a low view; but after all it +runs through everything. The flowers are used for the seed, and +everything in the world is intended to keep the world going. Yes, even +I, that is the good of me. I shall never be a mother, but what does that +matter? There are so many children left on the world whom somebody must +bring up." + +"And who are brought to you when they need you, and taken from you when +they need you no longer," said Sophy, indignantly; "you are left to bear +the trouble--others have the recompense." + +"It is so in this world, my dear, all the way down, from God himself. +Always looking for reward is mean and mercenary. When we do nothing, +when we are of no use, what a poor thing life is," said Anne, with a +little colour rising in her cheeks, "not worth having. I think we have +only a right to our existence when we are doing something. And I have my +wages; I like to be of a little consequence," she said, laughing. +"Nobody is of any consequence who does not do something." + +"In that case, the ayah, the housemaid is of more consequence than you." + +"So be it--I don't object," said Anne; "but I don't think so, for they +have to be directed and guided. To be without a housemaid is dreadful. +The moment you think of that, you see how important the people who work +are; everything comes to a stand-still without Mary, whereas there are +ladies whose absence would make no difference." + +"I, for instance." + +"You are very unkind to say so, Sophy; all the same, if you were to do +more, you would be happier, my dear." + +"To do what? go on my knees to those wax dolls, and entreat them to let +me pet them and make idols of them--as you will do?" + +"Well, how are you getting on now?" said Sir Robert, coming in. "Ah! I +see, you have the window open; but the room is still very warm. When +they get to Easton they will have their own rooms of course. I don't +want to reflect upon John, but it is rather a burden this he has saddled +us with. Mrs. John's mother is living, isn't she? I think something +might have been _said_ at least, on her part, some offer to take her +share." + +Sophy gave her sister a malicious glance, but promptly changed her tone, +and took up her position in defence of the arrangement, with that ease +which is natural in a family question. + +"Of course," she said, "your grandchildren, Dorsets, and the heir, +probably, as Robert has no boy, could go nowhere, papa, but to us. It +may be a bore, but at least John showed so much sense; for nothing else +could be----" + +"John does not show very much sense in an ordinary way. What did he want +with a wife and children at his age? The boy is five, isn't he? and the +father only thirty--absurd! I did not marry till I was thirty, though I +had succeeded before that time, and was the only son and the head of the +family. John was always an ass," said Sir Robert, with a crossness which +sprang chiefly from the fact that the temperature of the room was higher +than usual, and the habits of his evening interfered with. He was +capable of sacrificing something of much more importance to his family, +but scarcely of sacrificing his comfort, which is the last and most +painful of efforts. + +"That may be very true," said Sophy, "but all the same, it is only right +that the children should be with us. Mrs. John's people are not well +off. Her mother has a large family of her own. The little things would +have been spoiled, or they would have been neglected; and after all, +they are Dorsets, though they are not like John." + +"Well, well, I suppose you are right," said Sir Robert, grumbling, "and, +thank Heaven, to-morrow we shall be at home." + +Anne had scarcely said a word, though it was she who was most deeply +concerned about the children. She gave her sister a hug when Sir Robert +relapsed into the evening paper, and then stole upstairs to look at the +poor babies as they lay asleep. She was not a mother, and never would +be. People, indeed, called her an old maid, and with reason enough, +though she was little over thirty; for had she been seventy, she could +not have been more unlikely to marry. It was not her vocation. She had +plenty to do in the world without that, and was satisfied with her life. +The sad reflection that the children whom she tended were not her own, +did not visit her mind, as, perhaps, it had visited Sophy's, making her +angry through the very yearning of nature. Anne was of a different +temperament, she said a little prayer softly in her heart for the +children and for her sister as she stooped over the small beds. "God +bless the children--and, oh, make my Sophy happy!" she said. She had +never asked for nor thought of happiness to herself. It had come to her +unconsciously, in her occupations, in her duties, as natural as the soft +daylight, and as little sought after. But Sophy was different. Sophy +wanted material for happiness--something to make her glad; she did not +possess it, like her sister, in the quiet of her own heart. And from the +children's room Anne went to Ursula's, where the girl, tired with her +packing, was brushing her pretty hair out before she went to bed. +Everything was ready, the drawers all empty, the box full to +overflowing, and supplemented by a large parcel in brown paper; and what +with the fatigue and the tumult of feeling in her simple soul, Ursula +was ready to cry when her cousin came in and sat down beside her. + +"I have been so happy, Cousin Anne. You have been so good to me," she +said. + +"My dear, everybody will be good to you," said Miss Dorset, "so long as +you trust everybody, Ursula. People are more good than bad. I hope when +you come to Easton you will be still happier." + +Ursula demurred a little to this, though she was too shy to say much. +"Town is so cheerful," she said. It was not Sir Robert's way of looking +at affairs. + +"There is very little difference in places," said Anne, "when your heart +is light you are happy everywhere." Ursula felt that it was somewhat +derogatory to her dignity to have her enjoyment set down to the score of +a light heart. But against such an assertion what could she say? + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +COMING HOME. + + +The party which set out from Suffolk Street next morning was a mighty +one; there were the children, the ayah, the new nurse whom Anne had +engaged in town, to take charge of her little nephews as soon as they +got accustomed to their new life; and Seton, the ancient serving-woman, +whom the sisters shared between them; and Sir Robert's man, not to speak +of Sir Robert himself and the Miss Dorsets and Ursula. Easton was within +a dozen miles of Carlingford, so that they all travelled together as far +as that town. The Dorset party went farther on to the next station, from +which they had still six miles to travel by carriage. They set down +Ursula on the platform with her box and her parcel, and took leave of +her, and swept out of the station again, leaving her rather forlorn and +solitary among the crowd. "Disgraceful of May not to send some one to +meet the child. I suppose he knew she was coming," said Sir Robert. And +Ursula had something of the same feeling, as she stood looking wistfully +about her. But as soon as the train was gone, her name was called in a +somewhat high-pitched voice, and turning round she found herself hugged +by Janey, while Johnnie, fresh from school, seized her bag out of her +hand by way of showing his satisfaction. + +"We didn't come up till we could make sure that the Dorsets were out of +the way," said Janey, "and, oh, is it really you? I am so glad to get +you home." + +"Why didn't you want to see the Dorsets? They are the kindest friends we +have in the world," said Ursula. "How is papa? Is he in a good humour? +And the rest? Why did not some more come to meet me? I made sure there +would be four at least." + +"Amy and Robin have gone out to tea--they didn't want to go; but papa +insisted. Oh, he is very well on the whole. And Reginald is at home, of +course, but I thought you would like me best. Johnnie came to carry the +bag," said Janey with a natural contempt for her younger brother. "What +a big parcel! You must have been getting quantities of presents, or else +you must have packed very badly, for I am sure there was lots of room in +the trunk when you went away." + +"Oh, Janey, if you only knew what I have got there!" + +"What?" said Janey, with quiet but composed interest. It never occurred +to her that she could have any individual concern in the contents of the +parcels. She was a tall girl who had outgrown all her frocks, or rather +did outgrow them periodically, with dark elf locks about her shoulders, +which would not curl or _creper_, or do anything that hair ought to do. +She had her thoughts always in the clouds, forming all sorts of +impossible plans, as was natural to her age, and was just the kind of +angular, jerky school-girl, very well intentioned, but very maladroit, +who is a greater nuisance to herself and everybody else than even a +school-boy, which is saying a good deal. Things broke in her hands as +they never broke in anybody else's; stuffs tore, furniture fell to the +ground as she passed by. Ursula carefully kept her off the parcel and +gave it to Johnnie. One of the railway porters, when all the rest of the +passengers were disposed of, condescended to carry her trunk, and thus +they set out on their way home. The parsonage was close to St. Roque, at +the other end of Grange Lane. They had to walk all the way down that +genteel and quiet suburban road, by the garden walls over which, at +this season, no scent of flowers came, or blossomed branches hung forth. +There were red holly-berries visible, and upon one mossy old tree a gray +bunch of mistletoe could be seen on the other side of the street. But +how quiet it was! They scarcely met a dozen people between the station +and St. Roque. + +"Oh, Janey, is everybody dead?" said Ursula. "How dull it is! You should +see London----" + +"Ursula," said Janey firmly, "once for all, I am not going to stand this +London! A nasty, smoky, muddy place, no more like Carlingford than--I am +like you. You forget I have been in London; you are not speaking to +ignorant ears," said Janey, drawing herself up, "and your letters were +quite bad enough. You are not going to talk of nothing but your +disagreeable London here. Talk to people who have never seen it!" said +the girl, elevating her shoulders with the contempt of knowledge. + +"That time you were at the dentist's--" said Ursula, "and call that +seeing London! Cousin Anne and Cousin Sophy took me everywhere. We went +to drive in the Park. We went to the Museum and the National Gallery. +And, oh! Janey, listen! we went to the theatre: think of that!" + +"Well, I should like to go to the theatre," said Janey, with a sigh. +"But you told me in your letter. That's what comes of being the eldest. +Unless you get married, or something, nobody will ever think of taking +_me_." + +"You are five years younger than I am," said Ursula, with dignity. +"Naturally, people don't think of a girl at your age. You must wait till +you are older, as I have had to do. Janey! guess what is in _that_?" + +"Your new dress--your ball-dress. If it isn't crumpled as you said, you +can't have danced very much. I know my dress will be in tatters if I +ever go to a ball." + +"I danced as much as I wished. I did not know many people," said Ursula, +drawing herself up. "Of course at this time of the year nobody is in +town, and we hardly knew any one--and of course--" + +"Of course, you only knew the fashionable people who are out of town in +winter," cried Janey, with a laugh which echoed along the street. Ursula +had not come home from London to be laughed at by her younger sister, +she who had been petted by the Dorsets, and whose opinion even Sir +Robert had asked on various occasions. She felt this downfall all the +more deeply that she had been looking forward to so many long talks with +Janey, and expected to live all her brief ten days' holiday over again, +and to instruct her young sister's mind by the many experiences acquired +in that momentous time. Poor Ursula! ten days is quite long enough to +form habits at her age, and she had been taken care of, as young ladies +are taken care of in society; accompanied or attended wherever she went, +and made much of. To find herself thus left to arrive and get home as +she pleased, with nobody but Janey to meet her, was a terrible +falling-off; and to be laughed at by Janey was the last step of all. +Tears filled her eyes, she turned her shoulder to her companion, +averting her head; and this was all poor Ursula had to look to. The +dreary Carlingford street, papa finding fault, everything going wrong, +and Janey laughing at her! To be Cousin Anne's maid, or governess to the +little Indian children would be better than this. For five minutes more +she walked on in offended silence, saying nothing, though Janey, like +the school-girl she was, made frequent use of her elbow to move her +sister. + +"Ursula!" the girl said at last, with a more potent nudge, "what's the +matter? won't you speak to me?" And Janey, who had her own +disappointment too, and had expected to be received with enthusiasm, +burst out crying, regardless of appearances, in the middle of the +street. + +"Janey, for Heaven's sake--people will see you! I am sure it is I who +should cry, not you," said Ursula, in sudden distress. + +"I don't care who sees me," sobbed Janey. "You have been enjoying +yourself while we have stayed at home, and instead of being pleased to +come back, or glad to see us--Oh, how can you be so cold-hearted?" she +said with a fresh burst of tears. + +Here the other side of the question suddenly dawned upon Ursula. She had +been enjoying herself while the others stayed at home. It was quite +true. Instead of feeling the shock of difference she should have thought +of those who had never been so lucky as she was, who had never seen +anything out of Carlingford. "Don't be so foolish, Janey," she said, "I +_am_ glad;--and I have brought you such beautiful presents. But when you +do nothing but laugh----" + +"I am sure I didn't laugh to hurt. I only laughed for fun!" cried Janey, +drying her eyes not without a little indignation; and thus peace was +made, for indeed one was dying to tell all that happened, and the other +dying to hear. They walked the rest of the way with their heads very +close together, so absorbed that the eldest brother, coming out of the +gate as they approached, stood looking at them with a smile on his face +for some time before they saw him. A slight young man, not very tall, +with dark hair, like Ursula's, and a somewhat anxious expression, in +correct English clerical dress. + +"Has it all begun already?" he said, when they came close up to him, but +without perceiving him, Ursula's face inspired with the pleasure of +talking, as Janey's was with the eager delight of listening. The house +was built in the ecclesiastical style, with gables and mullioned +windows, which excluded the light, at least, whether or not they +inspired passers-by with a sense of correct art, as they were intended +to do. It was next door to the church, and had a narrow strip of +shrubbery in front, planted with somewhat gloomy evergreens. The gate +and door stood always open, except when Mr. May himself, coming or +going, closed them momentarily, and it cannot be denied that there were +outward and visible signs of a large, somewhat unruly family inside. + +"Oh, Reginald!" cried Ursula. "You have come home!" + +"Yes--for good," he said with a half-laugh, half-sigh. "Or for bad--who +can tell? At all events, here I am." + +"Why should it be for bad?" cried Janey, whose voice was always audible +half-way up the street. "Oh, Ursula, something very nice has happened. +He is to be warden of the old college, fancy! That _is_ being provided +for, papa says; and a beautiful old house." + +"Warden of the old college! I thought it was always some old person who +was chosen." + +"But papa says he can live at home and let the house," cried Janey. +"There is no reason why it should be an old gentleman, papa thinks; it +is nice, because there is no work--but look at Reginald, he does not +like it a bit; he is never satisfied, I am sure, I wish it was me--" + +"Come in," said Reginald hastily, "I don't want all my affairs, and my +character besides, to be proclaimed from the house-tops." Janey stopped +indignant, to make some reply, and Ursula, grasping her arm, as she +feared, with an energetic pinch, went in quickly. Little Amy had been +playing in the little square hall, which was strewed with doll's +clothes, and with two or three dolls in various stages of dilapidation. +Some old, ragged school-books lay in a corner, the leaves out of one of +which were blowing about in the wind. Even ten days of Anne Dorset's +orderly reign had opened Ursula's eyes to these imperfections. + +"Oh, what a muddle!" she cried; "I don't wonder that Reginald does not +care for living at home." + +"Oh, I wish papa heard you!" cried Janey loudly, as Ursula led the way +into the drawing-room, which was not much tidier than the hall. There +was a basket-full of stockings to be mended, standing on the old +work-table. Ursula felt, with a sinking of the heart, that they were +waiting for her arrival, and that Janey had done nothing to them. More +toys and more old school-books were tossed about upon the faded old +carpet. The table-cover hung uneven, one end of it dragging upon the +floor. The fire was burning very low, stifled in dust and white ashes. +How dismal it looked! not like a place to come home to. "Oh, I don't +wonder Reginald is vexed to be made to live at home," she said once +again to herself, with tears in her eyes. + +"I hope you have enjoyed yourself," her brother said, as she dropped +wearily into the old easy-chair. "We have missed you very much; but I +don't suppose you missed us. London was very pleasant, I suppose, even +at this time of the year?" + +"Oh, pleasant!" said Ursula. "If you had been with me, how you would +have liked it! Suffolk Street is only an inn, but it is a very nice inn, +what they call a private hotel. Far better than the great big places on +the American principle, Sir Robert says. But we dined at one of those +big places one day, and it was very amusing. Scores of people, and great +mirrors that made them look hundreds. And such quantities of lights and +servants; but Sir Robert thought Suffolk Street very much the best. And +I went to two theatres and to a ball. They were so kind. Sophy Dorset +laughs at me sometimes, but Anne is an angel," said Ursula fervently. "I +never knew any one so good in my life." + +"That is not saying much," said Janey, "for none of us are very good, +and you know nobody else. Anne Dorset is an old maid." + +"Oh, Janey! how dare you?" + +"And, for that matter, so is Sophy. Papa says so. He says she was +jilted, and that she will never get a husband." + +"Hold your tongue," said Reginald fiercely, "if we are to hear what my +father says at second hand through an imp like you--" + +"Oh, yes," said Janey, mocking, "that is because you are not friends +with papa." + +"Janey, come and help me to take off my things," said Ursula, seeing +that Reginald would probably proceed to strong measures and box his +sister's ears. "If you were older, you would not talk like that," she +said, with dignity, as they went upstairs. "Oh, dear Janey, you can't +think how different Cousin Anne and Sophy are, who are not girls, like +us. They never talk unkindly of other people. You would get to think it +childish, as I do, if you had been living with Cousin Anne." + +"Stuff!" said Janey. "Papa is not childish, I hope. And it was he who +said all that. I don't care what your fine Cousin Anne does." + +Notwithstanding, the reproof thus administered went to Janey's heart; +for to a girl of fifteen, whose next sister is almost twenty, the +reproach of being childish is worse than any other. She blushed +fiery-red, and though she scoffed, was moved. Besides, though it suited +her to quote him for the moment, she was very far from putting any +unbounded faith in papa. + +"Just wait a moment! See what Cousin Anne, whom you think so little of, +has sent you," said Ursula, sitting down on the floor with the great +parcel in her lap, carefully undoing the knots; for she had read Miss +Edgeworth's stories in her youth, and would not have cut the strings for +the world; and when the new dresses, in all their gloss and softness, +were spread out upon the old carpet, which scarcely retained one trace +of colour, Janey was struck dumb. + +"Is that," she said, faltering and conscience-stricken, "for _me_?" + +"This is for you; though you think them old maids--and that they will +never get husbands," said Ursula, indignantly. "What a thing for a girl +to say! And, indeed, I don't think Cousin Anne will ever get a husband. +There is not one in the world half good enough for her--not one! Yes, +this is for you. They went themselves, and looked over half the things +in the shop before they could get one to please them. They did not say, +'Janey is an unkind little thing, that will repeat all she hears about +us, and does not care for us a bit.' They said, 'Ursula, we must choose +frocks for Janey and Amy. Come and help us to get what they will like +best.'" + +Janey's lips quivered, and two very big tears came into her eyes. She +was stricken with the deepest compunction, but her pride did not permit +her to give in all at once. + +"I dare say you told her how badly off we were," she said. + +"I told her nothing about it, and she did not say a word--not a word, as +if it were a charity--only to please you--to let you see that you were +remembered; but I dare say it is quite true after all," said Ursula, +with lofty irony, "that Cousin Anne will never get a husband, and that +they are old maids." + +"Oh, you know I didn't mean it!" said Janey, giving way to her tears. + +Then Ursula got up and took off her hat and smoothed her hair, feeling +satisfied with her success, and went downstairs again to Reginald, who +was seated on the dingy sofa waiting for her, to answer her questions +about the great event which had happened since she had been away. +Ursula's mind was full of the shock of the sharp impression made by her +return, though the impression itself began to wear away. + +"I can understand why you don't care about living at home," she said. +"Oh I wonder if I could do anything to mend it! I am so glad you have +got something, Reginald. If you have a good servant, you might be quite +comfortable by yourself, and we could come and see you. I should not +feel it a bit--not a single bit; and it would be so much nicer for you." + +"You are mistaken," said her brother. "It is not staying at home I +object to. We are not very tidy or very comfortable, perhaps, but we all +belong to each other, at least. It is not that, Ursula." + +"What is it, then? Janey says," said Ursula, drawing a long breath of +awe and admiration, "that you are to have two hundred and fifty pounds a +year." + +"For doing nothing," he said. + +"For doing nothing?" She looked up at him a little bewildered, for his +tone struck Ursula as not at all corresponding with the delightful +character of the words he said. "But, Reginald, how nice, how very nice +it sounds! How lucky you must have been! How could it happen that such a +delightful thing should come to one of us? We are always so unlucky, +papa says." + +"If you think this luck--" said Reginald. "He does, and he is quite +pleased; but how do you suppose I can be pleased? Thrust into a place +where I am not wanted--where I can be of no use. A dummy, a practical +falsehood. How can I accept it, Ursula? I tell you it is a sinecure!" + +Ursula looked at him with eyes round with wonder. He seemed to be +speaking in some different language of which she understood nothing. +"What is a sinecure?" she said. + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +PAPA. + + +"Ursula has come back!" cried the little ones, who had returned from +their tea-party, running to meet their father at the door. + +Mr. May was very good, except by moments, to his younger children. He +was not, indeed, an unkind father to any of them; but he had never +forgiven Providence for leaving him with his motherless family upon his +hands, a man so utterly unfit for the task. Perhaps he did not put this +exactly into words, but he felt it deeply, and had never got over it. +There were so many things that he could have done better, and there were +so many people who could have done this better; and yet it was precisely +to him, not a person adapted to the charge of children, that it had been +given to do it! This seemed to argue a want of judgment in the +regulation of mortal affairs, which irritated him all the more because +he was a clergyman, and had to persuade other people that everything +that happened to them was for the best. He was a man of some culture, +and literary power, and wrote very pleasant "thoughtful" papers for some +of the Church magazines; but these compositions, though very easy to +read, were only brought into the world by elaborate precautions on the +part of the family, which scarcely dared to speak above its breath when +papa was "writing;" for on such occasions he could be very savage, as +the occasional offender knew. He was a man with an imposing person, +good-looking, and of very bland and delightful manners, when he chose. +But yet he had never made friends, and was now at fifty-five the +incumbent of St. Roque, with a small income and a humble position in the +church hierarchy of Carlingford. He preached better than any other of +the Carlingford clergymen, looked better, had more reputation out of the +place; and was of sufficiently good family, and tolerably well +connected. Yet he never got on, never made any real advance in life. +Nobody could tell what was the cause of this, for his opinions were +moderate and did not stand in his way--indeed within the limits of +moderation he had been known to modify his principles, now inclining +towards the high, then towards the low, according as circumstances +required, though never going too far in either direction. Such a man +ought to have been successful, according to all rules, but he was not. +He was generally in debt and always needy. His eldest son, James, was in +India, doing well, and had often sent a contribution towards the comfort +of the family, and especially to help Reginald at College. But James had +married a year before, and accordingly was in a less favourable position +for sending help. And indeed these windfalls had never produced much +effect upon the family, who heard of James' gifts vaguely without +profiting by them. All this _donna a penser_ to the elder children. +Having no softening medium of a mother's eyes to look at their father +through, they were more bold in judging him than, perhaps, they ought to +have been; and he did not take pains to fascinate his children, or throw +the glamour of love into their eyes. He took it for granted, frankly and +as a part of nature, that he himself was the first person to be +considered in all matters. So he was, of course--so the father, the +bread-winner, the head of the family, ought to be; and when he has a +wife to keep him upon that pedestal, and to secure that his worship +shall be respected, it becomes natural, and the first article of the +family creed; but somehow when a man has to set forth and uphold this +principle himself, it is less successful; and in Mr. May's case it was +not successful at all. He was not severe or tyrannical, so that they +might have rebelled. He only held the conviction quite honestly and +ingeniously, that his affairs came first, and were always to be attended +to. Nothing could be said against this principle--but it tells badly in +the management of a family unless, indeed, as we have said, it is +managed through the medium of the mother, who takes away all imputation +of selfishness by throwing an awful importance and tender sanctity over +all that happens to be desirable or necessary for "papa." + +Mr. May had no wife to watch over the approaches of his study, and talk +of him with reverential importance to her children. This was not his +fault, but his misfortune. Bitterly had he mourned and resented the blow +which took her from him, and deeply felt the loss she was to him. This +was how he spoke of it always, the loss to him; and probably poor Mrs. +May, who had adored and admired her husband to the last day of her life, +would have been more satisfied with this way of mourning for her than +any other; but naturally Ursula, who thought of the loss to herself and +the other children, found fault with this limitation of the misfortune. +A man who has thus to fight for himself does not appear in an amiable +aspect to his family, to whom, as to all young creatures, it seemed +natural that _they_ should be the first objects; and as they were a +great trouble and burden to him, perhaps the children did not always +bear their most amiable aspect to their father. Both looked selfish to +the other, and Mr. May, no doubt, could have made out quite as good a +case as the children did. He thought all young people were selfish, +taking everything they could, trying to extract even the impossible from +the empty purse and strained patience of their elders; and they thought +that he was indifferent to them, thinking about himself, as it is a +capital sin in a parent to do; and both of them were right and both +wrong, as indeed may be said in every case to which there are two sides. + +"Ursula has come!" cried the two little ones. Amy and Robin could read +their father's face better than they could read those instruments of +torture called printed books, and they saw that he was in a good humour, +and that they were safe to venture upon the playful liberty of seizing +him, one by each hand, and dragging him in. He was a tall man, and the +sight of him triumphantly dragged in by these imps, the youngest of whom +was about up to his knees, was pretty, and would have gone to the heart +of any spectator. He was not himself unconscious of this, and when he +was in a good humour, and the children were neat and tolerably dressed, +he did not object to being seen by the passers-by dragged up his own +steps by those two little ones. The only passers-by, however, on this +occasion were a retired shopkeeper and his wife, who had lately bought +one of the oldest houses in Grange Lane, and who had come out for a walk +as the day was fine. "Mark my words, Tozer," the lady was saying, +"that's a good man though he's a church parson. Them as children hangs +onto like that, ain't got no harm in them." + +"He's a rum un, he is," said Mr. Tozer in reply. It was a pity that the +pretty spectacle of the clergyman with his little boy and girl should +have been thus thrown away upon a couple of Dissenters, yet it was not +without its effect. Amy pulled one arm and Robin pulled the other. They +were dark-haired children like all the Mays, and as this peculiarity is +rare among children, it gave these two a certain piquancy. + +"Well, well," he said, "take me to Ursula," and after he had kissed his +newly-arrived daughter, he sat down in the faded drawing-room with much +geniality, and took one child on each knee. + +"I hope you have enjoyed yourself, Ursula," he said; "of course, we have +missed you. Janey has done her best, but she is not very clever at +housekeeping, nor does she understand many things that people require, +as you have learned to do." + +"Oh, I am so glad you have missed me!" said Ursula, "I mean sorry; I +have enjoyed myself very, very much. The Dorsets were so kind, kinder +than anybody ever was before." + +"And, papa, they have sent me a new dress." + +"And me too, papa," chirruped little Amy on his knee. + +"You too, Mouse! it was very kind of them; and you went to the Tower and +did all the lions, Ursula? that is the lot of country cousins, and the +Dorsets would spare you nothing, I suppose." + +"We went to much better things," said Ursula, producing her theatres and +her ball as she had done before. "And, oh, papa, I like them so much. I +wish we lived a little nearer. Those poor little Indian children, I fear +they will be too much for Cousin Anne; they look so pale and so peevish, +not like our children here." + +"Well, they are not pale at all events," said Mr. May, putting them +down; "run and play like good children. You will have heard that we have +had something happening to us, even in this quiet place, while you were +away." + +"Oh, I was so astonished," said Ursula, "but Reginald doesn't seem to +like it. That is so odd; I should have thought he would have been +overjoyed to get something. He used to talk so about having no +interest." + +"Reginald is like a great many other people. He does not know his own +mind," said Mr. May, his countenance overcasting. Ursula knew that sign +of coming storms well enough, but she was too much interested to +forbear. + +"What is a sinecure, papa?" she asked, her brother's last word still +dwelling in her mind. + +"A piece of outrageous folly," he cried, getting up and striding about +the room, "all springing from the foolish books boys read now-a-days, +and the nonsense that is put into their minds. Mean! it means that your +brother is an ass, that is what it means. After all the money that has +been spent upon him--" + +"But, papa, we have not spent much, have we? I thought it was his +scholarship?" said Ursula with injudicious honesty. Her father turned +upon her indignantly. + +"I am not aware that I said we. _We_ have nothing to spend upon any one, +so far as I know. I said I--the only person in the house who earns any +money or is likely to do so, if Reginald goes on in this idiotical way." + +Ursula grew red. She was Mr. May's own daughter, and had a temper too. +"If I could earn any money I am sure I would," she cried, "and only too +glad. I am sure it is wanted badly enough. But how is a girl to earn any +money? I wish I knew how." + +"You little fool, no one was thinking of you. Do a little more in the +house, and nobody will ask you to earn money. Yes, this is the shape +things are taking now-a-days," said Mr. May, "the girls are mad to earn +anyhow, and the boys, forsooth, have a hundred scruples. If women would +hold their tongues and attend to their own business, I have no doubt we +should have less of the other nonsense. The fact is everything is +getting into an unnatural state. But if Reginald thinks I am going to +maintain him in idleness at his age--" + +"Papa, for Heaven's sake don't speak so loud, he will hear you!" said +Ursula, letting her fears of a domestic disturbance overweigh her +prudence. + +"He will hear me? I wish him to hear me," said Mr. May, raising his +voice. "Am I to be kept from saying what I like, how I like, in my own +house, for fear that Reginald should hear me, forsooth! Ursula, I am +glad to have you at home; but if you take Reginald's part in his folly, +and set yourself against the head of the family, you had better go back +again and at once. _He_ may defy me, but I shall not be contradicted by +a chit of a girl, I give you my word for that." + +Ursula was silent; she grew pale now after her redness of hasty and +unconsidered self-defence. Oh, for Cousin Anne to shield and calm her; +what a difference it made to plunge back again thus into trouble and +strife. + +"He thinks it better to be idle at his father's expense than to do a +little work for a handsome salary," said Mr. May; "everything is right +that is extracted from his father's pocket, though it is contrary to a +high code of honour to accept a sinecure. Fine reasoning that, is it +not? The one wrongs nobody, while the other wrongs you and me and all +the children, who want every penny I have to spend; but Reginald is much +too fine to think of that. He thinks it quite natural that I should go +on toiling and stinting myself." + +"Papa, it may be very wrong what he is doing; but if you think he wants +to take anything from you--" + +"Hold your tongue," said her father; "I believe in deeds, not in words. +He has it in his power to help me, and he chooses instead, for a +miserable fantastic notion of his own, to balk all my care for him. Of +course the hospital was offered to him out of respect for me. No one +cares for _him_. He is about as much known in Carlingford as--little Amy +is. Of course it is to show their respect to me. And here he comes with +his fantastic nonsense about a sinecure! Who is he that he should make +such a fuss? Better men than he is have held them, and will to the end +of the chapter. A sinecure! what does he call a sinecure?" + +"That is just what I want to know," said Ursula under her breath, but +her father did not, fortunately, hear this ejaculation. Reginald had +gone out, and happily was not within hearing, and Mr. May calmed down by +degrees, and told Ursula various circumstances about the parish and the +people which brought him down out of his anger and comforted her after +that passage of arms. But the commotion left him in an excitable state, +a state in which he was very apt to say things that were disagreeable, +and to provoke his children to wrath in a way which Ursula thought was +very much against the scriptural rule. + +"Things in the parish are going on much as usual," he said, "Mrs. Sam +Hurst is as kind as ever." + +"Indeed!" said Ursula with a suppressed snort of anger. Mr. May gave the +kind of offensive laugh, doubly offensive to every woman, which men give +when their vanity is excited, and when there is, according to the common +expression, a lady in the case. + +"Yes, she is very kind," he said with a twinkle in his eye. "She has had +the children to tea a great many times since you have been away. To show +my sense of her kindness, you must ask her one of these days. A woman +who understands children is always a valuable friend for a man in my +position--and also, Ursula, for a girl in yours." + +"She may understand children, but they are not fond of her," said +Ursula, with a gleam of malice which restored her father to good humour. +He had no more idea of marrying a second time than of flying. He was +tenderly attached in his way to his wife's memory, and quite +sufficiently troubled by the number of dwellers in his house already; +but he rather liked, as a good-looking man in his wane generally does, +to think that he could marry if he pleased, and to hold the possibility +over the heads of his household, as a chastisement of all their sins +against him which he could use at any time. All the Mays grew hot and +angry at the name of Mrs. Sam Hurst, and their fear and anger delighted +their father. He liked to speak of her to provoke them, and partly for +that, partly for other reasons of his own, kept up a decorous +semi-flirtation with his neighbour who lived next door, and thus excited +the apprehensions and resentment of the girls every day of their lives. +When Ursula thought of Mrs. Sam Hurst she wished for the Dorsets no +more. It was above all things, she felt, her duty to be here on the spot +to defend the family from that woman's machinations. The idea put energy +into her. She ceased to be tired, ceased to feel herself, "after her +journey," capable of nothing but sitting still and hearing of all that +had been done since she went away. + +In the course of the evening, however, Ursula took advantage of a quiet +moment to look into the dictionary and make herself quite safe about the +meaning of the word sinecure. It was not the first time she had heard +it, as may be supposed. She had heard of lucky people who held +sinecures, and she had heard them denounced as evil things, but without +entering closely into the meaning. Now she had a more direct interest in +it, and it must be confessed that she was not at all frightened by the +idea, or disposed to reject it as Reginald did. Ursula had not learnt +much about public virtue, and to get a good income for doing nothing, or +next to nothing, seemed to her an ideal sort of way of getting one's +livelihood. She wished with a sigh that there were sinecures which could +be held by girls. But no, in that as in other things "gentlemen" kept +all that was good to themselves; and Ursula was disposed to treat +Reginald's scruples with a very high hand. But she did not choose that +her father should attack him with all these disagreeable speeches about +maintaining him in idleness, and taunts about the money that had been +spent on his education. That was not the way to manage him, the girl +felt; but Ursula resolved to take her brother in hand herself, to argue +with him how foolish it was, to point out to him that if he did not take +it some one else would, and that the country would not gain anything +while he would lose, to laugh at his over delicacy, to show him how +delightful it would be if he was independent, and what a help to all his +brothers and sisters. In short, it seemed quite simple to Ursula, and +she felt her path mapped out before her, and triumphed in every stage of +her argument, inventing the very weakest replies for Reginald to make. +Full of the inspiration of this purpose, she felt that it was in every +way well that she had come home. With Reginald settled close by, going +away no longer, standing by her in her difficulties, and even perhaps, +who could tell? taking her to parties, and affording her the means now +and then of asking two or three people to tea, the whole horizon of her +life brightened for Ursula. She became reconciled to Carlingford. All +that had to be done was to show Reginald what his duty was, and how +foolish he was to hesitate, and she could not allow herself to suppose +that _when it was put before him properly_ there could long remain much +difficulty upon that score. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +PHOEBE'S PREPARATIONS. + + +A few days after Ursula's return home, another arrival took place in +Carlingford. Phoebe Beecham, after considering the case fully, and +listening with keen interest to all the indications she could pick up as +to the peculiarities of her grandfather's house, and the many things in +life at Carlingford which were "unlike what she had been used to," had +fully made up her mind to dare the difficulties of that unknown +existence, and to devote herself in her mother's place to the care of +her grandmother and the confusion of Mrs. Tom. This was partly +undertaken out of a sense of duty, partly out of that desire for change +and the unknown, which has to content itself in many cases with the very +mildest provision, and partly because Phoebe's good sense perceived the +necessity of the matter. She was by no means sure what were the special +circumstances that made "Mrs. Tom" disagreeable to her mother, but she +was deeply sensible of the importance of preventing Mrs. Tom from +securing to herself and her family all that Mr. and Mrs. Tozer had to +leave. Phoebe was not mercenary in her own person, but she had no idea of +giving up any "rights," and she felt it of the utmost importance that +her brother, who was unfortunately by no means so clever as herself, +should be fully provided against all the contingencies of life. She was +not concerned about herself in that particular. Phoebe felt it a matter +of course that she should marry, and marry well. Self-confidence of this +assured and tranquil sort serves a great many excellent purposes--it +made her even generous in her way. She believed in her star, in her own +certain good-fortune, in herself; and therefore her mind was free to +think and to work for other people. She knew very well by all her mother +said, and by all the hesitations of both her parents, that she would +have many disagreeable things to encounter in Carlingford, but she felt +so sure that nothing could really humiliate _her_, or pull her down from +her real eminence, that the knowledge conveyed no fears to her mind. +When this confidence in her own superiority to all debasing influences +is held by the spotless princess in the poem, it is the most beautiful +of human sentiments, and why it should not be equally elevated when +entertained by a pink and plump modern young woman, well up in all +nineteenth century refinements, and the daughter of the minister of the +Crescent Chapel, it would be hard to say. Phoebe held it with the +strongest faith. + +"Their ways of thinking, perhaps, and their ways of living, are not +those which I have been used to," she said; "but how does that affect +me? I am myself whatever happens; even if poor dear grandmamma's habits +are not refined, which I suppose is what you mean, mamma, that does not +make me unrefined. A lady must always be a lady wherever she is--Una," +she continued, using strangely enough the same argument which has +occurred to her historian, "is not less a princess when she is living +among the satyrs. Of course, I am not like Una--and neither are they +like the wild people in the wood." + +Mrs. Beecham did not know much about Una, except that she was somebody +in a book; but she kissed her daughter, and assured her that she was "a +real comfort," and devoted herself to her comfort for the few days that +remained, doing everything that it was possible to do to show her love, +and, so to speak, gratitude to the good child who was thus throwing +herself into the breach. The Beechams were in no want of money to buy +what pleased them, and the mother made many additions to Phoebe's +wardrobe which that young lady herself thought quite unnecessary, not +reflecting that other sentiments besides that of simple love for herself +were involved. + +"They shall see that my daughter is not just like one of their +common-looking girls," Mrs. Beecham said to her husband; and he shared +the feeling, though he could not but think within himself that her +aspect was of very much more importance than the appearance of Phoebe +Tozer's child could possibly be as _his_ daughter. + +"You are quite right, my dear," he replied, "vulgar people of that sort +are but too ready to look down upon a pastor's family. They ought to be +made to see the difference." + +The consequence of this was that Phoebe was fitted out like a young +princess going on her travels. Ursula May would have been out of her +wits with delight, had half these fine things come her way; but Phoebe +took them very calmly. + +"I have never undervalued dress," she said, "as some girls do; I think +it is a very important social influence. And even without that, mamma, +so long as it pleases you--" So with this mixture of philosophy and +affection all went well. + +"We must call on Mrs. Copperhead before you go; they would think it +strange, after all the interest they have shown in us." + +"Have they shown an interest in us?" said Phoebe. "Of course we must +call--and Mrs. Copperhead is a lady, but as for Mr. Copperhead, mamma--" + +"Hush! he is the leading member, and very influential in the connection. +A pastor's family must not be touchy, Phoebe. We must put up with a great +many things. There ought to be peace among brethren, you know, and +harmony is the first thing that is essential in a church--" + +"I wonder if harmony would be as essential, supposing Mr. Copperhead to +come to grief, mamma." + +"Phoebe! slang from you--who have always set your face against it." + +"What can one talk but slang when one thinks of such a person?" said +Phoebe gravely; and thus saying she opened the door for her mother, and +they went out in their best gowns to pay their visit. Mrs. Copperhead +was very civil to the pastor's family. It was not in her to be uncivil +to any one; but in her soft heart she despised them a little, and +comported herself to them with that special good behaviour and dignified +restraint which the best natured people reserve for their inferiors. For +though she went to chapel, taken there by Mr. Copperhead, she was +"church" at heart. The interest which Mrs. Beecham took in everything, +and the praises she bestowed on the ball, did not relax her coldness. +They were too well off, too warm and silken to call forth her +sympathies, and there was little in common between them to afford any +ground for meeting. + +Yes, Mr. Copperhead was quite well--she was quite well--her son was +quite well. She hoped Mr. Beecham was well. She had heard that most +people were pleased with the ball, thank you. Oh, Miss Beecham was going +away--indeed! She hoped the weather would be good; and then Mrs. +Copperhead sat erect upon her sofa, and did not try to say any more. +Though she had not the heart of a mouse, she too could play the great +lady when occasion served. Clarence, however, was much more hospitable +than his mother. He liked Phoebe, who could talk almost as if she was in +society, as girls talk in novels. He knew, of course, that she was not +in society, but she was a girl whom a fellow could get on with, who had +plenty to say for herself, who was not a lay figure like many young +ladies; and then she was pretty, pink, and golden, "a piece of colour" +which was attractive to the eye. He soon found out where she was going, +and let her know that he himself intended a visit to the neighbourhood. + +"The Dorsets live near," he said. "Relations of my mother. You saw them +at the ball. I dare say you will meet them somewhere about." This, it +is to be feared, Clarence said in something of his mother's spirit, with +a warm sense of superiority, for he knew that the pastor's daughter was +very unlikely to meet the Dorsets. Phoebe, however, was equal to the +occasion. + +"I am not at all likely to meet them," she said with a gracious smile. +"For one thing, I am not going to enjoy myself, but to nurse a sick +person. And sick people don't go to parties. Besides, you know the +foolish prejudices of society, properly so called. I think them foolish +because they affect me," said Phoebe, with engaging frankness. "If they +did not affect me, probably I should think them all right." + +"What foolish prejudices?" said Clarence, thinking she was about to say +something about her inferior position, and already feeling flattered +before she spoke. + +"About Dissenters, you know," she said; "of course, you must be aware +that we are looked down upon in society. It does not matter, for when +people have any sense, as soon as they know us they do us justice; but +of course you must be aware that the prejudice exists." + +Clarence did know, and with some bitterness; for Mr. Copperhead, though +he did not care much, perhaps, about religion, cared for his chapel, and +stood by it with unswerving strictness. His son, who was an Oxford man, +and respectful of all the prejudices of society, did not like this. But +what could he do against the obstinate dissentership of his father? +This, as much as anything else, had acted upon the crowd the night of +the ball, and made them all nobodies. He hesitated to make any reply, +and his face flushed with shame and displeasure. Phoebe felt that she had +avenged upon Clarence his mother's haughty politeness. She had brought +home to him a sense of the social inferiority which was common to them +both. Having done this, she was satisfied, and proceeded to soften the +blow. + +"It cannot fall upon you, who are in so much better a position, as it +does upon us," said Phoebe. "We are the very head and front of the +offending, a Dissenting minister's family!--Society and its charms are +not for us. And I hope we know our place," she said, with mock humility; +"when people have any sense and come to know us it is different; and for +the foolish ones I don't care. But you see from that, I am not likely to +meet your cousins, am I?" she added with a laugh. + +"If you mean that they are among the foolish ones----" + +"Oh, no; I don't. But you can't suppose they will take the trouble to +find _me_ out. Why should they? People entirely out of my range, and +that have nothing to do with me. So you may be quite sure I am right +when I say we sha'n't meet." + +"Well," said Clarence, piqued, "I am going to Easton, and I shall see +you, if Mrs. Beecham will give me permission to call." + +"She will give you the address along with that; but till then, +good-bye," said Phoebe. To tell the truth, she had no desire to see +Clarence Copperhead in Carlingford. Perhaps he meant something, perhaps +he did not--at this stage of the proceedings it was a matter of +indifference to Phoebe, who certainly had not allowed "her affections" to +become engaged. If he did mean anything, was it likely that he could +support unmoved the grandfather and grandmother who were, or had been, +"in trade?" On the other hand, was it not better that he should know the +worst? Phoebe was no husband-hunter. She contemplated the issue with calm +and composure, however it might turn out. + +"He asked me if he might call," said Mrs. Beecham, in some excitement. +"I don't care much to have you seen, my darling, out of your own +father's house." + +"Just as you please, mamma--just as it suits best," said Phoebe, +dismissing the subject. She was not anxious. A good deal depended on +whether he meant anything or nothing, but even that did not conclude the +subject, for she had not made up her own mind. + +"Why didn't you tell them about the Mays?" said Clarence, as the two +ladies went out. "They live in Carlingford, and I should think it would +be pleasant on both sides." + +"My dear boy, you forget the difference of position," said Mrs. +Copperhead. "They are Dissenters." + +"Oh, I like that," cried Clarence, half angry, as himself sharing the +disadvantages of the connection. "A needy beggar like May has a great +deal to stand upon. I like that." + +"But it is true all the same," said Mrs. Copperhead, shaking her head. +"And you can see the difference at once. I dare say Miss Beecham is a +very clever young woman, but between her and Miss May what a difference +there is! Any one can see it--" + +"I am afraid then I am stupid, for I can't see it, mother. They are both +pretty girls, but for amusing you and that sort of thing give me Phoebe. +She is worth twenty of the other. As sharp as a needle, and plenty to +say for herself. This is the kind of girl I like." + +"I am very sorry for it. I hope that is not the kind of wife you will +like," said Mrs. Copperhead, with a sigh. + +"Oh, wife! they haven't a penny, either the one or the other," said +Clarence, with delightful openness, "and we may be sure that would not +suit the governor even if it suited me." + +In the mean time Mrs. Beecham and Phoebe were walking up the broad +pavement of Portland Place towards their home. + +"It is pleasant to see the mother and the son together," said Mrs. +Beecham, who was determined to see everything in the best light that +concerned the Copperheads. "They are so devoted to each other, and, +Phoebe, dear--I don't like to talk in this way to a sensible girl like +you, but you must see it with your own eyes. You have certainly made a +great impression upon Clarence Copperhead. When he said he hoped to see +you in Carlingford, and asked, might he call? it was exactly like asking +my permission to pay you his addresses; it is very flattering, but it is +embarrassing as well." + +"I do not feel particularly flattered, mamma; and I think if I were you +I would not give him the address." + +Mrs. Beecham looked anxiously in her daughter's face. + +"Is it from prudence, Phoebe, or is it that you don't like him, that you +wouldn't have him if he asked you?" + +"We must wait till he does ask me," said Phoebe, decisively. "Till then I +can't possibly tell. But I don't want him at Carlingford. I know that +grandpapa and grandmamma are--in trade." + +"Yes, dear," said Mrs. Beecham, in a subdued voice. + +"Dissenters, and in trade; and he is going to stay with the Dorsets, +fine county people. Don't give him the address; if we meet by chance, +there is no harm done. I am not ashamed of any one belonging to me. But +you can say that you don't think his father would like him to be +visiting me at Carlingford--which I am sure would be quite true." + +"Indeed he might go much farther without finding any one so well worth +visiting," said the mother, indignant, to which Phoebe nodded her head in +tranquil assent. + +"That is neither here nor there," she said; "you can always tell him so, +and that will please Mr. Copperhead, if ever he comes to hear of it. He +thought at one time that I was too entertaining. One knows what that +means. I should like him to see how little I cared." + +"But, my dear, Clarence Copperhead would be worth--a little attention. +He could give a girl--a very nice position," Mrs. Beecham faltered, +looking at her daughter between every word. + +"I am not saying anything against Clarence Copperhead," said Phoebe, with +composure, "but I should like his dear papa to know how little I care, +and that you have refused him my address." + +This was all she said on the subject. Phoebe was quite ready to allow +that Clarence was everything that her mother had said, and she had fully +worked out her own theory on marriage, which will probably be hereafter +expounded in these pages, so that she was not at all shocked by having +his advantages thus pointed out to her. But there was no hurry, she said +to herself. If it was not Clarence Copperhead, it would be some one +else, and why should she, at this early stage of her career, attempt to +precipitate the designs of Providence? She had plenty of time before +her, and was in no hurry for any change; and a genuine touch of nature +in her heart made her anxious for an opportunity of showing her +independence to that arrogant and offensive "leading member," who made +the life of the office-bearers in the Crescent a burden to them. If she +could only so drive him into a corner, that he should be obliged to come +to her in his despair, and beg her to accept his son's hand to save him +from going off in a galloping consumption, that would have been a +triumph after Phoebe's heart. To be sure this was a perfectly vain and +wildly romantic hope--it was the only bit of wild and girlish romance in +the bosom of a very well-educated, well-intentioned, and sensible young +woman. She had seen her parents put up with the arrogance of the +millionnaire for a long time without rebelling any more than they did; +but Mr. Copperhead had gone further than Phoebe could bear; and +thoroughly as she understood her own position, and all its interests, +this one vain fancy had found a footing in her mind. If she could but +humble him and make him sue to her. It was not likely, but for such a +triumph the sensible Phoebe would have done much. It was the one point on +which she was silly, but on that she was as silly as any cynic could +desire. + +And thus with a huge trunk full of charming dresses, a dressing-case fit +for any bride, the prettiest travelling costume imaginable, and +everything about her fit, Mrs. Beecham fondly thought, for a duke's +daughter, Phoebe junior took her departure, to be the comfort of her +grandmamma, and to dazzle Carlingford. Her fond parents accompanied her +to the station and placed her in a carriage, and fee'd a guard heavily +to take care of and watch over her. "Not but that Phoebe might be safely +trusted to take care of herself anywhere," they said. In which +expression of their pride in their daughter, the observant reader may +see a proof of their own origin from the humbler classes. They would +probably have prided themselves on her timidity and helplessness had +they been a little better born. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +GRANGE LANE. + + +Mr. and Mrs. Tozer had retired from business several years before. They +had given up the shop with its long established connection, and all its +advantages, to Tom, their son, finding themselves to have enough to live +upon in ease, and indeed luxury; and though Mrs. Tozer found the house +in Grange Lane shut in by the garden walls to be much duller than her +rooms over the shop in High Street, where she saw everything that was +going on, yet the increase in gentility was unquestionable. The house +which they were fortunate enough to secure in this desirable locality +had been once in the occupation of Lady Weston, and there was +accordingly an aroma of high life about it, although somebody less +important had lived in it in the mean time, and it had fallen into a +state of considerable dilapidation, which naturally made it cheaper. Mr. +Tozer had solidly repaired all that was necessary for comfort, but he +had not done anything in those external points of paint and decoration, +which tells so much in the aspect of a house. Lady Weston's taste had +been florid, and the walls continued as she had left them, painted and +papered with faded wreaths, which were apt to look dissipated, as they +ought to have been refreshed and renewed years before. But outside, +where the wreaths do not fade, there was a delightful garden charmingly +laid out, in which Lady Weston had once held her garden parties, and +where the crocuses and other spring bulbs, which had been put in with a +lavish hand, during Lady Weston's extravagant reign, had already begun +to blow. The violets were peeping out from among their leaves on a +sheltered bank, and Christmas roses, overblown, making a great show with +their great white stars, in a corner. Tozer himself soon took a great +interest in this little domain out of doors, and was for ever pottering +about the flowers, obeying, with the servility of ignorance, the +gardener's injunctions. Mrs. Tozer, however, who was in weak health, and +consequently permitted to be somewhat cross and contradictory, regretted +the High Street. + +"Talk of a garden," she said, "a thing as never changes except according +to the seasons! Up in the town there was never a day the same, something +always happening--Soldiers marching through, or Punch and Judy, or a +row at the least. It is the cheerfullest place in the whole world, I do +believe; shut up here may do for the gentry, but I likes the streets and +what's going on. You may call me vulgar if you please, but so I do." + +Tozer prudently said nothing to such outbursts except a soothing +exhortation to wait till summer, when she would find the benefit of the +fresh air, not to speak of the early vegetables; and he himself found +the garden an unspeakable resource. At first, indeed, he would stroll up +to the shop of a morning, especially if any new consignment of +first-rate York hams, or cheese, was coming in, which he loved to turn +over and test by smell and touch; but by and by the ancient butterman +made a discovery, such as we are all apt to make when we get old and +step out of the high road of life. He found out that his son did not +appreciate his advice, and that Mrs. Tom cared still less for his +frequent appearances. Indeed, he himself once saw her bounce out of the +shop as he entered, exclaiming audibly, "Here's that fussy old man +again." Tozer was an old man, it is true, but nobody (under eighty) +cares to have the epithet flung in his teeth; and to be in the way is +always unpleasant. He had self-command enough to say nothing about it, +except in a very modified shape to his wife, who was ready enough to +believe anything unpleasant about Mrs. Tom; but he took to gardening +with ardour from that day; and learned all about the succession of the +flowers, and how long one set lasted, and which kind should be put into +the ground next. He would even take off his coat and do a tolerable +day's work under the gardener's direction, to the great advantage of his +health and temper, while Mrs. Tozer grumbled upstairs. She was getting +more and more helpless about the house, unable to see after the stout +maid-of-all-work, who in her turn grumbled much at the large house, for +which one maid was not enough. Many altercations took place in +consequence between the mistress and servant. + +"The ungrateful hussy hasn't even as many rooms to do as she had in the +High Street, when there was the 'prentices' beds to make," Mrs. Tozer +said indignantly to her husband; but Jane on her side pointed to the +length of passage, the stairs, the dining and drawing-rooms, where there +had once only been a parlour. + +"Cook and 'ousemaid's little enough," said Jane; "there did ought to be +a man in this kind of 'ouse; but as there's only two in family, +shouldn't say nothing if I had a girl under me." + +Things were gravitating towards this girl at the time of Phoebe's +arrival; but nothing had as yet been finally decided upon. Jane, +however, had bestirred herself to get the young lady's room ready with +something like alacrity. A young person coming to the house promised a +little movement and change, which was always something, and Jane had no +doubt that Phoebe would be on her side in respect to the "girl." "She'll +want waiting upon, and there'll always be sending of errands," Jane said +to herself. She knew by experience "what young 'uns is in a house." + +There was something, perhaps, in all the preparations for her departure +which had thrown dust in Phoebe Beecham's eyes. She had been too +sharp-sighted not to see into her mother's qualms and hesitations about +her visit to Carlingford, and the repeated warnings of both parents as +to the "difference from what she had been accustomed to;" and she +thought she had fully prepared herself for what she was to encounter. +But probably the elaborate outfit provided by her mother and the +importance attached to her journey had to some degree obliterated this +impression, for it is certain that when Phoebe saw an old man in a shabby +coat, with a wisp of a large white neckcloth round his throat, watching +anxiously for the arrival of the train as it came up, she sustained a +shock which she had not anticipated. It was about five years since she +had seen her grandfather, an interval due to hazard rather than purpose, +though, on the whole, the elder Beechams had not been sorry to keep +their parents and their children apart. Phoebe, however, knew her +grandfather perfectly well as soon as she saw him, though he had not +perceived her, and was wandering anxiously up and down in search of her. +She held back in her corner for the moment, to overcome the shock. Yes, +there could be no doubt about it; there he was, he whom she was going to +visit, under whose auspices she was about to appear in Carlingford. He +was not even like an old Dissenting minister, which had been her +childish notion of him. He looked neither more nor less than what he +was, an old shopkeeper, very decent and respectable, but a little shabby +and greasy, like the men whose weekly bills she had been accustomed to +pay for her mother. She felt an instant conviction that he would call +her "Ma'am," if she went up to him, and think her one of the quality. +Poor Phoebe! she sat back in her corner and gave a gasp of horror and +dismay, but having done this, she was herself again. She gave herself a +shake, like one who is about to take a plunge, rose lightly to her feet, +took up her bag, and stepped out of the carriage, just as Mr. Tozer +strolled anxiously past for the third time. + +"Grandpapa!" she cried with a smile. Mr. Tozer was almost as much taken +aback by this apparition as Phoebe herself had been. He knew that his +daughter had made great strides in social elevation, and that her +children, when he had seen them last, had been quite like "gentlefolk's +children;" but to see this young princess step forth graciously out of a +first-class carriage, and address him as "grandpapa," took away his +breath. + +"Why--why--why, Miss! you ain't little Phoebe?" he cried, scared out of +his seven senses, as he afterwards said. + +"Yes, indeed, I am little Phoebe," she said, coming up and kissing him +dutifully. She was half-disgusted, he half-frightened; but yet it was +right, and Phoebe did it. "I have only two boxes and a bag," she said, +"besides my dressing-case. If you will get a cab, grandpapa, I will go +and see after the luggage." + +Old Tozer thought he could have carried the bag himself, and left the +boxes to follow; but he succumbed humbly and obeyed. + +"She don't seem a bit proud," he said to himself; "but, good Lord, +what'll she ever say to my old woman?" + +He saw the contrast very clearly between his wife and this splendid +grandchild. It did not strike him so much in his own case. + +"How is grandmamma?" said Phoebe, blandly; "better, I hope? Mamma was so +sorry not to come herself; but you know, of course, she has a great many +things to do. People in town are obliged to keep up certain appearances. +You are a great deal better off in the country, grandpapa." + +"Lord bless you, my dear, do you call Carlingford the country?" said Mr. +Tozer. "That is all you know about it. Your granny and I are humble +folks, but the new minister at Salem is one as keeps up appearances with +the best. Your mother was always inclined for that. I hope she has not +brought you up too fine for the likes of us." + +"I hope not, indeed," said Phoebe. "No fear of my being too fine for my +duty, grandpapa. Do you live down this nice road? How pretty it is! how +delightful these gardens must be in summer. I beg your pardon for +calling it the country. It is so quiet and so nice, it seems the country +to me." + +"Ah, to be sure; brought up in the London smoke," said Mr. Tozer. "I +don't suppose, now, you see a bit of green from year's end to year's +end? Very bad for the 'ealth, that is; but I can't say you look poorly +on it. Your colour's fresh, so was your mother's before you. To be sure, +she wasn't cooped up like you." + +"Oh, we do get a little fresh air sometimes--in the parks, for +instance," said Phoebe. She was somewhat piqued by the idea that she was +supposed to live in London smoke. + +"Ah, the parks are always something; but I suppose it takes you a day's +journey to get at them," said Mr. Tozer, shaking his head. "You mustn't +mind your grandmother's temper just at first, my dear. She's old, poor +soul, and she ain't well, and she's sometimes cross above a bit. But +she'll be that proud of you, she won't know if she's on her 'eels or 'er +'ead; and as for a cross word now and again, I hope as you won't mind--" + +"I shan't mind anything, grandpapa," said Phoebe, sweetly, "so long as I +can be of use." + +And these were, indeed, the dutiful sentiments with which she made her +entry upon this passage in her life, not minding anything but to be of +use. The first glimpse of old Tozer, indeed, made it quite evident to +Phoebe that nothing but duty could be within her reach. Pleasure, +friends, society, the thought of all such delights must be abandoned. +And as for Clarence Copperhead and the Miss Dorsets, the notion of +meeting or receiving them was too absurd. But Duty remained, and Phoebe +felt herself capable of the sacrifice demanded from her. That confidence +in herself which we have already indicated as a marked feature in her +character, gave her the consoling certainty that she could not suffer +from association with her humble relations. Whosoever saw her must do +her justice, and that serene conviction preserved her from all the +throes of uneasy pride which afflict inferior minds in similar +circumstances. She had no wish to exhibit her grandfather and +grandmother in their lowliness, nor to be ostentatious of her homely +origin, as some people are in the very soreness of wounded pride; but if +hazard produced the butterman in the midst of the finest of her +acquaintances, Phoebe would still have been perfectly at her ease. She +would be herself, whatever happened. + +In the mean time, however, it was apparent that Duty was what she had to +look to; Duty, and that alone. She had come here, not to amuse herself, +not to please herself, but to do her duty; and having thus concluded +upon her object, she felt comparatively happy, and at her ease. + +Mrs. Tozer had put on her best cap, which was a very gorgeous creation. +She had dressed herself as if for a party, with a large brooch, +enclosing a curl of various coloured hair cut from the heads of her +children in early life, which fastened a large worked collar over a +dress of copper-coloured silk, and she rustled and shook a good deal as +she came downstairs into the garden to meet her grandchild, with some +excitement and sense of the "difference" which could not but be felt on +one side as well as on the other. She, too, was somewhat frightened by +the appearance of the young lady, who was her Phoebe's child, yet was so +unlike any other scion of the Tozer race; and felt greatly disposed to +curtsey and say "Ma'am" to her. + +"You've grown a deal and changed a deal since I saw you last," she said, +restraining this impression, and receiving Phoebe's kiss with gratified, +yet awe-struck feeling; and then her respectful alarm getting too much +for her, she added, faltering, "You'll find us but humble folks; perhaps +not altogether what you've been used to--" + +Phoebe did not think it expedient to make any reply to this outburst of +humility. + +"Grandmamma, I am afraid you have over-exerted yourself, coming +downstairs to meet me," she said, taking the old lady's hand, and +drawing it within her arm. "Yes, I have grown; I am tall enough to be of +some use; but you must not treat me as if I were a stranger. No, no; +never mind my room. I am not tired; the journey is nothing. Let me take +you back to your chair and make you comfortable. I feel myself quite at +home already. The only odd thing is that I have never been here before." + +"Ah, my dear, your mother thought too much of you to send you to the +likes of us; that's the secret of it. She was always fond of fine folks, +was my Phoebe; and I don't blame her, bringing you up quite the lady as +she's done." + +"You must not find fault with mamma," said Phoebe, smiling. "What a nice +cozy room! This is the dining-room, I suppose; and here is your cushion, +and your footstool at this nice window. How pleasant it is, with the +crocuses in all the borders already! I am not at all tired; but I am +sure it must be tea-time, and I should so like a cup of tea." + +"We thought," said Mrs. Tozer, "as perhaps you mightn't be used to tea +at this time of day." + +"Oh, it is the right time; it is the fashionable hour," said Phoebe; +"everybody has tea at five. I will run upstairs first, and take off my +hat, and make myself tidy. Jane--is that her name?--don't trouble, +grandmamma; Jane will show me the way." + +"Well?" said Mr. Tozer to Mrs. Tozer, as Phoebe disappeared. The two old +people looked at each other with a little awe; but she, as was her +nature, took the most depressing view. She shook her head. + +"She is a deal too fine for us, Tozer," she said. "She'll never make +herself 'appy in our quiet way. Phoebe's been and brought her up quite +the lady. It ain't as her dress is much matter. I'd have given her a +silk myself, and never thought of it twice; and something lively like +for a young person, 'stead of that gray stuff, as her mother might wear. +But all the same, she ain't one of our sort. She'll never make herself +'appy with you and me." + +"Well," said Tozer, who was more cheerful, "she ain't proud, not a bit; +and as for manners, you don't pay no more for manners. She came up and +give me a kiss in the station, as affectionate as possible. All I can +say for her is as she ain't proud." + +Mrs. Tozer shook her head; but even while she did so, pleasanter dreams +stole into her soul. + +"I hope I'll be well enough to get to chapel on Sunday," she said, "just +to see the folk's looks. The minister needn't expect much attention to +his sermon. 'There's Phoebe Tozer's daughter!' they'll all be saying, and +a-staring, and a-whispering. It ain't often as anything like her is seen +in chapel, that's a fact," said the old lady, warming into the +exultation of natural pride. + +Phoebe, it must be allowed, had a good cry when she got within the +shelter of her own room, which had been very carefully prepared for her, +with everything that was necessary for comfort, according to her +grandmother's standard; but where the "tent" bed hung with old-fashioned +red and brown chintz, and the moreen curtains drooping over the window, +and the gigantic flowers on the carpet, made Phoebe's soul sick within +her. Notwithstanding all her courage, her heart sank. She had expected +"a difference," but she had not looked for her grandfather's greasy coat +and wisp of neckcloth, or her grandmother's amazing cap, or the +grammatical peculiarities in which both indulged. She had a good hot fit +of crying, and for the moment felt so discouraged and depressed, that +the only impulse in her mind was to run away. But her temperament did +not favour panics, and giving in was not in her. If somebody must do it, +why should not she do it? she said to herself. How many times had she +heard in sermons and otherwise that no one ought to look for the sweet +without the bitter, and that duty should never be avoided or refused +because it is unpleasant? Now was the time to put her principles to the +test; and the tears relieved her, and gave her something of the feeling +of a martyr, which is always consolatory and sweet; so she dried her +eyes, and bathed her face, and went downstairs cheerful and smiling, +resolved that, at all costs, her duty should be done, however +disagreeable it might be. What a good thing the new fashion of five +o'clock tea is for people who have connections in an inferior path of +life who make tea a meal, and don't dine, or dine in the middle of the +day! This was the thought that passed through Phoebe's mind as she went +into the dining-room, and found the table covered, not to say groaning +under good things. She took her place at it, and poured out tea for the +old people, and cut bread-and-butter with the most gracious philosophy. +Duchesses did the same every day; the tea-table had renewed its ancient +sway, even in fashionable life. It cannot be told what a help and +refreshment this thought was to Phoebe's courageous heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +THE TOZER FAMILY. + + +When Phoebe woke next morning, under the huge flowers of the old +fashioned cotton drapery of her "tent" bed, to see the faint daylight +struggling in through the heavy curtains which would not draw back from +the window, the discouragement of her first arrival for a moment +overpowered her again--and with even more reason--for she had more fully +ascertained the resources of the place in which she found herself. There +were no books, except some old volumes of sermons and a few back numbers +of the Congregational Magazine, no visitors, so far as she could make +out, no newspaper but the Carlingford Weekly Gazette, nothing but her +grandmother's gossip about the chapel and Mrs. Tom to pass the weary +hours away. Even last night Mrs. Tozer had asked her whether she had not +any work to beguile the long evening, which Phoebe occupied much more +virtuously, from her own point of view, in endeavouring to amuse the old +people by talking to them. Though it was morning, and she ought to have +been refreshed and encouraged by the repose of the night, it was again +with a few hot tears that Phoebe contemplated her prospects. But this was +only a passing weakness. When she went down to breakfast, she was again +cheerful as the crocuses that raised their heads along the borders with +the promise of summer in them. The sun was shining, the sky was frosty, +but blue. After all, her present sufferings could not endure for ever. +Phoebe hurried to get dressed, to get her blue fingers warned by the +dining-room fire. It is needless to say that there was no fire, or +thought of a fire in the chilly room, with its red and brown hangings, +in which Mrs. Tozer last night had hoped she would be happy. "No fear of +that, grandmamma," she had answered cheerfully. This was as much a lie, +she felt, as if it had been said with the wickedest intentions--was it +as wrong? How cold it was, and yet how stifling! She could scarcely +fasten the ribbon at her neck, her fingers were so cold. + +"Yes, grandpapa, it is brighter than in London. We don't live in the +city, you know. We live in rather a pretty neighbourhood looking out on +Regent's Park, but it is seldom so bright as the country. Sometimes the +fog blows up our way, when the wind is in the east; but it is warmer, I +think," said Phoebe, with a little shiver, stooping over the dining-room +fire. + +"Ah!" said Mrs. Tozer, shaking her head, "it's your mother as has spoilt +you, I don't make no doubt, with fires and things. That takes the +hardiness out of young folks. A little bit of cold is wholesome, it +stirs up the blood. Them as is used to fires is always taking cold. One +good fire in the sitting-room, that's always been my principle, and them +as is cold if they can't warm theirselves with movin' about, which is +far the best, let them come and warm their fingers when they please--as +you may be doing now." + +"Perhaps it is a very good principle, grandmamma," said Phoebe, "when one +is used to it; but the country is colder than town. Where there are +fires on every side you must have more warmth than in a detached house +like this. But it is only my hands after all. Shall I make the tea?" + +"You should wear mittens like me--I always did in the High Street, +especial when I was going and coming to the shop, helping serve, when +the children were young and I had the time for it. Ah! we've done with +all that now. We're more at our ease, but I can't say as we're much +happier. A shop is a cheerful sort of thing. I dare say your mother has +told you--" + +"No," said Phoebe, under her breath; but the reply was not noticed. She +nearly dropped the teapot out of her hand when she heard the word--Shop! +Yes, to be sure, that was what being "in trade" meant, but she had never +quite realized it till now. Phoebe was going through a tremendous piece +of mental discipline in these first days. She writhed secretly, and +moaned to herself--why did not mamma tell me? but she sat quite still +outside, and smiled as if it was all quite ordinary and natural, and +she had heard about the shop all her life. It seemed cruel and unkind to +have sent her here without distinct warning of what she was going to +meet. But Phoebe was a good girl, and would not blame her father and +mother. No doubt they meant it "for the best." + +"Is Uncle Tom," she said, faltering somewhat, "in the--shop now?" + +"If I'm able," said Mrs. Tozer, "I'll walk that far with you this +morning--or Tozer, I mean your grandfather, will go. It's a tidy house +o' business, though I say it as shouldn't, seeing it was him and me as +made it all; though I don't hold with Mrs. Tom's nonsense about the new +windows. Your Uncle Tom is as innocent as innocent, but as for her, she +ain't no favourite of mine, and I makes no bones about saying so, I +don't mind who hears." + +"She ain't so bad as you make her out," said Tozer. "She's kind enough +in her way. Your grandmother is a-going to show you off--that's it, my +dear. She can't abide Tom's wife, and she wants to show her as you're +far finer than her girls. I don't say no. It's nat'ral, and I'm not one +as stands against nature; but don't you be prejudiced by my old woman +there. She _is_ a prejudiced one. Nothing in the world will make her +give up a notion when she's took it into her head." + +"No, nothing; and ain't I always right in the end? I should think you've +proved that times enough," said the old woman. "Yes, I'll take a little, +my dear, since you press me so pretty. Folks take many a thing when +they're pressed as they wouldn't touch if there was no one to say, take +a bit. Tozer, he never thinks of that; he's always had the best o' +appetites; but as for me, if I get's a cup o' tea that's all as I cares +for. You'll see as she'll take my view, when she's once been to the High +Street. She's her mother's daughter, and Phoebe can't abide that woman, +no more than me." + +"Have they got many children?" said Phoebe. "I know there are two girls, +but as I have never seen them--Are they as old as I am?" she asked, with +a tremulous feeling at her heart. If there were girls in the shop in the +High Street, with whom she would have to be on familiar terms, as her +cousins and equals, Phoebe did not feel that she could put up with that. + +"The eldest, Polly, is only twelve," said Tozer; "but never you mind, my +dear, for you shan't be without company. There's a deal of families with +daughters like yourself. Your grandmother won't say nothing against it; +and as for me, I think there's nought so cheery as young folks. You +shall have a fire in the drawing-room, and as many tea-parties as you +like. For the young men, I can't say as there's many, but girls is +plenty, and as long as you're content with that--" + +Mrs. Tozer regarded him with withering contempt across the table. + +"You're clever ones, you men," she said. "Families with daughters! Do +you think the Greens and the Robbins is company for _her_? I dare say as +you've heard your mother speak of Maria Pigeon, my dear? She married +John Green the grocer, and very well to do and respectable they may be, +but nobody but the likes of your grandfather would think of you and them +making friends." + +"Indeed I don't care for making friends," said Phoebe, "you must remember +that I came not for society, but to wait upon you, dear grandmamma. I +don't want young friends. At home I always go out with my mother; let me +take walks with you, when you are able. I am glad Uncle Tom's children +are little. I don't want company. My work--and the garden--and to sit +with grandmamma, that is all I care for. I shall be as happy as the day +is long," said this martyr, smiling benignly over the aches in her +heart. + +Her grandparents looked at her with ever-growing pride. Was not this the +ideal young woman, the girl of the story-books, who cared about nothing +but her duty? + +"That's very nice of you, my dear; but you ain't going to hide yourself +up in a corner," said Tozer. And, "Never fear, I'll take her wherever +it's fit for her to go to," his wife added, looking at her with pride. +Phoebe felt, in addition to all the rest, that she was to be made a show +of to all the connection, as a specimen of what the Tozer blood could +come to, and she did not even feel sure that something of the same +feeling had not been in her mother's bosom when she fitted her out so +perfectly. Phoebe Tozer had left contemporaries and rivals in +Carlingford, and the thought of dazzling and surpassing them in her +offspring as in her good fortune had still some sweetness for her mind. +"Mamma meant it too!" Phoebe junior said to herself with a sigh. +Unfortunately for her, she did everybody credit who belonged to her, and +she must resign herself to pay the penalty. Perhaps there was some +compensation in that thought. + +And indeed Phoebe did not wonder at her grandmother's pride when she +walked up with her to High Street, supporting her on her arm. She +recognised frankly that there were not many people like herself about, +few who had so much the air of good society, and not one who was so well +dressed. There were excuses to be made then for the anxiety of the old +people to produce her in the little world which was everything to them, +and with her usual candour and good sense she acknowledged this, though +she winced a little when an occasional acquaintance drifted across Mrs. +Tozer's path, and was introduced with pride to "my granddaughter," and +thrust forth an ungloved hand, with an exclamation of, "Lord bless us, +Phoebe's eldest! I hope I see you well, Miss." Phoebe continued urbane, +though it cost her many a pang. She had to keep on a perpetual argument +with herself as she went along slowly, holding up her poor grandmother's +tottering steps. "If this is what we have really sprung from, this is my +own class, and I ought to like it; if I don't like it, it must be my +fault. I have no right to feel myself better than they are. It is not +position that makes any difference, but individual character," Phoebe +said to herself. She got as much consolation out of this as is to be +extracted from such rueful arguments in general; but it was after all +indifferent comfort, and had not her temperament given her a strong hold +of herself, and power of subduing her impulses, it is much to be feared +that Phoebe would have dropped her grandmother's arm as they approached +the station, and run away. She did waver for a moment as she came in +sight of it. On that side lay freedom, comfort, the life she had been +used to, which was not very elevated indeed, but felt like high rank in +comparison with this. And she knew her parents would forgive her and +defend her if she went back to them, unable to support the martyrdom +which she had rashly taken upon herself. But then how weak that would +be, Phoebe thought to herself, drawing Mrs. Tozer's arm more tightly +within her own--how small! how it would hurt the feelings of the old +people, how it would vex and embarrass her father and mother! Lastly, it +might peril her brother's interests and her own, which, to do her +justice, was the last thing she thought of, and yet was not undeserving +of notice in its way. + +"Lean on me more heavily, grandmamma," she said at last, finally +concluding and throwing off this self-discussion. She could not prolong +it further. It was unworthy of her. Hence-forward she had made up her +mind to set her face like a flint, and no longer leave the question of +her persistence in her domestic mission an open question. Whatever she +might have "to put up with," it was now decided once for all. + +"Bless us all, if this ain't grandmamma," said Mrs. Tom. It was not +often, as she herself said with pride, that she required to be in the +shop, which was very much improved now from its old aspect. Ill luck, +however, brought her here to-day. She stood at the door which led from +the shop to the house, dividing the counter, talking to a lady who was +making a complaint upon the quality of cheese or butter. Mrs. Tozer had +led Phoebe that way in order to point out to her the plate-glass windows +and marble slabs for the cheese, of which, though they were one of her +grievances against Mrs. Tom, she was secretly proud. + +"I don't deny but what they've done a deal," said the old woman, "show +and vanity as I call it. I wish they may do as well for themselves with +all their plate-glass as me and Tozer did without it; but it ain't often +as you'll see a handsomer shop," she added, contemplating fondly the +scene of her early labours. If a squire looks fondly at his land, and a +sailor at his ship (when ships were worth looking at), why should not a +shopkeeper regard his shop with the same affectionate feelings? Mrs. Tom +Tozer had just taken leave of her remonstrant customer with a curtsey, +and an assurance that the faults complained of should be remedied, when +she caught sight of the infirm old woman leaning on Phoebe's arm, and +made the exclamation already quoted. + +"Lord bless us all! if it ain't grandmamma, and Phoebe's daughter along +o' her, I'll lay you sixpence," said Mrs. Tom in the extremity of her +surprise, and at the highest pitch of her voice. The lady customer was +still in the shop, and when she heard this she turned round and gave the +new-comers a stare. (It was not very wonderful, Phoebe allowed to herself +with secret anguish). She gave old Mrs. Tozer a familiar nod. "This is +quite a long walk for you now-a-days," she said, gazing at Phoebe, though +she addressed the old woman. + +"Thank ye, ma'am, I am a deal better," said Mrs. Tozer, "especially as +I've got my granddaughter to take care of me." + +"Oh! is this young--person your granddaughter," said the customer with +another stare, and then she nodded again and went away wondering. +"Well," Phoebe said to herself, "one little sting more or less what did +it matter?" and she went on through the shop supporting her grandmother, +keenly sensible of the looks that encountered her on every side. Mrs. +Tom stood leaning against the counter, waiting for them without making +any advance. She was smart and good-looking, with a malicious gleam in a +pair of bright black beady eyes. + +"How are you, granny?" she said, "I declare you're looking quite young +again, and as spry as twenty. Come in and rest; and this young lady as +is with you, I don't think as I need ask her name, the likeness speaks +for itself. It's Phoebe Beecham, ain't it? Bless us all! I'd have known +her anywhere, I would; the very moral of her mother, and of you too, +granny. As you stand there now, you're as like as two peas." + +Unconsciously Phoebe cast a look upon her grandmother. She did not think +she was vain. To be unconscious that she had some personal advantages +would, of course, be impossible; but a thrill crept through her when she +looked at the old woman by her side, wrinkled and red, in her +copper-coloured gown. As like as two peas! was that possible? Phoebe's +heart sank for the moment to her shoes, and a pitiful look of restrained +pain came to her face. This was assailing her in her tenderest point. + +"Am I so like you, grandmamma?" she said, faltering; but added quickly, +"then I cannot be like mamma. How do you do? My mother wished me to come +at once, to bring her kind regards. Is my uncle at home?" + +"No, Miss, your uncle ain't at home," said Mrs. Tom, "but you might be +civil, all the same, and put a name to me, more nor if I was a dog. I'm +your aunt, I am--and I likes all my titles, I do--and proper respect." + +"Surely," said Phoebe, with a bow and a gracious smile--but she did not +add that name. She was pleased to think that "Tom's wife" was her +mother's favourite aversion, and that a dignified resistance to her +claims was, so to speak, her duty. It even amused her to think of the +ingenuity required throughout a long conversation for the clever and +polite eluding of this claim. + +"I hope as you mean to let us in, Amelia," said Mrs. Tozer, "for it +ain't often as I takes so long a walk. I would never have thought of it +but for Phoebe--Phoebe junior, as Tozer calls her. She's been used to +things very different, but I'm thankful to say she ain't a bit proud. +She couldn't be more attentive to me if I was the queen, and talks of +your children as pretty as possible, without no nonsense. It ain't often +as you see that in a girl brought up like she's been." + +"I don't pretend to know nothing of how she's been brought up," said +Mrs. Tom, "and I don't think as there's no occasion for pride here. +We're all well-to-do, and getting on in the world--thanks to Him as +gives the increase. I don't see no opening for pride here. Me and your +mother were never very good friends, Phoebe, since that's your name; but +if there's anything I can do for you, or my family, you won't ask twice. +Grandmother's ain't a very lively house, not like mine, as is full of +children. Come in, Granny. I'm always speaking of making the stairs +wider, and a big window on the landing; but folks can't do everything +at once, and we'll have to do with it a bit longer. We've done a deal +already to the old place." + +"More than was wanted, or was thought upon in my time," said the old +lady, to whom this was as the trumpet of battle. "The stairs did well +enough for me, and I can't think what Tom can want changing things as +he's been used to all his life." + +"Oh, it ain't Tom," said his wife, her face lighting up with +satisfaction. "Tom wouldn't mind if the place was to come to bits about +our ears. He's like you, granny, he's one of the stand-still ones. It +ain't Tom, it's me." + +This little passage of arms took place as they were going upstairs, +which cost poor Mrs. Tozer many pantings and groaning, and placed Phoebe +for once on Mrs. Tom's side, for a window on the landing would have been +a wonderful improvement, there was no denying. When, at last, they had +toiled to the top, fighting their way, not only through the obscurity, +but through an atmosphere of ham and cheese which almost choked Phoebe, +the old lady was speechless with the exertion, though the air was to her +as the air of Paradise. Phoebe placed her on a chair and undid her +bonnet-strings, and for a minute was really alarmed. Mrs. Tom, however, +took it with perfect equanimity. + +"She's blown a bit; she ain't as young as she was, nor even as she +thinks for," said that sympathetic person. "Come, Granny, cheer up. Them +stairs ain't strange to you. What's the good of making a fuss? Sit down +and get your breath," she went on, pulling forward a chair; then turning +to Phoebe, she shrugged her shoulders and raised her eyebrows. "She's +breaking fast, that's what it is," said Mrs. Tom under her breath, with +a nod of her head. + +"This is the room as your mother spent most of her life in when she was +like you," said Mrs. Tozer, when she regained her breath. "It was here +as she met your father first. The first time I set my eyes on him, +'That's the man for my Phoebe,' I said to myself; and sure enough, so it +turned out." + +"You didn't miss no way of helping it on, neither, granny, if folks do +you justice," said Mrs. Tom. "Mothers can do a deal when they exerts +themselves; and now Phoebe has a daughter of her own, I dare be sworn +she's just as clever, throwing the nice ones and the well-off ones in +her way. It's a wonder to me as she hasn't gone off yet, with all her +opportunities--two or three and twenty, ain't you, Miss Phoebe? I should +have thought you'd have married long afore now." + +"I stall be twenty my next birthday," said Phoebe. "My cousins are a +great deal younger, I hear; are they at school? I hope I shall see them +before I go." + +"Oh, you'll see 'em fast enough," said their mother, "they're 'aving +their music lesson. I don't hold with sending girls to school. I likes +to keep them under my own eye. I suppose I needn't ask you now if you +play?" + +"A very little," said Phoebe, who rather piqued herself upon her music, +and who was learned in Bach and Beethoven, and had an opinion of her own +about Wagner. Mrs. Tom brightened visibly, for her girls played not a +little, but a great deal. + +"And draw?--but I needn't ask, for living in London, you've got masters +at your very door." + +"Not at all, I am sorry to say," said Phoebe, with a pathetic tone of +regret in her voice. + +"Lord bless us! Now who'd have thought it? I think nothing a sacrifice +to give mine the best of education," said Mrs. Tom. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +STRANGERS. + + +"Well, Ursula, how do you do?" said Mrs. Sam Hurst, meeting her young +neighbour with outstretched hands. She was a portly good-looking woman +with an active mind, and nothing, or next to nothing to do, and instead +of being affronted as some persons might have been, she was amused, and +indeed flattered, by the suspicion and alarm with which all the young +Mays regarded her. Whether she had the least intention of ever giving +any justification to their alarms it would be impossible to say, for +indeed to a sensible woman of forty-five, well to do and comfortable, a +husband with "a temper of his own," and a large poor unruly family, was, +perhaps, not so tempting as he appeared to be to his jealous children. +Anyhow she was not at all angry with them for being jealous and afraid +of her. She was cordial in her manner to the Mays as to everybody she +knew. She asked how Ursula had enjoyed herself, where she had been, what +she had seen, and a hundred questions more. + +"It is quite delightful to see somebody who has something to tell," she +said when the interrogation was over. "I ask everybody what news, and +no one has any news, which is dreadful for me." + +"How can you care for news?" said Ursula, "news! what interest can there +be in mere news that doesn't concern us?" + +"You are very foolish, my dear," said Mrs. Hurst; "what's to become of +you when you're old, if you don't like to hear what's going on? I'm +thankful to say I take a great deal, of interest in my fellow-creatures +for my part. Now listen, I'll tell you a piece of news in return for all +your information about London. When I was in Tozer's shop to-day--I +always go there, though they are Dissenters; after all, you know, most +tradespeople are Dissenters; some are sorry for it, some think it quite +natural that gentle-people and tradespeople should think differently in +religious matters; however, what I say is, you can't tell the difference +in butter and bacon between church and dissent, can you now? and Tozer's +is the best shop in the town, certainly the best shop. So as I was in +Tozer's as I tell you, who should come in but old Mrs. Tozer, who once +kept it herself--and by her side, figure my astonishment, a young lady! +yes, my dear, actually a young lady, in appearance, of course--I mean in +appearance--for, as you shall hear, it could be no more than that. So +nicely dressed, nothing vulgar or showy, a gown that Elise might have +made, and everything to correspond, in perfect taste. Fancy! and you may +imagine how I stared. I could not take my eyes off her. I was so +astonished that I rubbed up my old acquaintance with the old woman, and +asked her how her rheumatism was. I _hope_ it is rheumatism. At all +events I called it so, and then she told me as proud as a peacock that +it was her granddaughter; fancy, her granddaughter! did you ever hear of +such a thing? The other woman in the shop, the present Tozer, called out +to her by name. Phoebe they called her. Poor girl, I was so sorry for +her. A lady in appearance, and to have to submit to that!" + +"Oughtn't ladies to be called Phoebe?" asked Janey. "Why not? It's rather +a pretty name." + +"That is so like Janey," said Mrs. Hurst; "I know she is the clever one; +but she never can see what one means. It is not being called Phoebe, it +is because of her relations that I am sorry for her. Poor girl! +educating people out of their sphere does far more harm than good, I +always maintain. To see that nice-looking, well-dressed girl in Tozer's +shop, with all the butter boys calling her Phoebe--" + +"The butter boys are as good as any one else," cried Janey, whose +tendencies were democratic. "I dare say she likes her relations as well +as we like ours, and better, though they do keep a shop." + +"Oh, Janey!" cried Ursula, whose feelings were touched; then she +remembered that her sympathies ought not to flow in the same channel +with those of Mrs. Sam Hurst, and continued coldly, "If she had not +liked them she need not have come to see them." + +"That is all you know, you girls. You don't know the plague of +relations, and how people have got to humble themselves to keep money in +the family, or keep up appearances, especially people that have risen in +the world. I declare I think they pay dear for rising in the world, or +their poor children pay dear--" + +"You seem to take a great deal of interest in the Tozers," said Ursula, +glad to administer a little correction; "even if they came to St. +Roque's I could understand it--but Dissenters!" This arrow struck home. + +"Well," said Mrs. Hurst, colouring, "of all people to take an interest +in Dissenters I am the last; but I was struck, I must admit, to see that +old Mrs. Tozer, looking like an old washerwoman, with a girl in a +twenty-guinea dress, you may take my word for it, though as plain as +that little brown frock of yours, Ursula. That was a sight to wake any +one up." + +Ursula looked down at the little brown frock thus contemptuously +referred to, with mingled offence and consciousness of inferiority. It +had not cost as many shillings, and had been made up at home, and was +not a shining example of the dressmaker's art. "If you value people +according to what their dress costs--" + +"I can't know much about her moral qualities, can I?" said Mrs. Hurst, +"and I don't suppose she has any position, being old Tozer's grandchild. +But she wasn't amiss in her looks, and I declare I should have taken her +for a lady if I had met her in the street. It shows how one may be taken +in. And this is a lesson for you, young girls; you must never trust to +appearances. I confess I'd like to find out some more about her. Going +in, Ursula? Well, my dear, perhaps I'll step in for a talk in the +evening. You must be dull after your gaiety. Tell your dear papa," said +Mrs. Hurst with a laugh, "that I am coming to sit with you after tea. +Now mind you give him my message. He does not like to miss me when I +come to the Parsonage, does he now? Good-bye for the present. Till eight +o'clock." + +"Oh, how I hate her," cried Janey, "except sometimes when she makes me +laugh and I feel tempted to like her; but I always resist it. Do you +think really, Ursula, that papa could be--such a--stupid--" + +"Oh, please don't ask me," cried Ursula. "How can I tell? I don't know +what he may do; but if he does--and if she does--oh, then, Janey--" + +"Yes, indeed, then!" said Janey, breathing hard. This mysterious threat +seemed very horrible to both of them, though what they meant by it, it +would have been very hard for either of them to tell. They waited within +the little shrubbery whispering to each other till they heard Mrs. Hurst +close her own door, for they did not want any more of her society, +though they had no intention of going in. When she was safe out of the +way, they stole out and continued their walk in the opposite direction. + +"I wanted to have gone into the town," said Ursula. "It _is_ hard to +have that woman next door; one can't go anywhere or do anything! I +wanted some braid for your new frock, Janey, and twist to make the +button-holes; but if we had said we were going up into Carlingford, she +would have come too. Never mind; a walk is better than nothing. Walk +fast, and let us try how far we can go before tea." + +Upon this idea the two girls set out walking as if for a race, which did +them all the good in the world, quickening the blood in their veins, +sending the colour to their cheeks, and dispersing all the cobwebs from +their minds, since they soon got into the spirit of the race, and +pursued it with eagerness, with little outbursts of laughter, and +breathless adjurations to each other to keep within the proper pace, and +not to run. It was not a very inviting road along which they took their +walk. Beyond St. Roque the land was divided into allotments for the +working people, not very tidily kept, and rough with cut cabbages, +plants, and dug-up potatoes. Beyond this lay a great turnip-field, +somewhat rank in smell, and the east wind swept chill along the open +road, which was not sheltered by a single tree, so that the attractions +of the way soon palled upon pedestrians. Looking back to Grange Lane, +the snug and sheltered look of that genteel adjunct to the town was +comforting to behold. Even Grange Lane was not gay; a line of garden +walls, however they may shelter and comfort the gardens within, are not +lovely without; but yet the trees, though leafless, waved over the red +lines of brick, and the big laurels hung out bushes of dark verdure and +long floating sprays of ivy. + +"Let's turn back; perhaps she may not be at the window," cried Ursula. +"It is so dull here." + +Janey stopped short in the heat of the walk, objecting for the moment. + +"I wish you had not gone to London. You never used to care for the +streets and the shops; now a regular good walk is too much for you," +cried Janey. + +"With a turnip-field on one side and a potato-field on the other!" said +Ursula, in high disdain. + +"I tell you what!" cried Janey. "I don't think I like you since you came +back. The Dorsets are fine people, and we are not fine. There are no +grand parties, nor theatres, nor balls at Carlingford. When we go out +here, we go to walk, not to see things, as you have been used to doing. +I don't know what you mean by it; nineteen years with us, and one +fortnight with them! and the fortnight counts for more than all the +years!" + +Janey was not in the habit of restraining her voice any more than +anything else about her, and she spoke this out with loud school-girl +tones, reckless who might hear her. In most cases she might have done +this with the utmost impunity, and how was she to know, as she said to +her sister afterwards, in self-defence, that any one, especially any +gentleman, could be lurking about, spying upon people, among those nasty +allotments? There was some one there, however, who came down the muddy +path, all cut up by the wheel-barrows, with a smile upon his face. A +gentleman? Janey called him so without a doubt on the subject; but +Ursula, more enlightened and slightly irritated, had her doubts. He was +dressed, not with any care of morning costume, but wore a black +frock-coat of the most formal description, with a white cravat +carelessly tied, semi-clerical, and yet not clerical. He had a smile on +his face, which, on the whole, was rather a handsome face, and looked at +them, showing evident signs of having heard what Janey said. To be sure, +he did not say anything, but Ursula felt that his look was just the same +as if he had spoken, and coloured high, resenting the intrusion. By this +stranger's side was one of the men who had been working at the +allotments, whose hands were not clean, and whose boots were heavy with +the clinging, clayey soil. When they had nearly reached the road, the +gentleman turned round and shook hands with his companion, and then +walked on towards Carlingford, throwing another look towards the girls +as he passed. It would be hard to say whether curiosity or anger was +strongest in Ursula. In Janey, the former sentiment carried everything +before it. + +"Oh, I wonder who he is?" she cried, low, but eager, in her sister's +ear. "Who can he be, Ursula, who can he be? We know all the men about +here, every one, as well as we know Reginald. Oh, Ursula, who do you +think he can be?" + +"He is very impertinent," cried Ursula, with an angry blush. "How should +I know? And oh! how very silly of you, Janey, to talk so loud, and make +impudent men stare at us so." + +"Impudent!" cried Janey. "I didn't talk loud. He looked rather nice, on +the contrary. Why, he laughed! Do you call that impudent? It can't be +anybody from the town, because we know everybody; and did you see him +shaking hands with that man? How very funny! Let us run in and tell Mrs. +Sam Hurst, and ask her who she thinks he is. She is sure to know." + +"Janey," said Ursula, severely, "if you live very long, you will be as +great a gossip and as fond of news as Mrs. Sam Hurst herself." + +"I don't care," cried Janey; "you're just as fond of news as I am, only +you won't confess it. I am dying to know who he is. He is quite +nice-looking, and tall and grand. A new gentleman! Come, quick, Ursula; +let us get back and see where he goes." + +"Janey!" cried the elder sister. She was half curious herself, but +Ursula was old enough to know better, and to be ashamed of the other's +naive and undisguised curiosity. "Oh, what would Cousin Anne say! A girl +running after a gentleman (even if he is a gentleman), to see where he +goes!" + +"Well!" cried Janey, "if she wants to know, what else is she to do? Who +cares for Cousin Anne? She is an old maid. Why, if it had been a lady, I +shouldn't have minded. There are so many ladies; but a new gentleman! If +you won't come on, I will run by myself. How pleased Mrs. Sam Hurst will +be!" + +"I thought you hated Mrs. Sam Hurst?" + +"So I do when I think of papa; but when there's anything going on, or +anything to find out, I like her dearly. She's such fun! She never +shilly-shallies, like you. She's not an old maid like your Cousin Anne +that you are always talking of. Come along! if anybody else finds out +who he is before we do," cried Janey, with almost despairing energy, "I +shall break my heart!" + +Ursula stoically resisted the tug upon her, but she went back to Grange +Lane, to which, indeed, she had turned her face before they met the +stranger, and she could not help seeing the tall black figure in front +of her which Janey watched so eagerly. Ursula was not eager, but she +could not help seeing him. He walked up the street quickly, not as if he +thought himself of interest to any one, but when he had got half way up +Grange Lane, crossed to speak to somebody. This filled Janey with +consternation. + +"He is not such a stranger after all," she cried. "He knows some one. He +will not be quite a discovery. Who is it he is talking to, I wonder? He +is standing at one of the doors, but it is not Miss Humphreys, nor Miss +Griffiths, nor any of the Charters. Perhaps she is a stranger too. If he +is married he won't be half so interesting, for there are always plenty +of ladies. Perhaps he has just come by the railway to spend the day--but +then there is nothing to see in Carlingford, and how did he know that +man at the lots? Oh, Ursula, why don't you answer me? why don't you say +something? have you no feeling? I am sure it don't matter a bit to me, +for I am not out; I am never asked to parties--but I take an interest +for you other girls' sake." + +Before this time, however, Ursula had found a new object of interest. +She had not been quite so unmoved as Janey supposed. A new gentleman was +a thing to awaken anybody who knew Carlingford, for, indeed, gentlemen +were scarce in the society of the little town, and even at the most mild +of tea-parties it is ludicrous to see one man (and that most likely a +curate) among a dozen ladies--so that even when she appeared to Janey to +wonder, she felt that her sister's curiosity was not unjustifiable. But +while thus engaged in the enterprise of discovering "a new gentleman" +for the good of society, Ursula's eyes and her attention were caught by +another interest. The stranger had crossed the street to talk to a lady, +who had been walking down the Lane, and whom Ursula felt she had seen +somewhere. Who was it? Certainly not Miss Humphreys, nor Miss Griffiths, +nor any other of the well-known young ladies of Grange Lane. The setting +sun, which had come out suddenly after a dull day, threw a slanting, +long-drawn ray up the street, which fell upon the strangers, as they +stood talking. This ray caught the young lady's hair, and flashed back a +reflection out of the shining coils which looked to Ursula (being dark +herself, she admired golden hair more than anything) as bright as the +sunshine. And in the light she caught the out-line of a pretty head, and +of a nose slightly "tip-tilted," according to the model which the +Laureate has brought into fashion. Where had she seen her before? She +remembered all at once with a rush of bewildered pleasure. + +"Janey! Oh, Janey!" she cried, "Listen! This is too extraordinary. There +is the young lady in black!" + +Janey, as may be supposed, had heard every detail of Mrs. Copperhead's +ball, and knew what Ursula meant as well as Ursula herself did. She grew +pale with excitement and curiosity. "No!" she said, "you can't mean it. +Are you sure, are you quite sure? Two new people in one day! Why, +everybody must be coming to Carlingford. It makes me feel quite +strange!" said this susceptible young woman; "the young lady in black!" + +"Oh, yes, there can't be any mistake," said Ursula, hurrying on in her +excitement, "I looked at her so much. I couldn't mistake her. Oh, I +wonder if she will know me, I wonder if she will speak to me! or if she +is going to see the Dorsets, or what has brought her to Carlingford. +Only fancy, Janey, the young lady in black whom I have talked so much +of; oh, I wonder, I do wonder what has brought her here." + +They were on the opposite side of the lane, so that their hurried +approach did not startle the strangers; but Phoebe, looking up at the +sound of the footsteps, saw a face she knew looking wistfully, eagerly +at her, with evident recognition. Phoebe had a faculty quite royal of +remembering faces, and it took but a moment to recall Ursula's to her. +Another moment was spent in a rapid discussion with herself, as to +whether she should give or withhold the salutation which the girl +evidently sought. But what harm could it do? and it would be pleasant to +know some one; and if on finding out who she was, Miss Dorset's little +relation shrank from her acquaintance, why then, Phoebe said to herself, +"I shall be no worse than before." So she sent a smile and a bow across +the road and said, "How do you do?" in a pause of her conversation. +Ursula was too shy to feel on equal terms with the young lady in black, +who was so much more self-possessed than she was. She blushed and +smiled, answered, "Quite well, thank you," across the lane like a child, +and notwithstanding a great many pokes from Janey's energetic elbow, +went on without further response. + +"Oh, why can't you run across and speak to her?" cried Janey, "oh, how +funny you are, and how disagreeable! would _I_ pass any one I knew, like +that!" + +"You don't understand, you are only a child," said Ursula, frightened +and agitated, yet full of dignity, "we have only met--in society. When +you are introduced to any one in society it does not count. Perhaps they +might not want to know you; perhaps--but anyhow you can't rush up to +them like two girls at school. You have to wait and see what they will +do." + +"Well, I declare!" cried Janey; "then what is the good of society? You +know them, and yet you mustn't know them. I would never be such a fool +as that. Fancy looking at her across the lane and saying 'quite well, +thank you,' after she had begun to speak. I suppose that's Cousin Anne's +way? I should have rushed across and asked where she was staying, and +when she would come to see us. Ursula, oh," cried Janey, suddenly +changing her tone, and looking at her sister with eyes which had widened +to twice their natural size with the grandeur of the idea, "you will +have to ask her to tea!" + +"Oh, you silly girl, do you think she would come? you should have seen +her at the ball. She knew everybody, and had such quantities of +partners. Mr. Clarence Copperhead was always dancing with her. Fancy her +coming to tea with us." But Ursula herself was somewhat breathless with +the suggestion. When a thing has been once said, there is always a +chance that it may be done, and the two girls walked up very quickly +into the High Street after this, silent, with a certain awe of +themselves and their possibilities. It might be done, now that it had +been said. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +A DOMESTIC CRISIS. + + +The interest shown by the two girls in the stranger whom they had noted +with so much attention was not destined to meet with any immediate +reward. Neither he, nor "the young lady in black," whom he hurried +across the street to meet, could be heard of, or was seen for full two +days afterwards, to the great disappointment of the young Mays. Ursula, +especially, who had been entertaining vague but dazzling thoughts of a +companionship more interesting than Janey's, more novel and at the same +time more equal than that which was extended to her by the Miss +Griffiths in Grange Lane, who were so much better off and had so much +less to do than she. Ursula did not recollect the name of the fortunate +girl who was so much in the ascendant at Mr. Copperhead's ball, though +Phoebe had been introduced to her; but she did recollect her popularity +and general friendliness, and the number of partners she had, and all +those delightful signs of greatness which impress a poor little +stranger, to whom her first dance is not unmingled pleasure. She +whispered to Janey about her even in the drawing-room when all the +family were assembled. + +"Do you think she will call?" said Ursula, asking counsel even of +Janey's inexperience, of which she was so contemptuous on other +occasions. + +"Call! how can she, if she is a stranger?" said Janey. + +"As if you knew anything about it!" Ursula retorted with great +injustice. + +"If I don't know, then why do you ask me?" complained Janey with reason. +The room looked more cheerful since Ursula had come home. The fire, no +longer choked with cinders, burned clear and red. The lamp, though it +was a cheap one, and burned paraffin oil, did not smell. The old +curtains were nicely drawn, and the old covers smoothed over the chairs. +All this did not make them look less old; but it made their antiquity +natural and becoming. Johnnie, the school-boy, was learning his lessons +on the rug before the fire. Reginald sat writing, with a candle all to +himself, at a writing-table in a corner. Ursula and Janey were working +at the centre table by the light of the lamp. They had no time, you may +imagine, for fancy-work. Janey, with many contortions of her person, +especially of her mouth, with which she seemed to follow the movements +of her needle, was stitching up a sleeve of her new frock which Miss +Dorset had sent her, and which a poor dress-maker, who "went out," was +at this moment making up in the schoolroom; while Ursula was still busy +with the basket of stockings which she had found awaiting her on their +return. What Reginald was doing at the writing-table was probably a +great deal less useful, but the girls respected his occupation as no one +ever thought of respecting theirs, and carried on their conversation +under their breath, not to interrupt him. The little children had gone +to bed, tea was over, and several hours of the long winter evening still +before them. Janey had given over lessons, partly because there was no +one to insist upon her doing them. Once in a week or so her father gave +her a lecture for her ignorance, and ordered her into his study to do a +long sum in arithmetic out of the first old "Colenso" that could be +picked up; and about once a week too, awakening suddenly to a sense of +her own deficiencies, she would "practise" energetically on the old +piano. This was all that was being done for Janey in the way of +education. She was fifteen, and as Johnnie, and Amy, and Robin were at +an age when school is a necessity, the only retrenchment possible was to +keep Janey at home. Ursula had got what education she possessed in the +same irregular way. It was not much. Besides reading and writing, she +had pretty manners, which came by nature like those other gifts. A girl +is not so badly off who can read and write and has pretty manners. Janey +possessed the two first faculties, but neither had nor apparently could +acquire the third. The two dark brown heads were close together as they +worked--Ursula's shining and neat, and carefully arranged, Janey's rough +with elf-locks; but they were more interesting than Reginald, though he +was so much better informed. As for Johnnie, he lay extended on the rug, +his head slightly raised on his two hands, his book on a level with the +rest of his person, saying over his lesson to himself with moving lips. +And now and then, when the girls' whispered chatter was silent, the +sound of Reginald's pen scratching across the paper would fill up the +interval; it was a sound which filled them all with respect. + +This peaceful domestic scene was broken in upon by the entry of Mr. May. +From the moment that he closed the hall-door behind him, coming in, a +little thrill ran through the family party. The girls looked at each +other when they heard that sound, and Johnnie, without stopping his +inward repetition, shifted himself and his book adroitly, with the +cleverness of practice, to the side instead of the front of the fire. +Reginald's pen stopped its scratching, and he wheeled round on his chair +to give an appealing glance at his sisters. + +"What is it now?" he said hurriedly. Every one knew that when the door +was closed like that it meant something like a declaration of war. But +they had not much time to wait and wonder. Mr. May came in, pushing the +door wide open before him, and admitting a gust of chill air of the +January night. He looked at the peaceable domestic scene with a "humph" +of dissatisfaction, because there was nothing to find fault with, which +is as great a grievance as another when one is in the mood for +grievances. He had come in cross and out of sorts, with a private cause +for his ill-temper, which he did not choose to reveal, and it would have +been a relief to him had he found them all chattering or wasting their +time, instead of being occupied in this perfectly dutiful way--even +Johnnie at his lessons, repeating them over under his breath. What was +the world coming to? Mr. May was disappointed. Instead of leading up to +it gradually by a general _battue_ of his children all round, he had to +open upon his chief subject at once, which was not nearly so agreeable a +way. + +"What are you doing, Reginald?" he asked, roughly, pulling his chair to +the other side of the fire, opposite the corner to which Johnnie had +scuffled out of the way. "I have come in especially to speak to you. It +is time this shilly-shallying was done with. Do you mean to accept the +College chaplaincy or not? an answer must be given, and that at once. +Are you so busy that you can't attend to what I say?" + +"I am not busy at all, sir," said Reginald, in a subdued voice, while +his sisters cast sympathetic looks at him. Both the girls, it is true, +thought him extremely foolish, but what of that? Necessarily they were +on his side against papa. + +"I thought as much; indeed it would be hard to say what you could find +to be busy at. But look here, this must come to an end one way or +another. You know my opinion on the subject." + +"And you know mine, sir," said Reginald, rising and coming forward to +the fire. "I don't say anything against the old College. For an old man +it might be quite a justifiable arrangement--one who had already spent +his strength in work--but for me--of course there is nothing in the +world to do." + +"And two hundred and fifty a year for the doing of it--not to speak of +the house, which you could let for fifty more." + +"Father! don't you see that is just the very thing that I object to, so +much for nothing." + +"You prefer nothing for nothing," said Mr. May, with a smile; "well, I +suppose that is more fair, perhaps--to the public;--but how about me? A +son of three-and-twenty depending upon me for everything, useless and +bringing in nothing, does not suit me. You are all the same," he said, +"all taking from me, with a thousand wants, education, clothes, +amusement--" + +"I am sure," said the irrepressible Janey, "it is not much clothes we +get, and as for amusements--and education!" + +"Hold your tongue," cried her father. "Here are six of you, one more +helpless than another, and the eldest the most helpless of all. I did +not force you into the Church. You might have gone out to James if you +had liked--but you chose an academical career, and then there was +nothing else for it. I gave you a title to orders. You are my curate +just now--so called; but you know I can't pay a curate, and you know I +can't afford to keep you. Providence--" said Mr. May, sitting up in his +chair, with a certain solemnity, "Providence itself has stepped in to +make your path clear. Here is better than a living, a provision for you. +I don't bid you take it for life; take it for a year or two till you can +hear of something better. Now what on earth is your objection to this?" + +The girls had both turned their faces towards their brother. Janey, +always the first in action, repeated almost unconsciously. "Yes, what +on earth, Reginald, can be your objection to this?" + +Reginald stood in the middle of the room and looked helplessly at them. +Against his father alone he might have made a stand--but when the united +family thus gazed at him with inquiring and reproachful looks, what was +he to say? + +"Objection!" he faltered, "you know very well what my objection is. It +is not honest work--it is no work. It is a waste of money that might be +better employed; it is a sinecure." + +"And what do you call your nominal curateship," said his father, "is not +that a sinecure too?" + +"If it is," said Reginald, growing red, but feeling bolder, for here the +family veered round, and placed itself on his side, "it is of a contrary +kind. It is _sine_ pay. My work may be bad, though I hope not, but my +pay is nothing. I don't see any resemblance between the two." + +"Your pay nothing!" cried the father, enraged; "what do you call your +living, your food that you are so fastidious about, your floods of beer +and all the rest of it--not to speak of tailors' bills much heavier than +mine?" + +"Which are never paid." + +"Whose fault is it that they are never paid? yours and the others who +weigh me down to the ground, and never try to help or do anything for +themselves. Never paid! how should I have gone on to this period and +secured universal respect if they had never been paid? I have had to pay +for all of you," said Mr. May, bitterly, "and all your vagaries; +education, till I have been nearly ruined; dresses and ribbons, and a +hundred fooleries for these girls, who are of no use, who will never +give me back a farthing." + +"Papa!" cried Ursula and Janey in one breath. + +"Hold your tongues! useless impedimenta, not even able to scrub the +floors, and make the beds, which is all you could ever be good for--and +you must have a servant forsooth to do even that. But why should I speak +of the girls?" he added, with a sarcastic smile, "they can do nothing +better, poor creatures; but you! who call yourself a man--a University +man, save the mark--a fine fellow with the Oxford stamp upon you, +twenty-three your next birthday. It is a fine thing that I should still +have to support you." + +Reginald began to walk up and down the room, stung beyond bearing--not +that he had not heard it all before, but to get accustomed to such +taunts is difficult, and it is still more difficult for a young and +susceptible mind to contradict all that is seemly and becoming in +nature, and to put forth its own statement in return. Reginald knew that +his education had in reality cost his father very little, and that his +father knew this. He was aware, too, much more distinctly than Mr. May +knew, of James's remittances on his account; but what could he say? It +was his father who insulted him, and the young man's lips were closed; +but the effort was a hard one. He could not stand still there and face +the man who had so little consideration for his feelings. All he could +do was to keep his agitation and irritation down by that hurried +promenade about the room, listening as little as he could, and answering +not at all. + +"Oh, papa! how can you?" cried Janey, seizing the first pause. Janey was +not old enough to understand the delicacy that closed Reginald's lips, +and the impulse of self-defence was stirring in her; "how dare you talk +to Ursula so? I mayn't be much use, but Ursula! nice and comfortable you +were when she was away! as if you didn't say so ten times in a morning; +to be sure that was to make me feel uncomfortable. Scrub floors!" cried +Janey, in the violence of her resentment. "I'll go out and be a +maid-of-all-work whenever you please. I am sure it would be much happier +than here." + +"Hold your tongue," said Mr. May, "you scolding and Ursula crying; +that's the beauty of the feminine element in a house. I ought to be very +thankful, oughtn't I, that I have girls to furnish this agreeable +variety? But as for you, Reginald," his father added, "mark my words, if +you determine to reject this windfall that Providence has blown into +your hands, it must be done at once. No further play of I would and I +would not, if you please, here; and if it does not suit you, you will +please to understand that I have no further need for a curate that suits +me still less. I want your room. If nothing else can be done, I must try +to take a pupil to add a little to the income which has so many claims +upon it; and I don't mean to go on keeping you--this is plain enough, I +hope." + +"Very plain, sir," said Reginald, who had grown as pale as he was red +before. + +"I am glad to hear it; you will write to the Corporation at once, +accepting or rejecting at your pleasure; but this must be done to-night. +I must insist on its being done to-night; and if you find yourself +sufficiently bold to reject an income," said Mr. May with emphasis, "and +go off into the world without a penny in your pocket, I wash my hands of +it; it is nothing to me." + +Then there was a pause. The father of the family sat down in his chair, +and looked round him with the happy consciousness that he had made +everybody miserable. The girls were both crying, Reginald pale and +desperate, coming and going through the room. No one had escaped but +Johnnie, who, happy in insignificance, lay all his length on the other +side of the fire, and lifted his face from his book to watch the +discomfiture of the others. Johnnie had no terrors on his own account. +He had done nothing to call forth the paternal wrath. Mr. May could not +resist this temptation. + +"Is that a way to learn lessons as they ought to be learnt?" he cried +suddenly, throwing one of his darts at the unthinking boy. "Get up this +moment, and sit down to a table somewhere. Your own room, where there is +nobody to disturb you, is better than amid the chit-chat here; do you +hear me? get up, sir, and go." + +Johnnie stumbled to his feet appalled; he was too much startled to say +anything. He took his books across the room to the writing-table which +Reginald had abandoned in a similar way. But by the time he reached that +haven, he came to himself, and recovering his courage muttered something +about the hardship to which he was thus exposed, as boys have a way of +doing; upon which Mr. May got suddenly up, seized him by the shoulders +and turned him out of the drawing-room. "I said your own room, sir," +cried this impartial father, distributing to all alike an equal share of +his urbanities. When he had accomplished this, he stood for a moment and +looked at the rest of his confused and uncomfortable family. "There is +not much cheerful society to be had here this evening, I perceive," he +said. "It is pleasant to come in from one's cares and find a reception +like this, don't you think? Let some one bring me some coffee to my +study. I am going to write." + +"Whose fault is it that he gets such a reception?" burst forth Janey, +the moment her father had closed the door. "Who does it all, I wonder? +Who treats us like a set of wretches without any feeling? I can't hush, +I won't hush! Oh, shouldn't I be glad to go out as a housemaid, to do +anything!" + +"Oh, Janey, hush! we can't help ourselves, we are obliged to put up with +it," said Ursula; "but Reginald, he is not obliged, he can save himself +when he likes. Oh, I know, I know papa is unreasonable; but, Reginald, +aren't you a little bit unreasonable too?" + +"Don't you begin to reproach me," cried the young man, "I have had +enough for one day. Have I been such a charge upon him, Ursula? What has +he spent upon me? Next to nothing. That tailor's bill he spoke of, he +knew as well as I do that I paid it by the tutorship I had in the +vacation. It is his bill that is not paid, not mine. And then James's +money--" + +"Oh, never mind that, never mind the past," cried Ursula, "think of the +present, that's what you ought to do. Oh, Reginald, think; if _I_ had +the chance of two hundred and fifty pounds a year! there is nothing I +would not do for it. I would scrub floors, as he said, I would do +anything, the dirtiest work. You will be independent, able to do what +you please, and never to ask papa for anything. Reginald, think! Oh, +dear, dear, I wish I knew how to talk to you. To be independent, able to +please yourself!" + +"I shall be independent anyhow after to-night," he said. "Ursula, you +will help me to pack my things, won't you? It is leaving you here, you +girls, with nobody to stand up for you; it is that I feel most." + +"Oh, Reginald, don't go and leave us," cried Janey, leaning on the back +of his chair; "what can we do without you? When he comes in, in a rage +like to-night, as long as you are here one can bear it. Oh, Reginald, +can't you, can't you take the chaplaincy? Think what it would be for +us." + +"Yes, I will pack your things," said Ursula, "I will help you to get out +of it, though we must stay and put up with it all, and never, never +escape. But where will you go? You have no money, not enough scarcely to +pay your railway fare. You would have to take to teaching; and where are +you to go?" + +"I have some friends left," cried Reginald, his lips quivering, "some +people care for me still and would hold out a hand. I am--not--quite so +badly off as he thinks; I could go to town, or to Oxford--or--" + +"You don't know where; and here is a nice old-fashioned house all ready +for you to step into, and an income," cried Ursula, her tone deepening +to mark the capital letter; "an Income, quite sure and ready--without +any difficulty, without any trouble, all if you say yes. Oh, only think +what a comfort for us all to be able to rush to you when we are in +trouble! Think of Johnnie and Robin; and that delightful wainscoted room +for your study, with the book-cases all ready--and plenty of money to +buy books." This being the highest point to which Ursula could reach, +she dropped down after it into an insinuating half whisper, "And plenty +of work to do; dear Reginald, plenty of work in the parish, you may be +sure, if you will only help the Rector; or here where you are working +already, and where you may be sure nobody will think of paying you. Oh, +Reginald, there is plenty, plenty of work." + +The young man was already beginning to melt. "Do you think so?" he +said. + +"Think!" cried Janey, "I am sure you may do all papa's work for him and +welcome, if that is all. For my part I think you are very silly, both +Ursula and you. Work! Pay is far better if you weren't such a pair of +simpletons. After all, he has a little reason to be angry. Good +gracious! why shouldn't you take it? Some one else will, if you won't. I +would in a minute, and so would Ursula if we could. And why should you +be so much grander than anybody else? I think it is quite childish for +my part." + +"Reginald, never mind her, she is only a child and doesn't understand +('Child yourself,' cried Janey). I don't understand very well, but still +I can see what you want. Oh, you might find such quantities of work, +things nobody is ever found to do. What do the fellows do at Oxford that +they get that money for? I have heard you say you would be very glad to +get a fellowship--" + +"That is different, that is a reward of scholarship." + +"Well, and so is this too," said Ursula; "it is (I am sure) because the +old men knew you were one that would be kind. You were always kind, +Reginald, that is what it is for." + +"The old men have nothing to do with it," he said, shaking his head, "it +is the Corporation, and they are--" + +"Very rich men, Reginald dear, a great many of them, very sensible! what +does it matter about their education? And then you would be a really +educated man, always ready to do anything that was wanted in +Carlingford. Don't you see that was their meaning? They pay you for that +which is not work, but they will find you plenty of work they don't pay +for. That is what they mean; and oh, Reginald, to run over to you there +in that pretty wainscoted room, and to have you coming in to us every +day, and to know that you were there to stand by us!" + +Here once more Ursula began to cry. As for Janey, she made a dash at the +writing-table and brought him paper and pens and ink, "Say yes, say +yes," she cried; "oh, Reginald, if it was only to spite papa!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +THE NEW GENTLEMAN. + + +It seems difficult to imagine what connection there could be between +Phoebe Beecham's appearance in Grange Lane and the interview which took +place there between her and the "new gentleman," and Mr. May's sudden +onslaught upon his family, which ended in Reginald's acceptance of the +chaplaincy. But yet the connection was very distinct. Not even the Mays, +in their excitement over the appearance of a stranger in Carlingford, +could be more surprised than Phoebe was when her solitary walk was +interrupted by the apparition across the street of a known person, a +face familiar to her in other regions. "Mr. Northcote!" she cried, with +a little start of surprise. As for the stranger, he made but two steps +across Grange Lane in his delight at the sight of her. Not that he was +Phoebe's lover, or possessed by any previous enthusiasm for the girl whom +he had met about half-a-dozen times in his life, and of whom he knew +little more than that she was the daughter of a "brother clergyman;" for +both Mr. Beecham and he were in the habit of using that word, whether +appropriate or inappropriate. This was the explanation of the white +necktie and the formal dress which had puzzled Ursula. + +Horace Northcote was not of Mr. Beecham's class. He was not well-to-do +and genial, bent upon keeping up his congregation and his popularity, +and trying to ignore as much as he could the social superiority of the +Church without making himself in any way offensive to her. He was a +political Nonconformist, a vigorous champion of the Disestablishment +Society, more successful on the platform than in the pulpit, and +strenuously of opinion in his heart of hearts that the Church was the +great drawback to all progress in England, an incubus of which the +nation would gladly be rid. His dress was one of the signs of his +character and meaning. Strong in a sense of his own clerical position, +he believed in uniform as devoutly as any Ritualist, but he would not +plagiarise the Anglican livery and walk about in a modified soutane and +round hat like "our brethren in the Established Church," as Mr. Beecham +kindly called them. To young Northcote they were not brethren, but +enemies, and though he smiled superior at the folly which stigmatised +an M.B. waistcoat, yet he scorned to copy. Accordingly his frock coat +was not long, but of the extremest solemnity of cut and hue, his white +tie was of the stiffest, his tall hat of the most uncompromising +character. He would not veil for a day in easier and more ordinary +habiliments the distinct position he assumed as clerical, yet not of the +clergy; a teacher of men, though not a priest of the Anglican +inspiration. He could not help feeling that his appearance, as he moved +about the streets, was one which might well thrill Anglican bosoms with +a flutter of terror. He was the Church's avowed enemy, and upon this he +stood as his claim to the honour of those who thought with him. This was +very different from the views held by the pastor of the Crescent Chapel, +who was very willing to be on the best terms with the Church, and would +have liked to glide into closer and closer amity, and perhaps finally to +melt away altogether in her broad bosom, like a fat raindrop +contributing noiselessly to swell the sea. It was not, however, any +feeling of this difference which made Phoebe draw herself back +instinctively after the first start of recognition. Across her mind, +even while she held out her hand to the stranger, there flashed a sudden +recollection of her grandmother and her grandfather, and all the homely +belongings which he, a minister of the connection, could not be kept in +ignorance of. It was but a momentary pang. Phoebe was not so foolish as +to shrink before the inevitable, or to attempt by foolish expedients to +stave off such a danger. She shrank for a second, then drew herself up +and shook off all such ignoble cares. "I am myself whatever happens," +was her reflection; and she said with something like security: + +"I am so glad to meet you, Mr. Northcote; what an unexpected pleasure to +see you here!" + +"It is a most unexpected pleasure for me, I assure you," he said, "and a +very great one." He spoke with unaffected honesty; for indeed his plunge +into the society of Salem Chapel had given him a shock not easily got +over, and the appearance of a being of his own species, among all these +excellent poulterers and grocers, was a relief unspeakable; and then he +added, "May I walk with you, if you are going to walk?" + +"Surely," said Phoebe with momentary hesitation, and it was just at this +moment that she perceived Ursula on the other side of the road, and, +glad of the diversion, waved her hand to her, and said, "How do you do?" + +"A friend of yours?" said Mr. Northcote, following her gesture with his +eyes, and feeling more and more glad that he had met her. "I passed +those young ladies just now, and heard some of their conversation, +which amused me. Do they belong to our people? If you will not be angry, +Miss Beecham, I must say that I should be glad to meet somebody +belonging to us, who is not--who is more like--the people one meets +elsewhere." + +"Well," said Phoebe, "we are always talking of wanting something +original; I think on the whole I am of your opinion; still there is +nothing very great or striking about most of the people one meets +anywhere." + +"Yes; society is flat enough," said the young man. "But--it is strange +and rather painful, though perhaps it is wrong to say so--why, I wonder, +are all our people of one class? Perhaps you have not seen much of them +here? All of one class, and that--" + +"Not an attractive class," said Phoebe, with a little sigh. "Yes, I +know." + +"Anything but an attractive class; not the so-called working men and +such like. One can get on with them. It is very unpleasant to have to +say it; buying and selling now as we have it in Manchester does not +contract the mind. I suppose we all buy and sell more and less. How is +it? When it is tea and sugar--" + +"Or butter and cheese," said Phoebe with a laugh, which she could not +quite keep from embarrassment. "I must be honest and tell you before you +go any further. You don't know that I belong to the Tozers, Mr. +Northcote, who are in that line of business. Don't look so dreadfully +distressed. Perhaps I shouldn't have told you, had you not been sure to +find out. Old Mr. Tozer is my grandfather, and I am staying there. It is +quite simple. Papa came to Carlingford when he was a young clergyman, +newly ordained. He was pastor at Salem Chapel, and married mamma, who +was the daughter of one of the chief members. I did not know myself when +I came to Carlingford that they actually kept a shop, and I did not like +it. Don't apologize, please. It is a very difficult question," said +Phoebe philosophically, partly to ease herself, partly to set him at his +ease, "what is best to do in such a case. To be educated in another +sphere and brought down to this, is hard. One cannot feel the same for +one's relations; and yet one's poor little bit of education, one's petty +manners, what are these to interfere with blood relationships? And to +keep everybody down to the condition they were born, why, that is the +old way--" + +"Miss Beecham, I don't know what to say. I never meant--I could not +tell. There are excellent, most excellent people in all classes." + +"Exactly so," said Phoebe, with a laugh. "We all know that; one man is as +good as another--if not better. A butterman is as good as a lord; but--" +she added, with a little elevation of her eyebrows and shrug of her +shoulders, "not so pleasant to be connected with. And you don't say +anything about my difficulty, Mr. Northcote. You don't realize it +perhaps, as I do. Which is best: for everybody to continue in the +position he was born in, or for an honest shopkeeper to educate his +children and push them up higher until they come to feel themselves +members of a different class, and to be ashamed of him? Either way, you +know, it is hard." + +Northcote was at his wit's end. He had no fellow-feeling for this +difficulty. His friends were all much better off than he was as a poor +minister. They were Manchester people, with two or three generations of +wealth behind them, relations of whom nobody need be ashamed; and he was +himself deeply humiliated and distressed to have said anything which +could humiliate Phoebe, who rose immeasurably in his estimation in +consequence of her bold avowal, though he himself would have sacrificed +a great deal rather than put himself on the Tozer level. He did not know +what to say. + +"Miss Beecham, you know as well as I do, how falsely our opinions are +formed in this respect, how conventional we are. What is position after +all? To a grand Seigneur, for instance, the difference between his +steward and his laquais seems nothing, but to the steward it is a great +gulf. I--I mean--the whole question is conventional--position, or +station, or rank--" + +Phoebe smiled. "I don't think that is quite the question," she said, "but +never mind. I suppose you are here on some mission? You would not come +to Carlingford for pleasure." + +"Nay," said Northcote, with a reproachful tone. "I should have thought +you must have heard of our Meeting. It is for to-night. I have come from +the Disestablishment Society with some other friends; but it has been my +fate to come on before to make the arrangements. The others come +to-day." + +"A hard fate, Mr. Northcote." + +"I thought so this morning. I have not been much in the way of the +country congregations. I was confounded; but, Miss Beecham, I no longer +think my fate hard since I have met you. Your noble simplicity and +frankness have taught me a lesson." + +"It is not noble at all," said Phoebe; "if I had not been sure you must +find out I should have said nothing about it. Now I fear I must turn +back." + +"But you will come to the Meeting," he said, turning with her. He felt +it necessary to be obsequious to Phoebe, after the terrible mistake he +had made. + +"Not unless grandpapa insists. I should like to hear your speech," said +Phoebe; "but I don't object to the Established Church as you do, neither +does papa when you push him hard. I don't think England would be much +nicer if we were all Dissenters. To be sure we might be more civil to +each other." + +"If there were no Dissenters, you mean." + +"It comes to much the same thing; congregations are not pleasant +masters, are they, Mr. Northcote? I know some people--one at least," +said Phoebe, "who is often very insolent to papa; and we have to put up +with it--for the sake of peace, papa says. I don't think in the Church +that any leading member could be so insolent to a clergyman." + +"That is perhaps rather--forgive me--a narrow, personal view." + +"Wait till you get a charge, and have to please the congregation and the +leading members!" cried Phoebe. "I know what you are thinking: it is just +like a woman to look at a public question so. Very well; after all women +are half the world, and their opinion is as good as another." + +"I have the greatest respect for your opinion," said young Northcote; +"but we must not think of individual grievances. The system, with all +its wrongs, is what occupies me. I have heard something--even here--this +very day--What is it, my good friend? I am busy now--another time; or if +you want me, my lodgings are--" + +A glance, half of pain, half of fun, came into Phoebe's eyes. "It is +grandpapa!" she said. + +"You shouldn't speak in that tone, sir, not to your elders, and maybe +your betters," said Tozer, in his greasy old coat. "Ministers take a +deal upon them; but an old member like me, and one as has stood by the +connection through thick and thin, ain't the one to be called your good +friend. Well, if you begs pardon, of course there ain't no more to be +said; and if you know our Phoebe--Phoebe, junior, as I calls her. What of +the meeting, Mr. Northcote? I hope you'll give it them Church folks 'ot +and strong, sir. They do give themselves airs, to be sure, in +Carlingford. Most of our folks is timid, seeing for one thing as their +best customers belong to the Church. That don't touch me, not +now-a-days," said Tozer, with a laugh, "not that I was ever one as +concealed my convictions. I hope you'll give it 'em 'ot and strong." + +"I shall say what I think," said the young man bewildered. He was by no +means broken into the ways of the connection, and his pride rebelled at +the idea of being schooled by this old shopkeeper; but the sight of +Phoebe standing by not only checked his rebellious sentiments, but filled +him with a sympathetic thrill of feeling. What it must be for that girl +to own this old man, to live with him, and feel herself shut into his +society and friends of his choosing--to hear herself spoken of as Phoebe, +junior! The idea made him shiver, and this caught old Tozer's always +hospitable eye. + +"You're chilly," he said, "and I don't wonder after the dreadful weather +we've had. Few passes my door without a bite or a sup, specially at +tea-time, Mr. Nor'cote, which is sociable time, as I always says. Come +in and warm yourself and have a cup of tea. There is nothing as pleases +my old woman so much as to get out her best tea-things for a minister; +she 'as a great respect for ministers, has Mrs. Tozer, sir; and now +she's got Phoebe to show off as well as the chiney. Come along, sir, I +can't take no refusal. It's just our time for tea." + +Northcote made an unavailing attempt to get away, but partly it appeared +to him that to refuse the invitation might look to Phoebe like a pretence +of superiority on his part, and partly he was interested in herself, and +was very well aware he should get no company so good in Carlingford, +even with the drawback of the old shop-people among whom she lived. How +strange it was to see her in the dress of which Mrs. Sam Hurst had +raved, and of which even the young Nonconformist vaguely divined the +excellence, putting her daintily-gloved hand upon old Tozer's greasy +sleeve, walking home with the shuffling old man, about whose social +position no one could make the least mistake! He turned with them, with +a sensation of thankfulness that it was in Grange Lane, Carlingford, +where nobody knew him. As for Phoebe, no such comfort was in her mind; +everybody knew her here, or rather, everybody knew old Tozer. No +disguise was possible to her. The only way to redeem the position was to +carry it with a high hand, as she did, holding her head erect, and +playing her part so that all the world might see and wonder. "I think +you had better come, Mr. Northcote, and have some tea," she said +graciously, when the awe-stricken young man was floundering in efforts +to excuse himself. Old Tozer chuckled and rubbed his hands. + +"Take Phoebe's advice," he said, "Phoebe's the sensiblest girl I know; so +was her mother before her, as married one of the most popular preachers +in the connection, though I say it as shouldn't. My old woman always +said as our Phoebe was cut out for a minister's wife. And Phoebe junior's +just such another," cried the admiring grandfather. Heavens above! did +this mean traps and snares for himself, or did the old shopkeeper think +of him, Horace Northcote, as another possible victim? If he had but +known with what sincere compassionate toleration Phoebe regarded him, as +a young man whom she might be kind to, he might have been saved all +alarm on this point. The idea that a small undistinguished Dissenting +minister should think her capable of marrying him, was a humiliation +which did not enter into Phoebe's head. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +A PUBLIC MEETING. + + +Phoebe's philosophy, however, was put to the test when, after the young +pastor had taken tea and got himself away from the pressing +hospitalities of the Tozers, her grandfather also disappeared to put on +his best coat in order to attend the Meeting. Mrs. Tozer, left alone +with her granddaughter, immediately proceeded to evolve her views as to +what Phoebe was expected to do. + +"I never see you out o' that brown thing, Phoebe," she said; "ain't you +got a silk dress, child, or something that looks a bit younger-looking? +I'd have thought your mother would have took more pride in you. Surely +you've got a silk dress." + +"Oh, yes, more than one," said Phoebe, "but this is considered in better +taste." + +"Taste, whose taste?" cried the old lady; "my Phoebe didn't ought to care +for them dingy things, for I'm sure she never got no such example from +me. I've always liked what was bright-looking, if it was only a print. A +nice blue silk now, or a bright green, is what you'd look pretty in with +your complexion. Go now, there's a dear, and put on something very nice, +something as will show a bit; you're going with your grandfather to this +Meeting." + +"To the Meeting? oh, I hope not," said Phoebe with fervour. + +"And why should you hope not? isn't it natural as a young creature like +you should get out a bit when she can, and see what's to be seen? I +don't hold with girls moping in a house. Besides, it's very instructive, +as I've always heard: and you as is clever, of course you'll understand +every word. Mr. Northcote is a nicish-looking sort of young man. +Ministers mayn't be much," said Mrs. Tozer, "though just see how your +papa has got on, my dear. Nobody else as Phoebe could have married would +have got up in the world like that; you may make a deal more money in +trade, but it ain't so genteel, there's always that to be said. Now it's +just as well as you should have your chance with the rest and let +yourself be seen, Phoebe. Run, there's a darling, and put on something +bright, and a nice lace collar. You can have mine if you like. I +shouldn't grudge nothing, not a single thing I've got, to see you +looking as nice as the best there; and so you will if you take a little +pains. I'd do up my hair a bit higher if I was you; why, Phoebe, I +declare! you haven't got a single pad. Now what is the use of neglecting +yourself, and letting others get ahead of you like that?" + +"Pads are going out of fashion, grandmamma," said Phoebe gravely, "so are +bright colours for dresses. You can't think what funny shades we wear in +town. But must I go to this Meeting? I should not like to leave you +alone. It is so much nicer for me to be here." + +"You _are_ a good girl, you are," said Mrs. Tozer admiringly, "and me as +was frightened for a fine lady from London! But Tozer would say as it +was my doing. He would say as it wasn't natural for a young creature; +and, bless you, they'll all be there in their best--that Pigeon and the +others, and Mrs. Tom. I just wish I could go too, to see you outshine +'em all, which you'll do if you take pains. Take a little more pains +with your hair, Phoebe, mount it up a bit higher, and if you want +anything like a bit of lace or a brooch or that, just you come to me. I +should like Mrs. Tom to see you with that brooch as she's always wanting +for Minnie. Now why should I give my brooch to Minnie? I don't see no +reason for it, for my part." + +"Certainly not, grandmamma," said Phoebe, "you must wear your brooches +yourself, that is what I like a great deal better than giving them +either to Minnie or me." + +"Ah, but there ain't a many like you, my sweet," cried the old woman, +wiping her eyes. "You're my Phoebe's own daughter, but you're a touch +above her, my darling, and us too, that's what you are. Run now and +dress, or I don't know what Tozer will say to me. He's set his heart on +showing you off to-night." + +Thus adjured, Phoebe went away reluctantly. It is unnecessary to say that +her disinterestedness about her grandmother's brooch was not perhaps so +noble as it appeared on the outside. The article in question was a kind +of small warming-pan in a very fine solid gold mount, set with large +pink topazes, and enclosing little wavy curls of hair, one from the head +of each young Tozer of the last generation. It was a piece of jewelry +very well known in Carlingford, and the panic which rose in Phoebe's +bosom when it was offered for her own personal adornment is more easily +imagined than described. She went upstairs feeling that she had escaped, +and took out a black silk dress at which she looked lovingly. + +"But grandmamma would think it was no better than this," she said to +herself, and after much searchings of heart she chose a costume of +Venetian blue, one soft tint dying into another like the lustre on a +piece of old glass, which in her own opinion was a great deal too good +for the occasion. "Some one will tread on it to a certainty, and the +colours don't show in candle-light; but I must try to please +grandmamma," she said heroically. When it was put on with puffings of +lace such as Mrs. Tozer had never seen, and was entirely ignorant of the +value of, at the throat and sleeves, Phoebe wrapt a shawl round her in +something of the same dim gorgeous hue, covered with embroidery, an +Indian rarity which somebody had bestowed upon Mrs. Beecham, and which +no one had used or thought of till Phoebe's artistic eye fell upon it. It +was a great deal too fine for Carlingford. An opera-cloak bought in +Oxford Street for a pound or two would have much more impressed the +assembly to which Phoebe was bound. Mrs. Tozer inspected her when she +went downstairs, with awe, yet dissatisfaction. + +"I dare say as it's all very fine, and it ain't like other folks, +anybody can see; but I'd dress you different, my dear, if you was in my +hands," said the old woman, walking round and round her. As for Tozer, +he too showed less admiration than if he had known better. + +"I got a fly, thinking as you'd have some fallal or other on you; but, +bless my heart, you could have walked in that gown," he said. So that +Phoebe's toilette, which would have been mightily admired in a London +drawing-room, could not be said to be a success. She was somewhat +discouraged by this, notwithstanding that she knew so very much better; +and accordingly set out in the fly with her grandfather in his best +coat, feeling, generally, in a depressed condition. + +"It is clear that I must take to the pinks and blues to please them," +she said to herself with a sigh. She could triumph over the slight that +might be shown to herself in consequence of her relations; but those +sneers at her dress went to Phoebe's heart. + +The Music Hall was full of a miscellaneous crowd when Phoebe, following +her grandfather, went in; and the seats allotted to these important +people were on the platform, where, at least, Tozer's unacknowledged +object of showing her off could be amply gratified. This arrangement did +not, on the whole, displease Phoebe. Since she must be exhibited, it +seemed better, on the whole, to be exhibited there, than in a less +distinguished place; and all the speakers knew her, which was something. +She sat down with some complaisance, and let her Indian scarf droop from +her shoulders, and her pretty dress show itself. + +"I declare if that isn't Phoebe, junior," said Mrs. Tom audibly, in the +middle of the hall, "making a show of herself; but, Lord bless us, for +all their grandeur, how she do dress, to be sure. A bit of a rag of an +old shawl, and a hat on! the same as she wears every day. I've got more +respect for them as comes to instruct us than that." + +And, indeed, Mrs. Tom was resplendent in a red _sortie de bal_, with a +brooch almost as big as that envied one of Mrs. Tozer's stuck into her +gown, and a cap covered with flowers upon her head. This was the usual +fashion of the Salem ladies on such rare occasions. The meeting of the +Disestablishment Society was to them what a ball is to worldly-minded +persons who frequent such vanities. The leading families came out _en +masse_ to see and to be seen. It would be wrong to say that they did not +enter into all the arguments and recognise the intellectual feast set +before them; no doubt they did this just as well as if they had come in +their commonest attire; but still the seriousness of the occasion was, +no doubt, modified by being thus made into a dissipation. The men were +not so fine, perhaps, because it is more difficult for men to be +fine--but they were all in their Sunday clothes; and the younger ones +were in full bloom of coloured satin cravats and fine waistcoats. Some +of them were almost as fine a sight as the ladies in their ribbons and +flowers. + +"I suppose by the look of them this must be an influential +community--people of some pretensions," said an obese elderly minister, +who had seated himself by Phoebe, and whose eyes were dazzled by the +display. "I never expected all this dress in a quiet country place." + +"Oh, yes! they are people of much pretension," said Phoebe gravely. + +And then the proceedings began. Old Mr. Green, the grocer, whose son had +married Maria Pigeon, and who had long been retired from business, +occupying a house in the country and "driving his carriage," was in the +chair; and the proceedings went on according to the routine of such +assemblies, with differing degrees of earnestness on the part of the +speakers. To most of these gentlemen it was the ordinary occupation of +their lives; and they made their hearers laugh at well-known stories, +and enjoyed their own wit, and elicited familiar cheers, and made hits +such as they had made for years on the same subject, which was a +comfortable _cheval de bataille_, not at all exciting to themselves, +though they were quite willing to excite their audience, if that +audience would allow itself to be excited. Things jogged on thus for the +first hour very pleasantly! the Meeting was not excited, but it was +amused and enjoyed itself. It was an intellectual treat, as Pigeon said +to Brown, and if the younger people did not like it so well as they +would have liked a ball, the elder people liked it a great deal better, +and the hall rang with applause and with laughter as one speaker +succeeded another. It was pleasant to know how unstable "the Church" was +on her foundation; that aristocratical Church which looked down upon +Dissent, and of which the poorest adherent gave himself airs much above +Chapel folks; and how much loftier a position the Nonconformist held, +who would have nothing to say to State support. + +"For my part," said one of the speakers, "I would rather abandon my +sacred calling to-morrow, or make tents as St. Paul did in its exercise, +than put on the gilded fetters of the State, and pray or preach as an +Archbishop told me; nay, as a Cabinet Council of godless worldlings +directed. There are many good men among the clergy of the Church of +England; but they are slaves, my friends, nothing but slaves, dragged at +the chariot wheels of the State; ruled by a caste of hard-headed +lawyers; or binding themselves in the rotten robes of tradition. It is +we only who can dare to say that we are free!" + +At this sentiment, the Meeting fairly shouted with applause and delight +and self-complacency; and the speaker, delighted too, and tasting all +the sweetness of success, gave place to the next, and came and sat down +by Phoebe, to whose society the younger men were all very glad to escape. + +"Miss Beecham, you are fashionably calm," whispered the orator, "you +don't throw yourself, like the rest of us, into this great agitation." + +"Have you a leading member?" whispered Phoebe back again; "and does he +never drag you at his chariot wheels? Have you deacons that keep you up +to the mark? Have you people you must drink tea with when they ask you, +or else they throw up their sittings? I am thinking, of course, of +papa." + +"Have I deacons? Have I leading members? Miss Beecham, you are cruel--" + +"Hush!" said Phoebe, settling herself in her chair. "Here is somebody who +is in dreadful earnest. Don't talk, Mr. Northcote is going to speak." + +Thus it will be seen that the Minister's daughter played her _role_ of +fine lady and _bel esprit_ very fairly in an atmosphere so unlike the +air that fine ladies breathe. Phoebe paid no more attention to the +discomfited man at her elbow. She gathered up her shawl in her hand with +a seeming careless movement, and let it drop lightly across her knee, +where the gold threads in the embroidery caught the light; and she took +off her hat, which she had thought proper to wear to show her sense that +the Meeting was not an evening party; and prepared herself to listen. +Her complexion and her hair, and the gold threads in the rich Indian +work, thus blazed out together upon the startled audience. Many of them +were as much struck by this as by the beginning of Mr. Northcote's +speech, though it was very different from the other speeches. The others +had been routine agitation, this was fiery conviction, crude, and +jumping at conclusions, but still an enthusiasm in its way. Mr. +Northcote approached his subject gradually, and his hearers, at first +disappointed by the absence of their familiar watch-words, were dull, +and bestowed their attention on Phoebe; but before he had been speaking +ten minutes Phoebe was forgotten even by her uncle and aunt, the two +people most interested in her. It would be dangerous to repeat to a +reader, probably quite uninterested in the controversy, Mr. Northcote's +speech, in which he laid hold of some of those weak points which the +Church, of course, has in common with every other institution in the +world. Eloquence has a way of evaporating in print, even when the report +is immediate. But his peroration was one which startled his hearers out +of a calm abstract interest to all that keen personal feeling which +accompanies the narrative of facts known to an audience, and affecting +people within their own locality. + +"I have only been in this place three days," said the speaker, "but in +that short time I have heard of one of the most flagrant abuses which I +have been indicating to you. There is in this town, as you all know, an +institution called the College; what was its original object I do not +know. Nests of idle pauperism, genteelly veiled under such a name, do +exist, I know, over all the country; but it is at least probable that +some educational purpose was in the mind of the pious founder who +established it. The pious founder! how immense are the revenues, how +incalculable the means of doing good, which have been locked up in +uselessness, or worse than uselessness, by men who have purchased a pass +into the kingdom of heaven at the last moment by such gifts, and become +pious founders just before they ceased to be miserable sinners! Whatever +may have been the original intention of the College, however, it is +clear that it was meant for something more than the pitiful use it is +put to now. This old foundation, ladies and gentlemen, which might +provide half the poor children in Carlingford with a wholesome +education, is devoted to the maintenance of six old men, need I say +Churchmen?" (here the speaker was interrupted by mingled hisses and +ironical "hear, hears")--"and a chaplain to say their prayers for them. +Six old men: and one able-bodied parson to say their prayers for them. +What do you think of this, my friends? I understand that this heavy and +onerous duty has been offered--not to some other mouldy old gentleman, +some decayed clergyman who might have ministered in peace to the decayed +old burghers without any interference on my part: for a refuge for the +aged and destitute has something natural in it, even when it is a wrong +appropriation of public money. No, this would have been some faint +approach perhaps to justice, some right in wrong that would have closed +our mouths. But no! it is given to a young gentleman, able-bodied, as I +have said, who has appeared more than once in the cricket-field with +your victorious Eleven, who is fresh from Oxford, and would no more +condescend to consider himself on a footing of equality with the humble +person who addresses you, than I would, having the use of my hands, +accept a disgraceful sinecure! Yes, my friends, this is what the State +Church does. She so cows the spirit and weakens the hearts of her +followers that a young man at the very beginning of his career, able to +teach, able to work, able to dig, educated and trained and cultured, can +stoop to accept a good income in such a position as this. Think of it! +Six old men, able surely, if they are good for anything, to mumble their +prayers for themselves somehow; yet provided with an Oxford scholar, an +able-bodied young man, to read the service for them daily! He thinks it +very fine, no doubt, a good income and a good house for life, and +nothing to do but to canter over morning and evening prayer at a +swinging pace, as we have all heard it done: morning prayer, let us see, +half an hour--or you may throw in ten minutes, in case the six should +mumble their Amens slowly--and twenty minutes for the evening, one hour +a day. Here it is under your very eyes, people of Carlingford, a +charming provision for the son of one of your most respected clergymen. +Why, it is in your newspaper, where I read it! Can I give a more +forcible instance of the way in which a State Church cuts honesty and +honour out of men's hearts." + +A great many people noticed that when Mr. Northcote ended this with a +thundering voice, some one who had been listening near the door in an +Inverness cape, and hat over his brows, gave himself a sudden impetuous +shake which shook the crowd, and turning round made his way out, not +caring whom he stumbled against. The whole assembly was in a hubbub when +the orator ceased, and whispers ran freely round among all the groups in +the front. "That's young May he means." "In course it's young May. +Infernal job, as I've always said." "Oh hush, Pigeon, don't swear! but +it do seem a black burning shame, don't it?" "Bravo, Mr. Nor'cote!" +called out old Tozer, on the platform, "that's what I call giving forth +no uncertain sound. That's laying it into them 'ot and 'ot." + +This was the climax of the Meeting. Everything else was flat after such +a decided appeal to personal knowledge. Phoebe alone gave a frigid +reception to the hero of the evening. + +"I dislike personalities," she said, pointedly. "They never do a cause +any good; and it isn't gentlemanly; don't you think so, Mr. Sloely;" and +she turned away from Northcote, who had come to speak to her, and +devoted herself to the man at her elbow, whom she had snubbed a little +while before. Mr. Northcote said to himself that this was untrue, and +brought up a hundred very good reasons why he should have employed such +an example, but the reproof stung him to the quick, for to be +ungentlemanly was the reproach of all others most calculated to go to +his heart. + +But nobody knew how Mr. May went home in his Inverness cape, breathing +fire and flame, nor of the execution he did thereupon. + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +MR. MAY'S AFFAIRS. + + +Mr. May went into his study and closed the door. He poked the fire--he +put himself into his easy-chair--he drew his writing-book towards him, +and opened it at where a half-written sheet lay waiting. And then he +paused, rubbed his hands softly together, and falling back again, +laughed quietly to himself. + +Yes; he who had stormed out of the drawing-room like a whirlwind, having +discomfited everybody, leaving the girls in tears, and the boys in a +white heat of passion, when he reached the profoundest depths of his own +retirement, laughed. What did it mean? Of all the people in the world, +his children would have been most entirely thunderstruck by this +self-betrayal. They could not have understood it. They were acquainted +with his passions, and with his moments of good temper. They knew when +he was amiable, and when he was angry, by instinct, by the gleam of his +eye, by the way in which he shut the door; but this was something +totally unknown to them. The truth was that Mr. May, like many other +people, having a naturally bad temper, which he indulged freely when he +pleased, had attained the power of using it when it suited him to use +it, without being suspected by anybody. A bad temper is a possession +like another, and may be made skilful use of like other things which, +perhaps, in themselves, are not desirable. He could work himself up into +fury, and launch the doom he felt disposed to launch, like a burning and +fizzing thunder-bolt from a hand which was, in reality, not at all +excited; and like most other people who possess such an unrevealed +power, it pleased him very much when he persuaded his surroundings that +it was an impulse of rage which moved him. He had been at the Meeting at +the Music Hall, "to hear what those fellows had to say for themselves." +Contempt, unbounded but wrathful, was the feeling in his mind towards +"those fellows;" but he felt that young Northcote's eloquence, reported +in next day's papers, was quite enough to quash for ever all hopes of +his son's acceptance of the chaplaincy. So he walked home as fast as his +legs would carry him, and burst into his house, as we have seen, with a +semblance of passion so perfect as to deceive his entire family and +fill the place with anger and tears. Upon which, withdrawing from the +scene of conflict, he threw himself down in his easy-chair and chuckled, +recovering his composure by slow degrees. + +When, however, this private indulgence was over, Mr. May's face grew +dark enough. He pushed his writing away from him, and pulling out a +drawer in his writing-table, which was full of papers of a very +unliterary aspect, betook himself to the consideration of them, with +anything but laughter in his looks, or in his mind. Letters upon blue +paper in straight up and down handwriting--other papers, also blue, with +ruled lines and numerals, for which Mr. May was more frightened than he +would have been for a charge of cavalry. These were the very +unattractive contents of this drawer. He brought two or three of them +out in a bundle and read them over, one after another, with contracted +brows. Debt is an idiosyncrasy like other things. Some people keep clear +of it miraculously, some seem to drop into it without cause or meaning, +and to spend all their lives afterwards in vain attempts to get out. Mr. +May was one of these unfortunate men. He could not tell himself where +his money went to. Poor man! it was not so much he had, and there was a +large family to be fed and clothed, and schooled after a sort. But still +other people on incomes as small as his had managed to maintain their +families without dropping into this hopeless condition. He had been in +debt since ever he could remember; and to be sure it was not the pain +and trouble to him that it is to many people. So long as, by hook or by +crook, he could manage to stave off the evil day, so long was he happy +enough, and he had managed this by all sorts of semi-miraculous +windfalls up to the present time. James's remittances had been like +heavenly dew to him. It is true that these remittances had been intended +to keep Reginald at Oxford, and perhaps something of the special +hardness with which he regarded Reginald arose from the fact that he had +done him wrong in this respect, and had appropriated what was intended +for him. But after all, he had said to himself, the maintenance of the +house in comfort, the keeping clean of the family name, and the staving +off disagreeable revelations of the family's poverty, were more, for +even Reginald's comfort, than a little more money in his pocket, which +everybody knew was very dangerous for a young man. + +Mr. May had always a bill coming due, which James's remittances arrived +just in time to meet. Indeed, this was the normal condition of his life. +He had always a bill coming due--a bill which some good-humoured banker +had to be coaxed into renewing, or which was paid at the last moment by +some skilful legerdemain in the way of pouring out of one vessel into +another, transferring the debt from one quarter to another, so that +there may have been said to be always a certain amount of quite +fictitious and visionary money floating about Mr. May, money which +existed only in the shape of symbol, and which, indeed, belonged to +nobody--which was borrowed here to-day, and paid there to-morrow, to be +re-borrowed and repaid in the same way, never really reaching anybody's +pocket, or representing anything but that one thing which money is +supposed to be able to extinguish--debt. When human affairs reach this +very delicate point, and there is nothing at any moment, except a +semi-miraculous windfall, to keep a man going, the crisis is very +serious. And it was no wonder that Mr. May was anxious to drive his son +into accepting any possible appointment, and that he occasionally railed +unreasonably at his family. Unless a hundred pounds or so fell down from +the skies within the next ten days, he saw nothing before him but ruin. +This, it is needless to say, is very far from being a comfortable +position. The _sourde_ agitation, excitement, feverish hope and fear of +the sufferer might well affect his temper. If he could not get a hundred +pounds within ten days, he did not know what he was to do. + +And nobody could say (he thought to himself) that he was an expensive +man; he had no expensive habits. He liked good living, it is true, and a +glass of good wine, but this amount of regard for the table does not +ruin men. He liked books also, but he did not buy them, contenting +himself with such as the library could afford, and those which he could +obtain by the reviews he wrote for the Church Magazines. How then was it +that he never could get rid of that rapidly maturing bill? He could not +tell. Keeping out of debt is one thing, and getting rid of it when you +have once taken its yoke upon your neck is another. His money, when he +had any, "slipped through his fingers," as people say. When James's +remittance or any other piece of good fortune gave him enough to pay +that hundred pounds without borrowing elsewhere, he borrowed elsewhere +all the same. It was a mysterious fatality, from which he seemed unable +to escape. In such circumstances a crisis must come sooner or later, and +it appeared to him that now at least, after many hairbreadth escapes, +the crisis had come. + +What was he to do? There was no chance, alas! of money from James, and +even if Reginald accepted the chaplaincy, and was willing at once to +come to his father's aid, there was no hope that he would have anything +for some time--for chaplains incomes are not, any more than other +people's, generally paid in advance. He leaned back in his chair and +went over again, for the hundredth time, the list of all the people he +could borrow from, or who would "back" a bill for him, and he was still +employed in this melancholy and hopeless enumeration, when a low knock +came to the door, and a maid-of-all-work, pushing it open, thrust in a +homely little man in a dusty-brown coat, who put up a hand to his +forehead as he came in with a salutation which was half charity +school-boy, half awkward recruit. Beyond this there was no ceremony +about his entrance, no leave asked or question made. Betsy knew very +well that he was to come in when he pleased, and that her master did not +deny himself to Cotsdean. Mr. May received him with a familiar nod, and +pointed hastily to a chair. He did not even take the trouble to put away +those blue papers, which he would have done if any other individual, +even if one of his children had come into the room. + +"Good evening, Cotsdean," he said, in a friendly tone. "Well, what +news?" + +"Nothing as is pleasant, sir," said the man, sitting down on a corner of +his chair. "I've been to the bank, and it's no use my explaining, or +begging ever so hard. They won't hear of it. 'We've done it times and +times,' they says to me, 'and we won't do it no more. That's flat,' and +so indeed it is flat, sir, as you may say downright Dunstable; but that +ain't no advantage to you and me." + +"Yes, it is, Cotsdean," said the clergyman, "it is a decided advantage, +for it shows there is nothing to be hoped from that quarter, and that is +always good--even though it's bad bad, as bad as can be--" + +"You may say so, sir," said Cotsdean. "I don't know what's to be done no +more than the babe unborn, and it's wearing me to death, that's what +it's doing. When I looks round on my small family, it's all I can do not +to cry out loud. What's to become of my children, Mr. May? Yours, sir, +they'll never want friends, and a hundred or so here or there, that +don't ruin gentlefolks; but without selling up the business, how am I +ever to get a hundred pounds? It ain't equal, sir, I swear it ain't. You +gets the money, and you takes it easy, and don't hold your head not a +bit lower; but me as has no good of it (except in the way o' a bit of +custom that is a deal more in looks than anything else), and has to go +round to all the folks, to Mr. Brownlow, at the bank, and I don't know +who, as if it was for me! I suffers in my credit, sir, and I suffers in +my spirits, and I suffers in my health; and when the smash comes, +what's to become of my poor children? It's enough to put a man beside +himself, that's what it is." + +Here the poor man's eyes grew bloodshot, partly with rubbing them, +partly with tears. He rubbed them with the sleeve of his rough coat, and +the tears were very real, though few in number. Cotsdean's despair was +indeed tragical enough, but its outside had in it a dash of comedy, +which, though he was in no mirthful mood, caught the quick eye of Mr. +May. He was himself very painfully affected, to tell the truth, but yet +it cost him an effort not to smile. + +"Cotsdean," he said, "have I ever failed you yet? You have done a good +deal for me, I don't deny it--you have had all the trouble, but beyond +that what have you suffered except in imagination? If you choose to +exaggerate dangers, it is not my fault. Your children are as safe as--as +safe as the Bank of England. Now, have I ever failed you? answer me +that." + +"I can't say as you have, sir," said Cotsdean, "but it's dreadful work +playing with a man's ruin, off and on like this, and nobody knowing what +might happen, or what a day or an hour might bring forth." + +"That is very true," said Mr. May. "I might die, that is what you mean; +very true, though not quite so kind as I might have expected from an old +friend--a very old friend." + +"I am sure, Sir, I beg your pardon," cried the poor man, "it wasn't +that; but only just as I'm driven out o' my seven senses with thinking +and thinking." + +"My dear Cotsdean, don't think; there could not be a more unnecessary +exercise; what good does your thinking do, but to make you unhappy? +leave that to me. We have been driven into a corner before now, but +nothing has ever happened to us. You will see something will turn up +this time. I ask you again, have I ever failed you? you know best." + +"No, sir," said Cotsdean, somewhat doubtfully. "No, I didn't say as you +had. It's only--I suppose I ain't so young as I once was--and a man's +feelin's, sir, ain't always in his own control." + +"You must take care that it is only to me that you make such an +exhibition as this," said Mr. May. "Who is there? oh, my coffee! put it +on the table. If you are seen coming here to me with red eyes and this +agitated appearance," he went on, waiting pointedly till the door was +closed, "it will be supposed there is some family reason for +it--again--" + +"Oh, lor', Sir! you know--" + +"Yes, I know very well," said the clergyman. "I know that there couldn't +be a better wife, and that bygones are bygones; but you must remember +and take care; everybody doesn't know you--and her--so well as I do. +When you come to see your clergyman in this agitated state, I put it to +yourself, Cotsdean, I put it to your good sense, what is anybody to +think? You must take great care not to betray yourself to anybody but +me." + +The man looked at him with a half-gasp of consternation, bewildered by +the very boldness with which he was thus set down. Betray himself--he +drew a long breath, as if he had received a _douche_ of cold water in +his face, which was indeed very much like the effect that this +extraordinary address produced--betray himself! Poor Cotsdean's +struggles and sufferings arose, at the present moment, entirely from the +fact that he had allowed himself to be made use of for Mr. May's +occasions, and both the men were perfectly aware of this. But though he +gasped, Cotsdean was too much under the influence of his clergyman to do +anything more. Had he been a Dissenter, he would have patronized young +Northcote, who was as good a man as Mr. May (or far better if truth were +told), with the frankest certainty of his own superior position, but +being a humble churchman he yielded to his clergyman as to one of the +powers that be. It is a curious difference. He sat still on the edge of +his chair, while Mr. May walked across the room to the table by the +door, where his _cafe noir_ had been placed, and took his cup and drank +it. He was not civil enough to ask his visitor to share it, indeed it +never would have occurred to him, though he did not hesitate to use poor +Cotsdean for his own purpose, to treat him otherwise than as men treat +their servants and inferiors. When he had finished his coffee, he went +leisurely back into his former place. + +"You have nothing to suggest," he said, "nothing to advise? Well, I must +try what I can do. It will be hard work, but still I must do it, you +know," added Mr. May, in a gracious tone. "I have never concealed from +you, Cotsdean, how much I appreciated your assistance; everything of +this sort is so much worse in my position than in yours. You understand +that? A gentleman--and a clergyman--has things expected from him which +never would be thought of in your case. I have never omitted to +acknowledge my obligations to you--and you also owe some obligations to +me." + +"I don't deny as you've been very kind, sir," said Cotsdean, +half-grateful, half-sullen; then he wavered a little. "I never denied +it, _her_ and me could never have 'it it off but for you. I don't forget +a favour--nobody can say that of me. I ain't forgot it in this case." + +"I don't say that you have forgotten it. I have always put the utmost +confidence in you; but, my good fellow, you must not come to me in this +down-in-the-mouth way. Have I ever failed you? We've been hard pressed +enough at times, but something has always turned up. Have not I told you +a hundred times Providence will provide?" + +"If you put it like that, sir--" + +"I do put it like that. I have always been helped, you know, sometimes +when it seemed the last moment. Leave it to me. I have no more doubt," +said Mr. May, lifting up a countenance which was by no means so +untroubled as could have been wished, "that when the time comes all will +be well, than I have of the sun rising to-morrow--which it will," he +added with some solemnity, "whether you and I live to see it or not. +Leave it all, I say, to me." + +Cotsdean did not make any reply. He was overawed by this solemnity of +tone, and knew his place too well to set himself up against his +clergyman; but still it cannot be denied that the decision was less +satisfactory than one of much less exalted tone might have been. He had +not the courage to say anything--he withdrew with his hat in his hand, +and a cloud over his face. But as he left the house the doubt in his +soul breathed itself forth. "If so be as neither me nor him see it rise, +what good will that do to my family," said Cotsdean to himself, and went +his way to his closed shop, through all the sacks of seeds and dry +rustling grain, with a heavy heart. He was a corn-factor in a tolerable +business, which, as most of the bankers of Carlingford knew, he had some +difficulty in carrying along, being generally in want of money; but this +was not so rare a circumstance that any special notice should be taken +of it. Everybody who knew thought it was very kind of Mr. May to back +him up as he did, and even to put his name to bills for poor Cotsdean, +to whom, indeed, he was known to have been very kind in many ways. But +nobody was aware how little of these said bills went to Cotsdean, and +how much to Mr. May. + +When he was gone, the clergyman threw himself back again into his chair +with a pale face. Providence, which he treated like some sort of neutral +deity, and was so very sure of having on his side when he spoke to +Cotsdean, did not feel so near to him, or so much under his command, +when Cotsdean was gone. There were still two days; but if before that he +could not make some provision, what was to be done? He was not a cruel +or bad man, and would have suffered keenly had anything happened to poor +Cotsdean and his family on his account. But they must be sacrificed if +it came to that, and the thought was very appalling. What was he to do? +His friends were exhausted, and so were his expedients. There was no +longer any one he could borrow from, or who would take even a share of +his burden on their shoulders. What was he to do? + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +THE NEW CHAPLAIN. + + +It cannot be denied that, reluctant as Reginald May had been to accept +the chaplaincy of which so much had been said, he had no sooner fairly +done so, and committed himself beyond remedy, than a certain sense of +relief began to steal over the young man's mind. He had made the leap. +Moved, at last, by arguments which, perhaps, were not worth very much +logically, and which even while he yielded to them he saw the weakness +of, he felt sure that when he woke in the morning, and realized what he +had done, fearful feelings of remorse would seize him. But, curiously +enough, this was not so; and his first sensation was relief that the +conflict was over, and that he had no more angry remonstrances to meet +with, or soft pleadings from Ursula, or assaults of rude abruptness from +Janey. All that was over; and then a warm glow of independence and +competency came over the young man. You may be sure he had no fire in +his rooms to make him warm, and it was a chill January morning, with +snow in the heavy sky, and fog in the yellow air; but, notwithstanding, +there came a glow of comfort over him. + +Independent!--free to go where he pleased, buy what he liked, spend his +time as best seemed to him, with a "position" of his own; even a house +of his own. He laughed softly to himself at this new idea. It did not +somehow hurt him as he thought it would, this sinecure he had accepted. +Could he not make it up, as Ursula said, "work for the town in other +ways without pay, since the town had given him pay without work?" A +genial feeling of toleration came over Reginald's mind. Why should he +have made such a fuss about it? It was natural that his father should +insist, and, now that it was done, he himself did not wish it undone, as +he had expected to do. After all, if you judged matters with such +rigidity, who was there without guilt? what public appointment was +given and held according to abstract right, as, formally speaking, it +ought to be? Those in the highest offices were appointed, not because of +their personal excellence, but because of being some other man's son or +brother; and yet, on the whole, public duty was well done, and the +unjust ruler and hireling priest were exceptions. Even men whose entry +into the fold was very precipitate, over the wall, violently, or by some +rat-hole of private interest, made very good shepherds, once they were +inside. Nothing was perfect in this world, and yet things were more good +than evil; and if he himself made it his study to create for himself an +ideal position, to become a doer of all kinds of volunteer work, what +would it matter that his appointment was not an ideal appointment? It +seemed very strange to him, and almost like an interposition of +Providence in his favour, that he should feel in this way, for Reginald +was not aware that such revulsions of feeling were very natural +phenomena, and that the sensation, after any great decision, is almost +invariably one of relief. To be sure it upset this manly state of mind a +little when, coming down to breakfast, his father gave him a nod, and +said briefly, "I am glad you have seen your duty at last." + +This made him almost resolve to throw it up again; but the feeling was +momentary. Why should he give it up? It had made him independent +(already he thought of his independence as a thing accomplished), and he +would make full amends to the Church and to Carlingford for taking two +hundred and fifty pounds a year without working for it. Surely he could +do that. He did not grudge work, but rather liked it, and would be ready +to do anything, he did not care what, to make his sinecure into a +volunteer's outpost for every good work. Yes, that was the way to look +at it. And it was a glorious independence. Two hundred and fifty pounds +a year! + +"And the house," cried Ursula, when Mr. May had left the +breakfast-table, and left them free to chatter. "The house--I don't +think you are likely to find a tenant for it. The houses in Grange Lane +are so cheap now; and some people object to the poor old men. I think +you must keep the house. Furnishing will be an expense; but, of course, +when you have a certain income, that makes such a difference; and you +can come and see us every day." + +"Why can't he live at home?" said Janey; "we are so poor; he ought to +come and pay us something for his board, and help us to get on." + +"What can you know about it, at your age?" said Ursula. "We have not got +proper rooms for Reginald. He ought, at least, to have a study of his +own, as well as a bed-room, now that he has an appointment. No, you must +go to the College, Reginald; and, perhaps, you might have one of the +boys with you, say Johnnie, which would be a great saving--for he has an +appetite; he eats more than two of the rest of us do. You might take one +of them with you--to save the bills a little--if you like." + +"Take me," said Janey, "I have a good appetite too; and then I'm a girl, +which is a great deal more useful. I could keep your house. Oh, +Reginald! mayn't we go out and see it? I want to see it. I have never +once been over the College--not in all my life." + +"We might as well go, don't you think, Ursula?" he said, appealing to +her with a delightful mixture of helplessness and supremacy. Yesterday, +he had not been able to assert any exclusive claim to sixpence. Now he +had a house--a house all his own. It pleased him to think of taking the +girls to it; and as for having one of them, he was ready to have them +all to live with him. Ursula thought fit to accede graciously to this +suggestion, when she had looked after her numerous household duties. +Janey, in the mean time, had been "practising" in one of her periodical +fits of diligence. + +"For, you know, if Reginald did really want me to keep house for him," +said Janey, "(you have too much to do at home; or, of course, he would +like you best), it would be dreadful if people found out how little I +know." + +"You ought to go to school," said Ursula, gravely. "It is a dreadful +thing for a girl never to have had any education. Perhaps Reggie might +spare a little money to send you to school; or, perhaps, papa--" + +"School yourself!" retorted Janey, indignant; but then she thought +better of it. "Perhaps just for a year to finish," she added in a +doubtful tone. They thought Reginald could do anything on that wonderful +two hundred and fifty pounds a year. + +The College was a picturesque old building at the other side of +Carlingford, standing in pretty grounds with some fine trees, under +which the old men sat and amused themselves in the summer mornings. On +this chilly wintry day none of them were visible, except the cheerful +old soul bent almost double, but with a chirruppy little voice like a +superannuated sparrow, who acted as porter, and closed the big gates +every night, and fined the old men twopence if they were too late. He +trotted along the echoing passages, with his keys jingling, to show them +the chaplain's rooms. + +"The old gentlemen is all as pleased as Punch," said Joe. "We was a +feared as it might be somebody foreign--not a Carlingford gentleman; and +some parsons is queer, saving your presence, Mr. May; but we knows where +you comes from, and all about you, as one of the old gentlemen was just +a-saying to me. Furnished, Miss? Lord bless you, yes! they're furnished. +It's all furnished, is College. You'll think as the things look a bit +queer; they wasn't made not this year, nor yet last year, I can tell +you; and they ain't in the fashion. But if so be as you don't stand by +fashion, there they is," said Joe, throwing open the door. + +The young people went in softly, their excitement subdued into a kind of +awe. An empty house, furnished, is more desolate, more overwhelming to +the imagination, than a house which is bare. For whom was it waiting, +all ready there, swept and garnished? Or were there already unseen +inhabitants about, writing ghostly letters on the tables, seated on the +chairs? Even Janey was hushed. + +"I'd rather stay at home, after all," she whispered in Ursula's ear +under her breath. + +But after awhile they became familiar with the silent place, and awoke +the echoes in it with their voices and new life. Nothing so young had +been in the College for years. The last chaplain had been an old man and +an old bachelor; and the pensioners were all solitary, living a sort of +monastic life, each in his room, like workers in their cells. When +Janey, surprised by some unexpected joke, burst into one of her peals of +laughter, the old building echoed all through it, and more than one +window was put up and head projected to know the cause of this +profanation. + +"Joe!" cried one portentous voice; "what's happened? what's the meaning +of this?" + +"It's only them a-laughing, sir," said Joe, delighting in the vagueness +of his rejoinder. "They ain't used to it, that's the truth; but laugh +away, Miss, it'll do you good," he added benignly. Joe was of a cheerful +spirit, notwithstanding his infirmities, and he foresaw lightsome days. + +Somewhat taken aback, however, by the commotion produced by Janey's +laugh, the young party left the College, Ursula carrying with her sundry +memoranda and measurements for curtains and carpets. "You must have +curtains," she said, "and I think a carpet for the study. The other room +will do; but the study is cold, it has not the sunshine. I wonder if we +might go and look at some, all at once." + +Here the three paused in the road, and looked at each other somewhat +overcome by the grandeur of the idea. Even Reginald, notwithstanding his +Oxford experience, held his breath a little at the thought of going +right off without further consideration, and buying carpets and +curtains. As for Janey, she laughed again in pure excitement and +delight. + +"Fancy going into Holden's, walking right in, as if we had the Bank in +our pockets, and ordering whatever we like," she cried. + +"I suppose we must have them!" said Reginald, yielding slowly to the +pleasure of acquisition. Ursula was transformed by the instinct of +business and management into the leader of the party. + +"Of course you must have them," she said, with the air of a woman who +had ordered curtains all her life, "otherwise you will catch cold, and +that is not desirable," and she marched calmly towards Holden's, while +Janey dropped behind to smother the laughter which expressed her amazed +delight in this new situation. It is doubtful whether Holden would have +given them so good a reception had the Miss Mays gone to hint to order +curtains for the Parsonage--for the Carlingford tradesmen were very well +aware of the difficulties, in point of payment, which attended Mr. May's +purchases. But Holden was all smiles at the idea of fitting up the rooms +in the College. + +"Carpets? I have a Turkey carpet that would just suit one of those old +rooms--old-fashioned rooms are so much thought of at present," said the +man of furniture. + +"Yes--I suppose that would do," said Reginald, with a side look at his +sister, to know if he was right. Ursula slew him with a glance of her +brown eyes. She was almost grand in superior knowledge and righteous +indignation. + +"Turkey! are you out of your senses? Do you think we have the Bank in +our pockets," she whispered to him angrily, "as Janey says?" + +"How was I to know? He said so," said the alarmed chaplain, cowed, +notwithstanding his income. + +"_He_ said so! that is just like you boys, taking whatever everyone +tells you. Why, a Turkey carpet costs a fortune. Mr. Holden, I think, if +you please, Brussels will do; or some of those new kinds, a jumble of +colours without any decided pattern. Not too expensive," said Ursula +solemnly, the colour mounting to her face. They were all rather brought +down from their first delight and grandeur when this was said--for +stipulating about expense made a difference all at once. The delightful +sensation of marching into Holden's as if the world belonged to them was +over; but Janey was touched to see that Holden still remained civil, +and did not express, in his countenance, the contempt he must have felt. + +When this was over, and Mr. Holden had kindly suggested the idea of +sending various stuffs to the College, "that they might judge of the +effect," the party went home, slightly subdued. The air was heavy and +yellow, and prophesied snow; but a very red wintry sun had managed to +make an opening temporarily in the clouds, and threw a ruddy ray down +Grange Lane, bringing out the few passengers who were coming and going +under the old garden walls. Ursula clasped her hands together, and came +to a stop suddenly, when she turned her eyes that way. + +"Oh!" she said, "here she is--she is coming! all by herself, and we +can't help meeting her--the young lady in black!" + +"Shall we speak to her?" said Janey with a little awe. + +"Who is the young lady in black?" said Reginald, "this girl who is +coming up? I never saw her before in Carlingford. Is she some one you +have met with the Dorsets? She don't look much like Grange Lane." + +"Oh, hush! here she is," said Ursula, losing all that importance of +aspect which her position as leader of the expedition had given her. A +pretty blush of expectation came over her face--her dimples revealed +themselves as if by magic. You will think it strange, perhaps, that the +sight of one girl should produce this effect upon another. But then +Phoebe represented to Ursula the only glimpse she had ever had into a +world which looked gay and splendid to the country girl--a world in +which Phoebe had appeared to her as a princess reigning in glory and +delight. Ursula forgot both her companions and her recent occupation. +Would the young lady in black notice her; stop, perhaps, and talk to +her--remember her? Her eyes began to glow and dance with excitement. She +stumbled as she went on in her anxiety, fixing her eyes upon the +approaching figure. Phoebe, for her part, was taking a constitutional +walk up and down Grange Lane, and she too was a little moved, +recognizing the girl, and wondering what it would be wisest to +do--whether to speak to her, and break her lonely promenade with a +little society, or remember her "place," and save herself from further +mortification by passing the clergyman's daughter, who was a cousin of +the Dorsets, with a bow. + +"The Dorsets wouldn't recognise me, nor Miss May either," Phoebe said to +herself, "_if they knew_--" + +But Ursula looked so wistful as they approached each other that she had +not the courage to keep to this wise resolution. Though she was only the +granddaughter of Tozer, the butterman, she was much more a woman of the +world than this pretty blushing girl who courted her notice. She put out +her hand instinctively when they met. "It can't harm anybody but myself, +after all," she thought. + +"Oh, I am so glad you remember me," cried Ursula. "I knew you in a +moment. Have you come to stay here? This is my brother, Reginald, and my +little sister, Janey," (how Janey scowled at that _little!_ and with +reason, for she was by half an inch the taller of the two). "Are you +taking a walk? I do hope you like Carlingford. I do hope you are going +to stay. That is our house down at the end of the lane, close to St. +Roque's. Papa is the clergyman there. It will be so delightful," said +Ursula, repeating herself in her excitement, "if you are going to stay." + +"I am going to stay for some time," said Phoebe graciously, "I don't +quite know how long. I came here shortly after I saw you in town. My +grandfather lives here. Grange Lane is very nice for a walk. Grandmamma +is an invalid, so that I don't leave her very often. It was great luck +finding you just as I had come out; for it is not cheerful walking +alone." + +Phoebe felt perfectly sure that through each of the three heads turned +towards her a hurried inquiry was going on as to which of those enclosed +houses contained the grandmother who was an invalid; but no sort of +enlightenment followed the inquiry, and as for Ursula it terminated +abruptly in her mind with a rush of cordiality. She was not at an age +when friendship pauses to make any inquiry into grandmothers. + +"I am so glad! for if you are not going anywhere in particular, we may +all walk together. Janey knows you quite well. I have talked of you so +often," (here Phoebe gave a gracious bow and smile to Janey, who was not +quite sure that she liked to be thus patronized), "and so does my +brother," said Ursula, more doubtfully. "Do you like Carlingford? Have +you seen many people? Oh! I do hope you will stay." + +"I have not seen anybody," said Phoebe. "My people are not much in +society. When one is old and sick, I don't suppose one cares--" + +"There is no society to speak of in Carlingford," said Reginald. "It is +like most other country towns. If you like it we shall be sure your +liking is quite disinterested, for it has no social charms--" + +When had Reginald said so many words at a time to a young lady before? +The girls exchanged glances. "I think it is pretty," said Phoebe, closing +the subject. "It is going to snow, don't you think? I suppose you skate +like all the young ladies now. It seems the first thing any one thinks +of when the winter begins." + +"Do you skate?" said Ursula, her eyes brighter and opener than ever. + +"Oh, a little--as everybody does! Perhaps if there is no society," said +Phoebe, turning to Reginald for the first time, "people are free here +from the necessity of doing as everybody does. I don't think there is +any such bondage in the world--dressing, living, working, amusing +yourself--you have to do everything as other people do it. So I skate--I +can't help myself; and a hundred foolish things beside." + +"But I should think it _delightful_," cried Ursula, "I have always +envied the boys. They look so warm when we are all shivering. Reginald, +if it freezes will you teach us? I think I should like it better than +anything in the world." + +"Yes," said Reginald, "if Miss--if we can make up a party--if you," he +added with a perfectly new inflection in his voice, "will come too." + +"I see you don't know my name," said Phoebe, with a soft little laugh. +"It is Beecham. One never catches names at a party. I remembered yours +because of a family in a novel that I used to admire very much in my +girlish days--" + +"Oh! I know," cried Janey, "the Daisy Chain. We are not a set of prigs +like those people. We are not goody, whatever we are; we--" + +"I don't suppose Miss Beecham cares for your opinion of the family +character," said Reginald in a tone that made Janey furious. Thus +discoursing they reached the gates of the Parsonage, where Ursula was +most eager that her friend should come in. And here Mr. May joined them, +who was impressed, like everybody else, by Phoebe's appearance, and made +himself so agreeable that Reginald felt eclipsed and driven into the +background. Ursula had never been so satisfied with her father in her +life; though there was a cloud on Mr. May's soul, it suited him to show +a high good-humour with everybody in recompense for his son's +satisfactory decision, and he was, indeed, in a state of high +complacence with himself for having managed matters so cleverly that the +very thing which should have secured Reginald's final abandonment of the +chaplaincy determined him, on the contrary, to accept it. And he admired +Phoebe, and was dazzled by her self-possession and knowledge of the +world. He supported Ursula's invitation warmly; but the stranger freed +herself with graceful excuses. She had her patient to attend to. + +"That is a very lady-like young woman," said Mr. May, when they had +gone in, after watching regretfully their new acquaintance's progress +through Grange Lane. "You met her in town, did you? A friend of the +Dorsets? Where is she living, I wonder; and whom does she belong to? One +does not often see that style of thing here." + +"I never saw any one like her before," said Ursula fervently; and they +were still all uniting in admiration of Phoebe--when-- + +But such an interruption demands another page. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +THAT TOZER GIRL! + + +"Well, who is she?" cried Mrs. Sam Hurst, too curious to think of the +ordinary decorums. She had no bonnet on, but a light "cloud" of white +wool over her cap, and her whole aspect was full of eagerness and +excitement. "Why didn't you tell me you knew her? Who is she? I am dying +to know." + +"Who is--who?" said Ursula, rather glad of the opportunity of being +politely rude to Mrs. Sam Hurst before papa. "How is any one to find out +from the way you speak? She? who is she?" + +"That is just what I want you to tell me," said Mrs. Sam Hurst, with +imperturbable good-humour. "You, Mr. May, you are always good to me, +though Ursula has her little tempers--the girl you were talking to at +the door. I stood and watched from the window, and I scarcely could +contain myself sufficiently not to bounce out in the middle of the talk. +Now do tell, as the Americans say. Who is that Tozer girl?" + +"That Tozer girl!" Ursula gave a little shriek, and grew first red and +then pale with horror and dismay. + +"Yes; I told you about her; so well dressed and looking so nice. That +was she; with the very same dress, such a charming dress! so much style +about it. Who is she, Ursula? Mr. May, tell me who is she? You can't +imagine how much I want to know." + +Ursula dropped into a chair, looking like a little ghost, faint and +rigid. She said afterwards to Janey that she felt in the depths of her +heart that it must be true. She could have cried with pain and +disappointment, but she would not give Mrs. Sam Hurst the pleasure of +making her cry. + +"There must be some mistake," said Reginald, interposing. "This is a +lady--my sister met her in town with the Dorsets." + +"Oh, does she know the Dorsets too?" said the inquirer. "That makes it +still more interesting. Yes, that is the girl that is with the Tozers; +there can be no mistake about it. She is the granddaughter. She was at +the Meeting last night. I had it from the best authority--on the +platform with old Tozer. And, indeed, Mr. May, how any one that had been +there could dare to look you in the face!--" + +"I was there myself," said Mr. May. "It amused me very much. Tell me now +about this young person. Is she an impostor, taking people in, or what +is it all about? Ursula looks as if she was in the trick herself, and +had been found out." + +"I am _sure_ she is not an impostor," said Ursula. "An impostor! If you +had seen her as I saw her, at a great, beautiful, splendid ball. I never +saw anything like it. I was nobody there--nobody--and neither were +Cousin Anne and Cousin Sophy--but Miss Beecham! It is a mistake, I +suppose," the girl said, raising herself up with great dignity; "when +people are always trying for news, they get the wrong news sometimes, I +don't doubt. You may be sure it is a mistake." + +"That's me," said Mrs. Sam Hurst, with a laugh; "that is one of Ursula's +assaults upon poor me. Yes, I confess it, I am fond of news; and I never +said she was an impostor. Poor girl, I am dreadfully sorry for her. I +think she is a good girl, trying to do her duty to her relations. She +didn't choose her own grandfather. I dare say, if she'd had any say in +it, she would have made a very different choice. But whether your papa +may think her a proper friend for you--being Tozer's granddaughter, Miss +Ursula, that's quite a different business, I am bound to say." + +Again Ursula felt herself kept from crying by sheer pride, and nothing +else. She bit her lips tight; she would not give in. Mrs. Hurst to +triumph over her, and to give her opinion as to what papa might think +proper! Ursula turned her back upon Mrs. Hurst, which was not civil, +fearing every moment some denunciation from papa. But nothing of the +kind came. He asked quite quietly after a while, "Where did you meet +this young lady?" without any perceptible inflection of anger in his +tone. + +"Why, papa," cried Janey, distressed to be kept so long silent, +"everybody knows where Ursula met her; no one has heard of anything else +since she came home. She met her of course at the ball. You know; +Reginald, _you_ know! The ball where she went with Cousin Anne." + +"Never mind Cousin Anne; I want the name of the people at whose house it +was." + +"Copperhead, papa," said Ursula, rousing herself. "If Cousin Anne does +not know a lady from a common person, who does, I wonder? It was Cousin +Anne who introduced me to her (I think). Their name was Copperhead, and +they lived in a great, big, beautiful house, in the street where +ambassadors and quantities of great people live. I forget the name of +it; but I know there was an ambassador lived there, and Cousin Anne +said----" + +"Copperhead! I thought so," said Mr. May. "When Ursula has been set +a-going on the subject of Cousin Anne, there is nothing rational to be +got from her after that for an hour or two. You take an interest in this +young lady," he said shortly, turning to Mrs. Sam Hurst, who stood by +smiling, rather enjoying the commotion she had caused. + +"Who, I? I take an interest in anybody that makes a stir, and gives us +something to talk about," said Mrs. Hurst, frankly. "You know my +weakness. Ursula despises me for it, but you know human nature. If I did +not take an interest in my neighbours what would become of me--a poor +lone elderly woman, without either chick or child?" + +She rounded off this forlorn description of herself with a hearty laugh, +in which Janey, who had a secret kindness for their merry neighbour, +though she feared her "for papa," joined furtively. Mr. May, however, +did not enter into the joke with the sympathy which he usually showed to +Mrs. Hurst. He smiled, but there was something _distrait_ and +pre-occupied in his air. + +"How sorry we all are for you," he said; "your position is truly +melancholy. I am glad, for your sake, that old Tozer has a pretty +granddaughter to beguile you now and then out of recollection of your +cares." + +There was a sharp tone in this which caught Mrs. Hurst's ear, and she +was not disposed to accept any sharpness from Mr. May. She turned the +tables upon him promptly. + +"What a disgraceful business that Meeting was! Of course, you have seen +the paper. There ought to be some way of punishing those agitators that +go about the country, taking away people's characters. Could not you +bring him up for libel, or Reginald? I never knew anything so shocking. +To come to your own town, your own neighbourhood, and to strike you +through your son! It is the nastiest, most underhanded, unprincipled +attack I ever heard of." + +"What is that?" asked Reginald. + +He was not easily roused by Carlingford gossip, but there was clearly +more in this than met the eye. + +"An Anti-State Church Meeting," said Mr. May, "with special compliments +in it to you and me. It is not worth our while to think of it. Your +agitators, my dear Mrs. Hurst, are not worth powder and shot. Now, +pardon me, but I must go to work. Will you go and see the sick people in +Back Grove Street, Reginald? I don't think I can go to-day." + +"I should like to know what was in the paper," said the young man, with +an obstinacy that filled the girls with alarm. They had been in hopes +that everything between father and son was to be happy and friendly, now +that Reginald was about to do what his father wished. + +"Oh, you shall see it," said Mrs. Hurst, half alarmed too; "but it is +not anything, as your father says; only we women are sensitive. We are +always thinking of things which, perhaps, were never intended to harm +us. Ursula, you take my advice, and don't go and mix yourself up with +Dissenters and that kind of people. The Tozer girl may be very nice, but +she is still Tozer's granddaughter, after all." + +Reginald followed the visitor out of the room, leaving his sisters very +ill at ease within, and his father not without anxieties which were so +powerful, indeed, that he relieved his mind by talking of them to his +daughters--a most unusual proceeding. + +"That woman will set Reginald off at the nail again," he cried; "after +he had begun to see things in a common-sense light. There was an attack +made upon him last night on account of that blessed chaplaincy, which +has been more trouble to me than it is worth. I suppose he'll throw it +up now. But I wash my hands of the matter. I wonder how you girls can +encourage that chattering woman to come here." + +"Papa!" cried Janey, ever on the defensive, "we _hate_ her! It is you +who encourage her to come here." + +"Oh, hush!" cried Ursula, with a warning glance; it was balm to her soul +to hear her father call Mrs. Hurst _that woman_. "We have been to see +the house," she said; "it was very nice. I think Reginald liked it, +papa." + +"Ah, well," said Mr. May, "girls and boys are queer articles. I dare say +the house, if he likes it, will weigh more with him than justice or +common sense. So Copperhead was the people's name? What would be wanted, +do you think, Ursula, to make Reginald's room into a comfortable room +for a pupil? Comfortable, recollect; not merely what would do; and one +that has been used, I suppose, to luxury. You can look over it and let +me know." + +"Are we going to take a pupil, papa?" cried Janey, with widening eyes. + +"I don't know what you could teach him," he said. "Manners, perhaps? Let +me know, Ursula. The room is not a bad room; it would want a new carpet, +curtains, perhaps--various things. Make me out a list. The Copperheads +have a son, I believe. Did you see him at that fine ball of yours?" + +"Oh! papa, he danced with me twice; he was very kind," said Ursula, with +a blush; "and he danced all the night with Miss Beecham. It must be a +falsehood about her being old Tozer's granddaughter. Mr. Clarence +Copperhead was always by her side. I think Mrs. Hurst must have made it +all up out of her own head." + +Mr. May gave a little short laugh. + +"Poor Mrs. Hurst!" he said, recovering his temper; "how bitter you all +are against her. So he danced with you twice? You must try to make him +comfortable, Ursula, if he comes here." + +"Is Mr. Clarence Copperhead coming here?" + +Ursula was struck dumb by this piece of news. The grand house in +Portland Place, and all Sophy Dorset's questions and warnings, came +suddenly back to her mind. She blushed fiery red; she could not tell +why. Coming here! How strange it would be, how extraordinary, to have to +order dinner for him, and get his room in order, and have him in the +drawing-room in the evenings! How should she know what to say to him? or +would papa keep him always at work, reading Greek or something +downstairs? All this flashed through her mind with the rapidity of +lightning. Mr. May made no reply. He was walking up and down the room +with his hands behind him, as was his habit when he was "busy." Being +busy was separated from being angry by the merest visionary line in Mr. +May's case; his children never ventured on addressing him at such +moments, and it is impossible to describe how glad they were when he +withdrew to his own room before Reginald's return; but not a minute too +soon. The young man came back, looking black as night. He threw himself +into a chair, and then he got up again, and began also to walk about the +room like his father. At first he would make no reply to the questions +of the girls. + +"It is exactly what I expected," he said; "just what I looked for. I +knew it from the first moment." + +It was Janey, naturally, who had least patience with this unsatisfactory +utterance. + +"If it was just what you expected, and you looked for it all the time, +why should you make such a fuss now?" she cried. "I declare, for all you +are young, and we are fond of you, you are almost as bad as papa." + +Reginald did not take any notice of this address; he went on repeating +the same words at intervals. + +"A child might have known it. Of course, from the beginning one knew how +it must be." Then he suddenly faced round upon Ursula, who was nearly +crying in excitement and surprise. "But if they think I am to be driven +out of a resolution I have made by what they say--if they think that I +will be bullied into giving up because of their claptrap," he cried, +looking sternly at her, "then you will find you are mistaken. You will +find I am not such a weak idiot as you suppose. Give up! because some +demagogue from a Dissenting Committee takes upon him to criticise my +conduct. If you think I have so little self-respect, so little stamina," +he said, fiercely, "you will find you have made a very great mistake." + +"Oh, Reginald, _me_?" cried Ursula, with tears in her eyes; "did I ever +think anything unkind of you? did I ever ask you to do anything that was +disagreeable? You should not look as if it was me." + +Then he threw himself down again on the old sofa, which creaked and +tottered under the shock. + +"Poor little Ursula!" he cried, with a short laugh. "Did you think I +meant you? But if they thought they would master me by these means," +said Reginald with pale fury, "they never made a greater mistake, I can +tell you. A parcel of trumpery agitators, speechifiers, little petty +demagogues, whom nobody ever heard of before. A fine thing, indeed, to +have all the shopkeepers of Carlingford sitting in committee on one's +conduct, isn't it--telling one what one ought to do? By Jupiter! It's +enough to make a man swear!" + +"I declare!" cried Janey loudly, "how like Reginald is to papa! I never +saw it before. When he looks wicked like that, and sets his teeth--but I +am not going to be pushed, not by my brother or any one!" said the girl, +growing red, and making a step out of his reach. "I won't stand it. I am +not a child any more than you." + +Janey's wrath was appeased, however, when Reginald produced the paper +and read Northcote's speech aloud. In her interest she drew nearer and +nearer, and read the obnoxious column over his shoulder, joining in +Ursula's cries of indignation. By the time the three had thus got +through it, Reginald's own agitation subsided into that fierce amusement +which is the frequent refuge of the assaulted. + +"Old Green in the chair! and old Tozer and the rest have all been +sitting upon me," he said, with that laugh which is proverbially +described as from the wrong side of the mouth, whatever that may be. +Ursula said nothing in reply, but in her heart she felt yet another +stab. Tozer! This was another complication. She had taken so great a +romantic interest in the heroine of that ball, which was the most +entrancing moment of Ursula's life, that it seemed a kind of disloyalty +to her dreams to give up thus completely, and dethrone the young lady in +black; but what could the poor girl do? In the excitement of this +question the personality of Reginald's special assailant was lost +altogether: the girls did not even remember his name. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +A NEW FRIEND. + + +After this there followed an exciting interval for the family at the +Parsonage. Reginald, with the impatience of anger, insisted upon +transporting himself to the College at once, and entering upon "his +duties," such as they were, in defiance of all public comment. And Mr. +May, delighted with the head-strong resentment which served his purpose +so well, promoted it by all the means in his power, goading his son on, +if he showed any signs of relaxing, by references to public opinion, and +what the Liberation Society would say. Before those curtains were ready, +which the girls had ordered with so much pride, or the carpet laid down, +he had taken possession, and his room in the Parsonage was already +turned upside down preparing for a new inmate. Many and strange were the +thoughts in Ursula's mind about this new inmate. She remembered Clarence +Copperhead as a full-grown man, beyond, it seemed to her, the age at +which pupilage was possible. What was he coming to Carlingford for? What +was he coming to the Parsonage for? What could papa do with a pupil +quite as old as Reginald, who, in his own person, had often taken +pupils? Ursula had read as many novels as were natural at her age, and +can it be supposed that she did not ask herself whether there was any +other meaning in it? Could he be coming to Carlingford on account of +Miss Beecham; or, on account of--any one else? Ursula never whispered, +even to her own imagination, on account of me. But it is not to be +supposed that the unbidden inarticulate thought did not steal in, +fluttering her girlish soul. Everybody knows that in fiction, at least, +such things occur continually, and are the most natural things in the +world; and to Ursula, beyond her own little commonplace world, which she +somewhat despised, and the strange world undeciphered and wonderful to +which the Dorsets had introduced her for those ten brief days in London, +the world of fiction was the only sphere she knew; and in that sphere +there could be no such natural method of accounting for a young man's +actions as that of supposing him to be "in love." The question remained, +was it with Miss Beecham, or was it with--anybody else? Such an inquiry +could not but flutter her youthful bosom. She made his room ready for +him, and settled how he was to be disposed of, with the strangest sense +of something beneath, which her father would never suspect, but which, +perhaps, she alone might know. + +Clarence Copperhead was a more imposing figure to Ursula than he was in +reality. She had seen him only twice, and he was a big and full-grown +"gentleman," while Ursula only realised herself as a little girl. She +was not even aware that she had any intelligence to speak of, or that +she would be a fit person to judge of "a gentleman." To be sure she had +to do many things which wanted thought and sense; but she was too +unthoughtful of herself to have decided this as yet, or to have created +any private tribunal at which to judge a new-comer of Clarence +Copperhead's dimensions. A much greater personage than she was, an +individual whose comings and goings could not be without observation, +whose notice would be something exciting and strange, was what she took +him to be. And Ursula was excited. Did Mrs. Copperhead, that kind little +woman, know why he was coming--was she in his confidence? And how was +Ursula to entertain him, to talk to him--a gentleman accustomed to so +much better society? She did not say anything to Janey on this subject, +though Janey was not without her curiosities too, and openly indulged in +conjectures as to the new pupil. + +"I wonder if he will be fine. I wonder if he will be very good," said +Janey. "I wonder if he will fall in love with Ursula. Pupils, in books, +always do; and then there is a dreadful fuss and bother, and the girl is +sent away. It is hard for the girl; it is always supposed to be her +fault. I would not allow papa to take any pupils if it was me." + +"And much your papa would care for your permission," said Mrs. Sam +Hurst. "But so far I agree with you, Janey, that before he has pupils, +or anything of that sort, there ought to be a lady in the house. He +should marry--" + +"Marry! we don't want a lady in the house," cried Janey, "we are ladies +ourselves, I hope. Marry! if he does, I, for one, will do all I can to +make his life miserable," said the girl with energy. "What should he +want to marry for when he has daughters grown up? There are enough of us +already, I should think." + +"Too many," said Mrs. Sam Hurst with a sigh. It gave her the greatest +secret delight to play upon the girl's fears. + +Besides this, however, Ursula had another pre-occupation. In that +cordial meeting with the young lady who had turned out to be a person in +such an embarrassing position, there had been a great deal said about +future meetings, walks, and expeditions together, and Ursula had been +very desirous that Phoebe should fix some time for their first encounter. +She thought of this now with blushes that seemed to burn her cheeks. She +was afraid to go out, lest she should meet the girl she had been so +anxious to make a friend of. Not that, on her own account, after the +first shock, Ursula would have been hard-hearted enough to deny her +acquaintance to Tozer's granddaughter. In the seclusion of her chamber, +she had cried over the downfall of her ideal friend very bitterly, and +felt the humiliation for Phoebe more cruelly than that young lady felt it +for herself; but Ursula, however much it might have cost her, would have +stood fast to her friendship had she been free to do as she pleased. + +"I did not like her for her grandfather," she said to Janey, of whom, in +this case, she was less unwilling to make a confidant. "I never thought +of the grandfather. What does it matter to me if he were a sweep instead +of old Tozer?" + +"Old Tozer is just as bad as if he were a sweep," said Janey; "if you +had ever thought of her grandfather, and known he was old Tozer, you +would have felt it would not do." + +"What is there about a grandfather? I don't know if we ever had any," +said Ursula. "Mamma had, for the Dorsets are her relations--but papa. +Mr. Griffiths's grandfather was a candle-maker; I have heard papa say +so--and they go everywhere." + +"But he is dead," said Janey, with great shrewdness, "and he was rich." + +"You little nasty calculating thing! Oh, how I hate rich people; how I +hate this horrid world, that loves money and loves fine names, and does +not care for people's selves whether they are bad or good! I shall never +dare to walk up Grange Lane again," said Ursula, with tears. "Fancy +changing to her, after being so glad to see her! fancy never saying +another word about the skating, or the walk to the old mill! How she +will despise me for being such a miserable creature! and she will think +it is all my own fault." + +At this moment Mr. May, from the door of his study, called "Ursula!" +repeating the call with some impatience when she paused to dry her eyes. +She ran down to him quickly, throwing down her work in her haste. He was +standing at the door, and somehow for the first time the worn look about +his eyes struck Ursula with a touch of pity. She had never noticed it +before: a look of suppressed pain and anxiety, which remained about his +eyes though the mouth smiled. It had never occurred to her to be sorry +for her father before, and the idea struck her as very strange now. + +"Come in," he said, "I want to speak to you. I have been thinking about +the young woman--this friend of yours. We are all among the Dissenters +now-a-days, whatever Mrs. Sam Hurst may say. You seem to have taken a +fancy to this Tozer girl?" + +"Don't call her so, papa, please. She is a lady in herself, as good a +lady as any one." + +"Well! I don't say anything against her, do I? So you hold by your +fancy? You are not afraid of Grange Lane and Mrs. Sam Hurst." + +"I have not seen her again," said Ursula, cast down. "I have not been +out at all. I could not bear to be so friendly one day, and then to pass +as if one did not know her the next. I cannot do it," cried the girl, in +tears; "if I see her, I must just be the same as usual to her, whatever +you say." + +"Very well, _be_ the same as usual," said Mr. May; "that is why I called +you. I have my reasons. Notwithstanding Tozer, be civil to the girl. I +have my reasons for what I say." + +"Do you mean it, papa!" said Ursula, delighted. "Oh, how good of you! +You don't mind--you really don't mind? Oh! I can't tell you how thankful +I am; for to pretend to want to be friends, and then to break off all in +a moment because of a girl's grandfather----" + +"Don't make a principle of it, Ursula. It is quite necessary, in an +ordinary way, to think of a girl's grandfather--and a boy's too, for +that matter. No shopkeeping friends for me; but in this individual case +I am willing to make an exception. For the moment, you see, Dissenters +are in the ascendant. Young Copperhead is coming next week. Now, go." + +Ursula marched delighted upstairs. "Janey, run and get your hat," she +said; "I am going out. I am not afraid of any one now. Papa is a great +deal nicer than he ever was before. He says I may see Miss Beecham as +much as I like. He says we need not mind Mrs. Sam Hurst. I am so glad! I +shall never be afraid of that woman any more." + +Janey was taken altogether by surprise. "I hope he is not going to fall +in love with Miss Beecham," she said suspiciously. "I have heard Betsy +say that old gentlemen often do." + +"He is not so foolish as to fall in love with anybody," said Ursula, +with dignity. "Indeed, Janey, you ought to have much more respect for +papa. I wish you could be sent to school and learn more sense. You give +your opinion as if you were--twenty--more than that. I am sure I never +should have ventured to say such things when I was a child like you." + +"Child yourself!" said Janey indignant; which was her last resource when +she had nothing more to say; but Ursula was too busy putting aside her +work and preparing for her walk to pay any attention. In proportion as +she had been subdued and downcast heretofore, she was gay now. She +forgot all about old Tozer; about the Dissenters' meeting, and the man +who had made an attack upon poor Reginald. She flew to her room for her +hat and jacket, and ran downstairs, singing to herself. Janey only +overtook her, out of breath, as she emerged into the road from the +Parsonage door. + +"What a dreadful hurry you are in," said Janey. "I always get ready so +much quicker than you do. Is it all about this girl, because she is new? +I never knew you were so fond of new people before." + +But that day they went up and down Grange Lane fruitlessly, without +seeing anything of Phoebe, and Ursula returned home disconsolate. In the +evening Reginald intimated carelessly that he had met Miss Beecham. "She +is much better worth talking to than most of the girls one meets with, +whoever her grandfather may be," he said, evidently with an instant +readiness to stand on the defensive. + +"Oh, did you talk to her," said Ursula, "without knowing? Reginald, papa +has no objections. He says we may even have her here, if we please." + +"Well, of course I suppose he must guide you in that respect," said +Reginald, "but it does not matter particularly to me. Of course I talked +to her. Even my father could not expect that his permission was needed +for me." + +At which piece of self-assertion the girls looked at him with admiring +eyes. Already they felt there was a difference. Reginald at home, +nominal curate, without pay or position, was a different thing from +Reginald with an appointment, a house of his own, and two hundred and +fifty pounds a year. The girls looked at him admiringly, but felt that +this was never likely to be their fate. In everything the boys had so +much the best of it; and yet it was almost a comfort to think that they +had seen Reginald himself trembling before papa. Reginald had a great +deal to tell them about the college, about the old men who made a +hundred daily claims on his attention, and the charities which he had to +administer, doles of this and that, and several charity schools of a +humble class. + +"As for my time, it is not likely to hang on my hands as I thought. I +can't be a parish Quixote, as we planned, Ursula, knocking down +windmills for other people," he said, adjusting his round edge of +collar. He was changed; he was important, a personage in his own sight, +no longer to be spoken of as Mr. May's son. Janey ventured on a little +laugh when he went away, but Ursula did not like the change. + +"Never mind," cried Janey; "I hope Copperhead will be nice. We shall +have him to talk to, when he comes." + +"Oh!" cried Ursula, in a kind of despair, "who taught you to call +gentlemen like that by their name? There is nothing so vulgar. Why, +Cousin Anne says--" + +"Oh, Cousin Anne!" cried Janey, shaking her head, and dancing away. +After that she was aware there was nothing for it but flight. + +Next day, however, they were more successful. Phoebe, though very little +older than Ursula, was kind to the country girls, and talked to them +both, and drew them out. She smiled when she heard of Clarence +Copperhead, and told them that he was not very clever, but she did not +think there was any harm in him. + +"It is his father who is disagreeable," said Phoebe; "didn't you think +so? You know, papa is a minister, Miss May," (she did not say clergyman +when she spoke to a churchwoman, for what was the use of exciting any +one's prejudices?) "and Mr. Copperhead comes to our church. You may be +very thankful, in that respect, that you are not a dissenter. But it +will be very strange to see Clarence Copperhead in Carlingford. I have +known him since I was no bigger than your little sister. To tell the +truth," said Phoebe, frankly, "I think I am rather sorry he is coming +here." + +"Why?" cried bold Janey, who was always inquisitive. + +Miss Phoebe only smiled and shook her head; she made no distinct reply. + +"Poor fellow, I suppose he has been 'plucked,' as the gentlemen call +it, or 'ploughed,' does your brother say? University slang is very +droll. He has not taken his degree, I suppose, and they want him to work +before going up again. I am sorry for your father, too, for I don't +think it will be very easy to get anything into Clarence Copperhead's +mind. But there is no harm at all in him, and he used to be very nice to +his mother. Mamma and I liked him for that; he was always very nice to +his mother." + +"Will you come in and have some tea?" said Ursula. "Do, please. I hope, +now that I have met you again, you will not refuse me. I was afraid you +had gone away, or something--" + +Ursula, however, could not help looking guilty as she spoke, and Phoebe +perceived at once that there had been some reason for the two or three +days disappearance of the girls from Grange Lane. + +"You must tell me first," she said, with a smile, "whether you know who +I am. If you ask me after that, I shall come. I am old Mr. Tozer's +granddaughter, who had a shop in the High Street. My uncle has a shop +there now. I do not like it myself," said Phoebe, with the masterly +candour that distinguished her, "and no one else can be expected to like +it. If you did not know--" + +"Oh, we heard directly," cried Janey; "Mrs. Sam Hurst told us. She came +shrieking, 'Who is she?' before your back was turned that day; for she +wondered to see you with old Tozer--" + +"Janey!" cried Ursula, with horror. "Of course we know; and please will +you come? Every new person in Carlingford gets talked over, and if an +angel were to walk about, Mrs. Sam Hurst would never rest till she had +found out where he came from." + +"And, perhaps, whether he had a broken feather in his wing," said Phoebe. +"I am very glad you don't mind. It will be very pleasant to come. I will +run in and tell them, and then I will join you. Grandmamma is an +invalid, and would like to know where I am." + +And the news made a considerable flutter in the dim room where Mrs. +Tozer sat between the fire and the window, looking out upon the crocuses +and regretting the High Street. + +"But run and put on another dress, dear. What will they think of you in +that everlasting brown frock as you're so fond of? I'd like them to see +as my grandchild could dress as nice as any lady in the land." + +"She'll not see much finery there," said Tozer; "they're as poor as +church mice, are them Mays, and never a penny to pay a bill when it's +wanted. I don't think as Phoebe need mind her dressing to go there." + +"And you'll send for me if you want me, grandmamma; you will be sure to +send?" + +But for the brown frock, Mrs. Tozer's satisfaction would have been +unalloyed as she watched her granddaughter walking across the garden. + +"She's at home among the quality, she is," said the old woman; "maybe +more so than she is with you and me; but there ain't a better girl in +all England, and that I'll say for her, though if she would think a +little more about her clothes, as is nat'ral at her age, it would be +more pleasing to me." + +"The worst dress as Phoebe has is better than anything belonging to them +Mays," said Tozer. + +He did not care for the parson at St. Roque; though he was pleased that +his child should be among "the quality." But it was on that evening that +poor old Mrs. Tozer had one of her attacks, and Phoebe had to be summoned +back at an early hour. The servant went down with an umbrella and a +note, to bring her home; and that trifling incident had its influence +upon after affairs, as the reader shall shortly see. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +A DESPERATE EXPEDIENT. + + +It was something of a comfort to Phoebe to find that the "tea" to which +Ursula asked her was a family meal, such as Mr. and Mrs. Tozer indulged +in, in Grange Lane, with no idea of dinner to follow, as in more refined +circles. This, she said to herself benignly, must be "country fashion," +and she was naturally as bland and gracious at the Parsonage tea-table +as anybody from town, knowing better, but desiring to make herself +thoroughly agreeable, could be. She amused Mr. May very much, who felt +the serene young princess, accepting her vulgar relations with gentle +resignation, and supported by a feeling of her own innate dignity, to be +something quite new to him. Phoebe had no objection to talk upon the +subject, for, clever as she was, she was not so clever as to see through +Mr. May's amused show of interest in her trials, but believed +ingenuously that he understood and felt for her, and was, perhaps, at +last, the one noble, impartial, and generous Churchman who could see +the difficulties of cultivated Dissenters, and enter into them +sympathetically. Why Mr. May took the trouble to draw her out on this +point it is more difficult to explain. Poor man, he was in a state of +semi-distraction over Cotsdean's bill. The ten days had shortened into +three, and he was no nearer finding that hundred pounds than ever. Even +while he smiled and talked to Phoebe, he was repeating over and over to +himself the terrible fact which could not now be ignored. "17th, 18th, +19th, and Friday will be the 20th," he was saying to himself. If that +20th came without any help, Cotsdean would be virtually made a bankrupt; +for of course all his creditors would make a rush upon him, and all his +affairs would be thrown open to the remorseless public gaze, if the +bill, which had been so often renewed, had to be dishonoured at last. +Mr. May had a conscience, though he was not careful of his money, and +the fear of ruin to Cotsdean was a very terrible and real oppression to +him. The recollection was upon him like a vulture in classic story, +tearing and gnawing, as he sat there and smiled over the cup of tea +Ursula gave him, feeling amused all the same at Phoebe's talk. He could +scarcely have told why he had permitted his daughter to pursue her +acquaintance with Tozer's granddaughter. Partly it was because of +Clarence Copperhead; out of curiosity, as, being about to be brought in +contact with some South Sea Islander or Fijian, one would naturally wish +to see another who was thrown in one's way by accident, and thus prepare +one's self for the permanent acquaintance. And she amused him. Her +cleverness, her ease, her conversational powers, her woman of the world +aspect, did not so much impress him, perhaps, as they did others; but +the complacency and innocent confidence of youth that were in her, and +her own enjoyment of the situation, notwithstanding the mortifications +incurred--all this amused Mr. May. He listened to her talk, sometimes +feeling himself almost unable to bear it, for the misery of those words, +which kept themselves ringing in a dismal chorus in his own mind, and +yet deriving a kind of amusement and distraction from it all the same. + +"One of your friends was very hard upon my son--and myself--at your +Meeting the other night, Miss Beecham." + +"He was very injudicious," said Phoebe, shaking her head. "Indeed I did +not approve. Personalities never advance any cause. I said so to him. +Don't you think the Church has herself to blame for those political +Dissenters, Mr. May? You sneer at us, and look down upon us--" + +"I? I don't sneer at anybody." + +"I don't mean you individually; but Churchmen do. They treat us as if +we were some strange kind of creatures, from the heart of Africa +perhaps. They don't think we are just like themselves: as well educated; +meaning as well; with as much right to our own ideas." + +Mr. May could scarcely restrain a laugh. "Just like themselves." The +idea of a Dissenter setting up to be as well educated, and as capable of +forming an opinion, as a cultivated Anglican, an Oxford man, and a +beneficed clergyman, was too novel and too foolish not to be somewhat +startling as well. Mr. May was aware that human nature is strangely +blind to its own deficiencies, but was it possible that any delusion +could go so far as this? He did laugh a little--just the ghost of a +laugh--at the idea. But what is the use of making any serious opposition +to such a statement? The very fact of contesting the assumption seemed +to give it a certain weight. + +"Whenever this is done," said Phoebe, with serene philosophy, "I think +you may expect a revulsion of feeling. The class to which papa belongs +is very friendly to the Established Church, and wishes to do her every +honour." + +"Is it indeed? We ought to be much gratified," said Mr. May. + +Phoebe gave him a quick glance, but he composed his face and met her look +meekly. It actually diverted him from his pre-occupation, and that is a +great deal to say. + +"We would willingly do her any honour; we would willingly be friends, +even look up to her, if that would please her," added Phoebe, very +gravely, conscious of the importance of what she was saying; "but when +we see clergymen, and common persons also, who have never had one +rational thought on the subject, always setting us down as ignorant and +uncultured, because we are Dissenters----" + +"But no one does that," said Ursula, soothingly, eager to save her new +friend's feelings. She paused in the act of pouring out the children's +second cup of tea, and looked up at her with eyes full of caressing and +flattering meaning. "No one, at least, I am sure," she added, faltering, +remembering suddenly things she had heard said of Dissenters, "who knows +_you_." + +"It is not I that ought to be thought of, it is the general question. +Then can you wonder that a young man like the gentleman we were talking +of, clever and energetic, and an excellent scholar (and very good in +philosophy, too--he was at Jena for two or three years), should be made +bitter when he feels himself thrust back upon a community of small +shopkeepers?" + +Mr. May could not restrain another short laugh. + +"We must not join in the vulgar abuse of shopkeepers," he said. + +Phoebe's colour rose. She raised her head a little, then perceiving the +superiority of her former position, smiled. + +"I have no right to do so. My people, I suppose, were all shopkeepers to +begin with; but this gives me ways of knowing. Grandpapa is very kind +and nice--really nice, Mr. May; but he has not at all a wide way of +looking at things. I feel it, though they are so kind to me. I have been +brought up to think in such a different way; and if I feel it, who am +fond of them, think how that young minister must feel it, who was +brought up in a totally different class?" + +"What kind of class was this one brought up in?" said Mr. May, with a +laugh. "He need not have assaulted Reginald, if he had been born a +prince. We had done him no harm." + +"That is making it entirely a private question," said Phoebe, suavely, +"which I did not mean to do. When such a man finds out abuses--what he +takes to be abuses--in the Church, which treats him like a roadside +ranter, may not he feel a right to be indignant? Oh, I am not so. I +think such an office as that chaplaincy is very good, one here and there +for the reward of merit; and I think he was very right to take it; but +still it would not do, would it, to have many of them? It would not +answer any good purpose," she said, administering a little sting +scientifically, "if all clergymen held sinecures." + +These words were overheard by Reginald, who just then came in, and to +whom it was startling to find Phoebe serenely seated at tea with his +family. The hated word sinecure did not seem to affect him from her lips +as it would have done from any one else's. He came in quite +good-humouredly, and said with a smile-- + +"You are discussing me. What about me? Miss Beecham, I hope you take my +side." + +"I take everybody's side," said Phoebe; "for I try to trace people's +motives. I can sympathise both with you and those who assailed you." + +"Oh, that Dissenting fellow. I beg your pardon, Miss Beecham, if you are +a Dissenter; but I cannot help it. We never go out of our way to attack +them and their chapels and coteries, and why should they spring at our +throats on every occasion? I think it is hard, and I can't say I have +any charity to spare for this individual. What had we done to him? +Ursula, give me some tea." + +"Miss Beecham, I leave the cause of the Church in younger and, I hope, +abler hands," said Mr. May, getting up. + +Partly it was that Reginald's onslaught made him see for the first time +certain weak points in the situation; partly it was that his private +care became too clamorous, and he could not keep on further. He went +away quite abruptly, and went downstairs to his study, and shut himself +in there; and the moment he had closed the door, all this amusement +floated away, and the vulture gripped at him, beak and talons digging +into his very soul. Good God! what was he to do? He covered his face +with his hands, and turned round and round mentally in that darkness to +see if anywhere there might be a gleam of light; but none was visible +east or west. A hundred pounds, only a hundred pounds; a bagatelle, a +thing that to many men was as small an affair as a stray sixpence; and +here was this man, as good, so to speak, as any--well educated, full of +gifts and accomplishments, well born, well connected, not a prodigal nor +open sinner, losing himself in the very blackness of darkness, feeling +that a kind of moral extinction was the only prospect before him, for +want of this little sum. It seemed incredible even to himself, as he sat +and brooded over it. Somehow, surely, there must be a way of +deliverance. He looked piteously about him in his solitude, appealing to +the very blank walls to save him. What could they do? His few books, his +faded old furniture, would scarcely realize a hundred pounds if they +were sold to-morrow. All his friends had been wearied out, all natural +resources had failed. James might any day have sent the money, but he +had not done so--just this special time, when it was so hard to get it, +James, too, had failed; and the hours of this night were stealing away +like thieves, so swift and so noiseless, to be followed by the others; +and Cotsdean, poor soul, his faithful retainer, would be broken and +ruined. To do Mr. May justice, if it had been only himself who could be +ruined, he would have felt it less; but it went to his very heart to +think of poor Cotsdean, who had trusted in him so entirely, and to whom, +indeed, he had been very kind in his day. Strife and discord had been in +the poor man's house, and perpetual wretchedness, and Mr. May had +managed, he himself could scarcely tell how, to set it right. He had +frightened and subdued the passionate wife, and quenched the growing +tendencies to evil, which made her temper worse than it was by nature, +and had won her back to soberness and some kind of peace, changing the +unhappy house into one of comparative comfort and cheerfulness. Most +people like those best to whom they have been kind, whom they have +served or benefited, and in this way Mr. May was fond of Cotsdean, who +in his turn had been a very good friend to his clergyman, serving him as +none of his own class could have done, going in the face of all his own +prejudices and the timorousness of nature, on his account. And the +result was to be ruin--ruin unmitigated to the small man who was in +business, and equally disastrous, though in a less creditable way, to +his employer. It was with a suppressed anguish which is indescribable +that he sat there, with his face covered, looking this approaching +misery in the face. How long he had been there, he could scarcely +himself tell, when he heard a little commotion in the hall, the sounds +of running up and down stairs, and opening of doors. He was in a +feverish and restless condition, and every stir roused him. Partly +because of that impatience in his mind, and partly because every new +thing seemed to have some possibility of hope in it, he got up and went +to the door. Before he returned to his seat, something might have +occurred to him, something might have happened--who could tell? It might +be the postman with a letter containing that remittance from James, +which still would set all right. It might be--he rose suddenly, and +opening the door, held it ajar and looked out; the front door was open, +and the night air blowing chilly into the house, and on the stairs, +coming down, he heard the voices of Ursula and Phoebe. Ursula was pinning +a shawl round her new friend, and consoling her. + +"I hope you will find it is nothing. I am so sorry," she said. + +"Oh, I am not very much afraid," said Phoebe. "She is ill, but not very +bad, I hope; and it is not dangerous. Thank you so much for letting me +come." + +"You will come again?" said Ursula, kissing her; "promise that you will +come again." + +Mr. May listened with a certain surface of amusement in his mind. How +easy and facile these girlish loves and fancies were! Ursula knew +nothing of this stranger, and yet so free were the girl's thoughts, so +open her heart to receive impressions, that on so short knowledge she +had received the other into it with undoubting confidence and trust. He +did not come forward himself to say good-bye, but he perceived that +Reginald followed downstairs, and took his hat from the table, to +accompany Phoebe home. As they closed the outer door behind them, the +last gust thus forcibly shut in made a rush through the narrow hall, and +carried a scrap of paper to Mr. May's feet. He picked it up almost +mechanically, and carried it with him to the light, and looked at it +without thought. There was not much in it to interest any one. It was +the little note which Tozer had sent to his granddaughter by the maid, +not prettily folded, to begin with, and soiled and crumpled by the +bearer. + +"Your grandmother is took bad with one of her attacks. Come back +directly. She wants you badly. + +"SAML. TOZER." + +This was all that was in it. Mr. May opened it out on his table with a +half-smile of that same superficial amusement which the entire incident +had caused him--the contact, even momentary, of his own household with +that of Tozer, the old Dissenting butterman, was so droll an event. Then +he sank down on his chair again with a sigh, the amusement dying out all +at once, purely superficial as it was. Amusement! how strange that even +the idea of amusement should enter his head in the midst of his despair. +His mind renewed that horrible mechanical wandering through the dismal +circle of might-be's which still survived amid the chaos of his +thoughts. Once or twice there seemed to gleam upon him a stray glimmer +of light through a loophole, but only to throw him back again into the +darkness. Now and then he roused himself with a look of real terror in +his face, when there came a noise outside. What he was afraid of was +poor Cotsdean coming in with his hand to his forehead, and his +apologetic "Beg your pardon, sir." If he came, what could he say to him? +Two days--only two days more! If Mr. May had been less sensible and less +courageous, he would most likely have ended the matter by a pistol or a +dose of laudanum; but fortunately he was too rational to deliver himself +by this desperate expedient, which, of course, would only have made the +burden more terrible upon the survivors. If Cotsdean was to be ruined, +and there was no remedy, Mr. May was man enough to feel that it was his +business to stand by him, not to escape in any dastardly way; but in the +mean time to face Cotsdean, and tell him that he had done and could do +nothing, seemed more than the man who had caused his ruin could bear. He +moved about uneasily in his chair in the anguish of his mind. As he did +so, he pushed off some of his papers from the table with his elbow. It +was some sort of break in his feverish musings to pick them up again in +a bundle, without noticing what they were. He threw them down in a +little heap before him. On the top, as it chanced, came the little dirty +scrap of paper, which ought to have been tossed into the fire or the +waste-paper basket. Saml. Tozer! What was Saml. Tozer to him that his +name should stare him in the face in this obtrusive way? Tozer, the old +butterman! a mean and ignorant person, as far beneath Mr. May's level as +it is possible to imagine, whose handwriting it was very strange to see +on anything but a bill. He fixed his eyes upon it mechanically; he had +come, as it were, to the end of all things in those feverish musings; he +had searched through his whole known world for help, and found there +nothing and nobody to help him. Those whom he had once relied on were +exhausted long ago; his friends had all dropped off from him, as far, at +least, as money was concerned. Some of them might put out a hand to keep +him and his children from starvation even now, but to pay Cotsdean's +bill, never. There was no help anywhere, nor any hope. Natural ways and +means were all exhausted, and though he was a clergyman, he had no such +faith in the supernatural as to hope much for the succour of Heaven. +Heaven! what could Heaven do for him? Bank-notes did not drop down out +of the skies. There had been a time when he had felt full faith in +"Providence;" but he seemed to have nothing to expect now from that +quarter more than from any other. Samuel Tozer! why did that name always +come uppermost, staring into his very eyes? It was a curious signature, +the handwriting very rude and unrefined, with odd, illiterate dashes, +and yet with a kind of rough character in it, easy to identify, not +difficult to copy-- + +What was it that brought beads of moisture all at once to Mr. May's +forehead? He started up suddenly, pushing his chair with a hoarse +exclamation, and walked up and down the room quickly, as if trying to +escape from something. His heart jumped up in his breast, like a thing +possessed of separate life, and thumped against his side, and beat with +loud pulsations in his ears. When he caught sight of himself in the +mirror over the mantelpiece, he started as if he had seen a ghost. Some +one else seemed to see him; seemed to pounce upon and seize him out of +that glass. He retreated from the reach of it, almost staggering; then +he returned to his table. What thought was it that had struck him so +wildly, like a sudden squall upon a boat? He sat down, and covered his +face with his hands; then putting out one finger, stealthily drew the +paper towards him, and studied it closely from under the shadow of the +unmoved hand, which half-supported, half-covered his face. Well! after +all, what would be the harm? A gain of three months' time, during which +every sort of arrangement could be made so nicely; supplies got +anywhere, everywhere; the whole machinery of being set easily in motion +again, and no harm done to any one: this was the real force of the +idea--no harm done to any one! Long before the three months were out, +that hundred pounds--a paltry business, a nothing, when a man had time +before him--could be got, one might make sure; and where was the harm? +_He_ would never know it. Poor Cotsdean need never have the slightest +burden upon his conscience. Here, in the stillness of his own room, it +could all be done as easily as possible, without a soul being taken into +confidence, except that bloodless wretch in the glass with his staring +face, Mr. May said to himself, only dimly sensible that this wretch was +himself. No, it would harm no one, that was clear; it never need be +known to any one. It was a mere act of borrowing, and borrowing was +never accounted a crime; borrowing not money even, only a name, and for +so short a time. No harm; it could do no one in the world any harm. + +While these reasonings went on in his mind, his heart dropped down again +into its right place; his pulse ceased to beat like the pistons of a +steam-engine; he came gradually to himself. After all, what was it? Not +such a great matter; a loan of something which would neither enrich him +who took, nor impoverish him who, without being aware of it, should +give--a nothing! Why people should entertain the prejudices they did on +the subject, it was difficult to see, though, perhaps, he allowed +candidly to himself, it might be dangerous for any ignorant man to +follow the same strain of thinking; but in the hands of a man who was +not ignorant, who knew, as he himself did, exactly how far to go, and +what might be _innocently_ done; _innocently_ done--in his own mind he +put a great stress on this--why, what was it? A thing which might be of +use in an emergency, and which was absolutely no harm. + +Mr. May was late in leaving his room that night. It was understood in +the family that he "was writing," and all was kept very quiet in the +house; yet not sufficiently quiet, for Janey, when she brought in the +coffee, placing it on the table close to the door, was startled by the +fierceness of the exclamation with which her father greeted her +entrance. + +"What do you want prying here?" he said, dropping his hand over the +writing. + +"Prying himself!" said Janey, furiously, when she was up again in the +cheerful light of the drawing-room; "a great deal there is to pry into +in that dreadful old study." + +"Hush! he never likes to be disturbed in his writing," said Ursula, +soothingly. + +And he sat at his "writing" to a much later hour than usual, and he +stumbled upstairs to his bed-room in the dead of the night, with the +same scared pale face which he had seen in the glass. Such a look as +that when it once comes upon a man's face takes a long time to glide +away; but his heart beat more tranquilly, and the blood flowed even in +his veins. After all, where was the harm? + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +TIDED OVER. + + +Next morning, Cotsdean was mournfully turning over his ledger in the +High Street, wondering whether he should go back to Mr. May on another +forlorn expedition, or whether he should betray his overwhelming anxiety +to his wife, who knew nothing about the state of affairs. The shop was +what is called a corn-factor's shop, full of sacks of grain, with knots +of wheat-ears done up ornamentally in the window, a stock not very +valuable, but sufficient, and showing a good, if not a very important, +business. A young man behind, attended to what little business was going +on; for the master himself was too much pre-occupied to think of bushels +of seed. He was as uneasy as Mr. May had been on the previous night, and +in some respects even more unhappy; for he had no resource except a sort +of dumb faith in his principle, a feeling that he must be able to find +out some way of escape--chequered by clouds of despondency, sometimes +approaching despair. For Cotsdean, too, felt vaguely that things were +approaching a crisis--that a great many resources had been +exhausted--that the pitcher which had gone so often to the well must, at +last, be broken, and that it was as likely the catastrophe was coming +now as at any other time. He said to himself that never in his previous +experience had things seemed so blank as at present; never had the +moment of fate approached so nearly without any appearance of +deliverance. He had not even the round of possibilities before him which +were in Mr. May's mind, however hopeless, at this particular moment, he +might find them. + +Cotsdean, for his part, had nothing to think of but Mr. May. Would he +find some way out of it still, he who was always so clever, and must, in +his position, have always "good friends?" How the poor man wished that +he had never been led into this fatal course--that he had insisted, long +ago, on the settlement which must come some time, and which did not get +any easier by putting it off; but then, who was he to stand against his +clergyman? He did not feel able now to make any stand against him. If he +had to be ruined--he must be ruined: what could he do? The man who had +brought him to this, held him in such subjection that he could not +denounce or accuse him even now. He was so much better, higher, abler, +stronger than himself, that Cotsdean's harshest sentiment was a dumb +feeling of injury; a feeling much more likely to lead him to miserable +tears than to resistance. His clergyman--how was he to stand against his +clergyman? This was the burden of his thoughts. And still, perhaps, +there might be salvation and safety in the resources, the power, and +cleverness, and superior strength of the man for whom, in his humility, +he had risked everything. Poor Cotsdean's eyes were red with +sleeplessness and thinking, and the constant rubbings he administered +with the sleeve of his rough coat. He hung helpless, in suspense, +waiting to see what his chief would say to him; if he would send for +him--if he would come. And in the intervals of these anxious thoughts, +he asked himself should he tell poor Sally--should he prepare her for +her fate? She and her children might be turned out of house and home, +very probably would be, he said to himself, leaping to the extreme +point, as men in his condition are apt to do. They might take everything +from him; they might bring all his creditors on him in a heap; they +might sell him up; his shop by which he made his daily bread, and +everything he had, and turn his children out into the streets. Once more +he rubbed his sleeve over his eyes, which were smarting with +sleeplessness and easily-coming tears. He turned over the pages of the +ledger mechanically. There was no help in it--no large debts owing to +him that could be called in; no means of getting any money; and nothing +could he do but contemplate the miseries that might be coming, and wait, +wait, wondering dully whether Mr. May was doing anything to avert this +ruin, and whether, at any moment, he might walk in, bringing safety in +the very look of his bold eyes. Cotsdean was not bold; he was small and +weakly, and nervous, and trembled at a sharp voice. He was not a man +adapted for vigorous struggling with the world. Mr. May could do it, in +whose hands was the final issue. He was a man who was afraid of no one; +and whose powers nobody could deny. Surely now, even at the last moment, +he would find help somehow. It seemed profane to entertain a doubt that +he would be able to do it even at the very last. + +But Cotsdean had a miserable morning; he could do nothing. Minute by +minute, hour by hour, he waited to be called to the Parsonage; now and +then he went out to the door of his shop and looked out wistfully down +the street where it ended in the distance of Grange Lane. Was that the +maid from the Parsonage coming up across the road? Were these the young +ladies, who, though they knew nothing about the matter at issue, very +frequently brought a note, or message, from their father to Cotsdean? +But he was deceived in these guesses as well as in so many others. All +the world seemed out of doors that morning, but nobody came. The ruddy +sunshine shone full down the street, glorifying it with rays of warm +gold, and tinting the mists and clouds which lurked in the corners. It +had been heavy and overcast in the morning, but at noon the clouds had +cleared away, and that big red globe of fire had risen majestically out +of the mists, and everybody was out. But no one, except humble people in +the ordinary way of business, came to Cotsdean. Bushels of grain for +chickens, pennyworths of canary seed--oh! did any one think he could pay +a hundred pounds out of these?--a hundred pounds, the spending of which +had not been his, poor man; which was indeed spent long ago, and +represented luxuries past and over, luxuries which were not Cotsdean's. +Strange that a mere lump of money should live like this, long after it +was, to all intents and purposes, dead, and spent and gone! + +Then came the hour of dinner, when his Sally called him to the room +behind the shop, from which an odour of bacon and fine big beans--beans +which were represented in his shop in many a sackful. He went in +unwillingly in obedience to her command, but feeling unable to eat, soon +left the table, sending the young man to fill his place, with whose +appetite no obstacle of care or thought interfered. Poor Cotsdean felt +that the smell of the dinner made him sick--though he would have liked +to eat had he been able--the smell of the bacon which he loved, and the +sight of the small children whom he loved still better, and poor Sally, +his wife, still red in the face from dishing it up. Sally was anxious +about her husband's want of appetite. + +"What ails you, John?" she said, pathetically; "it wasn't as if you were +out last night, nor nothing o' that sort. A man as is sober like you +don't ought to turn at his dinner." + +She was half sorry, and half aggrieved, poor woman, feeling as if some +blame of her cookery must be involved. + +"It's the bile," said poor Cotsdean, with that simplicity of statement +which is common in his class. "Don't you take on, Sally, I'll be a deal +better by supper-time----or worse," he added to himself. Yes, he would +make an effort to eat at supper-time; perhaps it might be the last meal +he should eat in his own comfortable home. + +He had been out at the shop door, gazing despairingly down the road; he +had come in and sold some birdseed, wondering--oh, what good would that +penny do him?--he who wanted a hundred pounds? and was standing +listening with a sad heart to the sound of the knives and forks and +chatter of the children, when suddenly all at once Mr. May walked into +the shop, changing dismay into hope. What a thing it was to be a +gentleman and a clergyman. Cotsdean could not but think! The very sight +of Mr. May inspired him with courage; even though probably he had no +money in his pocket, it was a supporting thing only to see him, and hear +the sound of his free unrestrained step. He came in with a friendly nod +to his humble helper; then he glanced round the shop, to see that no one +was present, and then he said, "All right, Cotsdean," in a voice that +was as music to the little corn-factor's ears. His heart, which had been +beating so low, jumped up in his bosom; his appetite came back with a +leap; he asked himself would the bacon be cold? and cried, "God be +praised, sir," in a breath. + +Mr. May winced slightly; but why should it be wrong to be grateful to +God in any circumstances? he asked himself, having become already +somewhat composed in his ideas on this particular point. + +"Are we quite alone?" he said. "Nobody within hearing? I have not +brought you the money, but a piece of paper that is as good as the +money. Take it: you will have no difficulty in discounting this; the man +is as well known as the Carlingford Bank, and as safe, though I dare say +you will be surprised at the name." + +Cotsdean opened out the new bill with trembling hands. "Tozer!" he said +faintly, between relief and dismay. + +"Yes. You must know that I am taking a pupil--one who belongs to a very +rich Dissenting family in London. Tozer knows something about him, from +his connection with the body, and through this young man I have got to +know something of _him_. He does it upon the admirable security of the +fees I am to receive with this youth; so you see, after all, there is no +mystery about it. Better not wait for to-morrow, Cotsdean. Go at once, +and get it settled. You see," said Mr. May, ingratiatingly, "it is a +little larger than the other--one hundred and fifty, indeed--but that +does not matter with such an excellent name." + +"Tozer!" said Cotsdean, once more bewildered. He handled the piece of +paper nervously, and turned it upside down, and round about, with a +sense that it might melt in his hold. He did not like the additional +fifty added. Why should another fifty be added? but so it was, and there +seemed nothing for him but to take the immediate relief and be thankful. + +"I'd rather, sir, as Tozer hadn't known nothing about it; and why should +he back a bill for me as ain't one of my friends, nor don't know nothing +about me? and fifty more added on," said Cotsdean. It was the nearest he +had gone to standing up against his clergyman; he did not like it. To be +Mr. May's sole stand-by and agent, even at periodical risk of ruin, was +possible to him; but a pang of jealousy, alarm, and pain came into his +mind when he saw the new name. This even obliterated the immediate sense +of relief that was in his mind. + +"Come three months it'll have to be paid," said Cotsdean, "and Tozer +ain't a man to stand it if he's left to pay; he'd sell us up, Mr. May. +He ain't one of the patient ones, like--some other folks; and there's +fifty pounds put on. I don't see my way to it. I'd rather it was just +the clear hundred, if it was the same to you." + +"It is not the same to me," said Mr. May, calmly. "Come, there is no +cause to make any fuss. There it is, and if you don't like to make use +of it, you must find some better way. Bring the fifty pounds, less the +expenses, to me to-night. It is a good bit of paper, and it delivers us +out of a mess which I hope we shall not fall into again." + +"So you said before, sir," said the corn-factor sullenly. + +"Cotsdean, you forget yourself; but I can make allowance for your +anxiety. Take it, and get it settled before the bank closes; pay in the +money to meet the other bill, and bring me the balance. You will find no +difficulty with Tozer's name; and what so likely as that one respectable +tradesman should help another? By the way, the affair is a private one +between us, and it is unnecessary to say anything to him about it; the +arrangement, you understand, is between him and me." + +"Beg your pardon, sir," said Cotsdean, with a deprecatory movement of +his hand to his forehead; "but it is me as will be come upon first if +anything happens, and that fifty pounds--" + +"Have you ever found me to fail you, Cotsdean? If you knew the anxiety I +have gone through, that you might be kept from harm, the sleepless +nights, the schemes, the exertions! You may suppose it was no ordinary +effort to ask a man like Tozer." + +Cotsdean was moved by the touching tone in which his partner in trouble +spoke; but terror gave him a certain power. He grumbled still, not +altogether vanquished. + +"I don't say nothing against that, sir," he said, not meeting Mr. May's +eye; "but when it comes to be paid, sir, I'm the first in it, and where +is that other fifty to come from? That's what I'm a thinking for--for +I'm the first as they'd haul up after all." + +"You!" said Mr. May, "what could they get from you? You are not worth +powder and shot. Don't be ridiculous, my good fellow. I never avoid my +responsibilities, as you know. I am as good, I hope, for that fifty as +for all that went before. Have you ever known me leave you or any one in +the lurch?" + +"No, sir, I can't say as--I don't suppose I have. I've always put my +trust in you like in Providence itself," he cried, hastily, holding his +breath. + +"Then do as I tell you," said Mr. May, waving his hand with careless +superiority; and though his heart was aching with a hundred anxious +fears, he left the shop with just that mixture of partial offence and +indifference which overawed completely his humble retainer. Cotsdean +trembled at his own guilty folly and temerity. He did not dare to call +his patron back again, to ask his pardon. He did not venture to go back +to the table and snatch a bit of cold bacon. He was afraid he had +offended his clergyman, what matter that he was hungry for his dinner? +He called the young man from the bacon, which was now cold and all but +eaten up, and snatched at his hat and went out to the bank. It was all +he could do. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +A VISIT. + + + + "DEAR MAY, + + "Young Copperhead, the young fellow whom you have + undertaken to coach, is coming to the Hall for a few days + before he enters upon his studies, and Anne wishes me to + ask you to come over on Tuesday to dine and sleep, and to + make acquaintance with him. You can carry him back with you + if it suits you. In my private opinion, he is a cub of the + most disagreeable kind; but the girls like his mother, who + is a kind of cousin, as you know. It is not only because he + has failed to take his degree (you know how I hate the + hideous slang in which this fact is generally stated), but + that his father, who is one of the rich persons who abound + in the lower circles of society, is ambitious, and would + like to see him in Parliament, and that sort of thing--a + position which cannot be held creditably without some sort + of education: at least, so I am myself disposed to think. + Therefore, your pleasing duty will be to get him up in a + little history and geography, so that he may not get quite + hopelessly wrong in any of the modern modifications of + territory, for instance; and in so much Horace as may + furnish him with a few stock quotations, in case he should + be called upon, in the absence of any more hopeful + neophyte, to move the Address. He is a great hulking + fellow, not very brilliant, you may suppose, but not so + badly mannered as he might be, considering his parentage. I + don't think he'll give you much trouble in the house; but + he will most probably bore you to death, and in that case + your family ought to have a claim, I should think, for + compensation. Anyhow, come and see him, and us, before you + begin your hard task. + + "Very truly yours, + "R. DORSET." + + "Anne makes me open my letter to say that Ursula must come + too. We will send a carriage to meet you at the station." + +This letter caused considerable excitement in the Parsonage. It was the +first invitation to dinner which Ursula had ever received. The +dinner-parties in Carlingford were little frequented by young ladies. +The male population was not large enough to afford a balance for the +young women of the place, who came together in the evening, and took all +the trouble of putting on their pretty white frocks, only to sit in rows +in the drawing-room, waiting till the old gentlemen came in from the +dining-room, after which everybody went away. There were no young +gentlemen to speak of in Carlingford, so that when any one was bold +enough to attempt a dancing-party, or anything of an equally amusing +description, friends were sent out in all directions, as the beaters are +sent into the woods to bring together the unfortunate birds for a +_battue_, to find men. These circumstances will explain the flutter in +Ursula's innocent bosom when her father read her that postscript. Mr. +May was singularly amiable that day, a thing which happened at +periodical intervals, usually after he had been specially "cross." On +this occasion there was no black mark against him in the family +reckoning, and yet he was more kind than any one had ever known him. +Instead of making any objections, he decided at once that Ursula must +go, and told her to put on her prettiest frock, and make herself look +very nice. + +"You must let Anne Dorset see that you care to please her," he said. +"Anne is a very good woman, and her approval is worth having." + +"Oh, papa!" cried Janey, "when you are always calling her an old maid!" + +"L'un n'empeche pas l'autre," he said, which puzzled Janey, whose French +was very deficient. Even Ursula, supposed to be the best French scholar +in the family, was not quite sure what it meant; but it was evidently +something in favour of Cousin Anne, which was sweet to the grateful +girl. + +Janey, though suffering bitterly under the miserable consciousness of +being only fourteen, and not asked anywhere, helped with disinterested +zeal to get her sister ready, and consoled herself by orders for +unlimited muffins and cake for tea. + +"There will only be the children," she said, resignedly, and felt +herself _incomprise_; but indeed, the attractions of a good romp +afterwards, no one being in the house to restrain the spirits of the +youthful party, made even Janey amends. + +As for Reginald, who was not asked, he was, it must be allowed, rather +sulky too, and he could not solace himself either with muffins or romps. +His rooms at the College were very pleasant rooms, but he was used to +home; and though the home at the Parsonage was but faded, and not in +such perfect order as it might have been, the young man felt even his +wainscoted study dull without the familiar voices, the laughter and +foolish family jokes, and even the little quarrels which kept life +always astir. He walked with Ursula to the station, whither her little +box with her evening dress had gone before her, in a half-affronted +state of mind. + +"What does he want with a pupil?" Reginald was saying, as he had said +before. "A fellow no one knows, coming and taking possession of the +house as if it belonged to him. There is plenty to do in the parish +without pupils, and if I were not on the spot he would get into trouble, +I can tell you. A man that has been ploughed, 'a big hulking fellow' +(Sir Robert says so, not I). Mind, I'll have no flirting, Ursula; that +is what always happens with a pupil in the house." + +"Reginald, how dare you--" + +"Oh, yes, I dare; my courage is quite equal to facing you, even if you +do shoot thunderbolts out of your eyes. Mind you, I won't have it. There +is a set of fellows who try it regularly, and if you were above them, +would go in for Janey; and it would be great fun and great promotion for +Janey; she would feel herself a woman directly; so you must mind her as +well as yourself. I don't like it at all," Reginald went on. "Probably +he will complain of the dinners you give him, as if he were in an inn. +Confound him! What my father means by it, I can't tell." + +"Reginald, you ought not to swear," said Ursula. "It is dreadfully +wicked in a clergyman. Poor papa meant making a little more money. What +else could he mean? And I think it is very good of him, for it will +bother him most. Mr. Copperhead is very nice, Reginald. I saw him in +London, you know. I thought he was very----". + +"Ah! oh!" said Reginald, "I forgot that. You met him in London? To be +sure, and it was there you met Miss Beecham. I begin to see. Is he +coming here after her, I should like to know? She doesn't look the sort +of girl to encourage that sort of thing." + +"The sort of girl to encourage that sort of thing! How strangely you +talk when you get excited: isn't that rather vulgar? I don't know if he +is coming after Miss Beecham or not," said Ursula, who thought the +suggestion uncalled for, "but in a very short time you can judge for +yourself." + +"Ah--indignation!" said the big brother, who like most big brothers +laughed at Ursula's exhibition of offended dignity; "and, by the way, +Miss Beecham--you have not seen her since that night when she was sent +for. Will not she think it strange that you never sent to inquire?" + +"I sent Betsey--" + +"But if Miss Beecham had been somebody else, you would have gone +yourself," he said, being in a humour for finding fault. "If poor old +Mrs. Tozer had been what you call a lady--" + +"I thought you were much more strong than I am against the Dissenters?" +said Ursula, "ever since that man's speech; and, indeed, always, as long +as I can recollect." + +"She is not a mere Dissenter," said Reginald. "I think I shall call as I +go home. She is the cleverest girl I ever met; not like one of you +bread-and-butter girls, though she is not much older than you. A man +finds a girl like that worth talking to," said the young clergyman, +holding himself erect. Certainly Reginald had not improved; he had grown +ever so much more self-important since he got a living of his own. + +"And if I was to say, 'Mind, I won't have it, Reginald?'" cried Ursula, +half-laughing, half-angry. "I think that is a great deal worse than a +pupil. But Miss Beecham is very dignified, and you may be sure she will +not think much of a call from you. Heaven be praised! that is one thing +you can't get into your hands; we girls are always good for something +there. Men may think themselves as grand as they please," said Ursula, +"but their visits are of no consequence; it is ladies of the family who +must _call_!" After this little out-break, she came down at once to her +usual calm. "I will ask Cousin Anne what I ought to do; I don't think +Miss Beecham wanted me to go then--" + +"I shall go," said Reginald, and he left Ursula in her father's keeping, +who met them at the station, and went off at once, with a pleasant sense +of having piqued her curiosity, to Grange Lane. + +It was still early, for the trains which stopped at the little country +station next to the Hall were very few and inconvenient, and the sun, +though setting, was still shining red from over St. Roque's upon Grange +Lane. The old red walls grew redder still in the frosty night, and the +sky began to bloom into great blazing patches of colour upon the wintry +clearness of the blue. There was going to be a beautiful sunset, and +such a thing was always to be seen from Grange Lane better than anywhere +else in Carlingford. Reginald went down the road slowly, looking at it, +and already almost forgetting his idea of calling on Miss Beecham. To +call on Miss Beecham would be to call on old Tozer, the butterman, to +whom alone the visit would be naturally paid; and this made him laugh +within himself. So he would have passed, no doubt, without the least +attempt at intruding on the privacy of the Tozers, had not the +garden-door opened before he got so far, and Phoebe herself came out, +with her hands in her muff, to take a little walk up and down as she did +daily. She did not take her hand out of its warm enclosure to give it to +him; but nodded with friendly ease in return to his salutation. + +"I have come out to see the sunset," said Phoebe; "I like a little air +before the day is over, and grandmamma, when she is poorly, likes her +room to be very warm." + +"I hope Mrs. Tozer is better. I hope you have not been anxious." + +"Oh, no! it is chronic; there is no danger. But she requires a great +deal of attendance; and I like to come out when I can. Oh, how fine it +is! what colour! I think, Mr. May, you must have a _specialite_ for +sunsets at Carlingford. I never saw them so beautiful anywhere else." + +"I am glad there is something you like in Carlingford." + +"Something! there is a very great deal; and that I don't like too," she +said with a smile. "I don't care for the people I am living among, +which is dreadful. I don't suppose you have ever had such an experience, +though you must know a great deal more in other ways than I. All the +people that come to inquire about grandmamma are very kind; they are as +good as possible; I respect them, and all that, but----Well, it must be +my own fault, or education. It is education, no doubt, that gives us +those absurd ideas." + +"Don't call them absurd," said Reginald, "indeed I can enter into them +perfectly well. I don't _know_ them, perhaps, in my own person; but I +can perfectly understand the repugnance, the distress--" + +"The words are too strong," said Phoebe, "not so much as that; +the--annoyance, perhaps, the nasty disagreeable struggle with one's self +and one's pride; as if one were better than other people. I dislike +myself, and despise myself for it; but I can't help it. We have so +little power over ourselves." + +"I hope you will let my sister do what she can to deliver you," said +Reginald; "Ursula is not like you; but she is a good little thing, and +she is able to appreciate you. I was to tell you she had been called +suddenly off to the Dorsets', with whom my father and she have gone to +pass the night--to meet, I believe, a person you know." + +"Oh, Clarence Copperhead; he is come then? How odd it will be to see him +here. His mother is nice, but his father is----Oh, Mr. May! if you only +knew the things people have to put up with. When I think of Mr. +Copperhead, and his great, ugly, staring wealth, I feel disposed to hate +money--especially among Dissenters. It would be better if we were all +poor." + +Reginald said nothing; he thought so too. In that case there would be a +few disagreeable things out of a poor clergyman's way, and assaults like +that of Northcote upon himself would be impossible; but he could +scarcely utter these virtuous sentiments. + +"Poverty is the desire of ascetics, and this is not an ascetic age," he +said at length, with a half-laugh at himself for his stiff speech. + +"You may say it is not an ascetic age; but yet I suppose the +Ritualists----. Perhaps you are a Ritualist yourself, Mr. May? I know as +little personally about the church here, as you do about Salem Chapel. I +like the service--so does papa--and I like above all things the +independent standing of a clergyman; the feeling he must have that he is +free to do his duty. That is why I like the church; for other things of +course I like our own body best." + +"I don't suppose such things can be argued about, Miss Beecham. I wish +I knew something of my father's new pupil. I don't like having a +stranger in the house; my father is fond of having his own way." + +"It is astonishing how often parents are so," said Phoebe, demurely; "and +the way they talk of their experience! as if each new generation did not +know more than the one that preceded it." + +"You are pleased to laugh, but I am quite in earnest. A pupil is a +nuisance. For instance, no man who has a family should ever take one. I +know what things are said." + +"You mean about the daughters? That is true enough, there are always +difficulties in the way; but you need not be afraid of Clarence +Copperhead. He is not the fascinating pupil of a church-novel. There's +nothing the least like the Heir of Redclyffe about him." + +"You are very well up in Miss Yonge's novels, Miss Beecham." + +"Yes," said Phoebe; "one reads Scott for Scotland (and a few other +things), and one reads Miss Yonge for the church. Mr. Trollope is good +for that too, but not so good. All that I know of clergymen's families I +have got from her. I can recognize you quite well, and your sister, but +the younger ones puzzle me; they are not in Miss Yonge; they are too +much like other children, too naughty. I don't mean anything +disagreeable. The babies in Miss Yonge are often very naughty too, but +not the same. As for you, Mr. May----" + +"Yes. As for me?" + +"Oh, I know everything about you. You are a fine scholar, but you don't +like the drudgery of teaching. You have a fine mind, but it interferes +with you continually. You have had a few doubts--just enough to give a +piquancy; and now you have a great ideal, and mean to do many things +that common clergymen don't think of. That was why you hesitated about +the chaplaincy? See how much I have got out of Miss Yonge. I know you as +well as if I had known you all my life; a great deal better than I know +Clarence Copperhead; but then, no person of genius has taken any trouble +about him." + +"I did not know I had been a hero of fiction," said Reginald, who had a +great mind to be angry. All this time they were walking briskly backward +and forward before Tozer's open door, the Anglican, in his long black +coat, following the lively movements of Tozer's granddaughter, only +because he could not help himself. He was irritated, yet he was pleased. +A young man is pleased to be thought of, even when the notice is but +barely complimentary. Phoebe must have thought of him a good deal before +she found him out in this way; but he was irritated all the same. + +"You are, however," she answered lightly. "Look at that blaze of +crimson, Mr. May; and the blue which is so clear and so unfathomable. +Winter is grander than summer, and even warmer--to look at; with its +orange, and purple, and gold. What poor little dirty, dingy things we +are down here, to have all this exhibited every evening for our +delight!" + +"That is true," he said; and as he gazed, something woke in the young +man's heart--a little thrill of fancy, if not of love. It is hard to +look at a beautiful sunset, and then see it reflected in a girl's face, +and not to feel something--which may be nothing, perhaps. His heart gave +a small jump, not much to speak of. Phoebe did not talk like the other +young ladies in Grange Lane. + +"Mr. May, Mr. May!" she cried suddenly, "please go away! I foresee a +disastrous encounter which alarms me. You can't fight, but there is no +saying what you might do to each other. Please go away!" + +"What is the matter?" he said. "I don't understand any encounter being +disastrous here. Why should I go away?" + +She laughed, but there was a certain fright in her tone. "Please!" she +said, "I see Mr. Northcote coming this way. He will stop to speak to me. +It is the gentleman who attacked you in the Meeting. Mr. May," she added +entreatingly, between laughter and fright, "do go, please." + +"I shall do nothing of the kind," said Reginald, roused; "I am not +afraid. Let him come on. This wall shall fly from its firm base as soon +as I." + +Phoebe clasped her hands in dismay, which was partially real. "The +typical churchman," she said, with a glance at Reginald's figure, which +was not displeasing to him, "and the typical Dissenter! and what am I to +do between them? Oh, I wish you would go away." + +"Not an inch," said the young champion. Phoebe was frightened, but she +was delighted. "I shall introduce him to you," she said threatening. + +"I don't mind," he replied; "nothing on earth should induce me to fly." + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +TEA. + + +Now here was a business! The typical Anglican and the typical Dissenter, +as Phoebe said, with only that clever young woman to keep them from +flying at each other's throats; the one obstinately holding his place by +her side (and Phoebe began to have a slight consciousness that, being +without any chaperon, she ought not to have kept Reginald May at her +side; but in the Tozer world, who knew anything of chaperons?), the +other advancing steadily, coming up the Lane out of the glow of the +sunset, showing square against it in his frock-coat and high hat, formal +and demagogical, not like his rival. The situation pleased Phoebe, who +liked to "manage;" but it slightly frightened her as well, though the +open door behind, and the long garden with its clouds of crocuses, was a +city of refuge always within reach. + +"Is it really you, Mr. Northcote?" she said. "You look as if you had +dropped out of that lovely sunset I have been watching so long--and I +thought you were at the other end of the world." + +"I have been at the other end of England, which comes to the same +thing," said Northcote, in a voice which was harsh by nature, and +somewhat rough with cold; "and now they have sent me back to Salem +Chapel, to take Mr. Thorpe's place for three months. They asked for me, +I believe; but that you must know better than I do." + +It was not in the nature of man not to be a little proud in the +circumstances, and it is quite possible that he considered Phoebe to have +something to do with the flattering request. + +"No, I have not heard; but I am glad," said Phoebe; "and if it is not +wicked to say so, I am glad Mr. Thorpe is to be away. Let us hope it +will do him good. I am sure it will do the rest of us good, at all +events." + +Northcote made no answer; but he looked at the other, and several +questions began to tremble on his lips. That this was a Churchman did +not immediately occur to him; for, indeed, various young pastors of his +own body put on the livery which he himself abjured, and the sight of it +as a servile copy filled him with a certain contempt. + +"Mr. May has been stopped in his way by the beauty of the skies," said +Phoebe, rather enjoying the position as she got used to it. "Mr. +Northcote--Mr. May. It is not easy to pass such an exhibition as that, +is it?--and given to us all for love, and nothing for reward," she +added; for she was a well read young woman, and did not hesitate to +suffer this to appear. + +And then there was a momentary pause. Northcote was confused, it must be +allowed, by thus coming face to face, without previous warning, with the +man whom he had so violently assailed. Reginald had the best of it in +every way, for he was the man injured, and had it in his power to be +magnanimous; and he had the advantage of full warning, and had prepared +himself. Besides, was not he the superior by every social rule? And that +consciousness is always sweet. + +"If Mr. Northcote is new to Carlingford, he will probably not know what +a fine point of view we have here. That, like so many other things," +said Reginald, pointedly, "wants a little personal experience to find it +out." + +"For that matter, to see it once is as good as seeing it a hundred +times," said Northcote, somewhat sharply; for to give in was the very +last thing he thought of. A little glow of anger came over him. He +thought Phoebe had prepared this ordeal for him, and he was vexed, not +only because she had done it, but because his sense of discomfiture +might afford a kind of triumph to that party in the connection which was +disposed, as he expressed it, to "toady the Church." + +"Pardon me, I don't think you can judge of anything at a first view." + +"And, pardon me, I think you see everything most sharply and clearly at +a first view," said the Nonconformist, who was the loudest; "certainly +in all matters of principle. After a while, you are persuaded against +your will to modify this opinion and that, to pare off a little here, +and tolerate a little there. Your first view is the most correct." + +"Well," said Phoebe, throwing herself into the breach, "I am glad you +don't agree, for the argument is interesting. Will you come in and fight +it out? You shall have some tea, which will be pleasant, for it shall be +hot. I really cannot stay out any longer; it is freezing here." + +The new-comer prepared to follow; but Reginald hesitated. Pride +whispered that to go into the house of Tozer, the butterman, was +something monstrous; but then it might be amusing. This "Dissenting +fellow," no doubt, was a drawback; but a kind of angry antagonism and +disdain half-attracted him even to the Dissenting fellow. It might be +well, on the whole, to see what kind of being such a person was. All +curious phenomena are attractive to a student. "The proper study of +mankind is man," Reginald said to himself. Before he had got through +this little argument with himself, Phoebe had gone in, and Northcote, +whose disgust at the interposition of an adversary had no such softening +of curiosity, followed her abruptly, without any of those graces which +are current in society. This rudeness offended the other, who was about +to walk on indignant, when Phoebe turned back, and looked out at him from +the open door. + +"Are not you coming, Mr. May?" she said softly, looking at him with the +least little shrug of her shoulders. + +Reginald yielded without further resistance. But he felt fully that to +see him, the chaplain of the old College, walking down through Tozer's +garden, between the two rows of closed-up crocuses which glimmered +ghostly by the side of the path, was one of the strangest sights in the +world. + +Phoebe, to tell the truth, was a little confused as to where to convey +her captive, out of whom she meant to get a little amusement for the +long winter afternoon. For a girl of her active mind, it may easily be +imagined that a succession of long days with Mrs. Tozer was somewhat +monotonous. She did her duty like a hero, and never complained; but +still, if a little amusement was possible, it was worth having. She +carried in her two young men as naughty boys carry stag-beetles, or +other such small deer. If they would fight it would be fun; and if they +would not fight, why, it might be fun still, and more amusing than +grandmamma. She hesitated between the chilly drawing-room, where a fire +was lighted, but where there was no evidence of human living, and the +cozy parlour, where Mrs. Tozer sat in her best cap, still wheezy, but +convalescent, waiting for her tea, and not indisposed to receive such +deputations of the community as might come to ask for her. Finally, +Phoebe opened the door of that sanctuary, which was dazzling with bright +fire-light after the gloom outside. It was a very comfortable interior, +arranged by Phoebe to suit her own ideas rather than those of grandmamma, +though grandmamma's comfort had been her chief object. The tea-things +were sparkling upon the table, the kettle singing by the fire, and Mrs. +Tozer half-dozing in the tranquillity and warmth. + +"Grandmamma, I have brought Mr. May and Mr. Northcote to see you," she +said. + +The poor old lady almost sprang from her chair in amazement. + +"Lord bless us, Phoebe, Mr. May!" + +"Don't disturb yourself, grandmamma; they will find seats. Yes, we were +all looking at the sunset, and as I knew tea must be ready--I know you +want it, dear granny--I asked them to have some. Here it is, as I told +you, quite hot, and very fragrant this cold night. How cold it is +outside! I think it will freeze, and that skating may come off at last, +Mr. May, that you were talking of, you remember? You were to teach your +sisters to skate." + +"Yes, with the advantage of your example." + +Reginald had put himself in a corner, as far away as possible from the +old woman in the chair. His voice, he felt, had caught a formal tone. As +for the other, his antagonist, he had assumed the front of the +battle--even, in Tozer's absence, he had ventured to assume the front of +the fire. He was not the sort of man Reginald had expected, almost hoped +to see--a fleshy man, loosely put together, according to the nature, so +far as he knew it, of Dissenters; but a firmly knit, clean-limbed young +man, with crisp hair curling about his head, and a gleam of energy and +spirit in his eye. The gentler Anglican felt by no means sure of a +speedy victory, even of an intellectual kind. The young man before him +did not look a slight antagonist. They glared at each other, measuring +their strength; they did not know, indeed, that they had been brought in +here to this warmth and light, like the stag-beetles, to make a little +amusement for Phoebe; but they were quite ready to fight all the same. + +"Mr. Northcote, sir, I'm glad to see you. Now this is friendly; this is +what I calls as it should be, when a young pastor comes in and makes +free, without waiting for an invitation," said Tozer kindly, bustling +in; "that speech of yours, sir, was a rouser; that 'it 'em off, that +did, and you can see as the connection ain't ungrateful. What's that you +say, Phoebe? what? I'm a little hard of hearing. Mr.--May!" + +"Mr. May was good enough to come in with me, grandpapa. We met at the +door. We have mutual friends, and you know how kind Miss May has been," +said Phoebe, trembling with sudden fright, while Reginald, pale with rage +and embarrassment, stood up in his corner. Tozer was embarrassed too. He +cleared his throat and rubbed his hands, with a terrible inclination to +raise one of them to his forehead. It was all that he could do to get +over this class instinct. Young May, though he had been delighted to +hear him assailed in the Meeting, was a totally different visitor from +the clever young pastor whom he received with a certain consciousness of +patronage. Tozer did not know that the Northcotes were infinitely +richer, and quite as well-born and well-bred in their ways as the Mays, +and that his young Dissenting brother was a more costly production, as +well as a more wealthy man, than the young chaplain in his long coat; +but if he had known this it would have made no difference. His relation +to the one was semi-servile, to the other condescending and superior. In +Reginald May's presence, he was but a butterman who supplied the family; +but to Horace Northcote he was an influential member of society, with +power over a Minister's individual fate. + +"I assure you, sir, as I'm proud to see you in my house," he said, with +a duck of his head, and an ingratiating but uncomfortable smile. "Your +father, I hope, as he's well, sir, and all the family? We are a kind of +neighbours now; not as we'd think of taking anything upon us on account +of living in Grange Lane. But Phoebe here--Phoebe, junior, as we call's +her--she's a cut above us, and I'm proud to see any of her friends in my +'umble 'ouse. My good lady, sir," added Tozer, with another duck, +indicating with a wave of his hand his wife, who had already once risen, +wheezy, but knowing her manners, to make a kind of half-bow, +half-curtsey from her chair. + +"You are very kind," said Reginald, feeling himself blush furiously, and +not knowing what to say. The other young man stood with his back to the +fire, and a sneer, which he intended to look like a smile, on his face. + +And as for Phoebe, it must be allowed that, notwithstanding all her +resources, even she was exquisitely uncomfortable for a minute or two. +The young people all felt this, but to Tozer it seemed that he had +managed everything beautifully, and a sense of elation stole over him. +To be visited in this manner by the gentry, "making free," and "quite in +a friendly way," was an honour he had never looked for. He turned to +Northcote with great affability and friendliness. + +"Well," he said, "Mr. Northcote, sir, it can't be denied as this is a +strange meeting; you and Mr. May, as mightn't be, perhaps, just the best +of friends, to meet quite comfortable over a cup of tea. But ain't it +the very best thing that could happen? Men has their public opinions, +sir, as every one should speak up bold for, and stick to; that's my way +of thinking. But I wouldn't bring it no farther; not, as might be said, +into the domestic circle. I'm clean against that. You say your say in +public, whatever you may think on a subject, but you don't bear no +malice; it ain't a personal question; them's my sentiments. And I don't +know nothing more elevatin', nothing more consolin', than for two public +opponents, as you may say, to meet like this quite cozy and comfortable +over a cup o' tea." + +"It is a pleasure, I assure you, which I appreciate highly," said +Reginald, finding his voice. + +"And which fills me with delight and satisfaction," said Northcote. +Those stag-beetles which Phoebe, so to speak, had carried in in her +handkerchief, were only too ready to fight. + +"You had better have some tea first," she said breathless, "before you +talk so much of its good effects. Sit down, grandpapa, and have your +muffin while it is hot; I know that is what you like. Do you care about +china, Mr. May? but every one cares for china now-a-days. Look at that +cup, and fancy grandmamma having this old service in use without knowing +how valuable it is. Cream Wedgwood! You may fancy how I stared when I +saw it; and in everyday use! most people put it up on brackets, when +they are so lucky as to possess any. Tell Mr. May, grandmamma, how you +picked it up. Mr. Northcote, there is an article in this review that I +want you to look at. Papa sent it to me. It is too metaphysical for me, +but I know you are great in metaphysics--" + +"I am greater in china; may not I look at the Wedgwood first?" + +"Perhaps you will turn over the literature to me," said Reginald, +"reviews are more in my way than teacups, though I say it with +confusion. I know how much I am behind my age." + +"And I too," whispered Phoebe, behind the book which she had taken up. +"Don't tell any one. It is rare, I know; and everybody likes to have +something that is rare; but I don't really care for it the least in the +world. I have seen some bits of Italian _faience_ indeed--but English +pottery is not like Italian, any more than English skies." + +"You have the advantage of me, Miss Beecham, both as regards the pottery +and the skies." + +"Ah, if it is an advantage; bringing poetry down to prose is not always +an advantage, is it? Italy is such a dream--so long as one has never +been there." + +"Yes, it is a dream," said Reginald, with enthusiasm, "to everybody, I +think; but when one has little money and much work all one's +life--poverty stands in the way of all kinds of enjoyment." + +"Poverty is a nice friendly sort of thing; a ground we can all meet on," +said Phoebe. "But don't let us say that to grandpapa. How odd people are! +he knows you are not Croesus, but still he has a sort of feeling that you +are a young prince, and do him the greatest honour in coming to his +house; and yet, all the same, he thinks that money is the very grandest +thing in existence. See what prejudice is! He would not allow that he +had any class-reverence, and yet he can no more get rid of it--" + +"Miss Beecham, it is very difficult for me to say anything on such a +subject." + +"Very difficult, and you show your delicacy by not saying anything. But +you know, apart from this, which is not gratifying, I am rather proud of +grandpapa's way of looking at some things. About saying out your +opinions in public, and yet bearing no malice, for instance. Now, Mr. +Northcote is the very Antipodes to you; therefore you ought to know him +and find out what he means. It would be better for you both. That is +what I call enlarging the mind," said Phoebe with a smile; which was, to +tell the truth, a very pretty smile, and filled with a soft lustre the +blue eyes with which she looked at him. Whether it was this, or the +cogency of her argument, that moved the young Anglican, it would be hard +to say. + +"If you are to be the promoter of this new science, I don't object to +studying under you," he said with a great deal of meaning in his voice. + +Phoebe gave him another smile, though she shook her head; and then she +turned to the hero on the other side. + +"Is it genuine, Mr. Northcote? is it as fine as I thought? There now, I +told you, grandmamma! Have you been telling Mr. Northcote how you picked +it up? I am sure you will present him with a cup and saucer for his +collection in return for his praises." + +"Not for the world," said Northcote, with profound seriousness; "break a +set of cream Wedgwood! what do you take me for, Miss Beecham? I don't +mean to say that I would not give my ears to have it--all; but to break +the set--" + +"Oh, I beg your pardon! I was not prepared for such delicacy of +feeling--such conscientiousness--" + +"Ah!" said Northcote, with a long-drawn breath, "I don't think you can +understand the feelings of an enthusiast. A set of fine China is like a +poem--every individual bit is necessary to the perfection of the whole. +I allow that this is not the usual way of looking at it; but my pleasure +lies in seeing it entire, making the tea-table into a kind of lyric, +elevating the family life by the application of the principles of +abstract beauty to its homeliest details. Pardon, Miss Beecham, but Mrs. +Tozer is right, and you are wrong. The idea of carrying off a few lines +of a poem in one's pocket for one's collection--" + +"Now that's what I call speaking up," said Mrs. Tozer, the first time +she had opened her lips, "that's just what I like. Mr. Northcote has a +deal more sense than the like of you. He knows what's what. Old things +like this as might have been my granny's, they're good enough for every +day, they're very nice for common use; but they ain't no more fit to be +put away in cupboards and hoarded up like fine china, no more than I am. +Mr. Northcote should see our best--that's worth the looking at; and if +I'd known as the gentleman was coming--but you can't put an old head on +young shoulders. Phoebe's as good as gold, and the trouble she takes with +an old woman like me is wonderful; but she can't be expected to think of +everything, can she now, at her age?" + +The two young men laughed--it was the first point of approach between +them, and Phoebe restrained a smile, giving them a look from one to +another. She gave Reginald his cup of tea very graciously. + +"Mr. Northcote prefers the Wedgwood, and Mr. May doesn't mind, +grandmamma," she said sweetly. "So it is as well to have the best china +in the cupboard. Grandpapa, another muffin--it is quite hot; and I know +that is what you like best." + +"Well, I'll say that for Phoebe," said Tozer, with his mouth full, "that +whether she understands china or not I can't tell, but she knows what a +man likes, which is more to the purpose for a young woman. That's what +she does; and looks after folk's comforts as I never yet saw her match. +She's a girl in a thousand, is Phoebe, junior. There be them as is more +for dress," he added, fond and greasy, looking at her seated modestly in +that gown, which had filled with awe and admiration the experienced mind +of Mrs. Sam Hurst; "and plays the pianny, and that sort of style of +girl; but for one as minds the comforts of them about her----" Tozer +turned back to the table, and made a gulp of his last piece of muffin. +Eloquence could have no more striking climax; the proof of all his +enthusiasm, was it not there? + +"Don't you play, Miss Beecham?" said Reginald, half-amused, half-angry. + +"A little," said Phoebe, with a laugh. She had brought down a small +cottage piano out of the drawing-room, where nobody ever touched it, +into a dark corner out of reach of the lamp. It was the only +accomplishment upon which she prided herself. She got up from the table, +when she had poured out another cup of tea for her grandfather, and +without saying a word went to the little piano. It was not much of an +instrument, and Reginald May was very little of a _connoisseur_. +Northcote, who knew her gifts, gave himself up to listening, but the +Tozers looked on, shaking their heads, and it was only after some time +had passed, that Reginald began to understand that he was listening to +something which he had never heard before. Ursula's school-girl tunes +had never interested him very much; he did not know what this was which +seemed to creep into his heart by his ears. He got up by and by, and +stole towards the piano bewildered. + +"It'll soon be over, sir," said Tozer, encouragingly. "Don't you run +away, Mr. May. Them are queer tunes, I allow, but they don't last long, +and your company's an honour. As for the playing, it'll soon be over; +you needn't run away." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +THE HALL. + + +It is unnecessary to say that the dinner party in the Hall bore very +little resemblance to those simple amusements in No. 6, Grange Lane. +There were three or four people to meet Mr. May, who, as an orator and +literary man, had greater reputation even such a little way from home +than he had in his own town. He was a very good preacher, and those +articles of his were much admired as "thoughtful" papers, searching into +many mental depths, and fathoming the religious soul with wonderful +insight. Ladies especially admired them; the ladies who were +intellectual, and found pleasure in the feeling of being more advanced +than their neighbours. The Rector's wife of the parish in which the +Dorsets lived applied herself with great vigour to the art of drawing +him out. She asked him questions with that air of delightful submission +to an intellectual authority which some ladies love to assume, and which +it pleases many men to accept. His daughters were not at all reverential +of Mr. May, and it soothed him to get marks of devotion and literary +submission out of doors. Even Sophy Dorset had gone through the phase of +admiration for her cousin. This had been dissipated, it is true, long +ago; but yet she did not laugh, as she usually did, at the believers in +him. She listened to Mrs. Rector plying him with eager questions, asking +his advice on that point and the other, and smiled, but was charitable. +As for Cousin Anne, she was charitable by nature, and all the world got +the advantage of it. Little Ursula was one of her prime favourites--a +motherless girl, who was the eldest, and who had to work for the family, +was of all others the thing which moved her sympathies most. The little +Indian children had long ere this yielded to the charms of Aunt Anne. +They followed her wherever she went like little spaniels, hanging on by +her dress. She had to go up to the nursery to hear them say their +prayers before she dressed for dinner. + +"You see, this is a proof that with children one should never be +discouraged," she said; "for they did not take to me at first;" and she +turned her mild countenance, beaming with soft light, upon Ursula. To be +hampered by these babies clinging about her, to have them claiming +imperiously her attention and her time, however she might be engaged; to +give up to them the moments of leisure in which otherwise she might have +had a little quiet and repose, this was what Anne Dorset considered as +her recompense. + +"Oh, I wish I could be as good to Amy and Robin! But I feel as if I +should like to shake them often," cried Ursula, "even though I love them +with all my heart. Oh! Cousin Anne, I don't think there is any one like +you." + +"Yes, that is what she thinks her reward," said Sophy. "I should like +something better, if it was I. Don't copy her, Ursula. It is better to +have children of your own, and get other people to nurse them. Anne, you +see, likes it. I want you to marry, and get all the good things in this +life. Let us leave the self-denials to her; she likes them, you +perceive." + +"I don't know why you should always talk of marrying to me, Cousin +Sophy," said Ursula with gentle reproach. "I hope I am not a girl to +think of such things." + +"And why not? Is it not the first duty of woman, you little simpleton?" +said Sophy Dorset, with a laugh. + +But Ursula could not imagine that it was only in this general way that +her cousin spoke. She could not but feel that this big Clarence +Copperhead, with the diamond buttons, and that huge expanse of +shirt-front, had something to do with Sophy's talk. There was six feet +of him, which is a thing that goes a long way with a girl; and he was +not bad-looking. And why did he come to Carlingford, having nothing in +the world to do with the place? and coming to Carlingford, why was papa +sought out, of all people, to be his tutor? Certainly the circumstances +were such as invited conjecture, especially when added on to Sophy's +allusions. He took Ursula in to dinner, which fluttered her somewhat; +and though he was much intent upon the dinner itself, and studied the +_menu_ with a devotion which would have made her tremble for her +housekeeping, had she been sufficiently disengaged to notice it, he yet +found time to talk a little between the courses. + +"I did not expect, when I saw you in London, that we were to meet again +so soon, Miss May," was the perfectly innocent remark with which he +opened the conversation. + +Ursula would have said it herself had he not said it, and all she could +do was to answer, "No, indeed," with a smile. + +"And I am coming to your father to be coached," continued the young man. +"It is a funny coincidence, don't you think so? I am glad you came to +that ball, Miss May. It makes me feel that I know you. I don't like +starting off afresh, all at once, among people I don't know." + +"No," said Ursula; "I should not like it either. But there are other +people you know in Carlingford. There is the lady who was at the +ball--the young lady in black, I used to call her--Miss Beecham; you +must know her better than you know me." + +"Who? Phoebe? really!" he said, elevating his eyebrows. "Phoebe in +Carlingford! By Jove! how the governor will laugh! I should like to +know," with a conscious smile on his countenance, "what _she_ is doing +there." + +"Her grandmamma is ill, and she is nursing her," said Ursula simply, at +which young Copperhead laughed again. + +"Oh, that is how it is! Very good of her, don't you think? Shouldn't +suppose she would be amusing, the old granny, and Phoebe likes to be +amused. I must go to see her as soon as I can get there. You know, we +are Dissenters at home, Miss May. Good joke, isn't it? The governor will +not hear a word against them. As a matter of fact, nobody does go to +chapel in our rank of life; but the governor sometimes is as obstinate +as an old pig." + +"I suppose he likes it best," said Ursula, gently; and here a new course +came round, and for the moment Clarence had something else to do. He +resumed after the _entrees_, which were poor, as he made a mental note. + +"Is there anything to do at Carlingford, Miss May? I hope you skate. I +am not much in the hunting way; nor your father, I suppose? for, to be +sure, a hunting parson would never do. I am too heavy a weight for most +horses, and the good of galloping over the country all day, after a poor +brute of a fox!--but we must not say that before Sir Robert. I suppose +it is dull?" he said, somewhat pathetically, looking in her face. + +"We don't think it dull, Mr. Copperhead. It may be, perhaps, for a +gentleman." + +"That's it," said Clarence. "I don't know if it's because women have +more resources, or because they want less; but you always get on better +than we do, somehow; very lucky for you. You don't expect so much. I +believe that's what it is." + +"Then that shows we are the most sensible," said Ursula, roused, and a +little indignant. + +He paused, to make his choice between the inevitable turkey and the +inevitable beef. + +"I hope it's braised," he said, in a devout undertone. "You don't expect +so much, Miss May, that's what it is; you're always in the house. You +don't care for exercise. Bless you, if I didn't take exercise, I should +be fifteen stone before you could turn round. How much are you? about +eight, perhaps; not much more. That makes a deal of difference: you +don't require to keep yourself down." + +Ursula did not make any answer. She was prepared to look upon him very +favourably, and accept what he said as full of originality and force; +but the tone the conversation had taken was not entirely to her mind. +Phoebe could have managed it; but Ursula was not Phoebe. She was more +disposed to take offence at the young man's tone than to guide it into +better ways. + +"I hope your mother is well," she said at last, falteringly, after a +long pause. Ursula thought her companion would remark this pause, and +think her displeased. She might have saved herself the trouble, for it +was the braised turkey which kept Clarence quiet, not offence. + +"Oh, quite well, I thank you. Not so well as when I am at home; she +don't like parting with me," he said, "but, of course, I can't be always +at my mother's apron-strings. Women forget that." + +"She was very kind when I was in London." + +"Yes, that just pleases her; she is never so happy as when she is buying +things for somebody," he replied, betraying an acquaintance with the +exact manner of the kindness which somewhat disturbed poor Ursula: "that +is exactly her way. I dare say she'll come and see the Dorsets while I'm +here." + +Then there was again a pause, and Clarence turned to speak to some one +at his other side. + +"No, I don't hunt much," he said; "I have come into the country to be +coached. My father's a modern sort of man, and wants a fellow to be up +in history, and that sort of thing. Bore--yes; and I dare say +Carlingford is very dull. Oh, yes, I will go out with the hounds now and +then, if there is not a frost. I should rather like a frost for my +part." + +It was a hunting lady who had started this new conversation, into which +the stranger had drifted away, leaving Ursula stranded. She was slightly +piqued, it must be allowed, and when Sophy asked her after dinner how +she liked her companion, made a dignified reply. + +"I have no doubt he is very nice," she said; "I don't know much of +gentlemen. He talks of papa as if he were a school-master, and thinks +Carlingford will be dull." + +"So it is, Ursula. I have often heard you say so." + +"Yes, perhaps; but a stranger ought to be civil," said the girl, +offended; and she went and entrenched herself by the side of Cousin +Anne, where the new pupil could not come near her. Indeed he did not +seem very anxious to do so, as Ursula soon saw. She blushed very hotly +all by herself, under Cousin Anne's shadow: that she could have been so +absurd as ever to think--But his size, and the weight over which he had +lamented, and his abundant whiskers and large shirt front, made it quite +impossible for Ursula to think of him as a person to be educated. It +must be Miss Beecham, she said to herself. + +No thoughts of this kind crossed Mr. Clarence Copperhead's mind, as he +stretched his big limbs before the drawing-room fire after dinner, and +said "Brava!" when the ladies sang. He knew "Brava" was the right thing +to say. He liked to be at the Hall, which he had never visited before, +and to know that it was undeniable gentry which surrounded him, and +which at the piano was endeavouring to gain his approbation. He was so +much his father's son that he had a sense of pleasure and triumph in +being thus elevated; and he had a feeling, more or less, of contempt for +the clergyman, "only a parson," who was to be his coach. He felt the +power and the beauty of money almost as much as his father did. What was +there he could not buy with it? the services of the most learned pundit +in existence, for what was learning? or the prettiest woman going to be +his wife, if that was what he wanted. It may be supposed then that he +had very little attention indeed to bestow upon a girl like Ursula, who +was only the daughter of his coach--nobody at all in particular--and +that her foolish fancies on the subject might have been spared. He aired +himself on the hearth-rug with great satisfaction, giving now and then a +shake to one of his long limbs, and a furtive glance to see that all was +perfect in the _sit_ of the garment that clothed it. He had been +ploughed it is true, but that did not interfere much with his mental +satisfaction; for, after all, scholarship was a thing cultivated chiefly +by dons and prigs, and poor men; and no doubt this other poor man, the +parson, would be able to put all into his head that was necessary, just +as much as would pay, and no more--a process the mere thought of which +made Clarence yawn, yet which he had wound up his noble mind to submit +to. + +"Mind you, I don't say I am going to work," he had said to his mother; +"but if you think he can put it into me, he may try," and he repeated +much the same sentiment, with a difference, to Sophy Dorset, who by way +of civility, while the Rector's wife paid court to Mr. May, talked to +Clarence a little, from the corner of the ottoman close to the fire. + +"Work! well, I suppose so, after a sort. I don't mean to make myself ill +with midnight oil and that sort of thing," he said (he was not at all +clear in his mind as to how the midnight oil was applied), "but if Mr. +May can get it into me, I'll give him leave; for one thing, I suppose +there will be nothing else to do." + +"Not much in Carlingford; there are neither pictures, nor museums, nor +fine buildings, nor anything of the sort; and very little society; a few +tea-parties, and one ball in the season." + +Mr. Clarence Copperhead shrugged his large shoulders. + +"I shan't go to the tea-parties, that's certain," he said; "a fellow +must hunt a little, I suppose, as the place is so destitute. As for +pictures and museums, that don't trouble me. The worst of going abroad +is that you've always got to look at things of that sort. To have to do +it at home would be beyond a joke." + +"Have you seen the box of curious things John sent me with the +children?" said Sophy. "They are on the table at the end of the +room,--yataghans, and I don't know what other names they have, all sorts +of Indian weapons. I should think you would be interested in them." + +"Thanks, Cousin Sophy, I am very well where I am," he said. He looked at +her in such a way that she might have appropriated this remark as a +compliment, had she pleased; but Sophy laughed, and it is to be feared +did not feel the compliment, for she turned right round to somebody +else, and took no more notice of Clarence. He was so fully satisfied +with himself that he had not any strong sense of neglect, though he had +but little conversation with the company. He was quite satisfied to +exhibit himself and his shirt-front before the fire. + +Next day he accompanied the Mays back to Carlingford. Mr. May had +enjoyed his visit. His mind was free for the moment; he had staved off +the evil day, and he had a little money in his pocket, the remains of +that extra fifty pounds which he had put on to Tozer's bill. With some +of it he had paid some urgent debts, and he had presented five pounds to +Cotsdean to buy his wife a gown, and he had a little money in his +pockets. So that in every way he was comfortable and more at ease than +usual. The reckoning was four months off, which was like an eternity to +him in his present mood of mind, and of course he would get the money +before that time. There was so much time, indeed, that to begin to think +of the ways and means of paying it at this early period seemed absurd. +He was to have three hundred pounds for the year of Copperhead's +residence with him, if he stayed so long, and that would do, if nothing +else. Therefore Mr. May was quite easy in his mind, not in the least +feeling the possibility of trouble in store for him. And the visit had +been pleasant. He had enlarged his acquaintance, and that among the very +sort of people he cared to know. He had been very well received by all +the Dorsets, and introduced by Sir Robert as a relation, and he had +received some personal incense about his works and his gifts which was +sweet to him. Therefore he was in very good spirits, and exceedingly +amiable. He conversed with his future pupil urbanely, though he had not +concealed his entire concurrence in Sir Robert's opinion that he was "a +cub." + +"What have you been reading lately?" he asked, when they had been +transferred from the Dorsets' carriage, to the admiration and by the +obsequious cares of all the attendant officials, into the railway +carriage. Mr. May liked the fuss and liked the idea of that superiority +which attended the Dorsets' guests. He had just been explaining to his +companions that Sir Robert was the Lord of the Manor, and that all the +homage done to him was perfectly natural; and he was in great +good-humour even with this cub. + +"Well, I've not been reading very much," said Clarence, candidly. "What +was the good? The governor did not want me to be a parson, or a lawyer, +or anything of that sort, and a fellow wants some sort of a motive to +read. I've loafed a good deal, I'm afraid. I got into a very good set, +you know, first chop--Lord Southdown, and the Beauchamps, and that lot; +and--well, I suppose we were idle, and that's the truth." + +"I see," said Mr. May; "a good deal of smoke and billiards, and so +forth, and very little work." + +"That's about it," said the young man, settling himself and his +trousers, which were the objects of a great deal of affectionate care on +his part. He gave them furtive pulls at the knees, and stroked them down +towards the ankle, as he got himself comfortably into his seat. + +Mr. May looked at him with scientific observation, and Ursula with +half-affronted curiosity; his self-occupation was an offence to the +girl, but it was only amusing to her father. "An unmitigated cub," Mr. +May pronounced to himself; but there where he sat he represented three +hundred a-year, and that, at least, was not to be despised. Ursula was +not so charitable as her father; she was not amused by him in the +slightest degree. Had he come down to Carlingford in humble worship of +her pretty eyes, and with a romantic intention of making himself +agreeable to her, the captivating flattery would have prepossessed +Ursula, and prepared her to see him in a very pleasant light, and put +the best interpretation upon all he did and said. But this pretty +delusion being dissipated, Ursula was angry with herself for having been +so foolish, and naturally angry with Clarence for having led her into +it, though he was quite without blame in the matter. She looked at him +in his corner--he had taken the best corner, without consulting her +inclinations--and thought him a vulgar coxcomb, which perhaps he was. +But she would not have been so indignant except for that little bit of +injured feeling, for which really, after all, he was not justly to +blame. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +A PAIR OF NATURAL ENEMIES. + + +After the evening at Grange Lane which has been described, Reginald May +met Northcote in the street several times, as was unavoidable, +considering the size of the place, and the concentration of all business +in Carlingford within the restricted length of the High Street. The two +young men bowed stiffly to each other at first; then by dint of seeing +each other frequently, got to inclinations a little more friendly, until +at length one day when Northcote was passing by the College, as Reginald +stood in the old doorway, the young chaplain feeling magnanimous on his +own ground, and somewhat amused by the idea which suddenly presented +itself to him, asked his Dissenting assailant if he would not come in +and see the place. Reginald had the best of it in every way. It was he +who was the superior, holding out a hand of favour and kindness to one +who here at least, was beneath him in social consideration; and it was +he who was the assailed, and, so to speak, injured party, and who +nevertheless extended to his assailant a polite recognition, which, +perhaps, no one else occupying the same position would have given. He +was amused by his own magnanimity, and enjoyed it, and the pleasure of +heaping coals of fire upon his adversary's head was entirely delightful +to him. + +"I know you do not approve of the place or me," he said, forgetting in +that moment of triumph all his own objections to it, and the ground upon +which these objections were founded. "Come in and see it, will you? The +chapel and the rooms are worth seeing. They are fair memorials of the +past, however little the foundation may be to your mind." + +He laughed as he spoke, but without ill-humour; for it is easy to be +good-humoured when one feels one's self on the gaining, not the losing +side. As for Northcote, pride kept him from any demonstration of +unwillingness to look at what the other had to show. He would not for +worlds have betrayed himself. It was expedient for him, if he did not +mean to acknowledge himself worsted, to put on a good face and accept +the politeness cheerfully. So that it was on the very strength of the +conflict which made them first aware of each other's existence, that +they thus came together. The Dissenter declared his entire delight in +being taken to see the place, and with secret satisfaction, not easily +put into words, the Churchman led the way. They went to all the rooms +where the old men sat, some dozing by the fire, some reading, some busy +about small businesses; one had a turning-lathe, another was +illuminating texts, a third had a collection of curiosities of a +heterogeneous kind, which he was cleaning and arranging, writing neat +little labels in the neatest little hand for each article. + +"The charity of our ancestors might have been worse employed," said +Reginald. "A home for the old and poor is surely as fine a kind of +benevolence as one could think of--if benevolence is to be tolerated at +all." + +"Ye-es," said Northcote. "I don't pretend to disapprove of benevolence. +Perhaps the young who have a future before them, who can be of use to +their country, are better objects still." + +"Because they will pay," said Reginald; "because we can get something +out of them in return; while we have already got all that is to be had +out of the old people? A very modern doctrine, but not so lovely as the +old-fashioned way." + +"I did not mean that," said the other, colouring. "Certainly it ought to +pay; everything, I suppose, is meant to pay one way or other. The life +and progress of the young, or the gratified sentiment of the benefactor, +who feels that he has provided for the old--which is the noblest kind of +payment? I think the first, for my part." + +"For that matter, there is a large and most flourishing school, which +you will come across without fail if you work among the poor. Do you +work among the poor? Pardon my curiosity; I don't know." + +"It depends upon what you call the poor," said the other, who did not +like to acknowledge the absence of this element in Salem Chapel; "if you +mean the destitute classes, the lowest level, no; but if you mean the +respectable, comfortable--" + +"Persons of small income?" said Reginald. "I mean people with no incomes +at all; people without trades, or anything to earn a comfortable living +by; labouring people, here to-day and away to-morrow; women who take in +washing, and men who go about hunting for a day's work. These are the +kind of people the Church is weighted with." + +"I don't see any trace of them," said the Nonconformist. "Smooth lawns, +fine trees, rooms that countesses might live in. I can't see any trace +of them here." + +"There is no harm in a bit of grass and a few trees, and the rooms are +cheaper in their long continuance than any flimsy new rubbish that could +be built." + +"I know I am making an unfortunate quotation," said Northcote; "but +there is reason in it. It might be sold for so much, and given to the +poor." + +"Cheating the poor, in the first place," said Reginald, warmly concerned +for what he felt to be his own; "just as the paddock an old horse dies +in might bear a crop instead, and pay the owner; but what would become +of the old horse?" + +"Half-quarter of this space would do quite as well for your pensioners, +and they might do without--" + +"A chaplain!" said Reginald, laughing in spite of himself. "I know you +think so. It is a sinecure." + +"Well, I think they may say their prayers for themselves; a young man +like you, full of talent, full of capability--I beg your pardon," said +Northcote, "you must excuse me, I grudge the waste. There are so many +things more worthy of you that you might do." + +"What, for example?" + +"Anything almost," cried the other; "digging, ploughing, +building--anything! And for me too." + +This he said in an undertone; but Reginald heard, and did not carry his +magnanimity so far as not to reply. + +"Yes," he said; "if I am wasted reading prayers for my old men, what are +you, who come to agitate for my abolition? _I_ think, too, almost +anything would be better than to encourage the ignorant to make +themselves judges of public institutions, which the wisest even find too +delicate to meddle with. The digging and the ploughing might be a good +thing for more than me." + +"I don't say otherwise," said the young Dissenter, following into the +old fifteenth-century chapel, small but perfect, the young priest of the +place. They stood together for a moment under the vaulted roof, both +young, in the glory of their days, both with vague noble meanings in +them, which they knew so poorly how to carry out. They meant everything +that was fine and great, these two young men, standing upon the +threshold of their life, knowing little more than that they were +fiercely opposed to each other, and meant to reform the world each in +his own way; one by careful services and visitings of the poor, the +other by the Liberation Society and overthrow of the State Church; both +foolish, wrong and right, to the utmost bounds of human possibility. How +different they felt themselves standing there, and yet how much at one +they were without knowing it! Northcote had sufficient knowledge to +admire the perfect old building. He followed his guide with a certain +humility through the details, which Reginald had already learned by +heart. + +"There is nothing so perfect, so beautiful, so real now-a-days," said +the young Churchman, with a natural expansion of mind over the beauty to +which he had fallen heir. It seemed to him, as he looked up at the tall +windows with their graceful tracery, that he was the representative of +all who had worked out their belief in God within these beautiful walls, +and of all the perpetual worshippers who had knelt among the old brasses +of the early founders upon the worn floor. The other stood beside him +with a half envy in his mind. The Dissenter did not feel himself the +heir of those centuries in the same unhesitating way. He tried to feel +that he was the heir of something better and more spiritual, yet felt a +not ungenerous grudge that he could not share the other kinship too. + +"It is very beautiful and noble," he said. "I should like to feel for it +as you do; but what I should like still better would be to have the same +clear certainty of faith, the same conviction that what they were doing +was the only right thing to do which made both building and prayer so +unfaltering in those days. We can't be so sure even of the span of an +arch now." + +"No--nor can you be content with the old span, even though it is clearly +the best by all rules," said Reginald. The other smiled; he was the most +speculative of the two, being perhaps the most thoughtful; and he had no +fifteenth-century chapel to charm, nor old foundation to give him an +anchor. He smiled, but there was a little envy in his mind. Even to have +one's life set out before one within clear lines like this, would not +that be something? If it had but been possible, no doubt saying prayers +for the world, even with no better than the old men of the College to +say amen, had something more beautiful in it than tours of agitation for +the Liberation Society; but Northcote knew that for him it was not +possible, any more than was the tonsure of Reginald's predecessor, who +had said mass when first those pinnacles were reared towards heaven. +After he had smiled he sighed, for the old faith was more lovely than +all the new agitations; he felt a little ashamed of the Liberation +Society, so long as he stood under that groined and glorious roof. + +"May!" said some one, coming in suddenly. "I want you to go to the +hospital for me. I am obliged to go off to town on urgent +business--convocation work; and I must get a lawyer's opinion about the +reredos question; there is not a moment to lose. Go and see the people +in the pulmonary ward, there's a good fellow; and there are two or three +bad accidents; and that old woman who is ill in Brown's cottage, you saw +her the other day; and the Simmonds in Back Grove Street. I should have +had a day's work well cut out, if I had not had this summons to town; +but the reredos question is of the first importance, you know." + +"I'll go," said Reginald. There is nothing more effectual in showing us +the weakness of any habitual fallacy or assumption than to hear it +sympathetically, through the ears, as it were, of a sceptic. Reginald, +seeing Northcote's keen eyes gleam at the sound of the Rector's voice, +instinctively fell into sympathy with him, and heard the speech through +him; and though he himself felt the importance of the reredos, yet he +saw in a moment how such a question would take shape in the opinion of +the young Dissenter, in whom he clearly saw certain resemblances to +himself. Therefore he assented very briefly, taking out his note-book to +put down the special cases of which the Rector told him. They had a +confidential conversation in a corner, during which the new-comer +contemplated the figure of Northcote in his strange semi-clerical +garments with some amaze. "Who is your friend?" he said abruptly, for he +was a rapid man, losing no time about anything. + +"It is not my friend at all; it is my enemy who denounced me at the +Dissenters' meeting." + +"Pah!" cried the Rector, curling up his nostrils, as if some +disagreeable smell had reached him. "A Dissenter here! I should not have +expected it from you, May." + +"Nor I either," said Reginald; but his colour rose. He was not disposed +to be rebuked by any rector in Carlingford or the world. + +"Are you his curate," said Northcote, "that he orders you about as if +you were bound to do his bidding? I hope, for your own sake, it is not +so." + +Now it was Reginald's turn to smile. He was young, and liked a bit of +grandiloquence as well as another. + +"Since I have been here," he said, "in this sinecure, as you call +it--and such it almost is--I have been everybody's curate. If the others +have too much work, and I too little, my duty is clear, don't you +think?" + +Northcote made no reply. Had he known what was about to be said to him, +he might have stirred up his faculties to say something; but he had not +an idea that Reginald would answer him like this, and it took him aback. +He was too honest himself not to be worsted by such a speech. He bowed +his head with genuine respect. The apology of the Churchman whom he had +assaulted, filled him with a kind of reverential confusion; he could +make no reply in words. And need it be said that Reginald's heart too +melted altogether when he saw how he had confounded his adversary? That +silent assent more than made up for the noisy onslaught. That he should +have thus overcome Northcote made Northcote appear his friend. He was +pleased and satisfied beyond the reach of words. + +"Will you come to the hospital with me?" he said; and they walked out +together, the young Dissenter saying very little, doing what he could to +arrange those new lights which had suddenly flashed upon his favourite +subject, and feeling that he had lost his landmarks, and was confused in +his path. When the logic is taken out of all that a man is doing, what +is to become of him? This was what he felt; an ideal person in +Reginald's place could not have made a better answer. Suddenly somehow, +by a strange law of association, there came into his mind the innocent +talk he had overheard between the two girls who were, he was aware, +May's sisters. A certain romantic curiosity about the family came into +his mind. Certainly they could not be an ordinary family like others. +There must be something in their constitution to account for this sudden +downfall, which he had encountered in the midst of all his theories. The +Mays must be people of a different strain from others; a peculiar race, +to whom great thoughts were familiar; he could not believe that there +was anything common or ordinary in their blood. He went out in silence, +with the holder of the sinecure which he had so denounced, but which now +seemed to him to be held after a divine fashion, in a way which common +men had no idea of. Very little could he say, and that of the most +commonplace kind. He walked quite respectfully by the young clergyman's +side along the crowded High Street, though without any intention of +going to the hospital, or of actually witnessing the kind of work +undertaken by his new friend. Northcote himself had no turn that way. To +go and minister at a sick-bed had never been his custom; he did not +understand how to do it; and though he had a kind of sense that it was +the right thing to do, and that if any one demanded such a service of +him he would be obliged to render it, he was all in the dark as to how +he could get through so painful an office; whereas May went to it +without fear, thinking of it only as the most natural thing in the +world. Perhaps, it is possible, Northcote's ministrations, had he been +fully roused, would have been, in mere consequence of the reluctance of +his mind, to undertake them, more real and impressive than those which +Reginald went to discharge as a daily though serious duty; but in any +case it was the Churchman whose mode was the more practical, the more +useful. They had not gone far together, when they met the Rector +hurrying to the railway; he cast a frowning, dissatisfied look at +Northcote, and caught Reginald by the arm, drawing him aside. + +"Don't be seen walking about with that fellow," he said; "it will injure +you in people's minds. What have you to do with a Dissenter--a +demagogue? Your father would not like it any more than I do. Get rid of +him, May." + +"I am sorry to displease either you or my father," said Reginald +stiffly; "but, pardon me, in this respect I must judge for myself." + +"Don't be pig-headed," said the spiritual ruler of Carlingford; but he +had to rush off for his train, and had no time to say more. He left +Reginald hot and angry, doubly disposed, as was natural, to march +Northcote over all the town, and show his intimacy with him. Get rid of +an acquaintance whom he chose to extend his countenance to, to please +the Rector! For a man so young as Reginald May, and so lately made +independent, such an act of subserviency was impossible indeed. + +Before they entered the hospital, however, another encounter happened of +a very different character. Strolling along in the centre of the +pavement, endeavouring after the almost impossible combination of a yawn +and a cigar, they perceived a large figure in a very long great-coat, +and with an aspect of languor and _ennui_ which was unmistakable a +hundred yards off. This apparition called a sudden exclamation from +Northcote. + +"If it was possible," he said, "I should imagine I knew that man. Are +there two like him? but I can't fancy what he can be doing here." + +"_That_ fellow!" said Reginald. "It's a pity if there are two like him. +I can't tell you what a nuisance he is to me. His name is Copperhead; +he's my father's pupil." + +"Then it _is_ Copperhead! I thought there could not be another. He gives +a sort of odd familiar aspect to the place all at once." + +"Then you are a friend of his!" said Reginald, with a groan. "Pardon the +natural feelings of a man whose father has suddenly chosen to become a +coach. I hate it, and my dislike to the thing is reflected on the person +of the pupil. I suppose that's what my antipathy means." + +"He does not merit antipathy. He is a bore, but there is no harm in him. +Ah! he is quickening his pace; I am afraid he has seen us; and anybody +he knows will be a godsend to him, I suppose." + +"I am off," said Reginald; "you will come again? that is," he added, +with winning politeness, "I shall come and seek you out. We are each the +moral Antipodes of the other, Miss Beecham says--from which she argues +that we should be acquainted and learn the meaning of our differences." + +"I am much obliged to Miss Beecham." + +"Why, Northcote!" said Clarence Copperhead, bearing down upon them in +his big grey Ulster, like a ship in full sail. "Morning, May; who'd have +thought to see you here. Oh, don't turn on my account! I'm only taking a +walk; it don't matter which way I go." + +"I am very much hurried. I was just about to hasten off to an +appointment. Good-bye, Northcote," said Reginald. "We shall meet again +soon, I hope." + +"By Jove! this is a surprise," said Clarence; "to see you here, where I +should as soon have thought of looking for St. Paul's; and to find you +walking about cheek by jowl with that muff, young May, who couldn't be +civil, I think, if he were to try. What is the meaning of it? I suppose +you're just as much startled to see me. I'm with a coach; clever, and a +good scholar and a good family, and all that; father to that young +sprig: so there ain't any mystery about me. What's brought you here?" + +"Work," said Northcote, curtly. He did not feel disposed to enter into +any kind of explanation. + +"Oh, work! Now I do wonder that a fellow like you, with plenty of money +in your pocket, should go in for work as you do. What's the good of it? +and in the Dissenting parson line of all things in the world! When a +fellow has nothing, you can understand it; he must get his grub somehow. +That's what people think of you, of course. Me, I don't do anything, and +everybody knows I'm a catch, and all that sort of thing. Now I don't say +(for I don't know) if your governor has as much to leave behind him as +mine--But halt a bit! You walk as if we were going in for athletics, and +doing a two mile." + +"I'm sorry to see you so easily blown," said Northcote, not displeased +in his turn to say something unpleasant. "What is it? or are you only +out of training?" + +"That's it," said Clarence, with a gasp. "I'm awfully out of training, +and that's the fact. We do, perhaps, live too well in Portland Place; +but look here--about what we were saying--" + +"Do you live with the Mays?" + +"Worse luck! It's what you call plain cooking; and bless us all, dinner +in the middle of the day, and the children at table. But I've put a stop +to that; and old May ain't a bad old fellow--don't bother me with work +more than I like, and none of your high mightiness, like that fellow. +I'll tell you what, Northcote, you must come and see me. I haven't got a +sitting-room of my own, which is a shame, but I have the use of their +rooms as much as I like. The sisters go flying away like a flock of +pigeons. I'll tell you what, I'll have you asked to dinner. Capital fun +it will be. A High Church parson cheek by jowl with a red-hot Dissenter, +and compelled to be civil. By Jove! won't it be a joke?" + +"It is not a joke that either of us will enjoy." + +"Never mind, _I'll_ enjoy it, by Jove!" said Copperhead. "He daren't say +no. I'd give sixpence just to see you together, and the Bashaw of two +tails--the young fellow. They shall have a party; leave it all to me." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +THE NEW PUPIL. + + +Mr. May, since the bargain was fairly concluded with the Copperheads, +had thought a great deal about the three hundred a-year he was to get +for his pupil. It almost doubled his income in a moment, and that has a +great effect upon the imagination. It was true he would have another +person to maintain on this additional income, but still that additional +person would simply fill Reginald's place, and it did not at first +occur to him that what was good enough for himself, Mr. May, of St. +Roque's, was not good enough for any _parvenu_ on the face of the earth. +Therefore the additional income represented a great deal of additional +comfort, and that general expansion of expenditure, not going into any +special extravagances, but representing a universal ease and enlargement +which was congenial to him, and which was one of the great charms of +money in his eyes. To be sure, when he reflected on the matter, he felt +that the first half-year of Clarence's payment ought to be appropriated +to that bill, which for the present had brought him so much relief; but +this would be so entirely to lose the benefit of the money so far as he +was himself concerned, that it was only in moments of reflection that +this appeared urgent. The bill to which Tozer's signature had been +appended did not oppress his conscience. After all, what was it? Not a +very large sum, a sum which when put to it, and with time before him, he +could so easily supply; and as for any other consideration, it was +really, when you came to think of it, a quite justifiable expedient, not +to be condemned except by squeamish persons, and which being never +known, could do no harm in the world. He had not harmed anybody by what +he had done. Tozer, who was quite able to pay it over and over again, +would never know of it; and in what respect, he asked himself, was it +worse to have done this than to have a bill really signed by a man of +straw, whose "value received" meant nothing in the world but a simple +fiction? Cotsdean was no more than a man of straw; if left to himself, +he could not pay anything, nor had he anything really to do with the +business for which his name stood sponsor; and Tozer's name was merely +placed there in the same fictitious way, without any trouble to Tozer, +or burden of responsibility. What was the difference, except that it +saved trouble and anxiety to everybody except the principal in the +affair--he who ought to bear the brunt? Mr. May recognised this without +doubt. It was he who had reaped the advantage; and whether Cotsdean was +the instrument who knew all about it, or Tozer, who did not know +anything about it, it was he, Mr. May, whose natural duty it was to meet +the claim and pay the money. He was an honest man; if he was +occasionally a little slow in his payments, no one could throw any doubt +upon his character. But, of course, should any unforeseen emergency +arise, the pupil at once made that straight. Mr. May felt that he had +only to go to the bank, which generally did not encourage his visits, +and tell them of his pupil, to have the money at once. Nobody could +reject such unmistakeable security. So that really there was no further +occasion for so much as thinking of Tozer; that was provided for; with +the freest conscience in the world he might put it out of his mind. But +how he could feel this so strongly, and at the same time revel in the +consciousness of a fuller purse, more to enjoy, and more to spend, is a +mystery which it would be difficult to solve. He did so, and many others +have done so besides him, eating their cake, yet believing that they had +their cake with the fullest confidence. He was a sensible man, rather +priding himself on his knowledge of business, with much experience in +human nature, and a thoughtful sense (fully evidenced in his writings) +of all the strange inconsistencies and self-deceits of mankind; but he +dropped into this strain of self-delusion with the calmest satisfaction +of mind, and was as sure of his own good sense and kindness as if he had +never in all his life taken a step out of the rigidest of the narrow +ways of uprightness. + +Some part of this illusion, however, was sharply dispelled at a very +early date. Clarence Copperhead, who was not likely to err by means of +too much consideration for the feelings of others, grumbled frankly at +the mid-day meal. + +"I don't understand a two o'clock dinner," he said; "it's lunch, that's +what I call it; and I won't be disagreeable about the kids, but I must +have my dinner. Bless you! a man can't live without his dinner. What is +he to do? It is the sort of thing you can look forward to, whatever +happens. If it's a wet day, or anything of that sort, there's always +dinner; and after it's over, if there's music or a rubber, why that's +all very well; or if a man feels a bit sleepy, it doesn't matter. Why, +dinner's your stand-by, wherever you are. I'd as soon do without my +head, for my part." + +Ursula hastened to tell her father this with dismay in her looks. + +"I've always heard that late dinners were so expensive; you require +twice as many dishes. At two, one has only what is necessary; but at +seven, you require to have fish, and soup, and _entrees_, and all sorts +of things, besides the joint. It was disgraceful of him to say it!" +cried Ursula; "and I think he ought to be made to follow our plan, +whatever it is, and not do everything he likes here." + +"That is all very true," said Mr. May; "but he is right about the +dinner; it is a great deal more agreeable." + +"And expensive, papa." + +"Well, perhaps it is a great deal to expect at your age; but if you read +your cookery-book, as I have often said, when you were reading those +novels, and learned how to toss up little dishes out of nothing, and +make _entrees_, and so forth, at next to no expense--" + +The tears came into Ursula's eyes at this unjust assault. + +"Papa," she said, "you ought to know better at your age. One forgives +the boys for saying such silly things. How can I toss up little dishes +out of nothing? If you only knew the price of butter, not to talk of +anything else. Made dishes are the most expensive things! A leg of +mutton, for instance; there it is, and when one weighs it, one knows +what it costs; but there is not one of those _entrees_ but costs +_shillings_ for herbs and truffles and gravy and forcemeat, and a glass +of white wine here, and a half pint of claret there. It is all very well +to talk of dishes made out of nothing. The meat may not be very +much--and men never think of the other things, I suppose." + +"It is management that is wanted," said Mr. May, "to throw nothing away, +to make use of everything, to employ all your scraps. If you once have a +good sauce--which is as easy as daylight when you take the trouble--you +can make all sorts of things out of a cold joint; but women never will +take the trouble, and that is the secret of poor dinners. Not one in +fifty will do it. If you wanted really to help us, and improve my +position, you might, Ursula. I can't afford to fall out with Copperhead, +he is very important to me just at this moment; and perhaps it is better +that I should give in to him at once about the late dinner." + +"You may say it is not my business," said Ursula, "but we have already +another maid, and now two dinners--for it is just the same as two +dinners. He will not be any advantage to you like that, and why should +he be so much harder to please than we are? Reginald never grumbled, who +was much better bred and better educated than Mr. Copperhead." + +"And with so much money to keep up his dignity," said her father +mockingly. "No, it is not your business, the cookery-book is your +business, and how to make the best of everything; otherwise I don't want +any advice from you." + +"What did he say?" cried Janey, rushing in as soon as her father had +left the room. Ursula, a very general consequence of such interviews, +was sitting by the fire, very red and excited, with tears glistening in +her eyes. + +"Of course I knew what he would say; he says it is not my business, and +there are to be late dinners, and everything that man chooses to ask +for. Oh, it is so hard to put up with it!" cried Ursula, her eyes +flashing through her tears. "I am to read up the cookery-book and learn +to make _entrees_ for them; but to say we can't afford it is not my +business. I wonder whose business it is? It is I who have to go to the +tradespeople and to bear it all if they grumble; and now this horrible +man, who dares to tell me the coffee is not strong enough, as if I was a +barmaid--" + +"Barmaids don't have to do with coffee, have they?" said matter-of-fact +Janey; "but the fact is _he is not a gentleman_; why should you mind? +What does it matter what a person like that says or does? You said so +yourself, he is not a bit a gentleman. I wonder what Cousin Anne and +Cousin Sophy could mean." + +"It is not their fault; they think of his mother, who is nice, who sent +those things; but Mr. Copperhead knew about the things, which was not so +nice of her, was it? But never mind, we must try to make the best of it. +Get the cookery-book, Janey; perhaps if you were to read it out loud, +and we were both to try to fix our mind upon it--for something must be +done," said Ursula gravely. "Papa will never find it out till all the +money is spent, but we shall be poorer than we were before we had the +pupil. Who is that, Janey, at the door?" + +It was Phoebe, who came in blooming from the cold, in a furred jacket, at +which the girls looked with unfeigned admiration. "The skating will soon +come on in earnest now," she said; "grandmamma is better, and I thought +I might come and see you. I had a long talk with your brother the other +day, did he tell you? and I made him know Mr. Northcote, one of our +people. I know you will turn up your pretty nose, Ursula, at a +Dissenter." + +"I should think so," cried Janey; "we have nothing to do with such +people, being gentlefolks, have we, Ursula? Oh, I forgot! I beg your +pardon, I didn't mean to say--" + +Phoebe smiled upon her serenely. "I am not angry," she said, "I +understand all that; and in Carlingford I have no right, I suppose, to +stand upon being a lady, though I always thought I was one. I am only a +young woman here, and not so bad either for that, if you will promise, +Janey, not to call me a young person--" + +"Oh, Miss Beecham!" + +"Mr. Copperhead is a Dissenter," said Ursula, somewhat sullenly, "we put +up with him because he is rich. Oh, it is all very disagreeable! I don't +want to know any new people whatever they are; I find the old ones bad +enough. Reginald hates him too, a big lazy useless being that treats one +as if one were a chambermaid!" + +"Is it Clarence? It is not quite his fault. His mother is a lady, but +his father is a brute," said Phoebe, "thinking of nothing but his +horrible money. Clarence is not so bad. It is because he has no +imagination, and does not understand other people's feelings; he does +not mean it, poor fellow; he goes trampling about with his big feet upon +everybody's toes, and never is a bit the wiser. Here he is--he is coming +in with your father. I suppose there must be a great deal in race," she +added with a soft little sigh, "Clarence looks a clown, and your father +such a gentleman. I suppose I show just the same when I stand beside +you." + +Now Phoebe was well aware that this was not the case, and Ursula's +indignant disclaimer made her rather laugh, because it was so +unnecessary, than be pleased by its vehemence. There was an old convex +mirror opposite which reflected the girls in miniature, making a pretty +picture of them as they sat together, Ursula with her dark locks, and +Phoebe in her golden hair, and the tall sharp school-girl, Janey, all +elbows and angles, short petticoats and grey stockings. Janey was the +only one in whom there could have been suspected any inferiority of +race; but her awkwardness was that of youth, and her disordered hair and +dress belonged also to her age, for she was at that troublesome period +when frocks are constantly getting too short, and sleeves too scanty. +Janey was shuffling slowly round the visitor, admiring her at every +point; her garments were not made as dresses were made in Carlingford. +Their fit and their texture were alike too perfect for anything that +ever came out of High Street. The furred jacket had not been seen in +Grange Lane before. Perhaps it was because the cold had become more +severe, an ordinary and simple reason--or because Clarence Copperhead, +who knew her, and in whose eyes it was important to bate no jot of her +social pretensions, was here; and the furred jacket was beyond +comparison with anything that had been seen for ages in Carlingford. The +deep border of fur round the velvet, the warm waddings and paddings, the +close fit up to the throat, were excellencies which warranted Janey's +tour of inspection. Phoebe perceived it very well, but did not confuse +the girl by taking any notice, and in her heart she was herself slightly +pre-occupied, wondering (as Ursula had done) what the man had come here +for, and what he would say when he saw her. Both of these young women +had a secret belief that something romantic, something more than the +mere prose of reading in the first tutor's house that happened to have +been suggested to him, had brought young Copperhead to such an unlikely +place as Carlingford. Ursula had by this time learned to reject this +hypothesis with much indignation at herself for having entertained it, +but Phoebe still felt slightly fluttered by this possibility, and was +eager for the entrance of Clarence. She would know at once what had +brought him, she said to herself, the moment she caught his eye. + +And though Mr. May had reconciled himself so completely to the Tozer +business, the appearance of Tozer's granddaughter gave him a momentary +shock. "What did you do with my grandfather's letter? he thought her +eyes said, and the meeting confused and disturbed him. This, however, +was only for a moment. He was a man to whom it was always possible to +make himself agreeable to women, and though he felt so easy in his mind +about Tozer, still it was evident that to conciliate Tozer's relation, +and that so influential a relation, was on the whole a good thing to do. +He was going up to her accordingly with outstretched hands, and the most +amiable inquiries about her grandmother's health, when, to his surprise, +he was frustrated by Clarence who had come in before him--his large +person swelling out, as it always seemed to do when he presented himself +upon a new scene, with importance and grandeur. + +"Miss Beecham!" he said, "really, who would have thought it? Now look +here, I came to Carlingford thinking there was not a soul I knew in the +place; and here have you turned up all at once, and Northcote (you know +Northcote?). It is very queer." + +"It is odd, isn't it?" said Phoebe quickly. "I was astonished to see Mr. +Northcote, and though I heard you were coming I am not less surprised to +see you." "He has not come for me," she said rapidly to herself, "nor +for Ursula either; then who is it?" Phoebe demanded in the depths of her +own bosom; that he should have come for nobody at all, but simply for +his own purposes, to get a little information put into his head, seemed +incredible to both the girls. Ursula, for her part, had been angry when +she discovered his want of meaning, though why she would have found it +hard to say. But Phoebe, for her part, was not angry. She took this like +other things of the kind, with great and most philosophical calm, but +she could not outgrow it all at once. For whom was it? His cousins, +those Miss Dorsets? But they were much older, and not the kind of women +for whom such an act was likely. Her mind wandered forth lively and +curious in search of the necessary clue. She could not consent to the +fact that no clue was necessary where no mystery was. + +"I am glad to see that you venture out in this wintry weather," said Mr. +May; "you set us all a good example. I am always telling my girls that +cold weather is no sufficient reason for staying indoors. I wish Ursula +would do as you do." + +"Papa, how can you talk so?" said Janey, indignant, "when you know very +well it is not the cold that keeps Ursula in, but because she has so +much to do." + +"Oh, yes, one knows the sort of things young ladies have to do," said +Clarence, with a laugh; "read stories, and look up pretty dresses for +their parties, eh, Miss Janey? and consult the fashion-books. Oh, of +course you will deny it; but my mother makes me her confidant, and I +know that's what you all do." + +"To be sure," said Phoebe, "we are not so clever as you are, and can't do +so many things. We know no Latin or Greek to keep our minds instructed; +we acknowledge our infirmity; and we couldn't play football to save our +lives. Football is what you do in this season, when you don't hunt, and +before the ice is bearing? We are poor creatures; we can't parcel out +our lives, according as it is time for football or cricket. You must not +be so severe upon girls for being so inferior to you." + +("Oh, don't be too hard upon him,") whispered Ursula, in a parenthesis, +afraid that this irony should drive the pupil to desperation. ("Hard +upon him! he will never find it out,") Phoebe whispered back in the same +tone. + +"Oh, hang it all, I don't mean to be severe upon girls," said Clarence, +pulling his moustache with much complacency; "I am sorry for them, I can +tell you. It ain't their fault; I know heaps of nice girls who feel it +horribly. What can they do? they can't go in for cricket and football. +There ought to be something invented for them. To be sure there is +lawn-tennis, but that's only for summer. I should go mad, I think, if I +had nothing to do." + +"But you have more brain and more strength, you see, than we have; and +besides, we are used to it," said Phoebe. "I am afraid, Ursula, +grandmamma will want me, and I must go." + +Here Mr. May said something to his daughter which filled Ursula with +excitement, mingled of pleasure and displeasure. + +"Papa says, will you come to dinner to-morrow at seven? It appears there +is some one you know coming--a Mr. Northcote. I don't know who he is, +but it will be very kind if you will come on my account," the girl +concluded, whispering in her ear, "for how shall I ever get through a +dinner-party? We never gave one in my life before." + +"Of course I will come," said Phoebe. "Dinner-parties are not so common +here that I should neglect the chance. I must thank Mr. May. But I hope +you know who Mr. Northcote is," she added, laughing. "I gave an account +of myself loyally, before I permitted you to ask me; but Mr. +Northcote--Oh, no! he does not belong to----the lower classes; but he is +a fiery red-hot----" + +"What?" cried eager Janey, pressing to the front. "Radical? I am a +radical too; and Reginald used to be once, and so was Ursula. Oh, I wish +it was to-night!" said Janey, clasping her hands. + +"Not a radical, but a Dissenter; and you who are a clergyman, Mr. May! I +like you, oh, so much for it. But I wonder what the people will say." + +"My dear Miss Beecham," said the suave Churchman, quite ready to seize +the chance of making a point for himself, "in the Church, fortunately, +what the people say has not to be studied, as your unfortunate pastors, +I am informed, have to do. While Mr. Copperhead is under my roof, I make +his friends welcome--for his sake first, probably afterwards for their +own." + +"Yes, I asked Northcote," said Clarence; "I never thought they would +have any objection. He's not a common Dissenter, like the most of those +fellows that have nothing but their salaries. He's well off; he don't +require, bless you, to keep people in good temper, and toady to 'em, +like most do. He's as independent as I am; I don't say that he's quite +as well off; but money always finds its level. I shouldn't have thought +of asking May to receive a common Dissenting fellow, like the rest." + +Phoebe laughed. It did not occur to the accomplished scion of the house +of Copperhead, nor to the two girls, who were not experienced enough to +think of such things, what was the meaning expressed in Phoebe's laugh, +which was not cheerful. Mr. May himself had the advantage of more +discrimination. + +"I hope you will find that, Dissenter or not, I know what is my duty to +my friends," he said. "What my guests may possess, or the exact nature +of their opinions on all points, are not subjects to be discussed by +me." + +"Oh, there is nothing to find fault with in _you_," said Phoebe, with +less than her usual universal courtesy; "you are always kind, Mr. May;" +and then she laughed again. "Some people are very clever in finding out +the vulnerable places," she said. + +"She is changed," said Clarence, when she was gone. "She is not the +jolly girl she used to be. She was always a very jolly girl; ready to +help a fellow out of a scrape, you know. But Northcote's a fearfully +clever fellow. You should just hear him talk. He and May will go at it +hammer and tongs, as sure as fate." + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +URSULA'S ENTREES. + + +It would be difficult to describe the anxiety with which that first +"late dinner" was regarded by Ursula. Janey, too, had thrown herself +into it heart and soul, until she received the crushing intimation from +her father, that her company was not expected at this stately meal; a +discovery which altogether extinguished poor Janey, accustomed to be +always in the front whatever occurred, and to whom suggestions of things +that could not be done by a girl who was not "out," had never presented +themselves. She retired to her own room dissolved in tears when this +fearful mandate went forth, and for the rest of the morning was good for +nothing, her eyes being converted into a sort of red pulp, her rough +hair doubly dishevelled, her whole being run into tears. She was of no +more use now to go errands between the kitchen and the drawing-room, or +to read the cookery-book out loud, which was a process upon which Ursula +depended very much, to fix in her mind the exact ingredients and painful +method of preparation of the _entrees_ at which she was toiling. Betsy, +the former maid-of-all-work, now promoted under the title of cook, could +be trusted to roast the saddle of mutton, which, on consideration that +it was "a party," had been thought preferable to a leg, and she could +boil the fish, after a sort, and make good honest family soup, and the +rice-pudding or apple-tart, which was the nearest approach to luxury +indulged in at the Parsonage; but as for _entrees_, Betsy did not know +what they were. She had heard of made dishes indeed, and respectfully +afar off had seen them when she was kitchen-maid at Lady Weston's--the +golden age of her youthful inexperience. But this was so long ago, that +her recollections were rather confusing than useful to Ursula, when she +went downstairs to make her first heroic effort. + +"La, Miss, that ain't how cook used to do 'em at Lady Weston's," Betsy +said, looking on with unbelieving eyes. She was sure of this negative, +but she was not sure of anything else, and utterly failed to give any +active assistance, after driving the girl desperate with her criticisms. +Altogether it was a confused and unpleasant day. When Reginald came in +in the morning, his sister had no time to speak to him, so anxious was +she and pre-occupied, and the drawing-room was being turned upside down, +to make it look more modern, more elegant, more like the Dorsets' +drawing-room, which was the only one Ursula knew. The comfortable round +table in the middle, round which the family had grouped themselves for +so long, had been pushed aside into a corner, leaving one fresh patch of +carpet, quite inappropriate, and unconnected with anything else; and +instead of the work and the school-books which so often intruded there, +all that was gaudy and uninteresting in the May library had been +produced to decorate the table; and even a case of wax flowers, a +production of thirty years since, which had been respectfully +transferred to a china closet by Ursula's better taste, but which in the +dearth of ornament she had brought back again. Reginald carried off the +wax flowers and replaced the table with his own hands, while Ursula +scorched her cheeks over the _entrees_ downstairs. + +"All this for Northcote," he said, when she ran up for a moment, done up +in a big white apron, her face crimson with the fire and anxiety +combined: "for Miss Beecham has been here before, and you made no fuss +about her then." + +"She came to tea," said Ursula. "And I got a cake, which was all any one +could do; but a dinner is a very different thing." Indeed she had by +this time come to share her father's opinion, that dinner was the right +and dignified thing in all cases, and that they had been hitherto living +in a very higgledy-piggledy way. The dinner had gone to her head. + +"Then it is for Northcote, as I say," said Reginald. "Do you know who he +is?" + +"A Dissenter," said Ursula, with a certain languor; "but so, you know, +is Mr. Copperhead, and he is the chief person here now-a-days. Papa +thinks there is nobody like him. And so is Phoebe." + +"Oh, have you come so far as that?" said Reginald, with a little tinge +of colour in his face. He laughed, but the name moved him. "It is a +pretty fresh sort of country name, not quite like such an accomplished +person." + +"Oh, that is just like you men, with your injustice! Because she is +clever you take it amiss; you are all jealous of her. Look at her pretty +colour and her beautiful hair; if that is not fresh I should like to +know what is. She might be Hebe instead of Phoebe," said Ursula, who had +picked up scraps of classical knowledge in spite of herself. + +"You are a little goose," said Reginald, pinching her ear, but he liked +his sister for her generous partizanship. "Mind you don't come to dinner +with cheeks like that," he said. "I like my sister to be herself, not a +cook-maid, and I don't believe in _entrees_;" but he went away smiling, +and with a certain warmth in his breast. He had gone up and down Grange +Lane many times at the hour of sunset, hoping to meet Phoebe again, but +that sensible young woman had no mind to be talked of, and never +appeared except when she was certain the road was clear. This had +tantalized Reginald more than he chose to avow, even to himself. Pride +prevented him from knocking at the closed door. The old Tozers were +fearful people to encounter, people whom to visit would be to damn +himself in Carlingford; but then the Miss Griffiths were very insipid by +the side of Phoebe, and the variety of her talk, though he had seen so +little of her, seemed to have created a new want in his life. He thought +of a hundred things which he should like to discuss with her--things +which did not interest Ursula, and which the people about him did not +understand much. Society at that time, as may be presumed, was in a poor +way in Carlingford. The Wentworths and Wodehouses were gone, and many +other nice people; the houses in Grange Lane were getting deserted, or +falling into inferior hands, as was apparent by the fact that the +Tozers--old Tozer, the butterman--had got one of them. The other people +were mostly relics of a bygone state of things: retired old couples, old +ladies, spinsters, and widows--excellent people, but not lively to talk +to--and the Griffiths, above mentioned, put up with in consideration of +tolerable good looks and "fun," became tiresome when anything better was +to be had. The mere apparition of Phoebe upon the horizon had been enough +to show Reginald that there were other kinds of human beings in the +world. It had not occurred to him that he was in love with her, and the +idea of the social suicide implied in marrying old Tozer's +granddaughter, had not so much as once entered his imagination. Had he +thought of it, he would have pulled that imagination up tight, like an +unruly horse, the thing being too impossible to bear thinking of. But +this had never entered his mind. He wanted to see Phoebe to talk to her, +to be near her, as something very new, captivating and full of +interest--that was all. No one else within his sphere could talk so +well. The Rector was very great indeed on the reredos question, and the +necessity of reviving the disused "Church" customs; but Reginald could +not go so far as he did as to the importance of the reredos, and was +quite in doubt whether it was not as well for most people to "direct" +themselves by their own consciences as to be directed by the spiritual +head of the parish, who was not over wise in his own concerns. His +father, Reginald knew, could be very agreeable among strangers, but he +seldom chose to be so in his own house. All this made the advent of +Phoebe appear to him like a sudden revelation out of a different world. +He was an Oxford man, with the best of education, but he was a simpleton +all the same. He thought he saw in her an evidence of what life was like +in those intellectual professional circles which a man may hope to get +into only in London. It was not the world of fashion he was aware, but +he thought in his simplicity that it was the still higher world of +culture and knowledge, in which genius, and wit, and intellect stood +instead of rank or riches. How Tozer's granddaughter had got admission +there, he did not ask himself, but this was what he thought, and to talk +to her was a new sensation. He was quite unconscious of anything more. + +Nobody knew when Ursula took her place at the head of the table in her +pretty white dress, which she had worn at the Dorsets', how much toil +and anxiety the preparations had given her. At the last moment, when her +mind was so far clear of the _entrees_, &c.--as clear as the mind of an +inexperienced dinner-giver can be, until the blessed moment when they +are eaten and done with--she had to take Sarah in hand, who was not very +clear about the waiting, and to instruct her according to her own very +imperfect knowledge how to fulfil her duties. + +"Think it is not a dinner-party at all, but only just our ordinary +luncheon, and don't get fluttered; and when I look at you like _this_ +come quite close, and I will whisper what you are to do. And oh, Sarah, +like a good creature, don't break anything!" said Ursula almost with +tears. + +These were all the directions she could give, and they, it must be +allowed, were somewhat vague. The excitement was becoming to her. She +sat down with a dreadful flutter in her heart, but with her eyes shining +and sparkling. Clarence Copperhead, who extended an arm very carelessly +to take her downstairs, absolutely certain of being a more important +person than his guest Northcote, was roused for the first time to the +consciousness that she was very pretty, which he had not found out +before. "But no style," he said to himself. Phoebe was the one who had +style. She sat between Mr. May and the stranger, but devoted herself to +her host chiefly, displaying a gentle contempt of the younger men in his +presence. No anxiety was in her mind about the dinner. She did not +follow the fate of those _entrees_ round the table with terrible +palpitations, as poor Ursula did; and, alas, the _entrees_ were not +good, and Ursula had the mortification to see the dishes she had taken +so much trouble with, rejected by one and another. Reginald ate some, +for which she blessed him, and so did Phoebe, but Mr. May sent his plate +away with polite execrations. + +"Tell your cook she shall go if she sends up such uneatable stuff again, +Ursula," her father cried from the other end of the table. + +Two big tears dashed up hot and scalding into Ursula's eyes. Oh, how she +wished she could be dismissed like Betsy! She turned those two little +oceans of trouble piteously, without knowing it, upon Northcote, who had +said something to her, without being able to reply to him. And +Northcote, who was but a young man, though he was a fiery political +Dissenter, and who had come to the Parsonage with a curious mixture of +pleasure and reluctance, immediately threw down any arms that nature +might have provided him with, and fell in love with her there and then +on the spot! to his own absolute consternation. This was how it +happened. The moment was not romantic, the situation was not sublime. A +little motherless housekeeper crying because her father scolded her in +public for a piece of bad cookery. There is nothing in this to make an +idyll out of; but such as it was, it proved enough for Horace Northcote; +he yielded himself on the spot. Not a word was said, for Ursula felt +that if she tried to talk she must cry, and anything further from her +troubled thoughts than love it would be impossible to imagine; but then +and there, so far as the young man was concerned, the story began. He +talked very little for the rest of the meal, and Ursula did not exert +herself, though she recovered slightly when the mutton turned out to be +very good, and was commended; but what was the mutton in comparison with +her _entrees_, which she had made with her own hands, and which were a +failure? She was reduced to silence, and she thought that the stranger +at her left hand was nice, because he did not bother her, and was +content with a very little talk. + +"Oh, Phoebe, did you hear papa about those _entrees_?" she cried, when +they reached the drawing-room; and sitting down on the stool by the fire +which Janey usually appropriated, she cried, poor child, with +undisguised passion. "I had made them myself; I had been busy about them +all day; I read the cookery-book till my head ached, and took such +pains! and you heard what he said." + +"Yes, dear, I heard him; but he did not think what he was saying, it +never occurred to him that it was you. Don't shake your little head, I +am sure of it; you know, Ursula, your papa is very agreeable and very +clever." + +"Yes, I know he is clever; and he can be nice when he likes--" + +"Did you like it?" cried Janey, bursting in, red-eyed and dishevelled in +her morning frock. "Oh, no, I am not dressed, I don't mean to, to let +him get the better of me, and think I care. Only just for a moment to +see you two. Oh, isn't Phoebe grand in that dress? She is like a picture; +you are nothing beside her, Ursula. Tell me, is it nice to have dinner +instead of tea? Did it go off very well, did you enjoy yourselves? Or +were you all unhappy, sitting round the table, eating beef and mutton," +cried Janey with all the scorn of ignorance, "at that ridiculous hour!" + +"I was as miserable as I could be," cried Ursula, "I was not happy at +all. Enjoy myself! with the _entrees_ on my mind, and after what papa +said. Oh, run away, Janey, and dress, or else go to bed. Papa will be so +angry if he comes up and finds you here." + +"I should like to make him frantic," cried Janey with vindictive force, +"I should just like to drive him out of his senses! Never mind, yes, I +am angry; haven't I a right to be angry? I am as tall as Ursula--I hope +I know how to behave myself--and when there were people coming, and a +real dinner--" + +"Oh, I hear them," cried Ursula in alarm, and Janey flew off, her hair +streaming behind her. Phoebe put her arm round Ursula, and raised her +from the stool. She was not perhaps a perfect young woman, but had her +own ends to serve like other people; yet she had a friendly soul. She +gave her friend a kiss to preface her admonition, as girls have a way of +doing. + +"I would not let Janey talk so," she said, "I think you should not talk +so yourself, Ursula, if you will forgive me, of your papa; he is very +nice, and so clever. I should try all I could to please him, and I +should not let any one be disrespectful to him if it was I." + +"Oh, Phoebe, if you only knew--" + +"Yes, I know, gentlemen don't understand often; but we must do our duty. +He is nice, and clever, and handsome, and you ought to be proud of him. +Dry your eyes, here they are really, coming upstairs. You must be +good-humoured and talk. He is ever so much nicer than the young men," +said Phoebe, almost loud enough to be heard, as Clarence Copperhead, +sauntering in advance of the others with his large shirt-front fully +displayed, came into the room. He came in half whistling in serene +indifference. Phoebe had "style," it was true; but she was only a +Dissenting parson's daughter, and what were two such girls to Clarence +Copperhead? He came in whistling an opera air, which he let drop only +after he was well inside the door. + +"Miss Beecham, let us have some music. I know you can play," he said. + +"If Miss May likes," said Phoebe, covering his rudeness; and then she +laughed, and added, "if you will accompany me." + +"Does Mr. Copperhead play too?" + +"Oh beautifully. Has he not let you see his music? Won't you bring it +here and let us look over it? I dare say there are some things we can +play together." + +"You can play everything," said the young man. "And I'll bring my +violin, if you like." + +He was delighted; he quickened his steps almost into a run as he went +away. + +"You should not laugh at Mr. Copperhead," Ursula retorted on her friend. +"You should be good-humoured, too. You are better than I am, but you are +not quite good, after all." + +"Violin!" said Mr. May. "Heaven and earth! is there going to be any +fiddling? Miss Beecham, I did not expect you to bring such a horror upon +me. I thought I had nothing but good to expect from you." + +"Wait till you hear him, sir," said Phoebe. + +Mr. May retired to the far corner of the room. He called young Northcote +to him, who was standing beside Ursula, eager to talk, but not knowing +how to begin. It was bad enough to be thus withdrawn from his chance of +making himself agreeable; but the reader may imagine what was the +Dissenter's feelings when Mr. May, with a smile, turned upon him. Having +given him a (tolerably) good dinner, and lulled him into a belief that +his sins against the family were unknown, he looked at him, smiling, and +began. + +"Mr. Northcote, the first time I saw you, you were discoursing at an +Anti-Establishment Meeting in the Town Hall." + +Northcote started. He blushed fiery red. "It is quite true. I wished to +have told you; not to come here on false pretences; but Copperhead--and +your son has been very kind--" + +"Then I suppose your views are modified. Clergymen no longer appear to +you the demons in human shape you thought them then; and my son, in +particular, has lost his horns and hoofs?" + +"Mr. May, you are very severe; but I own there is reason--" + +"It was you who were severe. I was not quite sure of you till Copperhead +brought you in. Nay," said the clergyman, rubbing his hands; "do you +think that I object to the utterance of a real opinion? Certainly not. +As for Reginald, it was the thing that decided him; I leave you to find +out how; so that we are positively in your debt. But I hope you don't +fiddle too. If you like to come with me to my study--" + +Northcote gave a longing look round the room, which had become all at +once so interesting to him. Mr. May was too clear-sighted not to see it. +He thought, quite impartially, that perhaps it was an excusable +weakness, even though it was his own society that was the counter +attraction. They were two nice-looking girls. This was how he put it, +being no longer young, and father to one of them; naturally, the two +young men would have described the attraction of Phoebe and Ursula more +warmly. Clarence Copperhead, who had come in with an armful of music and +his fiddle, was not thinking of the girls, nor of anything but the sweet +sounds he was about to make--and himself. When he began to tune his +violin, Mr. May got up in dismay. + +"This is more than mortal can stand," he said, making as though he would +have gone away. Then he changed his mind, for, after all, he was the +chaperon of his motherless girl. "Get me the paper, Ursula," he said. It +would be hard to tell with what feelings Northcote contemplated him. He +was the father of Ursula, yet he dared to order her about, to bring the +tears to her eyes. Northcote darted the same way as she was going, and +caught at the paper on a side-table, and brought it hastily. But alas, +that was last week's paper! he did not save her the trouble, but he +brought upon himself a gleam of mischief from her father's eyes. "Mr. +Northcote thinks me a tyrant to send you for the paper," he said, as he +took it out of her hands. "Thank him for his consideration. But he was +not always so careful of your peace of mind," he added, with a laugh. + +Ursula looked at him with a wondering question in her eyes; but those +tears were no longer there which had gone to Northcote's heart. + +"I don't know what papa means," she said, softly; and then, "I want to +beg your pardon, please. I was very silly. Will you try to forget it, +and not tell any one, Mr. Northcote? The truth was, I thought I had done +them nicely, and I was vexed. It was very childish," she said, shaking +her head with something of the same moisture floating back over the +lustre in her pretty eyes. + +"I will never tell any one, you may be sure," said the young man; but +Ursula did not notice that he declined to give the other pledge, for +Reginald came up just then with wrath in his eyes. + +"Is that idiot going to fiddle all night?" he cried (poor Clarence had +scarcely begun); "as if anybody wanted to hear him and his tweedle-dees. +Miss Beecham plays like St. Cecilia, Ursula; and I want to speak to her +about something. Can't you get that brute beguiled away?" + +Clarence was the one who was _de trop_ in the little party; but he +fiddled beatifically, with his eyes fixed on the ceiling, without the +slightest suspicion of the fact, while Phoebe accompanied him, with +little smiles at her friends, and shrugs of her shoulders. Reginald felt +very strongly, though for the first time, that she was over doing the +Scriptural maxim of being all things to all men. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +SOCIETY AT THE PARSONAGE. + + +After this dinner-party, such as it was, the Parsonage became gradually +the centre of a little society, such as sometimes forms in the most +accidental way in a house where there are young men and young women, and +of which no one can say what momentous results may arise. They came +together fortuitously, blown to one centre by the merest winds of +circumstance, out of circles totally different and unlike. Why it was +that Mr. May, so good a Churchman, permitted two people so entirely out +of his sphere to become his habitual guests and the companions of his +children was very perplexing to the outside world, who half in mere +surprise, and a little in despite, wondered and commented till they were +tired, or till they had become so familiar with the strange spectacle +that it ceased to strike them. A rich pupil might be forgiven for being +a Dissenter, indeed in Carlingford as elsewhere money made up for most +deficiencies; but even natural complacency towards the rich pupil +scarcely accounted for the reception of the others. The neighbours could +never be quite sure whether the family at the Parsonage knew or did not +know that their new friend Northcote was not only acting as Minister of +Salem Chapel, but was the assailant of Reginald May at the +Anti-Establishment Meeting, and various persons in Grange Lane held +themselves for a long time on the tip-toe of preparation, ready to +breathe to Mr. May the painful intelligence, in case he was unaware of +it. But he never gave them the opportunity. Honestly, he had forgotten +the speaker's name at first, and only recognized him when he was +introduced by young Copperhead; and then the situation was piquant and +amused him, especially the evident confusion and consternation of the +culprit when found out. + +"I don't know what he thinks he has done to you," said Clarence, "I +could scarcely make him come in. He says he is sure you can't wish to +see him." + +This was two days after the dinner, when Horace Northcote came to leave +a respectful card, hoping that he might see Ursula at a door or window. +Clarence had seized upon him and dragged him in, in spite of himself. + +"On the contrary, I am very glad to see him," said Mr. May, with a +smile. He looked at the young Dissenter with a jeer in his eyes. He +liked to punish him, having suddenly perceived that this jeer was much +more potent than any serious penalty. "If he will promise not to slay +me, I shan't quarrel with him." Mr. May was in such good spirits at this +moment that he could afford to joke; his own magnanimity, and the +other's confused looks of guilt, overcame his gravity. "Come back +again," he said, holding out his hand; and though Horace retired for the +moment utterly confounded, yet the attractions of the cheerful house +overcame, after a while, his sense of humiliation and inappropriateness. +If the injured family had condoned his offence, why should he mind? and +the pleasant girlish friendliness, without any _arriere pensee_, of +Ursula, was enough to have set any man at his ease; the facts of the +case being that Mrs. Hurst was away upon a long visit, and that, having +no other gossip within the range of her acquaintance, Ursula did not +know. Reginald, who did, had the same sense of magnanimity as his father +had, and began to like the society of the congenial yet different spirit +which it was so strange to him to find under a guise so unlike his own. +And Northcote, on his side, finding no house to which he could betake +himself among those whom Phoebe called "our own people;" found a refuge, +which gradually became dearer and dearer to him, at the Parsonage, and +in his profound sense of the generosity of the people who had thus +received him, felt his own partizanship wax feebler and feebler every +day. He seemed to see the ground cut from under his feet, as he watched +the young chaplain at his work. Mr. May, to be sure, was no example of +pastoral diligence, but he was a pleasant companion, and had put himself +from the first in that position of moral superiority which naturally +belongs to an injured person who can forgive heartily and without +prejudice. And Ursula! He did not venture to call her Ursula, even in +the secret depths of his heart. There a pronoun was enough, as, indeed, +incipient Love generally finds it. She spoke to him, smiled at him in +the street; and immediately life became a _Vita Nuova_ to him. The young +Dissenter was as Dante, and simple Ursula, with her housekeeping books +in her hand, became another Beatrice. It is not every one who has the +capacity for this perfect and absorbing sentiment; but Horace Northcote +had, and for a long time Ursula was as unconscious of it as heart could +desire. + +Phoebe's admission to the house had been more simple still. A girlish +fancy on Ursula's part, a fit of good-nature on her father's, and then +that secret thread of connection with Tozer which no one knew of, and +the coming of Clarence Copperhead, to please whom Mr. May permitted +himself to be persuaded to do much; and in addition to all this, her +good looks, her pretty manners, her cleverness and the deference she had +always shown in the proper quarter. Mr. May did not enter into the lists +with his son, or think of offering himself as a suitor to Phoebe; but he +liked to talk to her, and to watch what he called "her little ways," and +to hear her play when Clarence and his violin were otherwise disposed +of. He was an experienced man, priding himself on a knowledge of human +nature, and Phoebe's "little ways" amused him greatly. What did she +mean?--to "catch" Clarence Copperhead, who would be a great match, or to +fascinate Northcote? Oddly enough Mr. May never thought of Reginald, +though that young man showed an eagerness to talk to Phoebe which was +more than equal with his own, and had always subjects laid up ready to +discuss with her, when he could find the opportunity. Sometimes he would +go up to her in the midst of the little party and broach one of these +topics straight on end, without preface or introduction, as which was +her favourite play of Shakespeare, and what did she think of the +character of King Lear? It was not very wise, not any wiser than his +neighbour was, who made pretty little Ursula into the ideal lady, the +most gentle and stately figure in poetry; and yet no doubt there was +something in both follies that was a great deal better than wisdom. The +society formed by these two young pairs, with Clarence Copperhead as a +heavy floating balance, and Mr. May and Janey--one philosophical, wise +and mistaken; the other sharp-sighted and seeing everything--as +spectators, was very pleasant to the close little coterie themselves, +and nobody else got within the charmed circle. They grew more and more +intimate daily, and had a whole vocabulary of domestic jokes and +allusions which no one else could understand. It must be allowed, +however, that the outside world was not pleased with this arrangement on +either side of the question. The Church people were shocked with the +Mays for harbouring Dissenters under any circumstances whatever, and +there had not been a Minister at Salem Chapel for a long time so +unpopular as Horace Northcote, who was always "engaged" when any of the +connection asked him to tea, and preached sermons which went over their +heads, and did not remember them when he met them in the street. Tozer +was about the only one of the congregation who stood up for the young +man. The others thanked Heaven that "he was but tempory," and on the +whole they were right, for certainly he was out of place in his present +post. + +As for Clarence Copperhead, he led an agreeable life enough among all +these undercurrents of feeling, which he did not recognise with any +distinctness. He was comfortable enough, pleased with his own +importance, and too obtuse to perceive that he bored his companions; and +then he considered himself to be slightly "sweet upon" both the girls. +Ursula was his favourite in the morning, when he embarrassed her much by +persistently seeking her company whenever liberated by her father; but +Phoebe was the queen of the evening, when he would get his fiddle with an +unfailing complacency which drove Reginald frantic. Whether it was mere +good-nature or any warmer impulse, Phoebe was strangely tolerant of these +fiddlings, and would go on playing for hours with serene composure, +never tired and never impatient. Yet poor Clarence was not an +accompanyist to be coveted. He was weak in the ear and defective in +science, but full of a cheerful confidence which was as good as genius. + +"Never mind, Miss Phoebe," he would say cheerfully, when he had broken +down for the twentieth time, "play on and I'll catch you up." He had +thus a series of trysting places in every page or two, which might have +been very laughable to an indifferent spectator, but which aggravated +the Mays, father and son, to an intolerable extent. They were the two +who suffered. As for Horace Northcote, who was not a great talker, it +was a not disagreeable shield for his silent contemplation of Ursula, +and the little things which from time to time he ventured to say to her. +For conversation he had not the thirst which animated Reginald, and +Ursula's talk, though lively and natural, was not like Phoebe's; but +while the music went on he could sit by her in a state of silent +beatitude, now and then saying something to which Ursula replied if she +was disposed, or if she was not disposed put aside by a little shake of +her head, and smiling glance at the piano. Sometimes it was simple +wilfulness that made her silent; but Northcote set it down to an +angelical sweetness which would not wound even the worst of performances +by inattention. They were happy enough sitting there under the shelter +of the piano, the young man absorbed in the dreams of a young love, the +girl just beginning to realize the adoration which she was receiving, +with a timid perception of it--half-frightened, half-grateful. She was +in spite of herself amused by the idea only half understood, and which +she could scarcely believe, that this big grown man, so much more +important than herself in everybody's eyes, should show so much respect +to a little girl whom her father scolded, whom Reginald sent trotting +about on all sorts of errands, and whom Cousin Anne and Cousin Sophy +considered a child. It was very strange, a thing to call forth +inextinguishable laughter, and yet with a strange touch of sweetness in +it, which almost made her cry in wondering gratitude. What she thought +of him, Ursula did not ask herself; that he should think _like this_ of +her was the bewildering, extraordinary, ridiculous fact that at present +filled her girlish head. + +But if they were sweet to Northcote, these evenings were the crown of +Clarence Copperhead's content and conscious success; he was supremely +happy, caressing his fiddle between his cheek and his shoulder, and +raising his pale eyes to the ceiling in an ecstasy. The music, and the +audience, and the accompanyist all together were delightful to him. He +could have gone on he felt not only till midnight, but till morning, and +so on to midnight again, with short intervals for refreshment. Every ten +minutes or so there occurred a break in the continuity of the strain, +and a little dialogue between the performers. + +"Ah, yes, I have missed a line; never mind; go on, Miss Phoebe, I will +make up to you," he said. + +"It is those accidentals that have been your ruin," said Phoebe laughing; +"it is a very hard passage, let us turn back and begin again," and then +the audience would laugh, not very sweetly, and (some of them) make +acrid observations; but the pianist was good-nature itself, and went +back and counted and kept time with her head, and with her hand when she +could take it from the piano, until she had triumphantly tided him over +the bad passage, or they had come to the point of shipwreck again. +During these labours, Phoebe, who was really a good musician, ought to +have suffered horribly; but either she did not, or her good-nature was +stronger than her good taste, for she went on serenely, sometimes for +hours together, while her old and her young admirers sat secretly +cursing (in such ways as are becoming to a clergyman) each in his +corner. Perhaps she had a slight degree of pleasure in the evident power +she had over father and son; but it was difficult fully to understand +her views at this somewhat bewildering period of her life, in which she +was left entirely to her own resources. She was herself groping a little +through paths of uncertain footing, enjoying herself a great deal, but +not seeing clearly where it led to, and having no definite purpose, or +chart of those unknown countries in her mind. + +"How you can go on," said Reginald, on one of these occasions, having at +length managed to seize upon and get her into a corner, "for hours, +having your ears sacrificed and your patience tried by these fearful +discords, and smile through it, is a mystery which I cannot fathom! If +it was only consideration for your audience, that might be enough to +move any one--but yourself--" + +"I don't seem to feel it so very much myself." + +"And yet you are a musician!" + +"Don't be too hard upon me, Mr May. I only play--a little. I am not like +my cousins in the High Street, who are supposed to be very clever at +music; and then poor Mr. Copperhead is a very old friend." + +"Poor Mr. Copperhead! poor us, you mean, who have to listen--and you, +who choose to play." + +"You are very vindictive," she said, with a piteous look. "Why should +you be so vindictive? I do what I can to please my friends, and--there +is no doubt about what poor Clarence likes best; if you were to show me +as plainly what you would like--_quite_ plainly, as he does----" + +"Don't you know?" said Reginald, with glowing eyes. "Ah, well! if I may +show you plainly--quite plainly, with the same results, you may be sure +not to be left long in doubt. Talk to me! it is easier, and not so +fatiguing. Here," said the young man, placing a chair for her; "he has +had your patient services for two hours. Do only half as much for me." + +"Ah! but talking is a different thing, and more--difficult--and +more--personal. Well!" said Phoebe, with a laugh and a blush, taking the +chair, "I will try, but you must begin; and I cannot promise, you know, +for a whole hour." + +"After you have given that fellow two! and such a fellow! If it was +Northcote, I might be equally jea--displeased, but I could understand +it, for he is not a fool." + +"I think," said Phoebe, looking towards the other end of the room, where +Northcote was occupied as usual close to Ursula's work-basket, "that Mr. +Northcote manages to amuse himself very well without any help of mine." + +"Ah!" cried Reginald, startled; for of course it is needless to say that +the idea of any special devotion to his little sister had never entered +his mind. He felt disposed to laugh at first when the idea was suggested +to him, but he gave a second look, and fellow-feeling threw a certain +enlightenment upon the subject. "That would never do," he said gravely; +"I wonder I never thought of it before." + +"Why would it not do? She is very nice, and he is clever and a rising +man; and he is very well off; and you said just now he was not a fool." + +"Nevertheless it would never do," said Reginald, opposing her pointedly, +as he had never opposed her before; and he remained silent for a whole +minute, looking across the room, during which long interval Phoebe sat +demurely on the chair where he had placed her, looking at him with a +smile on her face. + +"Well?" she said at length, softly, "it was talk you said you wanted, +Mr. May; but you are not so ready to tune up your violin as Mr. +Copperhead, though I wait with my fingers on the piano, so to speak." + +"I beg your pardon!" he cried, and then their eyes met, and both +laughed, though, as far as Reginald was concerned, in an embarrassed +way. + +"You perceive," said Phoebe, rising, "that it is not nearly so easy to +please you, and that you don't know half so exactly what you want, as +Clarence Copperhead does, though you abuse him, poor fellow. I have got +something to say to Ursula! though, perhaps, she does not want me any +more than you do." + +"Don't give me up for one moment's distraction; and it was your fault, +not mine, for suggesting such a startling idea." + +Phoebe shook her head, and waved her hand as a parting salutation, and +then went across the room to where Ursula was sitting, where Horace +Northcote at least found her very much in his way. She began at once to +talk low and earnestly on some subject so interesting that it absorbed +both the girls in a way which was very surprising and unpleasant to the +young men, neither of whom had been able to interest the one whose +attention he was specially anxious to secure half so effectually. +Northcote, from the other side of the table, and Reginald from the other +end of the room, gazed and gloomed with discomfited curiosity, wondering +what it could be; while Clarence strutted uneasily about the piano, +taking up his fiddle now and then, striking a note, and screwing up his +strings into concord, with many impatient glances. But still the girls +talked. Was it about their dresses or some nonsense, or was it a more +serious subject, which could thus be discussed without masculine help? +but this matter they never fathomed, nor have they found out till this +hour. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +SOCIETY. + + +Notwithstanding such little social crosses, however, the society at the +Parsonage, as thus constituted, was very agreeable. Mr. May, though he +had his faults, was careful of his daughter. He sat in the drawing-room +every evening till she retired, on the nights their visitors came, and +even when it was Clarence only who remained, an inmate of the house, and +free to go and come as he pleased. Ursula, he felt, must not be left +alone, and though it is uncertain whether she fully appreciated the care +he took of her, this point in his character is worth noting. When the +young party went out together, to skate, for instance, as they did, for +several merry days, Reginald and Janey were, he considered, sufficient +guardians for their sister. Phoebe had no chaperon--"Unless you will take +that serious office upon you, Ursula," she said, shrugging her shoulders +prettily; but she only went once or twice, so well was she able, even +when the temptation was strongest, to exercise self-denial, and show her +perfect power of self-guidance. As for old Tozer and his wife, the idea +of a chaperon never entered their homely head. Such articles are +unnecessary in the lower levels of society. They were anxious that their +child should enjoy herself, and could not understand the reason of her +staying at home on a bright frosty day, when the Mays came to the door +in a body to fetch her. + +"No, if they'd have gone down on their knees, nor if I had gone down on +mine, would that girl have left me," cried the old lady, with tears in +her eyes. "She do behave beautiful to her old granny. If so be as I +haven't a good night, no power on earth would make that child go +pleasuring. It's 'most too much at her age." + +But Phoebe confided to Ursula that it was not altogether anxiety about +her grandmother. + +"I have nobody of my own to go with. If I took grandpapa with me, I +don't think it would mend matters. Once or twice it was possible, but +not every day. Go and enjoy yourself, dear," she said, kissing her +friend. + +Ursula was disposed to cry rather than to enjoy herself, and appealed to +Reginald, who was deeply touched by Phoebe's fine feeling. He took his +sister to the ice, but that day he went so far as to go back himself to +No. 6, actually into the house, to make a humble protest, yet to +insinuate his admiration. He was much impressed by, and approved highly +of this reticence, having a very high standard of minor morals for +ladies, in his mind, like most young men. + +"She is not one of the girls who rush about everywhere, and whom one is +sick of seeing," he said. + +"I think it is very silly," cried Janey. "Who cares for a chaperon! and +why shouldn't Phoebe have her fun, like the rest, instead of shutting +herself up in a stuffy room with that dreadful old Mrs. Tozer?" + +Her brother reproved her so sharply for this speech that Janey withdrew +in tears, still asking "Why?" as she rushed to her room. Clarence +Copperhead, for his part, stroked his moustache and said it was a bore. + +"For she is the best skater of all the ladies here," he said. "I beg +your pardon, Miss Ursula. She's got so much go in her, and keeps it up +like fun. She's the best I know for keeping a fellow from getting tired; +but as it's Thursday, I suppose she'll be there in the evening." + +Clarence never called them anything but Miss Ursula and Miss Phoebe, +dropping the prefix in his thoughts. He felt that he was "a little sweet +upon" them both; and, indeed, it had gleamed dully across his mind that +a man who could marry them both need never be bored, but was likely +always to find something "to do." Choice, however, being necessary, he +did not see his way so clearly as to which he would choose. "The +mountain sheep are sweeter, but the valley sheep are fatter," he said to +himself, if not in these immortal words, yet with full appreciation of +the sentiment. Ursula began to understand dinners with a judicious +intelligence, which he felt was partly created by his own instructions +and remarks; but in the evening it was Phoebe who reigned supreme. She +was so sensible that most likely she could invent a _menu_ all out of +her own head, he thought, feeling that the girl who got him through the +"Wedding March" with but six mistakes, was capable of any intellectual +feat. He had not the slightest doubt that it was in his power to marry +either of the girls as soon as he chose to intimate his choice; and in +the mean time he found it very agreeable to maintain a kind of mental +possibility of future proprietorship of them both. + +And thus the pleasant life ran on in the most agreeable absorption and +abstraction from the world outside. "Don't ask any one else; why should +we have any one else?" they all said, except Janey, who had condescended +to appear in the evening in her best frock, though she was not admitted +at dinner, and who thought a few additional guests, and a round game now +and then, would be delightful variations upon the ordinary programme; +but the others did not agree with her. They became more and more +intimate, mingling the brother and sister relationship with a something +unnamed, unexpressed, which gave a subtle flavour to their talks and +flirtations. In that incipient stage of love-making this process is very +pleasant even to the spectators, full of little excitements and +surprises, and sharp stings of momentary quarrel, and great revolutions, +done with a single look, which are infinitely amusing to the lookers-on. +The house became a real domestic centre, thought of by each and all with +tender sentiment, such as made its owners somewhat proud of it, they +could scarcely tell why. Even Mr. May felt a certain complacence in the +fact that the young men were so fond of the Parsonage, and when he heard +complaints of the coldness and dullness of domestic intercourse, smiled, +and said that he did not feel it so, with that pleasant sense of +something superior in himself to cause this difference, which is sweet +to the greatest Stoic; for he was not as yet enlightened as to the +entire indifference of the little circle to any charm in him, and would +have been utterly confounded had any one told him that to the grave and +reflective Northcote, whom he had treated with such magnanimous charity, +binding him (evidently) by bonds of gratitude to himself for ever, it +was little Ursula, and not her father, who was the magnet of attraction. +Mr. May was a clever man, and yet it had not occurred to him that any +comparison between his own society and that of Ursula was possible. +Ursula! a child! He would have laughed aloud at the thought. + +But all this pleasant society, though father and daughter both agreed +that it cost nothing, for what is a cake and a cup of tea? and the late +dinners and the extra maid, and the additional fires, and general +enlargement of expenditure made immense inroads, it must be allowed, +into the additional income brought by Clarence Copperhead. The first +quarter's payment was spent, and more than spent, before it came. The +money that was to be laid up for that bill of Tozer's--perhaps--had now +no saving peradventure left in it; for the second half would not be due +till two months after the Tozer bill, and would but be half, even if +procurable at once. Mr. May felt a slight shock while this gleamed +across his mind, but only for a moment. There was still a month, and a +month is a long time, and in the mean time James was almost certain to +send something, and his Easter offerings might, probably would, this +year be something worth having. Why they should be better than usual +this year Mr. May did not explain to himself; his head was a little +turned it must be supposed by the momentary chance of having more money +in his hands than he used to have. Already he had got into the habit of +ordering what he wanted somewhat recklessly, without asking himself how +the things he ordered were to be paid for, and, as so often happened, +followed up that first tampering with the rules of right and wrong by a +general recklessness of the most dangerous kind. He was not so much +alone as he had been; his house, in which he was infinitely more amiable +than of old, had become more pleasant to him; he liked his life better. +His son was independent with an income of his own, and therefore he felt +much more respect for him, and treated him as a companion. His daughter +had developed, if not in the way of _entrees_, a talent for dinners +which raised her very much in his eyes; and naturally the regard shown +to her by the visitors reacted upon Mr. May, though it had not crossed +his mind as yet that any one could be in love with Ursula. All this made +him happier in spite of himself. When you begin to esteem and be proud +of your children your life is naturally happier than when you scoff and +jeer at them, and treat them as creatures of inferior mould to yourself. +Mr. May found out all at once that Reginald was a fine young fellow, +that Ursula was pretty and pleasant, and that droll Janey, with her +elf-locks and angles, was amusing at least, if no more. As for the +little ones, they were considerably thrust into a corner when the elder +youth forced itself into the front. They learned their lessons in +corners, and had their tea by themselves, and were much humbled and +subdued from the moment in which their school-books and toys had +meandered over the whole house, and their looks and likings had been +just as important as anything else. When there is no mother to protect +them, the elder sister's first lover marks a terribly critical period +for the children of the house. They were banished from the +drawing-room, except on special occasions, when they came _en grande +tenue_, in their best things, and were jeered at by Mr. Copperhead. He +called them "the kids," both Amy and Robin were aware, and they resented +it unspeakably. Thus the inward happiness of the Mays confined itself to +the upper regions of the family. Even Betsy regretted the days when, if +she had more to do, she had at least "her kitchen to herself," and +nobody to share the credit. There was more fuss and more worry, if a +trifle less labour, and the increase in consequence which resulted from +being called cook, instead of maid-of-all-work, was scarcely so sweet in +possession as had seemed in prospect. + +"Them late dinners" were the object of her perpetual railings; "oh, how +much more comfortable it was, if gentry would but think so, to have your +dinner at two, and get done with your washing up before you was cleaned, +or had any occasion to bother yourself about your cap!" When little Amy +cried over the loneliness of "the children's tea," which they frequently +had to pour out for themselves, Betty gave her a cake and a kiss, and +felt disposed to cry too. + +"And she don't know, poor child, not the half," said Betty, which was a +kind of oracular sentence difficult for Betty herself to understand. The +children had nothing to do with the late dinner; they were sent to bed +earlier than they used to be, and scolded if any distant sounds of romps +made itself audible at seven o'clock when their elders were dining; and +then when the little ones went injured to bed, and Johnnie, indignant, +worked at his lessons by himself in a corner of the old nursery, deeply +aware that his school-boy boots and jacket were quite unfit for the +drawing-room, the grown-up young people ran lightly upstairs, all smiles +and pleasure, and those delightful evenings began. + +The children sometimes could not get to sleep for the piano and the +raspings of the fiddle, which sounds of mirth suggested nothing but the +wildest enjoyment to them; and when the door opened now and then, bursts +of laughter and mingling voices would come out like the sounds the Peri +heard at the gates of Paradise. The elder ones were happy; their little +atoms of individual life had all united for the moment into one sunshiny +and broad foundation, on which everything seemed to rest with that +strange sense of stability and continuance, which such a moment of +happiness, though it carries every element of change in it, almost +invariably brings. It felt as if it might go on for ever, and yet the +very sentiment that inspired it made separation and convulsion +inevitable--one of those strange paradoxes which occur every day. + +Thus the year crept round, and winter melted away with all its +amusements, and spring began. Mr. Northcote's time at Salem Chapel was +more than half over, a fact on which the congregation congratulated +itself much. + +"If so be as he had a settled charge of his own, I shouldn't be sorry to +see him gone to-morrow," said one of the recent members. + +"Settled charge! You take my word," said Mrs. Pigeon, who was getting +old, but always continued a woman of spirit, "he'll never have a settled +charge in our connection. He carries on here, 'cause he can't help +hisself, but he ain't cut out for a pastor, and he's a deal too thick +with them Church folks. A parson, too! I'd 'a thought he had more +pride." + +"Nay, now, but I don't wish him no harm," said the first speaker; "he's +a civil spoken gentleman if he ain't so free and so pleasant as a body +looks for." + +"Civil spoken!" said the other; "one of our own ministers in our own +connection! Bless you! they're our servants, that's what they are. I'd +like to see one on 'em as 'ud take upon him to be civil spoken to me." + +"Well, I wouldn't go as far as that," cried Mrs. Brown; "we pays 'em +their salary, and we 'as a right to a civil word: but a minister's a +minister, and I'll show him respect as long as he deserves it. I ain't +one for being too hard upon ministers, especially when they're young +men, as has their temptations like, we all know." + +"I don't know what you call temptations," said Mrs. Pigeon; "licking the +dust under the feet of a Church parson! and after speaking up so bold +against young May and them old cheats at the College. I wish he was gone +from here, that's what I wish, and our old pastor (if we can't get none +better) back again. He was one as knew his place, and wouldn't have set +his foot inside one of them Parsonages. Parsonages, indeed! kept up with +our money. If ever there was an iniquity on this earth it's a State +Church, and all the argufying in the world won't put that out of me." + +It happened that Northcote was in the poulterer's shop, talking to the +poulterer himself at this moment, and he heard the conclusion of this +speech delivered with much unction and force. Such sentiments would have +charmed him three months ago, and probably he would have thought this +uneducated but strenuous partisan an extremely intelligent woman. He +hurried away now with an uncomfortable smile. If an opinion is the +right opinion, why should it have an air of absurdity thrown upon it by +being thus uttered in ungrammatical language by a poulterer's wife? +Truth is the same by whomsoever stated; but yet, was not dogmatism on +any subject the sign of an inexperienced and uncultivated, or a rude and +untutored mind? What did this woman know of the Parsonage, which she +supposed she helped to pay for? What had he himself known three months +ago of Reginald May, whom he had assaulted so savagely? This Church +family, which Mrs. Pigeon knew no better than to abuse, with what divine +charity it had received himself, notwithstanding his public sin against +it. When he thought of that public sin, Northcote's countenance glowed +with shame, and it continued to glow with a more agreeable warmth when +he escaped into thought of the goodness which the Mays had shown him. +Had there ever been such goodness? Was there ever so sweet a home of the +heart as that faded, homely drawing-room? His heart beat high, his steps +quickened; they carried him down Grange Lane in a path so often trod +that he felt there must be a special track of his own under the garden +walls, going Parsonage way. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +LOVE-MAKING. + + +Mrs. Sam Hurst had been a long time out of Carlingford; she had been +paying visits among her friends, with whom, though the young Mays would +never believe it, she was very popular, for she was not ill-natured in +her gossip, and she was often amusing in the fulness of her interest in +other people. It was April when she came back, and the early warmth and +softness of the spring were beginning to be felt in Grange Lane; the +doors of the houses began to be left open, and the girls at the +Parsonage had taken to running out and in without their hats, gleaming +through the little shrubbery in front, and round to the back garden. One +evening it was so mild that they all (which comprehensive term, +sometimes extended to "the whole party," began to be commonly used among +them with that complacence in the exclusiveness of their little coterie, +which every "set" more or less feels) came downstairs in a body, and +wandered about among the laurel-bushes in the spring moonlight. There +was Ursula and Mr. Northcote, Phoebe and Reginald, and Clarence +Copperhead, with Janey behind, who followed where they went, but did not +enjoy the ceremony. It was bad enough in the drawing-room; but +moonlight, who cared about moonlight? Janey said to herself indignantly. +She was the only one who looked up to Mrs. Hurst's window, where there +was a faint light, and when the voices became audible Janey perceived +some one come behind the curtain and look out. The girl was divided +between her faithful family feud against Mrs. Hurst, and a vague sense +of satisfaction in her presence as a Marplot, who one way or other would +infallibly interfere. + +"She will say something to papa," said Janey, her heart involuntary +rising at the thought, though at the same time she shivered to think of +the treachery involved to all the tenets of the family. Janey sat on the +steps and listened to the others talking. No one pointed out the stars +to her, or followed her about as Reginald followed Phoebe. As for Mr. +Copperhead, Janey thought he was almost as lonely as she was. He had +lighted his cigar, and was strolling up and down, interrupting both of +the other pairs occasionally, breaking into the midst of Northcote's +astronomical lecture abruptly, and stopping Phoebe herself in the middle +of a sentence. Janey, watching sharply from the steps, noticed, as a +spectator has it in her power to do, that whereas Northcote was +extremely impatient of the interruption, and discovered immediately that +the stars could be seen better from another spot, Phoebe took it quite +sweetly, and addressed herself to him as she went on, which Reginald did +not like, Janey was sure. Were they in love with each other? the girl +asked herself--was this how it was managed? When the moon went under a +cloud for a moment Clarence Copperhead's vast shirt-front made a kind of +substitute down below. Janey lost the other two among the bushes, but +she always beheld that orb of white moving backward and forward with two +dark figures near. She felt sure Reginald did not want to have him in +such close neighbourhood; but Phoebe's voice went on talking to both +alike. Janey was half-pleased, and half-indignant. She had a jealous +dislike, such as most girls have, to see her brother engrossed by any +one, but no more did she like to see another man preferred to Reginald; +she was jealous both ways. As she sat and watched, a slight little creak +came to her sharp ears, and looking up she saw Mrs. Hurst's drawing-room +window opened the very least little bit in the world. Ah! Janey said, +with a long breath. There was nothing she would not have given to have +talked it all over with Mrs. Hurst, and to hear what she would say, if +she had not been the traditional adversary against whom all the family +steeled their hearts. + +That was a very pleasant evening; they all remembered it afterwards. It +was the moment when Ursula discovered all in the darkness, when the moon +was under that cloud, _what Mr. Northcote meant_. It flashed upon her +like a sudden light, though they were standing in the shade of a great +laurel. He did not make any declaration, nor say a word that she could +remember. And yet all at once, by some magic which is not explainable, +she found out that that was what he was meaning. This is not an +admirable sentence; but it is difficult to know how to put it better. It +was quite a strange discovery. It set her heart beating, thumping +against her breast. She herself meant nothing whatever, and she never +thought of any response, or of the time when he might ask her to make a +response. The sensation of the moment was quite enough for Ursula. She +was greatly startled, surprised, yet not surprised, touched and full of +a wondering respect and sympathy, awe and half-amusement. Could it be +possible, was _that_ what it was? Though he was not conscious of +betraying himself in any way, Northcote thought he had done something to +offend her. Her shy silence and withdrawal from him went to his heart; +never had her society been so sweet, never had he had her so completely +to himself. What had he done to alarm or offend her? He went home with +his head full of this, able to think of nothing else. + +And Phoebe went home too, escorted by Reginald and Clarence together, to +her grandfather's door, with her head buzzing with many thoughts. It was +not her heart that was in a commotion, like little Ursula's. She was +more experienced, though she was not much older, and had gone through +such discoveries before now. But a much more perplexing accident had +befallen her. Reginald May had fallen in love with her, and Clarence +Copperhead, after considerable resistance and hanging off, was making up +his mind to propose. Yes. Phoebe felt with unerring instinct that this +was the state of affairs. He was making up his mind to propose. So much +of her and so little of her had at length made an end of all the prudent +hesitations that lay under the crisp pie-crust of that starched and +dazzling shirt front. That he should never be able to speak a word to +her without that May! that fellow! "the son of my coach!" poking himself +in, was a thing which at length had fired his cool blood to fever heat. +Nobody else could play his accompaniments like that, or pull him through +the "Wedding March" like that; and who would look better at the head of +a table, or show better at a ball, or get on better in society? No one +he knew, certainly. It was true she was only a Minister's daughter, and +without a penny; for the little fortune Mr. and Mrs. Beecham had +carefully gathered together and preserved for their daughter, what was +that to the Copperheads?--nothing, not a penny. But, on the other hand, +Clarence felt that he himself, or rather his father, was rich enough to +be able to afford a wife without money. There was no reason why he +should marry money; and a wife like Phoebe, what a relief that would be, +in the way of education! No need of any more coaching. She was clever, +and fond of reading, and so forth. She would get everything up for him, +if he went into parliament, or that sort of thing; why, she'd keep him +posted up. "There ain't many girls that could do that," he said to +himself. She would save him worlds of trouble; save his money even, for +coaches and that sort of thing cost money; and then that fellow May +would be out of it; his nose would be put out of joint. These are not +eloquent sentiments, but so it was that Clarence's natural feelings +expressed themselves. He had intimated that he would see Miss Phoebe +home, but May had stalked out side by side with him--had not left them +for a moment; and Clarence determined that he would not stand it any +longer. If there was no other way of shaking this fellow off, why, then +he would make up his mind to it, and propose. + +Phoebe somehow saw all this written in his fine countenance, and she saw +at the same time that poor Reginald, who was (she thought) young and +simple, and just the sort of poor boy to yield to such folly, was in +love with her; and her head was buzzing with the double discovery. The +first was (of course) the most important. She had no time to indulge her +thoughts while she walked up between them, keeping them in play each +with a word, talking all the way to fill up the somewhat sulky silence +between them; but when she got safely within the garden door, and heard +it shut behind her, and found herself in the quiet of the little green +enclosure, with the budding trees and the lilac bushes for her only +companions, the relief was very grateful to her. She could not go in all +at once to make conversation for grandpapa and grandmamma, and give them +the account they liked to hear, of how she had "enjoyed herself." She +took off her hat to be cooler, and walked slowly down under the +moonlight, her head all throbbing and rustling with thought. The paths +were bordered with primroses, which made a pale glimmer in the moon, and +shed a soft fragrance about. Phoebe had nothing to appeal to Heaven +about, or to seek counsel from Nature upon, as sentimental people might +do. She took counsel with herself, the person most interested. What was +the thing she ought to do? Clarence Copperhead was going to propose to +her. She did not even take the trouble of saying to herself that he +loved her; it was Reginald who did that, a totally different person, but +yet the other was more urgent. What was Phoebe to do? She did not dislike +Clarence Copperhead, and it was no horror to her to think of marrying +him. She had felt for years that this might be on the cards, and there +were a great many things in it which demanded consideration. He was not +very wise, nor a man to be enthusiastic about, but he would be a career +to Phoebe. She did not think of it humbly like this, but with a big +capital--a Career. Yes; she could put him into parliament, and keep him +there. She could thrust him forward (she believed) to the front of +affairs. He would be as good as a profession, a position, a great work +to Phoebe. He meant wealth (which she dismissed in its superficial aspect +as something meaningless and vulgar, but accepted in its higher aspect +as an almost necessary condition of influence), and he meant all the +possibilities of future power. Who can say that she was not as romantic +as any girl of twenty could be? only her romance took an unusual form. +It was her head that was full of throbbings and pulses, not her heart. +No doubt there would be difficulties and disagreeables. His father would +oppose it, and Phoebe felt with a slight shiver that his father's +opposition was nothing to be laughed at, and that Mr. Copperhead had it +in him to crush rebellion with a ferocious hand. And would Clarence have +strength of mind or spirit to hold out? This was a very serious +question, and one which included all the rest. If she accepted his +proposal, would he have the heart to stand to it against his father? or +would her consent simply involve her in a humiliating struggle which +would end in defeat? That was the great question. If this should be the +case, what use would there be in any sacrifice that Phoebe might make? A +struggle with Mr. Copperhead would affect her father's position as much +or more than her own, and she knew that a great many of the congregation +would infallibly side with Mr. Copperhead, feeling it a most dangerous +precedent that a pastor's daughter should be encouraged to think herself +eligible for promotion so great, and thus interfere with the more +suitable matrimonial prospects of wealthy young men who might happen to +attend her father's chapel. Such a thing the conscript fathers of the +connection would feel ought to be put a stop to with a high hand. So it +may be supposed that Phoebe had enough to think of, as she strolled +about in the moonlight alone, between the two borders of primroses. +Tozer thought she had gone upstairs to take off her "things," and it was +natural that when a girl got before a looking-glass she should forget +the progress of time; so that he merely wondered at her non-appearance +until the little chill of air stole in from the open door, and made Mrs. +Tozer cough. + +"If it ain't our Phoebe a-walking about in the moonlight like a +play-actor!" said Tozer, in consternation, drawing aside the curtain to +look out. "I'll tell you what, old woman, the girl's in love; and that's +what it is." He thought this was a capital joke, and followed his +witticism with a laugh. + +"Not much wonder, neither, with all them young fellows about," said the +old lady. "You may laugh; but, Tozer, I ain't so easy in my mind as you. +If it's him as they call Northcote, that don't matter; but if it's that +big gabby of a Copperhead, there's troubles a-coming; though he's as +rich, they do say, as Creases, whoever Creases might be, and it would be +a credit to have the girl make a match like that out of our house." + +Whereat Tozer again laughed loud and long. + +"Well," he said, "if Mister Creases himself was here, I wouldn't say as +he was a bit too good for our Phoebe. Don't you trouble your head, old +woman; Copperhead or t'other one, let her make her choice. Phoebe +junior's the girl as'll be their match, and you may take my word for +that. Phoebe's the one as will keep them in their right place, whoever +they may be." + +Phoebe heard this laugh echo out into the quiet of the night. Of course, +she did not know the cause of it, but it disturbed her in her thoughts. +Poor, kind, excellent grandpapa, she said to herself, how would he get +on with Mr. Copperhead? He would touch his forelock to so rich a man. He +would go down metaphorically upon his knees before so much wealth; and +what a fool Clarence would be thought on every side for wanting to marry +her! Even his mother, who was a romantic woman, would not see any +romance in it if it was she, Phoebe, who was the poor girl whom he wanted +to marry. Ursula might have been different, who was a clergyman's +daughter, and consequently a lady by prescriptive right. But herself, +Tozer's granddaughter, Tom Tozer's niece, fresh from the butter-shop, as +it were, and redolent of that petty trade which big trade ignores, as +much as the greatest aristocrat does! Phoebe was too sensible by far to +vex or distress herself on this point, but she recognised it without any +hesitation, and the question remained--was it for her advantage to enter +upon this struggle, about which there could be no mistake, or was it +not? And this question was very difficult. She did not dislike +Clarence, but then she was not in love with him. He would be a Career, +but he was not a Passion, she said to herself with a smile; and if the +struggle should not turn out successful on her part, it would involve a +kind of ruin, not to herself only, but to all concerned. What, then, was +she to do? The only thing Phoebe decided upon was that, if she did enter +upon that struggle, it _must_ be successful. Of this alone there could +be no manner of doubt. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +A DISCLOSURE. + + +"Well, young ladies!" said Mrs. Sam Hurst, "I left you very quiet, but +there seems to be plenty going on now-a-days. What a beautiful moon +there was last night! I put up my window to look at it, and all at once +I found there was a party going on below. Quite a _fete champetre_. I +have newly come from abroad, you know, and it seemed quite congenial. I +actually rubbed my eyes, and said to myself, 'I can't have come home. +It's Boulogne still, it isn't Carlingford!'" + +"There was no company," said Ursula with dignity; "there was only our +own party. A friend of Reginald's and a friend of mine join us often in +the evening, and there is papa's pupil--if you call that a party. We are +just as quiet as when you went away. We never invite strangers. We are +as much by ourselves as ever." + +"With a friend of Reginald's, and a friend of yours, and papa's pupil!" +said Mrs. Hurst, laughing; "double your own number, Ursula! and I don't +suppose Janey counts yet. Why, there is a young man too many. How dare +you waste the gifts of Providence, you prodigal child? And now let me +hear who they are." + +"You may say Janey doesn't count," cried that young woman in person. +"Oh, Mrs. Hurst, what a bore they are! If that's society, I don't care +for society. One always following Ursula about whenever she moves, so +that you can't say a word to her; and the others pulling poor Phoebe to +pieces, who hates them, I am sure. Phoebe was so jolly at first. She +would talk to you, or she would play for you! Why, she taught Johnnie +and me a part-song to sing with her, and said he had a delightful +voice; but she never has any time to look at us now," said Janey, +stopping in this breathless enumeration of wrongs. "She is always taken +up with those horrible men." + +"I suppose you call Reginald a horrible man?" said Ursula, with rising +colour. "If that was my opinion of my own brother, I should take care +not to say it, at least." + +"Oh, Reginald isn't the worst! There's your Mr. Northcote, and there's +that Copperhead--Woodenhead, we call him in the nursery. Oh, how papa +can put up with him, I can't tell! he never had any patience with us. +You can't think how dull he is, Mrs. Hurst! I suppose girls don't mind +when a man _goes on_, whether he's stupid or not. I never heard Mr. +Northcote say much that was interesting either; but he looks clever, and +that is always something." + +"So Mr. Northcote is Ursula's one," said Mrs. Hurst, laughing. "You are +a perfect jewel, Janey, and I don't know how I should ever find out +anything that's going on, but for you. Northcote! it is a new name in +Carlingford. I wonder I have not heard of him already; or have you kept +him entirely to yourself, and let nobody know that there was a new man +in the place?" + +There was a little pause here. The girls knew nothing about Northcote, +except the one fact that he was a Dissenter; but as Mrs. Hurst was an +excellent Churchwoman, much better than they were, who had, perhaps, +been brought up too completely under the shadow of the Church to believe +in it implicitly, they hesitated before pronouncing before her that +unfortunate name. + +"I don't know whether you are aware," Ursula said at last, with some +slowness and reluctance, "that papa's pupil is of a Dissenting family. +He is related, through his mother, to our cousins, the Dorsets." (This +fact Ursula put forth with a little triumph, as refuting triumphantly +any ready conclusion as to the social standing of Dissenters.) "I think +Mr. Northcote came first to the house with Mr. Copperhead. He is a +Dissenter too." + +"Why, Ursula," cried Mrs. Hurst, "not the man who attacked Reginald in +the Meeting? It was all in the papers. He made a frightful violent +speech about the College and the sinecure, and what a disgraceful thing +it was that your brother, a young man, could accept it. You don't mean +him?" + +Ursula was struck dumb. She looked up at her questioner with her lips +falling apart a little, with a look of mingled consternation and fear. + +"Of course it can't be," said the gossip, who was not ill-natured. "You +never read the papers, but your papa does, and so does Reginald. Oh, +you may be sure it is some other Northcote, though I don't know the +name." + +"Ursula doesn't like to tell you," said Janey; "but he's the Dissenting +Minister, I know he is. Well! I don't care! He is just as good as +anybody else. I don't go in for your illiberal ways of thinking, as if +no one was worth talking to except in the Church. Mr. Northcote is very +nice. I don't mind what you say. Do you mean to tell me that all those +curates and people who used to plague our lives out were nicer? Mr. +Saunders, for instance; he is a real good Churchman, I have always heard +people say--" + +"Hold your tongue, Janey; you don't know anything about it," said Mrs. +Hurst, whom this wonderful disclosure elevated into authority. "A +Dissenting Minister! Ah, me! what a thing it is for you poor girls to +have no mother. I did not think your papa would have had so little +consideration as to expose you to society like that. But men are so +thoughtless." + +"I don't know what right you have to speak of exposing us to society +like that," cried Ursula, quivering all over with sudden excitement. + +She felt as if some one had dug a knife into her, and turned it round in +the wound. + +"Men have so little consideration," repeated Mrs. Hurst, "especially +when a girl is concerned. Though how your papa could have received a man +who made such an assault upon him--even if he had passed over the attack +upon Reginald, he was attacked himself." + +"It must be a mistake," said Ursula, growing pale. Her hands came +together half-unconsciously, and clasped in a mute gesture of appeal. +"It is not possible; it cannot be true." + +"Well, it is very odd that your papa should show such charity, I allow. +I don't think it is in human nature. And Reginald, what does Reginald +say? If it is that man, it will be the strangest thing I ever heard of. +But there could not be two Northcotes, Dissenting Ministers in +Carlingford, could there? It is very strange. I can't think what your +papa can have had in his head. He is a man who would do a thing for a +deep reason, whether he liked it or not. How did this Mr. Northcote come +first here?" + +"Oh, it was through Mr. Copperhead," said Janey. "It was the first +dinner-party we had. You should have seen the fright Ursula was in! And +papa would not let me come to dinner, which was a horrid shame. I am +sure I am big enough, bigger than Ursula." + +"If he came with the pupil, that makes it all quite plain. I suppose +your papa did not want to quarrel with his pupil. What a predicament for +him, if that was the case! Poor Mr. May! Of course, he did not want to +be uncivil. Why, it was in the 'Gazette,' and the 'Express,' and all the +papers; an account of the Meeting, and that speech, and then a leading +article upon it. I always file the 'Express,' so you can see it if you +like. But what an embarrassment for your poor papa, Ursula, that you +should have taken this man up! And Reginald, how could he put up with +it, a touchy young man, always ready to take offence? You see now the +drawback of not paying a little attention to what is going on round you. +How uncomfortable you must have made them! It might be very well to look +over an offence, not to be unpleasant to the stranger; but that you +should have thoughtlessly led this man on into the position of an +intimate--" + +"I did nothing of the sort," cried Ursula, growing red and growing pale, +starting up from her work with a sense of the intolerable which she +could not restrain. "What have I done to be spoken of so? I never led +him on, or any one. What you say is cruel, very cruel! and it is not +true." + +"Isn't it true that he was here last night, following you about, as +Janey says? Oh, I know how these sort of things go on. But you ought to +think of your papa's position, and you ought to think of Reginald. If it +was to come to the Bishop's ears that St. Roque's Parsonage was a refuge +for Dissenters! For I know who _your_ friend is, Ursula! That Tozer +girl, another of them! Indeed, I assure you, it makes me feel very +uncomfortable. And Reginald, just at the very beginning of his career." + +Ursula did not make any reply. She bent her head down over her work, so +low that her flushed cheeks could scarcely be seen, and went on +stitching with energy and passion such as needles and thread are seldom +the instruments of; and yet how much passion is continually worked away +through needles and thread! Mrs. Hurst sat still for some time, looking +at her, very little satisfied to keep silence, but feeling that she had +discharged an efficient missile, and biting her lips not to say more to +weaken its effect. When some time had passed in this way, and it was +apparent that Ursula had no intention of breaking the silence, her +visitor got up and shook out her skirts with a little flutter of +indignation. + +"You are offended," she said, "though I must say it is very ill on your +part to be offended. What motive can I have but your good, and regard +for your poor dear papa? It is he that is always the victim, poor man, +whether it is your vagaries he has to pay for, or Reginald's +high-flying. Oh, yes; you may be as angry as you like, Ursula; but you +will find out the difference if your encouragement of this Dissenter +interferes with something better--a living for Reginald, perhaps, or +better preferment for your poor papa." + +"Oh!" cried Janey, awe-stricken; "but after all, it was not Ursula; it +was papa himself. I think he must have done it to please Mr. Copperhead; +for, Mrs. Hurst, you know Mr. Copperhead is very important. We have all +to give in to him. He pays papa three hundred a-year." + +"Three thousand wouldn't make up for it if it spoilt all your career," +cried the indignant woman, and she swept away without saying any more to +Ursula, who kept quite still over her work without budging. Janey went +downstairs meekly after her to open the door, whispering an entreaty +that she would not be angry. + +"No, no, I am not angry," said Mrs. Hurst, "but I shall keep it up for a +day or two. It is the best thing for her. I think she was struck with +what I said." + +Janey stole upstairs again, feeling rather guilty; but Ursula took +little notice of her. The dinner was ordered and everything settled for +the day. She was busy with her week's mending and darning, with the +stockings and other things in a big basket beside her. When she came to +some articles belonging to Janey, she threw them out with great +impatience. + +"You may surely mend your things yourself, you are big enough. You can +talk for yourself and me too," cried Ursula with sudden impetuosity; and +then she sat and worked, her needle flying through the meshes of her +darning, though it is hard to darn stockings in that impassioned way. +They were socks of Johnnie's, however, with holes in the heels that you +could put your fist through, and the way in which the big spans filled +themselves up under this influence was wonderful to see. Janey, who was +not fond of mending, set to work quite humbly under the influence of +this example, and made two or three attempts to begin a conversation but +without avail. + +The girls were seated thus in a disturbed and restless silence, working +as if for their lives, when the usual little jar of the gate and sound +of the bell downstairs announced a visitor. On ordinary occasions, they +were both in the habit of rushing to the window when the gate was opened +to see who was coming, and Janey had thrown aside her work to do so when +a look from Ursula stopped her. High-spirited as Janey was, she did not +dare to disobey that look. By right of the passion that had got +possession of her, Ursula took the absolute command of the situation in +a way she had never done before, and some sudden intuition made her +aware who it was who was coming. The girls both sat there still and +breathless, waiting for his appearance. He never came in the day, never +had been seen in the Parsonage at that hour before, and yet Ursula was +as certain who it was as if she had seen him a mile off. He came into +the room, himself looking a little breathless and disturbed, and gave a +quick impatient look at Janey as he went up to her sister. Ursula saw it +and understood well enough. Janey was in his way; he had come this +morning with a special purpose. Her heart sank down to her very shoes, +and then rose again with a feverish and unreal leap. Was it not her duty +to take the initiative, to cut away the very ground from beneath his +feet? He took a seat, not far from where she was sitting, and made an +effort to begin a little ordinary conversation, throwing frequent +glances at Janey. He said it was a fine day, which was self-evident; +that he almost feared they would be out; that he had come to--to +tell her something he had forgotten last night, about--yes, +about--Cassiopeia's chair, to correct what he said about Orion--yes, +that was it; and again he looked at Janey, who saw his looks, and +wondered much what she ought to do--go away, as he evidently wished her, +or stay and listen, which was the eager desire of her mind. When Ursula +lifted her head from her darning, and looked at him with cheeks +alternately white and crimson, Janey felt herself grow hot and +breathless with kindred excitement, and knew that the moment had come. + +"Mr. Northcote," said Ursula, looking at him fixedly, so fixedly that a +nervous trembling ran over him, "I have a question to ask you. You have +been coming to us very often, and perhaps papa may know, but I don't. Is +it true that you made a speech about Reginald when you first came here?" + +Janey, looking eagerly on, saw Northcote grow pale, nay, grey in the +fresh daylight. The colour seemed to ebb out of him. He started very +slightly, as if waking up, when she began to speak, and then sat looking +at her, growing greyer and greyer. A moment elapsed before he made any +reply. + +"Yes, I did," he said, with a half-groan of pain in his voice. + +"You did! really you did! Oh!" cried Ursula, the hot tears falling +suddenly out of her eyes, while she still looked at him, "I was hoping +that it was all some horrible mistake, that you would have laughed. I +hoped you would laugh and say no." + +Northcote cleared his throat; they were waiting for him to defend +himself. Janey, holding herself on the leash, as it were, keeping +herself back from springing upon him like a hound. Ursula gazed at him +with great blazing reproachful eyes; and all he could do was to give +that sign of embarrassment, of guilt, and confusion. He could not utter +a word. By the time he had got himself wound up to the point of speech, +Ursula, impatient, had taken the words out of his mouth. + +"Reginald is my brother," she said. "Whatever is against him is against +us all; we have never had any separate interests. Didn't you think it +strange, Mr. Northcote, to come to this house, among us all, when you +had been so unkind to him?" + +"Miss May--" + +He made a broken sort of outcry and motion of his head, and then cleared +his throat nervously once more. + +"Did you think how your own brothers and sisters would have stood up for +you? that it would have been an offence to them if anybody had come to +the house who was not a friend to you? that they would have had a +right--" + +"Miss May," said the culprit; "all this I have felt to the bottom of my +heart; that I was here on false pretences--that I had no right to be +here. But this painful feeling was all quenched and extinguished, and +turned into gratitude by the goodness of your father and brother. I did +not even know that you had not been told. I thought you were aware from +the beginning. You were colder than they were, and I thought it was +natural, quite natural, for it is easier to forgive for one's self than +for those one loves; and then I thought you melted and grew kinder to +me, that you saw how all my ideas were changed, all my feelings--my mind +itself; changed by the great charity, the wonderful goodness I have +found here!" + +"Mr. Northcote!" Ursula had been struggling to break in all the time; +but while he spoke her words dispersed, her feelings softened, and at +the end she found nothing but that startled repetition of his name with +which to answer him. No doubt if he had given her time the eloquence +would have come back; but he was too much in earnest to be guilty of +such a mistake. + +"What can I say about it?" cried the young man. "It has filled me with +shame and with happiness. I have been taken in my own trap--those whom I +attacked as you say--went out of my way to attack, and abused like a +fool because I knew nothing about them--have shown me what the Bible +means. Your father and brother knew what I had done, they met me +separately, quite independent of each other, and both of them held out +their hands to me; why, except that I had offended them, I cannot tell. +A stranger, belonging to an obscure class, I had no claim upon them +except that I had done what ought to have closed their house against +me. And you know how they have interpreted that. They have shown me what +the Bible means." + +The two girls sat listening, both with their heads bent towards him, and +their eyes fixed upon his face. When he stopped, Janey got up with her +work in her lap, and coming a little nearer to Ursula, addressed her in +a wondering voice. + +"Is it _papa_ he is talking of like that?" she said, under her breath. + +"Yes," he said, fervently, turning to her. "It is your father. He has +made charity and kindness real things to me." + +"Poor papa!" said Ursula, whose tears were arrested in her eyes by the +same surprised sensation, half-pleasure, half-pain, which hushed even +Janey's voice. They were "struck," as Mrs. Hurst had said, but by such a +strange mingling of feelings that neither knew what to make of them. +Northcote did not understand what they meant; their words conveyed a +slight shock of surprise, but no distinct idea to him; and when Janey, +too much impressed to settle down again, went away after a while +musingly, carrying her work in the upper skirt of her gown, held like a +market-woman's apron by her elbow against her side; and he found himself +to have attained in the very confusion of his intentions to what he +wished, i.e., an interview with Ursula by herself, he was almost too +much agitated to take advantage of it. As for Ursula, she had floated a +hundred miles away from that sensation of last night which, had no +stronger feeling come in to bewilder her, would have made his errand +very plain to her mind. She had ceased to think about him, she was +thinking with a certain tenderness, and wondering, half-awed, +half-amused, self-questioning, about her father. Was he so good as this? +had he done this Christian action? were they all perhaps doing papa +injustice? She was recalled to herself by Northcote's next proceeding. +He went to the door and closed it after Janey, who had left it open, of +course, and then he came to the back of the chair on which stood the +great basket of darning. His voice was tremulous, his eyes liquid and +shining with emotion. + +"Will you forgive me, since they have forgiven me? and may I ask _you_ +something?" he said. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +AN EXTRAVAGANCE. + + +Mr. May did not take any particular notice of what was going on around +him among the young people. Nobody could have been more startled than +he, had he been told of the purpose with which Horace Northcote, the +Dissenting minister, had paid his early morning visit; and though he had +a half-scornful, half-amused glimmer of insight into the feelings of his +son, and saw that Clarence Copperhead was heavily veering the same way, +it did not occur to him that any crisis was approaching. He was enjoying +himself in his way, and he had not done that for a long time. He dearly +liked the better way of living, the more liberal strain of housekeeping +and expenditure; he liked the social meetings in the evening, the talk +after dinner with the three young men, the half-fatherly flirtation with +Phoebe, which she too enjoyed much, avowedly preferring him, with pretty +coquetry, to the others. All this was very pleasant to him; and the +additional money in his pocket was very pleasant, and when the post came +in, one of these April mornings, and brought a letter from James, +enclosing a draft for fifty pounds, his satisfaction was intense. The +sight of the money brought an itching to his fingers, a restlessness +about him generally. And yet it was not all that might have been +desired, only fifty pounds! he had been buoying himself up by vain +thoughts of how James this time, having been so long writing, would send +a larger sum, which would at once tide him over the Tozer business, and +on this account had been giving himself no trouble about it. Never +before had he been so _insouciant_, although never before had the risk +been so great. He had suffered so much about it last time, probably, +that was why he took it so easily now; or was it because his trust in +the chapter of accidents had grown greater since he was more dependent +on it? or because of the generally expanded sense of living in him which +made anxiety uncongenial anyhow? Whatever the cause was, this was the +effect. A momentary disappointment when he saw how little James's draft +was--then a sense of that semi-intoxication which comes upon a poor man +when a sum of money falls into his hands--gradually invaded his soul. He +tried to settle down to his writing, but did not feel equal to the +effort. It was too little for the purpose, he said to himself, for which +he wanted it; but it was enough to do a great many pleasant things with +otherwise. For the first time he had no urgent bills to swallow it up; +the very grocer, a long-suffering tradesman who made less fuss than the +others, and about whom Ursula made less fuss, had been pacified by a +payment on account of the Copperhead money, and thus had his mouth +stopped. Barring that bill, indeed, things were in a more comfortable +state than they had been for a long time in the May household; and +putting that out of account, James's money would have been the nearest +approach to luxury--reckoning luxury in its most simple form as money to +spend without any absolutely forestalling claim upon it--which Mr. May +had known for years. It is so seldom that poor people have this +delicious sense of a little, ever so little surplus! and it would be +hard to say how he could entertain the feeling that it was an overplus. +There was something of the fumes of desperation perhaps, and impending +fate in the lightness of heart which seized upon him. He could not keep +still over his writing. He got up at last, and put James's draft into +his pocket-book, and got his hat to go out. It was a fine morning, full +of that exhilaration which belongs only to the spring. He went to the +bank, and paid in the money, getting a small sum at the same time for +his own immediate use; but somehow his restlessness was scarcely +satisfied by that very legitimate piece of business, and he extended his +walk into the town, and strayed, half by chance, half by intention, to +the old furniture shop at the other end of the High Street, which was a +favourite resort of the higher classes in Carlingford, and where +periodically there was an auction, at which sometimes great bargains +were to be had. Mr. May went into this dangerous place boldly. The sale +was going on; he walked into the midst of temptation, forgetting the +prayer against it, which no doubt he had said that morning. And as evil +fate would have it, a carved book-case, the very thing he had been +sighing for, for years, was at that moment the object of the +auctioneer's praises. It was standing against the wall, a noble piece of +furniture, in which books would show to an advantage impossible +otherwise, preserved from dust and damp by the fine old oak and glass +door. Mr. May's heart gave a little jump. Almost everybody has wished +for something unattainable, and this had been the object of his desires +for years. He gave a little start when he saw it, and hurried forward. +The bidding had actually begun; there was no time to think and consider, +if he wished to have a chance, and it was going cheap, dead cheap. +After a minute or two of competition the blood rose to his cheeks, he +got thoroughly excited. The effect of this excitement was two-fold--not +only did it drive all thought of prudence out of his head, but it raised +by several pounds the price of the book-case, which, had he gone about +it coolly, he might have had at a much cheaper rate. When he suddenly +woke up to find himself the owner of it, a thrill of consternation ran +over him--it was all so sudden; and it was perfectly innocent, if only +he had any money; and to be sure he had James's money, which was not +enough to do anything else--certainly not to do the thing he wanted it +for. He tried to laugh at himself for the little thrill of alarm that +ran through him; but it was too late to recede; and he gave his cheque +for the money and his directions as to having it sent to the Parsonage, +with a quake at his heart, yet a little flourish of satisfaction. + +"Just what I have been wanting for years," he said, as he examined his +new acquisition, and the people about looked at him with additional +respect he felt, not being used to see Mr. May so prompt in payment, and +so ready with his money. This pleased him also. He walked home with his +head a little turned still, although there was a quake and flutter +underneath. Well! he said to himself, who could call it an extravagance? +a thing he had wanted for years--a thing which was a necessity, not for +luxury, but everyday use--a thing which was not dear, and which was very +handsome and substantial, and _really good_; how could any one say it +was extravagant? Ursula might stare with her big eyes, but she was only +a silly little girl, and women always were silly about expenses, alarmed +by a big bold handsome purchase, though there was nobody better at the +art of frittering away money in pretty nothings. When he got home, he +began at once nervously to clear the space where it should stand. What +an improvement it would be! and his books were getting spoiled daily in +those unsightly, open shelves, entirely spoiled. It was exciting to +anticipate its arrival, and the admiration and commotion in the house. +He called in Betsy and gave her orders about it; how, if it came when he +was absent, it was to be put in that particular place, no other. + +"And mind that great care is taken, for it is valuable, and a beautiful +piece of furniture," he said. + +"La, sir!" said Betsy, who was thunderstruck, though she knew it was not +"her place" to show any feeling. He did not think it was necessary to +appeal to Ursula on the same subject, but was rather glad to get out +again, feeling the restlessness which had not been dissipated, but +rather the reverse. He went and saw one or two poor people, to whom he +was much more tolerant and kind than his wont, for in general Mr. May +was not attracted towards the poor; and he gave them a shilling or two +of the money he had drawn at the bank that morning--though somehow it +had acquired a certain value in his eyes, and it was with a grudge that +he took it out of his pocket. I must not spend this, he said to himself; +but gave the shillings as a kind of tithe or propitiatory offering to +Providence, that things might go well with him. Why should not things go +well with him? He was not a bad man, he wronged nobody. He had done +nothing to-day that a saint might not have done; he wanted the +book-case, and he had the money, a sum not big enough for any more +important purpose; but which was far better disposed of so than +frittered away in nothings, as no doubt it would have otherwise been. By +the afternoon, when the book-case arrived, he had convinced himself that +it was not only quite reasonable, but a most lucky chance, a thing he +could scarcely have hoped for, the opportunity and the money both coming +in such exact accord with each other. When he returned from his walk the +girls were looking at it, Ursula somewhat scared, Janey in open +raptures. + +"It is very nice indeed, papa," said the elder girl; "but it must have +cost a deal of money." + +"Be thankful that you haven't got to pay for it," he said, brusquely. He +was not disposed to stand criticism. How it filled up his bare room, and +made it, Mr. May thought, all at once into a library, though the old +writing-table and shabby chairs looked rather worse perhaps than before, +and suggested renewal in the most urgent way. To make it all of a piece, +to put a soft Turkey carpet instead of the drugget, how pleasant it +would be!--not extravagant, only a natural inclination towards the +seemly, and a desire to have things around him becoming his position. No +doubt such things were things which he ought to have in his position; a +gentleman and a scholar, how humiliating it was that nothing but the +barest elements of comfort should be within his reach. This was not how +life ought to be; a poor creature like Clarence Copperhead, without +birth, or breeding, or brains, or anything but money, was able to +gratify every wish, while he--his senior, his superior! Instead of +blaming himself, therefore, for his self-indulgence, Mr. May sympathized +with himself, which is a much less safe thing to do; and accordingly, it +soon began to appear to him that his self-denial all this time in not +giving himself what he wanted had been extreme, and that what he had now +done, in conceding himself so harmless a gratification, was what he +ought to have done years ago. It was his own money sent to him by his +dutiful son without conditions; and who had any right to interfere? + +When he was at dinner, Betsy came behind his chair under pretence of +serving him; Betsy, whose place was in the kitchen, who had no right to +show in the dining-room at all, and whose confused toilette had caught +Ursula's eye and filled her with horror. + +"Please, sir," she said, breathing hot on Mr. May's ear, till he shrank +with sensitive horror. "Cotsdean's in the kitchen. He says as how he +must see you; and I can't get him away." + +"Ah, Cotsdean? tell him if he has anything to say to me, to write it +down." + +"Which he's done, sir," said Betsy, producing a little bit of paper +rolled tightly together, "but I wasn't to give it till I'd asked you to +see him. Oh, please see him, sir, like a dear good gentleman. He looks +like a man as is going off his head." + +"He is a fool," said Mr. May, taking the paper, but setting his teeth as +he did so. Evidently he must get rid of this fellow--already beginning +to trouble him, as if he was not the best person to know when and how +far he could go. + +"Tell him I'll attend to it, he need not trouble himself," he said, and +put the paper into his pocket, and went on with his dinner. Cotsdean, +indeed! surely there had been enough of him. What were his trumpery +losses in comparison with what his principal would lose, and how dare +that fellow turn up thus and press him continually for his own poor +selfish safety? This was not how Mr. May had felt three months before; +but everything changes, and he felt that he had a right to be angry at +this selfish solicitude. Surely it was of as much consequence to him at +least as to Cotsdean. The man was a fussy disagreeable fool, and nothing +more. + +And as it happened they sat late that night at dinner, without any +particular reason, because of some discussion into which Clarence and +Reginald fell, so that it was late before Mr. May got back to his room, +where his books were lying in a heap waiting their transportation. They +seemed to appeal to him also, and ask him reproachfully how they had got +there, and he went to work arranging them all with all the enthusiasm +natural to a lover of books. He was a book-lover, a man full of fine +tastes and cultured elegant ways of thinking. If he had been extravagant +(which he was not) it would have been in the most innocent, nay +delightful and laudable way. To attach any notion of criminality, any +suspicion of wrong-doing to such a virtuous indulgence, how unjust it +would be! There was no company upstairs that evening. Copperhead had +strolled out with Reginald to smoke his cigar, much against the will of +the latter, and was boring him all the way to the College with accounts +of his own lavish expenditure, and how much he had given for this and +that; his cameos, his diamond studs, the magnificent dressing-case which +was the wonder of the Parsonage. "Hang it all, what is the good of +having money if you don't spend it?" said Clarence, and Reginald, who +had not much money to spend, felt as near hating him as it was in his +nature to do. Thus Mr. May was released from duty in the drawing-room, +where Ursula, palpitating with many thoughts which were altogether new +to her, sat doing her darning, and eluding as well as she could Janey's +questions. Janey was determinedly conversational that night. She drove +Ursula nearly out of her senses, and kept Johnnie--who had crept into +the drawing-room in high delight at finding it for once free to +him--from learning his lessons. + +"Oh, how nice it is to be by ourselves," said Janey, "instead of all +those new people. I don't mind Phoebe; but strange men in the house, what +a nuisance they are, always getting in one's way--don't you think so, +Ursula?" + +Ursula made no reply, and after awhile even Janey sank into silence, and +the drawing-room, usually so gay, got a cold and deserted look. The new +life which had come in had left its mark, and to go back to what had +once been so pleasant in the past was no longer possible. Johnnie and +Janey might like it, having regained their former places, but to Ursula +the solitude was horrible. She asked herself, with a great blush and +quiver, what she would do if that temporary filling up of new interests +and relationships was to fall away, as was likely, and leave her to the +old life unbroken, to Janey's childish society and questions, and papa's +imperious and unmodified sway. She grew pale and chill at the very +thought. + +But Mr. May, as we have said, was off duty. He forgot all about Cotsdean +and the note in his pocket, and set to work with the most boyish +simplicity of delight to arrange his books in his new shelves. How well +they looked! never before had their setting done them justice. There +were books in gorgeous bindings, college prizes which had never shown at +all, and which now gleamed out in crimson and gold from behind the +glass, and made their owner's heart beat with pleasure. Alas! to think +how much innocent pleasure is denied us by the want of that small sum of +money! and worse still, how an innocent pleasure becomes the reverse of +innocent when it is purchased by the appropriation of something which +should have been employed elsewhere. Perhaps, however, the sense of +guilt which he kept under, added zest in Mr. May's mind to the pleasure +of his acquisition; he was snatching a fearful joy, Heaven knows how +soon the penalty might overwhelm him. In the mean time he was determined +to take the good of it, and enjoy what he had gained. + +When the books were all in he sat down at his table and surveyed it, +rubbing his dusty hands. How much that is childish, how much that is +fresh, and youthful, and innocent must be in the mind of a man (you +would say) who could be thus excited about a book-case! and yet this was +not the kind of man whom you would call unsophisticated and youthful. It +was probably the state of suppressed excitement in which he was, the +unreality of his position, that helped him to that sense of elation as +much as anything else; for emotion is a Proteus ready to take any form, +and pain itself sometimes finds vent in the quick blazing up of +fictitious delight, as much as in the moanings that seem more accordant +with its own nature. He put his hand into his pocket for his pencil to +make a note of the contents of the new shelves, and then he found +Cotsdean's note, which he had not forgotten, but which he had felt no +desire to remember. When he felt it between his fingers his countenance +fell a little; but he took it out and read it with the smile still upon +his face. It was a dirty little roll of paper, scribbled in pencil. + + "Rev. Sir, + + "I hope as you are not forgetting the 15th. Pleas excuse + anxiety and bad writing, i am a poor nervous man I no, a + word of answer just to say as it is all right will much + oblidge. + + "Rev. Sir, + "Your humble servant, + "T. COTSDEAN." + +Betsy knocked at the door as he read this, with a request for an answer +to Mr. Cotsdean's note. "Little Bobby, sir, is waiting for it in the +kitchen." + +"Give Bobby some supper," said Mr. May, "tell him to tell his father +it's all right, and I shan't forget. You understand? He is a troublesome +little fool; but it's all right, and I shan't forget, and give the child +some supper, Betsy. He ought not to be out so late." + +"He is a delicate little thing, sir, thankye, sir," said Betsy, +half-frightened by her master's amiability; and he smiled and repeated, + +"Tell him it's all right." + +Was it all right, the 15th? Cotsdean must have made a mistake. Mr. May's +countenance paled, and the laugh went off; he opened a drawer in his +writing-table and took out a book, and anxiously consulted an entry in +it. It was the 18th certainly, as clear as possible. Something had been +written on the opposite page, and had blotted slightly the one on which +these entries were written; but there it stood, the 18th April. Mr. May +prided himself on making no mistakes in business. He closed the book +again with a look of relief, the smile coming back once more to his +face. The 18th, it was three days additional, and in the time there was +no doubt that he would find out what was the right thing to do. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE MILLIONNAIRE. + + +When Mr. May woke next morning, it was not the book-case he thought of, +but that date which had been the last thing in his mind on the previous +night. Not the 15th,--the 18th. Certainly he was right, and Cotsdean was +wrong. Cotsdean was a puzzle-headed being, making his calculations by +the rule of thumb; but he had put down the date, and there could be no +possible mistake about it. He got up disposed to smile at the poor man's +ignorance and fussy restlessness of mind. "I have never left him in the +lurch, he may trust to me surely in the future," Mr. May said to +himself, and smiled with a kind of condescending pity for his poor +agent's timidity; after all, perhaps, as Cotsdean had so little profit +by it, it was not wonderful that he should be uneasy. After this, it +might be well if they did anything further of the sort, to divide the +money, so that Cotsdean too might feel that he had got something for the +risk he ran; but then, to be sure, if he had not the money he had no +trouble, except by his own foolish anxiety, for the payment, and always +a five-pound note or two for his pains. But Mr. May said to himself that +he would do no more in this way after the present bill was disposed of; +no, he would make a stand, he would insist upon living within his +income. He would not allow himself to be subject to these perpetual +agitations any more. It would require an effort, but after the effort +was made all would be easy. So he said to himself; and it was the 18th, +not the 15th, three days more to make his arrangements in. It had come +to be the 12th now, and up to this moment he had done nothing, having +that vague faith in the Indian mail which had been realized, and yet had +not been realized. But still he had nearly a week before him, which was +enough certainly. Anything that he could do in six months, he said to +himself, he could easily do in six days--the mere time was nothing; and +he smiled as he dressed himself leisurely, thinking it all over. Somehow +everything looked perfectly easy to him this time; last time he had been +plunged into tragic despair; now, and he did not know why, he took it +quite easily; he seemed to fear nothing. There were various ways of +getting the money as natural as the daylight, and in the mean time why +should he make himself unhappy? As soon as he was ready he went to his +room and had another look at the book-case which, with his best books in +it, all in order and ranged in unbroken lines, looked everything a +book-case ought to look. It made him feel more of a man somehow, more +like the gentleman and scholar he had meant to be when he started in +life; he had not intended then to be a poor district incumbent all his +life, with a family of eight children. His book-case somehow transported +him back to the days when he had thought of better things for himself, +and when life had held an ideal for him. Perhaps at the best of times it +had never been a very high ideal; but when a man is over fifty and has +given up doing anything but struggle through each day as it comes, and +get out of his work as best he may, doing what he must, leaving undone +what he can, any ideal almost seems something higher than himself; but +the recollection of what he had meant to be, came back to him strongly +when he looked at his carved oak. It had not been carried out; but still +he felt rehabilitated and better in his own opinion as he stood beside +this costly purchase he had made, and felt that it changed his room and +all his surroundings. It might have been almost wicked to run into such +an extravagance, but yet it did him good. + +"My people came down to the Hall last night," Clarence Copperhead said +to him at breakfast, "and the Governor is coming over along with Sir +Robert. He'd like to see you, I am sure, and I suppose they'll be going +in for sight-seeing, and that sort of thing. He is a dab at +sight-seeing, is the Governor. I can't think how he can stand it for my +part." + +"Then you must remember that I put myself at his orders for the day," +said Mr. May graciously. "Sir Robert is not a bad guide, but I am a +better, though it sounds modest to say it; and, Ursula, of course Mr. +Copperhead will take luncheon with us." + +"Don't think of that," said Clarence, "he's queer and likes his own way. +Just as likely as not he'll think he ought to support the hotels of the +place where he is--sort of local production, you know. I think it's +nonsense, but that is how it is--that's the man." + +"We shall look for him all the same," said Mr. May, with a nod at +Ursula; and a sudden project sprang up in his mind, wild as projects so +often are. This father whom his fancy, working upon what Clarence said, +immediately invested with all the prodigal liberality of a typical rich +man; this stranger to whom a hundred pounds was less then a penny was to +himself, would give him the money he wanted. What so easy? He drew a +long breath, and though he had not been aware that he was anxious, he +was suddenly conscious of a sense of relief. Yes, to be sure, what so +simple, what so likely? he would explain his monetary necessities +lightly and with grace, and Mr. Copperhead would supply them. He was in +the mildest state of desperation, the painless stage, as may be seen, +when this strange idea entered into his head. He hugged it, though he +was a man of the world and might have known better, and it produced a +kind of elation which would have been a very strange spectacle to any +looker-on who knew what it meant. The thing seemed done when he next +thought of it ten minutes later, settled as if it had been so for years. +Mr. Copperhead would make it all right for him, and after that he would +undertake such risks no more. + +Mr. Copperhead, however, did not come for two days, though Ursula spent +all the morning and a great deal of trouble in arranging a luncheon for +him; but on the second morning he came, driven by Sir Robert, who had +changed horses on the road, and who was in a somewhat irritated and +excited condition, very glad to get rid of his visitor. + +"I hope you don't mind having your toes trodden on, May," he said, +privately; "that fellow is never happy but when he's insulting some +one." And indeed Mr. Copperhead began this favourite pastime at once by +making very big eyes at the sight of Ursula. "A-ha!" he said, rubbing +his hands, and elevating his eyebrows; and he gave a meaning laugh as he +shook hands with her, and declared that he did not expect to find young +ladies here. "I haven't a great deal of education myself, and I never +knew it could be carried on so pleasantly," he said. "You're a lucky +young dog, Clar, that's what you are;" and the son laughed with the +father at this excellent joke, though the rest of the company looked on +with great gravity. Ursula, for her part, turned with wondering eyes +from the new-comer to her old friend, Sir Robert. + +"What does he mean?" she asked, with an appealing look. + +"He is the greatest brute I know," said poor Sir Robert, under his +breath; and he went off suddenly on the plea of business, leaving his +unpleasant visitor in Mr. May's hands, who undertook the charge not +unwillingly, being possessed by his own plan. Mr. Copperhead went all +over Carlingford. He inspected the town-hall, the infirmary, and the +church, with the business-like air of a man who was doing his duty. + +"Poor little place, but well enough for the country," he said. "A +country-town's a mistake in my opinion. If I had it in my power I'd raze +them all to the ground, and have one London and the rest green fields. +That's your sort, Mr. May. Now you don't produce anything here, what's +the good of you? All unproductive communities, sir, ought to be swept +off the face of the earth. I'd let Manchester and those sort of places +go on till they burst; but a bit of a little piggery like this, where +there's nothing doing, no trade, no productions of any kind." + +"We like it all the same," said Mr. May; "we small sort of people who +have no enterprise like you--" + +"I dare say you like it! To be sure, you can moon about here as much as +you please, and make believe to do something, and there's nobody to +contradict you. In a great centre of industry you couldn't live like +that; you must work or you'll get pushed aside altogether; unless, of +course, you're a millionnaire to start with," Mr. Copperhead added, with +a noisy laugh. + +"Which I am not certainly--very much the reverse--in short, a poor man +with a large family, which I suppose is a thing about as objectionable +in a centre of industry as anything can be." + +"The large family ain't objectionable if you make 'em work," said Mr. +Copperhead; "it all depends on that. There's always objections, you +know," he said, with a jocular grin, "to pretty girls like that daughter +of yours put straight in a young fellow's way. You won't mind my saying +it? They neither work themselves nor let others work--that sort. I think +we could get on with a deal fewer women, I must allow. There's where +Providence is in a mistake. We don't want 'em in England; it's a waste +of raw material. They're bad for the men, and they ain't much good for +themselves, that I can see." + +"You are a little hard upon the ladies, Mr. Copperhead." + +"Not I--we can't do without 'em of course, and the surplus we ought to +export as we export other surpluses; but I object to them in a young +man's way, not meaning anything unpleasant to you. And perhaps if I had +been put up to it sooner--but let's hope there's no mischief done. What +is this now? some of your antiquities, I suppose. Oh yes, let's have a +look at it; but I confess it's the present age I like best." + +"This is the College," cried Mr. May, swallowing certain sensations +which impaired his sense of friendliness; "but not an educational +college, a foundation for old men--decayed citizens, as they are +called--founded in the fifteenth century. My son is the chaplain, and +will be very glad to show it you. There are twelve old men here at +present, very comfortably looked after, thanks to the liberal +arrangements of the founder. They attend chapel twice a day, where +Reginald officiates. It is very agreeable to me to have him settled so +near me." + +"Cunning I call it," said Mr. Copperhead, with his hoarse laugh; "does +you credit; a capital snug nest--nothing to do--and pay--pay good now? +those old fellows generally managed that; as it was priests that had the +doing of it, of course they did well for their own kind. Good Lord, what +a waste of good money all this is!" he continued, as they went into the +quadrangle, and saw the little park beyond with its few fine trees; +"half-a-dozen nice villas might be built on this site, and it's just the +sort of place I should fancy where villas would pay. Why don't the +Corporation lay hands on it? And your son lives here? Too dull for me; I +like a little movement going on, but I dare say he likes it; and with +how much a year?" + +"Two hundred and fifty; and some advantages beside--" + +"Bravo!" said Mr. Copperhead, "now how many curates could you get for +that two and a-half? I've got a great respect for you, Mr. May; you know +what's what. That shows sense, that does. How do you do, sir? fine old +place you've got here--capital snug appointment. I've just been saying +to your father I admire his sense, looking out for you a nice fat easy +appointment like this." + +Reginald turned from red to white, and then to portentous blackness. The +subject was of all others the one least likely to please him. + +"It is not very fat," he said, with a look of offence, quite undeserved +by the chief sufferer, towards his father, "nor very easy. But come in. +It is rather an interesting old place. I suppose you would like to see +the Chapel, and the old captain's rooms; they are very fine in their +way." + +"Thank you; we've been seeing a deal already, and I feel tired. I think +I'll--let you off the chapel. Hallo! here's another old +friend--Northcote, by George! and what are _you_ doing here I should +like to know, a blazing young screamer of the Liberation Society, in a +high and dry parson's rooms? This is as good as a play." + +"I suppose one is not required to stay at exactly the same point of +opinion all one's life," said Northcote, with a half-smile. + +"By George! but you are though, when you're a public man; especially +when you're on a crusade. Haven't I heard you call it a crusade? I can +tell you that changing your opinion is just the very last thing the +public will permit you to do. But I shan't tell for my part--make +yourself easy. Clarence, don't you let it out; your mother, fortunately, +is out of the way. The world shall never know through me that young +Northcote, the anti-state Churchman, was discovered hob-nobbing with a +snug chaplain in a sinecure appointment. Ha, ha! had you there." + +"To do Northcote justice," said Mr. May; "he began life in Carlingford +by pointing out this fact to the neighbourhood; that it was a sinecure, +and that my son and I--" + +"Would it not be more to the point to inspect the chapel?" said +Reginald, who had been standing by impatiently playing with a big key; +upon which Mr. Copperhead laughed more loudly than before. + +"We'll not trouble the chapel," he said, "railway stations are more in +my way; you are all a great deal finer than I am, and know a deal more, +I suppose; but my roughness has served its purpose on the whole, better +perhaps for some things--yes, for some things, Clar, and you may thank +your stars, old boy. If you had been a parson's son, by George! there +would have been no fat appointment waiting for you." + +"After all, my son's appointment is not so very fat," said Mr. May, +forcing a laugh. "It is not so much as many a boy at school gets from +his father." + +"Ah, you mean my boy at school! he's an extravagant dog. His mother and +he, sir, are made of different clay from me; they are porcelain and I am +delft. They want fine velvet cupboards to stand themselves in, while I'm +for the kitchen dresser. That's the difference. But I can afford it, +thank Heaven. I tell Clarence that he may thank his stars that I can +afford it, and that he isn't born a poor man's son. He has been plucked +at Oxford, you know," he said, with a big laugh, thrusting forth his +chest as Clarence thrust forth his shirt-front, with an apparent +complacency over the very plucking. My son can afford to be plucked, he +seemed to say. He got up as he spoke, and approaching the fireplace +turned his back to it, and gathered up his coat-tails under his arm. He +was no taller than Mr. May, and very little taller than Reginald; but +they both shrank into insignificance beside the big self-assertive +figure. He looked about the room as if he was thinking of "buying up" +the whole contents of it, and thought very little of them. A glance of +contempt, a shrug more implied than actual, testified his low opinion of +everything around. When he withdrew his eyes from the furniture he shook +out his leg, as Clarence had done his, and gave a pull to his trousers +that they might sit properly. He had the word "Rich" painted in big +letters all over him, and he seemed to feel it his vocation to show this +sense of superiority. Clarence by his side, the living copy of the great +man's appearance and manners, strutted and put himself forward like his +father, as a big calf might place itself beside the parent cow. Mr. +Copperhead did not look upon his offspring, however, with the cow's +motherly complacency. He laughed at him openly, with cynical amusement. +He was clever in his way, and Clarence was stupid; and besides he was +the proprietor, and Clarence, for all he was porcelain, was his goods +and chattels. When he looked at him, a wicked leer of derision awoke in +his eye. + +"Yes, my boy," he said, "thank your stars; you would not make much of it +if you were a poor man. You're an ornament that costs dear; but I can +afford you. So, Northcote, you're changing your opinions--going over to +the Church, eh? Extremes meet, they say; I shouldn't have thought it--" + +"I am doing nothing of the kind," said Northcote stoutly. He was not in +a mood to be taken to task by this Mammon of unrighteousness, and indeed +had at all times been a great deal too independent and unwilling to +submit to leading members of the connection. Mr. Copperhead, however, +showed no resentment. Northcote too, like Clarence, had a father before +him, and stood on quite a different footing from the ordinary young +pastor, whose business it was to be humble and accept all that his +betters might portion out. + +"Well," he said, "you can afford to please yourself, and that's always +something. By the way, isn't it time to have something to eat? If there +is a good hotel near--" + +"Luncheon will be waiting at my house," said Mr. May, who was still +doing his best to please the man upon whom he had built such wild hopes, +"and Ursula will be waiting." + +"Ah, ah, the young lady! so she will. I wouldn't miss that for +something; but I don't like putting you to so much expense. My son here +has an excellent appetite, as you must have found out by this time, and +for my part so have I. I think it a thousand pities to put you to this +trouble--and expense." + +"Pray don't think of that," said Mr. May with courtesy, which belied his +feelings, for he would have liked nothing so well as to have knocked +down his complacent patron. He led the way out, almost with eagerness, +feeling Mr. Copperhead to be less offensive out of doors than within +four walls. Was this the sort of man to be appealed to for help as he +had thought? Probably his very arrogance would make him more disposed +towards liberality. Probably it would flatter his sense of consequence, +to have such a request made to him. Mr. May was very much at sea, +letting I dare not wait upon I would; afraid to speak lest he should +shut this door of help by so doing, and afraid to lose the chance of any +succour by not speaking. He tried hard, in spite of all his +difficulties, to be smooth and agreeable to a man who had so much in his +power; but it was harder work than he could have thought. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +FATHER AND SON. + + +Ursula had prepared a very careful luncheon for the stranger. She +thought him disagreeable, but she had not looked at him much, for, +indeed, Ursula's mind was much unsettled. Horace Northcote had spoken to +her that morning, after Mrs. Hurst's visit and her retaliation upon him, +as no man yet had ever spoken to her before. He had told her a long +story, though it was briefly done, and could have been expressed in +three words. He was not of her species of humanity; his ways of +thinking, his prejudices, his traditions, were all different from hers, +and yet that had happened to him which happens all over the world in +every kind of circumstances--without knowing how it was, he had got to +love her. Yes, he knew very well how it was, or rather, he knew when it +was, which is all that is to be expected from a lover. It was on the +evening of the _entrees_, the first dinner-party, and he had gone on +ever since, deeper and deeper, hearing her say many things which he did +not agree in, and tracing her life through a score of little habits +which were not congenial to his, yet loving her more and more for all +that was new to him, and even for the things which were uncongenial. He +had told her all this, and Ursula had listened with a kind of awe, +wondering at the ardour in the young man's eyes, and the warmth with +which he spoke; wondering and trembling a little. She had guessed what +he meant the night before, as has been said, and this had touched her +with a little thrill of awakened feeling; but the innocent girl knew no +more about passion than a child, and when she saw it, glowing and +ardent, appealing to her, she was half-alarmed, half-overawed by the +strange sight. What answer could she make to him? She did not know what +to say. To reject him altogether was not in Ursula's heart; but she +could not respond to that strange, new, overwhelming sentiment, which +put a light in his eyes which she dared not meet; which dazzled her when +she ventured a glance at him. "Was he to go away?" he asked, his voice, +too, sounding musical and full of touching chords. Ursula could not tell +him to go away either. What she did say to him, she never quite knew; +but at least, whatever it was, it left him hopeful, if unsatisfied. + +And since that time her mind had been in a strange confusion, a +confusion strange but sweet. Gratified vanity is not a pretty title to +give to any feeling, and yet that mixture of gratification and +gratitude, and penetrating pleasure in the fact of being elevated from +an often-scolded and imperfect child to an admired and worshipped woman +is, perhaps, of all the sensations that feminine youth is conscious of, +the most poignant in its sweetness. It went through her whole life; +sometimes it made her laugh when she was all alone, and there was +nothing of a laughter-producing nature in her way; and sometimes it made +her cry, both the crying and the laughter being one. It was strange, +very strange, and yet sweet. Under the influence of this, and of the +secret homage which Northcote paid her whenever they met; and which she +now understood as she had never understood it before, the girl's whole +nature expanded, though she did not know. She was becoming sweet to the +children, to puzzled Janey, to every one around her. Her little +petulances were all subdued. She was more sympathetic than she had ever +been before. And yet she was not in love with her lover. It was only +that the sunshine of young life had caught her, that the highest +gratification of youth had fallen to her share unawares. All this might +have been, and yet some one else come in to secure Ursula's real love; +but in the mean time she was all the happier, all the better for the +love which she did not return. + +This is a digression from our immediate subject, which was the luncheon +prepared for Mr. Copperhead. Ursula sent up an urgent message for Phoebe, +who came to her in her prettiest morning dress, very carefully +arranged, but with a line of care upon her brow. + +"I will come if you wish it, dear," she said; "but I don't want to meet +Mr. Copperhead. I don't like him." + +"Neither do I like him," cried Ursula. "He said something disagreeable +the little moment he was here. Oh, I don't remember what it was, but +something. Please stay. What am I to do with them all by myself? If you +will help me, I may get through." + +Phoebe kissed her with a tremulous kiss; perhaps she was not unwilling to +see with her own eyes what the father of Clarence meant, and what +brought him here. She sat down at the window, and was the first to see +them coming along the street. + +"What a gentleman your father looks beside them," cried Phoebe; "both of +them, father and son; though Clarence, after all, is a great deal better +than his father, less like a British snob." + +Ursula came and stood by her, looking out. + +"I don't think he is much better than his father," she said. + +Phoebe took her hand suddenly and wrung it, then dropped it as if it had +hurt her. What did it all mean? Ursula, though rays of enlightenment had +come to her, was still perplexed, and did not understand. + +Mr. Copperhead did not see her till he went to luncheon, when Phoebe +appeared with little Amy May looking like a visitor, newly arrived. She +had run upstairs after that first sight of him from the window, +declaring herself unable to be civil to him except at table. The great +man's face almost grew pale at the sight of her. He looked at Ursula, +and then at Clarence, and laughed. + +"'Wheresoever the carcase is the eagles are gathered together,'" he +said. "That's Scripture, ain't it, Miss Ursula? I am not good at giving +chapter and verse." + +"What does it mean?" asked Ursula. + +She was quite indifferent to Mr. Copperhead, and perfectly unconscious +of his observation. As for Phoebe, on the contrary, she was slightly +agitated, her placid surface ruffled a little, and she looked her best +in her agitation. Mr. Copperhead looked straight at her across the +table, and laughed in his insolent way. + +"So you are here too, Miss Phoebe!" he said. "I might think myself in the +Crescent if I didn't know better. I met young Northcote just now, and +now you. What may you be doing here, might one ask? It is what you call +a curious coincidence, ain't it, Clarence and you both here?" + +"I said so when Mr. Clarence came," said Phoebe. "_I_ came to take care +of my grandmother, who is ill; and it was a very lucky thing for me that +I had met Miss May at your ball, Mr. Copperhead." + +"By Jove, wasn't it!" said Clarence, roused to some dull sense of what +was going on. "We owe all the fun we have had here to that, so we do. +Odd, when one thinks of it; and thought so little of it then, didn't we? +It's a very queer world." + +"So you've been having fun here?" said his father. "I thought you came +here to work; that's how we old fellows get taken in. Work! with young +ladies dangling about, and putting things into your head! I ought to +have known better, don't you think so, Miss Ursula? _You_ could have +taught me a thing or two." + +"I?" said Ursula, startled. "I don't know what I could teach any one. I +think Mr. Clarence Copperhead has kept to his hours very steadily. Papa +is rather severe; he never would take any excuse from any of us when we +were working with him." + +"He is not so severe now, I'll be bound," said Mr. Copperhead. "Lets you +have your fun a little, as Clarence tells me; don't you, May? Girls will +be girls, and boys, boys, whatever we do; and I am sure, Miss Phoebe, you +have been very entertaining, as you always were." + +"I have done my best," said Phoebe, looking him in the face. "I should +have had a dull life but for the Parsonage, and I have tried to be +grateful. I have accompanied your son on the violin a great many +evenings, and I hope our friends have liked it. Mr. Clarence is a +promising player, though I should like him to trust less to his ear; but +we always pulled through." + +"Thanks to you," said Clarence, in the middle of his cutlet + +He did not quite see why she should flourish this music in his father's +face; but still he was loyal in a dull fashion, and he was obstinate, +and did not mean to be "sat upon," to use his own words. As for Phoebe, +her quick mind caught at once the best line of policy. She determined to +deliver Ursula, and she determined at the same time to let her future +father-in-law (if he was to be her father-in-law) see what sort of a +person he had to deal with. As soon as she made up her mind, her +agitation disappeared. It was only the uncertainty that had cowed her; +now she saw what to do. + +"So!" said Mr. Copperhead, "musical evenings! I hope you have not +turned poor Clar's head among you, young ladies. It's not a very strong +head; and two is more than a match for one. I dare say he has had no +chance between you." + +"Make yourself quite easy," said Phoebe, with her sweetest smile; "he was +only one of a party. Mr. Reginald May and Mr. Northcote are both very +pleasant companions. Your son is bored sometimes, but the rest of us are +never bored. You see, he has been accustomed to more brilliant society; +but as for us, we have no particular pretensions. We have been very +happy. And if there has been two to one, it has been the other way." + +"I think I must let your people know of your gaieties, Miss Phoebe. If +your mother sent you here, I don't doubt it was for a purpose, eh? She +knows what she's about, and she won't like it if she knows you are +fritting away your chances and your attentions. She has an eye for +business, has Mrs. Beecham," said the leading member, with a laugh. + +"You cannot tell mamma more about me than she knows already," said +Phoebe, with rising colour. + +And by this time every one else at table was uncomfortable. Even +Clarence, who had a dull appreciation of his father's jokes when they +were not levelled at himself, and who was by no means indisposed to +believe that "girls," generally, were "after him," and that even in this +particular case Phoebe herself might have come to Carlingford on purpose +to complete his conquest, even Clarence was moved. + +"I don't know what you mean by brilliant society," he said. "I know I'm +the dull one among you clever people. I don't say much, but I know it +all the same; and it's awfully good of you to pull me through all that +music. I don't begrudge you your laugh after. Is my mother coming over, +sir, to see the place?" + +"To see what? There is not much in the place," said Mr. Copperhead. +"You're coming back with me, my boy. I hope it won't inconvenience you, +May. I've other views for him. Circumstances alter cases, you know. I've +been turning it over in my head, and I think I can see my way to another +arrangement." + +"That, of course, is entirely in your own hands," said Mr. May, with a +cheerfulness he did not feel. His heart sank, but every rule of good +society made it incumbent upon him to show no failure at such a moment. +"Copperhead, see that your father has some wine. Well, I suppose our +poor little Carlingford is not much of a place; no trade, no movement, +no manufactures--" + +"The sort of place that should be cleared off the face of the earth," +said the millionnaire; "meaning no offence, of course. That's my opinion +in respect to country towns. What's the good of them? Nests of gossip, +places where people waste their time, and don't even amuse themselves. +Give me green fields and London, that is my sort. I don't care if there +was not another blessed brick in the country. There is always something +that will grow in a field, corn or fat beasts--not that we couldn't get +all that cheaper from over the water if it was managed as it ought to +be. But a place like this, what's the good of it? Almshouses and +chaplains, and that kind of rubbish, and old women; there's old women by +the score." + +"They must be somewhere, I suppose," said Mr. May. "We cannot kill them +off, if they are inoffensive, and keep the laws. So that, after all, a +country town is of use." + +"Kill 'em off--no; it's against what you benevolent humbugs call the +spirit of the time, and Christianity, and all that; but there's such a +thing as carrying Christianity too far; that's my opinion. There's your +almshouses now. What's the principle of them? I call it encouraging +those old beggars to live," said Mr. Copperhead; "giving them permission +to burden the community as long as they can manage it; a dead mistake, +depend upon it, the greatest mistake in the world." + +"I think there is a great deal to be said in favour of Euthanasia," said +Phoebe, quietly stepping into the conversation; "but then it would have +to be with the consent of the victims. When any one found himself +useless, unnecessary to the world, or unhappy in it--" + +"Humbug and nonsense," said Mr. Copperhead. "A likely thing for anybody +to do. No, it is not a question for law-making. Let 'em die out +naturally, that's my opinion. Don't do anything to hurry 'em--that is, I +don't see my way to it; but let 'em go quiet, and don't bring 'em +cordials and feather-beds, and all that middyeval nonsense, to keep 'em +going as long as possible. It's wicked, that's what it is." + +"At all events," said Mr. May, who, poor man, was bent on pleasing, "it +is refreshing to hear opinions so bold and original. Something new is +always a blessing. I cannot say I agree with you--" + +"No parson would be bold enough for that. Christianity's been a capital +thing for the world," said Mr. Copperhead, "I don't say a word against +it; but in these go-ahead days, sir, we've had enough of it, that's to +say when it's carried too far. All this fuss about the poor, all the row +about dragging up a lot of poor little beggars to live that had far +better die, and your almshouses to keep the old ones going, past all +nature! Shovel the mould over them, that's the thing for the world; let +'em die when they ought to die; and let them live who can live--that's +my way of thinking--and what's more, I'm right." + +"What a fine thing for you, Mr. Clarence," cried Phoebe, "who are going +into Parliament! to take up your father's idea and work it out. What a +speech you could make on the subject! I saw a hospital once in Paris +that would make such a wonderful illustration. I'll tell you about it if +you like. Poor old wretched people whose life was nothing but +wretchedness kept going, kept living for years and years--why, no one +could tell; for I am sure it would have been better, far better for them +to die and be done with it. What a speech you might make when you bring +a bill into Parliament to abolish almshouses and all sorts of +charities!" she added with a laugh, turning from Clarence, at whom she +had been looking, to his father, who was puzzled, and did not know how +to understand the young woman's eyes. + +"I'll never make much of a speech in Parliament," said Clarence; "unless +you make it for me," he added in an undertone. But no one else was +speaking, and the undertone was quite audible. Meanwhile Phoebe had not +ceased to look at his father, and held him with a pair of eyes not like +the Ancient Mariner's. Mr. Copperhead was confused, his power even of +insolence was cowed for the moment. He obeyed quite docilely the +movement made to leave the table. Was it possible that she defied him, +this Minister's daughter, and measured her strength against his? Mr. +Copperhead felt as if he could have shaken the impertinent girl, but +dared not, being where he was. + +And lunch being over, Mr. May led his pupil's father into his study. "I +want to show you what your boy has been doing," he said, pointing to a +line of books which made the millionnaire's soul shrink within him. "I +have not bothered him with classics; what was the use as he is not going +back to Oxford? but I have done my best for him in a practical way. He +has read history, largely as you see, and as much as I could give him of +political and constitutional--" + +"Yes, yes," said Mr. Copperhead, reading the titles of some of the books +under his breath. They impressed him deeply, and took away for a moment +his self-confidence. It was his habit to boast that he knew nothing +about books; but in their presence he shrank, feeling that they were +greater than he, which was, there is little doubt, a sign of grace. + +"If you wish to remove Clarence," said Mr. May, "perhaps I had better +make out a scheme of reading for him." + +"Look here," cried the rich man, "I didn't want to remove him; but there +he is, the first I see of him, cheek for jowl with a good-looking girl. +I don't mean to say a word against Miss May, I've no doubt she's +charming; but anyhow there she is side by side with Clar, who is no more +able to resist that sort of thing--" + +Mr. May laughed, and this time with unmitigated amusement. "Do you mean +Ursula? I think I can answer for it that she made no attempts upon him +for which resistance would be necessary." + +"That's all very well to say; but bless you they do it, every one," said +Mr. Copperhead, "without exception, when a young fellow's well off and +well-looking; and as if one wasn't bad enough, you've got Phoebe Beecham. +You won't tell me she doesn't mean anything?--up to any mischief, a real +minister's daughter. I don't mean anything uncivil to you or yours. I +suppose a parson's different; but we know what a minister's daughter is +in our connection. Like the men themselves, in short, who are always +pouncing on some girl with a fortune if her relations don't take care. +And Clarence is as weak as a baby; he takes after his mother--a poor bit +of a feeble creature, though he's like me in exterior. That's how it is, +you perceive; I don't quite see my way to letting him go on." + +"That is of course precisely as you please," said Mr. May, somewhat +sharply. He would preserve his dignity even though his heart was +sinking; but he could not keep that tone of sharpness out of his voice. + +"Of course it is as I please. I'll pay up of course for the second three +months, if you choose, fair and square. I meant him to stay, and I'll +pay. But that's all. You've no further claim upon me that I know of; and +I must say that for a tutor, a regular coach, to keep girls in his +house, daughters, or whatever you choose to call them, is something +monstrous. It's a thing no fellow's friends would put up with. It's what +I call dishonourable." + +"Perhaps," said Mr. May, with all the self-possession he was master of, +"you will let your son know at once that he must pack and go. I dare +say, Sir Robert can take him, and we will send the portmanteaux. In such +a case, it is better there should not be a moment's delay." + +"Clarence!" cried Mr. Copperhead, walking to the door and opening it. +"Come along, look sharp, you're to go. I'll take you with me, do you +hear? And May will see to sending you your boxes. Quick, come along, +there's no time to lose." + +"Go!" said Clarence, coming in startled, with his eyebrows rising almost +into his hair. "Go? What do you mean? Out of the Parsonage? The +Governor's been having too much sherry," he said, coming close to Mr. +May's arm; he had himself been taking too much of the sherry, for the +good reason that nobody had taken any notice of what he did, and that he +had foreseen the excitement that was coming. "You don't mean it, I +know," he added aloud; "I'll go over for the night if Sir Robert will +have me, and see my mother--" + +"Ask May," said Mr. Copperhead, "you'll believe him, I suppose; he's as +glad to get rid of you as I am to take you away." + +"Is this true?" cried Clarence, roused and wondering, "and if so, what's +happened? I ain't a baby, you know, to be bundled about from one to +another. The Governor forgets that." + +"Your father," said Mr. May, "chooses to remove you, and that is all I +choose to say." + +"But, by George, I can say a deal more," said Mr. Copperhead. "You +simpleton, do you think I am going to leave you here where there's +man-traps about? None of such nonsense for me. Put your things together, +I tell you. Phoebe Beecham's bad enough at home; but if she thinks she's +to have you here to pluck at her leisure, she and her friends--" + +"W--hew!" said Clarence, with a long whistle. "So that's it. I am very +sorry, father, if these are your sentiments; but I may as well tell you +at once I shan't go." + +"You--must go." + +"No," he said, squaring his shoulders and putting out his shirt front; +he had never been roused into rebellion before, and perhaps without +these extra glasses of sherry he would not have had the courage now. But +what with sherry, and what with _amour propre_, and what with the thing +he called love, Clarence Copperhead mounted all at once upon a pedestal. +He had a certain dogged obstinacy in him, suspected by nobody but his +mother, who had little enough to say in the guidance of her boy. He set +himself square like a pugilist, which was his notion of resistance. Mr. +May looked on with a curious mixture of feelings. His own sudden and +foolish hope was over, and what did it matter to him whether the +detestable father or the coarse son should win? He turned away from them +with contempt, which was made sharp by their utter uselessness to +himself. Had it been possible that he might have what he wanted from +Mr. Copperhead, his patience would have held out against any trial; but +the moment that hope was over, what further interest had he in the +question? He went to his writing-table and sat down there, leaving them +to fight it out as they would, by themselves. It was no affair of his. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +A PLEASANT EVENING. + + +The result, however, was a compromise. Clarence Copperhead went off with +his father and Sir Robert to the Hall for the night, but was to return +next day, and Phoebe was left in a condition of some excitement behind +them, not quite knowing what to think. She was as sure as ever that he +had made up his mind to propose; but he had not done it, and what effect +his father's visit, and perhaps his mother's entreaties, might have upon +him, Phoebe could not tell. The crisis excited her beyond any excitement +which she would have thought possible in respect to Clarence Copperhead. +She was more like an applicant for office kept uncertain whether she was +to have a desirable post or not, than a girl on the eve of a lover's +declaration. This was her own conception of the circumstances. She did +not dislike Clarence; quite the reverse. She had no sympathy with +Ursula's impatience of his heavy vanity. Phoebe had been used to him all +her life, and had never thought badly of the heavy boy whom she had been +invited to amuse when she was six years old, and whom she had no +particular objection to amuse still, let the others wonder at her as +they might. Poor Reginald, contemplating bitterly her many little +complacencies to his rival, set them down hastily to an appreciation of +that rival's worldly advantages, which was not quite a just sentence. It +was true, and yet it was not true; other feelings mingled in Phoebe's +worldliness. She did, indeed, perceive and esteem highly the advantages +which Clarence could give her; but she had not the objections to +Clarence himself that the others had. She was willing, quite willing, to +undertake the charge of him, to manage, and guide, and make a man of +him. And yet, while it was not pure worldliness, much less was it actual +love which moved her. It was a kind of habitual affection, as for the +"poor thing, but mine own, sir," of the jester. He was but a poor +creature, but Phoebe knew she could make something of him, and she had +no distaste to the task. When she began to perceive that Reginald, in so +many ways Clarence's superior, was at her disposal, a sense of +gratification went through Phoebe's mind, and it certainly occurred to +her that the feeling he might inspire would be a warmer and a more +delightful one than that which would fall to Clarence Copperhead; but +she was not tempted thereby to throw Clarence off for the other. No, she +was pleased, and not unwilling to expend a little tender regret and +gratitude upon poor Reginald. She was ready to be "kind" to him, though +every woman knows that is the last thing she ought to be to a rejected +lover; and she was full of sympathy for the disappointment which, +nevertheless, she fully intended was to be his lot. This seems +paradoxical, but it is no more paradoxical than human creatures +generally are. On this particular evening her heart beat very high on +account of Clarence, to know if he would have strength of mind to hold +his own against his father, and if he would come back to her and ask +her, as she felt certain he meant to do, that one momentous question. +Her heart would not have been broken had he not done so, but still she +would have been disappointed. Notwithstanding when the evening came, the +absence of Clarence was a relief to Phoebe as well as to the rest of the +party, and she gave herself up to the pleasures of a few hours of +half-tender intercourse with Reginald, with a sense of enjoyment such as +she seldom felt. This was very wrong, there is no denying it, but still +so it was. She was anxious that Clarence should come back to her, and +ask her to be his wife; and yet she was pleased to be rid of Clarence, +and to give her whole attention and sympathy to Reginald, trying her +best to please him. It was very wrong; and yet such things have happened +before, and will again; and are as natural, perhaps, as the more +absolute and unwavering passion which has no doubt of its object, +passion like Northcote's, who had neither eyes nor ears for anything but +Ursula. The four were alone together that evening, and enjoyed it +thoroughly. Clarence was away, who, to all but Phoebe, was an +interruption of their intercourse; and Mr. May was away in his study, +too much absorbed to think of any duties that ought to have devolved +upon him as chaperon; and even Janey was out of the way, taking tea with +Mrs. Hurst. So the two young pairs sat round the table and talked; the +girls, with a mutual panic, which neither breathed to the other, keeping +together, avoiding separation into pairs. Ursula out of very shyness and +fright alone, lest another chapter of the strange, novel, too moving +love-tale might be poured into her ears; but Phoebe with more settled +purpose, to prevent any disclosure on the part of Reginald. The evening +was mixed up of pleasure and pain to the two young men, each eager to +find himself alone with the girl whom he loved; but it is to be feared +the girls themselves had a furtive guilty enjoyment of it, which they +ought not to have had. Open and outrageous love-making is not half so +delicate a pastime as that in which nothing distinct dare be said, but +all is implication, conveyed and understood without words. I know it is +a dangerous thing to confess, but veracity requires the confession; you +may say it was the playing of the cat with the mouse, if you wish to +give a disagreeable version of it; but, however you choose to explain +it, this was how it was. + +It was with fear and trembling at last that Phoebe went to the piano, +which was at the other end of the room, after making all the resistance +which was possible. + +"Thank Heaven, that idiot and his fiddle aren't here to-night to +interfere!" cried Reginald. + +Phoebe shook her head at him, but ventured on no words; and how she did +exert herself on the piano, playing things which were a great deal too +classical for Reginald, who would have preferred the simplest stock +piece, under cover of which he might have talked to her hanging over her +chair, and making belief to turn over the music! This was what he +wanted, poor fellow. He had no heart nor ears for Beethoven, which Phoebe +played to him with a tremor in her heart, and yet, the wicked little +witch, with some enjoyment too. + +"This is not the sort of thing you play when Copperhead is here," he +said at last, driven to resistance. + +"Oh, we play Mendelssohn," said Phoebe, with much show of innocence; and +then she added, "You ought to feel the compliment if I play Beethoven to +you." + +"So I ought, I suppose," said Reginald. "The truth is, I don't care for +music. Don't take your hands off the keys." + +"Why, you have done nothing but worry me to play!" + +"Not for the music," said Reginald, quite satisfied to have got his +will. "Why will you not talk to me and play to me, as I wish?" + +"Perhaps, if I knew what you wish--" Phoebe said, in spite of herself. + +"Oh, how I should like to tell you! No, not Beethoven; a little, just a +little music. Heavens!" cried Reginald, as she crashed into a +fortissimo, "another sonata! Listen, I am not equal to sonatas. Nay, +Miss Beecham, play me a little nothing--talk to me." + +She shook her head at him with a laugh, and went on playing the hardest +piece of music she could think of, complicating herself in difficult +chords and sudden accidentals. If there had been anybody there to hear +who could have understood, Phoebe's performance would, no doubt, have +appeared a masterpiece of brilliant execution, as it was; but the two +others were paying not the slightest attention, and as for Reginald, he +was in a state of tantalized vexation, which half-amused himself, and +filled the performer with an exhilarating sense of successful mischief. +Northcote was trying to say--what was he not trying to say?--to Ursula, +under cover of the music, which was the best shield he could have had; +and perhaps in reality, though Reginald was tantalized to the utmost +degree of tantalization, even he had a certain enjoyment in the saucy +self-defence which was more mischievous than cruel. He stood behind +Phoebe's chair, now and then meeting her laughing glance with one of +tender appeal and reproach, pleased to feel himself thus isolated with +her, and held an arm's-length in so genial a way. He would have his +opportunity after a while, when there would be no piano to give her a +momentary refuge, and then he would say out all that was in his heart, +with no possible shadow of a rival to interfere with him. Angry? no; as +he stood behind her, watching her fingers fly over the keys, a +delightful calm stole over Reginald. Now and then she would throw a +half-mocking glance at him upward over her shoulder, as she swept over +the resounding board. When the sonata was concluded, Phoebe sprang up +from the piano, and went back to the table. She proposed that they +should play a game at cards, to which Ursula agreed. The young men +shrugged their shoulders and protested; but, after all, what did it +matter, so long as they were together? They fell into their places quite +naturally, the very cards assisting; and so the moments flew by. There +was not so much sound as usual in the old faded drawing-room, which had +come to look so bright and homelike; not so much sound of voices, +perhaps less laughter--yet of all the evenings they had spent there +together, that was the one they looked back upon, all four, with most +tender recollection. They had been so happy, or, if not happy, so near +(apparently) to happiness, which is better sometimes than happiness +itself. + +"Don't let Reginald come with me," Phoebe whispered, as she kissed her +friend, and said good night, "or ask Mr. Northcote to come too." + +"Why?" said Ursula, with dreamy eyes; her own young tide of life was +rising, invading, for the moment, her perceptions, and dulling her sense +of what was going on round her. There was no time, however, for +anything more to be said, for Reginald was close behind with his hat in +his hand. Phoebe had to resign herself, and she knew what was coming. The +only thing was, if possible, to stop the declaration on the way. + +"This is the first chance I have had of seeing you home without that +perpetual shadow of Copperhead--" + +"Ah, poor Clarence!" said Phoebe. "I wonder how he is getting on away +from us all to-night." + +"Poor Clarence!" echoed Reginald aghast. "You don't mean to say that +you--miss him, Miss Beecham? I never heard you speak of him in that tone +before." + +"Miss him! no, perhaps not exactly," said Phoebe, with a soft little +sigh; "but still--I have known him all my life, Mr. May; when we were +quite little I used to be sent for to his grand nursery, full of lovely +toys and things--a great deal grander than mine." + +"And for that reason--" said Reginald, becoming bitter, with a laugh. + +"Nothing for that reason," said Phoebe; "but I noticed it at six as I +should at twenty. I must have been a horrid little worldly-minded thing, +don't you think? So you see there are the associations of a great many +years to make me say Poor Clarence, when anything is the matter with +him." + +"He is lucky to rouse your sympathies so warmly," cried Reginald, +thoroughly wretched; "but I did not know there was anything the matter." + +"I think there will be if he has to leave our little society, where we +have all been so happy," said Phoebe, softly. "How little one thought, +coming here a stranger, how pleasant it was to be! I especially, to whom +coming to Carlingford was rather--perhaps I might say a humiliation. I +am very fond of grandpapa and grandmamma now, but the first introduction +was something of a shock--I have never denied it; and if it had not been +for sweet kind Ursula and you--all." + +The little breathless fragmentary pause which Phoebe made between the you +and the "all," giving just a ghost of emphasis to the pronoun, sounded +to poor Reginald in his foolishness almost like a caress. How cleverly +it was managed, with just so much natural feeling in it as gave it +reality! They were approaching No. 6, and Martha, the maid, already was +visible at the open door. + +"Then you do give me some share--some little share," he cried, with a +broken voice. "Ah, if you would only let me tell you what your coming +has been to me. It has opened up my life; I feel everything different, +the old earth itself; there is a new light upon the whole world--" + +"Hush, here is Martha!" cried Phoebe, "she will not understand about new +lights. Yes, it has been pleasant, very pleasant; when one begins to +sigh and realize how pleasant a thing has been, I always fear it is +going to be broken up." + +"_Absit omen!_" cried Reginald, fervently, taking the hand she had put +out to bid him good night, and holding it fast to detain her; and was +there moisture in the eyes which she lifted to him, and which glistened, +he thought, though there was only the distant light of a lamp to see +them by? + +"You must not keep me now," cried Phoebe, "here is grandpapa coming. Good +night, Mr. May, good night." + +Was Phoebe a mere coquette _pure et simple_? As soon as she had got safe +within these walls, she stooped down over the primroses to get rid of +Martha, and then in the darkness had a cry, all by herself, on one side +of the wall, while the young lover, with his head full of her, checked, +but not altogether discouraged, went slowly away on the other. She +cried, and her heart contracted with a real pang. He was very tender in +his reverential homage, very romantic, a true lover, not the kind of man +who wants a wife or wants a clever companion to amuse him, and save him +the expense of a coach, and be his to refer to in everything. That was +an altogether different kind of thing. Phoebe went in with a sense in her +mind that perhaps she had never touched so close upon a higher kind of +existence, and perhaps never again might have the opportunity; but +before she had crossed the garden, she had begun once more to question +whether Clarence would have the fortitude to hold his own against +everything that father or mother could do to change his mind. Would he +have the fortitude? Would he come back to her, safe and determined, or +would he yield to arguments in favour of some richer bride, and come +back either estranged or at the least doubtful? This gave her a pang of +profound anxiety at the bottom of her heart. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +AN EXPEDITION. + + +Mr. May did not come upstairs that evening. It was not that he was +paralysed as he had been on the previous occasion, when he sat as now +and heard Phoebe go away after her first visit, and when the wind blowing +in from the open door playfully carried to his feet the scribbled note +with Tozer's name. He was not stupefied as then, nor was he miserable. +The threatened withdrawal of Clarence Copperhead was more to him than +the impending ruin meant by that bill which was so nearly due. He was +occupied by that to the exclusion of the other. It would be a most +serious change to him in every way. He had calculated on the continuance +of this additional income for at least a year, and short of the year it +would have done him no good, but had simply plunged him into additional +expense. It was this he was thinking of, and which kept him in his study +after the young people had assembled. Cotsdean had come again while Mr. +May was at dinner, which by some curious unconscious aggravation on his +part was the time he especially chose as most convenient for him; and he +had again sent a dirty note by Bobby, imploring his principal to think +of the impending fate, and not to desert him. Mr. May was angry at this +perpetual appeal. "Why should I desert him, the idiot?" he said to +himself; and moved by the man's persistence, he took out his pocket-book +again, and made out beyond all chance of mistake, that it was the 18th. +Why should the fool insist upon its being the 15th with such perpetual +iteration? There were the figures as plain as possible, 18th April. Mr. +May wrote a peremptory note announcing this fact to Cotsdean, and then +returned to his own thoughts. Sir Robert had asked him to go over that +morning and spend the day at the Hall with the Copperheads, not knowing +of any breach between them. He thought he had better do this. If +Clarence determined to stay, that would be a great thing in his favour, +and he had seen that the young man's dull spirit was roused; and if that +hope failed, there might still be advantage even in this sudden breaking +of the bond. Part of the second quarter was gone, and the father had +offered three months additional pay. These two payments would make up +the hundred and fifty pounds at once, and settle the business. Thus, in +either way, he should be safe, for if Clarence went away the money would +be paid; and if he stayed, Mr. May himself had made up his mind to risk +the bold step of going to the bank and asking an advance on this +inalienable security. All these deliberations made his mind easy about +the bill. It must come right one way or another; he might have chosen +perhaps not to run it quite so close; but after all the 15th was only +to-morrow, and there were still three days. While his mind was full of +these things he did not care to go upstairs. He heard the voices of the +young people, but he was too much engrossed with his own calculations to +care to join them. It was a close thing, he said to himself, a very +close thing; but still he felt that he could do it--surely he could do +it. If Mr. Copperhead settled with him--and he was the sort of man, a +man to whom money was nothing, to do so on the spot if he took it into +his head--then all was right. And if Mr. Copperhead did not do so, the +bank, though his past transactions with it had not been encouraging, +would certainly make all right on account of these Copperhead payments, +which were as certain as any payments could be. He went to bed early, +being engrossed by these thoughts, not even saying good-night to Ursula, +as was his wont; and he made up his mind to take an early breakfast, and +start the first thing in the morning for the Hall. There was an early +train which would suit admirably. He could not afford to drive, as Sir +Robert had done, changing horses half way. He went upstairs to bed, +somewhat heavily, but not discontented, seeing his way. After all, the +great thing in life is to see your way. It does not matter so much +whether that way is great or small, so long as you can see it plain +before you. Mr. May breathed a sigh of anxiety as he ended the day. He +had a great many things on his mind; but still he was not altogether +heavy-hearted or discouraged beyond measure; things, he felt, would +shape themselves better than he had hoped. He was not perhaps going to +be so much better off than of old, as he thought possible when Clarence +Copperhead came. Such delusive prospects do glimmer across a poor man's +path when any apparent expansion of means occurs to him; but in the +majority of cases he has to consent to see the fine fictitious glow die +away. Mr. May was not ignorant of this experience already. A man who is +over fifty is generally more or less prepared for anything that can +happen to him in this kind; but he thought he could "get on;" and after +all that is the sum of life to three parts of mankind. + +He was silent at breakfast, but not disagreeable, and Ursula was too +much taken up with her own concerns to pay much attention to him. +Ursula's concerns were developing with a rapidity altogether +extraordinary. In the mind of a girl of twenty, unforestalled by any +previous experience, the process that goes on between the moment when +the surprising, overwhelming discovery rushes upon her that some one +loves her in the old way of romance, until the corresponding moment when +she finds out that her own heart too has been invaded by this wonderful +sentiment, which is like nothing that was ever known before, is of a +very rapid description. It is like the bursting of a flower, which a +day's sunshine brings to the blooming point like a miracle, though it is +in reality the simplest result of nature. Already there began to glow a +haze of brightness about those three months past in which everything had +begun. When or how it began she could not now tell. The glow of it was +in her eyes and dazzled her. She heard the voices of the others sounding +vaguely through this bright mist in which she herself was isolated; when +she was obliged to reply, she called herself back with an effort, and +did so--but of her own will she seldom spoke. How Janey chattered, how +the children maundered on about their little concerns, which were of +consequence to nobody! Papa was the person whom Ursula really respected +this morning, for he had more sense than to talk. How could people talk, +as if there was pleasure in that? But papa had more sense, he had things +to think of--too. So the girl approved her father, and thought more +highly of him, and never inquired what it might be that occupied his +mind, and kept him from noticing even when the children were unruly. And +it would be giving the reader an unfair idea of the children, if we +attempted to conceal that they did take advantage of their +opportunities, and were as unruly as well-conditioned children in the +circumstances were likely to be. Mr. May took no notice; he took his +coffee hurriedly and went off to the station. + +"If I don't return this evening you need not be alarmed. I shall come +back at the latest to-morrow morning," he said. + +The children all rushed to the window to see him go away; even Ursula +looking out dreamily remarked him too, as she seldom did; and Mrs. Sam +Hurst at her window, wondering where her neighbour could be going, +heaved a deep sigh of admiration, which though she was not "in love," as +the girls thought, with Mr. May, was a passing tribute to his good looks +and training. He looked a gentleman every inch of him--an English +gentleman, spotless in linen, speckless in broadcloth, though his dress +was far from new; the freshness of sound health and a clear conscience +on his handsome face, though he was no longer young. His abundant hair, +steel-grey, slightly crisped under his hat, not curling exactly, but +with a becoming twist in it--clerical, yet not too clerical, a man given +to no extremes, decorously churchmanlike, yet liberal and tolerant of +the world. Though she was too wise to compromise her own comfort by +marrying him, Mrs. Hurst felt that there was a great pleasure in making +his daughters anxious about her "intentions," and that even to be said +to be in love with such a man was no shame, but rather the reverse. + +He went away accordingly, taking a short cut to the railway, and thus +missing Cotsdean, who came breathless ten minutes after he was gone, and +followed him to the train; but too late. + +"Well, well," Cotsdean said to himself, wiping his forehead, "Old Tozer +has plenty, it ain't nothing to him to pay. They can settle it between +'em." + +Cotsdean himself was easier in his mind than he had ever been before on +such an occasion. His clergyman, though personally an awful and +respect-inspiring personage, was so far as money went a man of straw, as +he well knew, and his name on a bill was very little worth; but Tozer +was a man who could pay his way. A hundred and fifty pounds, or even ten +times that, would not ruin the old shopkeeper. Cotsdean's sense of +commercial honour was not so very keen that the dishonouring of his bill +in the circumstances should give him a very serious pang. He would not +be sold up, or have an execution put into his shop when the other party +to the bill was so substantial a person. Of course Tozer, when he signed +it, must have been told all about it, and Cotsdean did not see how with +two such allies against ruin, anything very serious could befall him. He +was uneasy indeed, but his uneasiness had no such force in it as before. +He went back to his shop and his business prepared to take the matter as +calmly as possible. He was but passive in it. It could not harm him much +in the eyes of his banker, who knew his affairs too well to be much +astonished at any such incident, and Tozer and Mr. May must settle it +between them. It was their affair. + +Meanwhile Mr. May rattled along in the railway towards the Hall. He got +a dog-cart at the little inn at the station to take him over, though +generally when he went to see the Dorsets it was his custom to walk. +"But what were a few shillings?" he said to himself, the prodigality of +desperation having seized upon him. In any case he could pay that, and +if he was to be ruined, what did a few shillings more or less matter? +but the discomfort of walking over those muddy roads, and arriving with +dirty boots and a worn-out aspect, mattered a great deal. He reached the +Hall at a propitious moment, when Mr. Copperhead was in the highest +good-humour. He had been taken over the place, from one end to another, +over the stables, the farm-buildings, the farm itself from end to end, +the preserves, the shrubberies, the greenhouses, everything; all of +which details he examined with an unfailing curiosity which would have +been highly flattering to the possessors if it had not been neutralized +by a strain of comment which was much less satisfactory. When Mr. May +went in, he found him in the dining-room, with Sir Robert and his +daughters standing by, clapping his wings and crowing loudly over a +picture which the Dorsets prized much. It represented a bit of vague +Italian scenery, mellow and tranquil, and was a true "Wilson," bought by +an uncle of Sir Robert's, who had been a connoisseur, from the Master +himself, in the very country where it was painted; and all these details +pleased the imagination of the family, who, though probably they would +have been but mildly delighted had they possessed the acquaintance of +the best of contemporary painters, were proud that Uncle Charles had +known Italian Wilson, and had bought a picture out of his studio. A +Hobbema or a Poussin would scarcely have pleased them as much, for the +worst of an old Master is that your friends look suspiciously upon it as +a copy; whereas Wilson is scarcely old enough or precious enough to be +copied. They were showing their picture and telling the story to the +millionnaire with an agreeable sense that, though they were not so rich, +they must, at least, have the advantage of him in this way. + +"Ha!" said Mr. Copperhead, "you should see my Turner. Didn't I show you +my Turner? I don't venture to tell you, Sir Robert, what that picture +cost me. It's a sin, it is, to keep that amount of capital hanging +useless upon a bit of wall. The Wilson may be all very well. I ain't a +judge of art, and I can't give my opinion on that point, though it's a +common sort of a name, and there don't seem to be much in it; but +everybody knows what a Turner means. Here's May; he'll be able to tell +you as well as another. It means a few cool thousands, take my word for +it. It means, I believe, that heaps of people would give you your own +price. I don't call it a profitable investment, for it brings in no +interest; but they tell me it's a thing that grows in value every year. +And there it is, Sir, hanging up useless on my wall in Portland Place, +costing a fortune, and bringing in not a penny. But I like it; I like +it, for I can afford it, by George! Here's May; he knows what that sort +of thing is; he'll tell you that a Turner is worth its weight in gold." + +"Thank you, I don't think I need any information on that subject," said +Sir Robert. "Besides, I saw your Turner. It is a pretty picture--if it +is authentic; but Wilson, you know--" + +"Wasn't a big-enough swell not to be authentic, eh?" said Mr. +Copperhead. "Common name enough, and I don't know that I ever heard of +him in the way of painting; but I don't pretend to be a judge. Here's +May; now, I dare say he knows all about it. Buying's one thing, +knowing's another. Your knowing ones, when they've got any money, they +have the advantage over us, Sir Robert; they can pick up a thing that's +good, when it happens to come their way, dirt cheap; but fortunately for +us, it isn't often they've got any money," he added, with a laugh, +slapping Mr. May on the shoulder in a way which made him totter. But the +clergyman's good-humour was equal even to this assault. It is wonderful +how patient and tolerant we can all be when the motive is strong enough. + +"That is true," he said; "but I fear I have not even the compensation of +knowledge. I know enough, however, to feel that the possessor of a +Turner is a public personage, and may be a public benefactor if he +pleases." + +"How that? If you think I am one to go lending my pictures about, or +leaving them to the nation when I'm done for, that's not my sort. No, I +keep them to myself. If I consent to have all that money useless, it is +for myself, you may depend, and not for other people. And I'll leave it +to my boy Clarence, if he behaves himself. He's a curiosity, too, and +has a deal of money laid out on him that brings no interest, him and his +mother. I'll leave it to Clar, if he doesn't make a low marriage, or any +folly of that kind." + +"You should make it an heir-loom," said Sir Robert, with sarcasm too +fine for his antagonist; "leave it from father to son of your +descendants, like our family diamonds and plate." + +Anne and Sophy looked at each other and smiled, the one sadly, the other +satirically. The Dorset family jewels were rose-diamonds of small value, +and the plate was but moderate in quantity, and not very great in +quality. Poor Sir Robert liked to blow his little trumpet too, but it +was not so blatant as that of his visitor, whose rude senses did not +even see the intended malice. + +"By George! I think I will," he said. "I'm told it's as safe as the +bank, and worth more and more every year, and if it don't bring in +anything, it don't eat anything; eh, May? Look here; perhaps I was +hasty the other day," he said, pushing the clergyman a little apart from +the group with a large hand on his shoulder. "Clarence tells me you're +the best coach he ever saw, and that he's getting on like a house on +fire." + +"He does make progress, I think," answered the tutor, thus gracefully +complimented. + +"But all the same, you know, I had a right to be annoyed. Now a man of +your sense--for you seem a man of sense, though you're a parson, and +know what side your bread's buttered on--ought to see that it's an +aggravating thing when a young fellow has been sent to a coach for his +instruction, and to keep him out of harm's way, to find him cheek by +jowl with a nice-looking young woman. That's not what a father has a +right to expect." + +"You couldn't expect me to do away with my daughter because I happened +to take a pupil?" said Mr. May, half-amused; "but I can assure you that +she has no designs upon your son." + +"So I hear, so I hear," said the other, with a mixture of pique and +satisfaction. "Won't look at him, Clar tells me; got her eye on some one +else, little fool! She'll never have such a chance again. As for having +no designs, that's bosh, you know; all women have designs. I'm a deal +easier in my mind when I'm told she's got other fish to fry." + +"Other fish to fry?" said Mr. May; this time he was wholly amused, and +laughed. "This is news to me. However, we don't want to discuss my +little Ursula; about your son it will be well that I should know, for I +might be forming other engagements. This moment is a time of pecuniary +pressure with me," he added, with the ingratiating smile and +half-pathetic frankness of the would-be borrower. "I have not taken +pupils before, but I want money for the time. My son's settlement in +life, you see, and--but the father of a large family can always find +good reasons for wanting money." + +"That's it," said Mr. Copperhead, seriously. "Why are you the father of +a large family? That's what I ask our ministers. It's against all +political economy, that is. According as you've no money to give 'em, +you go and have children--when it should be just the other way." + +"That may be very true; but there they are, and can't be done away with; +and I do want money, as it happens, more now than I shall want it a year +hence, or, perhaps, even six months hence." + +"Most people do," said Mr. Copperhead, withdrawing his hand from his +pocket, and placing his elbow tightly against the orifice of that very +important part of him. "It's the commonest thing in the world. I want +money myself, for that matter. I've always got a large amount to make up +by a certain date, and a bill to pay. But about Clar, that's the +important matter. As he seems to have set his mind on it, and as you +assure me there's no danger--man-traps, or that sort of thing, eh?" + +The colour came to Mr. May's cheek; but it was only for a moment. To +have his own daughter spoken of as a man-trap gave him a momentary +thrill of anger; but, as he would have applied the word quite composedly +to any other man's daughter, the resentment was evanescent. He did not +trust himself to answer, however, but nodded somewhat impatiently, which +made the millionnaire laugh the more. + +"Don't like the man-trap?" he said. "Bless you, they're all alike, not +yours more than the rest. But as I was saying, if it's warranted safe I +suppose he'll have to stay. But I don't stand any nonsense, May; and +look here, your music and all that ain't in the agreement. He can have a +master for his music, he's well enough able to pay for it; but I won't +have a mistress, by George, to put folly into his head." + +"I am to forbid him the drawing-room, I suppose, and take his fiddle +from him! I have no objections. Between ourselves, as I am not musical, +it would be very agreeable to me; but perhaps he is rather over the age, +don't you think, for treatment of that kind?" + +Clarence had come in, and stood watching the conversation, with a look +Mr. Copperhead was not prepared for. Those mild brown eyes, which were +his mother's share in him, were full a-stare with sullen resolution, and +his heavy mouth shut like that of a bull-dog. He lingered at the door, +looking at the conversation which was going on between his father and +his tutor, and they both noticed him at the same moment, and drew the +same conclusion. Mr. May was in possession of the _parole_, as the +French say, and he added instinctively in an undertone, + +"Take care; if I were you I would not try him too far." + +Mr. Copperhead said nothing; but he stared too, rather aghast at this +new revelation. What! his porcelain, his Dresden figure of a son, his +crowning curiosity, was _he_ going to show a will of his own? The despot +felt a thrill go over him. What kind of a sentiment love was in his mind +it would be hard to tell; but his pride was all set on this heavy boy. +To see him a man of note, in Parliament, his name in the papers, his +speeches printed in the "Times," was the very heaven of his +expectations. "Son of the famous Copperhead, the great contractor." He +did not care about such distinction in his own person; but this had +been his dream ever since Clarence came into being. And now there he +stood gloomy, obdurate. If he had made up his mind to make a low +marriage, could his father hinder him--could anything hinder him? Mr. +Copperhead looked at his son and quailed for the first time in his life. + +"May," he said, hurriedly, "do the best you can; he's got all his +mother's d----d obstinacy, you can see, can't you? but I've set my heart +on making a man of him--do the best you can." + +Mr. May thought to himself afterwards if he had only had the vigour to +say, "Pay me six months in advance," the thing would have been done. But +the lingering prejudices of breeding clung about him, and he could not +do it. Mr. Copperhead, however, was very friendly all the rest of the +day, and gave him private looks and words aside, to the great admiration +of the Dorsets, to whom the alliance between them appeared remarkable +enough. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +A CATASTROPHE. + + +Mr. May left the Hall before dinner, notwithstanding the warm invitation +which was given to him to stay. He was rather restless, and though it +was hard to go out into the dark just as grateful odours began to steal +through the house, it suited him better to do so than to spend the night +away from home. Besides, he comforted himself that Sir Robert's cook was +not first-rate, not good enough to make it a great temptation. It was a +long walk to the station, for they had no horses at liberty to drive +him, a fact at which he was slightly offended, though he was aware that +Sir Robert's stable was but a poor one. He set out just as the +dressing-bell began to ring, fortified with a glass of sherry and a +biscuit. The night was mild and soft, the hedgerows all rustling with +the new life of the spring, and the stars beginning to come out as he +went on; and on the whole the walk was pleasant, though the roads were +somewhat muddy. As he went along, he felt himself fall into a curious +dreamy state of mind, which was partly fatigue perhaps, but was not at +all unpleasant. Sometimes he almost seemed to himself to be asleep as he +trudged on, and woke up with a start, thinking that he saw indistinct +figures, the skirt of a dress or the tail of a long coat, disappearing +past him, just gone before he was fully awake to what it was. He knew +there was no one on the lonely road, and that this was a dream or +illusion, but still he kept seeing these vanishings of indistinct +wayfarers, which did not frighten him in the least, but half-amused him +in the curious state of his brain. He had got rid of his anxiety. It was +all quite plain before him what to do,--to go to the Bank, to tell them +what he had coming in, and to settle everything as easily as possible. +The consciousness of having this to do acted upon him like a gentle +opiate or dream-charm. When he got to the railway station, and got into +a carriage, he seemed to be floating somehow in a prolonged vision of +light and streaks of darkness, not quite aware now far he was going, or +where he was going, across the country; and even when he arrived at +Carlingford he roused himself with difficulty, not quite certain that he +had to get out; then he smiled at himself, seeing the gas-lights in a +sort of vague glimmer about him, not uncomfortable, but misty and +half-asleep. "If Sir Robert's sherry had been better, I should have +blamed that," he said to himself; and in fact it was a kind of drowsy, +amiable mental intoxication which affected him, he scarcely could tell +how. When he got within sight of his own house, he paused a moment and +looked up at the lights in the windows. There was music going on; Phoebe, +no doubt, for Ursula could not play so well as that, and the house +looked full and cheerful. He had a cheerful home, there was no doubt of +that. Young Copperhead, though he was a dunce, felt it, and showed an +appreciation of better things in his determination not to leave the +house where he had been so happy. Mr. May felt an amiable friendliness +stealing over him for Clarence too. + +Upstairs in the drawing-room another idyllic evening had begun. Phoebe +"had not intended to come," but was there notwithstanding, persuaded by +Ursula, who, glad for once to escape from the anxieties of dinner, had +celebrated tea with the children, to their great delight, though she was +still too dreamy and pre-occupied to respond much to them. And Northcote +had "not intended to come." Indeed, he had gone further than this, he +had intended to keep away. But when he had eaten his solitary dinner, +he, too, had strayed towards the centre of attraction, and walking up +and down in forlorn contemplation of the lighted windows, had been spied +by Reginald, and brought in after a faint resistance. So the four were +together again, with only Janey to interpose an edge of general +criticism and remark into the too personal strain of the conversation. +Janey did not quite realize the importance of the place she was +occupying, but she was keenly interested in all that was going on, very +eager to understand the relationships in which the others stood, and to +see for herself what progress had been made last night while she was +absent. Her sharp girlish face, in which the eyes seemed too big for the +features, expressed a totally different phase of existence from that +which softened and subdued the others. She was all eyes and ears, and +watchful scrutiny. It was she who prevented the utterance of the +half-dozen words trembling on Northcote's lips, to which Ursula had a +soft response fluttering somewhere in her pretty throat, but which was +not destined to be spoken to-night; and it was she who made Phoebe's +music quite a simple performance, attended with little excitement and no +danger. Phoebe was the only one who was grateful to her, and perhaps even +Phoebe could have enjoyed the agitations of the evening better had Janey +been away. As it was, these agitations were all suppressed and +incipient; they could not come to anything; there were no hairbreadth +escapes, no breathless moments, when the one pursued had to exercise her +best skill, and only eluded the pursuer by a step or two. Janey, with +all her senses about her, hearing everything, seeing everything, +neutralized all effort on the part of the lovers, and reduced the +condition of Ursula and Phoebe to one of absolute safety. They were all +kept on the curb, in the leash, by the presence of this youthful +observer; and the evening, though full of a certain excitement and +mixture of happiness and misery, glided on but slowly, each of the young +men outdoing the other in a savage eagerness for Janey's bed-time. + +"Do you let her sit up till midnight every night?" said Reginald, with +indignation. + +"Let me sit up!" cried Janey, "as if I was obliged to do what she tells +me!" + +Ursula gave a little shrug to her pretty shoulders, and looked at the +clock. + +"It is not midnight yet; it is not nine o'clock," she said, with a sigh. +"I should have thought papa would have come home before now. Can he be +staying at the Hall all night?" + +Just then, however, there was the well-known ring at the bell, and +Ursula ran downstairs to see after her father's supper. Why couldn't +Janey make herself useful and do that, the little company thought +indignantly and with one accord, instead of staying here with her sharp +eyes, putting everybody out? Mr. May's little dinner, or supper, served +on a tray, was very comfortable, and he ate it with great satisfaction, +telling Ursula that he had, on the whole, spent a pleasant day. + +"The Dorsets were kind, as they always are, and Mr. Copperhead was a +little less disagreeable than he always is; and you may look for +Clarence back again in a day or two. He is not going to leave us. You +must take care that he does not fall in love with you, Ursula. That is +the chief thing they seem to be afraid of." + +"Fall in love with _me_!" cried Ursula. "Oh, papa, where are your eyes? +He has fallen in love, but not with me. Can't you see it? It is Phoebe he +cares for." + +Mr. May was startled. He raised his head with a curious smile in his +eyes, which made Ursula wonder painfully whether her father had taken +much wine at the Hall. + +"Ah, ha! is that what they are frightened for?" he said, and then he +shrugged his shoulders. "She will show bad taste, Ursula; she might do +better; but I suppose a girl of her class has not the delicacy--So that +is what they are frightened for! And what are the other fish _you_ have +to fry?" + +"Papa!" + +"Yes. He told me he was not alarmed about you; that you had other fish +to fry, eh! Well, it's too late for explanations to-night. What's that? +Very odd, I thought I saw some one going out at the door--just a whiff +of the coat-tails. I think my digestion must be out of order. I'll go +into the study and get my pills, and then I think I'll go to bed." + +"Won't you come upstairs to the drawing-room?" said Ursula, faltering, +for she was appalled by the idea of explanations. What had she to +explain, as yet? Mr. May shook his head, with that smile still upon his +face. + +"No, you'll get on excellently well without me. I've had a long walk, +and I think I'll go to bed." + +"You don't look very well, papa." + +"Oh, yes, I'm well enough; only confused in the head a little with +fatigue and the things I've had to think about. Good-night. Don't keep +those young fellows late, though one of them is your brother. You can +say I'm tired. Good-night, my dear." + +It was very seldom that he called her "my dear," or, indeed, said +anything affectionate to his grown-up children. If Ursula had not been +so eager to return to the drawing-room, and so sure that "they" would +miss her, she would have been anxious about her father; but as it was, +she ran upstairs lightly when he stopped speaking, and left him going +into the study, where already his lamp was burning. Betsy passed her as +she ran up the stairs, coming from the kitchen with a letter held +between two folds of her apron. Poor papa! no doubt it was some tiresome +parish business to bother him, when he was tired already. But Ursula did +not stop for that. How she wanted to be there again, among "them all," +even though Janey still made one! She went in breathless, and gave her +father's message only half-articulately. He was tired. "We are never to +mind; he says so." They all took the intimation very easily. Mr. May +being tired, what did that matter? He would, no doubt, be better +to-morrow; and in the mean time those sweet hours, though so hampered by +Janey, were very sweet. + +Betsy went in, and put down the note before Mr. May on his table. He was +just taking out his medicine from the drawer, and he made a wry face at +the note and at the pills together. + +"Parish?" he said, curtly. + +"No, sir; it's from Mr. Cotsdean. He came this morning, after you'd +gone, and he sent over little Bobby." + +"That will do." + +A presentiment of pain stole over him. He gave Betsy a nod of dismissal, +and went on with what he was doing. After he had finished, he took up +the little note from the table with a look of disgust. It was badly +scrawled, badly folded, and dirty. Thank Heaven, Cotsdean's +communications would soon be over now. + +Janey had proposed a round game upstairs. They were all humble in their +desire to conciliate that young despot. Reginald got the cards, and +Northcote put chairs round the table. He placed Ursula next to himself, +which was a consolation, and sat down by her, close to her, though not a +word, except of the most commonplace kind, could be said. + +Just then--what was it? an indescribable thrill through the house, the +sound of a heavy fall. They all started up from their seats to hear what +it was. Then Ursula, with a cry of apprehension, rushed downstairs, and +the others after her. Betsy, alarmed, had come out of the kitchen, +followed by her assistant, and was standing frightened, but irresolute; +for Mr. May was not a man to be disturbed with impunity. And this might +be nothing--the falling of a chair or a table, and nothing more. + +"What is it?" cried Ursula, in an anxious whisper. + +She was the leader in the emergency, for even Reginald held back. Then, +after a moment's pause, she opened the door, and with a little cry +rushed in. It was, as they feared, Mr. May who had fallen; but he had so +far recovered himself as to be able to make efforts to rise. His face +was towards them. It was very pale, of a livid colour, and covered with +moisture, great beads standing on his forehead. He smiled vaguely when +he saw the circle of faces. + +"Nothing--nothing--a faintness," he faltered, making again an effort to +rise. + +"What is it, papa? Oh, what's the matter?" cried Janey, rushing at him +and seizing him by the arm. "Get up! get up! what will people think? Oh, +Ursula, how queer he looks, and he feels so heavy. Oh, please get up, +papa!" + +"Go away," said Mr. May, "go away. It is--a faintness. I am very well +where I am--" + +But he did not resist when Reginald and Northcote lifted him from the +floor. He had a piece of paper tightly clasped in his hand. He gave them +a strange suspicious look all round, and shrank when his eyes fell upon +Phoebe. "Don't let her know," he said. "Take me away, take me away." + +"Reginald will take you upstairs, papa--to your room--to bed; you ought +to go to bed. It is the long walk that has worn you out. Oh, Reginald, +don't contradict him, let him go where he pleases. Oh, papa, where _are_ +you going?" cried Ursula, "the other way; you want to go to bed." + +"This way, take me--somewhere," said the sufferer; though he could not +stand he made a step, staggering between them, and an effort to push +towards the hall door, and when they directed him in the other direction +to the staircase which led to his room, he struggled feebly yet +violently with them. "No, no, no, not there!" he cried. The sudden +confusion, dismay, and alarm into which the family was plunged, the +strange sense of a catastrophe that came upon them, cannot be told. +Ursula, calling out all the time that they were not to contradict him, +insisted imperiously with words and gestures that he should be taken +upstairs. Janey, altogether overcome, sat down on the lower steps of the +staircase and cried. Reginald almost as pale as his father, and not +saying a word, urged him towards the stairs. To get him up to his room, +resisting as well as he could, and moaning inarticulate remonstrances +all the way, was no easy business. As the procession toiled along Phoebe +was left below, the only one in possession of her faculties. She sent +the housemaid hurriedly off for the doctor, and despatched Betsy to the +kitchen. + +"Hot water is always wanted," said Phoebe; "see that you have enough in +case he should require a bath." + +Then with her usual decision she stepped back into the study. It was not +vulgar curiosity which was in Phoebe's mind, nor did it occur to her that +she had no right to investigate Mr. May's private affairs. If she could +find what had done it, would not that be a great matter, something to +tell the doctor, to throw light on so mysterious a seizure? Several bits +of torn paper were lying on the floor; but only one of these was big +enough to contain any information. It was torn in a kind of triangular +shape, and contained a corner of a letter, a section of three lines, + + "must have mistaken the date + presented to-day, + paid by Tozer," + +was what she read. She could not believe her eyes. What transactions +could there be between her grandfather and Mr. May? She secured the +scrap of paper, furtively putting it into her pocket. It was better to +say nothing either to the doctor, or any one else, of anything so +utterly incomprehensible. It oppressed Phoebe with a sense of mystery and +of personal connection with the mystery, which even her self-possession +could scarcely bear up against. She went into the kitchen after Betsy, +avowedly in anxious concern for the boiling of the kettle. + +"Hot water is good for everything," said Phoebe; "mamma says a hot bath +is the best of remedies. Did Mr. May have anything--to worry him, Betsy? +I suppose it is only fatigue, and that he has taken too long a walk." + +"I don't believe in the long walk, Miss," said Betsy, "it's that +Cotsdean as is always a-tormenting with his dirty letters. When that man +comes bothering here, master is always put out." + +"Cotsdean? I don't know the name." + +"Don't say nothing, Miss," said Betsy, sinking her voice, "but you take +my word it's money. Money's at the bottom of everything. It's something, +as sure as you're alive, as master has got to pay. I've been a deal with +gentlefolks," added Betsy, "and ne'er a one of them can abide that." + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +THE SINNED-AGAINST. + + +Phoebe's mind was full of many and somewhat agitating thoughts. She went +upstairs with a restless haste, which she would have been the first to +condemn, to the room where the others were congregated, when they had +laid Mr. May on his bed with no small difficulty, and were now +consulting what to do. Ursula had fallen a little from the position of +command she had taken up. To get him to bed, to send for the doctor, +these were evident practical steps to take; but after having done these +she was bewildered and fell back upon her advisers. + +"We can't do anything, we can only wait and watch him," Reginald was +saying, as Phoebe, herself unseen, looked in at the anxious party; and +without asking any question she turned and went downstairs again, and +hastily putting on her shawl and hat, went out, shutting the door +softly, and ran home on the shady side of Grange Lane, where nobody +could see her. It was a very quiet road, and she was not disturbed by +any unreasonable alarms. It was still early when she got home, earlier +than usual, and her intention was not to stay there at all, but to go +back again and offer her assistance to Ursula, for whom she had left a +message to this effect. Phoebe was full of genuine regard and +friendliness towards the Mays. + +She felt that she had obligations to all of them, to the parson-father +for submitting to her presence, nay, encouraging it, and to Ursula for +receiving her with that affectionate fervour of friendship which had +completely changed the tenor of Phoebe's life at Carlingford. She was +obliged to them, and she knew that she was obliged to them. How +different these three months would have been but for the Parsonage; what +a heavy leaden-coloured existence without variety and without interest +she must have lived; whereas it had gone by like a summer day, full of +real life, of multiplied interests, of everything that it was most +desirable to have. Not at home and in London could she have had the +advantages she had enjoyed here. Phoebe was sensible enough--or perhaps +we might use a less complimentary word--worldly enough, to count within +those manifest benefits the advantage of seeing more of Clarence +Copperhead, and of drawing him within the charmed circle of her +influence, and she was grateful to the Mays, for this was their doing. +And then, on the other hand, quite a different thing, her heart was +touched and softened with gratitude to Reginald for loving her; of all +her gratitudes, perhaps this indeed was the most truly felt. They had +given her unbounded kindness, friendliness, everything that is most +sweet to the solitary; and over and above, as if these were not enough, +they had made her the exquisite present of a heart, the best thing that +can be given or received by man. Phoebe felt herself penetrated with +gratitude for all this, and she resolved that, if anything she could do +could benefit the Mays, the effort on her part should not be wanting. +"Paid by Tozer." What had been paid by Tozer? What had her grandfather +to do with it. Could it be he who had lent money to Mr. May? Then Phoebe +resolved, with a glow on her face, he should forgive his debtors. She +went in with her mind fully made up, whatever might happen, to be the +champion of the sufferer, the saviour of the family. This would show +them that their kindness had been appreciated. This would prove even to +Reginald that, though she would not sacrifice her own prospects by +marrying him, yet that she was grateful to him, to the bottom of her +heart. Her mind was full of generous ardour as she went in. She knew her +power; her grandfather had never yet refused her anything, never +resisted her, and it did not seem likely that he should begin now. + +Mrs. Tozer was by herself in the parlour, dozing over the fire. She woke +up with a little start when Phoebe came in and smiled at the sight of +her. + +"I didn't expect as you'd have come so soon," she said; "you've broke up +early to-night, darling. Couldn't you have no music? I didn't look for +you for an hour or more." + +"You know, grandmamma, it is Mr. Copperhead who teases me most for +music, and he is not here." + +"Yes, yes, _I_ know," said the old lady, nodding her head with many +smiles. "I know a deal more about it than you think for, Phoebe, and +don't you think as I disapprove, for it's quite the other way. But you +won't tell me as there ain't others as cares for music as well as young +Copperhead. I've seen one as couldn't take his eyes off of you while you +were playing." + +"Hush, grandmamma; the others like music for music's sake, or perhaps +for my sake; but Mr Copperhead likes it for his own sake, and therefore +he is the one who insists upon it. But this is not the reason why I have +come home so soon. Mr. May has been taken suddenly ill." + +"Lord bless us!" cried Mrs. Tozer, "deary, deary me! I'm very sorry, +poor gentleman, I hope it ain't anything serious. Though he's a church +parson, he's a very civil-spoken man, and I see his children drag him +into his own house one day as me and Tozer was passing. I said to Tozer +at the time, you take my word, whatever folks say, a man as lets his +children pull him about like that ain't a bad one. And so he's ill, poor +man! Is there anything as we can do to help, my dear? They ain't rich, +and they've been as kind to you as if you'd been one of their own." + +"I thought that would be the first thing you would ask me," said Phoebe +gratefully, giving her a kiss--"dear grandmamma, it is like your kind +heart--and I ran off to see that you were quite well and comfortable, +thinking perhaps if you did not want me I might go back to poor Ursula +for the night." + +To hear her granddaughter call Miss May by her Christian name was in +itself a pleasure to Mrs. Tozer. She gave Phoebe a hug. "So you shall, my +darling, and as for a bottle of good wine or that, anything as is in the +house, you know you're welcome to it. You go and talk to your +grandfather; I'm as comfortable as I can be, and if you'd like to run +back to that poor child--" + +"Not before you are in bed," said Phoebe, "but if you please I'll go and +talk to grandpapa as you said. There are things in which a man may be of +use." + +"To be sure," said Mrs. Tozer, doubtfully; "your grandfather ain't a man +as is much good in sickness; but I won't say as there ain't some +things--" + +"Yes, grandmamma, I'll take your advice and run and talk to him; and by +the time I come back you will be ready for bed." + +"Do, my dear," said Mrs. Tozer. She was very comfortable, and did not +care to move just then, and, as Phoebe went away, looked after her with +dreamy satisfaction. "Bless her! there ain't her match in Carlingford, +and the gentlefolks sees it," said Mrs. Tozer to herself. But she had no +idea how Phoebe's heart was beating as she went along the dimly-lighted +passage, which led to a small room fitted up by Tozer for himself. She +heard voices in earnest talk as she approached, but this made her only +the more eager to go in, and see for herself what was going on. There +could be no doubt, she felt sure of it, that the discussion here had +some connection with the calamity _there_. What it was she had not the +slightest idea; but that somehow the two were connected she felt +certain. The voices were loud as she approached the door. + +"I'll find out who done it, and I'll punish him--as sure as that's my +name, though I never put it on that there paper," Tozer was saying. +Phoebe opened the door boldly, and went in. She had never seen her +grandfather look so unlike himself. The knot of the big white +neckerchief round his neck was pushed away, his eyes were red, giving +out strange lights of passion. He was standing in front of the fireplace +gesticulating wildly. Though it was now April and the weather very mild +and genial, there were still fires in the Tozer sitting-rooms, and as +the windows were carefully shut, Phoebe felt the atmosphere stifling. The +other person in the room was a serious, large man, whom she had already +seen more than once; one of the chief clerks in the bank where Tozer +kept his account, who had an old acquaintance with the butterman, and +who was in the habit of coming when the bank had anything to say to so +sure a customer about rates of investment or the value of money. He was +seated at one side of the fire, looking very grave and shaking his head +as the other spoke. + +"That is very true, and I don't say anything against it. But, Mr. Tozer, +I can't help thinking there's some one else in it than Cotsdean." + +"What one else? what is the good of coming here to me with a pack of +nonsense? He's a poor needy creature as hasn't a penny to bless himself +with, a lot of children, and a wife as drinks. Don't talk to me of some +one else. That's the sort of man as does all the mischief. What, Phoebe! +run away to your grandmother, I don't want you here." + +"I am very sorry to interrupt you, grandpapa. Mayn't I stay? I have +something to say to you--" + +Tozer turned round and looked at her eagerly. Partly his own fancy, and +partly his wife's more enlightened observations, had made him aware that +it was possible that Phoebe might one day have something very interesting +to reveal. So her words roused him even in the midst of his +pre-occupation. He looked at her for a second, then he waved his hand +and said, + +"I'm busy; go away, my dear, go away; I can't talk to you now." + +Phoebe gave the visitor a look which perplexed him; but which meant, if +he could but have read it, an earnest entreaty to him to go away. She +said to herself, impatiently, that he would have understood had he been +a woman; but as it was he only stared with lack-lustre eyes. What was +she to do? + +"Grandpapa," she said, decisively, "it is too late for business +to-night. However urgent it may be, you can't do anything to-night. Why, +it is nearly ten o'clock, and most people are going to bed. See Mr. +----, I mean this gentleman--to-morrow morning the first thing; for you +know, however anxious you may be, you can't do anything to-night." + +"That is true enough," he said, looking with staring eyes from her to +his visitor, "and more's the pity. What had to be done should ha' been +done to-day. It should have been done to-day, sir, on the spot, not left +over night like this, to give the villain time to get away. It's a +crime, Phoebe, that's what it is--that's the fact. It's a crime." + +"Well, grandpapa, I am very sorry; but it will not mend matters, will +it, if sitting up like this, and agitating yourself like this, makes you +ill? That will not do away with the crime. It is bed-time, and poor +grandmamma is dozing, and wondering what has become of you. +Grandpapa----" + +"Phoebe, go away, it ain't none of your business; you're only a bit of a +girl, and how can you understand? If you think I'm going to sit down +with it like an old fool, lose my money, and what is worse nor my money, +let my very name be forged before my eyes--" + +Phoebe gave so perceptible a start that Tozer stopped short, and even the +banking-clerk looked at her with aroused curiosity. + +"Forged!" she cried, with a gasp of dismay; "is it so bad as that?" She +had never been more near betraying herself, showing a personal interest +more close than was natural. When she saw the risk she was running, she +stopped short and summoned all her energies. "I thought some one had +pilfered something," she said with an attempt at a laugh. "I beg your +pardon, grandpapa; but anyhow what can you do to-night? You are +keeping--this gentleman--and yourself out of bed. Please put it off till +to-morrow." + +"I think so too," said the banker's clerk. "I'll come to you in the +morning as I go to the Bank. Perhaps I may have been wrong; but I think +there's more in it than meets the eye. To-morrow we can have the man +Cotsdean up and question him." + +"After he's had time to take himself off," said Tozer, vehemently. "You +take my word he ain't in Carlingford, not now, let alone to-morrow." + +"Then that shows," said Phoebe, quietly, "that it is of no use making +yourself ill to-night. Grandpapa, let this gentleman go--he wants to go; +and I have something to say to you. You can do anything that is +necessary to-morrow." + +"I think so indeed," said Mr. Simpson, of the Bank, getting up at last, +"the young lady is quite right. We can't act hastily in a thing like +this. Cotsdean's a man of good character, Mr. Tozer; all that has to be +taken into account--and he is not a beggar. If he has done it, we can +recover something at least; but if he has been taken advantage of--I +think the young lady is a good counsellor, and that it's much the best +to wait till to-morrow." + +Phoebe seized upon her grandfather's arm to restrain him, and held him +back. "Good-night," she said; "grandpapa, stay with me, I have something +to say to you. Listen; you don't think me very silly, do you, grandpapa +dear?" + +"Silly!" he said, listening to the steps of the departing visitor as +they receded along the passage. "What has a chit like you to do with +business? I tell you it'll kill me. Me a-signing of accommodation bills +for a bit of a small shopkeeper like that Cotsdean! I tell you it'll +make an end of me, that will, unless I gets my money and clears myself +afore the world. And here you've been and sent away Simpson, and who's +to manage for me? I ain't a lawyer to know what to do. Get away, get +away, and leave me to myself, I can't be disturbed with women-folks when +I've got real business in hand." + +"I'll manage for you," said Phoebe; "you need not stare at me like that, +grandpapa--" + +"Go out o' the room this moment, Miss!" he cried furious; "you! here's a +sort of thing for me to put up with. Sam Tozer wasn't born yesterday +that a bit of an impudent girl should take upon her to do for him. +Manage for me! go out o' my sight; I'm a fool, am I, and in my dotage to +have a pack of women meddling in my affairs?" + +Phoebe had never met with such an outburst of coarse anger in her life +before, and it gave her a shock, as such assaults naturally do to people +brought up softly, and used to nothing but kindness. For a moment she +wavered, doubtful whether she should not proudly abandon him and his +affairs altogether; but this was to abandon her friends too. She +mastered herself accordingly, and the resentment which she could not +help feeling--and stood pale but quiet opposite to the infuriated old +man. His grey eyes seemed to give out sparks of fire. His hair bristled +up on his head like the coat of a wild animal enraged. He went up and +down on the hearth-rug like the same animal in a cage, shaking his fist +at some imaginary culprit. + +"Once I get him, see if I let him go," he cried, his voice thick with +fast-coming words and the foam of fury. "Let the bank do as it likes; +I'll have him, I will. I'll see justice on the man as has dared to make +free with my name. It ain't nothing to you, my name; but I've kep' it +honest, and out of folk's mouths, and see if I'll stand disgrace thrown +on it now. A bill on me as never had such a thing, not when I was +struggling to get on! Dash him! damn him!" cried the old man, +transported with rage. When he had come to this unusual and terrible +length, Tozer paused dismayed. He had lost his temper before in his +life; but very seldom had he been betrayed into anything so desperate as +this. He stopped aghast, and cast a half-frightened look at Phoebe, who +stood there so quiet, subdued out of her usual force, pale and +disapproving--his own grandchild, a pastor's daughter! and he had +forgotten himself thus before her. He blushed hotly, though he was not +used to blushing, and stopped all at once. After such frightful +language, so unbecoming a deacon of Salem, so unlike a consistent member +of the connection, what could he say? + +"Grandpapa," said Phoebe softly, "it is not good to be so angry; you are +made to say things you are sorry for. Will you listen to me now? Though +you don't think it, and perhaps won't believe it, I have found out +something quite by chance--" + +He went up to her and clutched her by the arm. "Then what are you +a-standing there for, like a figure in stone? Can't you out with it, and +ease my mind? Out with it, I tell you! Do you want to drive me out of my +senses?" + +He was so much excited that he shook her in the hot paroxysm of +returning rage. Phoebe was not frightened, but indignation made her pale. +She stood without flinching, and looked at him, till poor old Tozer let +go his hold, and dropping into a chair, covered his face with his hands. +She was too generous to take advantage of him, but went on quietly, as +if nothing had occurred. + +"Grandpapa, as I tell you, I have found out something by chance that has +to do with the thing that troubles you; but I don't know quite what it +is. Tell me first, and then--is this the thing?" said Phoebe, curiously, +taking up a slip of paper from the table, a stamped piece of paper, in a +handwriting which seemed horribly familiar to her, and yet strange. +Tozer nodded at her gloomily, holding his head between his hands, and +Phoebe read over the first few words before her with an aching heart, and +eyes that seemed to ache in sympathy. Only a few words, but what +evidence of guilt, what pitiful misery in them! She did not even think +so much of the name on the back, which was and was not her grandfather's +name. The rest of the bill was written in a hand disguised and changed; +but she had seen a great deal of similar writing lately, and she +recognized it with a sickening at her heart. In the kind of fatherly +flirtation which had been innocently carried on between Phoebe and her +friend's father, various productions of his in manuscript had been given +to her to read. She was said, in the pleasant social jokes of the party, +to be more skilled in interpreting Mr. May's handwriting than any of his +family. She stood and gazed at the paper, and her eyes filled with tears +of pain and pity. The openness of this self-betrayal, veiled as it was +with a shadow of disguise which could deceive no one who knew him, went +to Phoebe's heart. What could he have done it for? Mere money, the +foolish expenses of every day, or, what would be more respectable, some +vague mysterious claim upon him, which might make desperate expedients +necessary? She stood, temporarily stupefied, with her eyes full, looking +at that pitiful, terrible, guilty bit of paper, stupefied by the sudden +realization of her sudden guess at the truth--though, indeed, the truth +was so much more guilty and appalling than any guess of hers. + +"Well," said Tozer, "you've seen it, and now what do you think of it? +That's my name, mind you, my name! I hope the Almighty will grant me +patience. Stuck on to what they calls a kite, an accommodation bill. +What do you think of that, Miss Phoebe? A-a-ah! if I had hold of him--if +I had him under my fists--if I had him by the scruff of the neck!" + +"Grandpapa, doesn't it say in the Bible we are to forgive when harm is +done to us?" + +Phoebe had begun to tremble all over; for the first time she doubted her +own power. + +He got up again, and began to prowl about the table, round and round, +with the same wild look in his eyes. + +"I am not one as would go again' Scripture," he said, gloomily; "but +that's a spiritual meaning as you're too young to enter into. You don't +suppose as Scripture would approve of crime, or let them escape as had +wronged their fellow-creatures? There wouldn't be no business, no +justice, no trade, on such a rule as that." + +"But, grandpapa--" + +"Don't you but me. You've seen me in good spirits and good temper, +Phoebe, my girl; but you don't know old Sam Tozer when his spirit's up. +D---- him!" cried the old man, striking his hand violently on the table; +"and you may tell your father, as is a Minister, that I said so. The +Bible's spiritual; but there's trade, and there's justice. A man ain't +clear of what he's done because you forgive him. What's the law for +else? Forgive! You may forgive him as fast as you like, but he's got to +be punished all the same." + +"But not by you." + +"By the law!" cried Tozer. His inflamed eyes seemed to glare upon her, +his rough grey hair bristled on his head, a hot redness spread across +his face beneath his fiery eyes, which seemed to scorch the cheek with +angry flames. "The law that ain't a individual. That's for our +protection, whether we like it or not. What's that got to do with +forgiving? Now, looking at it in a public way, I ain't got no right to +forgive." + +"Grandpapa, you have always been so kind, always so good to everybody. I +have heard of so many things you have done--" + +"That is all very well," said Tozer, not without a certain gloomy +complacence, "so long as you don't touch _me_. But the moment as you +touches me, I'm another man. That's what I can't bear, nor I won't. Them +as tries their tricks upon me shan't be let off, neither for wife nor +child; and don't you think, my girl, though you're Phoebe, junior, that +you are a-going for to come over me." + +Phoebe could not but shiver in her fright and agitation; but distressed +and excited as she was, she found means to take a step which was +important indeed, though at the moment she did not fully realize its +importance, and did it by instinct only. She had a handkerchief in her +hand, and almost without consciousness of what she was doing, she +crushed up the miserable bit of paper, which was the cause of so much +evil and misery, in its folds. He was far too impassioned and excited to +observe such a simple proceeding. It was the suggestion of a moment, +carried out in another moment like a flash of lightning. And as soon as +she had done this, and perceived what she had done, fortitude and +comfort came back to Phoebe's soul. + +"You will not hear what I have found out, and now I do not choose to +tell you, grandpapa," she said, with an air of offence. "Unless you wish +to be ill, you will do much better to go to bed. It is your usual hour, +and I am going to grandmamma. Say good-night, please. I am going out +again to stay all night. Mr. May is ill, and I ought to help poor +Ursula." + +"You go a deal after them Mays," said Tozer, with a cloud over his face. + +"Yes. I wonder whom else I should go after? Who has been kind to me in +Carlingford except the Mays? Nobody. Who has asked me to go to their +house, and share everything that is pleasant in it? None of your Salem +people, grandpapa. I hope I am not ungrateful, and whatever happens, or +whatever trouble they are in," cried Phoebe, fervently, "I shall stand up +for them through thick and thin, wherever I go." + +The old man looked at her with a startled look. + +"You speak up bold," he said; "you won't get put upon for want of +spirit; and I don't know as what you're saying ain't the right +thing--though I don't hold with the Church, nor parsons' ways. I'd do a +deal myself, though you think me so hard and cross, for folks as has +been kind to you." + +"I know you will, grandpapa," said Phoebe, with a slight emphasis which +startled him, though he did not know why; and she kissed him before she +went to her grandmother, which she did with a perfectly composed and +tranquil mind. It was astonishing how the crackle of that bit of paper +in her handkerchief calmed and soothed her. She recovered her breath, +her colour, and her spirits. She ran up to her room and changed her +dress, which was silk, for a soft merino one, which made no rustling; +and then she folded the bill carefully, and put it into the safe keeping +of the little purse which she always carried in her pocket. No one would +think of searching for it there, and she would always have it at hand +whatever happened. When she had made these needful arrangements, she +went to old Mrs. Tozer, and took her comfortably upstairs. Never was +there a more devoted nurse. The old lady chatted cheerfully, yet +sympathetically, of the poor gentleman and his illness, with the +half-satisfaction of an invalid in hearing of some one else who is ill. + +"And be sure you take him some of the port wine as the doctor ordered, +and Tozer paid that dear for. I don't care for it, not a bit, Phoebe. I'd +sooner have it from the grocer's, at two shillings a bottle. That's what +I've always been used to, when I did take a glass of wine now and again. +But I dare say as Mr. May would like it, poor gentleman." + +When Mrs. Tozer had laid her head, all nodding with white muslin frills, +edged with cotton lace, upon her pillow, Phoebe, noiseless in her soft +merino gown, went back, accompanied by Martha, to the Parsonage, where +Ursula's careworn face lighted a little at sight of her. Ursula had left +her father for the moment in Betsy's care, to get something that was +wanted, and she stole into the dining-room on hearing of her friend's +arrival, and talked a little in a whisper, though the sick man was on +the upper floor, and could not possibly have heard anything. Northcote +was still there, sitting with Reginald, too anxious and excited to go +away; and they all conversed in whispers, the three of them talking +together for the benefit of the new-comer. + +"Not paralysis; at least, he does not think so; a great mental +shock--but we can't tell a bit what it was--coming when he was +dreadfully tired, and not able to bear it." + +They all spoke together, each of them saying a few words, and kept close +together in the centre of the room, a curious little half-frightened +group, overawed and subdued by the sudden change and strange calamity +dropt into their midst. Phoebe seemed to bring them new life and hope. + +"If it is going to be an illness," she said, "you gentlemen had better +go home and go to bed, to be able to help us when we want help. Anyhow, +what good can they do, Ursula? They had much better go to bed." + +Ursula looked at them with a certain regret; though they could not do +much good, it was a relief to come and whisper a few words to them now +and then, giving them news of the patient. But Phoebe was right, and +there was nothing to be said against her decision. The two young women +and the faithful Betsy were enough, and, indeed, more than enough to +watch over Mr. May. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +A MORNING'S WORK. + + +"Go and lie down for an hour," whispered Phoebe. "I am not sleepy at all. +I have sat up before, and never felt it, you never did, I can see it in +your poor little white face; and besides, I am steadier, because I am +not so anxious. Now go, Ursula, if you are really fond of me, as you +say--" + +"Oh, Phoebe! if you think he is a little better. Oh, how horrible it is +to be sleepy, as if you were all body, and had no heart at all!" + +"You have plenty of heart, but you have never been used to this nursing. +Leave your door open, so that I may call you in a moment. I have sat up +often. Now go, to please me," said Phoebe. She had another object than +mere rest to her friend, who at last, very much ashamed and crying +softly, yet so weary that nothing on this earth seemed so desirable to +her as sleep, crept to her room, and lay down there as the pale morning +began to dawn. Betsy slept heavily in an easy-chair outside the door of +the sick-room. She was there at hand in case anything was wanted, but +she was happily unconscious where she was, sleeping the sleep of hard +work and a mind undisturbed. Phoebe had seen that the patient was +stirring out of the dull doze in which his faculties had been entirely +stilled and stupefied. He was rousing to uneasiness, if not to full +consciousness. Two or three times he made a convulsive movement, as if +to raise himself; once his eyes, which were half open, seemed to turn +upon her with a vague glimmer of meaning. How strangely she felt towards +him, as she sat there in the grey of the morning, sole guardian, sole +confidant of this erring and miserable man! The thought ran through her +with a strange thrill. He was nothing to her, and yet he was absolutely +in her power, and in all heaven and earth there seemed no one who was +capable of protecting him, or cared to do so, except herself only. She +sat looking at him with a great pity in her mind, determined to be his +true protector, to deliver him from what he himself had done. She had +not realized at first what it was he had done, and indeed it was only +now that its full enormity, or rather its full consequences (which were +the things that affected her most urgently), made themselves apparent +to her. Generalizations are unsafe things; and whether it was because +she was a woman that Phoebe, passing over the crime, fixed her thoughts +upon the punishment, I do not venture to say; but she did so. After all +a few lines of writing on a bit of paper is not a crime which affects +the imagination of the inexperienced. Had it been a malicious slander +Phoebe would have realized the sin of it much more clearly; but the copy +of her grandfather's signature did not wound her moral sense in the same +way, though it was a much more serious offence. That Mr. May could have +intended to rob him of the money appeared impossible to her; and no +doubt the borrowing of the signature was wrong--very wrong. Yes, of +course it was horribly, fatally wrong; but still it did not set her +imagination aglow with indignant horror, as smaller affairs might have +done. But the consequences--disgrace, ruin, the loss of his position, +the shame of his profession, moral death indeed, almost as frightful as +if he had been hanged for murder. She shivered as she sat by him, veiled +by the curtain, and thought of her grandfather's vindictive fierceness; +only she stood between him and destruction, and Phoebe felt that it was +by no legitimate means that she was doing so, not by her influence over +her grandfather as she had hoped, but only by an unjustifiable expedient +which in itself was a kind of crime. This, however, brought a slight +smile on her face. She took out her little purse from her pocket, and +looked at the bit of paper carefully folded in it. The faint perfume of +the Russia leather had already communicated itself to the document, +which had not been so pleasant in Tozer's hands. As she looked at it +lying peacefully on her lap, her attention was suddenly called by the +patient, who sat upright and looked furtively about him, with his hand +upon the coverings ready to throw them off. His ghastly white face +peered at her from behind the curtain with wild eagerness--then relaxed, +when he met her eye, into a kind of idiot smile, a painful attempt to +divert suspicion, and he fell back again with a groan. The trance that +had stupefied him was over; he had recovered some kind of consciousness, +how much or how little she could not tell. His mind now seemed to be set +upon hiding himself, drawing his coverings over him, and concealing +himself with the curtain, at which he grasped with an excess of force +which neutralized itself. + +"Mr. May," said Phoebe, softly. "Mr. May! do you know me?" + +She could not tell what answer he made, or if he made any answer. He +crouched down under the bed-clothes, pulling them over his face, trying +to hide himself from her; from which she divined that he did recognize +her, confused though his faculties were. Then a hoarse murmuring sound +seemed to come out of the pillow. It was some time before she could make +out what it was. + +"Where am I?" he said. + +With the lightning speed of sympathy and pity, Phoebe divined what his +terror was. She said, almost whispering, + +"At home, in your own bed--at home! and safe. Oh, don't you know me--I +am Phoebe." Then after a pause, "Tozer's granddaughter; do you know me +now?" + +The strange, scared, white-faced spectre shrank under his covering, till +she could see no more of him except two wild eyes full of terror which +was almost madness. + +"Listen!" she said eagerly, "try to understand! Oh, Mr. May, try to +understand! I know about it--I know everything, and you are safe--quite +safe; you need not have any fear!" + +He did not follow what she said, Phoebe perceived with pain and terror. +Even the impression made by the first sight of her seemed to fade from +his mind. His grasp relaxed upon the curtains and coverlet; and then the +hoarse murmuring was resumed. Straining all her ears, she made out that +he was not speaking to her or any one, but moaned to himself, saying the +same words over and over again. It took her a long time to make out even +what these words were. When at last she did make them out they filled +the girl with an alarm beyond words. + +"It used to be hanging," he said. "Hard labour; can I bear hard labour? +And the children--the children! Hard labour--for life. Hanging--was soon +over. The children! I cannot bear it. I never was put to--hard +labour--in all my life." + +Phoebe was too sick at heart to listen to more. She drew a little apart, +but near enough to be seen by him. If he chose to spring up, to fling +himself from the window, as she had heard of men doing in delirium, who +could restrain him? Not she, a slight girl, nor Betsy, even if Betsy +could be roused to the danger. She did not know how long the vigil which +followed lasted, but it seemed like years to her; and when at last she +was relieved by the joyful sound of Reginald's voice and footstep coming +up the stairs, she felt disposed to run to the glass at once, and look +if her hair had grown white, or her countenance permanently changed with +the terror. Reginald, for his part, thought of his father in the second +place only, as children are apt to do; he came up to her first, and +with a thrill in his voice of surprise and emotion, addressed her +hastily by her name. + +"Phoebe! is it _you_ who are watching--you, darling?" + +"Hush! I sent Ursula to bed; she was so tired. Don't leave him. I am +frightened," cried Phoebe. "He is wandering in his mind. Oh, don't leave +him, Mr. May!" + +"I will do exactly as you tell me," said Reginald, in a confused +transport of feeling, the very anxiety in his mind helping to destroy +his self-control. He stooped down and kissed her hands before she could +divine what he was about to do. "Only you or an angel would have done +it," he cried, with a tremulous voice. + +Was it not natural that he should think that some thought of him had +made Phoebe so careful of his father? His heart was swelling, too full to +hold, with a sudden joy, which expanded the pain, and made that greater +too. + +"Oh, what does it matter about me? Mr. May, think what I am saying. +Don't leave him for a moment. He might throw himself out of the window, +he might do some harm to himself. Ah! again!" said Phoebe, trembling. + +But this time it was only a convulsive start, nothing more. The patient +dropped down again softly upon his pillows, and relapsed into his doze, +if doze it could be called, in which his faculties were but +half-dormant, and his open eyes contradicted all the appearances of +natural sleep. + +When she was relieved from the sick room--and now she had a double +motive in getting away--Phoebe stole softly into the faded little place +where Ursula lay, still fast asleep, though fully dressed, and bathed +her face and strained eyes. "I wonder if my hair is grey underneath," +she said to herself. "I wonder nothing has happened to me." But a great +deal had happened to her. Such a night is rarely encountered by so young +a creature, or such an alarming charge undertaken. And sudden hot kisses +upon little, cold, agitated hands, worn by fatigue to nervous perception +of every touch, are very exciting and strange to a girl. They had given +her a kind of electric shock. She was not in love with Reginald, and +therefore she felt it all the more, and her heart was still throbbing +with the suddenness and excitement of the incident. And after she had +made an effort to get over this, there remained upon her mind the +disturbing burden of a knowledge which no one shared, and a +responsibility which was very heavy and terrible, and too tremendous for +her slight shoulders. After she had made that hasty toilette, she sat +down for a moment at the foot of the bed on which Ursula lay sleeping, +unconscious of all those mysteries, and tried to think. It is not an +easy process at any time, but after a long night's watching, terror, and +agitation, it seemed more impossible to Phoebe than it had ever done +before. And she had so much occasion for thought, so much need of the +power of judging clearly. What was she to do?--not to-morrow, or next +week, but now. She had taken the responsibility of the whole upon +herself by the sudden step she had taken last night; but, bold as she +had been, Phoebe was ignorant. She did not know whether her theft of the +bill would really stop the whole proceedings, as had seemed so certain +last night; and what if she was found out, and compelled to return it, +and all her labour lost! A panic took possession of her as she sat there +at the foot of Ursula's bed, and tried to think. But what is the use of +trying to think? The more you have need of them, the more all mental +processes fail you. Phoebe could no more think than she could fly. She +sat down very seriously, and she rose up in despair, and, thought being +no longer among her possibilities, resolved to do something at once, +without further delay, which would be a consolation to herself at least. +How wonderful it was to go out in the fresh early morning, and see the +people moving about their work, going up and down with indifferent +faces, quite unconcerned about the day and all it might bring forth! She +went up Grange Lane with a curious uncertainty as to what she should do +next, feeling her own extraordinary independence more than anything +else. Phoebe felt like a man who has been out all night, who has his own +future all in his hands, nobody having any right to explanation or +information about what he may choose to do, or to expect from him +anything beyond what he himself may please to give. Very few people are +in this absolutely free position, but this was how Phoebe represented it +to herself, having, like all other girls, unbounded belief in the +independence and freedom possessed by men. Many times in her life she +had regarded with envy this independence, which, with a sigh, she had +felt to be impossible. But now that she had it, Phoebe did not like it. +What she would have given to have gone to some one, almost any one, and +told her dilemma, and put the burden a little off her shoulders! But she +durst not say a word to any one. Very anxious and pre-occupied, she went +up Grange Lane. Home? She did not know; perhaps she would have thought +of something before she reached the gate of No. 6. And accordingly, when +she had lifted her hand to ring the bell, and made a step aside to +enter, an inspiration came to Phoebe. She turned away from the door and +went on up into the town, cautiously drawing her veil over her face, for +already the apprentices were taking down the shutters from her uncle's +shop, and she might be seen. Cotsdean's shop was late of opening that +morning, and its master was very restless and unhappy. He had heard +nothing more about the bill, but a conviction of something wrong had +crept into his mind. It was an altogether different sensation from the +anxiety he had hitherto felt. This was no anxiety to speak of, but a +dull pain and aching conviction that all was not right. When he saw the +young lady entering the shop, Cotsdean's spirits rose a little, for a +new customer was pleasant, and though he thought he had seen her, he did +not know who she was. She was pleasant to look upon, and it was not +often that any one came so early. He came forward with anxious +politeness; the boy (who was always late, and a useless creature, more +expense than he was worth) had not appeared, and therefore Cotsdean was +alone. + +"I wanted to speak to you, please," said Phoebe. "Will you mind if I +speak very plainly, without any ceremony? Mr. Cotsdean, I am Mr. Tozer's +granddaughter, and live with him at No. 6 in the Lane. I dare say you +have often seen me with Miss May." + +"Yes--yes, Miss, certainly," he said, with a thrill of alarm and +excitement running through him. He felt his knees knock together under +cover of the counter, and yet he did not know what he feared. + +"Will you please tell me frankly, in confidence, about----the bill which +was brought to my grandfather yesterday?" said Phoebe, bringing out the +question with a rush. + +Whether she was doing wrong, whether she might bring insult upon +herself, whether it was an interference unwarrantable and unjustifiable, +she could not tell. She was in as great a fright as Cotsdean, and more +anxious still than he was; but fortunately her agitation did not show. + +"What am I to tell you about it, Miss?" said the man, terrified. "Is it +Mr. Tozer as has sent you? Lord help me! I know as he can sell me up if +he has a mind; but he knows it ain't me." + +"Don't speak so loud," said Phoebe, trembling too. "Nobody must hear; and +remember, you are never, never to talk of this to any one else; but tell +me plainly, that there may be no mistake. Is it--Mr. May?" + +"Miss Tozer," said Cotsdean, who was shaking from head to foot, "if +that's your name--I don't want to say a word against my clergyman. He's +stood by me many a day as I wanted him, and wanted him bad; but as I'm a +living man, that money was never for me; and now he's a-gone and left me +in the lurch, and if your grandfather likes he can sell me up, and +that's the truth. I've got seven children," said the poor man, with a +sob breaking his voice, "and a missus; and nothing as isn't in the +business, not a penny, except a pound or two in a savings' bank, as +would never count. And I don't deny as he could sell me up; but oh! +Miss, he knows very well it ain't for me." + +"Mr. Cotsdean," said Phoebe, impressively, "you don't know, I suppose, +that Mr. May had a fit when he received your note last night?" + +"Lord help us! Oh! God forgive me, I've done him wrong, poor gentleman, +if that's true." + +"It is quite true; he is very, very ill; he can't give you any advice, +or assist you in any way, should grandpapa be unkind. He could not even +understand if you told him what has happened." + +Once more Cotsdean's knees knocked against each other in the shadow of +the counter. His very lips trembled as he stood regarding his strange +visitor with scared and wondering eyes. + +"Now listen, please," said Phoebe, earnestly; "if any one comes to you +about the bill to-day, don't say anything about _him_. Say you got +it--in the way of business--say anything you please, but don't mention +_him_. If you will promise me this, I will see that you don't come to +any harm. Yes, I will; you may say I am not the sort of person to know +about business, and it is quite true. But whoever comes to you remember +this--if you don't mention Mr. May, I will see you safely through it; do +you understand?" + +Phoebe leant across the counter in her earnestness. She was not the kind +of person to talk about bills, or to be a satisfactory security for a +man in business; but Cotsdean was a poor man, and he was ready to catch +at a straw in the turbid ocean of debt and poverty which seemed closing +round him. He gave the required promise with his heart in his mouth. + +Then Phoebe returned down the street. Her fatigue began to tell upon her, +but she knew that she dared not give in, or allow that she was fatigued. +However heavy with sleep her eyes might be, she must keep awake and +watchful. Nothing, if she could help it, must so much as turn the +attention of the world in Mr. May's direction. By this time she was much +too deeply interested to ask herself why she should do so much for Mr. +May. He was her charge, her burden, as helpless in her hands as a child; +and nobody but herself knew anything about it. It was characteristic of +Phoebe's nature that she had no doubt as to being perfectly right in the +matter, no qualm lest she should be making a mistake. She felt the +weight upon her of the great thing she had undertaken to do, with a +certain half-pleasing sense of the solemnity of the position and of its +difficulties; but she was not afraid that she was going wrong or +suffering her fancy to stray further than the facts justified; neither +was she troubled by any idea of going beyond her sphere by interfering +thus energetically in her friend's affairs. Phoebe did not easily take +any such idea into her head. It seemed natural to her to do whatever +might be wanted, and to act upon her own responsibility. Her +self-confidence reached the heroic point. She knew that she was right, +and she knew moreover that in this whole matter she alone was right. +Therefore the necessity of keeping up, of keeping alert and vigilant, of +holding in her hand the threads of all these varied complications was +not disagreeable to her, though she fully felt its importance--nay, +almost exaggerated it in her own mind if that could be. She felt the +dangerous character of the circumstances around her, and her heart was +sore with pity for the culprit, or as she called him to herself the +chief sufferer; and yet all the same Phoebe felt a certain sense of +satisfaction in the great role she herself was playing. She felt equal +to it, though she scarcely knew what was the nest step she ought to +take. She was walking slowly, full of thought, to Tozer's door, +pondering upon this, when the sound of rapid wheels behind roused her +attention, and looking up, surprised, she suddenly saw leaping out of a +dog-cart the imposing figure of Clarence Copperhead, of whom she had not +been thinking at all. He came down with a heavy leap, leaving the light +carriage swinging and quivering behind him with the shock of his +withdrawal. + +"Miss Phoebe!" he said, breathless; "here's luck! I came over to see you, +and you are the first person I set eyes on--" + +He was rather heavy to make such a jump, and it took away his breath. + +"To see me?" she said, laughing, though her heart began to stir. "That +is very odd. I thought you must have come to see poor Mr. May, who is so +ill. You know--" + +"May be hanged!" said the young man; "I mean--never mind--I don't mean +him any harm, though, by Jove, if you make such a pet of him, I don't +know what I shall think. Miss Phoebe, I've come over post-haste, as you +may see; chiefly to see you; and to try a horse as well," he added, +"which the governor has just bought. He's a very good 'un to go; and +pleased the governor would be if he knew the use I had put him to," he +concluded, with a half-laugh. + +Phoebe knew as well as he did what that use was. He had brought his +father's horse out for the first time, to carry him here to propose to +her, in spite of his father. This was the delicate meaning which it +amused him to think of. She understood it all, and it brought a glow of +colour to her face; but it did not steel her heart against him. She knew +her Clarence, and that his standard of fine feeling and mental elevation +was not high. + +"Look here," he said, "I wish I could speak to you, Miss Phoebe, +somewhere better than in the street. Yes, in the garden--that will do. +It ain't much of a place either to make a proposal in, for that's what +I've come to do; but you don't want me to go down on my knees, or make a +fuss, eh? I got up in the middle of the night to be here first thing and +see you. I never had a great deal to say for myself," said Clarence, +"you won't expect me to make you fine speeches; but I _am_ fond of +you--awfully fond of you, Phoebe, that's the truth. You suit me down to +the ground, music and everything. There's no girl I ever met that has +taken such a hold upon me as you." + +Phoebe heard him very quietly, but her heart beat loud. She stood on the +gravel between the flower-borders, where the primroses were beginning to +wither, and glanced over her life of the past and that of the future, +which were divided by this moment like the two beds of flowers; one +homely, not very distinguished, simple enough--the other exalted by +wealth to something quite above mediocrity. Her heart swelled, full as +it was with so many emotions of a totally different kind. She had gained +a great prize, though it might not be very much to look at; more or +less, she was conscious this golden apple had been hanging before her +eyes for years, and now it had dropped into her hand. A gentle glow of +contentment diffused itself all over her, not transport, indeed, but +satisfaction, which was better. + +"Mr. Copperhead--" she said, softly. + +"No, hang it all, call me Clarence, Phoebe, if you're going to have me!" +he cried, putting out his big hands. + +"Grandmamma is looking at us from the window," she said, hurriedly, +withdrawing a little from him. + +"Well, and what does that matter? The old lady won't say a word, depend +upon it, when she knows. Look here, Phoebe, I'll have an answer. Yes or +no?" + +"Have you got your father's consent--Clarence?" + +"Ah, it is yes then! I thought it would be yes," he cried, seizing her +in his arms. "As for the governor," added Clarence, after an interval, +snapping his fingers, "I don't care _that_ for the governor. When I've +set my mind on a thing, it ain't the governor, or twenty governors, that +will stop me." + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +A GREAT MENTAL SHOCK. + + +"Have you any notion what was the cause?" + +"None," said Reginald. "Oh, no, none at all," said Ursula. They were all +three standing at the door of the sick-room, in which already a great +transformation had taken place. The doctor had sent a nurse to attend +upon the patient. He had told them that their father was attacked by +some mysterious affection of the brain, and that none of them were equal +to the responsibility of nursing him. His children thus banished had set +the door ajar, and were congregated round it watching what went on +within. They did not know what to do. It was Northcote who was asking +these questions; it was he who was most active among them. The others +stood half-stunned, wholly ignorant, not knowing what to do. + +"I don't think papa is ill at all," said Janey. "Look how he glares +about him, just as I've seen him do when he was writing a sermon, ready +to pounce upon any one that made a noise. He is watching that woman. Why +should he lie in bed like that, and be taken care of when he is just as +well as I am? You have made a mistake all the rest of you. I would go +and speak to him, and tell him to get up and not make all this fuss, if +it was me." + +"Oh, Janey! hold your tongue," said Ursula; but she, too, looked +half-scared at the bed, and then turned wistful inquiring eyes to +Northcote. As for Reginald, he stood uncertain, bewildered, all the +colour gone out of his face, and all the energy out of his heart. He +knew nothing of his father's affairs, or of anything that might disturb +his mind. His mind; all that his son knew of this was, that whatsoever +things disturbed other minds his father had always contemptuously +scouted all such nonsense. "Take some medicine," Mr. May had been in the +habit of saying. "Mind! you mean digestion," was it nothing more than +some complicated indigestion that affected him now? + +"Is it anything about--money?" said Northcote. + +They all turned and looked at him. The idea entered their minds for the +first time. Yes, very likely it was money. + +"We have always been poor," said Ursula, wistfully. Northcote took her +hand into his; none of them except Ursula herself paid any attention to +this involuntary, almost unconscious caress, and even to her it seemed a +thing of course, and quite natural that he should be one of them, taking +his share in all that was going on. + +"I--am not poor," he said, faltering. "You must not think me +presumptuous, May. But the first thing to be done is to get him out of +his difficulties, if he is in difficulties--and you must let me help to +do it. I think you and I should go out and see about it at once." + +"Go--where?" Reginald, like most young people, had taken little notice +of his father's proceedings. So long as things went smoothly, what had +he to do with them? When there was a pressure for money, he knew he +should hear of it, at least in the shape of reproaches and sneers from +his father at his useless life, and the expenses of the family. But even +these reproaches had died away of late, since Reginald had possessed an +income of his own, and since the revenues of the Parsonage had been +increased by Clarence Copperhead. Reginald was more helpless than a +stranger. He did not know where to turn. "Do you think we could ask him? +I am almost of Janey's opinion. I don't think he is so ill as he seems." + +And then they all paused and looked again into the room. The nurse was +moving softly about, putting everything in order, and Mr. May watched +her from the bed with the keenest attention. His face was still livid +and ghastly in colour; but his eyes had never been so full of eager fire +in all the experience of his children. He watched the woman with a close +attention which was appalling; sometimes he would put his covering half +aside as if with the intention of making a spring. He was like some +imprisoned animal seeing a possibility of escape. They looked at him, +and then at each other, with a miserable helplessness. What could they +do? He was their father, but they knew nothing about him, and just +because he was their father they were more slow to understand, more dull +in divining his secrets than if he had been a stranger. When there came +at last a suggestion out of the silence, it was Northcote who spoke. + +"I don't see how you can leave him, May. It is plain he wants watching. +I will go if you will let me--if Ursula will say I may," said the young +man with a little break in his voice. This roused them all to another +question, quite different from the first one. Her brother and sister +looked at Ursula, one with a keen pang of involuntary envy, the other +with a sharp thrill of pleasurable excitement. Oddly enough they could +all of them pass by their father and leave him out of the question, more +easily, with less strain of mind, than strangers could. Ursula for her +part did not say anything; but she looked at her lover with eyes in +which two big tears were standing. She could scarcely see him through +those oceans of moisture, bitter and salt, yet softened by the sense of +trust in him, and rest upon him. When he stooped and kissed her on the +forehead before them all, the girl did not blush. It was a solemn +betrothal, sealed by pain, not by kisses. + +"Yes, go," she said to him in words which were half sobs, and which he +understood, but no one else. + +"You perceive," he said, "it is not a stranger interfering in your +affairs, May, but Ursula doing her natural work for her father through +me--her representative. God bless her! I am Ursula now," he said with a +broken laugh of joy; then grew suddenly grave again. "You trust me, +May?" + +Poor Reginald's heart swelled; this little scene so calmly transacted +under his eyes, would it ever happen for him, or anything like it? No, +his reason told him--and yet; still he was thinking but little of his +father. He had his duty too, and this happened to be his duty; but no +warmer impulse was in the poor young fellow's heart. + +And thus the day went on. It was afternoon already, and soon the sky +began to darken. When his children went into the room, Mr. May took no +notice of them--not that he did not know them; but because his whole +faculties were fixed upon that woman who was his nurse, and who had all +her wits about her, and meant to keep him there, and to carry out the +doctor's instructions should heaven and earth melt away around her. She +too perceived well enough how he was watching her, and being familiar +with all the ways, as she thought, of the "mentally afflicted," +concluded in her mind that her new patient was further gone than the +doctor thought. + +"I hope as you'll stay within call, sir," she said significantly to +Reginald; "when they're like that, as soon as they breaks out they're as +strong as giants; but I hope he won't break out, not to-day." + +Reginald withdrew, shivering, from the idea thus presented to him. He +stole down to his father's study, notwithstanding the warning she had +given him, and there with a sick heart set to work to endeavour to +understand his father--nay, more than that, to try to find him out. The +young man felt a thrill of nervous trembling come over him when he sat +down in his father's chair and timidly opened some of the drawers. Mr. +May was in many respects as young a man as his son, and Reginald and he +had never been on those confidential terms which bring some fathers and +sons so very close together. He felt that he had no business there +spying upon his father's privacy. He could not look at the papers which +lay before him. It seemed a wrong of the first magnitude, wrought +treacherously, because of the helplessness of the creature most +concerned. He could not do it. He thrust the papers back again into the +drawer. In point of fact there were no secrets in the papers, nor much +to be found out in Mr. May's private life. All its dark side might be +inferred from, without being revealed in, the little book which lay +innocently on the desk, and which Reginald looked over, thinking no +harm. In it there were two or three entries which at length roused his +curiosity. Cotsdean, October 10th. Cotsdean, January 12th. C. & T. April +18th. What did this mean? Reginald remembered to have seen Cotsdean +paying furtive visits in the study. He recollected him as one of the few +poor people for whom his father had a liking. But what could there be +between them? He was puzzled, and as Betsy was passing the open door at +the time, called her in. The evening was falling quickly, the day had +changed from a beautiful bright morning to a rainy gusty afternoon, +tearing the leaves and blossoms from the trees, and whirling now and +then a shower of snowy petals, beautiful but ill-omened snow, across the +dark window. Beyond that the firmament was dull; the clouds hung low, +and the day was gone before it ought. When Betsy came in she closed the +door, not fastening it, but still, Reginald felt, shutting him out too +much from the sick-bed, to which he might be called at any moment. But +he was not alarmed by this, though he remarked it. He questioned Betsy +closely as to his father's possible connection with this man. In such a +moment, confidential, half-whispered interviews are the rule of a house. +Every one has so much to ask; so much to say in reply; so many +particulars to comment upon which the rest may have forgotten. She would +have liked to enter upon the whole story, to tell how the master was +took, and how she herself had thought him looking bad when he came in; +but even to talk about Cotsdean was pleasant. + +"I told Miss Beecham," said Betsy, "and I told the other gentleman, Mr. +Northcote, as was asking me all about it. It's months and months since +that Cotsdean got coming here--years I may say; and whenever he came +master looked bad. If you'll believe me, Mr. Reginald, it's money as is +at the bottom of it all." + +"Money? hush, what was that? I thought I heard something upstairs." + +"Only the nurse, sir, as is having her tea. I'm ready to take my oath as +it's money. I've been in service since I was nine years old," said +Betsy, "I've had a deal of experience of gentlefolks, and it's always +money as is the thing as sets them off their head. That's what it is. If +that Cotsdean didn't come here something about money, never you believe +me no more." + +"Cotsdean! a poor shopkeeper! what could he have to do with my father's +affairs?" Reginald was not speaking to the woman, but drearily to +himself. If this was the only clue to the mystery, what a poor clue it +was! + +"I dunno, sir," said Betsy, "it ain't for me to tell; but one thing I'm +sure of--Lord bless us, what's that?" + +Reginald rushed to the door, nearly knocking her down as he pushed her +aside with his hand. When they got outside, it was only the hat-stand in +the hall that had fallen, something having been torn off from it +apparently in mad haste, and the door had opened and shut. Reginald +rushed upstairs, where the nurse was sitting quietly at her tea, the +bed-curtains being drawn. + +"All right, sir; he's in a nice sleep," said that functionary; "I didn't +light no candles, not to disturb him, poor gentleman." + +Reginald tore the curtains aside, then turned and dashed downstairs, and +out into the windy twilight. In that moment of stillness and darkness +the patient had escaped. He could see a strange figure walking rapidly, +already half way up Grange Lane, and rushed on in pursuit without taking +thought of anything. The sick man had seized upon a long coat which had +been hanging in the hall, and which reached to his heels. Reginald flew +on, going as softly as he could, not to alarm him. Where could he be +going, utterly unclothed except in this big coat? Was it simply madness +that had seized him, nothing more or less? He followed, with his heart +beating loudly. There seemed nobody about, no one to whom he could make +an appeal to help him, even if he could overtake the rapidly progressing +fugitive. But even while this thought crossed his mind, Reginald saw +another figure, broad and tall, developing in the distance, coming +towards them, which stopped short, and put out an arm to stop the +flight. Even that moment gave him the advantage, and brought him near +enough to make out that it was Mr. Copperhead. + +"The very man I want," he heard him say with his loud voice, putting his +arm within that of Mr. May, who resisted, but not enough to attract the +attention of the new-comer, as Reginald came up breathless and placed +himself on his father's other side. The darkness prevented any +revelation of the strange appearance of the fugitive, and Mr. Copperhead +was not lively of perception in respect to people unconnected with +himself. + +"You, too," he cried, nodding at Reginald, "come along. I've come to +save that boy of mine from a little artful--Come, both of you. The sight +of a young fellow like himself will shame him more than anything; and +you, May, you're the very man I want--" + +"Not there, not there, for God's sake!" said Mr. May, with a hoarse cry, +"not there, my God! Reginald! it used to be hanging. Do you mean to give +me up?" + +"Hold him fast," Reginald whispered in desperation, "hold him fast! It +is madness." + +"Lord bless us!" said Mr. Copperhead, but he was a man who was proud of +his strength, and not given to timidity. He held his captive fast by the +arm, while Reginald secured him on the other side. "Why, what's this, +May? rouse yourself up; don't give in, man. No, you ain't mad, not a bit +of you. Come along, wait here at Tozer's for me, while I do my business; +and then I'll look after _you_. Come on." + +There was a violent but momentary struggle; then all at once the +struggling man yielded and allowed himself to be dragged within the +garden-door. Was it because an ordinary policeman, one of the most +respectful servants of the law, who would have saluted Mr. May with the +utmost reverence, was just then coming up? He yielded; but he looked at +his son with a wild despair which made Reginald almost as desperate as +himself in maddening ignorance and terror. + +"Ruin! ruin!" he murmured hoarsely, "worse than death." + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +THE CONFLICT. + + +The day which had intervened between Phoebe's morning walk, and this +darkling flight along the same road, had been full of agitation at the +house of the Tozers. Phoebe, who would willingly have spared her lover +anything more than the brief intercourse which was inevitable with her +relations, could find no means of sending him away without breakfast. +She had escaped from him accordingly, weary as she was, to make +arrangements for such a meal as she knew him, even in his most +sentimental mood, to love--a thing which required some time and +supervision, though the house was always plentifully provided. When she +had hastily bathed her face and changed her dress she came back to the +room where she had left him, to find him in careless conversation with +Tozer, who only half-recovered from the excitement of last night, but +much overawed by a visit from so great a personage, had managed to put +aside the matter which occupied his own thoughts, in order to carry on a +kind of worship of Clarence, who was the son of the richest man he had +ever heard of, and consequently appeared to the retired butterman a very +demigod. Clarence was yawning loudly, his arms raised over his head in +total indifference to Tozer, when Phoebe came into the room; and the old +man seized upon the occasion of her entrance to perform another act of +worship. + +"Ah, here's Phoebe at last. Mr. Copperhead's come in from the country, my +dear, and he's going to make us proud, he is, by accepting of a bit of +breakfast. I tell him it's a wretched poor place for him as has palaces +at his command; but what we can give him is the best quality, that I +answers for--and you're one as knows how things should be, even if we +ain't grand ourselves." + +"Have you palaces at your command, Clarence?" she said, with a smile. +Notwithstanding the fatigue of the night, the fresh air and her +ablutions, and the agitation and commotion of her mind, made Phoebe +almost more animated and brilliant than usual. Her eyes shone with the +anxiety and excitement of the crisis, and a little, too, with the glory +and delight of success; for though Clarence Copperhead was not very much +to brag of in his own person, he still had been the object before her +for some time back, and she had got him. And yet Phoebe was not +mercenary, though she was not "in love" with her heavy lover in the +ordinary sense of the word. She went towards him now, and stood near +him, looking at him with a smile. He was a big, strong fellow, which is +a thing most women esteem, and he was not without good looks; and he +would be rich, and might be thrust into a position which would produce +both honour and advantage; and lastly, he was her own, which gives even +the most indifferent article a certain value in some people's eyes. + +"Palaces? I don't know, but nice enough houses; and you know you like a +nice house, Miss Phoebe. Here, I haven't said a word to the old +gentleman. Tell him; I ain't come all this way for nothing. You've +always got the right words at your fingers' end. Tell him, and let's get +it over. I think I could eat some breakfast, I can tell you, after that +drive." + +"Grandpapa," said Phoebe, slightly tremulous, "Mr. Copperhead wishes me +to tell you that--Mr. Copperhead wishes you to know why----" + +"Bless us!" cried Clarence with a laugh. "Here is a beating about the +bush! She has got her master, old gentleman, and that is what she never +had before. Look here, I'm going to marry Phoebe. That's plain English +without any phrases, and I don't know what you could say to better it. +Is breakfast ready? I've earned it for my part." + +"Going to marry Phoebe!" Tozer gasped. He had heard from his wife that +such a glory was possible; but now, when it burst upon him, the dazzling +delight seemed too good to be true. It thrust the forgery and everything +out of his head, and took even the power of speech from him. He got up +and gazed at the young people, one after the other, rubbing his hands, +with a broad grin upon his face; then he burst forth all at once in +congratulation. + +"God bless you, sir! God bless you both! It's an honour as I never +looked for. Rising in the world was never no thought of mine; doing your +duty and trusting to the Lord is what I've always stood by; and it's +been rewarded. But she's a good girl, Mr. Copperhead; you'll never +regret it, sir. She's that good and that sensible, as I don't know how +to do without her. She'll do you credit, however grand you may make her; +and if it's any comfort to you, as she's connected with them as knows +how to appreciate a gentleman--" said Tozer, breaking down in his +enthusiasm, his voice sinking into a whisper in the fulness of his +heart. + +"Grandpapa!" said Phoebe, feeling sharply pricked in her pride, with a +momentary humiliation, "there are other things to be thought of," and +she gave him a look of reproach which Tozer did not understand, but +which Clarence did vaguely. Clarence, for his part, liked the homage, +and was by no means unwilling that everybody should perceive his +condescension and what great luck it was for Phoebe to have secured him. +He laughed, pleased to wave his banner of triumph over her, +notwithstanding that he loved her. He _was_ very fond of her, that was +true; but still her good fortune in catching him was, for the moment, +the thing most in his thoughts. + +"Well, old gentleman," he said, "you ain't far wrong there. She _is_ a +clever one. We shall have a bad time of it with the governor at first; +for, of course, when there's no money and no connections, a man like the +governor, that has made himself, ain't likely to be too well pleased." + +"As for money, Mr. Copperhead, sir," said Tozer with modest pride, "I +don't see as there's anything to be said against Phoebe on that point. +Her mother before her had a pretty bit of money, though I say it, as +shouldn't--" + +"Ah, yes--yes," said Clarence. "To be sure; but a little bit of coin +like that don't count with us. The governor deals in hundreds of +thousands; he don't think much of your little bits of fortunes. But I +don't mind. She suits me down to the ground, does Phoebe; and I don't +give that for the governor!" cried the young man valiantly. As for Phoebe +herself, it is impossible to imagine any one more entirely put out of +her place, and out of all the comfort and satisfaction in her own +initiative which she generally possessed, than this young woman was, +while these two men talked over her so calmly. It is doubtful whether +she had ever been so set aside out of her proper position in her life, +and her nerves were overstrained and her bodily strength worn out, which +added to the sense of downfall. With almost a touch of anger in her tone +she, who was never out of temper, interrupted this talk. + +"I think breakfast is ready, grandpapa. Mr. Clarence Copperhead wants +some refreshment after his exertions, and in preparation for the +exertions to come. For I suppose your papa is very likely to follow you +to Carlingford," she added, with a low laugh, turning to her lover. "I +know Mr. Copperhead very well, and I should not like my first meeting +with him after I had thwarted all his views." + +"Phoebe! you don't mean to desert me? By Jove! I'll face him and twenty +like him if you'll only stand by me," he cried; which was a speech that +made amends. + +She suffered him to lead her into breakfast less formally than is the +ordinary fashion, and his hand on her trim waist did not displease the +girl. No; she understood him, knew that he was no great things; but yet +he was hers, and she had always meant him to be hers, and Phoebe was +ready to maintain his cause in the face of all the world. + +The breakfast was to Clarence's taste, and so was the company--even old +Tozer, who sat with his mouth agape in admiration of the young +potentate, while he recounted his many grandeurs. Clarence gave a great +deal of information as to prices he had paid for various things, and the +expenses of his living at Oxford and elsewhere, as he ate the kidneys, +eggs, and sausages with which Phoebe's care had heaped the table. They +had no _pate de foie gras_, it is true, but the simple fare was of the +best quality, as Tozer had boasted. Mrs. Tozer did not come downstairs +to breakfast, and thus Phoebe was alone with the two men, who suited each +other so much better than she could have hoped. The girl sat by them +languidly, though with a beating heart, wondering, as girls will wonder +sometimes, if all men were like these, braggards and believers in brag, +worshippers of money and price. No doubt, young men too marvel when they +hear the women about them talking across them of _chiffons_, or of +little quarrels and little vanities. Phoebe had more brains than both of +her interlocutors put together, and half-a-dozen more added on; but she +was put down and silenced by the talk. Her lover for the moment had +escaped from her. She could generally keep him from exposing himself in +this way, and turn the better side of him to the light; but the presence +of a believer in him turned the head of Clarence. She could not control +him any more. + +"A good horse is a deuced expensive thing," he said; "the governor gave +a cool hundred and fifty for that mare that brought me over this +morning. He bought her from Sir Robert; but he didn't know, Phoebe, the +use I was going to put her to. If he'd known, he'd have put that hundred +and fifty in the sea rather than have his beast rattled over the country +on such an errand." Here he stopped in the midst of his breakfast, and +looked at her admiringly. "But I don't repent," he added. "I'd do it +again to-morrow if it wasn't done already. If you stand by me, I'll face +him, and twenty like him, by Jove!" + +"You don't say nothing," said her grandfather. "I wouldn't be so +ungrateful. Gentlemen like Mr. Copperhead ain't picked up at every +roadside." + +"They ain't, by Jove!" said Clarence; "but she's shy, that's all about +it," he added, tenderly; "when we're by ourselves, I don't complain." + +Poor Phoebe! She smiled a dismal smile, and was very glad when breakfast +was over. After that she took him into the garden, into the bright +morning air, which kept her up, and where she could keep her Clarence in +hand and amuse him, without allowing this revelation of the worst side +of him. While they were there, Martha admitted the visitor of yesterday, +Mr. Simpson from the Bank, bringing back to Phoebe's mind all the other +matter of which it had been full. + +"Don't you think you ought to go and see about the horse and the +dog-cart?" she said suddenly, turning to her lover with one of those +sudden changes which kept the dull young man amused. "You don't know +what they may be about." + +"They can't be up to much," said Clarence. "Thank you, Miss Phoebe, I +like you better than the mare." + +"But you can't be here all day, and I can't be here all day," she said. +"I must look after grandmamma, and you ought to go down and inquire +after poor Mr. May--he is so ill. I have been there all night, helping +Ursula. You ought to go and ask for him. People don't forget all the +duties of life because--because a thing of this sort has happened--" + +"Because they've popped and been accepted," said graceful Clarence. "By +Jove! I'll go. I'll tell young May. I'd like to see his face when I tell +him the news. You may look as demure as you like, but you know what +spoons he has been upon you, and the old fellow too--made me as jealous +as King Lear sometimes," cried the happy lover, with a laugh. He meant +Othello, let us suppose. + +"Nonsense, Clarence! But go, please go. I must run to grandmamma." + +Mr. Simpson had gone in, and Phoebe's heart had begun to beat loudly in +her throat; but it was not so easy to get rid of this ardent lover, and +when at last he did go, he was slightly sulky, which was not a state of +mind to be encouraged. She rushed upstairs to her grandmother's room, +which was over the little room where Tozer sat, and from which she could +already hear sounds of conversation rapidly rising in tone, and the +noise of opening and shutting drawers, and a general rummage. Phoebe +never knew what she said to the kind old woman, who kissed and wept over +her, exulting in the news. + +"I ain't been so pleased since my Phoebe told me as she was to marry a +minister," said Mrs. Tozer, "and this is a rise in life a deal grander +than the best of ministers. But, bless your heart, what shall I do +without you?" cried the old woman, sobbing. + +Presently Tozer came in, with an air of angry abstraction, and began to +search through drawers and boxes. + +"I've lost something," he answered, with sombre looks, to his wife's +inquiry. Phoebe busied herself with her grandmother, and did not ask what +it was. It was only when he had searched everywhere that some chance +movement directed his eyes to her. She was trembling in spite of +herself. He came up to her, and seized her suddenly by the arm. "By +George!" he cried, "I'm in a dozen minds to search you!" + +"Tozer! let my child alone. How dare you touch her--her as is as good +as Mr. Copperhead's lady? What's she got to do with your dirty papers? +Do you think Phoebe would touch them--with a pair of tongs?" cried the +angry grandmother. + +Phoebe shrank with all the cowardice of guilt. Her nerves were unstrung +by weariness and excitement. And Tozer, with his little red eyes blazing +upon her, was very different in this fury of personal injury, from the +grandfather of the morning, who had been ready to see every virtue in +her. + +"I believe as you've got it!" he cried, giving her a shake. It was a +shot at a venture, said without the least idea of its truth; but before +the words had crossed his lips, he felt with a wild passion of rage and +wonder that it was true. "Give it up, you hussy!" he shrieked, with a +yell of fury, his face convulsed with sudden rage, thickly and with +sputtering lips. + +"Tozer!" cried his wife, flinging herself between them, "take your hands +off the child. Run, run to your room, my darling; he's out of his +senses. Lord bless us all, Sam, are you gone stark staring mad?" + +"Grandpapa," said Phoebe, trembling, "if I had it, you may be sure it +would be safe out of your way. I told you I knew something about it, but +you would not hear me. Will you hear me now? I'll make it up to +you--double it, if you like. Grandmamma, it is a poor man he would drive +to death if he is not stopped. Oh!" cried Phoebe, clasping her hands, +"after what has happened this morning, will you not yield to me? and +after all the love you have shown me? I will never ask anything, not +another penny. I will make it up; only give in to me, give in to me--for +once in my life! Grandpapa! I never asked anything from you before." + +"Give it up, you piece of impudence! you jade! you d--d deceitful----" + +He was holding her by the arm, emphasizing every new word by a violent +shake, while poor old Mrs. Tozer dropped into a chair, weeping and +trembling. + +"Oh! it ain't often as he's like this; but when he is, I can't do +nothing with him, I can't do nothing with him!" she cried. + +But Phoebe's nerves strung themselves up again in face of the crisis. She +shook him off suddenly with unexpected strength, and moving to a little +distance, stood confronting him, pale but determined. + +"If you think you will get the better of me in this way, you are +mistaken," she said. "I am not your daughter; how dare you treat me so? +Grandmamma, forgive me. I have been up all night. I am going to lie +down," said Phoebe. "If grandpapa has anything more to say against me, he +can say it to Clarence. I leave myself in his hands." + +Saying this, she turned round majestically, but with an anxious heart, +and walked away to her room, every nerve in her trembling. When she got +there, Phoebe locked the door hastily, in genuine terror; and then she +laughed, and then she cried a little. "And to think it was here all the +time!" she said to herself, taking out the little Russia leather purse +out of her pocket. She went into the closet adjoining her room, and +buried it deep in her travelling trunk which was there, relieving +herself and her mind of a danger. Then--Phoebe did what was possibly the +most sensible thing in the world, in every point of view. She went to +bed; undressed herself quietly, rolled up her hair, and lay down with a +grateful sense of ease and comfort. "When Clarence comes back he will be +disappointed; but even for Clarence a little disappointment will be no +harm," said the sensible young woman to herself. And what comfort it was +to lie down, and feel all the throbs and pulses gradually subsiding, the +fright going off, the satisfaction of success coming back, and gradually +a slumberous, delicious ease stealing over her. Of all the clever things +Phoebe had done in her life, it must be allowed that there was not one so +masterly as the fact that she, then and there, went to sleep. + +All this had taken up a good deal of time. It was twelve when Mr. +Simpson of the bank disturbed the lovers in the garden, and it was one +o'clock before Phoebe put a stop to all Tozer's vindictive plans by going +to bed. What he said to Mr. Simpson, when he went back to him, is not on +record. That excellent man of business was much put out by the long +waiting, and intimated plainly enough that he could not allow his time +to be thus wasted. Mr. Simpson began to think that there was something +very strange in the whole business. Tozer's house was turned upside down +by it, as he could hear by the passionate voices and the sound of crying +and storming in the room above; but Cotsdean was secure in his shop, +apparently fearing no evil, as he had seen as he passed, peering in with +curious eyes. What it meant he could not tell; but it was queer, and did +not look as if the business was straight-forward. + +"When you find the bill, or make up your mind what to do, you can send +for me," he said, and went away, suspicious and half-angry, leaving +Tozer to his own devices. And the afternoon passed in the most +uncomfortable lull imaginable. Though he believed his granddaughter to +have it, he looked again over all his papers, his drawers, his +waste-basket, every corner he had in which such a small matter might +have been hid; but naturally his search was all in vain. Clarence +returned in the afternoon, and was received by poor old Mrs. Tozer, very +tremulous and ready to cry, who did not know whether she ought to +distrust Phoebe or not, and hesitated and stumbled over her words till +the young man thought his father had come in his absence, and that Phoebe +had changed her mind. This had the effect of making him extremely eager +and anxious, and of subduing the bragging and magnificent mood which the +triumphant lover had displayed in the morning. He felt himself "taken +down a peg or two," in his own fine language. He went to the Parsonage +and tried very hard to see Ursula, to secure her help in case anything +had gone wrong, and then to Reginald, whose vexation at the news he felt +sure of, and hoped to enjoy a sight of. But he could see no one in the +absorbed and anxious house. What was he to do? He wandered about, +growing more and more unhappy, wondering if he had been made to fling +himself into the face of fate for no reason, and sure that he could not +meet his father without Phoebe's support. He could not even face her +relations. It was very different from the day of triumph he had looked +for; but, as Phoebe had wisely divined, this disappointment, and all the +attending circumstances, did not do him any harm. + +It was late in the afternoon when Northcote called. He too had acted on +the information given by Betsy, and had gone to Cotsdean, who made him +vaguely aware that Tozer had some share in the business in which Mr. May +was involved, and who, on being asked whether it could be set right by +money, grew radiant and declared that nothing could be easier. But when +Northcote saw Tozer, there ensued a puzzling game at cross purposes, for +Tozer had no notion that Mr. May had anything to do with the business, +and declined to understand. + +"I ain't got nothing to do with parsons, and if you'll take my advice, +sir, it 'ud be a deal better for you to give 'em up too. You're +a-aggravating the connection for no good, you are," said Tozer, surely +by right of his own troubles and perplexities, and glad to think he +could make some one else uncomfortable too. + +"I shall do in that respect as I think proper," said Northcote, who was +not disposed to submit to dictation. + +"Fact is, he's a deal too well off for a minister," Tozer said to his +wife when the young man disappeared, "they're too independent that sort; +and I don't know what he means by his Mays and his fine folks. What have +we got to do with Mr. May?" + +"Except that he's been good to the child, Tozer; we can't forget as he's +been very good to the child." + +"Oh, dash the child!" cried the old man, infuriated; "if you say much +more I'll be sorry I ever let you see her face. What has she done with +my bill?" + +"Bill? if it's only a bill what are you so put out about!" cried Mrs. +Tozer. "You'll have dozens again at Christmas, if that is all you want." + +But the laugh was unsuccessful, and the old man went back to his room to +nurse his wrath and to wonder what had come to him. Why had his +granddaughter interfered in his business, and what had he to do with Mr. +May? + +Phoebe got up refreshed and comfortable when it was time for the family +tea, and came down to her lover, who had come back, and was sitting very +dejected by old Mrs. Tozer's side. She was fresh and fair, and in one of +her prettiest dresses, having taken pains for him; and notwithstanding +Tozer's lowering aspect, and his refusal to speak to her, the meal +passed over very cheerfully for the rest of the party, and the two young +people once more withdrew to the garden when it was over. The presence +of Clarence Copperhead protected Phoebe from all attack. Her grandfather +dared not fly out upon her as before, or summon her to give up what she +had taken from him. Whatever happened, this wonderful rise in life, this +grand match could not be interfered with. He withdrew bitter and +exasperated to his own den, leaving his poor wife crying and wretched in +the family sitting-room. Mrs. Tozer knew that her husband was not to be +trifled with, and that, though the circumstances of Phoebe's betrothal +subdued him for the moment, this effect in all probability would not +last; and she sat in terror, watching the moments as they passed, and +trembling to think what might happen when the young pair came in again, +or when Clarence at last went away, leaving Phoebe with no protection but +herself. Phoebe, too, while she kept her dull companion happy, kept +thinking all the while of the same thing with a great tremor of +suppressed agitation in her mind; and she did not know what was the next +step to take--a reflection which took away her strength. She had taken +the bill from her trunk again and replaced it in her pocket. It was +safest carried on her person, she felt; but what she was to do next, +even Phoebe, so fruitful in resources, could not say. When Northcote came +back in the evening she felt that her game was becoming more and more +difficult to play. After a brief consultation with herself, she decided +that it was most expedient to go in with him, taking her big body-guard +along with her, and confiding in his stupidity not to find out more than +was indispensable. She took Northcote to her grandfather's room, +whispering to him on the way to make himself the representative of +Cotsdean only, and to say nothing of Mr. May. + +"Then you know about it?" said Northcote amazed. + +"Oh, hush, hush!" cried Phoebe; "offer to pay it on Cotsdean's part, and +say nothing about Mr. May." + +The young man looked at her bewildered; but nodded his head in assent, +and then her own young man pulled her back almost roughly, and demanded +to know what she meant by talking to that fellow so. Thus poor Phoebe was +between two fires. She went in with a fainting yet courageous heart. + +"Pay the money!" said Tozer, who by dint of brooding over it all the day +had come to a white heat, and was no longer to be controlled. "Mr. +Northcote, sir, you're a minister, and you don't understand business no +more nor women do. Money's money--but there's more than money here. +There's my name, sir, as has been made use of in a way!--me go signing +of accommodation bills! I'd have cut off my hand sooner. There's that +girl there, she's got it. She's been and stolen it from me, Mr. +Northcote. Tell her to give it up. You may have some influence, you as +is a minister. Tell her to give it up, or, by George, she shall never +have a penny from me! I'll cut her off without even a shilling. I'll put +her out o' my will--out o' my house." + +"I say, Phoebe," said Clarence, "look here, that's serious, that is; not +that I mind a little pot of money like what the poor old fellow's got; +but what's the good of throwing anything away?" + +"Make her give it up," cried Tozer hoarsely, "or out of this house she +goes this very night. I ain't the sort of man to be made a fool of. I +ain't the sort of man--Who's this a-coming? some more of your d--d +intercessors to spoil justice," cried the old man, "but I won't have +'em. I'll have nothing to say to them. What, who? Mr. Copperhead's +father? I ain't ashamed to meet Mr. Copperhead's father; but one thing +at a time. Them as comes into my house must wait my time," cried the +butterman, seeing vaguely the group come in, whom we left at his doors. +"I'm master here. Give up that bill, you brazen young hussy, and go out +of my sight. How dare you set up your face among so many men? Give it +up!" he cried, seizing her by the elbow in renewed fury. The strangers, +though he saw them enter, received no salutation from him. There was one +small lamp on the table, dimly lighted, which threw a faint glow upon +the circle of countenances round, into which came wondering the burly +big Copperhead, holding fast by the shoulder of Mr. May, whose ghastly +face, contorted with wild anxiety, glanced at Tozer over the lamp. But +the old man was so much absorbed at first that he scarcely saw who the +new-comers were. + +"What's all this about?" said Mr. Copperhead. "Seems we've come into the +midst of another commotion. So you're here, Clar! it is you I want, my +boy. Look here, Northcote, take hold, will you? there's a screw loose, +and we've got to get him home. Take hold, till I have had a word with +Clarence. That's a thing that won't take long." + +Clarence cast a glance at Phoebe, who even in her own agitation turned +and gave him a tremulous smile of encouragement. The crisis was so great +on all sides of her that Phoebe became heroic. + +"I am here," she said, with all the steadiness of strong emotion, and +when he had received this assurance of support, he feared his father no +more. + +"All right, sir," he said almost with alacrity. He was afraid of nothing +with Phoebe standing by. + +"Make her give me up my bill," said Tozer; "I'll hear nothing else till +this is settled. My bill! It's forgery; that's what it is. Don't speak +to me about money! I'll have him punished. I'll have him rot in prison +for it. I'll not cheat the law--You people as has influence with that +girl, make her give it me. I can't touch him without the bill." + +Mr. May had been placed in a chair by the two young men who watched over +him; but as Tozer spoke he got up, struggling wildly, almost tearing +himself out of the coat by which they held him. "Let me go!" he said. +"Do you hear him? Rot in prison! with hard labour; it would kill me! And +it used to be hanging! My God--my God! Won't you let me go?" + +Tozer stopped short, stopped by this passion which was greater than his +own. He looked wonderingly at the livid face, the struggling figure, +impressed in spite of himself. "He's gone mad," he said. "Good Lord! But +he's got nothing to do with it. Can't you take him away?" + +"Grandpapa," said Phoebe in his ear, "here it is, your bill; it was _he_ +who did it--and it has driven him mad. Look! I give it up to you; and +there he is--that is your work. Now do what you please--" + +Trembling, the old man took the paper out of her hand. He gazed +wondering at the other, who somehow moved in his excitement by a sense +that the decisive moment had come, stood still too, his arm half-pulled +out of his coat, his face wild with dread and horror. For a moment they +looked at each other in a common agony, neither the one nor the other +clear enough to understand, but both feeling that some tremendous crisis +had come upon them. "He--done it!" said Tozer appalled and almost +speechless. "_He_ done it!" They all crowded round, a circle of scared +faces. Phoebe alone stood calm. She was the only one who knew the whole, +except the culprit, who understood nothing with that mad confusion in +his eyes. But he was overawed too, and in his very madness recognized +the crisis. He stood still, struggling no longer, with his eyes fixed +upon the homely figure of the old butterman, who stood trembling, +thunderstruck, with that fatal piece of paper in his hand. + +Tozer had been mad for revenge two moments before--almost as wild as the +guilty man before him--with a fierce desire to punish and make an +example of the man who had wronged him. But this semi-madness was +arrested by the sight of the other madman before him, and by the +extraordinary shock of this revelation. It took all the strength out of +him. He had not looked up to the clergyman as Cotsdean did, but he had +looked up to the gentleman, his customer, as being upon an elevation +very different from his own, altogether above and beyond him; and the +sight of this superior being, thus humbled, maddened, gazing at him with +wild terror and agony, more eloquent than any supplication, struck poor +old Tozer to the very soul. "God help us all!" he cried out with a +broken, sobbing voice. He was but a vulgar old fellow, mean, it might +be, worldly in his way; but the terrible mystery of human wickedness and +guilt prostrated his common soul with as sharp an anguish of pity and +shame as could have befallen the most heroic. It seized upon him so that +he could say or do nothing more, forcing hot and salt tears up into his +old eyes, and shaking him all over with a tremor as of palsy. The scared +faces appeared to come closer to Phoebe, to whom these moments seemed +like years. Had her trust been vain? Softly, but with an excitement +beyond control, she touched him on the arm. + +"That's true," said Tozer, half-crying. "Something's got to be done. We +can't all stand here for ever, Phoebe; it's him as has to be thought of. +Show it to him, poor gentleman, if he ain't past knowing; and burn it, +and let us hear of it no more." + +Solemnly, in the midst of them all, Phoebe held up the paper before the +eyes of the guilty man. If he understood it or not, no one could tell. +He did not move, but stared blankly at her and it. Then she held it over +the lamp and let it blaze and drop into harmless ashes in the midst of +them all. Tozer dropped down into his elbow-chair sniffing and sobbing. +Mr. May stood quite still, with a look of utter dulness and stupidity +coming over the face in which so much terror had been. If he understood +what had passed, it was only in feeling, not in intelligence. He grew +still and dull in the midst of that strange madness which all the time +was only half-madness, a mixture of conscious excitement and anxiety +with that which passes the boundaries of consciousness. For the moment +he was stilled into stupid idiotcy, and looked at them with vacant +eyes. As for the others, Northcote was the only one who divined at +all what this scene meant. To Reginald it was like a scene in a +pantomime--bewildering dumb show, with no sense or meaning in it. It was +he who spoke first, with a certain impatience of the occurrence which he +did not understand. + +"Will you come home, sir, now?" he said. "Come home, for Heaven's sake! +Northcote will give you an arm. He's very ill," Reginald added, looking +round him pitifully in his ignorance; "what you are thinking of I can't +tell--but he's ill and--delirious. It was Mr. Copperhead who brought him +here against my will. Excuse me, Miss Beecham--now I must take him +home." + +"Yes," said Phoebe. The tears came into her eyes as she looked at him; he +was not thinking of her at the moment, but she knew he had thought of +her, much and tenderly, and she felt that she might never see him again. +Phoebe would have liked him to know what she had done, and to know that +what she had done was for him chiefly--in order to recompense him a +little, poor fellow, for the heart he had given her, which she could not +accept, yet could not be ungrateful for. And yet she was glad, though +there was a pang in it, that he should never know, and remain unaware of +her effort, for his own sake; but the tears came into her eyes as she +looked at him, and he caught the gleam of the moisture which made his +heart beat. Something moved her beyond what he knew of; and his heart +thrilled with tenderness and wonder; but how should he know what it was? + +"Give my love to Ursula," she said. "I shall not come to-night as she +has a nurse, and I think he will be better. Make her rest, Mr. May--and +if I don't see her, say good-bye to her for me----" + +"Good-bye?" + +"Yes, good-bye--things have happened--Tell her I hope she will not +forget me," said Phoebe, the tears dropping down her cheeks. "But oh, +please never mind me, look at him, he is quite quiet, he is worn out. +Take him home." + +"There is nothing else to be done," said poor Reginald, whose heart +began to ache with a sense of the unknown which surrounded him on every +side. He took his father by the arm, who had been standing quite silent, +motionless, and apathetic. He had no need for any help, for Mr. May went +with him at a touch, as docile as a child. Northcote followed with grave +looks and very sad. Tozer had been seated in his favourite chair, much +subdued, and giving vent now and then to something like a sob. His +nerves had been terribly shaken. But as he saw the three gentlemen going +away, nature awoke in the old butterman. He put out his hand and plucked +Northcote by the sleeve. "I'll not say no to that money, not now, Mr. +Northcote, sir," he said. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +PHOEBE'S LAST TRIAL. + + +"Now if you please," said Mr. Copperhead. "I think it's my turn. I +wanted May to hear what I had got to say, but as he's ill or mad, or +something, it is not much good. I can't imagine what all these +incantations meant, and all your play, Miss Phoebe, eyes and all. That +sort of thing don't suit us plain folks. If you don't mind following +your friends, I want to speak to old Tozer here by himself. I don't like +to have women meddling in my affairs." + +"Grandpapa is very tired, and he is upset," said Phoebe. "I don't think +he can have any more said to him to-night." + +"By George, but he shall though, and you too. Look here," said Mr. +Copperhead, "you've taken in my boy Clarence here. He's been a fool, and +he always was a fool; but you're not a fool, Miss Phoebe. You know +precious well what you're about. And just you listen to me; he shan't +marry you, not if he breaks his heart over it. I ain't a man that thinks +much of breaking hearts. You and he may talk what nonsense you like, but +you shan't marry my boy; no, not if there wasn't another woman in the +world." + +"He has asked me," said Phoebe; "but I certainly did not ask him. You +must give your orders to your son, Mr. Copperhead. You have no right to +dictate to me. Grandpapa, I think you and I have had enough for +to-night." + +With this Phoebe began to close the shutters, which had been left open, +and to put away books and things which were lying about. Tozer made a +feeble attempt to stop her energetic proceedings. + +"Talk to the gentleman, Phoebe, if Mr. Copperhead 'as anything to say to +you--don't, don't you go and offend him, my dear!" the old man cried in +an anxious whisper; and then he raised himself from the chair, in which +he had sunk exhausted by the unusual commotions to which he had been +subjected. "I am sure, sir," Tozer began, "it ain't my wish, nor the +wish o' my family, to do anything as is against your wishes--" + +"Grandpapa," said Phoebe, interrupting him ruthlessly, "Mr. Copperhead's +wishes may be a rule to his own family, but they are not to be a rule to +yours. For my part I won't submit to it. Let him take his son away if he +pleases--or if he can," she added, turning round upon Clarence with a +smile. "Mr. Clarence Copperhead is as free as I am to go or to stay." + +"By Jove!" cried that young man, who had been hanging in the background, +dark and miserable. He came close up to her, and caught first her sleeve +and then her elbow; the contact seemed to give him strength. "Look here, +sir," he said, ingratiatingly, "we don't want to offend you--_I_ don't +want to fly in your face; but I can't go on having coaches for ever, and +here's the only one in the world that can do the business instead of +coaches. Phoebe knows I'm fond of her, but that's neither here nor there. +Here is the one that can make something of me. I ain't clever, you know +it as well as I do--but she is. I don't mind going into parliament, +making speeches and that sort of thing, if I've got her to back me up. +But without her I'll never do anything, without her you may put me in a +cupboard, as you've often said. Let me have her, and I'll make a figure, +and do you credit. I can't say any fairer," said Clarence, taking the +rest of her arm into his grasp, and holding her hand. He was stupid--but +he was a man, and Phoebe felt proud of him, for the moment at least. + +"You idiot!" cried his father, "and I was an idiot too to put any faith +in you; come away from that artful girl. Can't you see that it's all a +made-up plan from beginning to end? What was she sent down here for but +to catch you, you oaf, you fool, you! Drop her, or you drop me. That's +all I've got to say." + +"Yes, drop me, Clarence," said Phoebe, with a smile; "for in the mean +time you hurt me. See, you have bruised my arm. While you settle this +question with your father, I will go to grandmamma. Pardon me, I take +more interest in her than in this discussion between him and you." + +"You shan't go," cried her lover, "not a step. Look here, sir. If that's +what it comes to, her before you. What you've made of me ain't much, is +it? but I don't mind what I go in for, as long as she's to the fore. Her +before you." + +"Is that your last word?" said Mr. Copperhead. + +"Yes." His son faced him with a face as set and cloudy as his own. The +mouth, shut close and sullen, was the same in both; but those brown eyes +which Clarence got from his mother, and which were usually mild in their +expression, looking out gently from the ruder face to which they did not +seem to belong, were now, not clear, but muddy with resolution, +glimmering with dogged obstinacy from under the drooping eyelids. He was +not like himself; he was as he had been that day when Mr. May saw him at +the Dorsets, determined, more than a match for his father, who had only +the obstinacy of his own nature, not that dead resisting force of two +people to bring to the battle. Clarence had all the pertinacity that was +not in his mother, to reinforce his own. Mr. Copperhead stared at his +son with that look of authority, half-imperious, half-brutal, with which +he was in the habit of crushing all who resisted him; but Clarence did +not quail. He stood dull and immovable, his eyes contracted, his face +stolid, and void of all expression but that of resistance. He was not +much more than a fool, but just by so much as his father was more +reasonable, more clear-sighted than himself, was Clarence stronger than +his father. He held Phoebe by the sleeve, that she might not escape him; +but he faced Mr. Copperhead with a dull determination that all the +powers of earth could not shake. + +For the moment the father lost his self-control. + +"Then I'll go," he said, "and when you've changed your mind, you can +come to me; but--" here he swore a big oath, "mind what you're about. +There never was a man yet but repented when he set himself against me." + +Clarence made no answer. Talking was not in his way. And Mr. Copperhead +showed his wondering apprehension of a power superior to his own, by +making a pause after he had said this, and not going away directly. He +stopped and tried once more to influence the rebel with that stare. +"Phoebe--Phoebe--for God's sake make him give in, and don't go against Mr. +Copperhead!" cried Tozer's tremulous voice, shaken with weakness and +anxiety. But Phoebe did not say anything. She felt in the hesitation, the +pause, the despairing last effort to conquer, that the time of her +triumph had nearly come. When he went away, they all stood still and +listened to his footsteps going along the passage and through the +garden. When he was outside he paused again, evidently with the idea of +returning, but changed his mind and went on. To be left like this, the +victors on a field of domestic conflict, is very often not at all a +triumphant feeling, and involves a sense of defeat about as bad as the +reality experienced by the vanquished. Phoebe, who was imaginative, and +had lively feeling, felt a cold shiver go over her as the steps went +away one by one, and began to cry softly, not knowing quite why it was; +but Clarence, who had no imagination, nor any feelings to speak of, was +at his ease and perfectly calm. + +"What are you crying for?" he said, "the governor can do what he likes. +I'd marry you in spite of a hundred like him. He didn't know what he was +about, didn't the governor, when he tackled _me_." + +"But, Clarence, you must not break with your father, you must not +quarrel on my account--" + +"That's as it may be," he said, "never you mind. When it's cleverness +that's wanted, it's you that's wanted to back me up--but I can stick to +my own way without you; and my way is this," he said, suddenly lifting +her from the ground, holding her waist between his two big hands, and +giving her an emphatic kiss. Phoebe was silenced altogether when this had +happened. He was a blockhead, but he was a man, and could stand up for +his love, and for his own rights as a man, independent of the world. She +felt a genuine admiration for her lout at that moment; but this +admiration was accompanied by a very chill sense of all that might be +forfeited if Mr. Copperhead stood out. Clarence, poor and disowned by +his father, would be a very different person from the Clarence +Copperhead who was going into parliament, and had "a fine position" in +prospect. She did not form any resolutions as to what she would do in +that case, for she was incapable of anything dishonourable; but it made +her shiver as with a cold icy current running over; and as for poor old +Tozer he was all but whimpering in his chair. + +"Oh, Lord!" he cried. "A great man like Mr. Copperhead affronted in my +'umble 'ouse. It's what I never thought to see. A friend of the +connection like that--your father's leading member. Oh, Phoebe, it was an +evil day as brought you here to make all this mischief! and if I had +known what was going on!" cried Tozer, almost weeping in his despair. + +"You are tired, grandpapa," said Phoebe. "Don't be frightened about us. +Mr. Copperhead is very fond of Clarence, and he will give in; or if he +doesn't give in, still we shall not be worse off than many other +people." But she said this with a secret panic devouring her soul, +wondering if it was possible that such a horrible revolution of +circumstances and change of everything she had looked for, could be. +Even Clarence was silenced, though immovable. He went away soon after, +and betook himself to his room at the Parsonage, where all his +possessions still were, while Phoebe attended upon her grandmother, whose +agitation and fear she calmed without saying much. Tozer, quite broken +down, retired to bed; and when they were all disposed of, Phoebe went out +to the garden, and made a mournful little promenade there, with very +serious thoughts. If Clarence was to be cast off by his father what +could she do with him? It was not in Phoebe to abandon the stupid lover, +who had stood up so manfully for her. No, she must accept her fate +however the balance turned; but if this dreadful change happened what +should she do with him? The question penetrated, and made her shiver to +the depths of her soul; but never even in imagination did she forsake +him. He was hers now, come good or ill; but the prospect of the ill was +appalling to her. She went up and down the garden-path slowly in the +silence, looking up to the stars, with her heart very full. Phoebe felt +that no usual burden had been put upon her. Last night her occupation +had been one of the purest charity, and this Providence had seemed to +recompense in the morning, by dropping at her very feet the prize she +had long meant to win; but now she was down again after being lifted up +so high, and a great part of its value was taken out of that prize. Was +she mercenary or worldly-minded in her choice? It would be hard to say +so, for she never questioned with herself whether or not she should +follow Clarence into obscurity and poverty, if things should turn out +so. She would never abandon him, however bad his case might be; but her +heart sunk very low when she thought of her future with him, without the +"career" which would have made everything sweet. + +Mr. Copperhead, too, had very serious thoughts on this subject, and sat +up long drinking brandy-and-water, and knitting his brows, as he turned +the subject over and over in his mind, recognizing with disgust (in +which nevertheless there mingled a certain respect) that Clarence would +not yield, he was as obstinate as himself, or more so. He had gone to +the inn, where he was alone, without any of his usual comforts. It was +perhaps the first time in his prosperous life that he had ever been +really crossed. Joe had never attempted to do it, nor any of the first +family. They had married, as they had done everything else, according to +his dictation; and now here was his useless son, his exotic plant, his +Dresden china, not only asserting a will of his own, but meaning to have +it; and showing a resolution, a determination equal to his own. His +mother had never shown anything of this. She had yielded, as every one +else had yielded (Mr. Copperhead reflected), to whatever he ordered. +Where had the boy got this unsuspected strength? A kind of smile broke +unawares over the rich man's face, as he asked himself this question, a +smile which he chased away with a frown, but which nevertheless had been +there for a moment roused by a subtle suggestion of self-flattery. +Where, but from himself, had his gentleman-son (as the millionnaire +proudly held him to be) got that strength of obstinacy? He chased the +thought and the smile away with a frown, and went to bed gloomily +nursing his wrath; but yet this suggestion which he himself had made was +more flattering to himself than words can say. As for Clarence, the only +other person deeply concerned, after he had asked for Mr. May, and +expressed his regret to learn how ill he was, the young man smoked a +cigar on the doorsteps, and then went peaceably, without either care or +anxiety, to bed, where he slept very soundly till eight o'clock next +morning, which was the hour at which he was called, though he did not +always get up. + +When Mr. Copperhead began the new day, he began it with a very unwise +idea, quickly carried out, as unwise ideas generally are. Feeling that +he could make nothing of his son, he resolved to try what he could make +of Phoebe; a young woman, nay, a bit of a girl not more than twenty, and +a minister's daughter, brought up in reverence of the leading +member--any resistance on her part seemed really incredible. He could +not contemplate the idea of giving up all the cherished plans of his +life by a melodramatic renunciation of his son. To give up Clarence whom +he had trained to be the very apex and crowning point of his grandeur, +was intolerable to him. But Mr. Copperhead had heard before now of young +women, who, goaded to it, had been known to give up their lover rather +than let their lover suffer on their account, and if this had ever been +the case, surely it might be so in the present instance. Had he not the +comfort of the Beecham family in his hands? Could not he make the +Crescent Chapel too hot to hold them? Could he not awaken the fears of +scores of other fathers very unlikely to permit their favourite sons to +stray into the hands of pastors' daughters? There was nothing indeed to +be said against Mr. Beecham, but still it would be strange if Mr. +Copperhead, out and away the richest man in the community, could not +make the Crescent too hot to hold him. He went down the Lane from the +"George," where he had slept, quite early next morning, with this +purpose full in his head, and, as good luck (he thought) would have it, +found Phoebe, who had been restless all night with anxiety, and had got +up early, once more walking up and down the long garden-path, reflecting +over all that had happened, and wondering as to what might happen still. +What a piece of luck it was! He was accustomed to have fortune on his +side, and it seemed natural to him. He went up to her with scarcely a +pause for the usual salutations, and plunged at once into what he had to +say. + +"Miss Phoebe, I am glad to find you alone. I wanted a word with you," he +said, "about the affair of last night. Why shouldn't you and I, the only +two sensible ones in the business, settle it between ourselves? Old +Tozer is an old ass, begging your pardon for saying so, and my son is a +fool--" + +"I do not agree to either," said Phoebe gravely, "but never mind, I will +certainly hear what you have to say." + +"What I have to say is this. I will never consent to let my son Clarence +marry you." Here he was interrupted by a serious little bow of assent +from Phoebe, which disconcerted and angered him strangely. "This being +the case," he resumed more hotly, "don't you think we'd better come to +terms, you and me? You are too sensible a girl, I'll be bound, to marry +a man without a penny, which is what he would be. He would be properly +made an end of, Miss Phoebe, if he found out, after all his bravado last +night, that you were the one to cast him off after all." + +"He cannot find that out," said Phoebe with a smile; "unfortunately even +if I could have done it under brighter circumstances my mouth is closed +now. I desert him now, when he is in trouble! Of course you do not know +me, so you are excused for thinking so, Mr. Copperhead." + +The rich man stared. She was speaking a language which he did not +understand. "Look here, Miss Phoebe," he said, "let's understand each +other. High horses don't answer with me. As for deserting him when he's +in trouble, if you'll give him up--or desert him, as you call it--he +need never be in trouble at all. You can stop all that. Just you say no +to him, and he'll soon be on his knees to me to think no more of it. You +know who I am," Mr. Copperhead continued with a concealed threat. "I +have a deal of influence in the connection, though I say it that +shouldn't, and I'm very well looked on in chapel business. What would +the Crescent do without me? And if there should be an unpleasantness +between the minister and the leading member, why, you know, Miss Phoebe, +no one better, who it is that would go to the wall." + +She made no answer, and he thought she was impressed by his arguments. +He went on still more strongly than before. "Such a clever girl as you +knows all that," said Mr. Copperhead, "and suppose you were to marry +Clarence without a penny, what would become of you? What would you make +of him? He is too lazy for hard work, and he has not brains enough for +anything else. What would you make of him if you had him? That's what I +want to know." + +"And that is just what I can't tell you," said Phoebe smiling. "It is a +very serious question. I suppose something will turn up." + +"What can turn up? You marry him because he is going into parliament, +and could give you a fine position." + +"I confess," said Phoebe with her usual frankness, "that I did think of +his career; without that the future is much darker, and rather +depressing." + +"Yes, you see that! A poor clod of a fellow that can't work, and will be +hanging upon you every day, keeping you from working--that you will +never be able to make anything of." + +"Mr. Copperhead," said Phoebe sweetly, "why do you tell all this to me? +Your mere good sense will show you that I cannot budge. I have accepted +him being rich, and I cannot throw him over when he is poor. I may not +like it--I don't like it--but I am helpless. Whatever change is made, it +cannot be made by me." + +He stared at her in blank wonder and dismay. For a moment he could not +say anything. "Look here," he faltered at last, "you thought him a great +match, a rise in the world for you and yours; but he ain't a great match +any longer. What's the use then of keeping up the farce? You and me +understand each other. You've nothing to do but to let him off; you're +young and pretty, you'll easily find some one else. Fools are plenty in +this world," he added, unable to refrain from that one fling. "Let him +off and all will be right. What's to prevent you? I'd not lose a moment +if I were you." + +Phoebe laughed. She had a pretty laugh, soft yet ringing like a child's. +"You and I, I fear, are no rule for each other," she said. "Mr. +Copperhead, what prevents me is a small thing called honour, that is +all." + +"Honour! that's for men," he said hastily, "and folly for them according +as you mean it; but for women there's no such thing, it's sham and +humbug; and look you here, Miss Phoebe," he continued, losing his temper, +"you see what your father will say to this when you get him into hot +water with his people! There's more men with sons than me; and if the +Crescent ain't too hot to hold him within a month--Do you think I'll +stand it, a beggarly minister and his belongings coming in the way of a +man that could buy you all up, twenty times over, and more!" + +The fury into which he had worked himself took away Mr. Copperhead's +breath. Phoebe said nothing. She went on by his side with soft steps, her +face a little downcast, the suspicion of a smile about her mouth. + +"By George!" he cried, when he had recovered himself, "you think you can +laugh at me. You think you can defy me, you, a bit of a girl, as poor as +Job!" + +"I defy no one," said Phoebe. "I cannot prevent you from insulting me, +that is all; which is rather hard," she added, with a smile, which cost +her an effort, "seeing that I shall have to drag your son through the +world somehow, now that you have cast him off. He will not give me up, I +know, and honour prevents me from giving him up. So I shall have hard +work enough, without any insults from you. It is a pity," said Phoebe, +with a sort of sympathetic regret for herself so badly used. "I could +have made a man of him. I could have backed him up to get on as well as +most men; but it will certainly be uphill work now." + +She did not look at the furious father as she spoke. She was quite calm, +treating it reflectively, regretfully, as a thing past and over. Mr. +Copperhead tried to burst forth again in threats and objurgations; but +in spite of himself, and though she never said another word, the big, +rich, noisy man was silenced. He went away, threatening to appeal to her +father, which Phoebe, with a last effort, begged him smilingly to do. But +this was the last of which she was capable. When she had closed the door +after him, she rushed upstairs to her room, and cried bitterly. +Everything was very dark to her. If he did appeal to her father, the +appeal would spread confusion and dismay through the pastor's heart and +family; and what was to become of herself, with Clarence on her hands, +who could do nothing that was useful, and could earn neither his own +living nor hers? All this was very terrible to Phoebe, and for a moment +she contemplated the unheard of step of having a headache, and staying +upstairs. But she reflected that her poor old grandfather had done _his_ +duty, at no small sacrifice, according to her bidding, yesterday; and +she bathed her eyes heroically, and collected her strength and went +down to breakfast as usual. It was her duty, which she must do. + +As for Mr. Copperhead, he took a long walk, to reflect upon all the +circumstances, which were complicated enough to cause him much trouble. +He could not give up his cherished scheme, his Member of Parliament, his +crown of glory. It was what he had been looking forward to for years. He +tried to realize the failure of his hopes, and could not--nay, would +not, feeling it more than he could bear. No; without his gentleman son, +his University man, his costly, useless production, who was worth so +much money to him, yet brought in nothing, he felt that he must shrink +in the opinion of all his friends, even of his own sons, the "first +family," who had so envied, sneered at, undervalued Clarence, yet had +been forced to be civil to him, and respect their father's imperious +will as he chose that it should be respected. What a sorry figure he +should cut before all of them if he cast off Clarence, and had to +announce himself publicly as foiled in all his plans and hopes! He could +not face this prospect; he shrank from it as if it had involved actual +bodily pain. The men who would laugh at his failure were men of his own +class, to whom he had bragged at his ease, crowing and exulting over +them, and he felt that he could not face them if all his grand +anticipations collapsed. There was nothing for it but to give in. And on +the other hand this girl Phoebe was a very clever girl, able not only to +save the expense of coaches, but to cram the boy, and keep him up better +than any coach could do. She could make his speeches for him, like +enough, Mr. Copperhead thought, and a great many reasons might be given +to the world why she had been chosen instead of a richer wife for the +golden boy. Golden girls, as a general rule, were not of so much use. +"Fortune ain't worth thinking of in comparison with brains. It was +brains I wanted, and I've bought 'em dear; but I hope I can afford it," +he almost heard himself saying to an admiring, envious assembly; for Mr. +Copperhead so far deserved his success that he could accept a defeat +when it was necessary, and make the best of it. When he had nearly ended +his walk, and had reached in his thoughts to this point, he met his son, +who was walking up from the Parsonage to No. 6 in the Lane. Clarence +looked cheerful enough as he walked along, whistling under his breath, +towards his love; but when he saw his father, a change came over his +face. Once more his eyelids drooped over his eyes, and those muddy brown +orbs got fixed in dull obstinacy; once more his upper lip shut down +sullen and fast upon the lower. The entire expression of his face +changed. Mr. Copperhead saw this afar off, from the moment his son +perceived him, and the sight gave to all his thinking that force which +reality gives to imagination; the risk he was running became doubly +clear. + +"Good morning, Clarence," he said. + +"Good morning, sir," responded the other, with lowering brows and +close-shut mouth. + +"I suppose you were coming to the George to me? Come along, I've had no +breakfast; and let's hope, my boy, that you're in a better mind than +last night." + +"Look here, sir," said Clarence; "you might as well ask one of those +houses to walk with you to the George, and show a better mind. I'm of +one mind, and one only. I'll marry Phoebe Beecham, whether you like it or +not, and no other woman in this world." + +"Is that your last word?" said the father, curiously repeating, without +being aware of it, his question of the previous night. + +"That's my last word," said the son, contemplating his father sullenly +from under the heavy lids of his obstinate eyes. + +"Very well," said Mr. Copperhead; "then come along to breakfast, for I'm +hungry, and we can talk it over there." + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +THE LAST. + + +This is how Phoebe's difficulties ended. Contrary to her every +expectation, Mr. Copperhead made a great brag of her powers wherever he +went. "Money is money," he said, "but brains is brains, all the same--we +can't get on without 'em--and when you want to make a figure in the +world, sir, buy a few brains if they fall in your way--that's my style. +I've done with stupid ones up till now; but when I see there's a want of +a clever one, I ain't such a fool as to shut my eyes to it. They cost +dear, but I'm thankful to say I can afford that, ay, and a good deal +more." Thus everything was satisfactorily arranged. Tozer and his wife +cried together for joy on the wedding-day, but they did not expect to be +asked to that ceremony, being well aware that Phoebe, having now +completely entered into the regions of the great, could not be expected +to have very much to say to them. "Though I know, the darling, as she'd +just be the same if she was here, and wouldn't let nobody look down upon +you and me," said the old woman. + +"She's a wonderful girl, she is," said old Tozer. "Wind us all round her +little finger, that's what she could do--leastways, except when there +was principle in it, and there I stood firm. But I've done things for +Phoebe as I wouldn't have done for no other breathing, and she knew it. I +wouldn't give in to her tho' about church folks being just as good as +them as is more enlightened. That's agin' reason. But I've done things +for 'em along of her!--Ah! she's a wonderful girl is Phoebe--Phoebe, +Junior, as I always call her. There ain't her match between here and +London, and that's what I'll always say." + +But we will not try to describe the glory and joy that filled Mr. +Beecham's house in the Terrace, when Mrs. Clarence Copperhead went back +there with all their friends to the wedding-breakfast, which was in the +very best style, and regardless of expense. Even at that moment it gave +Phoebe a little pang to see her mother in the bright colours which she +loved, but which made her so much pinker and fatter than was needful. +Little Mrs. Copperhead, in dim neutral tints, looked like a little +shadow beside the pastor's buxom wife, and was frightened and ill at +ease and sad to the heart to lose her boy, who had been all she +possessed in the world. Sophy Dorset, specially asked for the purpose +with Ursula May, who was a bridesmaid, looked on with much admiration at +the curious people, so rich, so fine, and so overwhelming, among whom +her father had found it so remarkable to meet not one person whom he +knew. "Now, Ursula," she said, "if you had played your cards properly +that beautiful bridegroom and that nice little house in Mayfair, and the +privilege, perhaps, of writing M.P. after your name some time or other, +might all have been yours instead of Miss Beecham's. Why did you let her +carry off the prize?" + +"Cousin Sophy!" cried Ursula indignantly. "As if I ever thought of him +as a prize! But I know you are only laughing at me. The strange thing is +that she likes him, though I am sure she knew very well that +Reginald--Oh, when one thinks how many people there are in this world +who do not get what they wish most--and how many people there are--" +Ursula paused, involved in her own antithesis, and Sophy ended it for +her with a sigh. + +"Who do--and the one is no happier than the other, most times, little +Ursula; but you don't understand that, and as you are going to be one +of the blessed ones, you need not take to making reflections; that is my +privilege, my dear." + +"Oh, Cousin Sophy, why were not you one of those blessed ones too?" +cried Ursula, clasping her arms suddenly round her kind friend. This, be +it understood, was after the breakfast was over, and when, in the deep +gloom which generally concludes a wedding day, everybody had gone home. +The two were in a magnificent large bedchamber in Portland Place, in the +vast silent mansion of the Copperheads, where at present there was +nothing more cheerful than the bridegroom's soft-eyed mother, taking +herself dreadfully to task for not being happy, and trying not to cry, +though there was to be a great dinner and entertainment that night. + +"Don't you know?" said Sophy, putting her aside with a certain proud +coldness, and a momentary laugh, "he I loved proved false; that is to +say, in simple language, he turned out so poor a creature that it is +very good of me not to despise humanity for his sweet sake. Never mind. +If all had gone well, and he had been a real man instead of the sham +image of one, I don't suppose I should have ever been among the blessed +ones. Anne is, who never thought of such mysteries at all; and so you +will be, my little Ursula--very happy. I am sure of it--though how you +can manage to be happy, my dear, marrying a man who is not a good +Churchman, it is not for me to say." + +"Cousin Sophy, have I been brought up in a way to make me so fond of +Churchmen?" said Ursula solemnly. She could not have told how much or +how little she knew about her father's behaviour, and the "shock to his +mental system;" but vaguely and by instinct there was a great deal that +she did know. + +"You have been behind the scenes too much perhaps," said Sophy Dorset, +shrugging her shoulders, "but don't think any worse of the world than +you ought, if you can't think very much better. No class is good or bad, +Ursula. Men are but men all over the world." + +This made Ursula cry, though it is difficult to say why. She thought it +cynical, and probably so will the reader. Perhaps Sophy Dorset abandoned +the cause of mankind too easily, as most people of her temperament and +age are disposed to do. Anyhow the evening entertainment took place and +was very fine, and every honour was done to Clarence Copperhead's +marriage, especially by his mother, who appeared in the most lovely +satin that eyes ever saw, and diamonds--and almost succeeded all the +evening in keeping herself from crying, but not entirely. She did break +down when the health of bridegroom and bride was drunk as it ought to +be; but recovered herself hastily when the mother on the other side gave +her a kiss of sympathy. Though it was an honest kiss it filled poor +little Mrs. Copperhead's mind with the most unchristian feelings, and +gave her strength to keep up for the rest of the evening, and do her +duty to the last. Nevertheless Phoebe was the best of daughters-in-law, +and ended by making her husband's mother dependent on her for most of +the comforts of her life. And Clarence got into Parliament, and the +reader, perhaps (if Parliament is sitting), may have had the luck to +read a speech in the morning paper of Phoebe's composition, and if he +ever got the secret of her style would know it again, and might trace +the course of a public character for years to come by that means. But +this secret is one which no bribe nor worldly inducement will ever tempt +our lips to betray. + +Northcote was released from the charge of Salem Chapel directly after +these events, by the return of the minister safe and sound from his +holiday, to the great delight of the congregation, though they had not +been very fond of their old pastor before. Now they could not +sufficiently exult over the happy re-instalment. "The other one never +crossed our doors from the day he came till now as he's going away," +said one indignant member; "nor took no more notice of us chapel folks +nor if we were dirt beneath his feet." "That time as the Meeting was +held, when he spoke up again' the sinecure, was the only time as my mind +was satisfied," cried another. "And a deal came of it after, making +friends with the very man he had abused." "All his friends was Church +folks," said a third; "he was a wolf in sheep's clothing, that's what I +calls him; and a poor moralist as a preacher, with never a rousing word +in them things as he called his sermons. We're well rid of the likes of +him, though he may be clever. I don't give much for that kind of +cleverness; and what's the good of you, minister or not minister, if you +can't keep consistent and stick to your own side." The chorus was so +strong that the echo of it moved Tozer, who was a kind of arch-deacon +and leading member too, in his way, where he sat twiddling his thumbs in +his little room. "I'm one as is qualified to give what you may call a +casting vote," said Tozer, "being the oldest deacon in Salem, and one as +has seen generations coming and going. And as for Church and Chapel, +I've served 'em both, and seen the colour of their money, and there's +them as has their obligations to me, though we needn't name no names. +But this I will say, as I'm cured of clever men and them as is thought +superior. They ain't to be calculated upon. If any more o' them young +intellectuals turns up at Carlingford, I'll tell him right out, 'You +ain't the man for my money.' I'll say to him as bold as brass, 'I've +been young, and now I'm old, and it's my conviction as clever young men +ain't the sort for Salem. We want them as is steady-going, and them as +is consistent; good strong opinions, and none o' your charity, that's +what we wants here.'" Now Tozer had loved clever young men in his day +more well than wisely, as everybody knew, and this deliverance carried +all the more weight in consequence, and was echoed loudly by one general +hum of content and applause. + +Northcote took this very quietly, but he retired, after he had married +Ursula, from the office of pastor, for which he was not fitted, and from +the Liberation Society, and various other societies, coming to see that +Disestablishment was not a panacea for national evils any more than +other things. He was in the habit of quoting his brother-in-law, +Reginald May, as the best man he knew; but this did not make him a +Churchman; for naturally he could not say the same of other members of +the same class and family. He was shaken out of his strong opinions; but +it is doubtful how far this was good for him, for he was a man of +warlike disposition, and not to have something which he could go to the +stake for--something which he could think the devil's own stronghold to +assail, was a drawback to him, and cramped his mental development; but +he was happy in his home with his pretty Ursula, which is probably all +the reader will care to know. He paid Tozer's hundred and fifty pounds. +And he made no inquiries, and tried not to ask himself what all that +strange scene had meant--and whatever it did mean it was over for ever, +and nobody asked any further questions or made any revelations on the +subject. As for Mr. May, his mysterious illness went on for some time, +the doctors never venturing to put any name to it. It was "mental +shock," and perhaps aberration, though he was sane enough to calm down +after that incomprehensible scene. Mr. Simpson of the Bank had a good +guess at the secret of the enigma, but even Tozer got hazy about it +after a while, and though he knew that he had done Mr. May a wonderful +service, could scarcely have told what it was--and neither, when it was +all over, could the culprit have told. He got better and worse for about +a year, and then he died, his strength failing him without any distinct +reason, no one could tell how. Reginald got the living and stepped into +his father's place, making a home for the children, which sharp Janey +rules over, not so softly or steadily as Ursula, with a love of theories +and experiments not quite consistent with the higher graces of +housekeeping, yet with an honest meaning through it all. As the times +are so unsettled, and no one can tell what may become within a year of +any old foundation, the trustees have requested Reginald to retain his +chaplaincy at the old College; so that he is in reality a pluralist, and +almost rich, though they say the hardest-worked man in Carlingford. He +has his vagaries too, which no man can live without, but he is the +kindest guardian to his brothers and sisters, and bears with Janey's +freaks with exemplary gentleness. And he has a curate, whom in the +course of nature Janey will probably marry--though this has not yet been +revealed to either party, who have reached only the first stage of +hating each other up to this time. It is not thought in the family that +Reginald will ever marry. She was never worthy of him, the sisters say; +but he thinks differently, as yet at least. However he is young, and +things may mend. + +THE END. + + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's Phoebe, Junior, by Mrs [Margaret] Oliphant + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK PHOEBE, JUNIOR *** + +***** This file should be named 28629.txt or 28629.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + https://www.gutenberg.org/2/8/6/2/28629/ + +Produced by Delphine Lettau, Marcia Brooks and the Online +Distributed Proofreading Canada Team at +http://www.pgdpcanada.net + + +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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