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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/3049-h.zip b/3049-h.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c829146 --- /dev/null +++ b/3049-h.zip diff --git a/3049-h/3049-h.htm b/3049-h/3049-h.htm new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d064723 --- /dev/null +++ b/3049-h/3049-h.htm @@ -0,0 +1,7787 @@ +<!DOCTYPE html + PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" + "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> +<html> +<head> +<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=US-ASCII" /> +<title>A Group of Noble Dames</title> + <style type="text/css"> +/*<![CDATA[ XML blockout */ +<!-- + P { margin-top: .75em; + margin-bottom: .75em; + } + H1, H2 { + text-align: center; + margin-top: 2em; + margin-bottom: 2em; + } + H3, H4 { + text-align: left; + margin-top: 1em; + margin-bottom: 1em; + } + BODY{margin-left: 10%; + margin-right: 10%; + } + TD { vertical-align: top; } + .blkquot {margin-left: 4em; margin-right: 4em;} /* block indent */ + + .smcap {font-variant: small-caps;} + + .pagenum {position: absolute; + left: 92%; + font-size: smaller; + text-align: right; + color: gray;} + + .citation {vertical-align: super; + font-size: .8em; + text-decoration: none;} + // --> + /* XML end ]]>*/ + </style> +</head> +<body> +<h2> +<a href="#startoftext">A Group of Noble Dames, by Thomas Hardy</a> +</h2> +<pre> +The Project Gutenberg eBook, A Group of Noble Dames, by Thomas Hardy + + +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: A Group of Noble Dames + + +Author: Thomas Hardy + + + +Release Date: May 17, 2007 [eBook #3049] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A GROUP OF NOBLE DAMES*** +</pre> +<p><a name="startoftext"></a></p> +<p>Transcribed from the 1920 Macmillan and Co. edition by David +Price, email ccx074@pglaf.org</p> +<h1>A GROUP OF NOBLE DAMES</h1> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">that is to +say</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center">THE FIRST COUNTESS OF WESSEX<br /> +BARBARA OF THE HOSE OF GREBE<br /> +THE MARCHIONESS OF STONEHENGE,<br /> +LADY MOTTIFONT SQUIRE PETRICK’S LADY<br /> +THE LADY ICENWAY ANNA, LADY BAXBY<br /> +THE LADY PENELOPE<br /> +THE DUCHESS OF HAMPTONSHIRE; <span class="smcap">and</span><br /> +THE HONOURABLE LAURA</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">by</span><br /> +THOMAS HARDY</p> +<blockquote><p style="text-align: center">‘. . . Store of +Ladies, whose bright eyes<br /> +Rain influence.’—<span +class="smcap">L’Allegro</span>.</p> +</blockquote> +<p style="text-align: center"><span class="smcap">with a map of +wessex</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center">MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED<br /> +ST. MARTIN’S STREET, LONDON<br /> +1920</p> +<p style="text-align: center"><span +class="smcap">copyright</span></p> +<p style="text-align: center"><i>First Collected Edition</i> +1891<br /> +<i>New Edition and reprints</i> 1896-1900<br /> +<i>First published by Macmillan & Co.</i>, <i>Crown</i> 8vo, +1903<br /> +<i>Pocket Edition</i> 1907 <i>Reprinted</i> 1911, 1914, +1917, 1919, 1920</p> +<p>Contents:</p> +<p>Preface<br /> +Part I—Before Dinner<br /> + The First Countess of Wessex<br /> + Barbara of the House of Grebe<br /> + The Marchioness of Stonehenge<br /> + Lady Mottisfont<br /> +Part II—After Dinner<br /> + The Lady Icenway<br /> + Squire Petrick’s Lady<br /> + Anna, Lady Baxby<br /> + The Lady Penelope<br /> + The Duchess Of Hamptonshire<br /> + The Honourable Laura</p> +<h2>PREFACE</h2> +<p>The pedigrees of our county families, arranged in diagrams on +the pages of county histories, mostly appear at first sight to be +as barren of any touch of nature as a table of logarithms. +But given a clue—the faintest tradition of what went on +behind the scenes, and this dryness as of dust may be transformed +into a palpitating drama. More, the careful comparison of +dates alone—that of birth with marriage, of marriage with +death, of one marriage, birth, or death with a kindred marriage, +birth, or death—will often effect the same transformation, +and anybody practised in raising images from such genealogies +finds himself unconsciously filling into the framework the +motives, passions, and personal qualities which would appear to +be the single explanation possible of some extraordinary +conjunction in times, events, and personages that occasionally +marks these reticent family records.</p> +<p>Out of such pedigrees and supplementary material most of the +following stories have arisen and taken shape.</p> +<p>I would make this preface an opportunity of expressing my +sense of the courtesy and kindness of several bright-eyed Noble +Dames yet in the flesh, who, since the first publication of these +tales in periodicals, six or seven years ago, have given me +interesting comments and conjectures on such of the narratives as +they have recognized to be connected with their own families, +residences, or traditions; in which they have shown a truly +philosophic absence of prejudice in their regard of those +incidents whose relation has tended more distinctly to dramatize +than to eulogize their ancestors. The outlines they have +also given of other singular events in their family histories for +use in a second “Group of Noble Dames,” will, I fear, +never reach the printing-press through me; but I shall store them +up in memory of my informants’ good nature.</p> +<p style="text-align: right">T. H.</p> +<p><i>June</i> 1896.</p> +<h2>DAME THE FIRST—THE FIRST COUNTESS OF WESSEX<br /> +By the Local Historian</h2> +<p>King’s-Hintock Court (said the narrator, turning over +his memoranda for reference)—King’s-Hintock Court is, +as we know, one of the most imposing of the mansions that +overlook our beautiful Blackmoor or Blakemore Vale. On the +particular occasion of which I have to speak this building stood, +as it had often stood before, in the perfect silence of a calm +clear night, lighted only by the cold shine of the stars. +The season was winter, in days long ago, the last century having +run but little more than a third of its length. North, +south, and west, not a casement was unfastened, not a curtain +undrawn; eastward, one window on the upper floor was open, and a +girl of twelve or thirteen was leaning over the sill. That +she had not taken up the position for purposes of observation was +apparent at a glance, for she kept her eyes covered with her +hands.</p> +<p>The room occupied by the girl was an inner one of a suite, to +be reached only by passing through a large bedchamber +adjoining. From this apartment voices in altercation were +audible, everything else in the building being so still. It +was to avoid listening to these voices that the girl had left her +little cot, thrown a cloak round her head and shoulders, and +stretched into the night air.</p> +<p>But she could not escape the conversation, try as she +would. The words reached her in all their painfulness, one +sentence in masculine tones, those of her father, being repeated +many times.</p> +<p>‘I tell ’ee there shall be no such +betrothal! I tell ’ee there +sha’n’t! A child like her!’</p> +<p>She knew the subject of dispute to be herself. A cool +feminine voice, her mother’s, replied:</p> +<p>‘Have done with you, and be wise. He is willing to +wait a good five or six years before the marriage takes place, +and there’s not a man in the county to compare with +him.’</p> +<p>‘It shall not be! He is over thirty. It is +wickedness.’</p> +<p>‘He is just thirty, and the best and finest man +alive—a perfect match for her.’</p> +<p>‘He is poor!’</p> +<p>‘But his father and elder brothers are made much of at +Court—none so constantly at the palace as they; and with +her fortune, who knows? He may be able to get a +barony.’</p> +<p>‘I believe you are in love with en yourself!’</p> +<p>‘How can you insult me so, Thomas! And is it not +monstrous for you to talk of my wickedness when you have a like +scheme in your own head? You know you have. Some +bumpkin of your own choosing—some petty gentleman who lives +down at that outlandish place of yours, Falls-Park—one of +your pot-companions’ sons—’</p> +<p>There was an outburst of imprecation on the part of her +husband in lieu of further argument. As soon as he could +utter a connected sentence he said: ‘You crow and you +domineer, mistress, because you are heiress-general here. +You are in your own house; you are on your own land. But +let me tell ’ee that if I did come here to you instead of +taking you to me, it was done at the dictates of convenience +merely. H---! I’m no beggar! +Ha’n’t I a place of my own? Ha’n’t +I an avenue as long as thine? Ha’n’t I beeches +that will more than match thy oaks? I should have lived in +my own quiet house and land, contented, if you had not called me +off with your airs and graces. Faith, I’ll go back +there; I’ll not stay with thee longer! If it had not +been for our Betty I should have gone long ago!’</p> +<p>After this there were no more words; but presently, hearing +the sound of a door opening and shutting below, the girl again +looked from the window. Footsteps crunched on the +gravel-walk, and a shape in a drab greatcoat, easily +distinguishable as her father, withdrew from the house. He +moved to the left, and she watched him diminish down the long +east front till he had turned the corner and vanished. He +must have gone round to the stables.</p> +<p>She closed the window and shrank into bed, where she cried +herself to sleep. This child, their only one, Betty, +beloved ambitiously by her mother, and with uncalculating +passionateness by her father, was frequently made wretched by +such episodes as this; though she was too young to care very +deeply, for her own sake, whether her mother betrothed her to the +gentleman discussed or not.</p> +<p>The Squire had often gone out of the house in this manner, +declaring that he would never return, but he had always +reappeared in the morning. The present occasion, however, +was different in the issue: next day she was told that her father +had ridden to his estate at Falls-Park early in the morning on +business with his agent, and might not come back for some +days.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>Falls-Park was over twenty miles from King’s-Hintock +Court, and was altogether a more modest centre-piece to a more +modest possession than the latter. But as Squire Dornell +came in view of it that February morning, he thought that he had +been a fool ever to leave it, though it was for the sake of the +greatest heiress in Wessex. Its classic front, of the +period of the second Charles, derived from its regular features a +dignity which the great, battlemented, heterogeneous mansion of +his wife could not eclipse. Altogether he was sick at +heart, and the gloom which the densely-timbered park threw over +the scene did not tend to remove the depression of this rubicund +man of eight-and-forty, who sat so heavily upon his +gelding. The child, his darling Betty: there lay the root +of his trouble. He was unhappy when near his wife, he was +unhappy when away from his little girl; and from this dilemma +there was no practicable escape. As a consequence he +indulged rather freely in the pleasures of the table, became what +was called a three bottle man, and, in his wife’s +estimation, less and less presentable to her polite friends from +town.</p> +<p>He was received by the two or three old servants who were in +charge of the lonely place, where a few rooms only were kept +habitable for his use or that of his friends when hunting; and +during the morning he was made more comfortable by the arrival of +his faithful servant Tupcombe from King’s-Hintock. +But after a day or two spent here in solitude he began to feel +that he had made a mistake in coming. By leaving +King’s-Hintock in his anger he had thrown away his best +opportunity of counteracting his wife’s preposterous notion +of promising his poor little Betty’s hand to a man she had +hardly seen. To protect her from such a repugnant bargain +he should have remained on the spot. He felt it almost as a +misfortune that the child would inherit so much wealth. She +would be a mark for all the adventurers in the kingdom. Had +she been only the heiress to his own unassuming little place at +Falls, how much better would have been her chances of +happiness!</p> +<p>His wife had divined truly when she insinuated that he himself +had a lover in view for this pet child. The son of a dear +deceased friend of his, who lived not two miles from where the +Squire now was, a lad a couple of years his daughter’s +senior, seemed in her father’s opinion the one person in +the world likely to make her happy. But as to breathing +such a scheme to either of the young people with the indecent +haste that his wife had shown, he would not dream of it; years +hence would be soon enough for that. They had already seen +each other, and the Squire fancied that he noticed a tenderness +on the youth’s part which promised well. He was +strongly tempted to profit by his wife’s example, and +forestall her match-making by throwing the two young people +together there at Falls. The girl, though marriageable in +the views of those days, was too young to be in love, but the lad +was fifteen, and already felt an interest in her.</p> +<p>Still better than keeping watch over her at King’s +Hintock, where she was necessarily much under her mother’s +influence, would it be to get the child to stay with him at Falls +for a time, under his exclusive control. But how accomplish +this without using main force? The only possible chance was +that his wife might, for appearance’ sake, as she had done +before, consent to Betty paying him a day’s visit, when he +might find means of detaining her till Reynard, the suitor whom +his wife favoured, had gone abroad, which he was expected to do +the following week. Squire Dornell determined to return to +King’s-Hintock and attempt the enterprise. If he were +refused, it was almost in him to pick up Betty bodily and carry +her off.</p> +<p>The journey back, vague and Quixotic as were his intentions, +was performed with a far lighter heart than his setting +forth. He would see Betty, and talk to her, come what might +of his plan.</p> +<p>So he rode along the dead level which stretches between the +hills skirting Falls-Park and those bounding the town of Ivell, +trotted through that borough, and out by the King’s-Hintock +highway, till, passing the villages he entered the mile-long +drive through the park to the Court. The drive being open, +without an avenue, the Squire could discern the north front and +door of the Court a long way off, and was himself visible from +the windows on that side; for which reason he hoped that Betty +might perceive him coming, as she sometimes did on his return +from an outing, and run to the door or wave her handkerchief.</p> +<p>But there was no sign. He inquired for his wife as soon +as he set foot to earth.</p> +<p>‘Mistress is away. She was called to London, +sir.’</p> +<p>‘And Mistress Betty?’ said the Squire blankly.</p> +<p>‘Gone likewise, sir, for a little change. Mistress +has left a letter for you.’</p> +<p>The note explained nothing, merely stating that she had posted +to London on her own affairs, and had taken the child to give her +a holiday. On the fly-leaf were some words from Betty +herself to the same effect, evidently written in a state of high +jubilation at the idea of her jaunt. Squire Dornell +murmured a few expletives, and submitted to his +disappointment. How long his wife meant to stay in town she +did not say; but on investigation he found that the carriage had +been packed with sufficient luggage for a sojourn of two or three +weeks.</p> +<p>King’s-Hintock Court was in consequence as gloomy as +Falls-Park had been. He had lost all zest for hunting of +late, and had hardly attended a meet that season. Dornell +read and re-read Betty’s scrawl, and hunted up some other +such notes of hers to look over, this seeming to be the only +pleasure there was left for him. That they were really in +London he learnt in a few days by another letter from Mrs. +Dornell, in which she explained that they hoped to be home in +about a week, and that she had had no idea he was coming back to +King’s-Hintock so soon, or she would not have gone away +without telling him.</p> +<p>Squire Dornell wondered if, in going or returning, it had been +her plan to call at the Reynards’ place near Melchester, +through which city their journey lay. It was possible that +she might do this in furtherance of her project, and the sense +that his own might become the losing game was harassing.</p> +<p>He did not know how to dispose of himself, till it occurred to +him that, to get rid of his intolerable heaviness, he would +invite some friends to dinner and drown his cares in grog and +wine. No sooner was the carouse decided upon than he put it +in hand; those invited being mostly neighbouring landholders, all +smaller men than himself, members of the hunt; also the doctor +from Evershead, and the like—some of them rollicking blades +whose presence his wife would not have countenanced had she been +at home. ‘When the cat’s away—!’ +said the Squire.</p> +<p>They arrived, and there were indications in their manner that +they meant to make a night of it. Baxby of Sherton Castle +was late, and they waited a quarter of an hour for him, he being +one of the liveliest of Dornell’s friends; without whose +presence no such dinner as this would be considered complete, +and, it may be added, with whose presence no dinner which +included both sexes could be conducted with strict +propriety. He had just returned from London, and the Squire +was anxious to talk to him—for no definite reason; but he +had lately breathed the atmosphere in which Betty was.</p> +<p>At length they heard Baxby driving up to the door, whereupon +the host and the rest of his guests crossed over to the +dining-room. In a moment Baxby came hastily in at their +heels, apologizing for his lateness.</p> +<p>‘I only came back last night, you know,’ he said; +‘and the truth o’t is, I had as much as I could +carry.’ He turned to the Squire. ‘Well, +Dornell—so cunning Reynard has stolen your little ewe +lamb? Ha, ha!’</p> +<p>‘What?’ said Squire Dornell vacantly, across the +dining-table, round which they were all standing, the cold March +sunlight streaming in upon his full-clean shaven face.</p> +<p>‘Surely th’st know what all the town +knows?—you’ve had a letter by this time?—that +Stephen Reynard has married your Betty? Yes, as I’m a +living man. It was a carefully-arranged thing: they parted +at once, and are not to meet for five or six years. But, +Lord, you must know!’</p> +<p>A thud on the floor was the only reply of the Squire. +They quickly turned. He had fallen down like a log behind +the table, and lay motionless on the oak boards.</p> +<p>Those at hand hastily bent over him, and the whole group were +in confusion. They found him to be quite unconscious, +though puffing and panting like a blacksmith’s +bellows. His face was livid, his veins swollen, and beads +of perspiration stood upon his brow.</p> +<p>‘What’s happened to him?’ said several.</p> +<p>‘An apoplectic fit,’ said the doctor from +Evershead, gravely.</p> +<p>He was only called in at the Court for small ailments, as a +rule, and felt the importance of the situation. He lifted +the Squire’s head, loosened his cravat and clothing, and +rang for the servants, who took the Squire upstairs.</p> +<p>There he lay as if in a drugged sleep. The surgeon drew +a basin-full of blood from him, but it was nearly six +o’clock before he came to himself. The dinner was +completely disorganized, and some had gone home long ago; but two +or three remained.</p> +<p>‘Bless my soul,’ Baxby kept repeating, ‘I +didn’t know things had come to this pass between Dornell +and his lady! I thought the feast he was spreading to-day +was in honour of the event, though privately kept for the +present! His little maid married without his +knowledge!’</p> +<p>As soon as the Squire recovered consciousness he gasped: +‘’Tis abduction! ’Tis a capital +felony! He can be hung! Where is Baxby? I am +very well now. What items have ye heard, Baxby?’</p> +<p>The bearer of the untoward news was extremely unwilling to +agitate Dornell further, and would say little more at +first. But an hour after, when the Squire had partially +recovered and was sitting up, Baxby told as much as he knew, the +most important particular being that Betty’s mother was +present at the marriage, and showed every mark of approval. +‘Everything appeared to have been done so regularly that I, +of course, thought you knew all about it,’ he said.</p> +<p>‘I knew no more than the underground dead that such a +step was in the wind! A child not yet thirteen! How +Sue hath outwitted me! Did Reynard go up to Lon’on +with ’em, d’ye know?’</p> +<p>‘I can’t say. All I know is that your lady +and daughter were walking along the street, with the footman +behind ’em; that they entered a jeweller’s shop, +where Reynard was standing; and that there, in the presence +o’ the shopkeeper and your man, who was called in on +purpose, your Betty said to Reynard—so the story goes: +’pon my soul I don’t vouch for the truth of +it—she said, “Will you marry me?” or, “I +want to marry you: will you have me—now or never?” +she said.’</p> +<p>‘What she said means nothing,’ murmured the +Squire, with wet eyes. ‘Her mother put the words into +her mouth to avoid the serious consequences that would attach to +any suspicion of force. The words be not the child’s: +she didn’t dream of marriage—how should she, poor +little maid! Go on.’</p> +<p>‘Well, be that as it will, they were all agreed +apparently. They bought the ring on the spot, and the +marriage took place at the nearest church within +half-an-hour.’</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>A day or two later there came a letter from Mrs. Dornell to +her husband, written before she knew of his stroke. She +related the circumstances of the marriage in the gentlest manner, +and gave cogent reasons and excuses for consenting to the +premature union, which was now an accomplished fact indeed. +She had no idea, till sudden pressure was put upon her, that the +contract was expected to be carried out so soon, but being taken +half unawares, she had consented, having learned that Stephen +Reynard, now their son-in-law, was becoming a great favourite at +Court, and that he would in all likelihood have a title granted +him before long. No harm could come to their dear daughter +by this early marriage-contract, seeing that her life would be +continued under their own eyes, exactly as before, for some +years. In fine, she had felt that no other such fair +opportunity for a good marriage with a shrewd courtier and wise +man of the world, who was at the same time noted for his +excellent personal qualities, was within the range of +probability, owing to the rusticated lives they led at +King’s-Hintock. Hence she had yielded to +Stephen’s solicitation, and hoped her husband would forgive +her. She wrote, in short, like a woman who, having had her +way as to the deed, is prepared to make any concession as to +words and subsequent behaviour.</p> +<p>All this Dornell took at its true value, or rather, perhaps, +at less than its true value. As his life depended upon his +not getting into a passion, he controlled his perturbed emotions +as well as he was able, going about the house sadly and utterly +unlike his former self. He took every precaution to prevent +his wife knowing of the incidents of his sudden illness, from a +sense of shame at having a heart so tender; a ridiculous quality, +no doubt, in her eyes, now that she had become so imbued with +town ideas. But rumours of his seizure somehow reached her, +and she let him know that she was about to return to nurse +him. He thereupon packed up and went off to his own place +at Falls-Park.</p> +<p>Here he lived the life of a recluse for some time. He +was still too unwell to entertain company, or to ride to hounds +or elsewhither; but more than this, his aversion to the faces of +strangers and acquaintances, who knew by that time of the trick +his wife had played him, operated to hold him aloof.</p> +<p>Nothing could influence him to censure Betty for her share in +the exploit. He never once believed that she had acted +voluntarily. Anxious to know how she was getting on, he +despatched the trusty servant Tupcombe to Evershead village, +close to King’s-Hintock, timing his journey so that he +should reach the place under cover of dark. The emissary +arrived without notice, being out of livery, and took a seat in +the chimney-corner of the Sow-and-Acorn.</p> +<p>The conversation of the droppers-in was always of the nine +days’ wonder—the recent marriage. The smoking +listener learnt that Mrs. Dornell and the girl had returned to +King’s-Hintock for a day or two, that Reynard had set out +for the Continent, and that Betty had since been packed off to +school. She did not realize her position as Reynard’s +child-wife—so the story went—and though somewhat +awe-stricken at first by the ceremony, she had soon recovered her +spirits on finding that her freedom was in no way to be +interfered with.</p> +<p>After that, formal messages began to pass between Dornell and +his wife, the latter being now as persistently conciliating as +she was formerly masterful. But her rustic, simple, +blustering husband still held personally aloof. Her wish to +be reconciled—to win his forgiveness for her +stratagem—moreover, a genuine tenderness and desire to +soothe his sorrow, which welled up in her at times, brought her +at last to his door at Falls-Park one day.</p> +<p>They had not met since that night of altercation, before her +departure for London and his subsequent illness. She was +shocked at the change in him. His face had become +expressionless, as blank as that of a puppet, and what troubled +her still more was that she found him living in one room, and +indulging freely in stimulants, in absolute disobedience to the +physician’s order. The fact was obvious that he could +no longer be allowed to live thus uncouthly.</p> +<p>So she sympathized, and begged his pardon, and coaxed. +But though after this date there was no longer such a complete +estrangement as before, they only occasionally saw each other, +Dornell for the most part making Falls his headquarters +still.</p> +<p>Three or four years passed thus. Then she came one day, +with more animation in her manner, and at once moved him by the +simple statement that Betty’s schooling had ended; she had +returned, and was grieved because he was away. She had sent +a message to him in these words: ‘Ask father to come home +to his dear Betty.’</p> +<p>‘Ah! Then she is very unhappy!’ said Squire +Dornell.</p> +<p>His wife was silent.</p> +<p>‘’Tis that accursed marriage!’ continued the +Squire.</p> +<p>Still his wife would not dispute with him. ‘She is +outside in the carriage,’ said Mrs. Dornell gently.</p> +<p>‘What—Betty?’</p> +<p>‘Yes.’</p> +<p>‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ Dornell +rushed out, and there was the girl awaiting his forgiveness, for +she supposed herself, no less than her mother, to be under his +displeasure.</p> +<p>Yes, Betty had left school, and had returned to +King’s-Hintock. She was nearly seventeen, and had +developed to quite a young woman. She looked not less a +member of the household for her early marriage-contract, which +she seemed, indeed, to have almost forgotten. It was like a +dream to her; that clear cold March day, the London church, with +its gorgeous pews, and green-baize linings, and the great organ +in the west gallery—so different from their own little +church in the shrubbery of King’s-Hintock Court—the +man of thirty, to whose face she had looked up with so much awe, +and with a sense that he was rather ugly and formidable; the man +whom, though they corresponded politely, she had never seen +since; one to whose existence she was now so indifferent that if +informed of his death, and that she would never see him more, she +would merely have replied, ‘Indeed!’ +Betty’s passions as yet still slept.</p> +<p>‘Hast heard from thy husband lately?’ said Squire +Dornell, when they were indoors, with an ironical laugh of +fondness which demanded no answer.</p> +<p>The girl winced, and he noticed that his wife looked +appealingly at him. As the conversation went on, and there +were signs that Dornell would express sentiments that might do +harm to a position which they could not alter, Mrs. Dornell +suggested that Betty should leave the room till her father and +herself had finished their private conversation; and this Betty +obediently did.</p> +<p>Dornell renewed his animadversions freely. ‘Did +you see how the sound of his name frightened her?’ he +presently added. ‘If you didn’t, I did. +Zounds! what a future is in store for that poor little +unfortunate wench o’ mine! I tell ’ee, Sue, +’twas not a marriage at all, in morality, and if I were a +woman in such a position, I shouldn’t feel it as one. +She might, without a sign of sin, love a man of her choice as +well now as if she were chained up to no other at all. +There, that’s my mind, and I can’t help it. Ah, +Sue, my man was best! He’d ha’ suited +her.’</p> +<p>‘I don’t believe it,’ she replied +incredulously.</p> +<p>‘You should see him; then you would. He’s +growing up a fine fellow, I can tell ’ee.’</p> +<p>‘Hush! not so loud!’ she answered, rising from her +seat and going to the door of the next room, whither her daughter +had betaken herself. To Mrs. Dornell’s alarm, there +sat Betty in a reverie, her round eyes fixed on vacancy, musing +so deeply that she did not perceive her mother’s +entrance. She had heard every word, and was digesting the +new knowledge.</p> +<p>Her mother felt that Falls-Park was dangerous ground for a +young girl of the susceptible age, and in Betty’s peculiar +position, while Dornell talked and reasoned thus. She +called Betty to her, and they took leave. The Squire would +not clearly promise to return and make King’s-Hintock Court +his permanent abode; but Betty’s presence there, as at +former times, was sufficient to make him agree to pay them a +visit soon.</p> +<p>All the way home Betty remained preoccupied and silent. +It was too plain to her anxious mother that Squire +Dornell’s free views had been a sort of awakening to the +girl.</p> +<p>The interval before Dornell redeemed his pledge to come and +see them was unexpectedly short. He arrived one morning +about twelve o’clock, driving his own pair of black-bays in +the curricle-phaeton with yellow panels and red wheels, just as +he had used to do, and his faithful old Tupcombe on horseback +behind. A young man sat beside the Squire in the carriage, +and Mrs. Dornell’s consternation could scarcely be +concealed when, abruptly entering with his companion, the Squire +announced him as his friend Phelipson of Elm-Cranlynch.</p> +<p>Dornell passed on to Betty in the background and tenderly +kissed her. ‘Sting your mother’s conscience, my +maid!’ he whispered. ‘Sting her conscience by +pretending you are struck with Phelipson, and would ha’ +loved him, as your old father’s choice, much more than him +she has forced upon ’ee.’</p> +<p>The simple-souled speaker fondly imagined that it as entirely +in obedience to this direction that Betty’s eyes stole +interested glances at the frank and impulsive Phelipson that day +at dinner, and he laughed grimly within himself to see how this +joke of his, as he imagined it to be, was disturbing the peace of +mind of the lady of the house. ‘Now Sue sees what a +mistake she has made!’ said he.</p> +<p>Mrs. Dornell was verily greatly alarmed, and as soon as she +could speak a word with him alone she upbraided him. +‘You ought not to have brought him here. Oh Thomas, +how could you be so thoughtless! Lord, don’t you see, +dear, that what is done cannot be undone, and how all this +foolery jeopardizes her happiness with her husband? Until +you interfered, and spoke in her hearing about this Phelipson, +she was as patient and as willing as a lamb, and looked forward +to Mr. Reynard’s return with real pleasure. Since her +visit to Falls-Park she has been monstrous close-mouthed and busy +with her own thoughts. What mischief will you do? How +will it end?’</p> +<p>‘Own, then, that my man was best suited to her. I +only brought him to convince you.’</p> +<p>‘Yes, yes; I do admit it. But oh! do take him back +again at once! Don’t keep him here! I fear she +is even attracted by him already.’</p> +<p>‘Nonsense, Sue. ’Tis only a little trick to +tease ’ee!’</p> +<p>Nevertheless her motherly eye was not so likely to be deceived +as his, and if Betty were really only playing at being +love-struck that day, she played at it with the perfection of a +Rosalind, and would have deceived the best professors into a +belief that it was no counterfeit. The Squire, having +obtained his victory, was quite ready to take back the too +attractive youth, and early in the afternoon they set out on +their return journey.</p> +<p>A silent figure who rode behind them was as interested as +Dornell in that day’s experiment. It was the staunch +Tupcombe, who, with his eyes on the Squire’s and young +Phelipson’s backs, thought how well the latter would have +suited Betty, and how greatly the former had changed for the +worse during these last two or three years. He cursed his +mistress as the cause of the change.</p> +<p>After this memorable visit to prove his point, the lives of +the Dornell couple flowed on quietly enough for the space of a +twelvemonth, the Squire for the most part remaining at Falls, and +Betty passing and repassing between them now and then, once or +twice alarming her mother by not driving home from her +father’s house till midnight.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>The repose of King’s-Hintock was broken by the arrival +of a special messenger. Squire Dornell had had an access of +gout so violent as to be serious. He wished to see Betty +again: why had she not come for so long?</p> +<p>Mrs. Dornell was extremely reluctant to take Betty in that +direction too frequently; but the girl was so anxious to go, her +interests latterly seeming to be so entirely bound up in +Falls-Park and its neighbourhood, that there was nothing to be +done but to let her set out and accompany her.</p> +<p>Squire Dornell had been impatiently awaiting her +arrival. They found him very ill and irritable. It +had been his habit to take powerful medicines to drive away his +enemy, and they had failed in their effect on this occasion.</p> +<p>The presence of his daughter, as usual, calmed him much, even +while, as usual too, it saddened him; for he could never forget +that she had disposed of herself for life in opposition to his +wishes, though she had secretly assured him that she would never +have consented had she been as old as she was now.</p> +<p>As on a former occasion, his wife wished to speak to him alone +about the girl’s future, the time now drawing nigh at which +Reynard was expected to come and claim her. He would have +done so already, but he had been put off by the earnest request +of the young woman herself, which accorded with that of her +parents, on the score of her youth. Reynard had +deferentially submitted to their wishes in this respect, the +understanding between them having been that he would not visit +her before she was eighteen, except by the mutual consent of all +parties. But this could not go on much longer, and there +was no doubt, from the tenor of his last letter, that he would +soon take possession of her whether or no.</p> +<p>To be out of the sound of this delicate discussion Betty was +accordingly sent downstairs, and they soon saw her walking away +into the shrubberies, looking very pretty in her sweeping green +gown, and flapping broad-brimmed hat overhung with a feather.</p> +<p>On returning to the subject, Mrs. Dornell found her +husband’s reluctance to reply in the affirmative to +Reynard’s letter to be as great as ever.</p> +<p>‘She is three months short of eighteen!’ he +exclaimed. ‘’Tis too soon. I won’t +hear of it! If I have to keep him off sword in hand, he +shall not have her yet.’</p> +<p>‘But, my dear Thomas,’ she expostulated, +‘consider if anything should happen to you or to me, how +much better it would be that she should be settled in her home +with him!’</p> +<p>‘I say it is too soon!’ he argued, the veins of +his forehead beginning to swell. ‘If he gets her this +side o’ Candlemas I’ll challenge en—I’ll +take my oath on’t! I’ll be back to +King’s-Hintock in two or three days, and I’ll not +lose sight of her day or night!’</p> +<p>She feared to agitate him further, and gave way, assuring him, +in obedience to his demand, that if Reynard should write again +before he got back, to fix a time for joining Betty, she would +put the letter in her husband’s hands, and he should do as +he chose. This was all that required discussion privately, +and Mrs. Dornell went to call in Betty, hoping that she had not +heard her father’s loud tones.</p> +<p>She had certainly not done so this time. Mrs. Dornell +followed the path along which she had seen Betty wandering, but +went a considerable distance without perceiving anything of +her. The Squire’s wife then turned round to proceed +to the other side of the house by a short cut across the grass, +when, to her surprise and consternation, she beheld the object of +her search sitting on the horizontal bough of a cedar, beside her +being a young man, whose arm was round her waist. He moved +a little, and she recognized him as young Phelipson.</p> +<p>Alas, then, she was right. The so-called counterfeit +love was real. What Mrs. Dornell called her husband at that +moment, for his folly in originally throwing the young people +together, it is not necessary to mention. She decided in a +moment not to let the lovers know that she had seen them. +She accordingly retreated, reached the front of the house by +another route, and called at the top of her voice from a window, +‘Betty!’</p> +<p>For the first time since her strategic marriage of the child, +Susan Dornell doubted the wisdom of that step.</p> +<p>Her husband had, as it were, been assisted by destiny to make +his objection, originally trivial, a valid one. She saw the +outlines of trouble in the future. Why had Dornell +interfered? Why had he insisted upon producing his +man? This, then, accounted for Betty’s pleading for +postponement whenever the subject of her husband’s return +was broached; this accounted for her attachment to +Falls-Park. Possibly this very meeting that she had +witnessed had been arranged by letter.</p> +<p>Perhaps the girl’s thoughts would never have strayed for +a moment if her father had not filled her head with ideas of +repugnance to her early union, on the ground that she had been +coerced into it before she knew her own mind; and she might have +rushed to meet her husband with open arms on the appointed +day.</p> +<p>Betty at length appeared in the distance in answer to the +call, and came up pale, but looking innocent of having seen a +living soul. Mrs. Dornell groaned in spirit at such +duplicity in the child of her bosom. This was the simple +creature for whose development into womanhood they had all been +so tenderly waiting—a forward minx, old enough not only to +have a lover, but to conceal his existence as adroitly as any +woman of the world! Bitterly did the Squire’s lady +regret that Stephen Reynard had not been allowed to come to claim +her at the time he first proposed.</p> +<p>The two sat beside each other almost in silence on their +journey back to King’s-Hintock. Such words as were +spoken came mainly from Betty, and their formality indicated how +much her mind and heart were occupied with other things.</p> +<p>Mrs. Dornell was far too astute a mother to openly attack +Betty on the matter. That would be only fanning +flame. The indispensable course seemed to her to be that of +keeping the treacherous girl under lock and key till her husband +came to take her off her mother’s hands. That he +would disregard Dornell’s opposition, and come soon, was +her devout wish.</p> +<p>It seemed, therefore, a fortunate coincidence that on her +arrival at King’s-Hintock a letter from Reynard was put +into Mrs. Dornell’s hands. It was addressed to both +her and her husband, and courteously informed them that the +writer had landed at Bristol, and proposed to come on to +King’s-Hintock in a few days, at last to meet and carry off +his darling Betty, if she and her parents saw no objection.</p> +<p>Betty had also received a letter of the same tenor. Her +mother had only to look at her face to see how the girl received +the information. She was as pale as a sheet.</p> +<p>‘You must do your best to welcome him this time, my dear +Betty,’ her mother said gently.</p> +<p>‘But—but—I—’</p> +<p>‘You are a woman now,’ added her mother severely, +‘and these postponements must come to an end.’</p> +<p>‘But my father—oh, I am sure he will not allow +this! I am not ready. If he could only wait a year +longer—if he could only wait a few months longer! Oh, +I wish—I wish my dear father were here! I will send +to him instantly.’ She broke off abruptly, and +falling upon her mother’s neck, burst into tears, saying, +‘O my mother, have mercy upon me—I do not love this +man, my husband!’</p> +<p>The agonized appeal went too straight to Mrs. Dornell’s +heart for her to hear it unmoved. Yet, things having come +to this pass, what could she do? She was distracted, and +for a moment was on Betty’s side. Her original +thought had been to write an affirmative reply to Reynard, allow +him to come on to King’s-Hintock, and keep her husband in +ignorance of the whole proceeding till he should arrive from +Falls on some fine day after his recovery, and find everything +settled, and Reynard and Betty living together in harmony. +But the events of the day, and her daughter’s sudden +outburst of feeling, had overthrown this intention. Betty +was sure to do as she had threatened, and communicate instantly +with her father, possibly attempt to fly to him. Moreover, +Reynard’s letter was addressed to Mr. Dornell and herself +conjointly, and she could not in conscience keep it from her +husband.</p> +<p>‘I will send the letter on to your father +instantly,’ she replied soothingly. ‘He shall +act entirely as he chooses, and you know that will not be in +opposition to your wishes. He would ruin you rather than +thwart you. I only hope he may be well enough to bear the +agitation of this news. Do you agree to this?’</p> +<p>Poor Betty agreed, on condition that she should actually +witness the despatch of the letter. Her mother had no +objection to offer to this; but as soon as the horseman had +cantered down the drive toward the highway, Mrs. Dornell’s +sympathy with Betty’s recalcitration began to die +out. The girl’s secret affection for young Phelipson +could not possibly be condoned. Betty might communicate +with him, might even try to reach him. Ruin lay that +way. Stephen Reynard must be speedily installed in his +proper place by Betty’s side.</p> +<p>She sat down and penned a private letter to Reynard, which +threw light upon her plan.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>‘It is Necessary that I should now tell you,’ she +said, ‘what I have never Mentioned before—indeed I +may have signified the Contrary—that her Father’s +Objection to your joining her has not as yet been overcome. +As I personally Wish to delay you no longer—am indeed as +anxious for your Arrival as you can be yourself, having the good +of my Daughter at Heart—no course is left open to me but to +assist your Cause without my Husband’s Knowledge. He, +I am sorry to say, is at present ill at Falls-Park, but I felt it +my Duty to forward him your Letter. He will therefore be +like to reply with a peremptory Command to you to go back again, +for some Months, whence you came, till the Time he originally +stipulated has expir’d. My Advice is, if you get such +a Letter, to take no Notice of it, but to come on hither as you +had proposed, letting me know the Day and Hour (after dark, if +possible) at which we may expect you. Dear Betty is with +me, and I warrant ye that she shall be in the House when you +arrive.’</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>Mrs. Dornell, having sent away this epistle unsuspected of +anybody, next took steps to prevent her daughter leaving the +Court, avoiding if possible to excite the girl’s suspicions +that she was under restraint. But, as if by divination, +Betty had seemed to read the husband’s approach in the +aspect of her mother’s face.</p> +<p>‘He is coming!’ exclaimed the maiden.</p> +<p>‘Not for a week,’ her mother assured her.</p> +<p>‘He is then—for certain?’</p> +<p>‘Well, yes.’</p> +<p>Betty hastily retired to her room, and would not be seen.</p> +<p>To lock her up, and hand over the key to Reynard when he +should appear in the hall, was a plan charming in its simplicity, +till her mother found, on trying the door of the girl’s +chamber softly, that Betty had already locked and bolted it on +the inside, and had given directions to have her meals served +where she was, by leaving them on a dumb-waiter outside the +door.</p> +<p>Thereupon Mrs. Dornell noiselessly sat down in her boudoir, +which, as well as her bed-chamber, was a passage-room to the +girl’s apartment, and she resolved not to vacate her post +night or day till her daughter’s husband should appear, to +which end she too arranged to breakfast, dine, and sup on the +spot. It was impossible now that Betty should escape +without her knowledge, even if she had wished, there being no +other door to the chamber, except one admitting to a small inner +dressing-room inaccessible by any second way.</p> +<p>But it was plain that the young girl had no thought of +escape. Her ideas ran rather in the direction of +intrenchment: she was prepared to stand a siege, but scorned +flight. This, at any rate, rendered her secure. As to +how Reynard would contrive a meeting with her coy daughter while +in such a defensive humour, that, thought her mother, must be +left to his own ingenuity to discover.</p> +<p>Betty had looked so wild and pale at the announcement of her +husband’s approaching visit, that Mrs. Dornell, somewhat +uneasy, could not leave her to herself. She peeped through +the keyhole an hour later. Betty lay on the sofa, staring +listlessly at the ceiling.</p> +<p>‘You are looking ill, child,’ cried her +mother. ‘You’ve not taken the air lately. +Come with me for a drive.’</p> +<p>Betty made no objection. Soon they drove through the +park towards the village, the daughter still in the strained, +strung-up silence that had fallen upon her. They left the +park to return by another route, and on the open road passed a +cottage.</p> +<p>Betty’s eye fell upon the cottage-window. Within +it she saw a young girl about her own age, whom she knew by +sight, sitting in a chair and propped by a pillow. The +girl’s face was covered with scales, which glistened in the +sun. She was a convalescent from smallpox—a disease +whose prevalence at that period was a terror of which we at +present can hardly form a conception.</p> +<p>An idea suddenly energized Betty’s apathetic +features. She glanced at her mother; Mrs. Dornell had been +looking in the opposite direction. Betty said that she +wished to go back to the cottage for a moment to speak to a girl +in whom she took an interest. Mrs. Dornell appeared +suspicious, but observing that the cottage had no back-door, and +that Betty could not escape without being seen, she allowed the +carriage to be stopped. Betty ran back and entered the +cottage, emerging again in about a minute, and resuming her seat +in the carriage. As they drove on she fixed her eyes upon +her mother and said, ‘There, I have done it +now!’ Her pale face was stormy, and her eyes full of +waiting tears.</p> +<p>‘What have you done?’ said Mrs. Dornell.</p> +<p>‘Nanny Priddle is sick of the smallpox, and I saw her at +the window, and I went in and kissed her, so that I might take +it; and now I shall have it, and he won’t be able to come +near me!’</p> +<p>‘Wicked girl!’ cries her mother. ‘Oh, +what am I to do! What—bring a distemper on yourself, +and usurp the sacred prerogative of God, because you can’t +palate the man you’ve wedded!’</p> +<p>The alarmed woman gave orders to drive home as rapidly as +possible, and on arriving, Betty, who was by this time also +somewhat frightened at her own enormity, was put into a bath, and +fumigated, and treated in every way that could be thought of to +ward off the dreadful malady that in a rash moment she had tried +to acquire.</p> +<p>There was now a double reason for isolating the rebellious +daughter and wife in her own chamber, and there she accordingly +remained for the rest of the day and the days that followed; till +no ill results seemed likely to arise from her wilfulness.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>Meanwhile the first letter from Reynard, announcing to Mrs. +Dornell and her husband jointly that he was coming in a few days, +had sped on its way to Falls-Park. It was directed under +cover to Tupcombe, the confidential servant, with instructions +not to put it into his master’s hands till he had been +refreshed by a good long sleep. Tupcombe much regretted his +commission, letters sent in this way always disturbing the +Squire; but guessing that it would be infinitely worse in the end +to withhold the news than to reveal it, he chose his time, which +was early the next morning, and delivered the missive.</p> +<p>The utmost effect that Mrs. Dornell had anticipated from the +message was a peremptory order from her husband to Reynard to +hold aloof a few months longer. What the Squire really did +was to declare that he would go himself and confront Reynard at +Bristol, and have it out with him there by word of mouth.</p> +<p>‘But, master,’ said Tupcombe, ‘you +can’t. You cannot get out of bed.’</p> +<p>‘You leave the room, Tupcombe, and don’t say +“can’t” before me! Have Jerry saddled in +an hour.’</p> +<p>The long-tried Tupcombe thought his employer demented, so +utterly helpless was his appearance just then, and he went out +reluctantly. No sooner was he gone than the Squire, with +great difficulty, stretched himself over to a cabinet by the +bedside, unlocked it, and took out a small bottle. It +contained a gout specific, against whose use he had been +repeatedly warned by his regular physician, but whose warning he +now cast to the winds.</p> +<p>He took a double dose, and waited half an hour. It +seemed to produce no effect. He then poured out a treble +dose, swallowed it, leant back upon his pillow, and waited. +The miracle he anticipated had been worked at last. It +seemed as though the second draught had not only operated with +its own strength, but had kindled into power the latent forces of +the first. He put away the bottle, and rang up +Tupcombe.</p> +<p>Less than an hour later one of the housemaids, who of course +was quite aware that the Squire’s illness was serious, was +surprised to hear a bold and decided step descending the stairs +from the direction of Mr. Dornell’s room, accompanied by +the humming of a tune. She knew that the doctor had not +paid a visit that morning, and that it was too heavy to be the +valet or any other man-servant. Looking up, she saw Squire +Dornell fully dressed, descending toward her in his drab caped +riding-coat and boots, with the swinging easy movement of his +prime. Her face expressed her amazement.</p> +<p>‘What the devil beest looking at?’ said the +Squire. ‘Did you never see a man walk out of his +house before, wench?’</p> +<p>Resuming his humming—which was of a defiant +sort—he proceeded to the library, rang the bell, asked if +the horses were ready, and directed them to be brought +round. Ten minutes later he rode away in the direction of +Bristol, Tupcombe behind him, trembling at what these movements +might portend.</p> +<p>They rode on through the pleasant woodlands and the monotonous +straight lanes at an equal pace. The distance traversed +might have been about fifteen miles when Tupcombe could perceive +that the Squire was getting tired—as weary as he would have +been after riding three times the distance ten years +before. However, they reached Bristol without any mishap, +and put up at the Squire’s accustomed inn. Dornell +almost immediately proceeded on foot to the inn which Reynard had +given as his address, it being now about four o’clock.</p> +<p>Reynard had already dined—for people dined early +then—and he was staying indoors. He had already +received Mrs. Dornell’s reply to his letter; but before +acting upon her advice and starting for King’s-Hintock he +made up his mind to wait another day, that Betty’s father +might at least have time to write to him if so minded. The +returned traveller much desired to obtain the Squire’s +assent, as well as his wife’s, to the proposed visit to his +bride, that nothing might seem harsh or forced in his method of +taking his position as one of the family. But though he +anticipated some sort of objection from his father-in-law, in +consequence of Mrs. Dornell’s warning, he was surprised at +the announcement of the Squire in person.</p> +<p>Stephen Reynard formed the completest of possible contrasts to +Dornell as they stood confronting each other in the best parlour +of the Bristol tavern. The Squire, hot-tempered, gouty, +impulsive, generous, reckless; the younger man, pale, tall, +sedate, self-possessed—a man of the world, fully bearing +out at least one couplet in his epitaph, still extant in +King’s-Hintock church, which places in the inventory of his +good qualities</p> +<blockquote><p>‘Engaging Manners, cultivated Mind,<br /> +Adorn’d by Letters, and in Courts refin’d.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>He was at this time about five-and-thirty, though careful +living and an even, unemotional temperament caused him to look +much younger than his years.</p> +<p>Squire Dornell plunged into his errand without much ceremony +or preface.</p> +<p>‘I am your humble servant, sir,’ he said. +‘I have read your letter writ to my wife and myself, and +considered that the best way to answer it would be to do so in +person.’</p> +<p>‘I am vastly honoured by your visit, sir,’ said +Mr. Stephen Reynard, bowing.</p> +<p>‘Well, what’s done can’t be undone,’ +said Dornell, ‘though it was mighty early, and was no doing +of mine. She’s your wife; and there’s an end +on’t. But in brief, sir, she’s too young for +you to claim yet; we mustn’t reckon by years; we must +reckon by nature. She’s still a girl; ’tis +onpolite of ’ee to come yet; next year will be full soon +enough for you to take her to you.’</p> +<p>Now, courteous as Reynard could be, he was a little obstinate +when his resolution had once been formed. She had been +promised him by her eighteenth birthday at latest—sooner if +she were in robust health. Her mother had fixed the time on +her own judgment, without a word of interference on his +part. He had been hanging about foreign courts till he was +weary. Betty was now as woman, if she would ever be one, +and there was not, in his mind, the shadow of an excuse for +putting him off longer. Therefore, fortified as he was by +the support of her mother, he blandly but firmly told the Squire +that he had been willing to waive his rights, out of deference to +her parents, to any reasonable extent, but must now, in justice +to himself and her insist on maintaining them. He +therefore, since she had not come to meet him, should proceed to +King’s-Hintock in a few days to fetch her.</p> +<p>This announcement, in spite of the urbanity with which it was +delivered, set Dornell in a passion.</p> +<p>‘Oh dammy, sir; you talk about rights, you do, after +stealing her away, a mere child, against my will and +knowledge! If we’d begged and prayed ’ee to +take her, you could say no more.’</p> +<p>‘Upon my honour, your charge is quite baseless, +sir,’ said his son-in-law. ‘You must know by +this time—or if you do not, it has been a monstrous cruel +injustice to me that I should have been allowed to remain in your +mind with such a stain upon my character—you must know that +I used no seductiveness or temptation of any kind. Her +mother assented; she assented. I took them at their +word. That you was really opposed to the marriage was not +known to me till afterwards.’</p> +<p>Dornell professed to believe not a word of it. +‘You sha’n’t have her till she’s dree +sixes full—no maid ought to be married till she’s +dree sixes!—and my daughter sha’n’t be treated +out of nater!’ So he stormed on till Tupcombe, who +had been alarmedly listening in the next room, entered suddenly, +declaring to Reynard that his master’s life was in danger +if the interview were prolonged, he being subject to apoplectic +strokes at these crises. Reynard immediately said that he +would be the last to wish to injure Squire Dornell, and left the +room, and as soon as the Squire had recovered breath and +equanimity, he went out of the inn, leaning on the arm of +Tupcombe.</p> +<p>Tupcombe was for sleeping in Bristol that night, but Dornell, +whose energy seemed as invincible as it was sudden, insisted upon +mounting and getting back as far as Falls-Park, to continue the +journey to King’s-Hintock on the following day. At +five they started, and took the southern road toward the Mendip +Hills. The evening was dry and windy, and, excepting that +the sun did not shine, strongly reminded Tupcombe of the evening +of that March month, nearly five years earlier, when news had +been brought to King’s-Hintock Court of the child +Betty’s marriage in London—news which had produced +upon Dornell such a marked effect for the worse ever since, and +indirectly upon the household of which he was the head. +Before that time the winters were lively at Falls-Park, as well +as at King’s-Hintock, although the Squire had ceased to +make it his regular residence. Hunting-guests and +shooting-guests came and went, and open house was kept. +Tupcombe disliked the clever courtier who had put a stop to this +by taking away from the Squire the only treasure he valued.</p> +<p>It grew darker with their progress along the lanes, and +Tupcombe discovered from Mr. Dornell’s manner of riding +that his strength was giving way; and spurring his own horse +close alongside, he asked him how he felt.</p> +<p>‘Oh, bad; damn bad, Tupcombe! I can hardly keep my +seat. I shall never be any better, I fear! Have we +passed Three-Man-Gibbet yet?’</p> +<p>‘Not yet by a long ways, sir.’</p> +<p>‘I wish we had. I can hardly hold on.’ +The Squire could not repress a groan now and then, and Tupcombe +knew he was in great pain. ‘I wish I was +underground—that’s the place for such fools as +I! I’d gladly be there if it were not for Mistress +Betty. He’s coming on to King’s-Hintock +to-morrow—he won’t put it off any longer; he’ll +set out and reach there to-morrow night, without stopping at +Falls; and he’ll take her unawares, and I want to be there +before him.’</p> +<p>‘I hope you may be well enough to do it, sir. But +really—’</p> +<p>‘I <i>must</i>, Tupcombe! You don’t know +what my trouble is; it is not so much that she is married to this +man without my agreeing—for, after all, there’s +nothing to say against him, so far as I know; but that she +don’t take to him at all, seems to fear him—in fact, +cares nothing about him; and if he comes forcing himself into the +house upon her, why, ’twill be rank cruelty. Would to +the Lord something would happen to prevent him!’</p> +<p>How they reached home that night Tupcombe hardly knew. +The Squire was in such pain that he was obliged to recline upon +his horse, and Tupcombe was afraid every moment lest he would +fall into the road. But they did reach home at last, and +Mr. Dornell was instantly assisted to bed.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>Next morning it was obvious that he could not possibly go to +King’s-Hintock for several days at least, and there on the +bed he lay, cursing his inability to proceed on an errand so +personal and so delicate that no emissary could perform it. +What he wished to do was to ascertain from Betty’s own lips +if her aversion to Reynard was so strong that his presence would +be positively distasteful to her. Were that the case, he +would have borne her away bodily on the saddle behind him.</p> +<p>But all that was hindered now, and he repeated a hundred times +in Tupcombe’s hearing, and in that of the nurse and other +servants, ‘I wish to God something would happen to +him!’</p> +<p>This sentiment, reiterated by the Squire as he tossed in the +agony induced by the powerful drugs of the day before, entered +sharply into the soul of Tupcombe and of all who were attached to +the house of Dornell, as distinct from the house of his wife at +King’s-Hintock. Tupcombe, who was an excitable man, +was hardly less disquieted by the thought of Reynard’s +return than the Squire himself was. As the week drew on, +and the afternoon advanced at which Reynard would in all +probability be passing near Falls on his way to the Court, the +Squire’s feelings became acuter, and the responsive +Tupcombe could hardly bear to come near him. Having left +him in the hands of the doctor, the former went out upon the +lawn, for he could hardly breathe in the contagion of excitement +caught from the employer who had virtually made him his +confidant. He had lived with the Dornells from his boyhood, +had been born under the shadow of their walls; his whole life was +annexed and welded to the life of the family in a degree which +has no counterpart in these latter days.</p> +<p>He was summoned indoors, and learnt that it had been decided +to send for Mrs. Dornell: her husband was in great danger. +There were two or three who could have acted as messenger, but +Dornell wished Tupcombe to go, the reason showing itself when, +Tupcombe being ready to start, Squire Dornell summoned him to his +chamber and leaned down so that he could whisper in his ear:</p> +<p>‘Put Peggy along smart, Tupcombe, and get there before +him, you know—before him. This is the day he +fixed. He has not passed Falls cross-roads yet. If +you can do that you will be able to get Betty to +come—d’ye see?—after her mother has started; +she’ll have a reason for not waiting for him. Bring +her by the lower road—he’ll go by the upper. +Your business is to make ’em miss each +other—d’ye see?—but that’s a thing I +couldn’t write down.’</p> +<p>Five minutes after, Tupcombe was astride the horse and on his +way—the way he had followed so many times since his master, +a florid young countryman, had first gone wooing to +King’s-Hintock Court. As soon as he had crossed the +hills in the immediate neighbourhood of the manor, the road lay +over a plain, where it ran in long straight stretches for several +miles. In the best of times, when all had been gay in the +united houses, that part of the road had seemed tedious. It +was gloomy in the extreme now that he pursued it, at night and +alone, on such an errand.</p> +<p>He rode and brooded. If the Squire were to die, he, +Tupcombe, would be alone in the world and friendless, for he was +no favourite with Mrs. Dornell; and to find himself baffled, +after all, in what he had set his mind on, would probably kill +the Squire. Thinking thus, Tupcombe stopped his horse every +now and then, and listened for the coming husband. The time +was drawing on to the moment when Reynard might be expected to +pass along this very route. He had watched the road well +during the afternoon, and had inquired of the tavern-keepers as +he came up to each, and he was convinced that the premature +descent of the stranger-husband upon his young mistress had not +been made by this highway as yet.</p> +<p>Besides the girl’s mother, Tupcombe was the only member +of the household who suspected Betty’s tender feelings +towards young Phelipson, so unhappily generated on her return +from school; and he could therefore imagine, even better than her +fond father, what would be her emotions on the sudden +announcement of Reynard’s advent that evening at +King’s-Hintock Court.</p> +<p>So he rode and rode, desponding and hopeful by turns. He +felt assured that, unless in the unfortunate event of the almost +immediate arrival of her son-in law at his own heels, Mrs. +Dornell would not be able to hinder Betty’s departure for +her father’s bedside.</p> +<p>It was about nine o’clock that, having put twenty miles +of country behind him, he turned in at the lodge-gate nearest to +Ivell and King’s-Hintock village, and pursued the long +north drive—itself much like a turnpike road—which +led thence through the park to the Court. Though there were +so many trees in King’s-Hintock park, few bordered the +carriage roadway; he could see it stretching ahead in the pale +night light like an unrolled deal shaving. Presently the +irregular frontage of the house came in view, of great extent, +but low, except where it rose into the outlines of a broad square +tower.</p> +<p>As Tupcombe approached he rode aside upon the grass, to make +sure, if possible, that he was the first comer, before letting +his presence be known. The Court was dark and sleepy, in no +respect as if a bridegroom were about to arrive.</p> +<p>While pausing he distinctly heard the tread of a horse upon +the track behind him, and for a moment despaired of arriving in +time: here, surely, was Reynard! Pulling up closer to the +densest tree at hand he waited, and found he had retreated +nothing too soon, for the second rider avoided the gravel also, +and passed quite close to him. In the profile he recognized +young Phelipson.</p> +<p>Before Tupcombe could think what to do, Phelipson had gone on; +but not to the door of the house. Swerving to the left, he +passed round to the east angle, where, as Tupcombe knew, were +situated Betty’s apartments. Dismounting, he left the +horse tethered to a hanging bough, and walked on to the +house.</p> +<p>Suddenly his eye caught sight of an object which explained the +position immediately. It was a ladder stretching from +beneath the trees, which there came pretty close to the house, up +to a first-floor window—one which lighted Miss +Betty’s rooms. Yes, it was Betty’s chamber; he +knew every room in the house well.</p> +<p>The young horseman who had passed him, having evidently left +his steed somewhere under the trees also, was perceptible at the +top of the ladder, immediately outside Betty’s +window. While Tupcombe watched, a cloaked female figure +stepped timidly over the sill, and the two cautiously descended, +one before the other, the young man’s arms enclosing the +young woman between his grasp of the ladder, so that she could +not fall. As soon as they reached the bottom, young +Phelipson quickly removed the ladder and hid it under the +bushes. The pair disappeared; till, in a few minutes, +Tupcombe could discern a horse emerging from a remoter part of +the umbrage. The horse carried double, the girl being on a +pillion behind her lover.</p> +<p>Tupcombe hardly knew what to do or think; yet, though this was +not exactly the kind of flight that had been intended, she had +certainly escaped. He went back to his own animal, and rode +round to the servants’ door, where he delivered the letter +for Mrs. Dornell. To leave a verbal message for Betty was +now impossible.</p> +<p>The Court servants desired him to stay over the night, but he +would not do so, desiring to get back to the Squire as soon as +possible and tell what he had seen. Whether he ought not to +have intercepted the young people, and carried off Betty himself +to her father, he did not know. However, it was too late to +think of that now, and without wetting his lips or swallowing a +crumb, Tupcombe turned his back upon King’s-Hintock +Court.</p> +<p>It was not till he had advanced a considerable distance on his +way homeward that, halting under the lantern of a roadside-inn +while the horse was watered, there came a traveller from the +opposite direction in a hired coach; the lantern lit the +stranger’s face as he passed along and dropped into the +shade. Tupcombe exulted for the moment, though he could +hardly have justified his exultation. The belated traveller +was Reynard; and another had stepped in before him.</p> +<p>You may now be willing to know of the fortunes of Miss +Betty. Left much to herself through the intervening days, +she had ample time to brood over her desperate attempt at the +stratagem of infection—thwarted, apparently, by her +mother’s promptitude. In what other way to gain time +she could not think. Thus drew on the day and the hour of +the evening on which her husband was expected to announce +himself.</p> +<p>At some period after dark, when she could not tell, a tap at +the window, twice and thrice repeated, became audible. It +caused her to start up, for the only visitant in her mind was the +one whose advances she had so feared as to risk health and life +to repel them. She crept to the window, and heard a whisper +without.</p> +<p>‘It is I—Charley,’ said the voice.</p> +<p>Betty’s face fired with excitement. She had +latterly begun to doubt her admirer’s staunchness, fancying +his love to be going off in mere attentions which neither +committed him nor herself very deeply. She opened the +window, saying in a joyous whisper, ‘Oh Charley; I thought +you had deserted me quite!’</p> +<p>He assured her he had not done that, and that he had a horse +in waiting, if she would ride off with him. ‘You must +come quickly,’ he said; ‘for Reynard’s on the +way!’</p> +<p>To throw a cloak round herself was the work of a moment, and +assuring herself that her door was locked against a surprise, she +climbed over the window-sill and descended with him as we have +seen.</p> +<p>Her mother meanwhile, having received Tupcombe’s note, +found the news of her husband’s illness so serious, as to +displace her thoughts of the coming son-in-law, and she hastened +to tell her daughter of the Squire’s dangerous condition, +thinking it might be desirable to take her to her father’s +bedside. On trying the door of the girl’s room, she +found it still locked. Mrs. Dornell called, but there was +no answer. Full of misgivings, she privately fetched the +old house-steward and bade him burst open the door—an order +by no means easy to execute, the joinery of the Court being +massively constructed. However, the lock sprang open at +last, and she entered Betty’s chamber only to find the +window unfastened and the bird flown.</p> +<p>For a moment Mrs. Dornell was staggered. Then it +occurred to her that Betty might have privately obtained from +Tupcombe the news of her father’s serious illness, and, +fearing she might be kept back to meet her husband, have gone off +with that obstinate and biassed servitor to Falls-Park. The +more she thought it over the more probable did the supposition +appear; and binding her own head-man to secrecy as to +Betty’s movements, whether as she conjectured, or +otherwise, Mrs. Dornell herself prepared to set out.</p> +<p>She had no suspicion how seriously her husband’s malady +had been aggravated by his ride to Bristol, and thought more of +Betty’s affairs than of her own. That Betty’s +husband should arrive by some other road to-night, and find +neither wife nor mother-in-law to receive him, and no explanation +of their absence, was possible; but never forgetting chances, +Mrs. Dornell as she journeyed kept her eyes fixed upon the +highway on the off-side, where, before she had reached the town +of Ivell, the hired coach containing Stephen Reynard flashed into +the lamplight of her own carriage.</p> +<p>Mrs. Dornell’s coachman pulled up, in obedience to a +direction she had given him at starting; the other coach was +hailed, a few words passed, and Reynard alighted and came to Mrs. +Dornell’s carriage-window.</p> +<p>‘Come inside,’ says she. ‘I want to +speak privately to you. Why are you so late?’</p> +<p>‘One hindrance and another,’ says he. +‘I meant to be at the Court by eight at latest. My +gratitude for your letter. I hope—’</p> +<p>‘You must not try to see Betty yet,’ said +she. ‘There be far other and newer reasons against +your seeing her now than there were when I wrote.’</p> +<p>The circumstances were such that Mrs. Dornell could not +possibly conceal them entirely; nothing short of knowing some of +the facts would prevent his blindly acting in a manner which +might be fatal to the future. Moreover, there are times +when deeper intriguers than Mrs. Dornell feel that they must let +out a few truths, if only in self-indulgence. So she told +so much of recent surprises as that Betty’s heart had been +attracted by another image than his, and that his insisting on +visiting her now might drive the girl to desperation. +‘Betty has, in fact, rushed off to her father to avoid +you,’ she said. ‘But if you wait she will soon +forget this young man, and you will have nothing to +fear.’</p> +<p>As a woman and a mother she could go no further, and +Betty’s desperate attempt to infect herself the week before +as a means of repelling him, together with the alarming +possibility that, after all, she had not gone to her father but +to her lover, was not revealed.</p> +<p>‘Well,’ sighed the diplomatist, in a tone +unexpectedly quiet, ‘such things have been known +before. After all, she may prefer me to him some day, when +she reflects how very differently I might have acted than I am +going to act towards her. But I’ll say no more about +that now. I can have a bed at your house for +to-night?’</p> +<p>‘To-night, certainly. And you leave to-morrow +morning early?’ She spoke anxiously, for on no +account did she wish him to make further discoveries. +‘My husband is so seriously ill,’ she continued, +‘that my absence and Betty’s on your arrival is +naturally accounted for.’</p> +<p>He promised to leave early, and to write to her soon. +‘And when I think the time is ripe,’ he said, +‘I’ll write to her. I may have something to +tell her that will bring her to graciousness.’</p> +<p>It was about one o’clock in the morning when Mrs. +Dornell reached Falls-Park. A double blow awaited her +there. Betty had not arrived; her flight had been +elsewhither; and her stricken mother divined with whom. She +ascended to the bedside of her husband, where to her concern she +found that the physician had given up all hope. The Squire +was sinking, and his extreme weakness had almost changed his +character, except in the particular that his old obstinacy +sustained him in a refusal to see a clergyman. He shed +tears at the least word, and sobbed at the sight of his +wife. He asked for Betty, and it was with a heavy heart +that Mrs. Dornell told him that the girl had not accompanied +her.</p> +<p>‘He is not keeping her away?’</p> +<p>‘No, no. He is going back—he is not coming +to her for some time.’</p> +<p>‘Then what is detaining her—cruel, neglectful +maid!’</p> +<p>‘No, no, Thomas; she is— She could not +come.’</p> +<p>‘How’s that?’</p> +<p>Somehow the solemnity of these last moments of his gave him +inquisitorial power, and the too cold wife could not conceal from +him the flight which had taken place from King’s-Hintock +that night.</p> +<p>To her amazement, the effect upon him was electrical.</p> +<p>‘What—Betty—a trump after all? +Hurrah! She’s her father’s own maid! +She’s game! She knew he was her father’s own +choice! She vowed that my man should win! Well done, +Bet!—haw! haw! Hurrah!’</p> +<p>He had raised himself in bed by starts as he spoke, and now +fell back exhausted. He never uttered another word, and +died before the dawn. People said there had not been such +an ungenteel death in a good county family for years.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>Now I will go back to the time of Betty’s riding off on +the pillion behind her lover. They left the park by an +obscure gate to the east, and presently found themselves in the +lonely and solitary length of the old Roman road now called +Long-Ash Lane.</p> +<p>By this time they were rather alarmed at their own +performance, for they were both young and inexperienced. +Hence they proceeded almost in silence till they came to a mean +roadside inn which was not yet closed; when Betty, who had held +on to him with much misgiving all this while, felt dreadfully +unwell, and said she thought she would like to get down.</p> +<p>They accordingly dismounted from the jaded animal that had +brought them, and were shown into a small dark parlour, where +they stood side by side awkwardly, like the fugitives they +were. A light was brought, and when they were left alone +Betty threw off the cloak which had enveloped her. No +sooner did young Phelipson see her face than he uttered an +alarmed exclamation.</p> +<p>‘Why, Lord, Lord, you are sickening for the +small-pox!’ he cried.</p> +<p>‘Oh—I forgot!’ faltered Betty. And +then she informed him that, on hearing of her husband’s +approach the week before, in a desperate attempt to keep him from +her side, she had tried to imbibe the infection—an act +which till this moment she had supposed to have been ineffectual, +imagining her feverishness to be the result of her +excitement.</p> +<p>The effect of this discovery upon young Phelipson was +overwhelming. Better-seasoned men than he would not have +been proof against it, and he was only a little over her own +age. ‘And you’ve been holding on to me!’ +he said. ‘And suppose you get worse, and we both have +it, what shall we do? Won’t you be a fright in a +month or two, poor, poor Betty!’</p> +<p>In his horror he attempted to laugh, but the laugh ended in a +weakly giggle. She was more woman than girl by this time, +and realized his feeling.</p> +<p>‘What—in trying to keep off him, I keep off +you?’ she said miserably. ‘Do you hate me +because I am going to be ugly and ill?’</p> +<p>‘Oh—no, no!’ he said soothingly. +‘But I—I am thinking if it is quite right for us to +do this. You see, dear Betty, if you was not married it +would be different. You are not in honour married to him +we’ve often said; still you are his by law, and you +can’t be mine whilst he’s alive. And with this +terrible sickness coming on, perhaps you had better let me take +you back, and—climb in at the window again.’</p> +<p>‘Is <i>this</i> your love?’ said Betty +reproachfully. ‘Oh, if you was sickening for the +plague itself, and going to be as ugly as the Ooser in the +church-vestry, I wouldn’t—’</p> +<p>‘No, no, you mistake, upon my soul!’</p> +<p>But Betty with a swollen heart had rewrapped herself and gone +out of the door. The horse was still standing there. +She mounted by the help of the upping-stock, and when he had +followed her she said, ‘Do not come near me, Charley; but +please lead the horse, so that if you’ve not caught +anything already you’ll not catch it going back. +After all, what keeps off you may keep off him. Now +onward.’</p> +<p>He did not resist her command, and back they went by the way +they had come, Betty shedding bitter tears at the retribution she +had already brought upon herself; for though she had reproached +Phelipson, she was staunch enough not to blame him in her secret +heart for showing that his love was only skin-deep. The +horse was stopped in the plantation, and they walked silently to +the lawn, reaching the bushes wherein the ladder still lay.</p> +<p>‘Will you put it up for me?’ she asked +mournfully.</p> +<p>He re-erected the ladder without a word; but when she +approached to ascend he said, ‘Good-bye, Betty!’</p> +<p>‘Good-bye!’ said she; and involuntarily turned her +face towards his. He hung back from imprinting the expected +kiss: at which Betty started as if she had received a poignant +wound. She moved away so suddenly that he hardly had time +to follow her up the ladder to prevent her falling.</p> +<p>‘Tell your mother to get the doctor at once!’ he +said anxiously.</p> +<p>She stepped in without looking behind; he descended, withdrew +the ladder, and went away.</p> +<p>Alone in her chamber, Betty flung herself upon her face on the +bed, and burst into shaking sobs. Yet she would not admit +to herself that her lover’s conduct was unreasonable; only +that her rash act of the previous week had been wrong. No +one had heard her enter, and she was too worn out, in body and +mind, to think or care about medical aid. In an hour or so +she felt yet more unwell, positively ill; and nobody coming to +her at the usual bedtime, she looked towards the door. +Marks of the lock having been forced were visible, and this made +her chary of summoning a servant. She opened the door +cautiously and sallied forth downstairs.</p> +<p>In the dining-parlour, as it was called, the now sick and +sorry Betty was startled to see at that late hour not her mother, +but a man sitting, calmly finishing his supper. There was +no servant in the room. He turned, and she recognized her +husband.</p> +<p>‘Where’s my mamma?’ she demanded without +preface.</p> +<p>‘Gone to your father’s. Is +that—’ He stopped, aghast.</p> +<p>‘Yes, sir. This spotted object is your wife! +I’ve done it because I don’t want you to come near +me!’</p> +<p>He was sixteen years her senior; old enough to be +compassionate. ‘My poor child, you must get to bed +directly! Don’t be afraid of me—I’ll +carry you upstairs, and send for a doctor instantly.’</p> +<p>‘Ah, you don’t know what I am!’ she +cried. ‘I had a lover once; but now he’s +gone! ’Twasn’t I who deserted him. He has +deserted me; because I am ill he wouldn’t kiss me, though I +wanted him to!’</p> +<p>‘Wouldn’t he? Then he was a very poor +slack-twisted sort of fellow. Betty, <i>I’ve</i> +never kissed you since you stood beside me as my little wife, +twelve years and a half old! May I kiss you now?’</p> +<p>Though Betty by no means desired his kisses, she had enough of +the spirit of Cunigonde in Schiller’s ballad to test his +daring. ‘If you have courage to venture, yes +sir!’ said she. ‘But you may die for it, +mind!’</p> +<p>He came up to her and imprinted a deliberate kiss full upon +her mouth, saying, ‘May many others follow!’</p> +<p>She shook her head, and hastily withdrew, though secretly +pleased at his hardihood. The excitement had supported her +for the few minutes she had passed in his presence, and she could +hardly drag herself back to her room. Her husband summoned +the servants, and, sending them to her assistance, went off +himself for a doctor.</p> +<p>The next morning Reynard waited at the Court till he had +learnt from the medical man that Betty’s attack promised to +be a very light one—or, as it was expressed, ‘very +fine’; and in taking his leave sent up a note to her:</p> +<p>‘Now I must be Gone. I promised your Mother I +would not see You yet, and she may be anger’d if she finds +me here. Promise to see me as Soon as you are +well?’</p> +<p>He was of all men then living one of the best able to cope +with such an untimely situation as this. A contriving, +sagacious, gentle-mannered man, a philosopher who saw that the +only constant attribute of life is change, he held that, as long +as she lives, there is nothing finite in the most impassioned +attitude a woman may take up. In twelve months his +girl-wife’s recent infatuation might be as distasteful to +her mind as it was now to his own. In a few years her very +flesh would change—so said the scientific;—her +spirit, so much more ephemeral, was capable of changing in +one. Betty was his, and it became a mere question of means +how to effect that change.</p> +<p>During the day Mrs. Dornell, having closed her husband’s +eyes, returned to the Court. She was truly relieved to find +Betty there, even though on a bed of sickness. The disease +ran its course, and in due time Betty became convalescent, +without having suffered deeply for her rashness, one little speck +beneath her ear, and one beneath her chin, being all the marks +she retained.</p> +<p>The Squire’s body was not brought back to +King’s-Hintock. Where he was born, and where he had +lived before wedding his Sue, there he had wished to be +buried. No sooner had she lost him than Mrs. Dornell, like +certain other wives, though she had never shown any great +affection for him while he lived, awoke suddenly to his many +virtues, and zealously embraced his opinion about delaying +Betty’s union with her husband, which she had formerly +combated strenuously. ‘Poor man! how right he was, +and how wrong was I!’ Eighteen was certainly the +lowest age at which Mr. Reynard should claim her child—nay, +it was too low! Far too low!</p> +<p>So desirous was she of honouring her lamented husband’s +sentiments in this respect, that she wrote to her son-in-law +suggesting that, partly on account of Betty’s sorrow for +her father’s loss, and out of consideration for his known +wishes for delay, Betty should not be taken from her till her +nineteenth birthday.</p> +<p>However much or little Stephen Reynard might have been to +blame in his marriage, the patient man now almost deserved to be +pitied. First Betty’s skittishness; now her +mother’s remorseful <i>volte-face</i>: it was enough to +exasperate anybody; and he wrote to the widow in a tone which led +to a little coolness between those hitherto firm friends. +However, knowing that he had a wife not to claim but to win, and +that young Phelipson had been packed off to sea by his parents, +Stephen was complaisant to a degree, returning to London, and +holding quite aloof from Betty and her mother, who remained for +the present in the country. In town he had a mild +visitation of the distemper he had taken from Betty, and in +writing to her he took care not to dwell upon its mildness. +It was now that Betty began to pity him for what she had +inflicted upon him by the kiss, and her correspondence acquired a +distinct flavour of kindness thenceforward.</p> +<p>Owing to his rebuffs, Reynard had grown to be truly in love +with Betty in his mild, placid, durable way—in that way +which perhaps, upon the whole, tends most generally to the +woman’s comfort under the institution of marriage, if not +particularly to her ecstasy. Mrs. Dornell’s +exaggeration of her husband’s wish for delay in their +living together was inconvenient, but he would not openly +infringe it. He wrote tenderly to Betty, and soon announced +that he had a little surprise in store for her. The secret +was that the King had been graciously pleased to inform him +privately, through a relation, that His Majesty was about to +offer him a Barony. Would she like the title to be +Ivell? Moreover, he had reason for knowing that in a few +years the dignity would be raised to that of an Earl, for which +creation he thought the title of Wessex would be eminently +suitable, considering the position of much of their +property. As Lady Ivell, therefore, and future Countess of +Wessex, he should beg leave to offer her his heart a third +time.</p> +<p>He did not add, as he might have added, how greatly the +consideration of the enormous estates at King’s-Hintock and +elsewhere which Betty would inherit, and her children after her, +had conduced to this desirable honour.</p> +<p>Whether the impending titles had really any effect upon +Betty’s regard for him I cannot state, for she was one of +those close characters who never let their minds be known upon +anything. That such honour was absolutely unexpected by her +from such a quarter is, however, certain; and she could not deny +that Stephen had shown her kindness, forbearance, even +magnanimity; had forgiven her for an errant passion which he +might with some reason have denounced, notwithstanding her cruel +position as a child entrapped into marriage ere able to +understand its bearings.</p> +<p>Her mother, in her grief and remorse for the loveless life she +had led with her rough, though open-hearted, husband, made now a +creed of his merest whim; and continued to insist that, out of +respect to his known desire, her son-in-law should not reside +with Betty till the girl’s father had been dead a year at +least, at which time the girl would still be under +nineteen. Letters must suffice for Stephen till then.</p> +<p>‘It is rather long for him to wait,’ Betty +hesitatingly said one day.</p> +<p>‘What!’ said her mother. ‘From +<i>you</i>? not to respect your dear father—’</p> +<p>‘Of course it is quite proper,’ said Betty +hastily. ‘I don’t gainsay it. I was but +thinking that—that—’</p> +<p>In the long slow months of the stipulated interval her mother +tended and trained Betty carefully for her duties. Fully +awake now to the many virtues of her dear departed one, she, +among other acts of pious devotion to his memory, rebuilt the +church of King’s-Hintock village, and established valuable +charities in all the villages of that name, as far as to +Little-Hintock, several miles eastward.</p> +<p>In superintending these works, particularly that of the +church-building, her daughter Betty was her constant companion, +and the incidents of their execution were doubtless not without a +soothing effect upon the young creature’s heart. She +had sprung from girl to woman by a sudden bound, and few would +have recognized in the thoughtful face of Betty now the same +person who, the year before, had seemed to have absolutely no +idea whatever of responsibility, moral or other. Time +passed thus till the Squire had been nearly a year in his vault; +and Mrs. Dornell was duly asked by letter by the patient Reynard +if she were willing for him to come soon. He did not wish +to take Betty away if her mother’s sense of loneliness +would be too great, but would willingly live at +King’s-Hintock awhile with them.</p> +<p>Before the widow had replied to this communication, she one +day happened to observe Betty walking on the south terrace in the +full sunlight, without hat or mantle, and was struck by her +child’s figure. Mrs. Dornell called her in, and said +suddenly: ‘Have you seen your husband since the time of +your poor father’s death?’</p> +<p>‘Well—yes, mamma,’ says Betty, +colouring.</p> +<p>‘What—against my wishes and those of your dear +father! I am shocked at your disobedience!’</p> +<p>‘But my father said eighteen, ma’am, and you made +it much longer—’</p> +<p>‘Why, of course—out of consideration for +you! When have ye seen him?’</p> +<p>‘Well,’ stammered Betty, ‘in the course of +his letters to me he said that I belonged to him, and if nobody +knew that we met it would make no difference. And that I +need not hurt your feelings by telling you.’</p> +<p>‘Well?’</p> +<p>‘So I went to Casterbridge that time you went to London +about five months ago—’</p> +<p>‘And met him there? When did you come +back?’</p> +<p>‘Dear mamma, it grew very late, and he said it was safer +not to go back till next day, as the roads were bad; and as you +were away from home—’</p> +<p>‘I don’t want to hear any more! This is your +respect for your father’s memory,’ groaned the +widow. ‘When did you meet him again?’</p> +<p>‘Oh—not for more than a fortnight.’</p> +<p>‘A fortnight! How many times have ye seen him +altogether?’</p> +<p>‘I’m sure, mamma, I’ve not seen him +altogether a dozen times.’</p> +<p>‘A dozen! And eighteen and a half years old +barely!’</p> +<p>‘Twice we met by accident,’ pleaded Betty. +‘Once at Abbot’s-Cernel, and another time at the Red +Lion, Melchester.’</p> +<p>‘O thou deceitful girl!’ cried Mrs. Dornell. +‘An accident took you to the Red Lion whilst I was staying +at the White Hart! I remember—you came in at twelve +o’clock at night and said you’d been to see the +cathedral by the light o’ the moon!’</p> +<p>‘My ever-honoured mamma, so I had! I only went to +the Red Lion with him afterwards.’</p> +<p>‘Oh Betty, Betty! That my child should have +deceived me even in my widowed days!’</p> +<p>‘But, my dearest mamma, you made me marry him!’ +says Betty with spirit, ‘and of course I’ve to obey +him more than you now!’</p> +<p>Mrs. Dornell sighed. ‘All I have to say is, that +you’d better get your husband to join you as soon as +possible,’ she remarked. ‘To go on playing the +maiden like this—I’m ashamed to see you!’</p> +<p>She wrote instantly to Stephen Reynard: ‘I wash my hands +of the whole matter as between you two; though I should advise +you to <i>openly</i> join each other as soon as you can—if +you wish to avoid scandal.’</p> +<p>He came, though not till the promised title had been granted, +and he could call Betty archly ‘My Lady.’</p> +<p>People said in after years that she and her husband were very +happy. However that may be, they had a numerous family; and +she became in due course first Countess of Wessex, as he had +foretold.</p> +<p>The little white frock in which she had been married to him at +the tender age of twelve was carefully preserved among the relics +at King’s-Hintock Court, where it may still be seen by the +curious—a yellowing, pathetic testimony to the small count +taken of the happiness of an innocent child in the social +strategy of those days, which might have led, but providentially +did not lead, to great unhappiness.</p> +<p>When the Earl died Betty wrote him an epitaph, in which she +described him as the best of husbands, fathers, and friends, and +called herself his disconsolate widow.</p> +<p>Such is woman; or rather (not to give offence by so sweeping +an assertion), such was Betty Dornell.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>It was at a meeting of one of the Wessex Field and Antiquarian +Clubs that the foregoing story, partly told, partly read from a +manuscript, was made to do duty for the regulation papers on +deformed butterflies, fossil ox-horns, prehistoric dung-mixens, +and such like, that usually occupied the more serious attention +of the members.</p> +<p>This Club was of an inclusive and intersocial character; to a +degree, indeed, remarkable for the part of England in which it +had its being—dear, delightful Wessex, whose statuesque +dynasties are even now only just beginning to feel the shaking of +the new and strange spirit without, like that which entered the +lonely valley of Ezekiel’s vision and made the dry bones +move: where the honest squires, tradesmen, parsons, clerks, and +people still praise the Lord with one voice for His best of all +possible worlds.</p> +<p>The present meeting, which was to extend over two days, had +opened its proceedings at the museum of the town whose buildings +and environs were to be visited by the members. Lunch had +ended, and the afternoon excursion had been about to be +undertaken, when the rain came down in an obstinate spatter, +which revealed no sign of cessation. As the members waited +they grew chilly, although it was only autumn, and a fire was +lighted, which threw a cheerful shine upon the varnished skulls, +urns, penates, tesseræ, costumes, coats of mail, weapons, +and missals, animated the fossilized ichthyosaurus and iguanodon; +while the dead eyes of the stuffed birds—those never-absent +familiars in such collections, though murdered to extinction out +of doors—flashed as they had flashed to the rising sun +above the neighbouring moors on the fatal morning when the +trigger was pulled which ended their little flight. It was +then that the historian produced his manuscript, which he had +prepared, he said, with a view to publication. His delivery +of the story having concluded as aforesaid, the speaker expressed +his hope that the constraint of the weather, and the paucity of +more scientific papers, would excuse any inappropriateness in his +subject.</p> +<p>Several members observed that a storm-bound club could not +presume to be selective, and they were all very much obliged to +him for such a curious chapter from the domestic histories of the +county.</p> +<p>The President looked gloomily from the window at the +descending rain, and broke a short silence by saying that though +the Club had met, there seemed little probability of its being +able to visit the objects of interest set down among the +<i>agenda</i>.</p> +<p>The Treasurer observed that they had at least a roof over +their heads; and they had also a second day before them.</p> +<p>A sentimental member, leaning back in his chair, declared that +he was in no hurry to go out, and that nothing would please him +so much as another county story, with or without manuscript.</p> +<p>The Colonel added that the subject should be a lady, like the +former, to which a gentleman known as the Spark said ‘Hear, +hear!’</p> +<p>Though these had spoken in jest, a rural dean who was present +observed blandly that there was no lack of materials. Many, +indeed, were the legends and traditions of gentle and noble +dames, renowned in times past in that part of England, whose +actions and passions were now, but for men’s memories, +buried under the brief inscription on a tomb or an entry of dates +in a dry pedigree.</p> +<p>Another member, an old surgeon, a somewhat grim though +sociable personage, was quite of the speaker’s opinion, and +felt quite sure that the memory of the reverend gentleman must +abound with such curious tales of fair dames, of their loves and +hates, their joys and their misfortunes, their beauty and their +fate.</p> +<p>The parson, a trifle confused, retorted that their friend the +surgeon, the son of a surgeon, seemed to him, as a man who had +seen much and heard more during the long course of his own and +his father’s practice, the member of all others most likely +to be acquainted with such lore.</p> +<p>The bookworm, the Colonel, the historian, the Vice-president, +the churchwarden, the two curates, the gentleman-tradesman, the +sentimental member, the crimson maltster, the quiet gentleman, +the man of family, the Spark, and several others, quite agreed, +and begged that he would recall something of the kind. The +old surgeon said that, though a meeting of the Mid-Wessex Field +and Antiquarian Club was the last place at which he should have +expected to be called upon in this way, he had no objection; and +the parson said he would come next. The surgeon then +reflected, and decided to relate the history of a lady named +Barbara, who lived towards the end of the last century, +apologizing for his tale as being perhaps a little too +professional. The crimson maltster winked to the Spark at +hearing the nature of the apology, and the surgeon began.</p> +<h2>DAME THE SECOND—BARBARA OF THE HOUSE OF GREBE<br /> +By the Old Surgeon</h2> +<p>It was apparently an idea, rather than a passion, that +inspired Lord Uplandtowers’ resolve to win her. +Nobody ever knew when he formed it, or whence he got his +assurance of success in the face of her manifest dislike of +him. Possibly not until after that first important act of +her life which I shall presently mention. His matured and +cynical doggedness at the age of nineteen, when impulse mostly +rules calculation, was remarkable, and might have owed its +existence as much to his succession to the earldom and its +accompanying local honours in childhood, as to the family +character; an elevation which jerked him into maturity, so to +speak, without his having known adolescence. He had only +reached his twelfth year when his father, the fourth Earl, died, +after a course of the Bath waters.</p> +<p>Nevertheless, the family character had a great deal to do with +it. Determination was hereditary in the bearers of that +escutcheon; sometimes for good, sometimes for evil.</p> +<p>The seats of the two families were about ten miles apart, the +way between them lying along the now old, then new, turnpike-road +connecting Havenpool and Warborne with the city of Melchester: a +road which, though only a branch from what was known as the Great +Western Highway, is probably, even at present, as it has been for +the last hundred years, one of the finest examples of a +macadamized turnpike-track that can be found in England.</p> +<p>The mansion of the Earl, as well as that of his neighbour, +Barbara’s father, stood back about a mile from the highway, +with which each was connected by an ordinary drive and +lodge. It was along this particular highway that the young +Earl drove on a certain evening at Christmastide some twenty +years before the end of the last century, to attend a ball at +Chene Manor, the home of Barbara, and her parents Sir John and +Lady Grebe. Sir John’s was a baronetcy created a few +years before the breaking out of the Civil War, and his lands +were even more extensive than those of Lord Uplandtowers himself; +comprising this Manor of Chene, another on the coast near, half +the Hundred of Cockdene, and well-enclosed lands in several other +parishes, notably Warborne and those contiguous. At this +time Barbara was barely seventeen, and the ball is the first +occasion on which we have any tradition of Lord Uplandtowers +attempting tender relations with her; it was early enough, God +knows.</p> +<p>An intimate friend—one of the Drenkhards—is said +to have dined with him that day, and Lord Uplandtowers had, for a +wonder, communicated to his guest the secret design of his +heart.</p> +<p>‘You’ll never get her—sure; you’ll +never get her!’ this friend had said at parting. +‘She’s not drawn to your lordship by love: and as for +thought of a good match, why, there’s no more calculation +in her than in a bird.’</p> +<p>‘We’ll see,’ said Lord Uplandtowers +impassively.</p> +<p>He no doubt thought of his friend’s forecast as he +travelled along the highway in his chariot; but the sculptural +repose of his profile against the vanishing daylight on his right +hand would have shown his friend that the Earl’s equanimity +was undisturbed. He reached the solitary wayside tavern +called Lornton Inn—the rendezvous of many a daring poacher +for operations in the adjoining forest; and he might have +observed, if he had taken the trouble, a strange post-chaise +standing in the halting-space before the inn. He duly sped +past it, and half-an-hour after through the little town of +Warborne. Onward, a mile farther, was the house of his +entertainer.</p> +<p>At this date it was an imposing edifice—or, rather, +congeries of edifices—as extensive as the residence of the +Earl himself; though far less regular. One wing showed +extreme antiquity, having huge chimneys, whose substructures +projected from the external walls like towers; and a kitchen of +vast dimensions, in which (it was said) breakfasts had been +cooked for John of Gaunt. Whilst he was yet in the +forecourt he could hear the rhythm of French horns and +clarionets, the favourite instruments of those days at such +entertainments.</p> +<p>Entering the long parlour, in which the dance had just been +opened by Lady Grebe with a minuet—it being now seven +o’clock, according to the tradition—he was received +with a welcome befitting his rank, and looked round for +Barbara. She was not dancing, and seemed to be +preoccupied—almost, indeed, as though she had been waiting +for him. Barbara at this time was a good and pretty girl, +who never spoke ill of any one, and hated other pretty women the +very least possible. She did not refuse him for the +country-dance which followed, and soon after was his partner in a +second.</p> +<p>The evening wore on, and the horns and clarionets tootled +merrily. Barbara evinced towards her lover neither distinct +preference nor aversion; but old eyes would have seen that she +pondered something. However, after supper she pleaded a +headache, and disappeared. To pass the time of her absence, +Lord Uplandtowers went into a little room adjoining the long +gallery, where some elderly ones were sitting by the +fire—for he had a phlegmatic dislike of dancing for its own +sake,—and, lifting the window-curtains, he looked out of +the window into the park and wood, dark now as a cavern. +Some of the guests appeared to be leaving even so soon as this, +two lights showing themselves as turning away from the door and +sinking to nothing in the distance.</p> +<p>His hostess put her head into the room to look for partners +for the ladies, and Lord Uplandtowers came out. Lady Grebe +informed him that Barbara had not returned to the ball-room: she +had gone to bed in sheer necessity.</p> +<p>‘She has been so excited over the ball all day,’ +her mother continued, ‘that I feared she would be worn out +early . . . But sure, Lord Uplandtowers, you won’t be +leaving yet?’</p> +<p>He said that it was near twelve o’clock, and that some +had already left.</p> +<p>‘I protest nobody has gone yet,’ said Lady +Grebe.</p> +<p>To humour her he stayed till midnight, and then set out. +He had made no progress in his suit; but he had assured himself +that Barbara gave no other guest the preference, and nearly +everybody in the neighbourhood was there.</p> +<p>‘’Tis only a matter of time,’ said the calm +young philosopher.</p> +<p>The next morning he lay till near ten o’clock, and he +had only just come out upon the head of the staircase when he +heard hoofs upon the gravel without; in a few moments the door +had been opened, and Sir John Grebe met him in the hall, as he +set foot on the lowest stair.</p> +<p>‘My lord—where’s Barbara—my +daughter?’</p> +<p>Even the Earl of Uplandtowers could not repress +amazement. ‘What’s the matter, my dear Sir +John,’ says he.</p> +<p>The news was startling, indeed. From the Baronet’s +disjointed explanation Lord Uplandtowers gathered that after his +own and the other guests’ departure Sir John and Lady Grebe +had gone to rest without seeing any more of Barbara; it being +understood by them that she had retired to bed when she sent word +to say that she could not join the dancers again. Before +then she had told her maid that she would dispense with her +services for this night; and there was evidence to show that the +young lady had never lain down at all, the bed remaining +unpressed. Circumstances seemed to prove that the deceitful +girl had feigned indisposition to get an excuse for leaving the +ball-room, and that she had left the house within ten minutes, +presumably during the first dance after supper.</p> +<p>‘I saw her go,’ said Lord Uplandtowers.</p> +<p>‘The devil you did!’ says Sir John.</p> +<p>‘Yes.’ And he mentioned the retreating +carriage-lights, and how he was assured by Lady Grebe that no +guest had departed.</p> +<p>‘Surely that was it!’ said the father. +‘But she’s not gone alone, d’ye +know!’</p> +<p>‘Ah—who is the young man?’</p> +<p>‘I can on’y guess. My worst fear is my most +likely guess. I’ll say no more. I +thought—yet I would not believe—it possible that you +was the sinner. Would that you had been! But +’tis t’other, ’tis t’other, by +G---! I must e’en up, and after ’em!’</p> +<p>‘Whom do you suspect?’</p> +<p>Sir John would not give a name, and, stultified rather than +agitated, Lord Uplandtowers accompanied him back to Chene. +He again asked upon whom were the Baronet’s suspicions +directed; and the impulsive Sir John was no match for the +insistence of Uplandtowers.</p> +<p>He said at length, ‘I fear ’tis Edmond +Willowes.’</p> +<p>‘Who’s he?’</p> +<p>‘A young fellow of Shottsford-Forum—a +widow-woman’s son,’ the other told him, and explained +that Willowes’s father, or grandfather, was the last of the +old glass-painters in that place, where (as you may know) the art +lingered on when it had died out in every other part of +England.</p> +<p>‘By G--- that’s bad—mighty bad!’ said +Lord Uplandtowers, throwing himself back in the chaise in frigid +despair.</p> +<p>They despatched emissaries in all directions; one by the +Melchester Road, another by Shottsford-Forum, another +coastwards.</p> +<p>But the lovers had a ten-hours’ start; and it was +apparent that sound judgment had been exercised in choosing as +their time of flight the particular night when the movements of a +strange carriage would not be noticed, either in the park or on +the neighbouring highway, owing to the general press of +vehicles. The chaise which had been seen waiting at Lornton +Inn was, no doubt, the one they had escaped in; and the pair of +heads which had planned so cleverly thus far had probably +contrived marriage ere now.</p> +<p>The fears of her parents were realized. A letter sent by +special messenger from Barbara, on the evening of that day, +briefly informed them that her lover and herself were on the way +to London, and before this communication reached her home they +would be united as husband and wife. She had taken this +extreme step because she loved her dear Edmond as she could love +no other man, and because she had seen closing round her the doom +of marriage with Lord Uplandtowers, unless she put that +threatened fate out of possibility by doing as she had +done. She had well considered the step beforehand, and was +prepared to live like any other country-townsman’s wife if +her father repudiated her for her action.</p> +<p>‘D--- her!’ said Lord Uplandtowers, as he drove +homeward that night. ‘D--- her for a +fool!’—which shows the kind of love he bore her.</p> +<p>Well; Sir John had already started in pursuit of them as a +matter of duty, driving like a wild man to Melchester, and thence +by the direct highway to the capital. But he soon saw that +he was acting to no purpose; and by and by, discovering that the +marriage had actually taken place, he forebore all attempts to +unearth them in the City, and returned and sat down with his lady +to digest the event as best they could.</p> +<p>To proceed against this Willowes for the abduction of our +heiress was, possibly, in their power; yet, when they considered +the now unalterable facts, they refrained from violent +retribution. Some six weeks passed, during which time +Barbara’s parents, though they keenly felt her loss, held +no communication with the truant, either for reproach or +condonation. They continued to think of the disgrace she +had brought upon herself; for, though the young man was an honest +fellow, and the son of an honest father, the latter had died so +early, and his widow had had such struggles to maintain herself; +that the son was very imperfectly educated. Moreover, his +blood was, as far as they knew, of no distinction whatever, +whilst hers, through her mother, was compounded of the best +juices of ancient baronial distillation, containing tinctures of +Maundeville, and Mohun, and Syward, and Peverell, and Culliford, +and Talbot, and Plantagenet, and York, and Lancaster, and God +knows what besides, which it was a thousand pities to throw +away.</p> +<p>The father and mother sat by the fireplace that was spanned by +the four-centred arch bearing the family shields on its haunches, +and groaned aloud—the lady more than Sir John.</p> +<p>‘To think this should have come upon us in our old +age!’ said he.</p> +<p>‘Speak for yourself!’ she snapped through her +sobs. ‘I am only one-and-forty! . . . Why +didn’t ye ride faster and overtake ’em!’</p> +<p>In the meantime the young married lovers, caring no more about +their blood than about ditch-water, were intensely +happy—happy, that is, in the descending scale which, as we +all know, Heaven in its wisdom has ordained for such rash cases; +that is to say, the first week they were in the seventh heaven, +the second in the sixth, the third week temperate, the fourth +reflective, and so on; a lover’s heart after possession +being comparable to the earth in its geologic stages, as +described to us sometimes by our worthy President; first a hot +coal, then a warm one, then a cooling cinder, then +chilly—the simile shall be pursued no further. The +long and the short of it was that one day a letter, sealed with +their daughter’s own little seal, came into Sir John and +Lady Grebe’s hands; and, on opening it, they found it to +contain an appeal from the young couple to Sir John to forgive +them for what they had done, and they would fall on their naked +knees and be most dutiful children for evermore.</p> +<p>Then Sir John and his lady sat down again by the fireplace +with the four-centred arch, and consulted, and re-read the +letter. Sir John Grebe, if the truth must be told, loved +his daughter’s happiness far more, poor man, than he loved +his name and lineage; he recalled to his mind all her little +ways, gave vent to a sigh; and, by this time acclimatized to the +idea of the marriage, said that what was done could not be +undone, and that he supposed they must not be too harsh with +her. Perhaps Barbara and her husband were in actual need; +and how could they let their only child starve?</p> +<p>A slight consolation had come to them in an unexpected +manner. They had been credibly informed that an ancestor of +plebeian Willowes was once honoured with intermarriage with a +scion of the aristocracy who had gone to the dogs. In +short, such is the foolishness of distinguished parents, and +sometimes of others also, that they wrote that very day to the +address Barbara had given them, informing her that she might +return home and bring her husband with her; they would not object +to see him, would not reproach her, and would endeavour to +welcome both, and to discuss with them what could best be +arranged for their future.</p> +<p>In three or four days a rather shabby post-chaise drew up at +the door of Chene Manor-house, at sound of which the +tender-hearted baronet and his wife ran out as if to welcome a +prince and princess of the blood. They were overjoyed to +see their spoilt child return safe and sound—though she was +only Mrs. Willowes, wife of Edmond Willowes of nowhere. +Barbara burst into penitential tears, and both husband and wife +were contrite enough, as well they might be, considering that +they had not a guinea to call their own.</p> +<p>When the four had calmed themselves, and not a word of chiding +had been uttered to the pair, they discussed the position +soberly, young Willowes sitting in the background with great +modesty till invited forward by Lady Grebe in no frigid tone.</p> +<p>‘How handsome he is!’ she said to herself. +‘I don’t wonder at Barbara’s craze for +him.’</p> +<p>He was, indeed, one of the handsomest men who ever set his +lips on a maid’s. A blue coat, murrey waistcoat, and +breeches of drab set off a figure that could scarcely be +surpassed. He had large dark eyes, anxious now, as they +glanced from Barbara to her parents and tenderly back again to +her; observing whom, even now in her trepidation, one could see +why the <i>sang froid</i> of Lord Uplandtowers had been raised to +more than lukewarmness. Her fair young face (according to +the tale handed down by old women) looked out from under a gray +conical hat, trimmed with white ostrich-feathers, and her little +toes peeped from a buff petticoat worn under a puce gown. +Her features were not regular: they were almost infantine, as you +may see from miniatures in possession of the family, her mouth +showing much sensitiveness, and one could be sure that her faults +would not lie on the side of bad temper unless for urgent +reasons.</p> +<p>Well, they discussed their state as became them, and the +desire of the young couple to gain the goodwill of those upon +whom they were literally dependent for everything induced them to +agree to any temporizing measure that was not too irksome. +Therefore, having been nearly two months united, they did not +oppose Sir John’s proposal that he should furnish Edmond +Willowes with funds sufficient for him to travel a year on the +Continent in the company of a tutor, the young man undertaking to +lend himself with the utmost diligence to the tutor’s +instructions, till he became polished outwardly and inwardly to +the degree required in the husband of such a lady as +Barbara. He was to apply himself to the study of languages, +manners, history, society, ruins, and everything else that came +under his eyes, till he should return to take his place without +blushing by Barbara’s side.</p> +<p>‘And by that time,’ said worthy Sir John, +‘I’ll get my little place out at Yewsholt ready for +you and Barbara to occupy on your return. The house is +small and out of the way; but it will do for a young couple for a +while.’</p> +<p>‘If ’twere no bigger than a summer-house it would +do!’ says Barbara.</p> +<p>‘If ’twere no bigger than a sedan-chair!’ +says Willowes. ‘And the more lonely the +better.’</p> +<p>‘We can put up with the loneliness,’ said Barbara, +with less zest. ‘Some friends will come, no +doubt.’</p> +<p>All this being laid down, a travelled tutor was called +in—a man of many gifts and great experience,—and on a +fine morning away tutor and pupil went. A great reason +urged against Barbara accompanying her youthful husband was that +his attentions to her would naturally be such as to prevent his +zealously applying every hour of his time to learning and +seeing—an argument of wise prescience, and +unanswerable. Regular days for letter-writing were fixed, +Barbara and her Edmond exchanged their last kisses at the door, +and the chaise swept under the archway into the drive.</p> +<p>He wrote to her from Le Havre, as soon as he reached that +port, which was not for seven days, on account of adverse winds; +he wrote from Rouen, and from Paris; described to her his sight +of the King and Court at Versailles, and the wonderful +marble-work and mirrors in that palace; wrote next from Lyons; +then, after a comparatively long interval, from Turin, narrating +his fearful adventures in crossing Mont Cenis on mules, and how +he was overtaken with a terrific snowstorm, which had well-nigh +been the end of him, and his tutor, and his guides. Then he +wrote glowingly of Italy; and Barbara could see the development +of her husband’s mind reflected in his letters month by +month; and she much admired the forethought of her father in +suggesting this education for Edmond. Yet she sighed +sometimes—her husband being no longer in evidence to +fortify her in her choice of him—and timidly dreaded what +mortifications might be in store for her by reason of this +<i>mésalliance</i>. She went out very little; for on +the one or two occasions on which she had shown herself to former +friends she noticed a distinct difference in their manner, as +though they should say, ‘Ah, my happy swain’s wife; +you’re caught!’</p> +<p>Edmond’s letters were as affectionate as ever; even more +affectionate, after a while, than hers were to him. Barbara +observed this growing coolness in herself; and like a good and +honest lady was horrified and grieved, since her only wish was to +act faithfully and uprightly. It troubled her so much that +she prayed for a warmer heart, and at last wrote to her husband +to beg him, now that he was in the land of Art, to send her his +portrait, ever so small, that she might look at it all day and +every day, and never for a moment forget his features.</p> +<p>Willowes was nothing loth, and replied that he would do more +than she wished: he had made friends with a sculptor in Pisa, who +was much interested in him and his history; and he had +commissioned this artist to make a bust of himself in marble, +which when finished he would send her. What Barbara had +wanted was something immediate; but she expressed no objection to +the delay; and in his next communication Edmund told her that the +sculptor, of his own choice, had decided to increase the bust to +a full-length statue, so anxious was he to get a specimen of his +skill introduced to the notice of the English aristocracy. +It was progressing well, and rapidly.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, Barbara’s attention began to be occupied at +home with Yewsholt Lodge, the house that her kind-hearted father +was preparing for her residence when her husband returned. +It was a small place on the plan of a large one—a cottage +built in the form of a mansion, having a central hall with a +wooden gallery running round it, and rooms no bigger than closets +to follow this introduction. It stood on a slope so +solitary, and surrounded by trees so dense, that the birds who +inhabited the boughs sang at strange hours, as if they hardly +could distinguish night from day.</p> +<p>During the progress of repairs at this bower Barbara +frequently visited it. Though so secluded by the dense +growth, it was near the high road, and one day while looking over +the fence she saw Lord Uplandtowers riding past. He saluted +her courteously, yet with mechanical stiffness, and did not +halt. Barbara went home, and continued to pray that she +might never cease to love her husband. After that she +sickened, and did not come out of doors again for a long +time.</p> +<p>The year of education had extended to fourteen months, and the +house was in order for Edmond’s return to take up his abode +there with Barbara, when, instead of the accustomed letter for +her, came one to Sir John Grebe in the handwriting of the said +tutor, informing him of a terrible catastrophe that had occurred +to them at Venice. Mr Willowes and himself had attended the +theatre one night during the Carnival of the preceding week, to +witness the Italian comedy, when, owing to the carelessness of +one of the candle-snuffers, the theatre had caught fire, and been +burnt to the ground. Few persons had lost their lives, +owing to the superhuman exertions of some of the audience in +getting out the senseless sufferers; and, among them all, he who +had risked his own life the most heroically was Mr. +Willowes. In re-entering for the fifth time to save his +fellow-creatures some fiery beams had fallen upon him, and he had +been given up for lost. He was, however, by the blessing of +Providence, recovered, with the life still in him, though he was +fearfully burnt; and by almost a miracle he seemed likely to +survive, his constitution being wondrously sound. He was, +of course, unable to write, but he was receiving the attention of +several skilful surgeons. Further report would be made by +the next mail or by private hand.</p> +<p>The tutor said nothing in detail of poor Willowes’s +sufferings, but as soon as the news was broken to Barbara she +realized how intense they must have been, and her immediate +instinct was to rush to his side, though, on consideration, the +journey seemed impossible to her. Her health was by no +means what it had been, and to post across Europe at that season +of the year, or to traverse the Bay of Biscay in a sailing-craft, +was an undertaking that would hardly be justified by the +result. But she was anxious to go till, on reading to the +end of the letter, her husband’s tutor was found to hint +very strongly against such a step if it should be contemplated, +this being also the opinion of the surgeons. And though +Willowes’s comrade refrained from giving his reasons, they +disclosed themselves plainly enough in the sequel.</p> +<p>The truth was that the worst of the wounds resulting from the +fire had occurred to his head and face—that handsome face +which had won her heart from her,—and both the tutor and +the surgeons knew that for a sensitive young woman to see him +before his wounds had healed would cause more misery to her by +the shock than happiness to him by her ministrations.</p> +<p>Lady Grebe blurted out what Sir John and Barbara had thought, +but had had too much delicacy to express.</p> +<p>‘Sure, ’tis mighty hard for you, poor Barbara, +that the one little gift he had to justify your rash choice of +him—his wonderful good looks—should be taken away +like this, to leave ’ee no excuse at all for your conduct +in the world’s eyes . . . Well, I wish you’d married +t’other—that do I!’ And the lady +sighed.</p> +<p>‘He’ll soon get right again,’ said her +father soothingly.</p> +<p>Such remarks as the above were not often made; but they were +frequent enough to cause Barbara an uneasy sense of +self-stultification. She determined to hear them no longer; +and the house at Yewsholt being ready and furnished, she withdrew +thither with her maids, where for the first time she could feel +mistress of a home that would be hers and her husband’s +exclusively, when he came.</p> +<p>After long weeks Willowes had recovered sufficiently to be +able to write himself; and slowly and tenderly he enlightened her +upon the full extent of his injuries. It was a mercy, he +said, that he had not lost his sight entirely; but he was +thankful to say that he still retained full vision in one eye, +though the other was dark for ever. The sparing manner in +which he meted out particulars of his condition told Barbara how +appalling had been his experience. He was grateful for her +assurance that nothing could change her; but feared she did not +fully realize that he was so sadly disfigured as to make it +doubtful if she would recognize him. However, in spite of +all, his heart was as true to her as it ever had been.</p> +<p>Barbara saw from his anxiety how much lay behind. She +replied that she submitted to the decrees of Fate, and would +welcome him in any shape as soon as he could come. She told +him of the pretty retreat in which she had taken up her abode, +pending their joint occupation of it, and did not reveal how much +she had sighed over the information that all his good looks were +gone. Still less did she say that she felt a certain +strangeness in awaiting him, the weeks they had lived together +having been so short by comparison with the length of his +absence.</p> +<p>Slowly drew on the time when Willowes found himself well +enough to come home. He landed at Southampton, and posted +thence towards Yewsholt. Barbara arranged to go out to meet +him as far as Lornton Inn—the spot between the Forest and +the Chase at which he had waited for night on the evening of +their elopement. Thither she drove at the appointed hour in +a little pony-chaise, presented her by her father on her birthday +for her especial use in her new house; which vehicle she sent +back on arriving at the inn, the plan agreed upon being that she +should perform the return journey with her husband in his hired +coach.</p> +<p>There was not much accommodation for a lady at this wayside +tavern; but, as it was a fine evening in early summer, she did +not mind—walking about outside, and straining her eyes +along the highway for the expected one. But each cloud of +dust that enlarged in the distance and drew near was found to +disclose a conveyance other than his post-chaise. Barbara +remained till the appointment was two hours passed, and then +began to fear that owing to some adverse wind in the Channel he +was not coming that night.</p> +<p>While waiting she was conscious of a curious trepidation that +was not entirely solicitude, and did not amount to dread; her +tense state of incertitude bordered both on disappointment and on +relief. She had lived six or seven weeks with an +imperfectly educated yet handsome husband whom now she had not +seen for seventeen months, and who was so changed physically by +an accident that she was assured she would hardly know him. +Can we wonder at her compound state of mind?</p> +<p>But her immediate difficulty was to get away from Lornton Inn, +for her situation was becoming embarrassing. Like too many +of Barbara’s actions, this drive had been undertaken +without much reflection. Expecting to wait no more than a +few minutes for her husband in his post-chaise, and to enter it +with him, she had not hesitated to isolate herself by sending +back her own little vehicle. She now found that, being so +well known in this neighbourhood, her excursion to meet her +long-absent husband was exciting great interest. She was +conscious that more eyes were watching her from the inn-windows +than met her own gaze. Barbara had decided to get home by +hiring whatever kind of conveyance the tavern afforded, when, +straining her eyes for the last time over the now darkening +highway, she perceived yet another dust-cloud drawing near. +She paused; a chariot ascended to the inn, and would have passed +had not its occupant caught sight of her standing +expectantly. The horses were checked on the instant.</p> +<p>‘You here—and alone, my dear Mrs. Willowes?’ +said Lord Uplandtowers, whose carriage it was.</p> +<p>She explained what had brought her into this lonely situation; +and, as he was going in the direction of her own home, she +accepted his offer of a seat beside him. Their conversation +was embarrassed and fragmentary at first; but when they had +driven a mile or two she was surprised to find herself talking +earnestly and warmly to him: her impulsiveness was in truth but +the natural consequence of her late existence—a somewhat +desolate one by reason of the strange marriage she had made; and +there is no more indiscreet mood than that of a woman surprised +into talk who has long been imposing upon herself a policy of +reserve. Therefore her ingenuous heart rose with a bound +into her throat when, in response to his leading questions, or +rather hints, she allowed her troubles to leak out of her. +Lord Uplandtowers took her quite to her own door, although he had +driven three miles out of his way to do so; and in handing her +down she heard from him a whisper of stern reproach: ‘It +need not have been thus if you had listened to me!’</p> +<p>She made no reply, and went indoors. There, as the +evening wore away, she regretted more and more that she had been +so friendly with Lord Uplandtowers. But he had launched +himself upon her so unexpectedly: if she had only foreseen the +meeting with him, what a careful line of conduct she would have +marked out! Barbara broke into a perspiration of disquiet +when she thought of her unreserve, and, in self-chastisement, +resolved to sit up till midnight on the bare chance of +Edmond’s return; directing that supper should be laid for +him, improbable as his arrival till the morrow was.</p> +<p>The hours went past, and there was dead silence in and round +about Yewsholt Lodge, except for the soughing of the trees; till, +when it was near upon midnight, she heard the noise of hoofs and +wheels approaching the door. Knowing that it could only be +her husband, Barbara instantly went into the hall to meet +him. Yet she stood there not without a sensation of +faintness, so many were the changes since their parting! +And, owing to her casual encounter with Lord Uplandtowers, his +voice and image still remained with her, excluding Edmond, her +husband, from the inner circle of her impressions.</p> +<p>But she went to the door, and the next moment a figure stepped +inside, of which she knew the outline, but little besides. +Her husband was attired in a flapping black cloak and slouched +hat, appearing altogether as a foreigner, and not as the young +English burgess who had left her side. When he came forward +into the light of the lamp, she perceived with surprise, and +almost with fright, that he wore a mask. At first she had +not noticed this—there being nothing in its colour which +would lead a casual observer to think he was looking on anything +but a real countenance.</p> +<p>He must have seen her start of dismay at the unexpectedness of +his appearance, for he said hastily: ‘I did not mean to +come in to you like this—I thought you would have been in +bed. How good you are, dear Barbara!’ He put +his arm round her, but he did not attempt to kiss her.</p> +<p>‘O Edmond—it <i>is</i> you?—it must +be?’ she said, with clasped hands, for though his figure +and movement were almost enough to prove it, and the tones were +not unlike the old tones, the enunciation was so altered as to +seem that of a stranger.</p> +<p>‘I am covered like this to hide myself from the curious +eyes of the inn-servants and others,’ he said, in a low +voice. ‘I will send back the carriage and join you in +a moment.’</p> +<p>‘You are quite alone?’</p> +<p>‘Quite. My companion stopped at +Southampton.’</p> +<p>The wheels of the post-chaise rolled away as she entered the +dining-room, where the supper was spread; and presently he +rejoined her there. He had removed his cloak and hat, but +the mask was still retained; and she could now see that it was of +special make, of some flexible material like silk, coloured so as +to represent flesh; it joined naturally to the front hair, and +was otherwise cleverly executed.</p> +<p>‘Barbara—you look ill,’ he said, removing +his glove, and taking her hand.</p> +<p>‘Yes—I have been ill,’ said she.</p> +<p>‘Is this pretty little house ours?’</p> +<p>‘O—yes.’ She was hardly conscious of +her words, for the hand he had ungloved in order to take hers was +contorted, and had one or two of its fingers missing; while +through the mask she discerned the twinkle of one eye only.</p> +<p>‘I would give anything to kiss you, dearest, now, at +this moment!’ he continued, with mournful +passionateness. ‘But I cannot—in this +guise. The servants are abed, I suppose?’</p> +<p>‘Yes,’ said she. ‘But I can call +them? You will have some supper?’</p> +<p>He said he would have some, but that it was not necessary to +call anybody at that hour. Thereupon they approached the +table, and sat down, facing each other.</p> +<p>Despite Barbara’s scared state of mind, it was forced +upon her notice that her husband trembled, as if he feared the +impression he was producing, or was about to produce, as much as, +or more than, she. He drew nearer, and took her hand +again.</p> +<p>‘I had this mask made at Venice,’ he began, in +evident embarrassment. ‘My darling Barbara—my +dearest wife—do you think you—will mind when I take +it off? You will not dislike me—will you?’</p> +<p>‘O Edmond, of course I shall not mind,’ said +she. ‘What has happened to you is our misfortune; but +I am prepared for it.’</p> +<p>‘Are you sure you are prepared?’</p> +<p>‘O yes! You are my husband.’</p> +<p>‘You really feel quite confident that nothing external +can affect you?’ he said again, in a voice rendered +uncertain by his agitation.</p> +<p>‘I think I am—quite,’ she answered +faintly.</p> +<p>He bent his head. ‘I hope, I hope you are,’ +he whispered.</p> +<p>In the pause which followed, the ticking of the clock in the +hall seemed to grow loud; and he turned a little aside to remove +the mask. She breathlessly awaited the operation, which was +one of some tediousness, watching him one moment, averting her +face the next; and when it was done she shut her eyes at the +hideous spectacle that was revealed. A quick spasm of +horror had passed through her; but though she quailed she forced +herself to regard him anew, repressing the cry that would +naturally have escaped from her ashy lips. Unable to look +at him longer, Barbara sank down on the floor beside her chair, +covering her eyes.</p> +<p>‘You cannot look at me!’ he groaned in a hopeless +way. ‘I am too terrible an object even for you to +bear! I knew it; yet I hoped against it. Oh, this is +a bitter fate—curse the skill of those Venetian surgeons +who saved me alive! . . . Look up, Barbara,’ he continued +beseechingly; ‘view me completely; say you loathe me, if +you do loathe me, and settle the case between us for +ever!’</p> +<p>His unhappy wife pulled herself together for a desperate +strain. He was her Edmond; he had done her no wrong; he had +suffered. A momentary devotion to him helped her, and +lifting her eyes as bidden she regarded this human remnant, this +<i>écorché</i>, a second time. But the sight +was too much. She again involuntarily looked aside and +shuddered.</p> +<p>‘Do you think you can get used to this?’ he +said. ‘Yes or no! Can you bear such a thing of +the charnel-house near you? Judge for yourself; +Barbara. Your Adonis, your matchless man, has come to +this!’</p> +<p>The poor lady stood beside him motionless, save for the +restlessness of her eyes. All her natural sentiments of +affection and pity were driven clean out of her by a sort of +panic; she had just the same sense of dismay and fearfulness that +she would have had in the presence of an apparition. She +could nohow fancy this to be her chosen one—the man she had +loved; he was metamorphosed to a specimen of another +species. ‘I do not loathe you,’ she said with +trembling. ‘But I am so horrified—so +overcome! Let me recover myself. Will you sup +now? And while you do so may I go to my room +to—regain my old feeling for you? I will try, if I +may leave you awhile? Yes, I will try!’</p> +<p>Without waiting for an answer from him, and keeping her gaze +carefully averted, the frightened woman crept to the door and out +of the room. She heard him sit down to the table, as if to +begin supper though, Heaven knows, his appetite was slight enough +after a reception which had confirmed his worst surmises. +When Barbara had ascended the stairs and arrived in her chamber +she sank down, and buried her face in the coverlet of the +bed.</p> +<p>Thus she remained for some time. The bed-chamber was +over the dining-room, and presently as she knelt Barbara heard +Willowes thrust back his chair, and rise to go into the +hall. In five minutes that figure would probably come up +the stairs and confront her again; it,—this new and +terrible form, that was not her husband’s. In the +loneliness of this night, with neither maid nor friend beside +her, she lost all self-control, and at the first sound of his +footstep on the stairs, without so much as flinging a cloak round +her, she flew from the room, ran along the gallery to the back +staircase, which she descended, and, unlocking the back door, let +herself out. She scarcely was aware what she had done till +she found herself in the greenhouse, crouching on a +flower-stand.</p> +<p>Here she remained, her great timid eyes strained through the +glass upon the garden without, and her skirts gathered up, in +fear of the field-mice which sometimes came there. Every +moment she dreaded to hear footsteps which she ought by law to +have longed for, and a voice that should have been as music to +her soul. But Edmond Willowes came not that way. The +nights were getting short at this season, and soon the dawn +appeared, and the first rays of the sun. By daylight she +had less fear than in the dark. She thought she could meet +him, and accustom herself to the spectacle.</p> +<p>So the much-tried young woman unfastened the door of the +hot-house, and went back by the way she had emerged a few hours +ago. Her poor husband was probably in bed and asleep, his +journey having been long; and she made as little noise as +possible in her entry. The house was just as she had left +it, and she looked about in the hall for his cloak and hat, but +she could not see them; nor did she perceive the small trunk +which had been all that he brought with him, his heavier baggage +having been left at Southampton for the road-waggon. She +summoned courage to mount the stairs; the bedroom-door was open +as she had left it. She fearfully peeped round; the bed had +not been pressed. Perhaps he had lain down on the +dining-room sofa. She descended and entered; he was not +there. On the table beside his unsoiled plate lay a note, +hastily written on the leaf of a pocket-book. It was +something like this:</p> +<blockquote><p>‘<span class="smcap">My ever-beloved +Wife</span>—The effect that my forbidding appearance has +produced upon you was one which I foresaw as quite +possible. I hoped against it, but foolishly so. I was +aware that no <i>human</i> love could survive such a +catastrophe. I confess I thought yours <i>divine</i>; but, +after so long an absence, there could not be left sufficient +warmth to overcome the too natural first aversion. It was +an experiment, and it has failed. I do not blame you; +perhaps, even, it is better so. Good-bye. I leave +England for one year. You will see me again at the +expiration of that time, if I live. Then I will ascertain +your true feeling; and, if it be against me, go away for +ever. E. W.’</p> +</blockquote> +<p>On recovering from her surprise, Barbara’s remorse was +such that she felt herself absolutely unforgiveable. She +should have regarded him as an afflicted being, and not have been +this slave to mere eyesight, like a child. To follow him +and entreat him to return was her first thought. But on +making inquiries she found that nobody had seen him: he had +silently disappeared.</p> +<p>More than this, to undo the scene of last night was +impossible. Her terror had been too plain, and he was a man +unlikely to be coaxed back by her efforts to do her duty. +She went and confessed to her parents all that had occurred; +which, indeed, soon became known to more persons than those of +her own family.</p> +<p>The year passed, and he did not return; and it was doubted if +he were alive. Barbara’s contrition for her +unconquerable repugnance was now such that she longed to build a +church-aisle, or erect a monument, and devote herself to deeds of +charity for the remainder of her days. To that end she made +inquiry of the excellent parson under whom she sat on Sundays, at +a vertical distance of twenty feet. But he could only +adjust his wig and tap his snuff-box; for such was the lukewarm +state of religion in those days, that not an aisle, steeple, +porch, east window, Ten-Commandment board, lion-and-unicorn, or +brass candlestick, was required anywhere at all in the +neighbourhood as a votive offering from a distracted +soul—the last century contrasting greatly in this respect +with the happy times in which we live, when urgent appeals for +contributions to such objects pour in by every morning’s +post, and nearly all churches have been made to look like new +pennies. As the poor lady could not ease her conscience +this way, she determined at least to be charitable, and soon had +the satisfaction of finding her porch thronged every morning by +the raggedest, idlest, most drunken, hypocritical, and worthless +tramps in Christendom.</p> +<p>But human hearts are as prone to change as the leaves of the +creeper on the wall, and in the course of time, hearing nothing +of her husband, Barbara could sit unmoved whilst her mother and +friends said in her hearing, ‘Well, what has happened is +for the best.’ She began to think so herself; for +even now she could not summon up that lopped and mutilated form +without a shiver, though whenever her mind flew back to her early +wedded days, and the man who had stood beside her then, a thrill +of tenderness moved her, which if quickened by his living +presence might have become strong. She was young and +inexperienced, and had hardly on his late return grown out of the +capricious fancies of girlhood.</p> +<p>But he did not come again, and when she thought of his word +that he would return once more, if living, and how unlikely he +was to break his word, she gave him up for dead. So did her +parents; so also did another person—that man of silence, of +irresistible incisiveness, of still countenance, who was as awake +as seven sentinels when he seemed to be as sound asleep as the +figures on his family monument. Lord Uplandtowers, though +not yet thirty, had chuckled like a caustic fogey of threescore +when he heard of Barbara’s terror and flight at her +husband’s return, and of the latter’s prompt +departure. He felt pretty sure, however, that Willowes, +despite his hurt feelings, would have reappeared to claim his +bright-eyed property if he had been alive at the end of the +twelve months.</p> +<p>As there was no husband to live with her, Barbara had +relinquished the house prepared for them by her father, and taken +up her abode anew at Chene Manor, as in the days of her +girlhood. By degrees the episode with Edmond Willowes +seemed but a fevered dream, and as the months grew to years Lord +Uplandtowers’ friendship with the people at +Chene—which had somewhat cooled after Barbara’s +elopement—revived considerably, and he again became a +frequent visitor there. He could not make the most trivial +alteration or improvement at Knollingwood Hall, where he lived, +without riding off to consult with his friend Sir John at Chene; +and thus putting himself frequently under her eyes, Barbara grew +accustomed to him, and talked to him as freely as to a +brother. She even began to look up to him as a person of +authority, judgment, and prudence; and though his severity on the +bench towards poachers, smugglers, and turnip-stealers was matter +of common notoriety, she trusted that much of what was said might +be misrepresentation.</p> +<p>Thus they lived on till her husband’s absence had +stretched to years, and there could be no longer any doubt of his +death. A passionless manner of renewing his addresses +seemed no longer out of place in Lord Uplandtowers. Barbara +did not love him, but hers was essentially one of those sweet-pea +or with-wind natures which require a twig of stouter fibre than +its own to hang upon and bloom. Now, too, she was older, +and admitted to herself that a man whose ancestor had run scores +of Saracens through and through in fighting for the site of the +Holy Sepulchre was a more desirable husband, socially considered, +than one who could only claim with certainty to know that his +father and grandfather were respectable burgesses.</p> +<p>Sir John took occasion to inform her that she might legally +consider herself a widow; and, in brief; Lord Uplandtowers +carried his point with her, and she married him, though he could +never get her to own that she loved him as she had loved +Willowes. In my childhood I knew an old lady whose mother +saw the wedding, and she said that when Lord and Lady +Uplandtowers drove away from her father’s house in the +evening it was in a coach-and-four, and that my lady was dressed +in green and silver, and wore the gayest hat and feather that +ever were seen; though whether it was that the green did not suit +her complexion, or otherwise, the Countess looked pale, and the +reverse of blooming. After their marriage her husband took +her to London, and she saw the gaieties of a season there; then +they returned to Knollingwood Hall, and thus a year passed +away.</p> +<p>Before their marriage her husband had seemed to care but +little about her inability to love him passionately. +‘Only let me win you,’ he had said, ‘and I will +submit to all that.’ But now her lack of warmth +seemed to irritate him, and he conducted himself towards her with +a resentfulness which led to her passing many hours with him in +painful silence. The heir-presumptive to the title was a +remote relative, whom Lord Uplandtowers did not exclude from the +dislike he entertained towards many persons and things besides, +and he had set his mind upon a lineal successor. He blamed +her much that there was no promise of this, and asked her what +she was good for.</p> +<p>On a particular day in her gloomy life a letter, addressed to +her as Mrs. Willowes, reached Lady Uplandtowers from an +unexpected quarter. A sculptor in Pisa, knowing nothing of +her second marriage, informed her that the long-delayed life-size +statue of Mr. Willowes, which, when her husband left that city, +he had been directed to retain till it was sent for, was still in +his studio. As his commission had not wholly been paid, and +the statue was taking up room he could ill spare, he should be +glad to have the debt cleared off, and directions where to +forward the figure. Arriving at a time when the Countess +was beginning to have little secrets (of a harmless kind, it is +true) from her husband, by reason of their growing estrangement, +she replied to this letter without saying a word to Lord +Uplandtowers, sending off the balance that was owing to the +sculptor, and telling him to despatch the statue to her without +delay.</p> +<p>It was some weeks before it arrived at Knollingwood Hall, and, +by a singular coincidence, during the interval she received the +first absolutely conclusive tidings of her Edmond’s +death. It had taken place years before, in a foreign land, +about six months after their parting, and had been induced by the +sufferings he had already undergone, coupled with much depression +of spirit, which had caused him to succumb to a slight +ailment. The news was sent her in a brief and formal letter +from some relative of Willowes’s in another part of +England.</p> +<p>Her grief took the form of passionate pity for his +misfortunes, and of reproach to herself for never having been +able to conquer her aversion to his latter image by recollection +of what Nature had originally made him. The sad spectacle +that had gone from earth had never been her Edmond at all to +her. O that she could have met him as he was at +first! Thus Barbara thought. It was only a few days +later that a waggon with two horses, containing an immense +packing-case, was seen at breakfast-time both by Barbara and her +husband to drive round to the back of the house, and by-and-by +they were informed that a case labelled ‘Sculpture’ +had arrived for her ladyship.</p> +<p>‘What can that be?’ said Lord Uplandtowers.</p> +<p>‘It is the statue of poor Edmond, which belongs to me, +but has never been sent till now,’ she answered.</p> +<p>‘Where are you going to put it?’ asked he.</p> +<p>‘I have not decided,’ said the Countess. +‘Anywhere, so that it will not annoy you.’</p> +<p>‘Oh, it won’t annoy me,’ says he.</p> +<p>When it had been unpacked in a back room of the house, they +went to examine it. The statue was a full-length figure, in +the purest Carrara marble, representing Edmond Willowes in all +his original beauty, as he had stood at parting from her when +about to set out on his travels; a specimen of manhood almost +perfect in every line and contour. The work had been +carried out with absolute fidelity.</p> +<p>‘Phoebus-Apollo, sure,’ said the Earl of +Uplandtowers, who had never seen Willowes, real or represented, +till now.</p> +<p>Barbara did not hear him. She was standing in a sort of +trance before the first husband, as if she had no consciousness +of the other husband at her side. The mutilated features of +Willowes had disappeared from her mind’s eye; this perfect +being was really the man she had loved, and not that later +pitiable figure; in whom love and truth should have seen this +image always, but had not done so.</p> +<p>It was not till Lord Uplandtowers said roughly, ‘Are you +going to stay here all the morning worshipping him?’ that +she roused herself.</p> +<p>Her husband had not till now the least suspicion that Edmond +Willowes originally looked thus, and he thought how deep would +have been his jealousy years ago if Willowes had been known to +him. Returning to the Hall in the afternoon he found his +wife in the gallery, whither the statue had been brought.</p> +<p>She was lost in reverie before it, just as in the morning.</p> +<p>‘What are you doing?’ he asked.</p> +<p>She started and turned. ‘I am looking at my +husb--- my statue, to see if it is well done,’ she +stammered. ‘Why should I not?’</p> +<p>‘There’s no reason why,’ he said. +‘What are you going to do with the monstrous thing? +It can’t stand here for ever.’</p> +<p>‘I don’t wish it,’ she said. +‘I’ll find a place.’</p> +<p>In her boudoir there was a deep recess, and while the Earl was +absent from home for a few days in the following week, she hired +joiners from the village, who under her directions enclosed the +recess with a panelled door. Into the tabernacle thus +formed she had the statue placed, fastening the door with a lock, +the key of which she kept in her pocket.</p> +<p>When her husband returned he missed the statue from the +gallery, and, concluding that it had been put away out of +deference to his feelings, made no remark. Yet at moments +he noticed something on his lady’s face which he had never +noticed there before. He could not construe it; it was a +sort of silent ecstasy, a reserved beatification. What had +become of the statue he could not divine, and growing more and +more curious, looked about here and there for it till, thinking +of her private room, he went towards that spot. After +knocking he heard the shutting of a door, and the click of a key; +but when he entered his wife was sitting at work, on what was in +those days called knotting. Lord Uplandtowers’ eye +fell upon the newly-painted door where the recess had formerly +been.</p> +<p>‘You have been carpentering in my absence then, +Barbara,’ he said carelessly.</p> +<p>‘Yes, Uplandtowers.’</p> +<p>‘Why did you go putting up such a tasteless enclosure as +that—spoiling the handsome arch of the alcove?’</p> +<p>‘I wanted more closet-room; and I thought that as this +was my own apartment—’</p> +<p>‘Of course,’ he returned. Lord Uplandtowers +knew now where the statue of young Willowes was.</p> +<p>One night, or rather in the smallest hours of the morning, he +missed the Countess from his side. Not being a man of +nervous imaginings he fell asleep again before he had much +considered the matter, and the next morning had forgotten the +incident. But a few nights later the same circumstances +occurred. This time he fully roused himself; but before he +had moved to search for her, she entered the chamber in her +dressing-gown, carrying a candle, which she extinguished as she +approached, deeming him asleep. He could discover from her +breathing that she was strangely moved; but not on this occasion +either did he reveal that he had seen her. Presently, when +she had lain down, affecting to wake, he asked her some trivial +questions. ‘Yes, <i>Edmond</i>,’ she replied +absently.</p> +<p>Lord Uplandtowers became convinced that she was in the habit +of leaving the chamber in this queer way more frequently than he +had observed, and he determined to watch. The next midnight +he feigned deep sleep, and shortly after perceived her stealthily +rise and let herself out of the room in the dark. He +slipped on some clothing and followed. At the farther end +of the corridor, where the clash of flint and steel would be out +of the hearing of one in the bed-chamber, she struck a +light. He stepped aside into an empty room till she had lit +a taper and had passed on to her boudoir. In a minute or +two he followed. Arrived at the door of the boudoir, he +beheld the door of the private recess open, and Barbara within +it, standing with her arms clasped tightly round the neck of her +Edmond, and her mouth on his. The shawl which she had +thrown round her nightclothes had slipped from her shoulders, and +her long white robe and pale face lent her the blanched +appearance of a second statue embracing the first. Between +her kisses, she apostrophized it in a low murmur of infantine +tenderness:</p> +<p>‘My only love—how could I be so cruel to you, my +perfect one—so good and true—I am ever faithful to +you, despite my seeming infidelity! I always think of +you—dream of you—during the long hours of the day, +and in the night-watches! O Edmond, I am always +yours!’ Such words as these, intermingled with sobs, +and streaming tears, and dishevelled hair, testified to an +intensity of feeling in his wife which Lord Uplandtowers had not +dreamed of her possessing.</p> +<p>‘Ha, ha!’ says he to himself. ‘This is +where we evaporate—this is where my hopes of a successor in +the title dissolve—ha, ha! This must be seen to, +verily!’</p> +<p>Lord Uplandtowers was a subtle man when once he set himself to +strategy; though in the present instance he never thought of the +simple stratagem of constant tenderness. Nor did he enter +the room and surprise his wife as a blunderer would have done, +but went back to his chamber as silently as he had left it. +When the Countess returned thither, shaken by spent sobs and +sighs, he appeared to be soundly sleeping as usual. The +next day he began his countermoves by making inquiries as to the +whereabouts of the tutor who had travelled with his wife’s +first husband; this gentleman, he found, was now master of a +grammar-school at no great distance from Knollingwood. At +the first convenient moment Lord Uplandtowers went thither and +obtained an interview with the said gentleman. The +schoolmaster was much gratified by a visit from such an +influential neighbour, and was ready to communicate anything that +his lordship desired to know.</p> +<p>After some general conversation on the school and its +progress, the visitor observed that he believed the schoolmaster +had once travelled a good deal with the unfortunate Mr. Willowes, +and had been with him on the occasion of his accident. He, +Lord Uplandtowers, was interested in knowing what had really +happened at that time, and had often thought of inquiring. +And then the Earl not only heard by word of mouth as much as he +wished to know, but, their chat becoming more intimate, the +schoolmaster drew upon paper a sketch of the disfigured head, +explaining with bated breath various details in the +representation.</p> +<p>‘It was very strange and terrible!’ said Lord +Uplandtowers, taking the sketch in his hand. ‘Neither +nose nor ears!’</p> +<p>A poor man in the town nearest to Knollingwood Hall, who +combined the art of sign-painting with ingenious mechanical +occupations, was sent for by Lord Uplandtowers to come to the +Hall on a day in that week when the Countess had gone on a short +visit to her parents. His employer made the man understand +that the business in which his assistance was demanded was to be +considered private, and money insured the observance of this +request. The lock of the cupboard was picked, and the +ingenious mechanic and painter, assisted by the +schoolmaster’s sketch, which Lord Uplandtowers had put in +his pocket, set to work upon the god-like countenance of the +statue under my lord’s direction. What the fire had +maimed in the original the chisel maimed in the copy. It +was a fiendish disfigurement, ruthlessly carried out, and was +rendered still more shocking by being tinted to the hues of life, +as life had been after the wreck.</p> +<p>Six hours after, when the workman was gone, Lord Uplandtowers +looked upon the result, and smiled grimly, and said:</p> +<p>‘A statue should represent a man as he appeared in life, +and that’s as he appeared. Ha! ha! But +’tis done to good purpose, and not idly.’</p> +<p>He locked the door of the closet with a skeleton key, and went +his way to fetch the Countess home.</p> +<p>That night she slept, but he kept awake. According to +the tale, she murmured soft words in her dream; and he knew that +the tender converse of her imaginings was held with one whom he +had supplanted but in name. At the end of her dream the +Countess of Uplandtowers awoke and arose, and then the enactment +of former nights was repeated. Her husband remained still +and listened. Two strokes sounded from the clock in the +pediment without, when, leaving the chamber-door ajar, she passed +along the corridor to the other end, where, as usual, she +obtained a light. So deep was the silence that he could +even from his bed hear her softly blowing the tinder to a glow +after striking the steel. She moved on into the boudoir, +and he heard, or fancied he heard, the turning of the key in the +closet-door. The next moment there came from that direction +a loud and prolonged shriek, which resounded to the farthest +corners of the house. It was repeated, and there was the +noise of a heavy fall.</p> +<p>Lord Uplandtowers sprang out of bed. He hastened along +the dark corridor to the door of the boudoir, which stood ajar, +and, by the light of the candle within, saw his poor young +Countess lying in a heap in her nightdress on the floor of the +closet. When he reached her side he found that she had +fainted, much to the relief of his fears that matters were +worse. He quickly shut up and locked in the hated image +which had done the mischief; and lifted his wife in his arms, +where in a few instants she opened her eyes. Pressing her +face to his without saying a word, he carried her back to her +room, endeavouring as he went to disperse her terrors by a laugh +in her ear, oddly compounded of causticity, predilection, and +brutality.</p> +<p>‘Ho—ho—ho!’ says he. +‘Frightened, dear one, hey? What a baby +’tis! Only a joke, sure, Barbara—a splendid +joke! But a baby should not go to closets at midnight to +look for the ghost of the dear departed! If it do it must +expect to be terrified at his +aspect—ho—ho—ho!’</p> +<p>When she was in her bed-chamber, and had quite come to +herself; though her nerves were still much shaken, he spoke to +her more sternly. ‘Now, my lady, answer me: do you +love him—eh?’</p> +<p>‘No—no!’ she faltered, shuddering, with her +expanded eyes fixed on her husband. ‘He is too +terrible—no, no!’</p> +<p>‘You are sure?’</p> +<p>‘Quite sure!’ replied the poor broken-spirited +Countess. But her natural elasticity asserted itself. +Next morning he again inquired of her: ‘Do you love him +now?’</p> +<p>She quailed under his gaze, but did not reply.</p> +<p>‘That means that you do still, by G---!’ he +continued.</p> +<p>‘It means that I will not tell an untruth, and do not +wish to incense my lord,’ she answered, with dignity.</p> +<p>‘Then suppose we go and have another look at +him?’ As he spoke, he suddenly took her by the wrist, +and turned as if to lead her towards the ghastly closet.</p> +<p>‘No—no! Oh—no!’ she cried, and +her desperate wriggle out of his hand revealed that the fright of +the night had left more impression upon her delicate soul than +superficially appeared.</p> +<p>‘Another dose or two, and she will be cured,’ he +said to himself.</p> +<p>It was now so generally known that the Earl and Countess were +not in accord, that he took no great trouble to disguise his +deeds in relation to this matter. During the day he ordered +four men with ropes and rollers to attend him in the +boudoir. When they arrived, the closet was open, and the +upper part of the statue tied up in canvas. He had it taken +to the sleeping-chamber. What followed is more or less +matter of conjecture. The story, as told to me, goes on to +say that, when Lady Uplandtowers retired with him that night, she +saw near the foot of the heavy oak four-poster, a tall dark +wardrobe, which had not stood there before; but she did not ask +what its presence meant.</p> +<p>‘I have had a little whim,’ he explained when they +were in the dark.</p> +<p>‘Have you?’ says she.</p> +<p>‘To erect a little shrine, as it may be +called.’</p> +<p>‘A little shrine?’</p> +<p>‘Yes; to one whom we both equally adore—eh? +I’ll show you what it contains.’</p> +<p>He pulled a cord which hung covered by the bed-curtains, and +the doors of the wardrobe slowly opened, disclosing that the +shelves within had been removed throughout, and the interior +adapted to receive the ghastly figure, which stood there as it +had stood in the boudoir, but with a wax-candle burning on each +side of it to throw the cropped and distorted features into +relief. She clutched him, uttered a low scream, and buried +her head in the bedclothes. ‘Oh, take it +away—please take it away!’ she implored.</p> +<p>‘All in good time namely, when you love me best,’ +he returned calmly. ‘You don’t quite +yet—eh?’</p> +<p>‘I don’t know—I think—O Uplandtowers, +have mercy—I cannot bear it—O, in pity, take it +away!’</p> +<p>‘Nonsense; one gets accustomed to anything. Take +another gaze.’</p> +<p>In short, he allowed the doors to remain unclosed at the foot +of the bed, and the wax-tapers burning; and such was the strange +fascination of the grisly exhibition that a morbid curiosity took +possession of the Countess as she lay, and, at his repeated +request, she did again look out from the coverlet, shuddered, hid +her eyes, and looked again, all the while begging him to take it +away, or it would drive her out of her senses. But he would +not do so as yet, and the wardrobe was not locked till dawn.</p> +<p>The scene was repeated the next night. Firm in enforcing +his ferocious correctives, he continued the treatment till the +nerves of the poor lady were quivering in agony under the +virtuous tortures inflicted by her lord, to bring her truant +heart back to faithfulness.</p> +<p>The third night, when the scene had opened as usual, and she +lay staring with immense wild eyes at the horrid fascination, on +a sudden she gave an unnatural laugh; she laughed more and more, +staring at the image, till she literally shrieked with laughter: +then there was silence, and he found her to have become +insensible. He thought she had fainted, but soon saw that +the event was worse: she was in an epileptic fit. He +started up, dismayed by the sense that, like many other subtle +personages, he had been too exacting for his own interests. +Such love as he was capable of, though rather a selfish gloating +than a cherishing solicitude, was fanned into life on the +instant. He closed the wardrobe with the pulley, clasped +her in his arms, took her gently to the window, and did all he +could to restore her.</p> +<p>It was a long time before the Countess came to herself, and +when she did so, a considerable change seemed to have taken place +in her emotions. She flung her arms around him, and with +gasps of fear abjectly kissed him many times, at last bursting +into tears. She had never wept in this scene before.</p> +<p>‘You’ll take it away, dearest—you +will!’ she begged plaintively.</p> +<p>‘If you love me.’</p> +<p>‘I do—oh, I do!’</p> +<p>‘And hate him, and his memory?’</p> +<p>‘Yes—yes!’</p> +<p>‘Thoroughly?’</p> +<p>‘I cannot endure recollection of him!’ cried the +poor Countess slavishly. ‘It fills me with +shame—how could I ever be so depraved! I’ll +never behave badly again, Uplandtowers; and you will never put +the hated statue again before my eyes?’</p> +<p>He felt that he could promise with perfect safety. +‘Never,’ said he.</p> +<p>‘And then I’ll love you,’ she returned +eagerly, as if dreading lest the scourge should be applied +anew. ‘And I’ll never, never dream of thinking +a single thought that seems like faithlessness to my marriage +vow.’</p> +<p>The strange thing now was that this fictitious love wrung from +her by terror took on, through mere habit of enactment, a certain +quality of reality. A servile mood of attachment to the +Earl became distinctly visible in her contemporaneously with an +actual dislike for her late husband’s memory. The +mood of attachment grew and continued when the statue was +removed. A permanent revulsion was operant in her, which +intensified as time wore on. How fright could have effected +such a change of idiosyncrasy learned physicians alone can say; +but I believe such cases of reactionary instinct are not +unknown.</p> +<p>The upshot was that the cure became so permanent as to be +itself a new disease. She clung to him so tightly, that she +would not willingly be out of his sight for a moment. She +would have no sitting-room apart from his, though she could not +help starting when he entered suddenly to her. Her eyes +were well-nigh always fixed upon him. If he drove out, she +wished to go with him; his slightest civilities to other women +made her frantically jealous; till at length her very fidelity +became a burden to him, absorbing his time, and curtailing his +liberty, and causing him to curse and swear. If he ever +spoke sharply to her now, she did not revenge herself by flying +off to a mental world of her own; all that affection for another, +which had provided her with a resource, was now a cold black +cinder.</p> +<p>From that time the life of this scared and enervated +lady—whose existence might have been developed to so much +higher purpose but for the ignoble ambition of her parents and +the conventions of the time—was one of obsequious +amativeness towards a perverse and cruel man. Little +personal events came to her in quick succession—half a +dozen, eight, nine, ten such events,—in brief; she bore him +no less than eleven children in the eight following years, but +half of them came prematurely into the world, or died a few days +old; only one, a girl, attained to maturity; she in after years +became the wife of the Honourable Mr. Beltonleigh, who was +created Lord D’Almaine, as may be remembered.</p> +<p>There was no living son and heir. At length, completely +worn out in mind and body, Lady Uplandtowers was taken abroad by +her husband, to try the effect of a more genial climate upon her +wasted frame. But nothing availed to strengthen her, and +she died at Florence, a few months after her arrival in +Italy.</p> +<p>Contrary to expectation, the Earl of Uplandtowers did not +marry again. Such affection as existed in +him—strange, hard, brutal as it was—seemed +untransferable, and the title, as is known, passed at his death +to his nephew. Perhaps it may not be so generally known +that, during the enlargement of the Hall for the sixth Earl, +while digging in the grounds for the new foundations, the broken +fragments of a marble statue were unearthed. They were +submitted to various antiquaries, who said that, so far as the +damaged pieces would allow them to form an opinion, the statue +seemed to be that of a mutilated Roman satyr; or if not, an +allegorical figure of Death. Only one or two old +inhabitants guessed whose statue those fragments had +composed.</p> +<p>I should have added that, shortly after the death of the +Countess, an excellent sermon was preached by the Dean of +Melchester, the subject of which, though names were not +mentioned, was unquestionably suggested by the aforesaid +events. He dwelt upon the folly of indulgence in sensuous +love for a handsome form merely; and showed that the only +rational and virtuous growths of that affection were those based +upon intrinsic worth. In the case of the tender but +somewhat shallow lady whose life I have related, there is no +doubt that an infatuation for the person of young Willowes was +the chief feeling that induced her to marry him; which was the +more deplorable in that his beauty, by all tradition, was the +least of his recommendations, every report bearing out the +inference that he must have been a man of steadfast nature, +bright intelligence, and promising life.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>The company thanked the old surgeon for his story, which the +rural dean declared to be a far more striking one than anything +he could hope to tell. An elderly member of the Club, who +was mostly called the Bookworm, said that a woman’s natural +instinct of fidelity would, indeed, send back her heart to a man +after his death in a truly wonderful manner sometimes—if +anything occurred to put before her forcibly the original +affection between them, and his original aspect in her +eyes,—whatever his inferiority may have been, social or +otherwise; and then a general conversation ensued upon the power +that a woman has of seeing the actual in the representation, the +reality in the dream—a power which (according to the +sentimental member) men have no faculty of equalling.</p> +<p>The rural dean thought that such cases as that related by the +surgeon were rather an illustration of passion electrified back +to life than of a latent, true affection. The story had +suggested that he should try to recount to them one which he had +used to hear in his youth, and which afforded an instance of the +latter and better kind of feeling, his heroine being also a lady +who had married beneath her, though he feared his narrative would +be of a much slighter kind than the surgeon’s. The +Club begged him to proceed, and the parson began.</p> +<h2>DAME THE THIRD—THE MARCHIONESS OF STONEHENGE<br /> +By the Rural Dean</h2> +<p>I would have you know, then, that a great many years ago there +lived in a classical mansion with which I used to be familiar, +standing not a hundred miles from the city of Melchester, a lady +whose personal charms were so rare and unparalleled that she was +courted, flattered, and spoilt by almost all the young noblemen +and gentlemen in that part of Wessex. For a time these +attentions pleased her well. But as, in the words of good +Robert South (whose sermons might be read much more than they +are), the most passionate lover of sport, if tied to follow his +hawks and hounds every day of his life, would find the pursuit +the greatest torment and calamity, and would fly to the mines and +galleys for his recreation, so did this lofty and beautiful lady +after a while become satiated with the constant iteration of what +she had in its novelty enjoyed; and by an almost natural +revulsion turned her regards absolutely netherward, socially +speaking. She perversely and passionately centred her +affection on quite a plain-looking young man of humble birth and +no position at all; though it is true that he was gentle and +delicate in nature, of good address, and guileless heart. +In short, he was the parish-clerk’s son, acting as +assistant to the land-steward of her father, the Earl of Avon, +with the hope of becoming some day a land-steward himself. +It should be said that perhaps the Lady Caroline (as she was +called) was a little stimulated in this passion by the discovery +that a young girl of the village already loved the young man +fondly, and that he had paid some attentions to her, though +merely of a casual and good-natured kind.</p> +<p>Since his occupation brought him frequently to the manor-house +and its environs, Lady Caroline could make ample opportunities of +seeing and speaking to him. She had, in Chaucer’s +phrase, ‘all the craft of fine loving’ at her +fingers’ ends, and the young man, being of a +readily-kindling heart, was quick to notice the tenderness in her +eyes and voice. He could not at first believe in his good +fortune, having no understanding of her weariness of more +artificial men; but a time comes when the stupidest sees in an +eye the glance of his other half; and it came to him, who was +quite the reverse of dull. As he gained confidence +accidental encounters led to encounters by design; till at length +when they were alone together there was no reserve on the +matter. They whispered tender words as other lovers do, and +were as devoted a pair as ever was seen. But not a ray or +symptom of this attachment was allowed to show itself to the +outer world.</p> +<p>Now, as she became less and less scrupulous towards him under +the influence of her affection, and he became more and more +reverential under the influence of his, and they looked the +situation in the face together, their condition seemed +intolerable in its hopelessness. That she could ever ask to +be allowed to marry him, or could hold her tongue and quietly +renounce him, was equally beyond conception. They resolved +upon a third course, possessing neither of the disadvantages of +these two: to wed secretly, and live on in outward appearance the +same as before. In this they differed from the lovers of my +friend’s story.</p> +<p>Not a soul in the parental mansion guessed, when Lady Caroline +came coolly into the hall one day after a visit to her aunt, +that, during that visit, her lover and herself had found an +opportunity of uniting themselves till death should part +them. Yet such was the fact; the young woman who rode fine +horses, and drove in pony-chaises, and was saluted deferentially +by every one, and the young man who trudged about, and directed +the tree-felling, and the laying out of fish-ponds in the park, +were husband and wife.</p> +<p>As they had planned, so they acted to the letter for the space +of a month and more, clandestinely meeting when and where they +best could do so; both being supremely happy and content. +To be sure, towards the latter part of that month, when the first +wild warmth of her love had gone off, the Lady Caroline sometimes +wondered within herself how she, who might have chosen a peer of +the realm, baronet, knight; or, if serious-minded, a bishop or +judge of the more gallant sort who prefer young wives, could have +brought herself to do a thing so rash as to make this marriage; +particularly when, in their private meetings, she perceived that +though her young husband was full of ideas, and fairly well read, +they had not a single social experience in common. It was +his custom to visit her after nightfall, in her own house, when +he could find no opportunity for an interview elsewhere; and to +further this course she would contrive to leave unfastened a +window on the ground-floor overlooking the lawn, by entering +which a back stair-case was accessible; so that he could climb up +to her apartments, and gain audience of his lady when the house +was still.</p> +<p>One dark midnight, when he had not been able to see her during +the day, he made use of this secret method, as he had done many +times before; and when they had remained in company about an hour +he declared that it was time for him to descend.</p> +<p>He would have stayed longer, but that the interview had been a +somewhat painful one. What she had said to him that night +had much excited and angered him, for it had revealed a change in +her; cold reason had come to his lofty wife; she was beginning to +have more anxiety about her own position and prospects than +ardour for him. Whether from the agitation of this +perception or not, he was seized with a spasm; he gasped, rose, +and in moving towards the window for air he uttered in a short +thick whisper, ‘Oh, my heart!’</p> +<p>With his hand upon his chest he sank down to the floor before +he had gone another step. By the time that she had +relighted the candle, which had been extinguished in case any eye +in the opposite grounds should witness his egress, she found that +his poor heart had ceased to beat; and there rushed upon her mind +what his cottage-friends had once told her, that he was liable to +attacks of heart-disease, one of which, the doctor had informed +them, might some day carry him off.</p> +<p>Accustomed as she was to doctoring the other parishioners, +nothing that she could effect upon him in that kind made any +difference whatever; and his stillness, and the increasing +coldness of his feet and hands, disclosed too surely to the +affrighted young woman that her husband was dead indeed. +For more than an hour, however, she did not abandon her efforts +to restore him; when she fully realized the fact that he was a +corpse she bent over his body, distracted and bewildered as to +what step she next should take.</p> +<p>Her first feelings had undoubtedly been those of passionate +grief at the loss of him; her second thoughts were concern at her +own position as the daughter of an earl. ‘Oh, why, +why, my unfortunate husband, did you die in my chamber at this +hour!’ she said piteously to the corpse. ‘Why +not have died in your own cottage if you would die! Then +nobody would ever have known of our imprudent union, and no +syllable would have been breathed of how I mismated myself for +love of you!’</p> +<p>The clock in the courtyard striking the hour of one aroused +Lady Caroline from the stupor into which she had fallen, and she +stood up, and went towards the door. To awaken and tell her +mother seemed her only way out of this terrible situation; yet +when she put her hand on the key to unlock it she withdrew +herself again. It would be impossible to call even her +mother’s assistance without risking a revelation to all the +world through the servants; while if she could remove the body +unassisted to a distance she might avert suspicion of their union +even now. This thought of immunity from the social +consequences of her rash act, of renewed freedom, was indubitably +a relief to her, for, as has been said, the constraint and +riskiness of her position had begun to tell upon the Lady +Caroline’s nerves.</p> +<p>She braced herself for the effort, and hastily dressed +herself; and then dressed him. Tying his dead hands +together with a handkerchief; she laid his arms round her +shoulders, and bore him to the landing and down the narrow +stairs. Reaching the bottom by the window, she let his body +slide slowly over the sill till it lay on the ground +without. She then climbed over the window-sill herself, +and, leaving the sash open, dragged him on to the lawn with a +rustle not louder than the rustle of a broom. There she +took a securer hold, and plunged with him under the trees.</p> +<p>Away from the precincts of the house she could apply herself +more vigorously to her task, which was a heavy one enough for +her, robust as she was; and the exertion and fright she had +already undergone began to tell upon her by the time she reached +the corner of a beech-plantation which intervened between the +manor-house and the village. Here she was so nearly +exhausted that she feared she might have to leave him on the +spot. But she plodded on after a while, and keeping upon +the grass at every opportunity she stood at last opposite the +poor young man’s garden-gate, where he lived with his +father, the parish-clerk. How she accomplished the end of +her task Lady Caroline never quite knew; but, to avoid leaving +traces in the road, she carried him bodily across the gravel, and +laid him down at the door. Perfectly aware of his ways of +coming and going, she searched behind the shutter for the cottage +door-key, which she placed in his cold hand. Then she +kissed his face for the last time, and with silent little sobs +bade him farewell.</p> +<p>Lady Caroline retraced her steps, and reached the mansion +without hindrance; and to her great relief found the window open +just as she had left it. When she had climbed in she +listened attentively, fastened the window behind her, and +ascending the stairs noiselessly to her room, set everything in +order, and returned to bed.</p> +<p>The next morning it was speedily echoed around that the +amiable and gentle young villager had been found dead outside his +father’s door, which he had apparently been in the act of +unlocking when he fell. The circumstances were sufficiently +exceptional to justify an inquest, at which syncope from +heart-disease was ascertained to be beyond doubt the explanation +of his death, and no more was said about the matter then. +But, after the funeral, it was rumoured that some man who had +been returning late from a distant horse-fair had seen in the +gloom of night a person, apparently a woman, dragging a heavy +body of some sort towards the cottage-gate, which, by the light +of after events, would seem to have been the corpse of the young +fellow. His clothes were thereupon examined more +particularly than at first, with the result that marks of +friction were visible upon them here and there, precisely +resembling such as would be left by dragging on the ground.</p> +<p>Our beautiful and ingenious Lady Caroline was now in great +consternation; and began to think that, after all, it might have +been better to honestly confess the truth. But having +reached this stage without discovery or suspicion, she determined +to make another effort towards concealment; and a bright idea +struck her as a means of securing it. I think I mentioned +that, before she cast eyes on the unfortunate steward’s +clerk, he had been the beloved of a certain village damsel, the +woodman’s daughter, his neighbour, to whom he had paid some +attentions; and possibly he was beloved of her still. At +any rate, the Lady Caroline’s influence on the estates of +her father being considerable, she resolved to seek an interview +with the young girl in furtherance of her plan to save her +reputation, about which she was now exceedingly anxious; for by +this time, the fit being over, she began to be ashamed of her mad +passion for her late husband, and almost wished she had never +seen him.</p> +<p>In the course of her parish-visiting she lighted on the young +girl without much difficulty, and found her looking pale and sad, +and wearing a simple black gown, which she had put on out of +respect for the young man’s memory, whom she had tenderly +loved, though he had not loved her.</p> +<p>‘Ah, you have lost your lover, Milly,’ said Lady +Caroline.</p> +<p>The young woman could not repress her tears. ‘My +lady, he was not quite my lover,’ she said. +‘But I was his—and now he is dead I don’t care +to live any more!’</p> +<p>‘Can you keep a secret about him?’ asks the lady; +‘one in which his honour is involved—which is known +to me alone, but should be known to you?’</p> +<p>The girl readily promised, and, indeed, could be safely +trusted on such a subject, so deep was her affection for the +youth she mourned.</p> +<p>‘Then meet me at his grave to-night, half-an-hour after +sunset, and I will tell it to you,’ says the other.</p> +<p>In the dusk of that spring evening the two shadowy figures of +the young women converged upon the assistant-steward’s +newly-turfed mound; and at that solemn place and hour, the one of +birth and beauty unfolded her tale: how she had loved him and +married him secretly; how he had died in her chamber; and how, to +keep her secret, she had dragged him to his own door.</p> +<p>‘Married him, my lady!’ said the rustic maiden, +starting back.</p> +<p>‘I have said so,’ replied Lady Caroline. +‘But it was a mad thing, and a mistaken course. He +ought to have married you. You, Milly, were peculiarly +his. But you lost him.’</p> +<p>‘Yes,’ said the poor girl; ‘and for that +they laughed at me. “Ha—ha, you mid love him, +Milly,” they said; “but he will not love +you!”’</p> +<p>‘Victory over such unkind jeerers would be sweet,’ +said Lady Caroline. ‘You lost him in life; but you +may have him in death <i>as if</i> you had had him in life; and +so turn the tables upon them.’</p> +<p>‘How?’ said the breathless girl.</p> +<p>The young lady then unfolded her plan, which was that Milly +should go forward and declare that the young man had contracted a +secret marriage (as he truly had done); that it was with her, +Milly, his sweetheart; that he had been visiting her in her +cottage on the evening of his death; when, on finding he was a +corpse, she had carried him to his house to prevent discovery by +her parents, and that she had meant to keep the whole matter a +secret till the rumours afloat had forced it from her.</p> +<p>‘And how shall I prove this?’ said the +woodman’s daughter, amazed at the boldness of the +proposal.</p> +<p>‘Quite sufficiently. You can say, if necessary, +that you were married to him at the church of St. Michael, in +Bath City, in my name, as the first that occurred to you, to +escape detection. That was where he married me. I +will support you in this.’</p> +<p>‘Oh—I don’t quite like—’</p> +<p>‘If you will do so,’ said the lady peremptorily, +‘I will always be your father’s friend and yours; if +not, it will be otherwise. And I will give you my +wedding-ring, which you shall wear as yours.’</p> +<p>‘Have you worn it, my lady?’</p> +<p>‘Only at night.’</p> +<p>There was not much choice in the matter, and Milly +consented. Then this noble lady took from her bosom the +ring she had never been able openly to exhibit, and, grasping the +young girl’s hand, slipped it upon her finger as she stood +upon her lover’s grave.</p> +<p>Milly shivered, and bowed her head, saying, ‘I feel as +if I had become a corpse’s bride!’</p> +<p>But from that moment the maiden was heart and soul in the +substitution. A blissful repose came over her spirit. +It seemed to her that she had secured in death him whom in life +she had vainly idolized; and she was almost content. After +that the lady handed over to the young man’s new wife all +the little mementoes and trinkets he had given herself; even to a +locket containing his hair.</p> +<p>The next day the girl made her so-called confession, which the +simple mourning she had already worn, without stating for whom, +seemed to bear out; and soon the story of the little romance +spread through the village and country-side, almost as far as +Melchester. It was a curious psychological fact that, +having once made the avowal, Milly seemed possessed with a spirit +of ecstasy at her position. With the liberal sum of money +supplied to her by Lady Caroline she now purchased the garb of a +widow, and duly appeared at church in her weeds, her simple face +looking so sweet against its margin of crape that she was almost +envied her state by the other village-girls of her age. And +when a woman’s sorrow for her beloved can maim her young +life so obviously as it had done Milly’s there was, in +truth, little subterfuge in the case. Her explanation +tallied so well with the details of her lover’s latter +movements—those strange absences and sudden returnings, +which had occasionally puzzled his friends—that nobody +supposed for a moment that the second actor in these secret +nuptials was other than she. The actual and whole truth +would indeed have seemed a preposterous assertion beside this +plausible one, by reason of the lofty demeanour of the Lady +Caroline and the unassuming habits of the late villager. +There being no inheritance in question, not a soul took the +trouble to go to the city church, forty miles off, and search the +registers for marriage signatures bearing out so humble a +romance.</p> +<p>In a short time Milly caused a decent tombstone to be erected +over her nominal husband’s grave, whereon appeared the +statement that it was placed there by his heartbroken widow, +which, considering that the payment for it came from Lady +Caroline and the grief from Milly, was as truthful as such +inscriptions usually are, and only required pluralizing to render +it yet more nearly so.</p> +<p>The impressionable and complaisant Milly, in her character of +widow, took delight in going to his grave every day, and +indulging in sorrow which was a positive luxury to her. She +placed fresh flowers on his grave, and so keen was her emotional +imaginativeness that she almost believed herself to have been his +wife indeed as she walked to and fro in her garb of woe. +One afternoon, Milly being busily engaged in this labour of love +at the grave, Lady Caroline passed outside the churchyard wall +with some of her visiting friends, who, seeing Milly there, +watched her actions with interest, remarked upon the pathos of +the scene, and upon the intense affection the young man must have +felt for such a tender creature as Milly. A strange light, +as of pain, shot from the Lady Caroline’s eye, as if for +the first time she begrudged to the young girl the position she +had been at such pains to transfer to her; it showed that a +slumbering affection for her husband still had life in Lady +Caroline, obscured and stifled as it was by social +considerations.</p> +<p>An end was put to this smooth arrangement by the sudden +appearance in the churchyard one day of the Lady Caroline, when +Milly had come there on her usual errand of laying flowers. +Lady Caroline had been anxiously awaiting her behind the chancel, +and her countenance was pale and agitated.</p> +<p>‘Milly!’ she said, ‘come here! I +don’t know how to say to you what I am going to say. +I am half dead!’</p> +<p>‘I am sorry for your ladyship,’ says Milly, +wondering.</p> +<p>‘Give me that ring!’ says the lady, snatching at +the girl’s left hand.</p> +<p>Milly drew it quickly away.</p> +<p>‘I tell you give it to me!’ repeated Caroline, +almost fiercely. ‘Oh—but you don’t know +why? I am in a grief and a trouble I did not +expect!’ And Lady Caroline whispered a few words to +the girl.</p> +<p>‘O my lady!’ said the thunderstruck Milly. +‘What <i>will</i> you do?’</p> +<p>‘You must say that your statement was a wicked lie, an +invention, a scandal, a deadly sin—that I told you to make +it to screen me! That it was I whom he married at +Bath. In short, we must tell the truth, or I am +ruined—body, mind, and reputation—for +ever!’</p> +<p>But there is a limit to the flexibility of gentle-souled +women. Milly by this time had so grown to the idea of being +one flesh with this young man, of having the right to bear his +name as she bore it; had so thoroughly come to regard him as her +husband, to dream of him as her husband, to speak of him as her +husband, that she could not relinquish him at a moment’s +peremptory notice.</p> +<p>‘No, no,’ she said desperately, ‘I cannot, I +will not give him up! Your ladyship took him away from me +alive, and gave him back to me only when he was dead. Now I +will keep him! I am truly his widow. More truly than +you, my lady! for I love him and mourn for him, and call myself +by his dear name, and your ladyship does neither!’</p> +<p>‘I <i>do</i> love him!’ cries Lady Caroline with +flashing eyes, ‘and I cling to him, and won’t let him +go to such as you! How can I, when he is the father of this +poor babe that’s coming to me? I must have him back +again! Milly, Milly, can’t you pity and understand +me, perverse girl that you are, and the miserable plight that I +am in? Oh, this precipitancy—it is the ruin of +women! Why did I not consider, and wait! Come, give +me back all that I have given you, and assure me you will support +me in confessing the truth!’</p> +<p>‘Never, never!’ persisted Milly, with woe-begone +passionateness. ‘Look at this headstone! Look +at my gown and bonnet of crape—this ring: listen to the +name they call me by! My character is worth as much to me +as yours is to you! After declaring my Love mine, myself +his, taking his name, making his death my own particular sorrow, +how can I say it was not so? No such dishonour for +me! I will outswear you, my lady; and I shall be +believed. My story is so much the more likely that yours +will be thought false. But, O please, my lady, do not drive +me to this! In pity let me keep him!’</p> +<p>The poor nominal widow exhibited such anguish at a proposal +which would have been truly a bitter humiliation to her, that +Lady Caroline was warmed to pity in spite of her own +condition.</p> +<p>‘Yes, I see your position,’ she answered. +‘But think of mine! What can I do? Without your +support it would seem an invention to save me from disgrace; even +if I produced the register, the love of scandal in the world is +such that the multitude would slur over the fact, say it was a +fabrication, and believe your story. I do not know who were +the witnesses, or anything!’</p> +<p>In a few minutes these two poor young women felt, as so many +in a strait have felt before, that union was their greatest +strength, even now; and they consulted calmly together. The +result of their deliberations was that Milly went home as usual, +and Lady Caroline also, the latter confessing that very night to +the Countess her mother of the marriage, and to nobody else in +the world. And, some time after, Lady Caroline and her +mother went away to London, where a little while later still they +were joined by Milly, who was supposed to have left the village +to proceed to a watering-place in the North for the benefit of +her health, at the expense of the ladies of the Manor, who had +been much interested in her state of lonely and defenceless +widowhood.</p> +<p>Early the next year the widow Milly came home with an infant +in her arms, the family at the Manor House having meanwhile gone +abroad. They did not return from their tour till the autumn +ensuing, by which time Milly and the child had again departed +from the cottage of her father the woodman, Milly having attained +to the dignity of dwelling in a cottage of her own, many miles to +the eastward of her native village; a comfortable little +allowance had moreover been settled on her and the child for +life, through the instrumentality of Lady Caroline and her +mother.</p> +<p>Two or three years passed away, and the Lady Caroline married +a nobleman—the Marquis of Stonehenge—considerably her +senior, who had wooed her long and phlegmatically. He was +not rich, but she led a placid life with him for many years, +though there was no child of the marriage. Meanwhile +Milly’s boy, as the youngster was called, and as Milly +herself considered him, grew up, and throve wonderfully, and +loved her as she deserved to be loved for her devotion to him, in +whom she every day traced more distinctly the lineaments of the +man who had won her girlish heart, and kept it even in the +tomb.</p> +<p>She educated him as well as she could with the limited means +at her disposal, for the allowance had never been increased, Lady +Caroline, or the Marchioness of Stonehenge as she now was, +seeming by degrees to care little what had become of them. +Milly became extremely ambitious on the boy’s account; she +pinched herself almost of necessaries to send him to the Grammar +School in the town to which they retired, and at twenty he +enlisted in a cavalry regiment, joining it with a deliberate +intent of making the Army his profession, and not in a freak of +idleness. His exceptional attainments, his manly bearing, +his steady conduct, speedily won him promotion, which was +furthered by the serious war in which this country was at that +time engaged. On his return to England after the peace he +had risen to the rank of riding-master, and was soon after +advanced another stage, and made quartermaster, though still a +young man.</p> +<p>His mother—his corporeal mother, that is, the +Marchioness of Stonehenge—heard tidings of this unaided +progress; it reawakened her maternal instincts, and filled her +with pride. She became keenly interested in her successful +soldier-son; and as she grew older much wished to see him again, +particularly when, the Marquis dying, she was left a solitary and +childless widow. Whether or not she would have gone to him +of her own impulse I cannot say; but one day, when she was +driving in an open carriage in the outskirts of a neighbouring +town, the troops lying at the barracks hard by passed her in +marching order. She eyed them narrowly, and in the finest +of the horsemen recognized her son from his likeness to her first +husband.</p> +<p>This sight of him doubly intensified the motherly emotions +which had lain dormant in her for so many years, and she wildly +asked herself how she could so have neglected him? Had she +possessed the true courage of affection she would have owned to +her first marriage, and have reared him as her son! What +would it have mattered if she had never obtained this precious +coronet of pearls and gold leaves, by comparison with the gain of +having the love and protection of such a noble and worthy +son? These and other sad reflections cut the gloomy and +solitary lady to the heart; and she repented of her pride in +disclaiming her first husband more bitterly than she had ever +repented of her infatuation in marrying him.</p> +<p>Her yearning was so strong, that at length it seemed to her +that she could not live without announcing herself to him as his +mother. Come what might, she would do it: late as it was, +she would have him away from that woman whom she began to hate +with the fierceness of a deserted heart, for having taken her +place as the mother of her only child. She felt confidently +enough that her son would only too gladly exchange a +cottage-mother for one who was a peeress of the realm. +Being now, in her widowhood, free to come and go as she chose, +without question from anybody, Lady Stonehenge started next day +for the little town where Milly yet lived, still in her robes of +sable for the lost lover of her youth.</p> +<p>‘He is <i>my</i> son,’ said the Marchioness, as +soon as she was alone in the cottage with Milly. ‘You +must give him back to me, now that I am in a position in which I +can defy the world’s opinion. I suppose he comes to +see you continually?’</p> +<p>‘Every month since he returned from the war, my +lady. And sometimes he stays two or three days, and takes +me about seeing sights everywhere!’ She spoke with +quiet triumph.</p> +<p>‘Well, you will have to give him up,’ said the +Marchioness calmly. ‘It shall not be the worse for +you—you may see him when you choose. I am going to +avow my first marriage, and have him with me.’</p> +<p>‘You forget that there are two to be reckoned with, my +lady. Not only me, but himself.’</p> +<p>‘That can be arranged. You don’t suppose +that he wouldn’t—’ But not wishing to +insult Milly by comparing their positions, she said, ‘He is +my own flesh and blood, not yours.’</p> +<p>‘Flesh and blood’s nothing!’ said Milly, +flashing with as much scorn as a cottager could show to a +peeress, which, in this case, was not so little as may be +supposed. ‘But I will agree to put it to him, and let +him settle it for himself.’</p> +<p>‘That’s all I require,’ said Lady +Stonehenge. ‘You must ask him to come, and I will +meet him here.’</p> +<p>The soldier was written to, and the meeting took place. +He was not so much astonished at the disclosure of his parentage +as Lady Stonehenge had been led to expect, having known for years +that there was a little mystery about his birth. His manner +towards the Marchioness, though respectful, was less warm than +she could have hoped. The alternatives as to his choice of +a mother were put before him. His answer amazed and +stupefied her.</p> +<p>‘No, my lady,’ he said. ‘Thank you +much, but I prefer to let things be as they have been. My +father’s name is mine in any case. You see, my lady, +you cared little for me when I was weak and helpless; why should +I come to you now I am strong? She, dear devoted soul +[pointing to Milly], tended me from my birth, watched over me, +nursed me when I was ill, and deprived herself of many a little +comfort to push me on. I cannot love another mother as I +love her. She <i>is</i> my mother, and I will always be her +son!’ As he spoke he put his manly arm round +Milly’s neck, and kissed her with the tenderest +affection.</p> +<p>The agony of the poor Marchioness was pitiable. +‘You kill me!’ she said, between her shaking +sobs. ‘Cannot +you—love—me—too?’</p> +<p>‘No, my lady. If I must say it, you were ashamed +of my poor father, who was a sincere and honest man; therefore, I +am ashamed of you.’</p> +<p>Nothing would move him; and the suffering woman at last +gasped, ‘Cannot—oh, cannot you give one kiss to +me—as you did to her? It is not much—it is all +I ask—all!’</p> +<p>‘Certainly,’ he replied.</p> +<p>He kissed her coldly, and the painful scene came to an +end. That day was the beginning of death to the unfortunate +Marchioness of Stonehenge. It was in the perverseness of +her human heart that his denial of her should add fuel to the +fire of her craving for his love. How long afterwards she +lived I do not know with any exactness, but it was no great +length of time. That anguish that is sharper than a +serpent’s tooth wore her out soon. Utterly reckless +of the world, its ways, and its opinions, she allowed her story +to become known; and when the welcome end supervened (which, I +grieve to say, she refused to lighten by the consolations of +religion), a broken heart was the truest phrase in which to sum +up its cause.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>The rural dean having concluded, some observations upon his +tale were made in due course. The sentimental member said +that Lady Caroline’s history afforded a sad instance of how +an honest human affection will become shamefaced and mean under +the frost of class-division and social prejudices. She +probably deserved some pity; though her offspring, before he grew +up to man’s estate, had deserved more. There was no +pathos like the pathos of childhood, when a child found itself in +a world where it was not wanted, and could not understand the +reason why. A tale by the speaker, further illustrating the +same subject, though with different results from the last, +naturally followed.</p> +<h2>DAME THE FOURTH—LADY MOTTISFONT<br /> +By the Sentimental Member</h2> +<p>Of all the romantic towns in Wessex, Wintoncester is probably +the most convenient for meditative people to live in; since there +you have a cathedral with a nave so long that it affords space in +which to walk and summon your remoter moods without continually +turning on your heel, or seeming to do more than take an +afternoon stroll under cover from the rain or sun. In an +uninterrupted course of nearly three hundred steps eastward, and +again nearly three hundred steps westward amid those magnificent +tombs, you can, for instance, compare in the most leisurely way +the dry dustiness which ultimately pervades the persons of kings +and bishops with the damper dustiness that is usually the final +shape of commoners, curates, and others who take their last rest +out of doors. Then, if you are in love, you can, by +sauntering in the chapels and behind the episcopal chantries with +the bright-eyed one, so steep and mellow your ecstasy in the +solemnities around, that it will assume a rarer and finer +tincture, even more grateful to the understanding, if not to the +senses, than that form of the emotion which arises from such +companionship in spots where all is life, and growth, and +fecundity.</p> +<p>It was in this solemn place, whither they had withdrawn from +the sight of relatives on one cold day in March, that Sir Ashley +Mottisfont asked in marriage, as his second wife, Philippa, the +gentle daughter of plain Squire Okehall. Her life had been +an obscure one thus far; while Sir Ashley, though not a rich man, +had a certain distinction about him; so that everybody thought +what a convenient, elevating, and, in a word, blessed match it +would be for such a supernumerary as she. Nobody thought so +more than the amiable girl herself. She had been smitten +with such affection for him that, when she walked the cathedral +aisles at his side on the before-mentioned day, she did not know +that her feet touched hard pavement; it seemed to her rather that +she was floating in space. Philippa was an ecstatic, +heart-thumping maiden, and could not understand how she had +deserved to have sent to her such an illustrious lover, such a +travelled personage, such a handsome man.</p> +<p>When he put the question, it was in no clumsy language, such +as the ordinary bucolic county landlords were wont to use on like +quivering occasions, but as elegantly as if he had been taught it +in Enfield’s <i>Speaker</i>. Yet he hesitated a +little—for he had something to add.</p> +<p>‘My pretty Philippa,’ he said (she was not very +pretty by the way), ‘I have, you must know, a little girl +dependent upon me: a little waif I found one day in a patch of +wild oats [such was this worthy baronet’s humour] when I +was riding home: a little nameless creature, whom I wish to take +care of till she is old enough to take care of herself; and to +educate in a plain way. She is only fifteen months old, and +is at present in the hands of a kind villager’s wife in my +parish. Will you object to give some attention to the +little thing in her helplessness?’</p> +<p>It need hardly be said that our innocent young lady, loving +him so deeply and joyfully as she did, replied that she would do +all she could for the nameless child; and, shortly afterwards, +the pair were married in the same cathedral that had echoed the +whispers of his declaration, the officiating minister being the +Bishop himself; a venerable and experienced man, so well +accomplished in uniting people who had a mind for that sort of +experiment, that the couple, with some sense of surprise, found +themselves one while they were still vaguely gazing at each other +as two independent beings.</p> +<p>After this operation they went home to Deansleigh Park, and +made a beginning of living happily ever after. Lady +Mottisfont, true to her promise, was always running down to the +village during the following weeks to see the baby whom her +husband had so mysteriously lighted on during his ride +home—concerning which interesting discovery she had her own +opinion; but being so extremely amiable and affectionate that she +could have loved stocks and stones if there had been no living +creatures to love, she uttered none of her thoughts. The +little thing, who had been christened Dorothy, took to Lady +Mottisfont as if the baronet’s young wife had been her +mother; and at length Philippa grew so fond of the child that she +ventured to ask her husband if she might have Dorothy in her own +home, and bring her up carefully, just as if she were her +own. To this he answered that, though remarks might be made +thereon, he had no objection; a fact which was obvious, Sir +Ashley seeming rather pleased than otherwise with the +proposal.</p> +<p>After this they lived quietly and uneventfully for two or +three years at Sir Ashley Mottisfont’s residence in that +part of England, with as near an approach to bliss as the climate +of this country allows. The child had been a godsend to +Philippa, for there seemed no great probability of her having one +of her own: and she wisely regarded the possession of Dorothy as +a special kindness of Providence, and did not worry her mind at +all as to Dorothy’s possible origin. Being a tender +and impulsive creature, she loved her husband without criticism, +exhaustively and religiously, and the child not much +otherwise. She watched the little foundling as if she had +been her own by nature, and Dorothy became a great solace to her +when her husband was absent on pleasure or business; and when he +came home he looked pleased to see how the two had won each +other’s hearts. Sir Ashley would kiss his wife, and +his wife would kiss little Dorothy, and little Dorothy would kiss +Sir Ashley, and after this triangular burst of affection Lady +Mottisfont would say, ‘Dear me—I forget she is not +mine!’</p> +<p>‘What does it matter?’ her husband would +reply. ‘Providence is fore-knowing. He has sent +us this one because he is not intending to send us one by any +other channel.’</p> +<p>Their life was of the simplest. Since his travels the +baronet had taken to sporting and farming; while Philippa was a +pattern of domesticity. Their pleasures were all +local. They retired early to rest, and rose with the +cart-horses and whistling waggoners. They knew the names of +every bird and tree not exceptionally uncommon, and could +foretell the weather almost as well as anxious farmers and old +people with corns.</p> +<p>One day Sir Ashley Mottisfont received a letter, which he +read, and musingly laid down on the table without remark.</p> +<p>‘What is it, dearest?’ asked his wife, glancing at +the sheet.</p> +<p>‘Oh, it is from an old lawyer at Bath whom I used to +know. He reminds me of something I said to him four or five +years ago—some little time before we were +married—about Dorothy.’</p> +<p>‘What about her?’</p> +<p>‘It was a casual remark I made to him, when I thought +you might not take kindly to her, that if he knew a lady who was +anxious to adopt a child, and could insure a good home to +Dorothy, he was to let me know.’</p> +<p>‘But that was when you had nobody to take care of +her,’ she said quickly. ‘How absurd of him to +write now! Does he know you are married? He must, +surely.’</p> +<p>‘Oh yes!’</p> +<p>He handed her the letter. The solicitor stated that a +widow-lady of position, who did not at present wish her name to +be disclosed, had lately become a client of his while taking the +waters, and had mentioned to him that she would like a little +girl to bring up as her own, if she could be certain of finding +one of good and pleasing disposition; and, the better to insure +this, she would not wish the child to be too young for judging +her qualities. He had remembered Sir Ashley’s +observation to him a long while ago, and therefore brought the +matter before him. It would be an excellent home for the +little girl—of that he was positive—if she had not +already found such a home.</p> +<p>‘But it is absurd of the man to write so long +after!’ said Lady Mottisfont, with a lumpiness about the +back of her throat as she thought how much Dorothy had become to +her. ‘I suppose it was when you first—found +her—that you told him this?’</p> +<p>‘Exactly—it was then.’</p> +<p>He fell into thought, and neither Sir Ashley nor Lady +Mottisfont took the trouble to answer the lawyer’s letter; +and so the matter ended for the time.</p> +<p>One day at dinner, on their return from a short absence in +town, whither they had gone to see what the world was doing, hear +what it was saying, and to make themselves generally fashionable +after rusticating for so long—on this occasion, I say, they +learnt from some friend who had joined them at dinner that +Fernell Hall—the manorial house of the estate next their +own, which had been offered on lease by reason of the +impecuniosity of its owner—had been taken for a term by a +widow lady, an Italian Contessa, whose name I will not mention +for certain reasons which may by and by appear. Lady +Mottisfont expressed her surprise and interest at the probability +of having such a neighbour. ‘Though, if I had been +born in Italy, I think I should have liked to remain +there,’ she said.</p> +<p>‘She is not Italian, though her husband was,’ said +Sir Ashley.</p> +<p>‘Oh, you have heard about her before now?’</p> +<p>‘Yes; they were talking of her at Grey’s the other +evening. She is English.’ And then, as her +husband said no more about the lady, the friend who was dining +with them told Lady Mottisfont that the Countess’s father +had speculated largely in East-India Stock, in which immense +fortunes were being made at that time; through this his daughter +had found herself enormously wealthy at his death, which had +occurred only a few weeks after the death of her husband. +It was supposed that the marriage of an enterprising English +speculator’s daughter to a poor foreign nobleman had been +matter of arrangement merely. As soon as the +Countess’s widowhood was a little further advanced she +would, no doubt, be the mark of all the schemers who came near +her, for she was still quite young. But at present she +seemed to desire quiet, and avoided society and town.</p> +<p>Some weeks after this time Sir Ashley Mottisfont sat looking +fixedly at his lady for many moments. He said:</p> +<p>‘It might have been better for Dorothy if the Countess +had taken her. She is so wealthy in comparison with +ourselves, and could have ushered the girl into the great world +more effectually than we ever shall be able to do.’</p> +<p>‘The Contessa take Dorothy?’ said Lady Mottisfont +with a start. ‘What—was she the lady who wished +to adopt her?’</p> +<p>‘Yes; she was staying at Bath when Lawyer Gayton wrote +to me.’</p> +<p>‘But how do you know all this, Ashley?’</p> +<p>He showed a little hesitation. ‘Oh, I’ve +seen her,’ he says. ‘You know, she drives to +the meet sometimes, though she does not ride; and she has +informed me that she was the lady who inquired of +Gayton.’</p> +<p>‘You have talked to her as well as seen her, +then?’</p> +<p>‘Oh yes, several times; everybody has.’</p> +<p>‘Why didn’t you tell me?’ says his +lady. ‘I had quite forgotten to call upon her. +I’ll go to-morrow, or soon . . . But I can’t think, +Ashley, how you can say that it might have been better for +Dorothy to have gone to her; she is so much our own now that I +cannot admit any such conjectures as those, even in +jest.’ Her eyes reproached him so eloquently that Sir +Ashley Mottisfont did not answer.</p> +<p>Lady Mottisfont did not hunt any more than the Anglo-Italian +Countess did; indeed, she had become so absorbed in household +matters and in Dorothy’s wellbeing that she had no mind to +waste a minute on mere enjoyments. As she had said, to talk +coolly of what might have been the best destination in days past +for a child to whom they had become so attached seemed quite +barbarous, and she could not understand how her husband should +consider the point so abstractedly; for, as will probably have +been guessed, Lady Mottisfont long before this time, if she had +not done so at the very beginning, divined Sir Ashley’s +true relation to Dorothy. But the baronet’s wife was +so discreetly meek and mild that she never told him of her +surmise, and took what Heaven had sent her without cavil, her +generosity in this respect having been bountifully rewarded by +the new life she found in her love for the little girl.</p> +<p>Her husband recurred to the same uncomfortable subject when, a +few days later, they were speaking of travelling abroad. He +said that it was almost a pity, if they thought of going, that +they had not fallen in with the Countess’s wish. That +lady had told him that she had met Dorothy walking with her +nurse, and that she had never seen a child she liked so well.</p> +<p>‘What—she covets her still? How impertinent +of the woman!’ said Lady Mottisfont.</p> +<p>‘She seems to do so . . . You see, dearest Philippa, the +advantage to Dorothy would have been that the Countess would have +adopted her legally, and have made her as her own daughter; while +we have not done that—we are only bringing up and educating +a poor child in charity.’</p> +<p>‘But I’ll adopt her fully—make her mine +legally!’ cried his wife in an anxious voice. +‘How is it to be done?’</p> +<p>‘H’m.’ He did not inform her, but fell +into thought; and, for reasons of her own, his lady was restless +and uneasy.</p> +<p>The very next day Lady Mottisfont drove to Fernell Hall to pay +the neglected call upon her neighbour. The Countess was at +home, and received her graciously. But poor Lady +Mottisfont’s heart died within her as soon as she set eyes +on her new acquaintance. Such wonderful beauty, of the +fully-developed kind, had never confronted her before inside the +lines of a human face. She seemed to shine with every light +and grace that woman can possess. Her finished Continental +manners, her expanded mind, her ready wit, composed a study that +made the other poor lady sick; for she, and latterly Sir Ashley +himself, were rather rural in manners, and she felt abashed by +new sounds and ideas from without. She hardly knew three +words in any language but her own, while this divine creature, +though truly English, had, apparently, whatever she wanted in the +Italian and French tongues to suit every impression; which was +considered a great improvement to speech in those days, and, +indeed, is by many considered as such in these.</p> +<p>‘How very strange it was about the little girl!’ +the Contessa said to Lady Mottisfont, in her gay tones. +‘I mean, that the child the lawyer recommended should, just +before then, have been adopted by you, who are now my +neighbour. How is she getting on? I must come and see +her.’</p> +<p>‘Do you still want her?’ asks Lady Mottisfont +suspiciously.</p> +<p>‘Oh, I should like to have her!’</p> +<p>‘But you can’t! She’s mine!’ +said the other greedily.</p> +<p>A drooping manner appeared in the Countess from that +moment.</p> +<p>Lady Mottisfont, too, was in a wretched mood all the way home +that day. The Countess was so charming in every way that +she had charmed her gentle ladyship; how should it be possible +that she had failed to charm Sir Ashley? Moreover, she had +awakened a strange thought in Philippa’s mind. As +soon as she reached home she rushed to the nursery, and there, +seizing Dorothy, frantically kissed her; then, holding her at +arm’s length, she gazed with a piercing inquisitiveness +into the girl’s lineaments. She sighed deeply, +abandoned the wondering Dorothy, and hastened away.</p> +<p>She had seen there not only her husband’s traits, which +she had often beheld before, but others, of the shade, shape, and +expression which characterized those of her new neighbour.</p> +<p>Then this poor lady perceived the whole perturbing sequence of +things, and asked herself how she could have been such a walking +piece of simplicity as not to have thought of this before. +But she did not stay long upbraiding herself for her +shortsightedness, so overwhelmed was she with misery at the +spectacle of herself as an intruder between these. To be +sure she could not have foreseen such a conjuncture; but that did +not lessen her grief. The woman who had been both her +husband’s bliss and his backsliding had reappeared free +when he was no longer so, and she evidently was dying to claim +her own in the person of Dorothy, who had meanwhile grown to be, +to Lady Mottisfont, almost the only source of each day’s +happiness, supplying her with something to watch over, inspiring +her with the sense of maternity, and so largely reflecting her +husband’s nature as almost to deceive her into the pleasant +belief that she reflected her own also.</p> +<p>If there was a single direction in which this devoted and +virtuous lady erred, it was in the direction of +over-submissiveness. When all is said and done, and the +truth told, men seldom show much self-sacrifice in their conduct +as lords and masters to helpless women bound to them for life, +and perhaps (though I say it with all uncertainty) if she had +blazed up in his face like a furze-faggot, directly he came home, +she might have helped herself a little. But God knows +whether this is a true supposition; at any rate she did no such +thing; and waited and prayed that she might never do despite to +him who, she was bound to admit, had always been tender and +courteous towards her; and hoped that little Dorothy might never +be taken away.</p> +<p>By degrees the two households became friendly, and very seldom +did a week pass without their seeing something of each +other. Try as she might, and dangerous as she assumed the +acquaintanceship to be, Lady Mottisfont could detect no fault or +flaw in her new friend. It was obvious that Dorothy had +been the magnet which had drawn the Contessa hither, and not Sir +Ashley.</p> +<p>Such beauty, united with such understanding and brightness, +Philippa had never before known in one of her own sex, and she +tried to think (whether she succeeded I do not know) that she did +not mind the propinquity; since a woman so rich, so fair, and +with such a command of suitors, could not desire to wreck the +happiness of so inoffensive a person as herself.</p> +<p>The season drew on when it was the custom for families of +distinction to go off to The Bath, and Sir Ashley Mottisfont +persuaded his wife to accompany him thither with Dorothy. +Everybody of any note was there this year. From their own +part of England came many that they knew; among the rest, Lord +and Lady Purbeck, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, Sir John +Grebe, the Drenkhards, Lady Stourvale, the old Duke of +Hamptonshire, the Bishop of Melchester, the Dean of Exonbury, and +other lesser lights of Court, pulpit, and field. Thither +also came the fair Contessa, whom, as soon as Philippa saw how +much she was sought after by younger men, she could not +conscientiously suspect of renewed designs upon Sir Ashley.</p> +<p>But the Countess had finer opportunities than ever with +Dorothy; for Lady Mottisfont was often indisposed, and even at +other times could not honestly hinder an intercourse which gave +bright ideas to the child. Dorothy welcomed her new +acquaintance with a strange and instinctive readiness that +intimated the wonderful subtlety of the threads which bind flesh +and flesh together.</p> +<p>At last the crisis came: it was precipitated by an +accident. Dorothy and her nurse had gone out one day for an +airing, leaving Lady Mottisfont alone indoors. While she +sat gloomily thinking that in all likelihood the Countess would +contrive to meet the child somewhere, and exchange a few tender +words with her, Sir Ashley Mottisfont rushed in and informed her +that Dorothy had just had the narrowest possible escape from +death. Some workmen were undermining a house to pull it +down for rebuilding, when, without warning, the front wall +inclined slowly outwards for its fall, the nurse and child +passing beneath it at the same moment. The fall was +temporarily arrested by the scaffolding, while in the meantime +the Countess had witnessed their imminent danger from the other +side of the street. Springing across, she snatched Dorothy +from under the wall, and pulled the nurse after her, the middle +of the way being barely reached before they were enveloped in the +dense dust of the descending mass, though not a stone touched +them.</p> +<p>‘Where is Dorothy?’ says the excited Lady +Mottisfont.</p> +<p>‘She has her—she won’t let her go for a +time—’</p> +<p>‘Has her? But she’s +<i>mine</i>—she’s mine!’ cries Lady +Mottisfont.</p> +<p>Then her quick and tender eyes perceived that her husband had +almost forgotten her intrusive existence in contemplating the +oneness of Dorothy’s, the Countess’s, and his own: he +was in a dream of exaltation which recognized nothing necessary +to his well-being outside that welded circle of three lives.</p> +<p>Dorothy was at length brought home; she was much fascinated by +the Countess, and saw nothing tragic, but rather all that was +truly delightful, in what had happened. In the evening, +when the excitement was over, and Dorothy was put to bed, Sir +Ashley said, ‘She has saved Dorothy; and I have been asking +myself what I can do for her as a slight acknowledgment of her +heroism. Surely we ought to let her have Dorothy to bring +up, since she still desires to do it? It would be so much +to Dorothy’s advantage. We ought to look at it in +that light, and not selfishly.’</p> +<p>Philippa seized his hand. ‘Ashley, Ashley! +You don’t mean it—that I must lose my pretty +darling—the only one I have?’ She met his gaze +with her piteous mouth and wet eyes so painfully strained, that +he turned away his face.</p> +<p>The next morning, before Dorothy was awake, Lady Mottisfont +stole to the girl’s bedside, and sat regarding her. +When Dorothy opened her eyes, she fixed them for a long time upon +Philippa’s features.</p> +<p>‘Mamma—you are not so pretty as the Contessa, are +you?’ she said at length.</p> +<p>‘I am not, Dorothy.’</p> +<p>‘Why are you not, mamma?’</p> +<p>‘Dorothy—where would you rather live, always; with +me, or with her?’</p> +<p>The little girl looked troubled. ‘I am sorry, +mamma; I don’t mean to be unkind; but I would rather live +with her; I mean, if I might without trouble, and you did not +mind, and it could be just the same to us all, you +know.’</p> +<p>‘Has she ever asked you the same question?’</p> +<p>‘Never, mamma.’</p> +<p>There lay the sting of it: the Countess seemed the soul of +honour and fairness in this matter, test her as she might. +That afternoon Lady Mottisfont went to her husband with singular +firmness upon her gentle face.</p> +<p>‘Ashley, we have been married nearly five years, and I +have never challenged you with what I know perfectly +well—the parentage of Dorothy.’</p> +<p>‘Never have you, Philippa dear. Though I have seen +that you knew from the first.’</p> +<p>‘From the first as to her father, not as to her +mother. Her I did not know for some time; but I know +now.’</p> +<p>‘Ah! you have discovered that too?’ says he, +without much surprise.</p> +<p>‘Could I help it? Very well, that being so, I have +thought it over; and I have spoken to Dorothy. I agree to +her going. I can do no less than grant to the Countess her +wish, after her kindness to +my—your—her—child.’</p> +<p>Then this self-sacrificing woman went hastily away that he +might not see that her heart was bursting; and thereupon, before +they left the city, Dorothy changed her mother and her +home. After this, the Countess went away to London for a +while, taking Dorothy with her; and the baronet and his wife +returned to their lonely place at Deansleigh Park without +her.</p> +<p>To renounce Dorothy in the bustle of Bath was a different +thing from living without her in this quiet home. One +evening Sir Ashley missed his wife from the supper-table; her +manner had been so pensive and woeful of late that he immediately +became alarmed. He said nothing, but looked about outside +the house narrowly, and discerned her form in the park, where +recently she had been accustomed to walk alone. In its +lower levels there was a pool fed by a trickling brook, and he +reached this spot in time to hear a splash. Running +forward, he dimly perceived her light gown floating in the +water. To pull her out was the work of a few instants, and +bearing her indoors to her room, he undressed her, nobody in the +house knowing of the incident but himself. She had not been +immersed long enough to lose her senses, and soon +recovered. She owned that she had done it because the +Contessa had taken away her child, as she persisted in calling +Dorothy. Her husband spoke sternly to her, and impressed +upon her the weakness of giving way thus, when all that had +happened was for the best. She took his reproof meekly, and +admitted her fault.</p> +<p>After that she became more resigned, but he often caught her +in tears over some doll, shoe, or ribbon of Dorothy’s, and +decided to take her to the North of England for change of air and +scene. This was not without its beneficial effect, +corporeally no less than mentally, as later events showed, but +she still evinced a preternatural sharpness of ear at the most +casual mention of the child. When they reached home, the +Countess and Dorothy were still absent from the neighbouring +Fernell Hall, but in a month or two they returned, and a little +later Sir Ashley Mottisfont came into his wife’s room full +of news.</p> +<p>‘Well—would you think it, Philippa! After +being so desperate, too, about getting Dorothy to be with +her!’</p> +<p>‘Ah—what?’</p> +<p>‘Our neighbour, the Countess, is going to be married +again! It is to somebody she has met in London.’</p> +<p>Lady Mottisfont was much surprised; she had never dreamt of +such an event. The conflict for the possession of +Dorothy’s person had obscured the possibility of it; yet +what more likely, the Countess being still under thirty, and so +good-looking?</p> +<p>‘What is of still more interest to us, or to you,’ +continued her husband, ‘is a kind offer she has made. +She is willing that you should have Dorothy back again. +Seeing what a grief the loss of her has been to you, she will try +to do without her.’</p> +<p>‘It is not for that; it is not to oblige me,’ said +Lady Mottisfont quickly. ‘One can see well enough +what it is for!’</p> +<p>‘Well, never mind; beggars mustn’t be +choosers. The reason or motive is nothing to us, so that +you obtain your desire.’</p> +<p>‘I am not a beggar any longer,’ said Lady +Mottisfont, with proud mystery.</p> +<p>‘What do you mean by that?’</p> +<p>Lady Mottisfont hesitated. However, it was only too +plain that she did not now jump at a restitution of one for whom +some months before she had been breaking her heart.</p> +<p>The explanation of this change of mood became apparent some +little time farther on. Lady Mottisfont, after five years +of wedded life, was expecting to become a mother, and the aspect +of many things was greatly altered in her view. Among the +more important changes was that of no longer feeling Dorothy to +be absolutely indispensable to her existence.</p> +<p>Meanwhile, in view of her coming marriage, the Countess +decided to abandon the remainder of her term at Fernell Hall, and +return to her pretty little house in town. But she could +not do this quite so quickly as she had expected, and half a year +or more elapsed before she finally quitted the neighbourhood, the +interval being passed in alternations between the country and +London. Prior to her last departure she had an interview +with Sir Ashley Mottisfont, and it occurred three days after his +wife had presented him with a son and heir.</p> +<p>‘I wanted to speak to you,’ said the Countess, +looking him luminously in the face, ‘about the dear +foundling I have adopted temporarily, and thought to have adopted +permanently. But my marriage makes it too risky!’</p> +<p>‘I thought it might be that,’ he answered, +regarding her steadfastly back again, and observing two tears +come slowly into her eyes as she heard her own voice describe +Dorothy in those words.</p> +<p>‘Don’t criticize me,’ she said hastily; and +recovering herself, went on. ‘If Lady Mottisfont +could take her back again, as I suggested, it would be better for +me, and certainly no worse for Dorothy. To every one but +ourselves she is but a child I have taken a fancy to, and Lady +Mottisfont coveted her so much, and was very reluctant to let her +go . . . I am sure she will adopt her again?’ she added +anxiously.</p> +<p>‘I will sound her afresh,’ said the baronet. +‘You leave Dorothy behind for the present?’</p> +<p>‘Yes; although I go away, I do not give up the house for +another month.’</p> +<p>He did not speak to his wife about the proposal till some few +days after, when Lady Mottisfont had nearly recovered, and news +of the Countess’s marriage in London had just reached +them. He had no sooner mentioned Dorothy’s name than +Lady Mottisfont showed symptoms of disquietude.</p> +<p>‘I have not acquired any dislike of Dorothy,’ she +said, ‘but I feel that there is one nearer to me now. +Dorothy chose the alternative of going to the Countess, you must +remember, when I put it to her as between the Countess and +myself.’</p> +<p>‘But, my dear Philippa, how can you argue thus about a +child, and that child our Dorothy?’</p> +<p>‘Not <i>ours</i>,’ said his wife, pointing to the +cot. ‘Ours is here.’</p> +<p>‘What, then, Philippa,’ he said, surprised, +‘you won’t have her back, after nearly dying of grief +at the loss of her?’</p> +<p>‘I cannot argue, dear Ashley. I should prefer not +to have the responsibility of Dorothy again. Her place is +filled now.’</p> +<p>Her husband sighed, and went out of the chamber. There +had been a previous arrangement that Dorothy should be brought to +the house on a visit that day, but instead of taking her up to +his wife, he did not inform Lady Mottisfont of the child’s +presence. He entertained her himself as well as he could, +and accompanied her into the park, where they had a ramble +together. Presently he sat down on the root of an elm and +took her upon his knee.</p> +<p>‘Between this husband and this baby, little Dorothy, you +who had two homes are left out in the cold,’ he said.</p> +<p>‘Can’t I go to London with my pretty mamma?’ +said Dorothy, perceiving from his manner that there was a hitch +somewhere.</p> +<p>‘I am afraid not, my child. She only took you to +live with her because she was lonely, you know.’</p> +<p>‘Then can’t I stay at Deansleigh Park with my +other mamma and you?’</p> +<p>‘I am afraid that cannot be done either,’ said he +sadly. ‘We have a baby in the house now.’ +He closed the reply by stooping down and kissing her, there being +a tear in his eye.</p> +<p>‘Then nobody wants me!’ said Dorothy +pathetically.</p> +<p>‘Oh yes, somebody wants you,’ he assured +her. ‘Where would you like to live +besides?’</p> +<p>Dorothy’s experiences being rather limited, she +mentioned the only other place in the world that she was +acquainted with, the cottage of the villager who had taken care +of her before Lady Mottisfont had removed her to the Manor +House.</p> +<p>‘Yes; that’s where you’ll be best off and +most independent,’ he answered. ‘And I’ll +come to see you, my dear girl, and bring you pretty things; and +perhaps you’ll be just as happy there.’</p> +<p>Nevertheless, when the change came, and Dorothy was handed +over to the kind cottage-woman, the poor child missed the +luxurious roominess of Fernell Hall and Deansleigh; and for a +long time her little feet, which had been accustomed to carpets +and oak floors, suffered from the cold of the stone flags on +which it was now her lot to live and to play; while chilblains +came upon her fingers with washing at the pump. But thicker +shoes with nails in them somewhat remedied the cold feet, and her +complaints and tears on this and other scores diminished to +silence as she became inured anew to the hardships of the +farm-cottage, and she grew up robust if not handsome. She +was never altogether lost sight of by Sir Ashley, though she was +deprived of the systematic education which had been devised and +begun for her by Lady Mottisfont, as well as by her other mamma, +the enthusiastic Countess. The latter soon had other +Dorothys to think of, who occupied her time and affection as +fully as Lady Mottisfont’s were occupied by her precious +boy. In the course of time the doubly-desired and +doubly-rejected Dorothy married, I believe, a respectable +road-contractor—the same, if I mistake not, who repaired +and improved the old highway running from Wintoncester +south-westerly through the New Forest—and in the heart of +this worthy man of business the poor girl found the nest which +had been denied her by her own flesh and blood of higher +degree.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>Several of the listeners wished to hear another story from the +sentimental member after this, but he said that he could recall +nothing else at the moment, and that it seemed to him as if his +friend on the other side of the fireplace had something to say +from the look of his face.</p> +<p>The member alluded to was a respectable churchwarden, with a +sly chink to one eyelid—possibly the result of an +accident—and a regular attendant at the Club +meetings. He replied that his looks had been mainly caused +by his interest in the two ladies of the last story, apparently +women of strong motherly instincts, even though they were not +genuinely staunch in their tenderness. The tale had brought +to his mind an instance of a firmer affection of that sort on the +paternal side, in a nature otherwise culpable. As for +telling the story, his manner was much against him, he feared; +but he would do his best, if they wished.</p> +<p>Here the President interposed with a suggestion that as it was +getting late in the afternoon it would be as well to adjourn to +their respective inns and lodgings for dinner, after which those +who cared to do so could return and resume these curious domestic +traditions for the remainder of the evening, which might +otherwise prove irksome enough. The curator had told him +that the room was at their service. The churchwarden, who +was beginning to feel hungry himself, readily acquiesced, and the +Club separated for an hour and a half. Then the faithful +ones began to drop in again—among whom were not the +President; neither came the rural dean, nor the two curates, +though the Colonel, and the man of family, cigars in mouth, were +good enough to return, having found their hotel dreary. The +museum had no regular means of illumination, and a solitary +candle, less powerful than the rays of the fire, was placed on +the table; also bottles and glasses, provided by some thoughtful +member. The chink-eyed churchwarden, now thoroughly primed, +proceeded to relate in his own terms what was in substance as +follows, while many of his listeners smoked.</p> +<h2>DAME THE FIFTH—THE LADY ICENWAY<br /> +By the Churchwarden</h2> +<p>In the reign of His Most Excellent Majesty King George the +Third, Defender of the Faith and of the American Colonies, there +lived in ‘a faire maner-place’ (so Leland called it +in his day, as I have been told), in one o’ the greenest +bits of woodland between Bristol and the city of Exonbury, a +young lady who resembled some aforesaid ones in having many +talents and exceeding great beauty. With these gifts she +combined a somewhat imperious temper and arbitrary mind, though +her experience of the world was not actually so large as her +conclusive manner would have led the stranger to suppose. +Being an orphan, she resided with her uncle, who, though he was +fairly considerate as to her welfare, left her pretty much to +herself.</p> +<p>Now it chanced that when this lovely young lady was about +nineteen, she (being a fearless horsewoman) was riding, with only +a young lad as an attendant, in one o’ the woods near her +uncle’s house, and, in trotting along, her horse stumbled +over the root of a felled tree. She slipped to the ground, +not seriously hurt, and was assisted home by a gentleman who came +in view at the moment of her mishap. It turned out that +this gentleman, a total stranger to her, was on a visit at the +house of a neighbouring landowner. He was of Dutch +extraction, and occasionally came to England on business or +pleasure from his plantations in Guiana, on the north coast of +South America, where he usually resided.</p> +<p>On this account he was naturally but little known in Wessex, +and was but a slight acquaintance of the gentleman at whose +mansion he was a guest. However, the friendship between him +and the Heymeres—as the uncle and niece were +named—warmed and warmed by degrees, there being but few +folk o’ note in the vicinity at that time, which made a +newcomer, if he were at all sociable and of good credit, always +sure of a welcome. A tender feeling (as it is called by the +romantic) sprang up between the two young people, which ripened +into intimacy. Anderling, the foreign gentleman, was of an +amorous temperament; and, though he endeavoured to conceal his +feeling, it could be seen that Miss Maria Heymere had impressed +him rather more deeply than would be represented by a scratch +upon a stone. He seemed absolutely unable to free himself +from her fascination; and his inability to do so, much as he +tried—evidently thinking he had not the ghost of a chance +with her—gave her the pleasure of power; though she more +than sympathized when she overheard him heaving his deep drawn +sighs—privately to himself, as he supposed.</p> +<p>After prolonging his visit by every conceivable excuse in his +power, he summoned courage, and offered her his hand and his +heart. Being in no way disinclined to him, though not so +fervid as he, and her uncle making no objection to the match, she +consented to share his fate, for better or otherwise, in the +distant colony where, as he assured her, his rice, and coffee, +and maize, and timber, produced him ample means—a statement +which was borne out by his friend, her uncle’s +neighbour. In short, a day for their marriage was fixed, +earlier in the engagement than is usual or desirable between +comparative strangers, by reason of the necessity he was under of +returning to look after his properties.</p> +<p>The wedding took place, and Maria left her uncle’s +mansion with her husband, going in the first place to London, and +about a fortnight after sailing with him across the great ocean +for their distant home—which, however, he assured her, +should not be her home for long, it being his intention to +dispose of his interests in this part of the world as soon as the +war was over, and he could do so advantageously; when they could +come to Europe, and reside in some favourite capital.</p> +<p>As they advanced on the voyage she observed that he grew more +and more constrained; and, by the time they had crossed the Line, +he was quite depressed, just as he had been before proposing to +her. A day or two before landing at Paramaribo, he embraced +her in a very tearful and passionate manner, and said he wished +to make a confession. It had been his misfortune, he said, +to marry at Quebec in early life a woman whose reputation proved +to be in every way bad and scandalous. The discovery had +nearly killed him; but he had ultimately separated from her, and +had never seen her since. He had hoped and prayed she might +be dead; but recently in London, when they were starting on this +journey, he had discovered that she was still alive. At +first he had decided to keep this dark intelligence from her +beloved ears; but he had felt that he could not do it. All +he hoped was that such a condition of things would make no +difference in her feelings for him, as it need make no difference +in the course of their lives.</p> +<p>Thereupon the spirit of this proud and masterful lady showed +itself in violent turmoil, like the raging of a nor’-west +thunderstorm—as well it might, God knows. But she was +of too stout a nature to be broken down by his revelation, as +many ladies of my acquaintance would have been—so far from +home, and right under the Line in the blaze o’ the +sun. Of the two, indeed, he was the more wretched and +shattered in spirit, for he loved her deeply, and (there being a +foreign twist in his make) had been tempted to this crime by her +exceeding beauty, against which he had struggled day and night, +till he had no further resistance left in him. It was she +who came first to a decision as to what should be +done—whether a wise one I do not attempt to judge.</p> +<p>‘I put it to you,’ says she, when many useless +self-reproaches and protestations on his part had been +uttered—‘I put it to you whether, if any manliness is +left in you, you ought not to do exactly what I consider the best +thing for me in this strait to which you have reduced +me?’</p> +<p>He promised to do anything in the whole world. She then +requested him to allow her to return, and announce him as having +died of malignant ague immediately on their arrival at +Paramaribo; that she should consequently appear in weeds as his +widow in her native place; and that he would never molest her, or +come again to that part of the world during the whole course of +his life—a good reason for which would be that the legal +consequences might be serious.</p> +<p>He readily acquiesced in this, as he would have acquiesced in +anything for the restitution of one he adored so +deeply—even to the yielding of life itself. To put +her in an immediate state of independence he gave her, in bonds +and jewels, a considerable sum (for his worldly means had been in +no way exaggerated); and by the next ship she sailed again for +England, having travelled no farther than to Paramaribo. At +parting he declared it to be his intention to turn all his landed +possessions into personal property, and to be a wanderer on the +face of the earth in remorse for his conduct towards her.</p> +<p>Maria duly arrived in England, and immediately on landing +apprised her uncle of her return, duly appearing at his house in +the garb of a widow. She was commiserated by all the +neighbours as soon as her story was told; but only to her uncle +did she reveal the real state of affairs, and her reason for +concealing it. For, though she had been innocent of wrong, +Maria’s pride was of that grain which could not brook the +least appearance of having been fooled, or deluded, or nonplussed +in her worldly aims.</p> +<p>For some time she led a quiet life with her relative, and in +due course a son was born to her. She was much respected +for her dignity and reserve, and the portable wealth which her +temporary husband had made over to her enabled her to live in +comfort in a wing of the mansion, without assistance from her +uncle at all. But, knowing that she was not what she seemed +to be, her life was an uneasy one, and she often said to herself: +‘Suppose his continued existence should become known here, +and people should discern the pride of my motive in hiding my +humiliation? It would be worse than if I had been frank at +first, which I should have been but for the credit of this +child.’</p> +<p>Such grave reflections as these occupied her with increasing +force; and during their continuance she encountered a worthy man +of noble birth and title—Lord Icenway his name—whose +seat was beyond Wintoncester, quite at t’other end of +Wessex. He being anxious to pay his addresses to her, Maria +willingly accepted them, though he was a plain man, older than +herself; for she discerned in a re-marriage a method of +fortifying her position against mortifying discoveries. In +a few months their union took place, and Maria lifted her head as +Lady Icenway, and left with her husband and child for his home as +aforesaid, where she was quite unknown.</p> +<p>A justification, or a condemnation, of her step (according as +you view it) was seen when, not long after, she received a note +from her former husband Anderling. It was a hasty and +tender epistle, and perhaps it was fortunate that it arrived +during the temporary absence of Lord Icenway. His worthless +wife, said Anderling, had just died in Quebec; he had gone there +to ascertain particulars, and had seen the unfortunate woman +buried. He now was hastening to England to repair the wrong +he had done his Maria. He asked her to meet him at +Southampton, his port of arrival; which she need be in no fear of +doing, as he had changed his name, and was almost absolutely +unknown in Europe. He would remarry her immediately, and +live with her in any part of the Continent, as they had +originally intended, where, for the great love he still bore her, +he would devote himself to her service for the rest of his +days.</p> +<p>Lady Icenway, self-possessed as it was her nature to be, was +yet much disturbed at this news, and set off to meet him, +unattended, as soon as she heard that the ship was in +sight. As soon as they stood face to face she found that +she still possessed all her old influence over him, though his +power to fascinate her had quite departed. In his sorrow +for his offence against her, he had become a man of strict +religious habits, self-denying as a lenten saint, though formerly +he had been a free and joyous liver. Having first got him +to swear to make her any amends she should choose (which he was +imagining must be by a true marriage), she informed him that she +had already wedded another husband, an excellent man of ancient +family and possessions, who had given her a title, in which she +much rejoiced.</p> +<p>At this the countenance of the poor foreign gentleman became +cold as clay, and his heart withered within him; for as it had +been her beauty and bearing which had led him to sin to obtain +her, so, now that her beauty was in fuller bloom, and her manner +more haughty by her success, did he feel her fascination to be +almost more than he could bear. Nevertheless, having sworn +his word, he undertook to obey her commands, which were simply a +renewal of her old request—that he would depart for some +foreign country, and never reveal his existence to her friends, +or husband, or any person in England; never trouble her more, +seeing how great a harm it would do her in the high position +which she at present occupied.</p> +<p>He bowed his head. ‘And the child—our +child?’ he said.</p> +<p>‘He is well,’ says she. ‘Quite +well.’</p> +<p>With this the unhappy gentleman departed, much sadder in his +heart than on his voyage to England; for it had never occurred to +him that a woman who rated her honour so highly as Maria had +done, and who was the mother of a child of his, would have +adopted such means as this for the restoration of that honour, +and at so surprisingly early a date. He had fully +calculated on making her his wife in law and truth, and of living +in cheerful unity with her and his offspring, for whom he felt a +deep and growing tenderness, though he had never once seen the +child.</p> +<p>The lady returned to her mansion beyond Wintoncester, and told +nothing of the interview to her noble husband, who had +fortunately gone that day to do a little cocking and ratting out +by Weydon Priors, and knew nothing of her movements. She +had dismissed her poor Anderling peremptorily enough; yet she +would often after this look in the face of the child of her +so-called widowhood, to discover what and how many traits of his +father were to be seen in his lineaments. For this she had +ample opportunity during the following autumn and winter months, +her husband being a matter-of-fact nobleman, who spent the +greater part of his time in field-sports and agriculture.</p> +<p>One winter day, when he had started for a meet of the hounds a +long way from the house—it being his custom to hunt three +or four times a week at this season of the year—she had +walked into the sunshine upon the terrace before the windows, +where there fell at her feet some little white object that had +come over a boundary wall hard by. It proved to be a tiny +note wrapped round a stone. Lady Icenway opened it and read +it, and immediately (no doubt, with a stern fixture of her +queenly countenance) walked hastily along the terrace, and +through the door into the shrubbery, whence the note had +come. The man who had first married her stood under the +bushes before her. It was plain from his appearance that +something had gone wrong with him.</p> +<p>‘You notice a change in me, my best-beloved,’ he +said. ‘Yes, Maria—I have lost all the wealth I +once possessed—mainly by reckless gambling in the +Continental hells to which you banished me. But one thing +in the world remains to me—the child—and it is for +him that I have intruded here. Don’t fear me, +darling! I shall not inconvenience you long; I love you too +well! But I think of the boy day and night—I cannot +help it—I cannot keep my feeling for him down; and I long +to see him, and speak a word to him once in my +lifetime!’</p> +<p>‘But your oath?’ says she. ‘You +promised never to reveal by word or sign—’</p> +<p>‘I will reveal nothing. Only let me see the +child. I know what I have sworn to you, cruel mistress, and +I respect my oath. Otherwise I might have seen him by some +subterfuge. But I preferred the frank course of asking your +permission.’</p> +<p>She demurred, with the haughty severity which had grown part +of her character, and which her elevation to the rank of a +peeress had rather intensified than diminished. She said +that she would consider, and would give him an answer the day +after the next, at the same hour and place, when her husband +would again be absent with his pack of hounds.</p> +<p>The gentleman waited patiently. Lady Icenway, who had +now no conscious love left for him, well considered the matter, +and felt that it would be advisable not to push to extremes a man +of so passionate a heart. On the day and hour she met him +as she had promised to do.</p> +<p>‘You shall see him,’ she said, ‘of course on +the strict condition that you do not reveal yourself, and hence, +though you see him, he must not see you, or your manner might +betray you and me. I will lull him into a nap in the +afternoon, and then I will come to you here, and fetch you +indoors by a private way.’</p> +<p>The unfortunate father, whose misdemeanour had recoiled upon +his own head in a way he could not have foreseen, promised to +adhere to her instructions, and waited in the shrubberies till +the moment when she should call him. This she duly did +about three o’clock that day, leading him in by a garden +door, and upstairs to the nursery where the child lay. He +was in his little cot, breathing calmly, his arm thrown over his +head, and his silken curls crushed into the pillow. His +father, now almost to be pitied, bent over him, and a tear from +his eye wetted the coverlet.</p> +<p>She held up a warning finger as he lowered his mouth to the +lips of the boy.</p> +<p>‘But oh, why not?’ implored he.</p> +<p>‘Very well, then,’ said she, relenting. +‘But as gently as possible.’</p> +<p>He kissed the child without waking him, turned, gave him a +last look, and followed her out of the chamber, when she +conducted him off the premises by the way he had come.</p> +<p>But this remedy for his sadness of heart at being a stranger +to his own son, had the effect of intensifying the malady; for +while originally, not knowing or having ever seen the boy, he had +loved him vaguely and imaginatively only, he now became attached +to him in flesh and bone, as any parent might; and the feeling +that he could at best only see his child at the rarest and most +cursory moments, if at all, drove him into a state of distraction +which threatened to overthrow his promise to the boy’s +mother to keep out of his sight.</p> +<p>But such was his chivalrous respect for Lady Icenway, and his +regret at having ever deceived her, that he schooled his poor +heart into submission. Owing to his loneliness, all the +fervour of which he was capable—and that was +much—flowed now in the channel of parental and marital +love—for a child who did not know him, and a woman who had +ceased to love him.</p> +<p>At length this singular punishment became such a torture to +the poor foreigner that he resolved to lessen it at all hazards, +compatible with punctilious care for the name of the lady his +former wife, to whom his attachment seemed to increase in +proportion to her punitive treatment of him. At one time of +his life he had taken great interest in tulip-culture, as well as +gardening in general; and since the ruin of his fortunes, and his +arrival in England, he had made of his knowledge a precarious +income in the hot-houses of nurserymen and others. With the +new idea in his head he applied himself zealously to the +business, till he acquired in a few months great skill in +horticulture. Waiting till the noble lord, his lady’s +husband, had room for an under-gardener of a general sort, he +offered himself for the place, and was engaged immediately by +reason of his civility and intelligence, before Lady Icenway knew +anything of the matter. Much therefore did he surprise her +when she found him in the conservatories of her mansion a week or +two after his arrival. The punishment of instant dismissal, +with which at first she haughtily threatened him, my lady thought +fit, on reflection, not to enforce. While he served her +thus she knew he would not harm her by a word, while, if he were +expelled, chagrin might induce him to reveal in a moment of +exasperation what kind treatment would assist him to conceal.</p> +<p>So he was allowed to remain on the premises, and had for his +residence a little cottage by the garden-wall which had been the +domicile of some of his predecessors in the same +occupation. Here he lived absolutely alone, and spent much +of his leisure in reading, but the greater part in watching the +windows and lawns of his lady’s house for glimpses of the +form of the child. It was for that child’s sake that +he abandoned the tenets of the Roman Catholic Church in which he +had been reared, and became the most regular attendant at the +services in the parish place of worship hard by, where, sitting +behind the pew of my lady, my lord, and his stepson, the gardener +could pensively study the traits and movements of the youngster +at only a few feet distance, without suspicion or hindrance.</p> +<p>He filled his post for more than two years with a pleasure to +himself which, though mournful, was soothing, his lady never +forgiving him, or allowing him to be anything more than +‘the gardener’ to her child, though once or twice the +boy said, ‘That gardener’s eyes are so sad! Why +does he look so sadly at me?’ He sunned himself in +her scornfulness as if it were love, and his ears drank in her +curt monosyllables as though they were rhapsodies of +endearment. Strangely enough, the coldness with which she +treated her foreigner began to be the conduct of Lord Icenway +towards herself. It was a matter of great anxiety to him +that there should be a lineal successor to the title, yet no sign +of that successor appeared. One day he complained to her +quite roughly of his fate. ‘All will go to that dolt +of a cousin!’ he cried. ‘I’d sooner see +my name and place at the bottom of the sea!’</p> +<p>The lady soothed him and fell into thought, and did not +recriminate. But one day, soon after, she went down to the +cottage of the gardener to inquire how he was getting on, for he +had been ailing of late, though, as was supposed, not +seriously. Though she often visited the poor, she had never +entered her under-gardener’s home before, and was much +surprised—even grieved and dismayed—to find that he +was too ill to rise from his bed. She went back to her +mansion and returned with some delicate soup, that she might have +a reason for seeing him.</p> +<p>His condition was so feeble and alarming, and his face so +thin, that it quite shocked her softening heart, and gazing upon +him she said, ‘You must get well—you must! I +have been hard with you—I know it. I will not be so +again.’</p> +<p>The sick and dying man—for he was dying +indeed—took her hand and pressed it to his lips. +‘Too late, my darling, too late!’ he murmured.</p> +<p>‘But you <i>must not</i> die! Oh, you must +not!’ she said. And on an impulse she bent down and +whispered some words to him, blushing as she had blushed in her +maiden days.</p> +<p>He replied by a faint wan smile. ‘Time was! . . . +but that’s past!’ he said, ‘I must +die!’</p> +<p>And die he did, a few days later, as the sun was going down +behind the garden-wall. Her harshness seemed to come trebly +home to her then, and she remorsefully exclaimed against herself +in secret and alone. Her one desire now was to erect some +tribute to his memory, without its being recognized as her +handiwork. In the completion of this scheme there arrived a +few months later a handsome stained-glass window for the church; +and when it was unpacked and in course of erection Lord Icenway +strolled into the building with his wife.</p> +<p>‘“<i>Erected to his memory by his grieving +widow</i>,”’ he said, reading the legend on the +glass. ‘I didn’t know that he had a wife; +I’ve never seen her.’</p> +<p>‘Oh yes, you must have, Icenway; only you forget,’ +replied his lady blandly. ‘But she didn’t live +with him, and was seldom seen visiting him, because there were +differences between them; which, as is usually the case, makes +her all the more sorry now.’</p> +<p>‘And go ruining herself by this expensive ruby-and-azure +glass-design.’</p> +<p>‘She is not poor, they say.’</p> +<p>As Lord Icenway grew older he became crustier and crustier, +and whenever he set eyes on his wife’s boy by her other +husband he would burst out morosely, saying,</p> +<p>‘’Tis a very odd thing, my lady, that you could +oblige your first husband, and couldn’t oblige +me.’</p> +<p>‘Ah! if I had only thought of it sooner!’ she +murmured.</p> +<p>‘What?’ said he.</p> +<p>‘Nothing, dearest,’ replied Lady Icenway.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>The Colonel was the first to comment upon the +Churchwarden’s tale, by saying that the fate of the poor +fellow was rather a hard one.</p> +<p>The gentleman-tradesman could not see that his fate was at all +too hard for him. He was legally nothing to her, and he had +served her shamefully. If he had been really her husband it +would have stood differently.</p> +<p>The Bookworm remarked that Lord Icenway seemed to have been a +very unsuspicious man, with which view a fat member with a +crimson face agreed. It was true his wife was a very +close-mouthed personage, which made a difference. If she +had spoken out recklessly her lord might have been suspicious +enough, as in the case of that lady who lived at Stapleford Park +in their great-grandfathers’ time. Though there, to +be sure, considerations arose which made her husband view matters +with much philosophy.</p> +<p>A few of the members doubted the possibility of this.</p> +<p>The crimson man, who was a retired maltster of comfortable +means, <i>ventru</i>, and short in stature, cleared his throat, +blew off his superfluous breath, and proceeded to give the +instance before alluded to of such possibility, first apologizing +for his heroine’s lack of a title, it never having been his +good fortune to know many of the nobility. To his style of +narrative the following is only an approximation.</p> +<h2>DAME THE SIXTH—SQUIRE PETRICK’S LADY<br /> +By the Crimson Maltster</h2> +<p>Folk who are at all acquainted with the traditions of +Stapleford Park will not need to be told that in the middle of +the last century it was owned by that trump of mortgagees, +Timothy Petrick, whose skill in gaining possession of fair +estates by granting sums of money on their title-deeds has seldom +if ever been equalled in our part of England. Timothy was a +lawyer by profession, and agent to several noblemen, by which +means his special line of business became opened to him by a sort +of revelation. It is said that a relative of his, a very +deep thinker, who afterwards had the misfortune to be transported +for life for mistaken notions on the signing of a will, taught +him considerable legal lore, which he creditably resolved never +to throw away for the benefit of other people, but to reserve it +entirely for his own.</p> +<p>However, I have nothing in particular to say about his early +and active days, but rather of the time when, an old man, he had +become the owner of vast estates by the means I have +signified—among them the great manor of Stapleford, on +which he lived, in the splendid old mansion now pulled down; +likewise estates at Marlott, estates near Sherton Abbas, nearly +all the borough of Millpool, and many properties near +Ivell. Indeed, I can’t call to mind half his landed +possessions, and I don’t know that it matters much at this +time of day, seeing that he’s been dead and gone many +years. It is said that when he bought an estate he would +not decide to pay the price till he had walked over every single +acre with his own two feet, and prodded the soil at every point +with his own spud, to test its quality, which, if we regard the +extent of his properties, must have been a stiff business for +him.</p> +<p>At the time I am speaking of he was a man over eighty, and his +son was dead; but he had two grandsons, the eldest of whom, his +namesake, was married, and was shortly expecting issue. +Just then the grandfather was taken ill, for death, as it seemed, +considering his age. By his will the old man had created an +entail (as I believe the lawyers call it), devising the whole of +the estates to his elder grandson and his issue male, failing +which, to his younger grandson and his issue male, failing which, +to remoter relatives, who need not be mentioned now.</p> +<p>While old Timothy Petrick was lying ill, his elder +grandson’s wife, Annetta, gave birth to her expected child, +who, as fortune would have it, was a son. Timothy, her +husband, through sprung of a scheming family, was no great +schemer himself; he was the single one of the Petricks then +living whose heart had ever been greatly moved by sentiments +which did not run in the groove of ambition; and on this account +he had not married well, as the saying is; his wife having been +the daughter of a family of no better beginnings than his own; +that is to say, her father was a country townsman of the +professional class. But she was a very pretty woman, by all +accounts, and her husband had seen, courted, and married her in a +high tide of infatuation, after a very short acquaintance, and +with very little knowledge of her heart’s history. He +had never found reason to regret his choice as yet, and his +anxiety for her recovery was great.</p> +<p>She was supposed to be out of danger, and herself and the +child progressing well, when there was a change for the worse, +and she sank so rapidly that she was soon given over. When +she felt that she was about to leave him, Annetta sent for her +husband, and, on his speedy entry and assurance that they were +alone, she made him solemnly vow to give the child every care in +any circumstances that might arise, if it should please Heaven to +take her. This, of course, he readily promised. Then, +after some hesitation, she told him that she could not die with a +falsehood upon her soul, and dire deceit in her life; she must +make a terrible confession to him before her lips were sealed for +ever. She thereupon related an incident concerning the +baby’s parentage, which was not as he supposed.</p> +<p>Timothy Petrick, though a quick-feeling man, was not of a sort +to show nerves outwardly; and he bore himself as heroically as he +possibly could do in this trying moment of his life. That +same night his wife died; and while she lay dead, and before her +funeral, he hastened to the bedside of his sick grandfather, and +revealed to him all that had happened: the baby’s birth, +his wife’s confession, and her death, beseeching the aged +man, as he loved him, to bestir himself now, at the eleventh +hour, and alter his will so as to dish the intruder. Old +Timothy, seeing matters in the same light as his grandson, +required no urging against allowing anything to stand in the way +of legitimate inheritance; he executed another will, limiting the +entail to Timothy his grandson, for life, and his male heirs +thereafter to be born; after them to his other grandson Edward, +and Edward’s heirs. Thus the newly-born infant, who +had been the centre of so many hopes, was cut off and scorned as +none of the elect.</p> +<p>The old mortgagee lived but a short time after this, the +excitement of the discovery having told upon him considerably, +and he was gathered to his fathers like the most charitable man +in his neighbourhood. Both wife and grandparent being +buried, Timothy settled down to his usual life as well as he was +able, mentally satisfied that he had by prompt action defeated +the consequences of such dire domestic treachery as had been +shown towards him, and resolving to marry a second time as soon +as he could satisfy himself in the choice of a wife.</p> +<p>But men do not always know themselves. The embittered +state of Timothy Petrick’s mind bred in him by degrees such +a hatred and mistrust of womankind that, though several specimens +of high attractiveness came under his eyes, he could not bring +himself to the point of proposing marriage. He dreaded to +take up the position of husband a second time, discerning a trap +in every petticoat, and a Slough of Despond in possible +heirs. ‘What has happened once, when all seemed so +fair, may happen again,’ he said to himself. +‘I’ll risk my name no more.’ So he +abstained from marriage, and overcame his wish for a lineal +descendant to follow him in the ownership of Stapleford.</p> +<p>Timothy had scarcely noticed the unfortunate child that his +wife had borne, after arranging for a meagre fulfilment of his +promise to her to take care of the boy, by having him brought up +in his house. Occasionally, remembering this promise, he +went and glanced at the child, saw that he was doing well, gave a +few special directions, and again went his solitary way. +Thus he and the child lived on in the Stapleford mansion-house +till two or three years had passed by. One day he was +walking in the garden, and by some accident left his snuff-box on +a bench. When he came back to find it he saw the little boy +standing there; he had escaped his nurse, and was making a +plaything of the box, in spite of the convulsive sneezings which +the game brought in its train. Then the man with the +encrusted heart became interested in the little fellow’s +persistence in his play under such discomforts; he looked in the +child’s face, saw there his wife’s countenance, +though he did not see his own, and fell into thought on the +piteousness of childhood—particularly of despised and +rejected childhood, like this before him.</p> +<p>From that hour, try as he would to counteract the feeling, the +human necessity to love something or other got the better of what +he had called his wisdom, and shaped itself in a tender anxiety +for the youngster Rupert. This name had been given him by +his dying mother when, at her request, the child was baptized in +her chamber, lest he should not survive for public baptism; and +her husband had never thought of it as a name of any significance +till, about this time, he learnt by accident that it was the name +of the young Marquis of Christminster, son of the Duke of +Southwesterland, for whom Annetta had cherished warm feelings +before her marriage. Recollecting some wandering phrases in +his wife’s last words, which he had not understood at the +time, he perceived at last that this was the person to whom she +had alluded when affording him a clue to little Rupert’s +history.</p> +<p>He would sit in silence for hours with the child, being no +great speaker at the best of times; but the boy, on his part, was +too ready with his tongue for any break in discourse to arise +because Timothy Petrick had nothing to say. After idling +away his mornings in this manner, Petrick would go to his own +room and swear in long loud whispers, and walk up and down, +calling himself the most ridiculous dolt that ever lived, and +declaring that he would never go near the little fellow again; to +which resolve he would adhere for the space perhaps of a +day. Such cases are happily not new to human nature, but +there never was a case in which a man more completely befocled +his former self than in this.</p> +<p>As the child grew up, Timothy’s attachment to him grew +deeper, till Rupert became almost the sole object for which he +lived. There had been enough of the family ambition latent +in him for Timothy Petrick to feel a little envy when, some time +before this date, his brother Edward had been accepted by the +Honourable Harriet Mountclere, daughter of the second Viscount of +that name and title; but having discovered, as I have before +stated, the paternity of his boy Rupert to lurk in even a higher +stratum of society, those envious feelings speedily +dispersed. Indeed, the more he reflected thereon, after his +brother’s aristocratic marriage, the more content did he +become. His late wife took softer outline in his memory, as +he thought of the lofty taste she had displayed, though only a +plain burgher’s daughter, and the justification for his +weakness in loving the child—the justification that he had +longed for—was afforded now in the knowledge that the boy +was by nature, if not by name, a representative of one of the +noblest houses in England.</p> +<p>‘She was a woman of grand instincts, after all,’ +he said to himself proudly. ‘To fix her choice upon +the immediate successor in that ducal line—it was finely +conceived! Had he been of low blood like myself or my +relations she would scarce have deserved the harsh measure that I +have dealt out to her and her offspring. How much less, +then, when such grovelling tastes were farthest from her +soul! The man Annetta loved was noble, and my boy is noble +in spite of me.’</p> +<p>The afterclap was inevitable, and it soon came. +‘So far,’ he reasoned, ‘from cutting off this +child from inheritance of my estates, as I have done, I should +have rejoiced in the possession of him! He is of pure stock +on one side at least, whilst in the ordinary run of affairs he +would have been a commoner to the bone.’</p> +<p>Being a man, whatever his faults, of good old beliefs in the +divinity of kings and those about ’em, the more he +overhauled the case in this light, the more strongly did his poor +wife’s conduct in improving the blood and breed of the +Petrick family win his heart. He considered what ugly, +idle, hard-drinking scamps many of his own relations had been; +the miserable scriveners, usurers, and pawnbrokers that he had +numbered among his forefathers, and the probability that some of +their bad qualities would have come out in a merely corporeal +child, to give him sorrow in his old age, turn his black hairs +gray, his gray hairs white, cut down every stick of timber, and +Heaven knows what all, had he not, like a skilful gardener, +minded his grafting and changed the sort; till at length this +right-minded man fell down on his knees every night and morning +and thanked God that he was not as other meanly descended fathers +in such matters.</p> +<p>It was in the peculiar disposition of the Petrick family that +the satisfaction which ultimately settled in Timothy’s +breast found nourishment. The Petricks had adored the +nobility, and plucked them at the same time. That excellent +man Izaak Walton’s feelings about fish were much akin to +those of old Timothy Petrick, and of his descendants in a lesser +degree, concerning the landed aristocracy. To torture and +to love simultaneously is a proceeding strange to reason, but +possible to practice, as these instances show.</p> +<p>Hence, when Timothy’s brother Edward said slightingly +one day that Timothy’s son was well enough, but that he had +nothing but shops and offices in his backward perspective, while +his own children, should he have any, would be far different, in +possessing such a mother as the Honourable Harriet, Timothy felt +a bound of triumph within him at the power he possessed of +contradicting that statement if he chose.</p> +<p>So much was he interested in his boy in this new aspect that +he now began to read up chronicles of the illustrious house +ennobled as the Dukes of Southwesterland, from their very +beginning in the glories of the Restoration of the blessed +Charles till the year of his own time. He mentally noted +their gifts from royalty, grants of lands, purchases, +intermarriages, plantings and buildings; more particularly their +political and military achievements, which had been great, and +their performances in art and letters, which had been by no means +contemptible. He studied prints of the portraits of that +family, and then, like a chemist watching a crystallization, +began to examine young Rupert’s face for the unfolding of +those historic curves and shades that the painters Vandyke and +Lely had perpetuated on canvas.</p> +<p>When the boy reached the most fascinating age of childhood, +and his shouts of laughter ran through Stapleford House from end +to end, the remorse that oppressed Timothy Petrick knew no +bounds. Of all people in the world this Rupert was the one +on whom he could have wished the estates to devolve; yet Rupert, +by Timothy’s own desperate strategy at the time of his +birth, had been ousted from all inheritance of them; and, since +he did not mean to remarry, the manors would pass to his brother +and his brother’s children, who would be nothing to him, +whose boasted pedigree on one side would be nothing to his +Rupert’s.</p> +<p>Had he only left the first will of his grandfather alone!</p> +<p>His mind ran on the wills continually, both of which were in +existence, and the first, the cancelled one, in his own +possession. Night after night, when the servants were all +abed, and the click of safety locks sounded as loud as a crash, +he looked at that first will, and wished it had been the second +and not the first.</p> +<p>The crisis came at last. One night, after having enjoyed +the boy’s company for hours, he could no longer bear that +his beloved Rupert should be dispossessed, and he committed the +felonious deed of altering the date of the earlier will to a +fortnight later, which made its execution appear subsequent to +the date of the second will already proved. He then boldly +propounded the first will as the second.</p> +<p>His brother Edward submitted to what appeared to be not only +incontestible fact, but a far more likely disposition of old +Timothy’s property; for, like many others, he had been much +surprised at the limitations defined in the other will, having no +clue to their cause. He joined his brother Timothy in +setting aside the hitherto accepted document, and matters went on +in their usual course, there being no dispositions in the +substituted will differing from those in the other, except such +as related to a future which had not yet arrived.</p> +<p>The years moved on. Rupert had not yet revealed the +anxiously expected historic lineaments which should foreshadow +the political abilities of the ducal family aforesaid when it +happened on a certain day that Timothy Petrick made the +acquaintance of a well-known physician of Budmouth, who had been +the medical adviser and friend of the late Mrs. Petrick’s +family for many years; though after Annetta’s marriage, and +consequent removal to Stapleford, he had seen no more of her, the +neighbouring practitioner who attended the Petricks having then +become her doctor as a matter of course. Timothy was +impressed by the insight and knowledge disclosed in the +conversation of the Budmouth physician, and the acquaintance +ripening to intimacy, the physician alluded to a form of +hallucination to which Annetta’s mother and grandmother had +been subject—that of believing in certain dreams as +realities. He delicately inquired if Timothy had ever +noticed anything of the sort in his wife during her lifetime; he, +the physician, had fancied that he discerned germs of the same +peculiarity in Annetta when he attended her in her +girlhood. One explanation begat another, till the +dumbfoundered Timothy Petrick was persuaded in his own mind that +Annetta’s confession to him had been based on a +delusion.</p> +<p>‘You look down in the mouth?’ said the doctor, +pausing.</p> +<p>‘A bit unmanned. ’Tis +unexpected-like,’ sighed Timothy.</p> +<p>But he could hardly believe it possible; and, thinking it best +to be frank with the doctor, told him the whole story which, till +now, he had never related to living man, save his dying +grandfather. To his surprise, the physician informed him +that such a form of delusion was precisely what he would have +expected from Annetta’s antecedents at such a physical +crisis in her life.</p> +<p>Petrick prosecuted his inquiries elsewhere; and the upshot of +his labours was, briefly, that a comparison of dates and places +showed irrefutably that his poor wife’s assertion could not +possibly have foundation in fact. The young Marquis of her +tender passion—a highly moral and bright-minded +nobleman—had gone abroad the year before Annetta’s +marriage, and had not returned till after her death. The +young girl’s love for him had been a delicate ideal +dream—no more.</p> +<p>Timothy went home, and the boy ran out to meet him; whereupon +a strangely dismal feeling of discontent took possession of his +soul. After all, then, there was nothing but plebeian blood +in the veins of the heir to his name and estates; he was not to +be succeeded by a noble-natured line. To be sure, Rupert +was his son; but that glory and halo he believed him to have +inherited from the ages, outshining that of his brother’s +children, had departed from Rupert’s brow for ever; he +could no longer read history in the boy’s face, and +centuries of domination in his eyes.</p> +<p>His manner towards his son grew colder and colder from that +day forward; and it was with bitterness of heart that he +discerned the characteristic features of the Petricks unfolding +themselves by degrees. Instead of the elegant knife-edged +nose, so typical of the Dukes of Southwesterland, there began to +appear on his face the broad nostril and hollow bridge of his +grandfather Timothy. No illustrious line of politicians was +promised a continuator in that graying blue eye, for it was +acquiring the expression of the orb of a particularly +objectionable cousin of his own; and, instead of the mouth-curves +which had thrilled Parliamentary audiences in speeches now bound +in calf in every well-ordered library, there was the bull-lip of +that very uncle of his who had had the misfortune with the +signature of a gentleman’s will, and had been transported +for life in consequence.</p> +<p>To think how he himself, too, had sinned in this same matter +of a will for this mere fleshly reproduction of a wretched old +uncle whose very name he wished to forget! The boy’s +Christian name, even, was an imposture and an irony, for it +implied hereditary force and brilliancy to which he plainly would +never attain. The consolation of real sonship was always +left him certainly; but he could not help groaning to himself, +‘Why cannot a son be one’s own and somebody +else’s likewise!’</p> +<p>The Marquis was shortly afterwards in the neighbourhood of +Stapleford, and Timothy Petrick met him, and eyed his noble +countenance admiringly. The next day, when Petrick was in +his study, somebody knocked at the door.</p> +<p>‘Who’s there?’</p> +<p>‘Rupert.’</p> +<p>‘I’ll Rupert thee, you young impostor! Say, +only a poor commonplace Petrick!’ his father grunted. +‘Why didn’t you have a voice like the Marquis’s +I saw yesterday?’ he continued, as the lad came in. +‘Why haven’t you his looks, and a way of commanding, +as if you’d done it for centuries—hey?’</p> +<p>‘Why? How can you expect it, father, when +I’m not related to him?’</p> +<p>‘Ugh! Then you ought to be!’ growled his +father.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>As the narrator paused, the surgeon, the Colonel, the +historian, the Spark, and others exclaimed that such subtle and +instructive psychological studies as this (now that psychology +was so much in demand) were precisely the tales they desired, as +members of a scientific club, and begged the master-maltster to +tell another curious mental delusion.</p> +<p>The maltster shook his head, and feared he was not genteel +enough to tell another story with a sufficiently moral tone in it +to suit the club; he would prefer to leave the next to a better +man.</p> +<p>The Colonel had fallen into reflection. True it was, he +observed, that the more dreamy and impulsive nature of woman +engendered within her erratic fancies, which often started her on +strange tracks, only to abandon them in sharp revulsion at the +dictates of her common sense—sometimes with ludicrous +effect. Events which had caused a lady’s action to +set in a particular direction might continue to enforce the same +line of conduct, while she, like a mangle, would start on a +sudden in a contrary course, and end where she began.</p> +<p>The Vice-President laughed, and applauded the Colonel, adding +that there surely lurked a story somewhere behind that sentiment, +if he were not much mistaken.</p> +<p>The Colonel fixed his face to a good narrative pose, and went +on without further preamble.</p> +<h2>DAME THE SEVENTH—ANNA, LADY BAXBY<br /> +By the Colonel</h2> +<p>It was in the time of the great Civil War—if I should +not rather, as a loyal subject, call it, with Clarendon, the +Great Rebellion. It was, I say, at that unhappy period of +our history, that towards the autumn of a particular year, the +Parliament forces sat down before Sherton Castle with over seven +thousand foot and four pieces of cannon. The Castle, as we +all know, was in that century owned and occupied by one of the +Earls of Severn, and garrisoned for his assistance by a certain +noble Marquis who commanded the King’s troops in these +parts. The said Earl, as well as the young Lord Baxby, his +eldest son, were away from home just now, raising forces for the +King elsewhere. But there were present in the Castle, when +the besiegers arrived before it, the son’s fair wife Lady +Baxby, and her servants, together with some friends and near +relatives of her husband; and the defence was so good and +well-considered that they anticipated no great danger.</p> +<p>The Parliamentary forces were also commanded by a noble +lord—for the nobility were by no means, at this stage of +the war, all on the King’s side—and it had been +observed during his approach in the night-time, and in the +morning when the reconnoitring took place, that he appeared sad +and much depressed. The truth was that, by a strange freak +of destiny, it had come to pass that the stronghold he was set to +reduce was the home of his own sister, whom he had tenderly loved +during her maidenhood, and whom he loved now, in spite of the +estrangement which had resulted from hostilities with her +husband’s family. He believed, too, that, +notwithstanding this cruel division, she still was sincerely +attached to him.</p> +<p>His hesitation to point his ordnance at the walls was +inexplicable to those who were strangers to his family +history. He remained in the field on the north side of the +Castle (called by his name to this day because of his encampment +there) till it occurred to him to send a messenger to his sister +Anna with a letter, in which he earnestly requested her, as she +valued her life, to steal out of the place by the little gate to +the south, and make away in that direction to the residence of +some friends.</p> +<p>Shortly after he saw, to his great surprise, coming from the +front of the Castle walls a lady on horseback, with a single +attendant. She rode straight forward into the field, and up +the slope to where his army and tents were spread. It was +not till she got quite near that he discerned her to be his +sister Anna; and much was he alarmed that she should have run +such risk as to sally out in the face of his forces without +knowledge of their proceedings, when at any moment their first +discharge might have burst forth, to her own destruction in such +exposure. She dismounted before she was quite close to him, +and he saw that her familiar face, though pale, was not at all +tearful, as it would have been in their younger days. +Indeed, if the particulars as handed down are to be believed, he +was in a more tearful state than she, in his anxiety about +her. He called her into his tent, out of the gaze of those +around; for though many of the soldiers were honest and +serious-minded men, he could not bear that she who had been his +dear companion in childhood should be exposed to curious +observation in this her great grief.</p> +<p>When they were alone in the tent he clasped her in his arms, +for he had not seen her since those happier days when, at the +commencement of the war, her husband and himself had been of the +same mind about the arbitrary conduct of the King, and had little +dreamt that they would not go to extremes together. She was +the calmest of the two, it is said, and was the first to speak +connectedly.</p> +<p>‘William, I have come to you,’ said she, +‘but not to save myself as you suppose. Why, oh, why +do you persist in supporting this disloyal cause, and grieving us +so?’</p> +<p>‘Say not that,’ he replied hastily. +‘If truth hides at the bottom of a well, why should you +suppose justice to be in high places? I am for the right at +any price. Anna, leave the Castle; you are my sister; come +away, my dear, and save thy life!’</p> +<p>‘Never!’ says she. ‘Do you plan to +carry out this attack, and level the Castle indeed?’</p> +<p>‘Most certainly I do,’ says he. ‘What +meaneth this army around us if not so?’</p> +<p>‘Then you will find the bones of your sister buried in +the ruins you cause!’ said she. And without another +word she turned and left him.</p> +<p>‘Anna—abide with me!’ he entreated. +‘Blood is thicker than water, and what is there in common +between you and your husband now?’</p> +<p>But she shook her head and would not hear him and hastening +out, mounted her horse, and returned towards the Castle as she +had come. Ay, many’s the time when I have been riding +to hounds across that field that I have thought of that +scene!</p> +<p>When she had quite gone down the field, and over the +intervening ground, and round the bastion, so that he could no +longer even see the tip of her mare’s white tail, he was +much more deeply moved by emotions concerning her and her welfare +than he had been while she was before him. He wildly +reproached himself that he had not detained her by force for her +own good, so that, come what might, she would be under his +protection and not under that of her husband, whose impulsive +nature rendered him too open to instantaneous impressions and +sudden changes of plan; he was now acting in this cause and now +in that, and lacked the cool judgment necessary for the +protection of a woman in these troubled times. Her brother +thought of her words again and again, and sighed, and even +considered if a sister were not of more value than a principle, +and if he would not have acted more naturally in throwing in his +lot with hers.</p> +<p>The delay of the besiegers in attacking the Castle was said to +be entirely owing to this distraction on the part of their +leader, who remained on the spot attempting some indecisive +operations, and parleying with the Marquis, then in command, with +far inferior forces, within the Castle. It never occurred +to him that in the meantime the young Lady Baxby, his sister, was +in much the same mood as himself. Her brother’s +familiar voice and eyes, much worn and fatigued by keeping the +field, and by family distractions on account of this unhappy +feud, rose upon her vision all the afternoon, and as day waned +she grew more and more Parliamentarian in her principles, though +the only arguments which had addressed themselves to her were +those of family ties.</p> +<p>Her husband, General Lord Baxby, had been expected to return +all the day from his excursion into the east of the county, a +message having been sent to him informing him of what had +happened at home; and in the evening he arrived with +reinforcements in unexpected numbers. Her brother retreated +before these to a hill near Ivell, four or five miles off, to +afford the men and himself some repose. Lord Baxby duly +placed his forces, and there was no longer any immediate +danger. By this time Lady Baxby’s feelings were more +Parliamentarian than ever, and in her fancy the fagged +countenance of her brother, beaten back by her husband, seemed to +reproach her for heartlessness. When her husband entered +her apartment, ruddy and boisterous, and full of hope, she +received him but sadly; and upon his casually uttering some +slighting words about her brother’s withdrawal, which +seemed to convey an imputation upon his courage, she resented +them, and retorted that he, Lord Baxby himself, had been against +the Court-party at first, where it would be much more to his +credit if he were at present, and showing her brother’s +consistency of opinion, instead of supporting the lying policy of +the King (as she called it) for the sake of a barren principle of +loyalty, which was but an empty expression when a King was not at +one with his people. The dissension grew bitter between +them, reaching to little less than a hot quarrel, both being +quick-tempered souls.</p> +<p>Lord Baxby was weary with his long day’s march and other +excitements, and soon retired to bed. His lady followed +some time after. Her husband slept profoundly, but not so +she; she sat brooding by the window-slit, and lifting the curtain +looked forth upon the hills without.</p> +<p>In the silence between the footfalls of the sentinels she +could hear faint sounds of her brother’s camp on the +distant hills, where the soldiery had hardly settled as yet into +their bivouac since their evening’s retreat. The +first frosts of autumn had touched the grass, and shrivelled the +more delicate leaves of the creepers; and she thought of William +sleeping on the chilly ground, under the strain of these +hardships. Tears flooded her eyes as she returned to her +husband’s imputations upon his courage, as if there could +be any doubt of Lord William’s courage after what he had +done in the past days.</p> +<p>Lord Baxby’s long and reposeful breathings in his +comfortable bed vexed her now, and she came to a determination on +an impulse. Hastily lighting a taper, she wrote on a scrap +of paper:</p> +<p>‘<i>Blood is thicker than water</i>, <i>dear +William—I will come</i>;’ and with this in her hand, +she went to the door of the room, and out upon the stairs; on +second thoughts turning back for a moment, to put on her +husband’s hat and cloak—not the one he was daily +wearing—that if seen in the twilight she might at a casual +glance appear as some lad or hanger-on of one of the household +women; thus accoutred she descended a flight of circular stairs, +at the bottom of which was a door opening upon the terrace +towards the west, in the direction of her brother’s +position. Her object was to slip out without the sentry +seeing her, get to the stables, arouse one of the varlets, and +send him ahead of her along the highway with the note to warn her +brother of her approach, to throw in her lot with his.</p> +<p>She was still in the shadow of the wall on the west terrace, +waiting for the sentinel to be quite out of the way, when her +ears were greeted by a voice, saying, from the adjoining +shade—</p> +<p>‘Here I be!’</p> +<p>The tones were the tones of a woman. Lady Baxby made no +reply, and stood close to the wall.</p> +<p>‘My Lord Baxby,’ the voice continued; and she +could recognize in it the local accent of some girl from the +little town of Sherton, close at hand. ‘I be tired of +waiting, my dear Lord Baxby! I was afeard you would never +come!’</p> +<p>Lady Baxby flushed hot to her toes.</p> +<p>‘How the wench loves him!’ she said to herself, +reasoning from the tones of the voice, which were plaintive and +sweet and tender as a bird’s. She changed from the +home-hating truant to the strategic wife in one moment.</p> +<p>‘Hist!’ she said.</p> +<p>‘My lord, you told me ten o’clock, and ’tis +near twelve now,’ continues the other. ‘How +could ye keep me waiting so if you love me as you said? I +should have stuck to my lover in the Parliament troops if it had +not been for thee, my dear lord!’</p> +<p>There was not the least doubt that Lady Baxby had been +mistaken for her husband by this intriguing damsel. Here +was a pretty underhand business! Here were sly +manoeuvrings! Here was faithlessness! Here was a +precious assignation surprised in the midst! Her wicked +husband, whom till this very moment she had ever deemed the soul +of good faith—how could he!</p> +<p>Lady Baxby precipitately retreated to the door in the turret, +closed it, locked it, and ascended one round of the staircase, +where there was a loophole. ‘I am not coming! +I, Lord Baxby, despise ye and all your wanton tribe!’ she +hissed through the opening; and then crept upstairs, as firmly +rooted in Royalist principles as any man in the Castle.</p> +<p>Her husband still slept the sleep of the weary, well-fed, and +well-drunken, if not of the just; and Lady Baxby quickly disrobed +herself without assistance—being, indeed, supposed by her +woman to have retired to rest long ago. Before lying down, +she noiselessly locked the door and placed the key under her +pillow. More than that, she got a staylace, and, creeping +up to her lord, in great stealth tied the lace in a tight knot to +one of his long locks of hair, attaching the other end of the +lace to the bedpost; for, being tired herself now, she feared she +might sleep heavily; and, if her husband should wake, this would +be a delicate hint that she had discovered all.</p> +<p>It is added that, to make assurance trebly sure, her gentle +ladyship, when she had lain down to rest, held her lord’s +hand in her own during the whole of the night. But this is +old-wives’ gossip, and not corroborated. What Lord +Baxby thought and said when he awoke the next morning, and found +himself so strangely tethered, is likewise only matter of +conjecture; though there is no reason to suppose that his rage +was great. The extent of his culpability as regards the +intrigue was this much; that, while halting at a cross-road near +Sherton that day, he had flirted with a pretty young woman, who +seemed nothing loth, and had invited her to the Castle terrace +after dark—an invitation which he quite forgot on his +arrival home.</p> +<p>The subsequent relations of Lord and Lady Baxby were not again +greatly embittered by quarrels, so far as is known; though the +husband’s conduct in later life was occasionally eccentric, +and the vicissitudes of his public career culminated in long +exile. The siege of the Castle was not regularly undertaken +till two or three years later than the time I have been +describing, when Lady Baxby and all the women therein, except the +wife of the then Governor, had been removed to safe +distance. That memorable siege of fifteen days by Fairfax, +and the surrender of the old place on an August evening, is +matter of history, and need not be told by me.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>The Man of Family spoke approvingly across to the Colonel when +the Club had done smiling, declaring that the story was an +absolutely faithful page of history, as he had good reason to +know, his own people having been engaged in that well-known +scrimmage. He asked if the Colonel had ever heard the +equally well-authenticated, though less martial tale of a certain +Lady Penelope, who lived in the same century, and not a score of +miles from the same place?</p> +<p>The Colonel had not heard it, nor had anybody except the local +historian; and the inquirer was induced to proceed forthwith.</p> +<h2>DAME THE EIGHTH—THE LADY PENELOPE<br /> +By the Man of Family</h2> +<p>In going out of Casterbridge by the low-lying road which +eventually conducts to the town of Ivell, you see on the right +hand an ivied manor-house, flanked by battlemented towers, and +more than usually distinguished by the size of its many mullioned +windows. Though still of good capacity, the building is +much reduced from its original grand proportions; it has, +moreover, been shorn of the fair estate which once appertained to +its lord, with the exception of a few acres of park-land +immediately around the mansion. This was formerly the seat +of the ancient and knightly family of the Drenghards, or +Drenkhards, now extinct in the male line, whose name, according +to the local chronicles, was interpreted to mean <i>Strenuus +Miles</i>, <i>vel Potator</i>, though certain members of the +family were averse to the latter signification, and a duel was +fought by one of them on that account, as is well known. +With this, however, we are not now concerned.</p> +<p>In the early part of the reign of the first King James, there +was visiting near this place of the Drenghards a lady of noble +family and extraordinary beauty. She was of the purest +descent; ah, there’s seldom such blood nowadays as +hers! She possessed no great wealth, it was said, but was +sufficiently endowed. Her beauty was so perfect, and her +manner so entrancing, that suitors seemed to spring out of the +ground wherever she went, a sufficient cause of anxiety to the +Countess her mother, her only living parent. Of these there +were three in particular, whom neither her mother’s +complaints of prematurity, nor the ready raillery of the maiden +herself, could effectually put off. The said gallants were +a certain Sir John Gale, a Sir William Hervy, and the well-known +Sir George Drenghard, one of the Drenghard family +before-mentioned. They had, curiously enough, all been +equally honoured with the distinction of knighthood, and their +schemes for seeing her were manifold, each fearing that one of +the others would steal a march over himself. Not content +with calling, on every imaginable excuse, at the house of the +relative with whom she sojourned, they intercepted her in rides +and in walks; and if any one of them chanced to surprise another +in the act of paying her marked attentions, the encounter often +ended in an altercation of great violence. So heated and +impassioned, indeed, would they become, that the lady hardly felt +herself safe in their company at such times, notwithstanding that +she was a brave and buxom damsel, not easily put out, and with a +daring spirit of humour in her composition, if not of +coquetry.</p> +<p>At one of these altercations, which had place in her +relative’s grounds, and was unusually bitter, threatening +to result in a duel, she found it necessary to assert +herself. Turning haughtily upon the pair of disputants, she +declared that whichever should be the first to break the peace +between them, no matter what the provocation, that man should +never be admitted to her presence again; and thus would she +effectually stultify the aggressor by making the promotion of a +quarrel a distinct bar to its object.</p> +<p>While the two knights were wearing rather a crest-fallen +appearance at her reprimand, the third, never far off, came upon +the scene, and she repeated her caveat to him also. Seeing, +then, how great was the concern of all at her peremptory mood, +the lady’s manner softened, and she said with a roguish +smile—</p> +<p>‘Have patience, have patience, you foolish men! +Only bide your time quietly, and, in faith, I will marry you all +in turn!’</p> +<p>They laughed heartily at this sally, all three together, as +though they were the best of friends; at which she blushed, and +showed some embarrassment, not having realized that her arch jest +would have sounded so strange when uttered. The meeting +which resulted thus, however, had its good effect in checking the +bitterness of their rivalry; and they repeated her speech to +their relatives and acquaintance with a hilarious frequency and +publicity that the lady little divined, or she might have blushed +and felt more embarrassment still.</p> +<p>In the course of time the position resolved itself, and the +beauteous Lady Penelope (as she was called) made up her mind; her +choice being the eldest of the three knights, Sir George +Drenghard, owner of the mansion aforesaid, which thereupon became +her home; and her husband being a pleasant man, and his family, +though not so noble, of as good repute as her own, all things +seemed to show that she had reckoned wisely in honouring him with +her preference.</p> +<p>But what may lie behind the still and silent veil of the +future none can foretell. In the course of a few months the +husband of her choice died of his convivialities (as if, indeed, +to bear out his name), and the Lady Penelope was left alone as +mistress of his house. By this time she had apparently +quite forgotten her careless declaration to her lovers +collectively; but the lovers themselves had not forgotten it; +and, as she would now be free to take a second one of them, Sir +John Gale appeared at her door as early in her widowhood as it +was proper and seemly to do so.</p> +<p>She gave him little encouragement; for, of the two remaining, +her best beloved was Sir William, of whom, if the truth must be +told, she had often thought during her short married life. +But he had not yet reappeared. Her heart began to be so +much with him now that she contrived to convey to him, by +indirect hints through his friends, that she would not be +displeased by a renewal of his former attentions. Sir +William, however, misapprehended her gentle signalling, and from +excellent, though mistaken motives of delicacy, delayed to +intrude himself upon her for a long time. Meanwhile Sir +John, now created a baronet, was unremitting, and she began to +grow somewhat piqued at the backwardness of him she secretly +desired to be forward.</p> +<p>‘Never mind,’ her friends said jestingly to her +(knowing of her humorous remark, as everybody did, that she would +marry them all three if they would have +patience)—‘never mind; why hesitate upon the order of +them? Take ’em as they come.’</p> +<p>This vexed her still more, and regretting deeply, as she had +often done, that such a careless speech should ever have passed +her lips, she fairly broke down under Sir John’s +importunity, and accepted his hand. They were married on a +fine spring morning, about the very time at which the unfortunate +Sir William discovered her preference for him, and was beginning +to hasten home from a foreign court to declare his unaltered +devotion to her. On his arrival in England he learnt the +sad truth.</p> +<p>If Sir William suffered at her precipitancy under what she had +deemed his neglect, the Lady Penelope herself suffered +more. She had not long been the wife of Sir John Gale +before he showed a disposition to retaliate upon her for the +trouble and delay she had put him to in winning her. With +increasing frequency he would tell her that, as far as he could +perceive, she was an article not worth such labour as he had +bestowed in obtaining it, and such snubbings as he had taken from +his rivals on the same account. These and other cruel +things he repeated till he made the lady weep sorely, and +wellnigh broke her spirit, though she had formerly been such a +mettlesome dame. By degrees it became perceptible to all +her friends that her life was a very unhappy one; and the fate of +the fair woman seemed yet the harder in that it was her own +stately mansion, left to her sole use by her first husband, which +her second had entered into and was enjoying, his being but a +mean and meagre erection.</p> +<p>But such is the flippancy of friends that when she met them, +and secretly confided her grief to their ears, they would say +cheerily, ‘Lord, never mind, my dear; there’s a third +to come yet!’—at which maladroit remark she would +show much indignation, and tell them they should know better than +to trifle on so solemn a theme. Yet that the poor lady +would have been only too happy to be the wife of the third, +instead of Sir John whom she had taken, was painfully obvious, +and much she was blamed for her foolish choice by some +people. Sir William, however, had returned to foreign +cities on learning the news of her marriage, and had never been +heard of since.</p> +<p>Two or three years of suffering were passed by Lady Penelope +as the despised and chidden wife of this man Sir John, amid +regrets that she had so greatly mistaken him, and sighs for one +whom she thought never to see again, till it chanced that her +husband fell sick of some slight ailment. One day after +this, when she was sitting in his room, looking from the window +upon the expanse in front, she beheld, approaching the house on +foot, a form she seemed to know well. Lady Penelope +withdrew silently from the sickroom, and descended to the hall, +whence, through the doorway, she saw entering between the two +round towers, which at that time flanked the gateway, Sir William +Hervy, as she had surmised, but looking thin and +travel-worn. She advanced into the courtyard to meet +him.</p> +<p>‘I was passing through Casterbridge,’ he said, +with faltering deference, ‘and I walked out to ask after +your ladyship’s health. I felt that I could do no +less; and, of course, to pay my respects to your good husband, my +heretofore acquaintance . . . But oh, Penelope, th’st look +sick and sorry!’</p> +<p>‘I am heartsick, that’s all,’ said she.</p> +<p>They could see in each other an emotion which neither wished +to express, and they stood thus a long time with tears in their +eyes.</p> +<p>‘He does not treat ’ee well, I hear,’ said +Sir William in a low voice. ‘May God in Heaven +forgive him; but it is asking a great deal!’</p> +<p>‘Hush, hush!’ said she hastily.</p> +<p>‘Nay, but I will speak what I may honestly say,’ +he answered. ‘I am not under your roof, and my tongue +is free. Why didst not wait for me, Penelope, or send to me +a more overt letter? I would have travelled night and day +to come!’</p> +<p>‘Too late, William; you must not ask it,’ said +she, endeavouring to quiet him as in old times. ‘My +husband just now is unwell. He will grow better in a day or +two, maybe. You must call again and see him before you +leave Casterbridge.’</p> +<p>As she said this their eyes met. Each was thinking of +her lightsome words about taking the three men in turn; each +thought that two-thirds of that promise had been fulfilled. +But, as if it were unpleasant to her that this recollection +should have arisen, she spoke again quickly: ‘Come again in +a day or two, when my husband will be well enough to see +you.’</p> +<p>Sir William departed without entering the house, and she +returned to Sir John’s chamber. He, rising from his +pillow, said, ‘To whom hast been talking, wife, in the +courtyard? I heard voices there.’</p> +<p>She hesitated, and he repeated the question more +impatiently.</p> +<p>‘I do not wish to tell you now,’ said she.</p> +<p>‘But I wooll know!’ said he.</p> +<p>Then she answered, ‘Sir William Hervy.’</p> +<p>‘By G--- I thought as much!’ cried Sir John, drops +of perspiration standing on his white face. ‘A +skulking villain! A sick man’s ears are keen, my +lady. I heard that they were lover-like tones, and he +called ’ee by your Christian name. These be your +intrigues, my lady, when I am off my legs awhile!’</p> +<p>‘On my honour,’ cried she, ‘you do me a +wrong. I swear I did not know of his coming!’</p> +<p>‘Swear as you will,’ said Sir John, ‘I +don’t believe ’ee.’ And with this he +taunted her, and worked himself into a greater passion, which +much increased his illness. His lady sat still, +brooding. There was that upon her face which had seldom +been there since her marriage; and she seemed to think anew of +what she had so lightly said in the days of her freedom, when her +three lovers were one and all coveting her hand. ‘I +began at the wrong end of them,’ she murmured. +‘My God—that did I!’</p> +<p>‘What?’ said he.</p> +<p>‘A trifle,’ said she. ‘I spoke to +myself only.’</p> +<p>It was somewhat strange that after this day, while she went +about the house with even a sadder face than usual, her churlish +husband grew worse; and what was more, to the surprise of all, +though to the regret of few, he died a fortnight later. Sir +William had not called upon him as he had promised, having +received a private communication from Lady Penelope, frankly +informing him that to do so would be inadvisable, by reason of +her husband’s temper.</p> +<p>Now when Sir John was gone, and his remains carried to his +family burying-place in another part of England, the lady began +in due time to wonder whither Sir William had betaken +himself. But she had been cured of precipitancy (if ever +woman were), and was prepared to wait her whole lifetime a widow +if the said Sir William should not reappear. Her life was +now passed mostly within the walls, or in promenading between the +pleasaunce and the bowling-green; and she very seldom went even +so far as the high road which then skirted the grounds on the +north, though it has now, and for many years, been diverted to +the south side. Her patience was rewarded (if love be in +any case a reward); for one day, many months after her second +husband’s death, a messenger arrived at her gate with the +intelligence that Sir William Hervy was again in Casterbridge, +and would be glad to know if it were her pleasure that he should +wait upon her.</p> +<p>It need hardly be said that permission was joyfully granted, +and within two hours her lover stood before her, a more +thoughtful man than formerly, but in all essential respects the +same man, generous, modest to diffidence, and sincere. The +reserve which womanly decorum threw over her manner was but too +obviously artificial, and when he said ‘the ways of +Providence are strange,’ and added after a moment, +‘and merciful likewise,’ she could not conceal her +agitation, and burst into tears upon his neck.</p> +<p>‘But this is too soon,’ she said, starting +back.</p> +<p>‘But no,’ said he. ‘You are eleven +months gone in widowhood, and it is not as if Sir John had been a +good husband to you.’</p> +<p>His visits grew pretty frequent now, as may well be guessed, +and in a month or two he began to urge her to an early +union. But she counselled a little longer delay.</p> +<p>‘Why?’ said he. ‘Surely I have waited +long! Life is short; we are getting older every day, and I +am the last of the three.’</p> +<p>‘Yes,’ said the lady frankly. ‘And +that is why I would not have you hasten. Our marriage may +seem so strange to everybody, after my unlucky remark on that +occasion we know so well, and which so many others know likewise, +thanks to talebearers.’</p> +<p>On this representation he conceded a little space, for the +sake of her good name. But the destined day of their +marriage at last arrived, and it was a gay time for the villagers +and all concerned, and the bells in the parish church rang from +noon till night. Thus at last she was united to the man who +had loved her the most tenderly of them all, who but for his +reticence might perhaps have been the first to win her. +Often did he say to himself; ‘How wondrous that her words +should have been fulfilled! Many a truth hath been spoken +in jest, but never a more remarkable one!’ The noble +lady herself preferred not to dwell on the coincidence, a certain +shyness, if not shame, crossing her fair face at any allusion +thereto.</p> +<p>But people will have their say, sensitive souls or none, and +their sayings on this third occasion took a singular shape. +‘Surely,’ they whispered, ‘there is something +more than chance in this . . . The death of the first was +possibly natural; but what of the death of the second, who +ill-used her, and whom, loving the third so desperately, she must +have wished out of the way?’</p> +<p>Then they pieced together sundry trivial incidents of Sir +John’s illness, and dwelt upon the indubitable truth that +he had grown worse after her lover’s unexpected visit; till +a very sinister theory was built up as to the hand she may have +had in Sir John’s premature demise. But nothing of +this suspicion was said openly, for she was a lady of noble +birth—nobler, indeed, than either of her husbands—and +what people suspected they feared to express in formal +accusation.</p> +<p>The mansion that she occupied had been left to her for so long +a time as she should choose to reside in it, and, having a regard +for the spot, she had coaxed Sir William to remain there. +But in the end it was unfortunate; for one day, when in the full +tide of his happiness, he was walking among the willows near the +gardens, where he overheard a conversation between some +basket-makers who were cutting the osiers for their use. In +this fatal dialogue the suspicions of the neighbouring townsfolk +were revealed to him for the first time.</p> +<p>‘A cupboard close to his bed, and the key in her +pocket. Ah!’ said one.</p> +<p>‘And a blue phial therein—h’m!’ said +another.</p> +<p>‘And spurge-laurel leaves among the hearth-ashes. +Oh-oh!’ said a third.</p> +<p>On his return home Sir William seemed to have aged +years. But he said nothing; indeed, it was a thing +impossible. And from that hour a ghastly estrangement +began. She could not understand it, and simply +waited. One day he said, however, ‘I must go +abroad.’</p> +<p>‘Why?’ said she. ‘William, have I +offended you?’</p> +<p>‘No,’ said he; ‘but I must go.’</p> +<p>She could coax little more out of him, and in itself there was +nothing unnatural in his departure, for he had been a wanderer +from his youth. In a few days he started off, apparently +quite another man than he who had rushed to her side so devotedly +a few months before.</p> +<p>It is not known when, or how, the rumours, which were so thick +in the atmosphere around her, actually reached the Lady +Penelope’s ears, but that they did reach her there is no +doubt. It was impossible that they should not; the district +teemed with them; they rustled in the air like night-birds of +evil omen. Then a reason for her husband’s departure +occurred to her appalled mind, and a loss of health became +quickly apparent. She dwindled thin in the face, and the +veins in her temples could all be distinctly traced. An +inner fire seemed to be withering her away. Her rings fell +off her fingers, and her arms hung like the flails of the +threshers, though they had till lately been so round and so +elastic. She wrote to her husband repeatedly, begging him +to return to her; but he, being in extreme and wretched doubt, +moreover, knowing nothing of her ill-health, and never suspecting +that the rumours had reached her also, deemed absence best, and +postponed his return awhile, giving various good reasons for his +delay.</p> +<p>At length, however, when the Lady Penelope had given birth to +a still-born child, her mother, the Countess, addressed a letter +to Sir William, requesting him to come back to her if he wished +to see her alive; since she was wasting away of some mysterious +disease, which seemed to be rather mental than physical. It +was evident that his mother-in-law knew nothing of the secret, +for she lived at a distance; but Sir William promptly hastened +home, and stood beside the bed of his now dying wife.</p> +<p>‘Believe me, William,’ she said when they were +alone, ‘I am innocent—innocent!’</p> +<p>‘Of what?’ said he. ‘Heaven forbid +that I should accuse you of anything!’</p> +<p>‘But you do accuse me—silently!’ she +gasped. ‘I could not write thereon—and ask you +to hear me. It was too much, too degrading. But would +that I had been less proud! They suspect me of poisoning +him, William! But, oh my dear husband, I am innocent of +that wicked crime! He died naturally. I loved +you—too soon; but that was all!’</p> +<p>Nothing availed to save her. The worm had gnawed too far +into her heart before Sir William’s return for anything to +be remedial now; and in a few weeks she breathed her last. +After her death the people spoke louder, and her conduct became a +subject of public discussion. A little later on, the +physician, who had attended the late Sir John, heard the rumour, +and came down from the place near London to which he latterly had +retired, with the express purpose of calling upon Sir William +Hervy, now staying in Casterbridge.</p> +<p>He stated that, at the request of a relative of Sir +John’s, who wished to be assured on the matter by reason of +its suddenness, he had, with the assistance of a surgeon, made a +private examination of Sir John’s body immediately after +his decease, and found that it had resulted from purely natural +causes. Nobody at this time had breathed a suspicion of +foul play, and therefore nothing was said which might afterwards +have established her innocence.</p> +<p>It being thus placed beyond doubt that this beautiful and +noble lady had been done to death by a vile scandal that was +wholly unfounded, her husband was stung with a dreadful remorse +at the share he had taken in her misfortunes, and left the +country anew, this time never to return alive. He survived +her but a few years, and his body was brought home and buried +beside his wife’s under the tomb which is still visible in +the parish church. Until lately there was a good portrait +of her, in weeds for her first husband, with a cross in her hand, +at the ancestral seat of her family, where she was much pitied, +as she deserved to be. Yet there were some severe enough to +say—and these not unjust persons in other +respects—that though unquestionably innocent of the crime +imputed to her, she had shown an unseemly wantonness in +contracting three marriages in such rapid succession; that the +untrue suspicion might have been ordered by Providence (who often +works indirectly) as a punishment for her self-indulgence. +Upon that point I have no opinion to offer.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>The reverend the Vice-President, however, the tale being +ended, offered as his opinion that her fate ought to be quite +clearly recognized as a punishment. So thought the +Churchwarden, and also the quiet gentleman sitting near. +The latter knew many other instances in point, one of which could +be narrated in a few words.</p> +<h2>DAME THE NINTH—THE DUCHESS OF HAMPTONSHIRE<br /> +By the Quiet Gentleman</h2> +<p>Some fifty years ago, the then Duke of Hamptonshire, fifth of +that title, was incontestibly the head man in his county, and +particularly in the neighbourhood of Batton. He came of the +ancient and loyal family of Saxelbye, which, before its +ennoblement, had numbered many knightly and ecclesiastical +celebrities in its male line. It would have occupied a +painstaking county historian a whole afternoon to take rubbings +of the numerous effigies and heraldic devices graven to their +memory on the brasses, tablets, and altar-tombs in the aisle of +the parish-church. The Duke himself, however, was a man +little attracted by ancient chronicles in stone and metal, even +when they concerned his own beginnings. He allowed his mind +to linger by preference on the many graceless and unedifying +pleasures which his position placed at his command. He +could on occasion close the mouths of his dependents by a good +bomb-like oath, and he argued doggedly with the parson on the +virtues of cock-fighting and baiting the bull.</p> +<p>This nobleman’s personal appearance was somewhat +impressive. His complexion was that of the copper-beech +tree. His frame was stalwart, though slightly +stooping. His mouth was large, and he carried an unpolished +sapling as his walking-stick, except when he carried a spud for +cutting up any thistle he encountered on his walks. His +castle stood in the midst of a park, surrounded by dusky elms, +except to the southward; and when the moon shone out, the +gleaming stone facade, backed by heavy boughs, was visible from +the distant high road as a white spot on the surface of +darkness. Though called a castle, the building was little +fortified, and had been erected with greater eye to internal +convenience than those crannied places of defence to which the +name strictly appertains. It was a castellated mansion as +regular as a chessboard on its ground-plan, ornamented with +make-believe bastions and machicolations, behind which were +stacks of battlemented chimneys. On still mornings, at the +fire-lighting hour, when ghostly house-maids stalk the corridors, +and thin streaks of light through the shutter-chinks lend +startling winks and smiles to ancestors on canvas, twelve or +fifteen thin stems of blue smoke sprouted upwards from these +chimney-tops, and spread into a flat canopy on high. Around +the site stretched ten thousand acres of good, fat, unimpeachable +soil, plentiful in glades and lawns wherever visible from the +castle-windows, and merging in homely arable where screened from +the too curious eye by ingeniously-contrived plantations.</p> +<p>Some way behind the owner of all this came the second man in +the parish, the rector, the Honourable and Reverend Mr. +Oldbourne, a widower, over stiff and stern for a clergyman, whose +severe white neckcloth, well-kept gray hair, and right-lined face +betokened none of those sympathetic traits whereon depends so +much of a parson’s power to do good among his +fellow-creatures. The last, far-removed man of the +series—altogether the Neptune of these local +primaries—was the curate, Mr. Alwyn Hill. He was a +handsome young deacon with curly hair, dreamy eyes—so +dreamy that to look long into them was like ascending and +floating among summer clouds—a complexion as fresh as a +flower, and a chin absolutely beardless. Though his age was +about twenty-five, he looked not much over nineteen.</p> +<p>The rector had a daughter called Emmeline, of so sweet and +simple a nature that her beauty was discovered, measured, and +inventoried by almost everybody in that part of the country +before it was suspected by herself to exist. She had been +bred in comparative solitude; a rencounter with men troubled and +confused her. Whenever a strange visitor came to her +father’s house she slipped into the orchard and remained +till he was gone, ridiculing her weakness in apostrophes, but +unable to overcome it. Her virtues lay in no resistant +force of character, but in a natural inappetency for evil things, +which to her were as unmeaning as joints of flesh to a +herbivorous creature. Her charms of person, manner, and +mind, had been clear for some time to the Antinous in orders, and +no less so to the Duke, who, though scandalously ignorant of +dainty phrases, ever showing a clumsy manner towards the gentler +sex, and, in short, not at all a lady’s man, took fire to a +degree that was wellnigh terrible at sudden sight of Emmeline, a +short time after she was turned seventeen.</p> +<p>It occurred one afternoon at the corner of a shrubbery between +the castle and the rectory, where the Duke was standing to watch +the heaving of a mole, when the fair girl brushed past at a +distance of a few yards, in the full light of the sun, and +without hat or bonnet. The Duke went home like a man who +had seen a spirit. He ascended to the picture-gallery of +his castle, and there passed some time in staring at the bygone +beauties of his line as if he had never before considered what an +important part those specimens of womankind had played in the +evolution of the Saxelbye race. He dined alone, drank +rather freely, and declared to himself that Emmeline Oldbourne +must be his.</p> +<p>Meanwhile there had unfortunately arisen between the curate +and this girl some sweet and secret understanding. +Particulars of the attachment remained unknown then and always, +but it was plainly not approved of by her father. His +procedure was cold, hard, and inexorable. Soon the curate +disappeared from the parish, almost suddenly, after bitter and +hard words had been heard to pass between him and the rector one +evening in the garden, intermingled with which, like the cries of +the dying in the din of battle, were the beseeching sobs of a +woman. Not long after this it was announced that a marriage +between the Duke and Miss Oldbourne was to be solemnized at a +surprisingly early date.</p> +<p>The wedding-day came and passed; and she was a Duchess. +Nobody seemed to think of the ousted man during the day, or else +those who thought of him concealed their meditations. Some +of the less subservient ones were disposed to speak in a jocular +manner of the august husband and wife, others to make correct and +pretty speeches about them, according as their sex and nature +dictated. But in the evening, the ringers in the belfry, +with whom Alwyn had been a favourite, eased their minds a little +concerning the gentle young man, and the possible regrets of the +woman he had loved.</p> +<p>‘Don’t you see something wrong in it all?’ +said the third bell as he wiped his face. ‘I know +well enough where she would have liked to stable her horses +to-night, when they have done their journey.’</p> +<p>‘That is, you would know if you could tell where young +Mr. Hill is living, which is known to none in the +parish.’</p> +<p>‘Except to the lady that this ring o’ grandsire +triples is in honour of.’</p> +<p>Yet these friendly cottagers were at this time far from +suspecting the real dimensions of Emmeline’s misery, nor +was it clear even to those who came into much closer communion +with her than they, so well had she concealed her +heart-sickness. But bride and bridegroom had not long been +home at the castle when the young wife’s unhappiness became +plainly enough perceptible. Her maids and men said that she +was in the habit of turning to the wainscot and shedding stupid +scalding tears at a time when a right-minded lady would have been +overhauling her wardrobe. She prayed earnestly in the great +church-pew, where she sat lonely and insignificant as a mouse in +a cell, instead of counting her rings, falling asleep, or amusing +herself in silent laughter at the queer old people in the +congregation, as previous beauties of the family had done in +their time. She seemed to care no more for eating and +drinking out of crystal and silver than from a service of earthen +vessels. Her head was, in truth, full of something else; +and that such was the case was only too obvious to the Duke, her +husband. At first he would only taunt her for her folly in +thinking of that milk-and-water parson; but as time went on his +charges took a more positive shape. He would not believe +her assurance that she had in no way communicated with her former +lover, nor he with her, since their parting in the presence of +her father. This led to some strange scenes between them +which need not be detailed; their result was soon to take a +catastrophic shape.</p> +<p>One dark quiet evening, about two months after the marriage, a +man entered the gate admitting from the highway to the park and +avenue which ran up to the house. He arrived within two +hundred yards of the walls, when he left the gravelled drive and +drew near to the castle by a roundabout path leading into a +shrubbery. Here he stood still. In a few minutes the +strokes of the castle-clock resounded, and then a female figure +entered the same secluded nook from an opposite direction. +There the two indistinct persons leapt together like a pair of +dewdrops on a leaf; and then they stood apart, facing each other, +the woman looking down.</p> +<p>‘Emmeline, you begged me to come, and here I am, Heaven +forgive me!’ said the man hoarsely.</p> +<p>‘You are going to emigrate, Alwyn,’ she said in +broken accents. ‘I have heard of it; you sail from +Plymouth in three days in the <i>Western Glory</i>?’</p> +<p>‘Yes. I can live in England no longer. Life +is as death to me here,’ says he.</p> +<p>‘My life is even worse—worse than death. +Death would not have driven me to this extremity. Listen, +Alwyn—I have sent for you to beg to go with you, or at +least to be near you—to do anything so that it be not to +stay here.’</p> +<p>‘To go away with me?’ he said in a startled +tone.</p> +<p>‘Yes, yes—or under your direction, or by your help +in some way! Don’t be horrified at me—you must +bear with me whilst I implore it. Nothing short of cruelty +would have driven me to this. I could have borne my doom in +silence had I been left unmolested; but he tortures me, and I +shall soon be in the grave if I cannot escape.’</p> +<p>To his shocked inquiry how her husband tortured her, the +Duchess said that it was by jealousy. ‘He tries to +wring admissions from me concerning you,’ she said, +‘and will not believe that I have not communicated with you +since my engagement to him was settled by my father, and I was +forced to agree to it.’</p> +<p>The poor curate said that this was the heaviest news of +all. ‘He has not personally ill-used you?’ he +asked.</p> +<p>‘Yes,’ she whispered.</p> +<p>‘What has he done?’</p> +<p>She looked fearfully around, and said, sobbing: ‘In +trying to make me confess to what I have never done, he adopts +plans I dare not describe for terrifying me into a weak state, so +that I may own to anything! I resolved to write to you, as +I had no other friend.’ She added, with dreary irony, +‘I thought I would give him some ground for his suspicion, +so as not to disgrace his judgment.’</p> +<p>‘Do you really mean, Emmeline,’ he tremblingly +inquired, ‘that you—that you want to fly with +me?’</p> +<p>‘Can you think that I would act otherwise than in +earnest at such a time as this?’</p> +<p>He was silent for a minute or more. ‘You must not +go with me,’ he said.</p> +<p>‘Why?’</p> +<p>‘It would be sin.’</p> +<p>‘It <i>cannot</i> be sin, for I have never wanted to +commit sin in my life; and it isn’t likely I would begin +now, when I pray every day to die and be sent to Heaven out of my +misery!’</p> +<p>‘But it is wrong, Emmeline, all the same.’</p> +<p>‘Is it wrong to run away from the fire that scorches +you?’</p> +<p>‘It would look wrong, at any rate, in this +case.’</p> +<p>‘Alwyn, Alwyn, take me, I beseech you!’ she burst +out. ‘It is not right in general, I know, but it is +such an exceptional instance, this. Why has such a severe +strain been put upon me? I was doing no harm, injuring no +one, helping many people, and expecting happiness; yet trouble +came. Can it be that God holds me in derision? I had +no supporter—I gave way; and now my life is a burden and a +shame to me . . . Oh, if you only knew how much to me this +request to you is—how my life is wrapped up in it, you +could not deny me!’</p> +<p>‘This is almost beyond endurance—Heaven support +us,’ he groaned. ‘Emmy, you are the Duchess of +Hamptonshire, the Duke of Hamptonshire’s wife; you must not +go with me!’</p> +<p>‘And am I then refused?—Oh, am I refused?’ +she cried frantically. ‘Alwyn, Alwyn, do you say it +indeed to me?’</p> +<p>‘Yes, I do, dear, tender heart! I do most sadly +say it. You must not go. Forgive me, for there is no +alternative but refusal. Though I die, though you die, we +must not fly together. It is forbidden in God’s +law. Good-bye, for always and ever!’</p> +<p>He tore himself away, hastened from the shrubbery, and +vanished among the trees.</p> +<p>Three days after this meeting and farewell, Alwyn, his soft, +handsome features stamped with a haggard hardness that ten years +of ordinary wear and tear in the world could scarcely have +produced, sailed from Plymouth on a drizzling morning, in the +passenger-ship <i>Western Glory</i>. When the land had +faded behind him he mechanically endeavoured to school himself +into a stoical frame of mind. His attempt, backed up by the +strong moral staying power that had enabled him to resist the +passionate temptation to which Emmeline, in her reckless +trustfulness, had exposed him, was rewarded by a certain kind of +success, though the murmuring stretch of waters whereon he gazed +day after day too often seemed to be articulating to him in tones +of her well-remembered voice.</p> +<p>He framed on his journey rules of conduct for reducing to mild +proportions the feverish regrets which would occasionally arise +and agitate him, when he indulged in visions of what might have +been had he not hearkened to the whispers of conscience. He +fixed his thoughts for so many hours a day on philosophical +passages in the volumes he had brought with him, allowing himself +now and then a few minutes’ thought of Emmeline, with the +strict yet reluctant niggardliness of an ailing epicure +proportioning the rank drinks that cause his malady. The +voyage was marked by the usual incidents of a sailing-passage in +those days—a storm, a calm, a man overboard, a birth, and a +funeral—the latter sad event being one in which he, as the +only clergyman on board, officiated, reading the service ordained +for the purpose. The ship duly arrived at Boston early in +the month following, and thence he proceeded to Providence to +seek out a distant relative.</p> +<p>After a short stay at Providence he returned again to Boston, +and by applying himself to a serious occupation made good +progress in shaking off the dreary melancholy which enveloped him +even now. Distracted and weakened in his beliefs by his +recent experiences, he decided that he could not for a time +worthily fill the office of a minister of religion, and applied +for the mastership of a school. Some introductions, given +him before starting, were useful now, and he soon became known as +a respectable scholar and gentleman to the trustees of one of the +colleges. This ultimately led to his retirement from the +school and installation in the college as Professor of rhetoric +and oratory.</p> +<p>Here and thus he lived on, exerting himself solely because of +a conscientious determination to do his duty. He passed his +winter evenings in turning sonnets and elegies, often giving his +thoughts voice in ‘Lines to an Unfortunate Lady,’ +while his summer leisure at the same hour would be spent in +watching the lengthening shadows from his window, and fancifully +comparing them with the shades of his own life. If he +walked, he mentally inquired which was the eastern quarter of the +landscape, and thought of two thousand miles of water that way, +and of what was beyond it. In a word he was at all spare +times dreaming of her who was only a memory to him, and would +probably never be more.</p> +<p>Nine years passed by, and under their wear and tear Alwyn +Hill’s face lost a great many of the attractive +characteristics which had formerly distinguished it. He was +kind to his pupils and affable to all who came in contact with +him; but the kernel of his life, his secret, was kept as snugly +shut up as though he had been dumb. In talking to his +acquaintances of England and his life there, he omitted the +episode of Batton Castle and Emmeline as if it had no existence +in his calendar at all. Though of towering importance to +himself, it had filled but a short and small fragment of time, an +ephemeral season which would have been wellnigh imperceptible, +even to him, at this distance, but for the incident it +enshrined.</p> +<p>One day, at this date, when cursorily glancing over an old +English newspaper, he observed a paragraph which, short as it +was, contained for him whole tomes of thrilling +information—rung with more passion-stirring rhythm than the +collected cantos of all the poets. It was an announcement +of the death of the Duke of Hamptonshire, leaving behind him a +widow, but no children.</p> +<p>The current of Alwyn’s thoughts now completely +changed. On looking again at the newspaper he found it to +be one that was sent him long ago, and had been carelessly thrown +aside. But for an accidental overhauling of the waste +journals in his study he might not have known of the event for +years. At this moment of reading the Duke had already been +dead seven months. Alwyn could now no longer bind himself +down to machine-made synecdoche, antithesis, and climax, being +full of spontaneous specimens of all these rhetorical forms, +which he dared not utter. Who shall wonder that his mind +luxuriated in dreams of a sweet possibility now laid open for the +first time these many years? for Emmeline was to him now as ever +the one dear thing in all the world. The issue of his +silent romancing was that he resolved to return to her at the +very earliest moment.</p> +<p>But he could not abandon his professional work on the +instant. He did not get really quite free from engagements +till four months later; but, though suffering throes of +impatience continually, he said to himself every day: ‘If +she has continued to love me nine years she will love me ten; she +will think the more tenderly of me when her present hours of +solitude shall have done their proper work; old times will revive +with the cessation of her recent experience, and every day will +favour my return.’</p> +<p>The enforced interval soon passed, and he duly arrived in +England, reaching the village of Batton on a certain winter day +between twelve and thirteen months subsequent to the time of the +Duke’s death.</p> +<p>It was evening; yet such was Alwyn’s impatience that he +could not forbear taking, this very night, one look at the castle +which Emmeline had entered as unhappy mistress ten years +before. He threaded the park trees, gazed in passing at +well-known outlines which rose against the dim sky, and was soon +interested in observing that lively country-people, in parties of +two and three, were walking before and behind him up the +interlaced avenue to the castle gateway. Knowing himself to +be safe from recognition, Alwyn inquired of one of these +pedestrians what was going on.</p> +<p>‘Her Grace gives her tenantry a ball to-night, to keep +up the old custom of the Duke and his father before him, which +she does not wish to change.’</p> +<p>‘Indeed. Has she lived here entirely alone since +the Duke’s death?’</p> +<p>‘Quite alone. But though she doesn’t receive +company herself, she likes the village people to enjoy +themselves, and often has ’em here.’</p> +<p>‘Kind-hearted, as always!’ thought Alwyn.</p> +<p>On reaching the castle he found that the great gates at the +tradesmen’s entrance were thrown back against the wall as +if they were never to be closed again; that the passages and +rooms in that wing were brilliantly lighted up, some of the +numerous candles guttering down over the green leaves which +decorated them, and upon the silk dresses of the happy +farmers’ wives as they passed beneath, each on her +husband’s arm. Alwyn found no difficulty in marching +in along with the rest, the castle being Liberty Hall +to-night. He stood unobserved in a corner of the large +apartment where dancing was about to begin.</p> +<p>‘Her Grace, though hardly out of mourning, will be sure +to come down and lead off the dance with neighbour Bates,’ +said one.</p> +<p>‘Who is neighbour Bates?’ asked Alwyn.</p> +<p>‘An old man she respects much—the oldest of her +tenant-farmers. He was seventy-eight his last +birthday.’</p> +<p>‘Ah, to be sure!’ said Alwyn, at his ease. +‘I remember.’</p> +<p>The dancers formed in line, and waited. A door opened at +the farther end of the hall, and a lady in black silk came +forth. She bowed, smiled, and proceeded to the top of the +dance.</p> +<p>‘Who is that lady?’ said Alwyn, in a puzzled +tone. ‘I thought you told me that the Duchess of +Hamptonshire—’</p> +<p>‘That is the Duchess,’ said his informant.</p> +<p>‘But there is another?’</p> +<p>‘No; there is no other.’</p> +<p>‘But she is not the Duchess of Hamptonshire—who +used to—’ Alwyn’s tongue stuck to his mouth, he +could get no farther.</p> +<p>‘What’s the matter?’ said his +acquaintance. Alwyn had retired, and was supporting himself +against the wall.</p> +<p>The wretched Alwyn murmured something about a stitch in his +side from walking. Then the music struck up, the dance went +on, and his neighbour became so interested in watching the +movements of this strange Duchess through its mazes as to forget +Alwyn for a while.</p> +<p>It gave him an opportunity to brace himself up. He was a +man who had suffered, and he could suffer again. ‘How +came that person to be your Duchess?’ he asked in a firm, +distinct voice, when he had attained complete self-command. +‘Where is her other Grace of Hamptonshire? There +certainly was another. I know it.’</p> +<p>‘Oh, the previous one! Yes, yes. She ran +away years and years ago with the young curate. Mr. Hill +was the young man’s name, if I recollect.’</p> +<p>‘No! She never did. What do you mean by +that?’ he said.</p> +<p>‘Yes, she certainly ran away. She met the curate +in the shrubbery about a couple of months after her marriage with +the Duke. There were folks who saw the meeting and heard +some words of their talk. They arranged to go, and she +sailed from Plymouth with him a day or two afterward.’</p> +<p>‘That’s not true.’</p> +<p>‘Then ’tis the queerest lie ever told by +man. Her father believed and knew to his dying day that she +went with him; and so did the Duke, and everybody about +here. Ay, there was a fine upset about it at the +time. The Duke traced her to Plymouth.’</p> +<p>‘Traced her to Plymouth?’</p> +<p>‘He traced her to Plymouth, and set on his spies; and +they found that she went to the shipping-office, and inquired if +Mr. Alwyn Hill had entered his name as passenger by the +<i>Western Glory</i>; and when she found that he had, she booked +herself for the same ship, but not in her real name. When +the vessel had sailed a letter reached the Duke from her, telling +him what she had done. She never came back here +again. His Grace lived by himself a number of years, and +married this lady only twelve months before he died.’</p> +<p>Alwyn was in a state of indescribable bewilderment. But, +unmanned as he was, he called the next day on the, to him, +spurious Duchess of Hamptonshire. At first she was alarmed +at his statement, then cold, then she was won over by his +condition to give confidence for confidence. She showed him +a letter which had been found among the papers of the late Duke, +corroborating what Alwyn’s informant had detailed. It +was from Emmeline, bearing the postmarked date at which the +<i>Western Glory</i> sailed, and briefly stated that she had +emigrated by that ship to America.</p> +<p>Alwyn applied himself body and mind to unravel the remainder +of the mystery. The story repeated to him was always the +same: ‘She ran away with the curate.’ A +strangely circumstantial piece of intelligence was added to this +when he had pushed his inquiries a little further. There +was given him the name of a waterman at Plymouth, who had come +forward at the time that she was missed and sought for by her +husband, and had stated that he put her on board the <i>Western +Glory</i> at dusk one evening before that vessel sailed.</p> +<p>After several days of search about the alleys and quays of +Plymouth Barbican, during which these impossible words, +‘She ran off with the curate,’ became branded on his +brain, Alwyn found this important waterman. He was positive +as to the truth of his story, still remembering the incident +well, and he described in detail the lady’s dress, as he +had long ago described it to her husband, which description +corresponded in every particular with the dress worn by Emmeline +on the evening of their parting.</p> +<p>Before proceeding to the other side of the Atlantic to +continue his inquiries there, the puzzled and distracted Alwyn +set himself to ascertain the address of Captain Wheeler, who had +commanded the <i>Western Glory</i> in the year of Alwyn’s +voyage out, and immediately wrote a letter to him on the +subject.</p> +<p>The only circumstances which the sailor could recollect or +discover from his papers in connection with such a story were, +that a woman bearing the name which Alwyn had mentioned as +fictitious certainly did come aboard for a voyage he made about +that time; that she took a common berth among the poorest +emigrants; that she died on the voyage out, at about five +days’ sail from Plymouth; that she seemed a lady in manners +and education. Why she had not applied for a first-class +passage, why she had no trunks, they could not guess, for though +she had little money in her pocket she had that about her which +would have fetched it. ‘We buried her at sea,’ +continued the captain. ‘A young parson, one of the +cabin-passengers, read the burial-service over her, I remember +well.’</p> +<p>The whole scene and proceedings darted upon Alwyn’s +recollection in a moment. It was a fine breezy morning on +that long-past voyage out, and he had been told that they were +running at the rate of a hundred and odd miles a day. The +news went round that one of the poor young women in the other +part of the vessel was ill of fever, and delirious. The +tidings caused no little alarm among all the passengers, for the +sanitary conditions of the ship were anything but +satisfactory. Shortly after this the doctor announced that +she had died. Then Alwyn had learnt that she was laid out +for burial in great haste, because of the danger that would have +been incurred by delay. And next the funeral scene rose +before him, and the prominent part that he had taken in that +solemn ceremony. The captain had come to him, requesting +him to officiate, as there was no chaplain on board. This +he had agreed to do; and as the sun went down with a blaze in his +face he read amidst them all assembled: ‘We therefore +commit her body to the deep, to be turned into corruption, +looking for the resurrection of the body when the sea shall give +up her dead.’</p> +<p>The captain also forwarded the addresses of the ship’s +matron and of other persons who had been engaged on board at the +date. To these Alwyn went in the course of time. A +categorical description of the clothes of the dead truant, the +colour of her hair, and other things, extinguished for ever all +hope of a mistake in identity.</p> +<p>At last, then, the course of events had become clear. On +that unhappy evening when he left Emmeline in the shrubbery, +forbidding her to follow him because it would be a sin, she must +have disobeyed. She must have followed at his heels +silently through the darkness, like a poor pet animal that will +not be driven back. She could have accumulated nothing for +the journey more than she might have carried in her hand; and +thus poorly provided she must have embarked. Her intention +had doubtless been to make her presence on board known to him as +soon as she could muster courage to do so.</p> +<p>Thus the ten years’ chapter of Alwyn Hill’s +romance wound itself up under his eyes. That the poor young +woman in the steerage had been the young Duchess of Hamptonshire +was never publicly disclosed. Hill had no longer any reason +for remaining in England, and soon after left its shores with no +intention to return. Previous to his departure he confided +his story to an old friend from his native town—grandfather +of the person who now relates it to you.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>A few members, including the Bookworm, seemed to be impressed +by the quiet gentleman’s tale; but the member we have +called the Spark—who, by the way, was getting somewhat +tinged with the light of other days, and owned to +eight-and-thirty—walked daintily about the room instead of +sitting down by the fire with the majority and said that for his +part he preferred something more lively than the last +story—something in which such long-separated lovers were +ultimately united. He also liked stories that were more +modern in their date of action than those he had heard +to-day.</p> +<p>Members immediately requested him to give them a specimen, to +which the Spark replied that he didn’t mind, as far as that +went. And though the Vice-President, the Man of Family, the +Colonel, and others, looked at their watches, and said they must +soon retire to their respective quarters in the hotel adjoining, +they all decided to sit out the Spark’s story.</p> +<h2>DAME THE TENTH—THE HONOURABLE LAURA<br /> +By the Spark</h2> +<p>It was a cold and gloomy Christmas Eve. The mass of +cloud overhead was almost impervious to such daylight as still +lingered on; the snow lay several inches deep upon the ground, +and the slanting downfall which still went on threatened to +considerably increase its thickness before the morning. The +Prospect Hotel, a building standing near the wild north coast of +Lower Wessex, looked so lonely and so useless at such a time as +this that a passing wayfarer would have been led to forget summer +possibilities, and to wonder at the commercial courage which +could invest capital, on the basis of the popular taste for the +picturesque, in a country subject to such dreary phases. +That the district was alive with visitors in August seemed but a +dim tradition in weather so totally opposed to all that tempts +mankind from home. However, there the hotel stood +immovable; and the cliffs, creeks, and headlands which were the +primary attractions of the spot, rising in full view on the +opposite side of the valley, were now but stern angular outlines, +while the townlet in front was tinged over with a grimy dirtiness +rather than the pearly gray that in summer lent such beauty to +its appearance.</p> +<p>Within the hotel commanding this outlook the landlord walked +idly about with his hands in his pockets, not in the least +expectant of a visitor, and yet unable to settle down to any +occupation which should compensate in some degree for the losses +that winter idleness entailed on his regular profession. So +little, indeed, was anybody expected, that the coffee-room +waiter—a genteel boy, whose plated buttons in summer were +as close together upon the front of his short jacket as peas in a +pod—now appeared in the back yard, metamorphosed into the +unrecognizable shape of a rough country lad in corduroys and +hobnailed boots, sweeping the snow away, and talking the local +dialect in all its purity, quite oblivious of the new polite +accent he had learned in the hot weather from the well-behaved +visitors. The front door was closed, and, as if to express +still more fully the sealed and chrysalis state of the +establishment, a sand-bag was placed at the bottom to keep out +the insidious snowdrift, the wind setting in directly from that +quarter.</p> +<p>The landlord, entering his own parlour, walked to the large +fire which it was absolutely necessary to keep up for his +comfort, no such blaze burning in the coffee-room or elsewhere, +and after giving it a stir returned to a table in the lobby, +whereon lay the visitors’ book—now closed and pushed +back against the wall. He carelessly opened it; not a name +had been entered there since the 19th of the previous November, +and that was only the name of a man who had arrived on a +tricycle, who, indeed, had not been asked to enter at all.</p> +<p>While he was engaged thus the evening grew darker; but before +it was as yet too dark to distinguish objects upon the road +winding round the back of the cliffs, the landlord perceived a +black spot on the distant white, which speedily enlarged itself +and drew near. The probabilities were that this +vehicle—for a vehicle of some sort it seemed to +be—would pass by and pursue its way to the nearest +railway-town as others had done. But, contrary to the +landlord’s expectation, as he stood conning it through the +yet unshuttered windows, the solitary object, on reaching the +corner, turned into the hotel-front, and drove up to the +door.</p> +<p>It was a conveyance particularly unsuited to such a season and +weather, being nothing more substantial than an open +basket-carriage drawn by a single horse. Within sat two +persons, of different sexes, as could soon be discerned, in spite +of their muffled attire. The man held the reins, and the +lady had got some shelter from the storm by clinging close to his +side. The landlord rang the hostler’s bell to attract +the attention of the stable-man, for the approach of the visitors +had been deadened to noiselessness by the snow, and when the +hostler had come to the horse’s head the gentleman and lady +alighted, the landlord meeting them in the hall.</p> +<p>The male stranger was a foreign-looking individual of about +eight-and-twenty. He was close-shaven, excepting a +moustache, his features being good, and even handsome. The +lady, who stood timidly behind him, seemed to be much +younger—possibly not more than eighteen, though it was +difficult to judge either of her age or appearance in her present +wrappings.</p> +<p>The gentleman expressed his wish to stay till the morning, +explaining somewhat unnecessarily, considering that the house was +an inn, that they had been unexpectedly benighted on their +drive. Such a welcome being given them as landlords can +give in dull times, the latter ordered fires in the drawing and +coffee-rooms, and went to the boy in the yard, who soon scrubbed +himself up, dragged his disused jacket from its box, polished the +buttons with his sleeve, and appeared civilized in the +hall. The lady was shown into a room where she could take +off her snow-damped garments, which she sent down to be dried, +her companion, meanwhile, putting a couple of sovereigns on the +table, as if anxious to make everything smooth and comfortable at +starting, and requesting that a private sitting-room might be got +ready. The landlord assured him that the best upstairs +parlour—usually public—should be kept private this +evening, and sent the maid to light the candles. Dinner was +prepared for them, and, at the gentleman’s desire, served +in the same apartment; where, the young lady having joined him, +they were left to the rest and refreshment they seemed to +need.</p> +<p>That something was peculiar in the relations of the pair had +more than once struck the landlord, though wherein that +peculiarity lay it was hard to decide. But that his guest +was one who paid his way readily had been proved by his conduct, +and dismissing conjectures, he turned to practical affairs.</p> +<p>About nine o’clock he re-entered the hall, and, +everything being done for the day, again walked up and down, +occasionally gazing through the glass door at the prospect +without, to ascertain how the weather was progressing. +Contrary to prognostication, snow had ceased falling, and, with +the rising of the moon, the sky had partially cleared, light +fleeces of cloud drifting across the silvery disk. There +was every sign that a frost was going to set in later on. +For these reasons the distant rising road was even more distinct +now between its high banks than it had been in the declining +daylight. Not a track or rut broke the virgin surface of +the white mantle that lay along it, all marks left by the lately +arrived travellers having been speedily obliterated by the flakes +falling at the time.</p> +<p>And now the landlord beheld by the light of the moon a sight +very similar to that he had seen by the light of day. Again +a black spot was advancing down the road that margined the +coast. He was in a moment or two enabled to perceive that +the present vehicle moved onward at a more headlong pace than the +little carriage which had preceded it; next, that it was a +brougham drawn by two powerful horses; next, that this carriage, +like the former one, was bound for the hotel-door. This +desirable feature of resemblance caused the landlord to once more +withdraw the sand-bag and advance into the porch.</p> +<p>An old gentleman was the first to alight. He was +followed by a young one, and both unhesitatingly came +forward.</p> +<p>‘Has a young lady, less than nineteen years of age, +recently arrived here in the company of a man some years her +senior?’ asked the old gentleman, in haste. ‘A +man cleanly shaven for the most part, having the appearance of an +opera-singer, and calling himself Signor Smithozzi?’</p> +<p>‘We have had arrivals lately,’ said the landlord, +in the tone of having had twenty at least—not caring to +acknowledge the attenuated state of business that afflicted +Prospect Hotel in winter.</p> +<p>‘And among them can your memory recall two persons such +as those I describe?—the man a sort of baritone?’</p> +<p>‘There certainly is or was a young couple staying in the +hotel; but I could not pronounce on the compass of the +gentleman’s voice.’</p> +<p>‘No, no; of course not. I am quite +bewildered. They arrived in a basket-carriage, altogether +badly provided?’</p> +<p>‘They came in a carriage, I believe, as most of our +visitors do.’</p> +<p>‘Yes, yes. I must see them at once. Pardon +my want of ceremony, and show us in to where they are.’</p> +<p>‘But, sir, you forget. Suppose the lady and +gentleman I mean are not the lady and gentleman you mean? +It would be awkward to allow you to rush in upon them just now +while they are at dinner, and might cause me to lose their future +patronage.’</p> +<p>‘True, true. They may not be the same +persons. My anxiety, I perceive, makes me rash in my +assumptions!’</p> +<p>‘Upon the whole, I think they must be the same, Uncle +Quantock,’ said the young man, who had not till now +spoken. And turning to the landlord: ‘You possibly +have not such a large assemblage of visitors here, on this +somewhat forbidding evening, that you quite forget how this +couple arrived, and what the lady wore?’ His tone of +addressing the landlord had in it a quiet frigidity that was not +without irony.</p> +<p>‘Ah! what she wore; that’s it, James. What +did she wear?’</p> +<p>‘I don’t usually take stock of my guests’ +clothing,’ replied the landlord drily, for the ready money +of the first arrival had decidedly biassed him in favour of that +gentleman’s cause. ‘You can certainly see some +of it if you want to,’ he added carelessly, ‘for it +is drying by the kitchen fire.’</p> +<p>Before the words were half out of his mouth the old gentleman +had exclaimed, ‘Ah!’ and precipitated himself along +what seemed to be the passage to the kitchen; but as this turned +out to be only the entrance to a dark china-closet, he hastily +emerged again, after a collision with the inn-crockery had told +him of his mistake.</p> +<p>‘I beg your pardon, I’m sure; but if you only knew +my feelings (which I cannot at present explain), you would make +allowances. Anything I have broken I will willingly pay +for.’</p> +<p>‘Don’t mention it, sir,’ said the +landlord. And showing the way, they adjourned to the +kitchen without further parley. The eldest of the party +instantly seized the lady’s cloak, that hung upon a +clothes-horse, exclaiming: ‘Ah! yes, James, it is +hers. I knew we were on their track.’</p> +<p>‘Yes, it is hers,’ answered the nephew quietly, +for he was much less excited than his companion.</p> +<p>‘Show us their room at once,’ said the old +man.</p> +<p>‘William, have the lady and gentleman in the front +sitting-room finished dining?’</p> +<p>‘Yes, sir, long ago,’ said the hundred plated +buttons.</p> +<p>‘Then show up these gentlemen to them at once. You +stay here to-night, gentlemen, I presume? Shall the horses +be taken out?’</p> +<p>‘Feed the horses and wash their mouths. Whether we +stay or not depends upon circumstances,’ said the placid +younger man, as he followed his uncle and the waiter to the +staircase.</p> +<p>‘I think, Nephew James,’ said the former, as he +paused with his foot on the first step—‘I think we +had better not be announced, but take them by surprise. She +may go throwing herself out of the window, or do some equally +desperate thing!’</p> +<p>‘Yes, certainly, we’ll enter +unannounced.’ And he called back the lad who preceded +them.</p> +<p>‘I cannot sufficiently thank you, James, for so +effectually aiding me in this pursuit!’ exclaimed the old +gentleman, taking the other by the hand. ‘My +increasing infirmities would have hindered my overtaking her +to-night, had it not been for your timely aid.’</p> +<p>‘I am only too happy, uncle, to have been of service to +you in this or any other matter. I only wish I could have +accompanied you on a pleasanter journey. However, it is +advisable to go up to them at once, or they may hear +us.’ And they softly ascended the stairs.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>On the door being opened, a room too large to be comfortable, +lit by the best branch-candlesticks of the hotel, was disclosed, +before the fire of which apartment the truant couple were +sitting, very innocently looking over the hotel scrap-book and +the album containing views of the neighbourhood. No sooner +had the old man entered than the young lady—who now showed +herself to be quite as young as described, and remarkably +prepossessing as to features—perceptibly turned pale. +When the nephew entered, she turned still paler, as if she were +going to faint. The young man described as an opera-singer +rose with grim civility, and placed chairs for his visitors.</p> +<p>‘Caught you, thank God!’ said the old gentleman +breathlessly.</p> +<p>‘Yes, worse luck, my lord!’ murmured Signor +Smithozzi, in native London-English, that distinguished alien +having, in fact, first seen the light in the vicinity of the City +Road. ‘She would have been mine to-morrow. And +I think that under the peculiar circumstances it would be +wiser—considering how soon the breath of scandal will +tarnish a lady’s fame—to let her be mine to-morrow, +just the same.’</p> +<p>‘Never!’ said the old man. ‘Here is a +lady under age, without experience—child-like in her maiden +innocence and virtue—whom you have plied by your vile arts, +till this morning at dawn—’</p> +<p>‘Lord Quantock, were I not bound to respect your gray +hairs—’</p> +<p>‘Till this morning at dawn you tempted her away from her +father’s roof. What blame can attach to her conduct +that will not, on a full explanation of the matter, be readily +passed over in her and thrown entirely on you? Laura, you +return at once with me. I should not have arrived, after +all, early enough to deliver you, if it had not been for the +disinterestedness of your cousin, Captain Northbrook, who, on my +discovering your flight this morning, offered with a promptitude +for which I can never sufficiently thank him, to accompany me on +my journey, as the only male relative I have near me. Come, +do you hear? Put on your things; we are off at +once.’</p> +<p>‘I don’t want to go!’ pouted the young +lady.</p> +<p>‘I daresay you don’t,’ replied her father +drily. ‘But children never know what’s best for +them. So come along, and trust to my opinion.’</p> +<p>Laura was silent, and did not move, the opera gentleman +looking helplessly into the fire, and the lady’s cousin +sitting meditatively calm, as the single one of the four whose +position enabled him to survey the whole escapade with the cool +criticism of a comparative outsider.</p> +<p>‘I say to you, Laura, as the father of a daughter under +age, that you instantly come with me. What? Would you +compel me to use physical force to reclaim you?’</p> +<p>‘I don’t want to return!’ again declared +Laura.</p> +<p>‘It is your duty to return nevertheless, and at once, I +inform you.’</p> +<p>‘I don’t want to!’</p> +<p>‘Now, dear Laura, this is what I say: return with me and +your cousin James quietly, like a good and repentant girl, and +nothing will be said. Nobody knows what has happened as +yet, and if we start at once, we shall be home before it is light +to-morrow morning. Come.’</p> +<p>‘I am not obliged to come at your bidding, father, and I +would rather not!’</p> +<p>Now James, the cousin, during this dialogue might have been +observed to grow somewhat restless, and even impatient. +More than once he had parted his lips to speak, but second +thoughts each time held him back. The moment had come, +however, when he could keep silence no longer.</p> +<p>‘Come, madam!’ he spoke out, ‘this farce +with your father has, in my opinion, gone on long enough. +Just make no more ado, and step downstairs with us.’</p> +<p>She gave herself an intractable little twist, and did not +reply.</p> +<p>‘By the Lord Harry, Laura, I won’t stand +this!’ he said angrily. ‘Come, get on your +things before I come and compel you. There is a kind of +compulsion to which this talk is child’s play. Come, +madam—instantly, I say!’</p> +<p>The old nobleman turned to his nephew and said mildly: +‘Leave me to insist, James. It doesn’t become +you. I can speak to her sharply enough, if I +choose.’</p> +<p>James, however, did not heed his uncle, and went on to the +troublesome young woman: ‘You say you don’t want to +come, indeed! A pretty story to tell me, that! Come, +march out of the room at once, and leave that hulking fellow for +me to deal with afterward. Get on +quickly—come!’ and he advanced toward her as if to +pull her by the hand.</p> +<p>‘Nay, nay,’ expostulated Laura’s father, +much surprised at his nephew’s sudden demeanour. +‘You take too much upon yourself. Leave her to +me.’</p> +<p>‘I won’t leave her to you any longer!’</p> +<p>‘You have no right, James, to address either me or her +in this way; so just hold your tongue. Come, my +dear.’</p> +<p>‘I have every right!’ insisted James.</p> +<p>‘How do you make that out?’</p> +<p>‘I have the right of a husband.’</p> +<p>‘Whose husband?’</p> +<p>‘Hers.’</p> +<p>‘What?’</p> +<p>‘She’s my wife.’</p> +<p>‘James!’</p> +<p>‘Well, to cut a long story short, I may say that she +secretly married me, in spite of your lordship’s +prohibition, about three months ago. And I must add that, +though she cooled down rather quickly, everything went on +smoothly enough between us for some time; in spite of the +awkwardness of meeting only by stealth. We were only +waiting for a convenient moment to break the news to you when +this idle Adonis turned up, and after poisoning her mind against +me, brought her into this disgrace.’</p> +<p>Here the operatic luminary, who had sat in rather an +abstracted and nerveless attitude till the cousin made his +declaration, fired up and cried: ‘I declare before Heaven +that till this moment I never knew she was a wife! I found +her in her father’s house an unhappy girl—unhappy, as +I believe, because of the loneliness and dreariness of that +establishment, and the want of society, and for nothing else +whatever. What this statement about her being your wife +means I am quite at a loss to understand. Are you indeed +married to him, Laura?’</p> +<p>Laura nodded from within her tearful handkerchief. +‘It was because of my anomalous position in being privately +married to him,’ she sobbed, ‘that I was unhappy at +home—and—and I didn’t like him so well as I did +at first—and I wished I could get out of the mess I was +in! And then I saw you a few times, and when you said, +“We’ll run off,” I thought I saw a way out of +it all, and then I agreed to come with +you—oo-oo!’</p> +<p>‘Well! well! well! And is this true?’ +murmured the bewildered old nobleman, staring from James to +Laura, and from Laura to James, as if he fancied they might be +figments of the imagination. ‘Is this, then, James, +the secret of your kindness to your old uncle in helping him to +find his daughter? Good Heavens! What further depths +of duplicity are there left for a man to learn!’</p> +<p>‘I have married her, Uncle Quantock, as I said,’ +answered James coolly. ‘The deed is done, and +can’t be undone by talking here.’</p> +<p>‘Where were you married?’</p> +<p>‘At St. Mary’s, Toneborough.’</p> +<p>‘When?’</p> +<p>‘On the 29th of September, during the time she was +visiting there.’</p> +<p>‘Who married you?’</p> +<p>‘I don’t know. One of the curates—we +were quite strangers to the place. So, instead of my +assisting you to recover her, you may as well assist +me.’</p> +<p>‘Never! never!’ said Lord Quantock. +‘Madam, and sir, I beg to tell you that I wash my hands of +the whole affair! If you are man and wife, as it seems you +are, get reconciled as best you may. I have no more to say +or do with either of you. I leave you, Laura, in the hands +of your husband, and much joy may you bring him; though the +situation, I own, is not encouraging.’</p> +<p>Saying this, the indignant speaker pushed back his chair +against the table with such force that the candlesticks rocked on +their bases, and left the room.</p> +<p>Laura’s wet eyes roved from one of the young men to the +other, who now stood glaring face to face, and, being much +frightened at their aspect, slipped out of the room after her +father. Him, however, she could hear going out of the front +door, and, not knowing where to take shelter, she crept into the +darkness of an adjoining bedroom, and there awaited events with a +palpitating heart.</p> +<p>Meanwhile the two men remaining in the sitting-room drew +nearer to each other, and the opera-singer broke the silence by +saying, ‘How could you insult me in the way you did, +calling me a fellow, and accusing me of poisoning her mind toward +you, when you knew very well I was as ignorant of your relation +to her as an unborn babe?’</p> +<p>‘Oh yes, you were quite ignorant; I can believe that +readily,’ sneered Laura’s husband.</p> +<p>‘I here call Heaven to witness that I never +knew!’</p> +<p>‘Recitativo—the rhythm excellent, and the tone +well sustained. Is it likely that any man could win the +confidence of a young fool her age, and not get that out of +her? Preposterous! Tell it to the most improved new +pit-stalls.’</p> +<p>‘Captain Northbrook, your insinuations are as despicable +as your wretched person!’ cried the baritone, losing all +patience. And springing forward he slapped the captain in +the face with the palm of his hand.</p> +<p>Northbrook flinched but slightly, and calmly using his +handkerchief to learn if his nose was bleeding, said, ‘I +quite expected this insult, so I came prepared.’ And +he drew forth from a black valise which he carried in his hand a +small case of pistols.</p> +<p>The baritone started at the unexpected sight, but recovering +from his surprise said, ‘Very well, as you will,’ +though perhaps his tone showed a slight want of confidence.</p> +<p>‘Now,’ continued the husband, quite confidingly, +‘we want no parade, no nonsense, you know. Therefore +we’ll dispense with seconds?’</p> +<p>The signor slightly nodded.</p> +<p>‘Do you know this part of the country well?’ +Cousin James went on, in the same cool and still manner. +‘If you don’t, I do. Quite at the bottom of the +rocks out there, just beyond the stream which falls over them to +the shore, is a smooth sandy space, not so much shut in as to be +out of the moonlight; and the way down to it from this side is +over steps cut in the cliff; and we can find our way down without +trouble. We—we two—will find our way down; but +only one of us will find his way up, you understand?’</p> +<p>‘Quite.’</p> +<p>‘Then suppose we start; the sooner it is over the +better. We can order supper before we go out—supper +for two; for though we are three at present—’</p> +<p>‘Three?’</p> +<p>‘Yes; you and I and she—’</p> +<p>‘Oh yes.’</p> +<p>‘—We shall be only two by and by; so that, as I +say, we will order supper for two; for the lady and a +gentleman. Whichever comes back alive will tap at her door, +and call her in to share the repast with him—she’s +not off the premises. But we must not alarm her now; and +above all things we must not let the inn-people see us go out; it +would look so odd for two to go out, and only one come in. +Ha! ha!’</p> +<p>‘Ha! ha! exactly.’</p> +<p>‘Are you ready?’</p> +<p>‘Oh—quite.’</p> +<p>‘Then I’ll lead the way.’</p> +<p>He went softly to the door and downstairs, ordering supper to +be ready in an hour, as he had said; then making a feint of +returning to the room again, he beckoned to the singer, and +together they slipped out of the house by a side door.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>The sky was now quite clear, and the wheelmarks of the +brougham which had borne away Laura’s father, Lord +Quantock, remained distinctly visible. Soon the verge of +the down was reached, the captain leading the way, and the +baritone following silently, casting furtive glances at his +companion, and beyond him at the scene ahead. In due course +they arrived at the chasm in the cliff which formed the +waterfall. The outlook here was wild and picturesque in the +extreme, and fully justified the many praises, paintings, and +photographic views to which the spot had given birth. What +in summer was charmingly green and gray, was now rendered weird +and fantastic by the snow.</p> +<p>From their feet the cascade plunged downward almost vertically +to a depth of eighty or a hundred feet before finally losing +itself in the sand, and though the stream was but small, its +impact upon jutting rocks in its descent divided it into a +hundred spirts and splashes that sent up a mist into the upper +air. A few marginal drippings had been frozen into icicles, +but the centre flowed on unimpeded.</p> +<p>The operatic artist looked down as he halted, but his thoughts +were plainly not of the beauty of the scene. His companion +with the pistols was immediately in front of him, and there was +no handrail on the side of the path toward the chasm. +Obeying a quick impulse, he stretched out his arm, and with a +superhuman thrust sent Laura’s husband reeling over. +A whirling human shape, diminishing downward in the moon’s +rays farther and farther toward invisibility, a smack-smack upon +the projecting ledges of rock—at first louder and heavier +than that of the brook, and then scarcely to be distinguished +from it—then a cessation, then the splashing of the stream +as before, and the accompanying murmur of the sea, were all the +incidents that disturbed the customary flow of the little +waterfall.</p> +<p>The singer waited in a fixed attitude for a few minutes, then +turning, he rapidly retraced his steps over the intervening +upland toward the road, and in less than a quarter of an hour was +at the door of the hotel. Slipping quietly in as the clock +struck ten, he said to the landlord, over the bar +hatchway—</p> +<p>‘The bill as soon as you can let me have it, including +charges for the supper that was ordered, though we cannot stay to +eat it, I am sorry to say.’ He added with forced +gaiety, ‘The lady’s father and cousin have thought +better of intercepting the marriage, and after quarrelling with +each other have gone home independently.’</p> +<p>‘Well done, sir!’ said the landlord, who still +sided with this customer in preference to those who had given +trouble and barely paid for baiting the horses. +‘“Love will find out the way!” as the saying +is. Wish you joy, sir!’</p> +<p>Signor Smithozzi went upstairs, and on entering the +sitting-room found that Laura had crept out from the dark +adjoining chamber in his absence. She looked up at him with +eyes red from weeping, and with symptoms of alarm.</p> +<p>‘What is it?—where is he?’ she said +apprehensively.</p> +<p>‘Captain Northbrook has gone back. He says he will +have no more to do with you.’</p> +<p>‘And I am quite abandoned by them!—and +they’ll forget me, and nobody care about me any +more!’ She began to cry afresh.</p> +<p>‘But it is the luckiest thing that could have +happened. All is just as it was before they came disturbing +us. But, Laura, you ought to have told me about that +private marriage, though it is all the same now; it will be +dissolved, of course. You are a wid—virtually a +widow.’</p> +<p>‘It is no use to reproach me for what is past. +What am I to do now?’</p> +<p>‘We go at once to Cliff-Martin. The horse has +rested thoroughly these last three hours, and he will have no +difficulty in doing an additional half-dozen miles. We +shall be there before twelve, and there are late taverns in the +place, no doubt. There we’ll sell both horse and +carriage to-morrow morning; and go by the coach to +Downstaple. Once in the train we are safe.’</p> +<p>‘I agree to anything,’ she said listlessly.</p> +<p>In about ten minutes the horse was put in, the bill paid, the +lady’s dried wraps put round her, and the journey +resumed.</p> +<p>When about a mile on their way, they saw a glimmering light in +advance of them. ‘I wonder what that is?’ said +the baritone, whose manner had latterly become nervous, every +sound and sight causing him to turn his head.</p> +<p>‘It is only a turnpike,’ said she. +‘That light is the lamp kept burning over the +door.’</p> +<p>‘Of course, of course, dearest. How stupid I +am!’</p> +<p>On reaching the gate they perceived that a man on foot had +approached it, apparently by some more direct path than the +roadway they pursued, and was, at the moment they drew up, +standing in conversation with the gatekeeper.</p> +<p>‘It is quite impossible that he could fall over the +cliff by accident or the will of God on such a light night as +this,’ the pedestrian was saying. ‘These two +children I tell you of saw two men go along the path toward the +waterfall, and ten minutes later only one of ’em came back, +walking fast, like a man who wanted to get out of the way because +he had done something queer. There is no manner of doubt +that he pushed the other man over, and, mark me, it will soon +cause a hue and cry for that man.’</p> +<p>The candle shone in the face of the Signor and showed that +there had arisen upon it a film of ghastliness. Laura, +glancing toward him for a few moments observed it, till, the +gatekeeper having mechanically swung open the gate, her companion +drove through, and they were soon again enveloped in the white +silence.</p> +<p>Her conductor had said to Laura, just before, that he meant to +inquire the way at this turnpike; but he had certainly not done +so.</p> +<p>As soon as they had gone a little farther the omission, +intentional or not, began to cause them some trouble. +Beyond the secluded district which they now traversed ran the +more frequented road, where progress would be easy, the snow +being probably already beaten there to some extent by traffic; +but they had not yet reached it, and having no one to guide them +their journey began to appear less feasible than it had done +before starting. When the little lane which they had +entered ascended another hill, and seemed to wind round in a +direction contrary to the expected route to Cliff-Martin, the +question grew serious. Ever since overhearing the +conversation at the turnpike, Laura had maintained a perfect +silence, and had even shrunk somewhat away from the side of her +lover.</p> +<p>‘Why don’t you talk, Laura,’ he said with +forced buoyancy, ‘and suggest the way we should +go?’</p> +<p>‘Oh yes, I will,’ she responded, a curious +fearfulness being audible in her voice.</p> +<p>After this she uttered a few occasional sentences which seemed +to persuade him that she suspected nothing. At last he drew +rein, and the weary horse stood still.</p> +<p>‘We are in a fix,’ he said.</p> +<p>She answered eagerly: ‘I’ll hold the reins while +you run forward to the top of the ridge, and see if the road +takes a favourable turn beyond. It would give the horse a +few minutes’ rest, and if you find out no change in the +direction, we will retrace this lane, and take the other +turning.’</p> +<p>The expedient seemed a good one in the circumstances, +especially when recommended by the singular eagerness of her +voice; and placing the reins in her hands—a quite +unnecessary precaution, considering the state of their +hack—he stepped out and went forward through the snow till +she could see no more of him.</p> +<p>No sooner was he gone than Laura, with a rapidity which +contrasted strangely with her previous stillness, made fast the +reins to the corner of the phaeton, and slipping out on the +opposite side, ran back with all her might down the hill, till, +coming to an opening in the fence, she scrambled through it, and +plunged into the copse which bordered this portion of the +lane. Here she stood in hiding under one of the large +bushes, clinging so closely to its umbrage as to seem but a +portion of its mass, and listening intently for the faintest +sound of pursuit. But nothing disturbed the stillness save +the occasional slipping of gathered snow from the boughs, or the +rustle of some wild animal over the crisp flake-bespattered +herbage. At length, apparently convinced that her former +companion was either unable to find her, or not anxious to do so, +in the present strange state of affairs, she crept out from the +bushes, and in less than an hour found herself again approaching +the door of the Prospect Hotel.</p> +<p>As she drew near, Laura could see that, far from being wrapped +in darkness, as she might have expected, there were ample signs +that all the tenants were on the alert, lights moving about the +open space in front. Satisfaction was expressed in her face +when she discerned that no reappearance of her baritone and his +pony-carriage was causing this sensation; but it speedily gave +way to grief and dismay when she saw by the lights the form of a +man borne on a stretcher by two others into the porch of the +hotel.</p> +<p>‘I have caused all this,’ she murmured between her +quivering lips. ‘He has murdered him!’ +Running forward to the door, she hastily asked of the first +person she met if the man on the stretcher was dead.</p> +<p>‘No, miss,’ said the labourer addressed, eyeing +her up and down as an unexpected apparition. ‘He is +still alive, they say, but not sensible. He either fell or +was pushed over the waterfall; ’tis thoughted he was +pushed. He is the gentleman who came here just now with the +old lord, and went out afterward (as is thoughted) with a +stranger who had come a little earlier. Anyhow, +that’s as I had it.’</p> +<p>Laura entered the house, and acknowledging without the least +reserve that she was the injured man’s wife, had soon +installed herself as head nurse by the bed on which he lay. +When the two surgeons who had been sent for arrived, she learned +from them that his wounds were so severe as to leave but a +slender hope of recovery, it being little short of miraculous +that he was not killed on the spot, which his enemy had evidently +reckoned to be the case. She knew who that enemy was, and +shuddered.</p> +<p>Laura watched all night, but her husband knew nothing of her +presence. During the next day he slightly recognized her, +and in the evening was able to speak. He informed the +surgeons that, as was surmised, he had been pushed over the +cascade by Signor Smithozzi; but he communicated nothing to her +who nursed him, not even replying to her remarks; he nodded +courteously at any act of attention she rendered, and that was +all.</p> +<p>In a day or two it was declared that everything favoured his +recovery, notwithstanding the severity of his injuries. +Full search was made for Smithozzi, but as yet there was no +intelligence of his whereabouts, though the repentant Laura +communicated all she knew. As far as could be judged, he +had come back to the carriage after searching out the way, and +finding the young lady missing, had looked about for her till he +was tired; then had driven on to Cliff-Martin, sold the horse and +carriage next morning, and disappeared, probably by one of the +departing coaches which ran thence to the nearest station, the +only difference from his original programme being that he had +gone alone.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>During the days and weeks of that long and tedious recovery, +Laura watched by her husband’s bedside with a zeal and +assiduity which would have considerably extenuated any fault save +one of such magnitude as hers. That her husband did not +forgive her was soon obvious. Nothing that she could do in +the way of smoothing pillows, easing his position, shifting +bandages, or administering draughts, could win from him more than +a few measured words of thankfulness, such as he would probably +have uttered to any other woman on earth who had performed these +particular services for him.</p> +<p>‘Dear, dear James,’ she said one day, bending her +face upon the bed in an excess of emotion. ‘How you +have suffered! It has been too cruel. I am more glad +you are getting better than I can say. I have prayed for +it—and I am sorry for what I have done; I am innocent of +the worst, and—I hope you will not think me so very bad, +James!’</p> +<p>‘Oh no. On the contrary, I shall think you very +good—as a nurse,’ he answered, the caustic severity +of his tone being apparent through its weakness.</p> +<p>Laura let fall two or three silent tears, and said no more +that day.</p> +<p>Somehow or other Signor Smithozzi seemed to be making good his +escape. It transpired that he had not taken a passage in +either of the suspected coaches, though he had certainly got out +of the county; altogether, the chance of finding him was +problematical.</p> +<p>Not only did Captain Northbrook survive his injuries, but it +soon appeared that in the course of a few weeks he would find +himself little if any the worse for the catastrophe. It +could also be seen that Laura, while secretly hoping for her +husband’s forgiveness for a piece of folly of which she saw +the enormity more clearly every day, was in great doubt as to +what her future relations with him would be. Moreover, to +add to the complication, whilst she, as a runaway wife, was +unforgiven by her husband, she and her husband, as a runaway +couple, were unforgiven by her father, who had never once +communicated with either of them since his departure from the +inn. But her immediate anxiety was to win the pardon of her +husband, who possibly might be bearing in mind, as he lay upon +his couch, the familiar words of Brabantio, ‘She has +deceived her father, and may thee.’</p> +<p>Matters went on thus till Captain Northbrook was able to walk +about. He then removed with his wife to quiet apartments on +the south coast, and here his recovery was rapid. Walking +up the cliffs one day, supporting him by her arm as usual, she +said to him, simply, ‘James, if I go on as I am going now, +and always attend to your smallest want, and never think of +anything but devotion to you, will you—try to like me a +little?’</p> +<p>‘It is a thing I must carefully consider,’ he +said, with the same gloomy dryness which characterized all his +words to her now. ‘When I have considered, I will +tell you.’</p> +<p>He did not tell her that evening, though she lingered long at +her routine work of making his bedroom comfortable, putting the +light so that it would not shine into his eyes, seeing him fall +asleep, and then retiring noiselessly to her own chamber. +When they met in the morning at breakfast, and she had asked him +as usual how he had passed the night, she added timidly, in the +silence which followed his reply, ‘Have you +considered?’</p> +<p>‘No, I have not considered sufficiently to give you an +answer.’</p> +<p>Laura sighed, but to no purpose; and the day wore on with +intense heaviness to her, and the customary modicum of strength +gained to him.</p> +<p>The next morning she put the same question, and looked up +despairingly in his face, as though her whole life hung upon his +reply.</p> +<p>‘Yes, I have considered,’ he said.</p> +<p>‘Ah!’</p> +<p>‘We must part.’</p> +<p>‘O James!’</p> +<p>‘I cannot forgive you; no man would. Enough is +settled upon you to keep you in comfort, whatever your father may +do. I shall sell out, and disappear from this +hemisphere.’</p> +<p>‘You have absolutely decided?’ she asked +miserably. ‘I have nobody now to c-c-care +for—’</p> +<p>‘I have absolutely decided,’ he shortly +returned. ‘We had better part here. You will go +back to your father. There is no reason why I should +accompany you, since my presence would only stand in the way of +the forgiveness he will probably grant you if you appear before +him alone. We will say farewell to each other in three days +from this time. I have calculated on being ready to go on +that day.’</p> +<p>Bowed down with trouble, she withdrew to her room, and the +three days were passed by her husband in writing letters and +attending to other business-matters, saying hardly a word to her +the while. The morning of departure came; but before the +horses had been put in to take the severed twain in different +directions, out of sight of each other, possibly for ever, the +postman arrived with the morning letters.</p> +<p>There was one for the captain; none for her—there were +never any for her. However, on this occasion something was +enclosed for her in his, which he handed her. She read it +and looked up helpless.</p> +<p>‘My dear father—is dead!’ she said. In +a few moments she added, in a whisper, ‘I must go to the +Manor to bury him . . . Will you go with me, James?’</p> +<p>He musingly looked out of the window. ‘I suppose +it is an awkward and melancholy undertaking for a woman +alone,’ he said coldly. ‘Well, well—my +poor uncle!—Yes, I’ll go with you, and see you +through the business.’</p> +<p>So they went off together instead of asunder, as +planned. It is unnecessary to record the details of the +journey, or of the sad week which followed it at her +father’s house. Lord Quantock’s seat was a fine +old mansion standing in its own park, and there were plenty of +opportunities for husband and wife either to avoid each other, or +to get reconciled if they were so minded, which one of them was +at least. Captain Northbrook was not present at the reading +of the will. She came to him afterward, and found him +packing up his papers, intending to start next morning, now that +he had seen her through the turmoil occasioned by her +father’s death.</p> +<p>‘He has left me everything that he could!’ she +said to her husband. ‘James, will you forgive me now, +and stay?’</p> +<p>‘I cannot stay.’</p> +<p>‘Why not?’</p> +<p>‘I cannot stay,’ he repeated.</p> +<p>‘But why?’</p> +<p>‘I don’t like you.’</p> +<p>He acted up to his word. When she came downstairs the +next morning she was told that he had gone.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>Laura bore her double bereavement as best she could. The +vast mansion in which she had hitherto lived, with all its +historic contents, had gone to her father’s successor in +the title; but her own was no unhandsome one. Around lay +the undulating park, studded with trees a dozen times her own +age; beyond it, the wood; beyond the wood, the farms. All +this fair and quiet scene was hers. She nevertheless +remained a lonely, repentant, depressed being, who would have +given the greater part of everything she possessed to ensure the +presence and affection of that husband whose very austerity and +phlegm—qualities that had formerly led to the alienation +between them—seemed now to be adorable features in his +character.</p> +<p>She hoped and hoped again, but all to no purpose. +Captain Northbrook did not alter his mind and return. He +was quite a different sort of man from one who altered his mind; +that she was at last despairingly forced to admit. And then +she left off hoping, and settled down to a mechanical routine of +existence which in some measure dulled her grief; but at the +expense of all her natural animation and the sprightly wilfulness +which had once charmed those who knew her, though it was perhaps +all the while a factor in the production of her unhappiness.</p> +<p>To say that her beauty quite departed as the years rolled on +would be to overstate the truth. Time is not a merciful +master, as we all know, and he was not likely to act +exceptionally in the case of a woman who had mental troubles to +bear in addition to the ordinary weight of years. Be this +as it may, eleven other winters came and went, and Laura +Northbrook remained the lonely mistress of house and lands +without once hearing of her husband. Every probability +seemed to favour the assumption that he had died in some foreign +land; and offers for her hand were not few as the probability +verged on certainty with the long lapse of time. But the +idea of remarriage seemed never to have entered her head for a +moment. Whether she continued to hope even now for his +return could not be distinctly ascertained; at all events she +lived a life unmodified in the slightest degree from that of the +first six months of his absence.</p> +<p>This twelfth year of Laura’s loneliness, and the +thirtieth of her life drew on apace, and the season approached +that had seen the unhappy adventure for which she so long had +suffered. Christmas promised to be rather wet than cold, +and the trees on the outskirts of Laura’s estate dripped +monotonously from day to day upon the turnpike-road which +bordered them. On an afternoon in this week between three +and four o’clock a hired fly might have been seen driving +along the highway at this point, and on reaching the top of the +hill it stopped. A gentleman of middle age alighted from +the vehicle.</p> +<p>‘You need drive no farther,’ he said to the +coachman. ‘The rain seems to have nearly +ceased. I’ll stroll a little way, and return on foot +to the inn by dinner-time.’</p> +<p>The flyman touched his hat, turned the horse, and drove back +as directed. When he was out of sight, the gentleman walked +on, but he had not gone far before the rain again came down +pitilessly, though of this the pedestrian took little heed, going +leisurely onward till he reached Laura’s park gate, which +he passed through. The clouds were thick and the days were +short, so that by the time he stood in front of the mansion it +was dark. In addition to this his appearance, which on +alighting from the carriage had been untarnished, partook now of +the character of a drenched wayfarer not too well blessed with +this world’s goods. He halted for no more than a +moment at the front entrance, and going round to the +servants’ quarter, as if he had a preconceived purpose in +so doing, there rang the bell. When a page came to him he +inquired if they would kindly allow him to dry himself by the +kitchen fire.</p> +<p>The page retired, and after a murmured colloquy returned with +the cook, who informed the wet and muddy man that though it was +not her custom to admit strangers, she should have no particular +objection to his drying himself; the night being so damp and +gloomy. Therefore the wayfarer entered and sat down by the +fire.</p> +<p>‘The owner of this house is a very rich gentleman, no +doubt?’ he asked, as he watched the meat turning on the +spit.</p> +<p>‘’Tis not a gentleman, but a lady,’ said the +cook.</p> +<p>‘A widow, I presume?’</p> +<p>‘A sort of widow. Poor soul, her husband is gone +abroad, and has never been heard of for many years.’</p> +<p>‘She sees plenty of company, no doubt, to make up for +his absence?’</p> +<p>‘No, indeed—hardly a soul. Service here is +as bad as being in a nunnery.’</p> +<p>In short, the wayfarer, who had at first been so coldly +received, contrived by his frank and engaging manner to draw the +ladies of the kitchen into a most confidential conversation, in +which Laura’s history was minutely detailed, from the day +of her husband’s departure to the present. The +salient feature in all their discourse was her unflagging +devotion to his memory.</p> +<p>Having apparently learned all that he wanted to +know—among other things that she was at this moment, as +always, alone—the traveller said he was quite dry; and +thanking the servants for their kindness, departed as he had +come. On emerging into the darkness he did not, however, go +down the avenue by which he had arrived. He simply walked +round to the front door. There he rang, and the door was +opened to him by a man-servant whom he had not seen during his +sojourn at the other end of the house.</p> +<p>In answer to the servant’s inquiry for his name, he said +ceremoniously, ‘Will you tell The Honourable Mrs. +Northbrook that the man she nursed many years ago, after a +frightful accident, has called to thank her?’</p> +<p>The footman retreated, and it was rather a long time before +any further signs of attention were apparent. Then he was +shown into the drawing-room, and the door closed behind him.</p> +<p>On the couch was Laura, trembling and pale. She parted +her lips and held out her hands to him, but could not +speak. But he did not require speech, and in a moment they +were in each other’s arms.</p> +<p>Strange news circulated through that mansion and the +neighbouring town on the next and following days. But the +world has a way of getting used to things, and the intelligence +of the return of The Honourable Mrs. Northbrook’s +long-absent husband was soon received with comparative calm.</p> +<p>A few days more brought Christmas, and the forlorn home of +Laura Northbrook blazed from basement to attic with light and +cheerfulness. Not that the house was overcrowded with +visitors, but many were present, and the apathy of a dozen years +came at length to an end. The animation which set in thus +at the close of the old year did not diminish on the arrival of +the new; and by the time its twelve months had likewise run the +course of its predecessors, a son had been added to the dwindled +line of the Northbrook family.</p> +<p style="text-align: center">* * * * *</p> +<p>At the conclusion of this narrative the Spark was thanked, +with a manner of some surprise, for nobody had credited him with +a taste for tale-telling. Though it had been resolved that +this story should be the last, a few of the weather-bound +listeners were for sitting on into the small hours over their +pipes and glasses, and raking up yet more episodes of family +history. But the majority murmured reasons for soon getting +to their lodgings.</p> +<p>It was quite dark without, except in the immediate +neighbourhood of the feeble street-lamps, and before a few +shop-windows which had been hardily kept open in spite of the +obvious unlikelihood of any chance customer traversing the muddy +thoroughfares at that hour.</p> +<p>By one, by two, and by three the benighted members of the +Field-Club rose from their seats, shook hands, made appointments, +and dropped away to their respective quarters, free or hired, +hoping for a fair morrow. It would probably be not until +the next summer meeting, months away in the future, that the easy +intercourse which now existed between them all would repeat +itself. The crimson maltster, for instance, knew that on +the following market-day his friends the President, the Rural +Dean, and the bookworm would pass him in the street, if they met +him, with the barest nod of civility, the President and the +Colonel for social reasons, the bookworm for intellectual +reasons, and the Rural Dean for moral ones, the latter being a +staunch teetotaller, dead against John Barleycorn. The +sentimental member knew that when, on his rambles, he met his +friend the bookworm with a pocket-copy of something or other +under his nose, the latter would not love his companionship as he +had done to-day; and the President, the aristocrat, and the +farmer knew that affairs political, sporting, domestic, or +agricultural would exclude for a long time all rumination on the +characters of dames gone to dust for scores of years, however +beautiful and noble they may have been in their day.</p> +<p>The last member at length departed, the attendant at the +museum lowered the fire, the curator locked up the rooms, and +soon there was only a single pirouetting flame on the top of a +single coal to make the bones of the ichthyosaurus seem to leap, +the stuffed birds to wink, and to draw a smile from the varnished +skulls of Vespasian’s soldiery.</p> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A GROUP OF NOBLE DAMES***</p> +<pre> + + +***** This file should be named 3049-h.htm or 3049-h.zip****** + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/4/3049 + + + +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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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: A Group of Noble Dames + + +Author: Thomas Hardy + + + +Release Date: May 17, 2007 [eBook #3049] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A GROUP OF NOBLE DAMES*** + + + + +Transcribed from the 1920 Macmillan and Co. edition by David Price, email +ccx074@pglaf.org + + + + + +A GROUP OF NOBLE DAMES + + +THAT IS TO SAY + +THE FIRST COUNTESS OF WESSEX +BARBARA OF THE HOSE OF GREBE +THE MARCHIONESS OF STONEHENGE, +LADY MOTTIFONT SQUIRE PETRICK'S LADY +THE LADY ICENWAY ANNA, LADY BAXBY +THE LADY PENELOPE +THE DUCHESS OF HAMPTONSHIRE; AND +THE HONOURABLE LAURA + +BY +THOMAS HARDY + + '. . . Store of Ladies, whose bright eyes + Rain influence.'--L'ALLEGRO. + +WITH A MAP OF WESSEX + +MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED +ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON +1920 + +COPYRIGHT + +_First Collected Edition_ 1891 +_New Edition and reprints_ 1896-1900 +_First published by Macmillan & Co._, _Crown_ 8vo, 1903 +_Pocket Edition_ 1907 _Reprinted_ 1911, 1914, 1917, 1919, 1920 + +Contents: + +Preface +Part I--Before Dinner + The First Countess of Wessex + Barbara of the House of Grebe + The Marchioness of Stonehenge + Lady Mottisfont +Part II--After Dinner + The Lady Icenway + Squire Petrick's Lady + Anna, Lady Baxby + The Lady Penelope + The Duchess Of Hamptonshire + The Honourable Laura + + + + +PREFACE + + +The pedigrees of our county families, arranged in diagrams on the pages +of county histories, mostly appear at first sight to be as barren of any +touch of nature as a table of logarithms. But given a clue--the faintest +tradition of what went on behind the scenes, and this dryness as of dust +may be transformed into a palpitating drama. More, the careful +comparison of dates alone--that of birth with marriage, of marriage with +death, of one marriage, birth, or death with a kindred marriage, birth, +or death--will often effect the same transformation, and anybody +practised in raising images from such genealogies finds himself +unconsciously filling into the framework the motives, passions, and +personal qualities which would appear to be the single explanation +possible of some extraordinary conjunction in times, events, and +personages that occasionally marks these reticent family records. + +Out of such pedigrees and supplementary material most of the following +stories have arisen and taken shape. + +I would make this preface an opportunity of expressing my sense of the +courtesy and kindness of several bright-eyed Noble Dames yet in the +flesh, who, since the first publication of these tales in periodicals, +six or seven years ago, have given me interesting comments and +conjectures on such of the narratives as they have recognized to be +connected with their own families, residences, or traditions; in which +they have shown a truly philosophic absence of prejudice in their regard +of those incidents whose relation has tended more distinctly to dramatize +than to eulogize their ancestors. The outlines they have also given of +other singular events in their family histories for use in a second +"Group of Noble Dames," will, I fear, never reach the printing-press +through me; but I shall store them up in memory of my informants' good +nature. + +T. H. + +_June_ 1896. + + + + +DAME THE FIRST--THE FIRST COUNTESS OF WESSEX +By the Local Historian + + +King's-Hintock Court (said the narrator, turning over his memoranda for +reference)--King's-Hintock Court is, as we know, one of the most imposing +of the mansions that overlook our beautiful Blackmoor or Blakemore Vale. +On the particular occasion of which I have to speak this building stood, +as it had often stood before, in the perfect silence of a calm clear +night, lighted only by the cold shine of the stars. The season was +winter, in days long ago, the last century having run but little more +than a third of its length. North, south, and west, not a casement was +unfastened, not a curtain undrawn; eastward, one window on the upper +floor was open, and a girl of twelve or thirteen was leaning over the +sill. That she had not taken up the position for purposes of observation +was apparent at a glance, for she kept her eyes covered with her hands. + +The room occupied by the girl was an inner one of a suite, to be reached +only by passing through a large bedchamber adjoining. From this +apartment voices in altercation were audible, everything else in the +building being so still. It was to avoid listening to these voices that +the girl had left her little cot, thrown a cloak round her head and +shoulders, and stretched into the night air. + +But she could not escape the conversation, try as she would. The words +reached her in all their painfulness, one sentence in masculine tones, +those of her father, being repeated many times. + +'I tell 'ee there shall be no such betrothal! I tell 'ee there sha'n't! +A child like her!' + +She knew the subject of dispute to be herself. A cool feminine voice, +her mother's, replied: + +'Have done with you, and be wise. He is willing to wait a good five or +six years before the marriage takes place, and there's not a man in the +county to compare with him.' + +'It shall not be! He is over thirty. It is wickedness.' + +'He is just thirty, and the best and finest man alive--a perfect match +for her.' + +'He is poor!' + +'But his father and elder brothers are made much of at Court--none so +constantly at the palace as they; and with her fortune, who knows? He +may be able to get a barony.' + +'I believe you are in love with en yourself!' + +'How can you insult me so, Thomas! And is it not monstrous for you to +talk of my wickedness when you have a like scheme in your own head? You +know you have. Some bumpkin of your own choosing--some petty gentleman +who lives down at that outlandish place of yours, Falls-Park--one of your +pot-companions' sons--' + +There was an outburst of imprecation on the part of her husband in lieu +of further argument. As soon as he could utter a connected sentence he +said: 'You crow and you domineer, mistress, because you are +heiress-general here. You are in your own house; you are on your own +land. But let me tell 'ee that if I did come here to you instead of +taking you to me, it was done at the dictates of convenience merely. H---! +I'm no beggar! Ha'n't I a place of my own? Ha'n't I an avenue as +long as thine? Ha'n't I beeches that will more than match thy oaks? I +should have lived in my own quiet house and land, contented, if you had +not called me off with your airs and graces. Faith, I'll go back there; +I'll not stay with thee longer! If it had not been for our Betty I +should have gone long ago!' + +After this there were no more words; but presently, hearing the sound of +a door opening and shutting below, the girl again looked from the window. +Footsteps crunched on the gravel-walk, and a shape in a drab greatcoat, +easily distinguishable as her father, withdrew from the house. He moved +to the left, and she watched him diminish down the long east front till +he had turned the corner and vanished. He must have gone round to the +stables. + +She closed the window and shrank into bed, where she cried herself to +sleep. This child, their only one, Betty, beloved ambitiously by her +mother, and with uncalculating passionateness by her father, was +frequently made wretched by such episodes as this; though she was too +young to care very deeply, for her own sake, whether her mother betrothed +her to the gentleman discussed or not. + +The Squire had often gone out of the house in this manner, declaring that +he would never return, but he had always reappeared in the morning. The +present occasion, however, was different in the issue: next day she was +told that her father had ridden to his estate at Falls-Park early in the +morning on business with his agent, and might not come back for some +days. + +* * * * * + +Falls-Park was over twenty miles from King's-Hintock Court, and was +altogether a more modest centre-piece to a more modest possession than +the latter. But as Squire Dornell came in view of it that February +morning, he thought that he had been a fool ever to leave it, though it +was for the sake of the greatest heiress in Wessex. Its classic front, +of the period of the second Charles, derived from its regular features a +dignity which the great, battlemented, heterogeneous mansion of his wife +could not eclipse. Altogether he was sick at heart, and the gloom which +the densely-timbered park threw over the scene did not tend to remove the +depression of this rubicund man of eight-and-forty, who sat so heavily +upon his gelding. The child, his darling Betty: there lay the root of +his trouble. He was unhappy when near his wife, he was unhappy when away +from his little girl; and from this dilemma there was no practicable +escape. As a consequence he indulged rather freely in the pleasures of +the table, became what was called a three bottle man, and, in his wife's +estimation, less and less presentable to her polite friends from town. + +He was received by the two or three old servants who were in charge of +the lonely place, where a few rooms only were kept habitable for his use +or that of his friends when hunting; and during the morning he was made +more comfortable by the arrival of his faithful servant Tupcombe from +King's-Hintock. But after a day or two spent here in solitude he began +to feel that he had made a mistake in coming. By leaving King's-Hintock +in his anger he had thrown away his best opportunity of counteracting his +wife's preposterous notion of promising his poor little Betty's hand to a +man she had hardly seen. To protect her from such a repugnant bargain he +should have remained on the spot. He felt it almost as a misfortune that +the child would inherit so much wealth. She would be a mark for all the +adventurers in the kingdom. Had she been only the heiress to his own +unassuming little place at Falls, how much better would have been her +chances of happiness! + +His wife had divined truly when she insinuated that he himself had a +lover in view for this pet child. The son of a dear deceased friend of +his, who lived not two miles from where the Squire now was, a lad a +couple of years his daughter's senior, seemed in her father's opinion the +one person in the world likely to make her happy. But as to breathing +such a scheme to either of the young people with the indecent haste that +his wife had shown, he would not dream of it; years hence would be soon +enough for that. They had already seen each other, and the Squire +fancied that he noticed a tenderness on the youth's part which promised +well. He was strongly tempted to profit by his wife's example, and +forestall her match-making by throwing the two young people together +there at Falls. The girl, though marriageable in the views of those +days, was too young to be in love, but the lad was fifteen, and already +felt an interest in her. + +Still better than keeping watch over her at King's Hintock, where she was +necessarily much under her mother's influence, would it be to get the +child to stay with him at Falls for a time, under his exclusive control. +But how accomplish this without using main force? The only possible +chance was that his wife might, for appearance' sake, as she had done +before, consent to Betty paying him a day's visit, when he might find +means of detaining her till Reynard, the suitor whom his wife favoured, +had gone abroad, which he was expected to do the following week. Squire +Dornell determined to return to King's-Hintock and attempt the +enterprise. If he were refused, it was almost in him to pick up Betty +bodily and carry her off. + +The journey back, vague and Quixotic as were his intentions, was +performed with a far lighter heart than his setting forth. He would see +Betty, and talk to her, come what might of his plan. + +So he rode along the dead level which stretches between the hills +skirting Falls-Park and those bounding the town of Ivell, trotted through +that borough, and out by the King's-Hintock highway, till, passing the +villages he entered the mile-long drive through the park to the Court. +The drive being open, without an avenue, the Squire could discern the +north front and door of the Court a long way off, and was himself visible +from the windows on that side; for which reason he hoped that Betty might +perceive him coming, as she sometimes did on his return from an outing, +and run to the door or wave her handkerchief. + +But there was no sign. He inquired for his wife as soon as he set foot +to earth. + +'Mistress is away. She was called to London, sir.' + +'And Mistress Betty?' said the Squire blankly. + +'Gone likewise, sir, for a little change. Mistress has left a letter for +you.' + +The note explained nothing, merely stating that she had posted to London +on her own affairs, and had taken the child to give her a holiday. On +the fly-leaf were some words from Betty herself to the same effect, +evidently written in a state of high jubilation at the idea of her jaunt. +Squire Dornell murmured a few expletives, and submitted to his +disappointment. How long his wife meant to stay in town she did not say; +but on investigation he found that the carriage had been packed with +sufficient luggage for a sojourn of two or three weeks. + +King's-Hintock Court was in consequence as gloomy as Falls-Park had been. +He had lost all zest for hunting of late, and had hardly attended a meet +that season. Dornell read and re-read Betty's scrawl, and hunted up some +other such notes of hers to look over, this seeming to be the only +pleasure there was left for him. That they were really in London he +learnt in a few days by another letter from Mrs. Dornell, in which she +explained that they hoped to be home in about a week, and that she had +had no idea he was coming back to King's-Hintock so soon, or she would +not have gone away without telling him. + +Squire Dornell wondered if, in going or returning, it had been her plan +to call at the Reynards' place near Melchester, through which city their +journey lay. It was possible that she might do this in furtherance of +her project, and the sense that his own might become the losing game was +harassing. + +He did not know how to dispose of himself, till it occurred to him that, +to get rid of his intolerable heaviness, he would invite some friends to +dinner and drown his cares in grog and wine. No sooner was the carouse +decided upon than he put it in hand; those invited being mostly +neighbouring landholders, all smaller men than himself, members of the +hunt; also the doctor from Evershead, and the like--some of them +rollicking blades whose presence his wife would not have countenanced had +she been at home. 'When the cat's away--!' said the Squire. + +They arrived, and there were indications in their manner that they meant +to make a night of it. Baxby of Sherton Castle was late, and they waited +a quarter of an hour for him, he being one of the liveliest of Dornell's +friends; without whose presence no such dinner as this would be +considered complete, and, it may be added, with whose presence no dinner +which included both sexes could be conducted with strict propriety. He +had just returned from London, and the Squire was anxious to talk to +him--for no definite reason; but he had lately breathed the atmosphere in +which Betty was. + +At length they heard Baxby driving up to the door, whereupon the host and +the rest of his guests crossed over to the dining-room. In a moment +Baxby came hastily in at their heels, apologizing for his lateness. + +'I only came back last night, you know,' he said; 'and the truth o't is, +I had as much as I could carry.' He turned to the Squire. 'Well, +Dornell--so cunning Reynard has stolen your little ewe lamb? Ha, ha!' + +'What?' said Squire Dornell vacantly, across the dining-table, round +which they were all standing, the cold March sunlight streaming in upon +his full-clean shaven face. + +'Surely th'st know what all the town knows?--you've had a letter by this +time?--that Stephen Reynard has married your Betty? Yes, as I'm a living +man. It was a carefully-arranged thing: they parted at once, and are not +to meet for five or six years. But, Lord, you must know!' + +A thud on the floor was the only reply of the Squire. They quickly +turned. He had fallen down like a log behind the table, and lay +motionless on the oak boards. + +Those at hand hastily bent over him, and the whole group were in +confusion. They found him to be quite unconscious, though puffing and +panting like a blacksmith's bellows. His face was livid, his veins +swollen, and beads of perspiration stood upon his brow. + +'What's happened to him?' said several. + +'An apoplectic fit,' said the doctor from Evershead, gravely. + +He was only called in at the Court for small ailments, as a rule, and +felt the importance of the situation. He lifted the Squire's head, +loosened his cravat and clothing, and rang for the servants, who took the +Squire upstairs. + +There he lay as if in a drugged sleep. The surgeon drew a basin-full of +blood from him, but it was nearly six o'clock before he came to himself. +The dinner was completely disorganized, and some had gone home long ago; +but two or three remained. + +'Bless my soul,' Baxby kept repeating, 'I didn't know things had come to +this pass between Dornell and his lady! I thought the feast he was +spreading to-day was in honour of the event, though privately kept for +the present! His little maid married without his knowledge!' + +As soon as the Squire recovered consciousness he gasped: ''Tis abduction! +'Tis a capital felony! He can be hung! Where is Baxby? I am very well +now. What items have ye heard, Baxby?' + +The bearer of the untoward news was extremely unwilling to agitate +Dornell further, and would say little more at first. But an hour after, +when the Squire had partially recovered and was sitting up, Baxby told as +much as he knew, the most important particular being that Betty's mother +was present at the marriage, and showed every mark of approval. +'Everything appeared to have been done so regularly that I, of course, +thought you knew all about it,' he said. + +'I knew no more than the underground dead that such a step was in the +wind! A child not yet thirteen! How Sue hath outwitted me! Did Reynard +go up to Lon'on with 'em, d'ye know?' + +'I can't say. All I know is that your lady and daughter were walking +along the street, with the footman behind 'em; that they entered a +jeweller's shop, where Reynard was standing; and that there, in the +presence o' the shopkeeper and your man, who was called in on purpose, +your Betty said to Reynard--so the story goes: 'pon my soul I don't vouch +for the truth of it--she said, "Will you marry me?" or, "I want to marry +you: will you have me--now or never?" she said.' + +'What she said means nothing,' murmured the Squire, with wet eyes. 'Her +mother put the words into her mouth to avoid the serious consequences +that would attach to any suspicion of force. The words be not the +child's: she didn't dream of marriage--how should she, poor little maid! +Go on.' + +'Well, be that as it will, they were all agreed apparently. They bought +the ring on the spot, and the marriage took place at the nearest church +within half-an-hour.' + +* * * * * + +A day or two later there came a letter from Mrs. Dornell to her husband, +written before she knew of his stroke. She related the circumstances of +the marriage in the gentlest manner, and gave cogent reasons and excuses +for consenting to the premature union, which was now an accomplished fact +indeed. She had no idea, till sudden pressure was put upon her, that the +contract was expected to be carried out so soon, but being taken half +unawares, she had consented, having learned that Stephen Reynard, now +their son-in-law, was becoming a great favourite at Court, and that he +would in all likelihood have a title granted him before long. No harm +could come to their dear daughter by this early marriage-contract, seeing +that her life would be continued under their own eyes, exactly as before, +for some years. In fine, she had felt that no other such fair +opportunity for a good marriage with a shrewd courtier and wise man of +the world, who was at the same time noted for his excellent personal +qualities, was within the range of probability, owing to the rusticated +lives they led at King's-Hintock. Hence she had yielded to Stephen's +solicitation, and hoped her husband would forgive her. She wrote, in +short, like a woman who, having had her way as to the deed, is prepared +to make any concession as to words and subsequent behaviour. + +All this Dornell took at its true value, or rather, perhaps, at less than +its true value. As his life depended upon his not getting into a +passion, he controlled his perturbed emotions as well as he was able, +going about the house sadly and utterly unlike his former self. He took +every precaution to prevent his wife knowing of the incidents of his +sudden illness, from a sense of shame at having a heart so tender; a +ridiculous quality, no doubt, in her eyes, now that she had become so +imbued with town ideas. But rumours of his seizure somehow reached her, +and she let him know that she was about to return to nurse him. He +thereupon packed up and went off to his own place at Falls-Park. + +Here he lived the life of a recluse for some time. He was still too +unwell to entertain company, or to ride to hounds or elsewhither; but +more than this, his aversion to the faces of strangers and acquaintances, +who knew by that time of the trick his wife had played him, operated to +hold him aloof. + +Nothing could influence him to censure Betty for her share in the +exploit. He never once believed that she had acted voluntarily. Anxious +to know how she was getting on, he despatched the trusty servant Tupcombe +to Evershead village, close to King's-Hintock, timing his journey so that +he should reach the place under cover of dark. The emissary arrived +without notice, being out of livery, and took a seat in the +chimney-corner of the Sow-and-Acorn. + +The conversation of the droppers-in was always of the nine days' +wonder--the recent marriage. The smoking listener learnt that Mrs. +Dornell and the girl had returned to King's-Hintock for a day or two, +that Reynard had set out for the Continent, and that Betty had since been +packed off to school. She did not realize her position as Reynard's +child-wife--so the story went--and though somewhat awe-stricken at first +by the ceremony, she had soon recovered her spirits on finding that her +freedom was in no way to be interfered with. + +After that, formal messages began to pass between Dornell and his wife, +the latter being now as persistently conciliating as she was formerly +masterful. But her rustic, simple, blustering husband still held +personally aloof. Her wish to be reconciled--to win his forgiveness for +her stratagem--moreover, a genuine tenderness and desire to soothe his +sorrow, which welled up in her at times, brought her at last to his door +at Falls-Park one day. + +They had not met since that night of altercation, before her departure +for London and his subsequent illness. She was shocked at the change in +him. His face had become expressionless, as blank as that of a puppet, +and what troubled her still more was that she found him living in one +room, and indulging freely in stimulants, in absolute disobedience to the +physician's order. The fact was obvious that he could no longer be +allowed to live thus uncouthly. + +So she sympathized, and begged his pardon, and coaxed. But though after +this date there was no longer such a complete estrangement as before, +they only occasionally saw each other, Dornell for the most part making +Falls his headquarters still. + +Three or four years passed thus. Then she came one day, with more +animation in her manner, and at once moved him by the simple statement +that Betty's schooling had ended; she had returned, and was grieved +because he was away. She had sent a message to him in these words: 'Ask +father to come home to his dear Betty.' + +'Ah! Then she is very unhappy!' said Squire Dornell. + +His wife was silent. + +''Tis that accursed marriage!' continued the Squire. + +Still his wife would not dispute with him. 'She is outside in the +carriage,' said Mrs. Dornell gently. + +'What--Betty?' + +'Yes.' + +'Why didn't you tell me?' Dornell rushed out, and there was the girl +awaiting his forgiveness, for she supposed herself, no less than her +mother, to be under his displeasure. + +Yes, Betty had left school, and had returned to King's-Hintock. She was +nearly seventeen, and had developed to quite a young woman. She looked +not less a member of the household for her early marriage-contract, which +she seemed, indeed, to have almost forgotten. It was like a dream to +her; that clear cold March day, the London church, with its gorgeous +pews, and green-baize linings, and the great organ in the west gallery--so +different from their own little church in the shrubbery of King's-Hintock +Court--the man of thirty, to whose face she had looked up with so much +awe, and with a sense that he was rather ugly and formidable; the man +whom, though they corresponded politely, she had never seen since; one to +whose existence she was now so indifferent that if informed of his death, +and that she would never see him more, she would merely have replied, +'Indeed!' Betty's passions as yet still slept. + +'Hast heard from thy husband lately?' said Squire Dornell, when they were +indoors, with an ironical laugh of fondness which demanded no answer. + +The girl winced, and he noticed that his wife looked appealingly at him. +As the conversation went on, and there were signs that Dornell would +express sentiments that might do harm to a position which they could not +alter, Mrs. Dornell suggested that Betty should leave the room till her +father and herself had finished their private conversation; and this +Betty obediently did. + +Dornell renewed his animadversions freely. 'Did you see how the sound of +his name frightened her?' he presently added. 'If you didn't, I did. +Zounds! what a future is in store for that poor little unfortunate wench +o' mine! I tell 'ee, Sue, 'twas not a marriage at all, in morality, and +if I were a woman in such a position, I shouldn't feel it as one. She +might, without a sign of sin, love a man of her choice as well now as if +she were chained up to no other at all. There, that's my mind, and I +can't help it. Ah, Sue, my man was best! He'd ha' suited her.' + +'I don't believe it,' she replied incredulously. + +'You should see him; then you would. He's growing up a fine fellow, I +can tell 'ee.' + +'Hush! not so loud!' she answered, rising from her seat and going to the +door of the next room, whither her daughter had betaken herself. To Mrs. +Dornell's alarm, there sat Betty in a reverie, her round eyes fixed on +vacancy, musing so deeply that she did not perceive her mother's +entrance. She had heard every word, and was digesting the new knowledge. + +Her mother felt that Falls-Park was dangerous ground for a young girl of +the susceptible age, and in Betty's peculiar position, while Dornell +talked and reasoned thus. She called Betty to her, and they took leave. +The Squire would not clearly promise to return and make King's-Hintock +Court his permanent abode; but Betty's presence there, as at former +times, was sufficient to make him agree to pay them a visit soon. + +All the way home Betty remained preoccupied and silent. It was too plain +to her anxious mother that Squire Dornell's free views had been a sort of +awakening to the girl. + +The interval before Dornell redeemed his pledge to come and see them was +unexpectedly short. He arrived one morning about twelve o'clock, driving +his own pair of black-bays in the curricle-phaeton with yellow panels and +red wheels, just as he had used to do, and his faithful old Tupcombe on +horseback behind. A young man sat beside the Squire in the carriage, and +Mrs. Dornell's consternation could scarcely be concealed when, abruptly +entering with his companion, the Squire announced him as his friend +Phelipson of Elm-Cranlynch. + +Dornell passed on to Betty in the background and tenderly kissed her. +'Sting your mother's conscience, my maid!' he whispered. 'Sting her +conscience by pretending you are struck with Phelipson, and would ha' +loved him, as your old father's choice, much more than him she has forced +upon 'ee.' + +The simple-souled speaker fondly imagined that it as entirely in +obedience to this direction that Betty's eyes stole interested glances at +the frank and impulsive Phelipson that day at dinner, and he laughed +grimly within himself to see how this joke of his, as he imagined it to +be, was disturbing the peace of mind of the lady of the house. 'Now Sue +sees what a mistake she has made!' said he. + +Mrs. Dornell was verily greatly alarmed, and as soon as she could speak a +word with him alone she upbraided him. 'You ought not to have brought +him here. Oh Thomas, how could you be so thoughtless! Lord, don't you +see, dear, that what is done cannot be undone, and how all this foolery +jeopardizes her happiness with her husband? Until you interfered, and +spoke in her hearing about this Phelipson, she was as patient and as +willing as a lamb, and looked forward to Mr. Reynard's return with real +pleasure. Since her visit to Falls-Park she has been monstrous close- +mouthed and busy with her own thoughts. What mischief will you do? How +will it end?' + +'Own, then, that my man was best suited to her. I only brought him to +convince you.' + +'Yes, yes; I do admit it. But oh! do take him back again at once! Don't +keep him here! I fear she is even attracted by him already.' + +'Nonsense, Sue. 'Tis only a little trick to tease 'ee!' + +Nevertheless her motherly eye was not so likely to be deceived as his, +and if Betty were really only playing at being love-struck that day, she +played at it with the perfection of a Rosalind, and would have deceived +the best professors into a belief that it was no counterfeit. The +Squire, having obtained his victory, was quite ready to take back the too +attractive youth, and early in the afternoon they set out on their return +journey. + +A silent figure who rode behind them was as interested as Dornell in that +day's experiment. It was the staunch Tupcombe, who, with his eyes on the +Squire's and young Phelipson's backs, thought how well the latter would +have suited Betty, and how greatly the former had changed for the worse +during these last two or three years. He cursed his mistress as the +cause of the change. + +After this memorable visit to prove his point, the lives of the Dornell +couple flowed on quietly enough for the space of a twelvemonth, the +Squire for the most part remaining at Falls, and Betty passing and +repassing between them now and then, once or twice alarming her mother by +not driving home from her father's house till midnight. + +* * * * * + +The repose of King's-Hintock was broken by the arrival of a special +messenger. Squire Dornell had had an access of gout so violent as to be +serious. He wished to see Betty again: why had she not come for so long? + +Mrs. Dornell was extremely reluctant to take Betty in that direction too +frequently; but the girl was so anxious to go, her interests latterly +seeming to be so entirely bound up in Falls-Park and its neighbourhood, +that there was nothing to be done but to let her set out and accompany +her. + +Squire Dornell had been impatiently awaiting her arrival. They found him +very ill and irritable. It had been his habit to take powerful medicines +to drive away his enemy, and they had failed in their effect on this +occasion. + +The presence of his daughter, as usual, calmed him much, even while, as +usual too, it saddened him; for he could never forget that she had +disposed of herself for life in opposition to his wishes, though she had +secretly assured him that she would never have consented had she been as +old as she was now. + +As on a former occasion, his wife wished to speak to him alone about the +girl's future, the time now drawing nigh at which Reynard was expected to +come and claim her. He would have done so already, but he had been put +off by the earnest request of the young woman herself, which accorded +with that of her parents, on the score of her youth. Reynard had +deferentially submitted to their wishes in this respect, the +understanding between them having been that he would not visit her before +she was eighteen, except by the mutual consent of all parties. But this +could not go on much longer, and there was no doubt, from the tenor of +his last letter, that he would soon take possession of her whether or no. + +To be out of the sound of this delicate discussion Betty was accordingly +sent downstairs, and they soon saw her walking away into the shrubberies, +looking very pretty in her sweeping green gown, and flapping +broad-brimmed hat overhung with a feather. + +On returning to the subject, Mrs. Dornell found her husband's reluctance +to reply in the affirmative to Reynard's letter to be as great as ever. + +'She is three months short of eighteen!' he exclaimed. ''Tis too soon. I +won't hear of it! If I have to keep him off sword in hand, he shall not +have her yet.' + +'But, my dear Thomas,' she expostulated, 'consider if anything should +happen to you or to me, how much better it would be that she should be +settled in her home with him!' + +'I say it is too soon!' he argued, the veins of his forehead beginning to +swell. 'If he gets her this side o' Candlemas I'll challenge en--I'll +take my oath on't! I'll be back to King's-Hintock in two or three days, +and I'll not lose sight of her day or night!' + +She feared to agitate him further, and gave way, assuring him, in +obedience to his demand, that if Reynard should write again before he got +back, to fix a time for joining Betty, she would put the letter in her +husband's hands, and he should do as he chose. This was all that +required discussion privately, and Mrs. Dornell went to call in Betty, +hoping that she had not heard her father's loud tones. + +She had certainly not done so this time. Mrs. Dornell followed the path +along which she had seen Betty wandering, but went a considerable +distance without perceiving anything of her. The Squire's wife then +turned round to proceed to the other side of the house by a short cut +across the grass, when, to her surprise and consternation, she beheld the +object of her search sitting on the horizontal bough of a cedar, beside +her being a young man, whose arm was round her waist. He moved a little, +and she recognized him as young Phelipson. + +Alas, then, she was right. The so-called counterfeit love was real. What +Mrs. Dornell called her husband at that moment, for his folly in +originally throwing the young people together, it is not necessary to +mention. She decided in a moment not to let the lovers know that she had +seen them. She accordingly retreated, reached the front of the house by +another route, and called at the top of her voice from a window, 'Betty!' + +For the first time since her strategic marriage of the child, Susan +Dornell doubted the wisdom of that step. + +Her husband had, as it were, been assisted by destiny to make his +objection, originally trivial, a valid one. She saw the outlines of +trouble in the future. Why had Dornell interfered? Why had he insisted +upon producing his man? This, then, accounted for Betty's pleading for +postponement whenever the subject of her husband's return was broached; +this accounted for her attachment to Falls-Park. Possibly this very +meeting that she had witnessed had been arranged by letter. + +Perhaps the girl's thoughts would never have strayed for a moment if her +father had not filled her head with ideas of repugnance to her early +union, on the ground that she had been coerced into it before she knew +her own mind; and she might have rushed to meet her husband with open +arms on the appointed day. + +Betty at length appeared in the distance in answer to the call, and came +up pale, but looking innocent of having seen a living soul. Mrs. Dornell +groaned in spirit at such duplicity in the child of her bosom. This was +the simple creature for whose development into womanhood they had all +been so tenderly waiting--a forward minx, old enough not only to have a +lover, but to conceal his existence as adroitly as any woman of the +world! Bitterly did the Squire's lady regret that Stephen Reynard had +not been allowed to come to claim her at the time he first proposed. + +The two sat beside each other almost in silence on their journey back to +King's-Hintock. Such words as were spoken came mainly from Betty, and +their formality indicated how much her mind and heart were occupied with +other things. + +Mrs. Dornell was far too astute a mother to openly attack Betty on the +matter. That would be only fanning flame. The indispensable course +seemed to her to be that of keeping the treacherous girl under lock and +key till her husband came to take her off her mother's hands. That he +would disregard Dornell's opposition, and come soon, was her devout wish. + +It seemed, therefore, a fortunate coincidence that on her arrival at +King's-Hintock a letter from Reynard was put into Mrs. Dornell's hands. +It was addressed to both her and her husband, and courteously informed +them that the writer had landed at Bristol, and proposed to come on to +King's-Hintock in a few days, at last to meet and carry off his darling +Betty, if she and her parents saw no objection. + +Betty had also received a letter of the same tenor. Her mother had only +to look at her face to see how the girl received the information. She +was as pale as a sheet. + +'You must do your best to welcome him this time, my dear Betty,' her +mother said gently. + +'But--but--I--' + +'You are a woman now,' added her mother severely, 'and these +postponements must come to an end.' + +'But my father--oh, I am sure he will not allow this! I am not ready. If +he could only wait a year longer--if he could only wait a few months +longer! Oh, I wish--I wish my dear father were here! I will send to him +instantly.' She broke off abruptly, and falling upon her mother's neck, +burst into tears, saying, 'O my mother, have mercy upon me--I do not love +this man, my husband!' + +The agonized appeal went too straight to Mrs. Dornell's heart for her to +hear it unmoved. Yet, things having come to this pass, what could she +do? She was distracted, and for a moment was on Betty's side. Her +original thought had been to write an affirmative reply to Reynard, allow +him to come on to King's-Hintock, and keep her husband in ignorance of +the whole proceeding till he should arrive from Falls on some fine day +after his recovery, and find everything settled, and Reynard and Betty +living together in harmony. But the events of the day, and her +daughter's sudden outburst of feeling, had overthrown this intention. +Betty was sure to do as she had threatened, and communicate instantly +with her father, possibly attempt to fly to him. Moreover, Reynard's +letter was addressed to Mr. Dornell and herself conjointly, and she could +not in conscience keep it from her husband. + +'I will send the letter on to your father instantly,' she replied +soothingly. 'He shall act entirely as he chooses, and you know that will +not be in opposition to your wishes. He would ruin you rather than +thwart you. I only hope he may be well enough to bear the agitation of +this news. Do you agree to this?' + +Poor Betty agreed, on condition that she should actually witness the +despatch of the letter. Her mother had no objection to offer to this; +but as soon as the horseman had cantered down the drive toward the +highway, Mrs. Dornell's sympathy with Betty's recalcitration began to die +out. The girl's secret affection for young Phelipson could not possibly +be condoned. Betty might communicate with him, might even try to reach +him. Ruin lay that way. Stephen Reynard must be speedily installed in +his proper place by Betty's side. + +She sat down and penned a private letter to Reynard, which threw light +upon her plan. + +* * * * * + +'It is Necessary that I should now tell you,' she said, 'what I have +never Mentioned before--indeed I may have signified the Contrary--that +her Father's Objection to your joining her has not as yet been overcome. +As I personally Wish to delay you no longer--am indeed as anxious for +your Arrival as you can be yourself, having the good of my Daughter at +Heart--no course is left open to me but to assist your Cause without my +Husband's Knowledge. He, I am sorry to say, is at present ill at Falls- +Park, but I felt it my Duty to forward him your Letter. He will +therefore be like to reply with a peremptory Command to you to go back +again, for some Months, whence you came, till the Time he originally +stipulated has expir'd. My Advice is, if you get such a Letter, to take +no Notice of it, but to come on hither as you had proposed, letting me +know the Day and Hour (after dark, if possible) at which we may expect +you. Dear Betty is with me, and I warrant ye that she shall be in the +House when you arrive.' + +* * * * * + +Mrs. Dornell, having sent away this epistle unsuspected of anybody, next +took steps to prevent her daughter leaving the Court, avoiding if +possible to excite the girl's suspicions that she was under restraint. +But, as if by divination, Betty had seemed to read the husband's approach +in the aspect of her mother's face. + +'He is coming!' exclaimed the maiden. + +'Not for a week,' her mother assured her. + +'He is then--for certain?' + +'Well, yes.' + +Betty hastily retired to her room, and would not be seen. + +To lock her up, and hand over the key to Reynard when he should appear in +the hall, was a plan charming in its simplicity, till her mother found, +on trying the door of the girl's chamber softly, that Betty had already +locked and bolted it on the inside, and had given directions to have her +meals served where she was, by leaving them on a dumb-waiter outside the +door. + +Thereupon Mrs. Dornell noiselessly sat down in her boudoir, which, as +well as her bed-chamber, was a passage-room to the girl's apartment, and +she resolved not to vacate her post night or day till her daughter's +husband should appear, to which end she too arranged to breakfast, dine, +and sup on the spot. It was impossible now that Betty should escape +without her knowledge, even if she had wished, there being no other door +to the chamber, except one admitting to a small inner dressing-room +inaccessible by any second way. + +But it was plain that the young girl had no thought of escape. Her ideas +ran rather in the direction of intrenchment: she was prepared to stand a +siege, but scorned flight. This, at any rate, rendered her secure. As +to how Reynard would contrive a meeting with her coy daughter while in +such a defensive humour, that, thought her mother, must be left to his +own ingenuity to discover. + +Betty had looked so wild and pale at the announcement of her husband's +approaching visit, that Mrs. Dornell, somewhat uneasy, could not leave +her to herself. She peeped through the keyhole an hour later. Betty lay +on the sofa, staring listlessly at the ceiling. + +'You are looking ill, child,' cried her mother. 'You've not taken the +air lately. Come with me for a drive.' + +Betty made no objection. Soon they drove through the park towards the +village, the daughter still in the strained, strung-up silence that had +fallen upon her. They left the park to return by another route, and on +the open road passed a cottage. + +Betty's eye fell upon the cottage-window. Within it she saw a young girl +about her own age, whom she knew by sight, sitting in a chair and propped +by a pillow. The girl's face was covered with scales, which glistened in +the sun. She was a convalescent from smallpox--a disease whose +prevalence at that period was a terror of which we at present can hardly +form a conception. + +An idea suddenly energized Betty's apathetic features. She glanced at +her mother; Mrs. Dornell had been looking in the opposite direction. +Betty said that she wished to go back to the cottage for a moment to +speak to a girl in whom she took an interest. Mrs. Dornell appeared +suspicious, but observing that the cottage had no back-door, and that +Betty could not escape without being seen, she allowed the carriage to be +stopped. Betty ran back and entered the cottage, emerging again in about +a minute, and resuming her seat in the carriage. As they drove on she +fixed her eyes upon her mother and said, 'There, I have done it now!' Her +pale face was stormy, and her eyes full of waiting tears. + +'What have you done?' said Mrs. Dornell. + +'Nanny Priddle is sick of the smallpox, and I saw her at the window, and +I went in and kissed her, so that I might take it; and now I shall have +it, and he won't be able to come near me!' + +'Wicked girl!' cries her mother. 'Oh, what am I to do! What--bring a +distemper on yourself, and usurp the sacred prerogative of God, because +you can't palate the man you've wedded!' + +The alarmed woman gave orders to drive home as rapidly as possible, and +on arriving, Betty, who was by this time also somewhat frightened at her +own enormity, was put into a bath, and fumigated, and treated in every +way that could be thought of to ward off the dreadful malady that in a +rash moment she had tried to acquire. + +There was now a double reason for isolating the rebellious daughter and +wife in her own chamber, and there she accordingly remained for the rest +of the day and the days that followed; till no ill results seemed likely +to arise from her wilfulness. + +* * * * * + +Meanwhile the first letter from Reynard, announcing to Mrs. Dornell and +her husband jointly that he was coming in a few days, had sped on its way +to Falls-Park. It was directed under cover to Tupcombe, the confidential +servant, with instructions not to put it into his master's hands till he +had been refreshed by a good long sleep. Tupcombe much regretted his +commission, letters sent in this way always disturbing the Squire; but +guessing that it would be infinitely worse in the end to withhold the +news than to reveal it, he chose his time, which was early the next +morning, and delivered the missive. + +The utmost effect that Mrs. Dornell had anticipated from the message was +a peremptory order from her husband to Reynard to hold aloof a few months +longer. What the Squire really did was to declare that he would go +himself and confront Reynard at Bristol, and have it out with him there +by word of mouth. + +'But, master,' said Tupcombe, 'you can't. You cannot get out of bed.' + +'You leave the room, Tupcombe, and don't say "can't" before me! Have +Jerry saddled in an hour.' + +The long-tried Tupcombe thought his employer demented, so utterly +helpless was his appearance just then, and he went out reluctantly. No +sooner was he gone than the Squire, with great difficulty, stretched +himself over to a cabinet by the bedside, unlocked it, and took out a +small bottle. It contained a gout specific, against whose use he had +been repeatedly warned by his regular physician, but whose warning he now +cast to the winds. + +He took a double dose, and waited half an hour. It seemed to produce no +effect. He then poured out a treble dose, swallowed it, leant back upon +his pillow, and waited. The miracle he anticipated had been worked at +last. It seemed as though the second draught had not only operated with +its own strength, but had kindled into power the latent forces of the +first. He put away the bottle, and rang up Tupcombe. + +Less than an hour later one of the housemaids, who of course was quite +aware that the Squire's illness was serious, was surprised to hear a bold +and decided step descending the stairs from the direction of Mr. +Dornell's room, accompanied by the humming of a tune. She knew that the +doctor had not paid a visit that morning, and that it was too heavy to be +the valet or any other man-servant. Looking up, she saw Squire Dornell +fully dressed, descending toward her in his drab caped riding-coat and +boots, with the swinging easy movement of his prime. Her face expressed +her amazement. + +'What the devil beest looking at?' said the Squire. 'Did you never see a +man walk out of his house before, wench?' + +Resuming his humming--which was of a defiant sort--he proceeded to the +library, rang the bell, asked if the horses were ready, and directed them +to be brought round. Ten minutes later he rode away in the direction of +Bristol, Tupcombe behind him, trembling at what these movements might +portend. + +They rode on through the pleasant woodlands and the monotonous straight +lanes at an equal pace. The distance traversed might have been about +fifteen miles when Tupcombe could perceive that the Squire was getting +tired--as weary as he would have been after riding three times the +distance ten years before. However, they reached Bristol without any +mishap, and put up at the Squire's accustomed inn. Dornell almost +immediately proceeded on foot to the inn which Reynard had given as his +address, it being now about four o'clock. + +Reynard had already dined--for people dined early then--and he was +staying indoors. He had already received Mrs. Dornell's reply to his +letter; but before acting upon her advice and starting for King's-Hintock +he made up his mind to wait another day, that Betty's father might at +least have time to write to him if so minded. The returned traveller +much desired to obtain the Squire's assent, as well as his wife's, to the +proposed visit to his bride, that nothing might seem harsh or forced in +his method of taking his position as one of the family. But though he +anticipated some sort of objection from his father-in-law, in consequence +of Mrs. Dornell's warning, he was surprised at the announcement of the +Squire in person. + +Stephen Reynard formed the completest of possible contrasts to Dornell as +they stood confronting each other in the best parlour of the Bristol +tavern. The Squire, hot-tempered, gouty, impulsive, generous, reckless; +the younger man, pale, tall, sedate, self-possessed--a man of the world, +fully bearing out at least one couplet in his epitaph, still extant in +King's-Hintock church, which places in the inventory of his good +qualities + + 'Engaging Manners, cultivated Mind, + Adorn'd by Letters, and in Courts refin'd.' + +He was at this time about five-and-thirty, though careful living and an +even, unemotional temperament caused him to look much younger than his +years. + +Squire Dornell plunged into his errand without much ceremony or preface. + +'I am your humble servant, sir,' he said. 'I have read your letter writ +to my wife and myself, and considered that the best way to answer it +would be to do so in person.' + +'I am vastly honoured by your visit, sir,' said Mr. Stephen Reynard, +bowing. + +'Well, what's done can't be undone,' said Dornell, 'though it was mighty +early, and was no doing of mine. She's your wife; and there's an end +on't. But in brief, sir, she's too young for you to claim yet; we +mustn't reckon by years; we must reckon by nature. She's still a girl; +'tis onpolite of 'ee to come yet; next year will be full soon enough for +you to take her to you.' + +Now, courteous as Reynard could be, he was a little obstinate when his +resolution had once been formed. She had been promised him by her +eighteenth birthday at latest--sooner if she were in robust health. Her +mother had fixed the time on her own judgment, without a word of +interference on his part. He had been hanging about foreign courts till +he was weary. Betty was now as woman, if she would ever be one, and +there was not, in his mind, the shadow of an excuse for putting him off +longer. Therefore, fortified as he was by the support of her mother, he +blandly but firmly told the Squire that he had been willing to waive his +rights, out of deference to her parents, to any reasonable extent, but +must now, in justice to himself and her insist on maintaining them. He +therefore, since she had not come to meet him, should proceed to King's- +Hintock in a few days to fetch her. + +This announcement, in spite of the urbanity with which it was delivered, +set Dornell in a passion. + +'Oh dammy, sir; you talk about rights, you do, after stealing her away, a +mere child, against my will and knowledge! If we'd begged and prayed 'ee +to take her, you could say no more.' + +'Upon my honour, your charge is quite baseless, sir,' said his son-in- +law. 'You must know by this time--or if you do not, it has been a +monstrous cruel injustice to me that I should have been allowed to remain +in your mind with such a stain upon my character--you must know that I +used no seductiveness or temptation of any kind. Her mother assented; +she assented. I took them at their word. That you was really opposed to +the marriage was not known to me till afterwards.' + +Dornell professed to believe not a word of it. 'You sha'n't have her +till she's dree sixes full--no maid ought to be married till she's dree +sixes!--and my daughter sha'n't be treated out of nater!' So he stormed +on till Tupcombe, who had been alarmedly listening in the next room, +entered suddenly, declaring to Reynard that his master's life was in +danger if the interview were prolonged, he being subject to apoplectic +strokes at these crises. Reynard immediately said that he would be the +last to wish to injure Squire Dornell, and left the room, and as soon as +the Squire had recovered breath and equanimity, he went out of the inn, +leaning on the arm of Tupcombe. + +Tupcombe was for sleeping in Bristol that night, but Dornell, whose +energy seemed as invincible as it was sudden, insisted upon mounting and +getting back as far as Falls-Park, to continue the journey to +King's-Hintock on the following day. At five they started, and took the +southern road toward the Mendip Hills. The evening was dry and windy, +and, excepting that the sun did not shine, strongly reminded Tupcombe of +the evening of that March month, nearly five years earlier, when news had +been brought to King's-Hintock Court of the child Betty's marriage in +London--news which had produced upon Dornell such a marked effect for the +worse ever since, and indirectly upon the household of which he was the +head. Before that time the winters were lively at Falls-Park, as well as +at King's-Hintock, although the Squire had ceased to make it his regular +residence. Hunting-guests and shooting-guests came and went, and open +house was kept. Tupcombe disliked the clever courtier who had put a stop +to this by taking away from the Squire the only treasure he valued. + +It grew darker with their progress along the lanes, and Tupcombe +discovered from Mr. Dornell's manner of riding that his strength was +giving way; and spurring his own horse close alongside, he asked him how +he felt. + +'Oh, bad; damn bad, Tupcombe! I can hardly keep my seat. I shall never +be any better, I fear! Have we passed Three-Man-Gibbet yet?' + +'Not yet by a long ways, sir.' + +'I wish we had. I can hardly hold on.' The Squire could not repress a +groan now and then, and Tupcombe knew he was in great pain. 'I wish I +was underground--that's the place for such fools as I! I'd gladly be +there if it were not for Mistress Betty. He's coming on to +King's-Hintock to-morrow--he won't put it off any longer; he'll set out +and reach there to-morrow night, without stopping at Falls; and he'll +take her unawares, and I want to be there before him.' + +'I hope you may be well enough to do it, sir. But really--' + +'I _must_, Tupcombe! You don't know what my trouble is; it is not so +much that she is married to this man without my agreeing--for, after all, +there's nothing to say against him, so far as I know; but that she don't +take to him at all, seems to fear him--in fact, cares nothing about him; +and if he comes forcing himself into the house upon her, why, 'twill be +rank cruelty. Would to the Lord something would happen to prevent him!' + +How they reached home that night Tupcombe hardly knew. The Squire was in +such pain that he was obliged to recline upon his horse, and Tupcombe was +afraid every moment lest he would fall into the road. But they did reach +home at last, and Mr. Dornell was instantly assisted to bed. + +* * * * * + +Next morning it was obvious that he could not possibly go to +King's-Hintock for several days at least, and there on the bed he lay, +cursing his inability to proceed on an errand so personal and so delicate +that no emissary could perform it. What he wished to do was to ascertain +from Betty's own lips if her aversion to Reynard was so strong that his +presence would be positively distasteful to her. Were that the case, he +would have borne her away bodily on the saddle behind him. + +But all that was hindered now, and he repeated a hundred times in +Tupcombe's hearing, and in that of the nurse and other servants, 'I wish +to God something would happen to him!' + +This sentiment, reiterated by the Squire as he tossed in the agony +induced by the powerful drugs of the day before, entered sharply into the +soul of Tupcombe and of all who were attached to the house of Dornell, as +distinct from the house of his wife at King's-Hintock. Tupcombe, who was +an excitable man, was hardly less disquieted by the thought of Reynard's +return than the Squire himself was. As the week drew on, and the +afternoon advanced at which Reynard would in all probability be passing +near Falls on his way to the Court, the Squire's feelings became acuter, +and the responsive Tupcombe could hardly bear to come near him. Having +left him in the hands of the doctor, the former went out upon the lawn, +for he could hardly breathe in the contagion of excitement caught from +the employer who had virtually made him his confidant. He had lived with +the Dornells from his boyhood, had been born under the shadow of their +walls; his whole life was annexed and welded to the life of the family in +a degree which has no counterpart in these latter days. + +He was summoned indoors, and learnt that it had been decided to send for +Mrs. Dornell: her husband was in great danger. There were two or three +who could have acted as messenger, but Dornell wished Tupcombe to go, the +reason showing itself when, Tupcombe being ready to start, Squire Dornell +summoned him to his chamber and leaned down so that he could whisper in +his ear: + +'Put Peggy along smart, Tupcombe, and get there before him, you +know--before him. This is the day he fixed. He has not passed Falls +cross-roads yet. If you can do that you will be able to get Betty to +come--d'ye see?--after her mother has started; she'll have a reason for +not waiting for him. Bring her by the lower road--he'll go by the upper. +Your business is to make 'em miss each other--d'ye see?--but that's a +thing I couldn't write down.' + +Five minutes after, Tupcombe was astride the horse and on his way--the +way he had followed so many times since his master, a florid young +countryman, had first gone wooing to King's-Hintock Court. As soon as he +had crossed the hills in the immediate neighbourhood of the manor, the +road lay over a plain, where it ran in long straight stretches for +several miles. In the best of times, when all had been gay in the united +houses, that part of the road had seemed tedious. It was gloomy in the +extreme now that he pursued it, at night and alone, on such an errand. + +He rode and brooded. If the Squire were to die, he, Tupcombe, would be +alone in the world and friendless, for he was no favourite with Mrs. +Dornell; and to find himself baffled, after all, in what he had set his +mind on, would probably kill the Squire. Thinking thus, Tupcombe stopped +his horse every now and then, and listened for the coming husband. The +time was drawing on to the moment when Reynard might be expected to pass +along this very route. He had watched the road well during the +afternoon, and had inquired of the tavern-keepers as he came up to each, +and he was convinced that the premature descent of the stranger-husband +upon his young mistress had not been made by this highway as yet. + +Besides the girl's mother, Tupcombe was the only member of the household +who suspected Betty's tender feelings towards young Phelipson, so +unhappily generated on her return from school; and he could therefore +imagine, even better than her fond father, what would be her emotions on +the sudden announcement of Reynard's advent that evening at +King's-Hintock Court. + +So he rode and rode, desponding and hopeful by turns. He felt assured +that, unless in the unfortunate event of the almost immediate arrival of +her son-in law at his own heels, Mrs. Dornell would not be able to hinder +Betty's departure for her father's bedside. + +It was about nine o'clock that, having put twenty miles of country behind +him, he turned in at the lodge-gate nearest to Ivell and King's-Hintock +village, and pursued the long north drive--itself much like a turnpike +road--which led thence through the park to the Court. Though there were +so many trees in King's-Hintock park, few bordered the carriage roadway; +he could see it stretching ahead in the pale night light like an unrolled +deal shaving. Presently the irregular frontage of the house came in +view, of great extent, but low, except where it rose into the outlines of +a broad square tower. + +As Tupcombe approached he rode aside upon the grass, to make sure, if +possible, that he was the first comer, before letting his presence be +known. The Court was dark and sleepy, in no respect as if a bridegroom +were about to arrive. + +While pausing he distinctly heard the tread of a horse upon the track +behind him, and for a moment despaired of arriving in time: here, surely, +was Reynard! Pulling up closer to the densest tree at hand he waited, +and found he had retreated nothing too soon, for the second rider avoided +the gravel also, and passed quite close to him. In the profile he +recognized young Phelipson. + +Before Tupcombe could think what to do, Phelipson had gone on; but not to +the door of the house. Swerving to the left, he passed round to the east +angle, where, as Tupcombe knew, were situated Betty's apartments. +Dismounting, he left the horse tethered to a hanging bough, and walked on +to the house. + +Suddenly his eye caught sight of an object which explained the position +immediately. It was a ladder stretching from beneath the trees, which +there came pretty close to the house, up to a first-floor window--one +which lighted Miss Betty's rooms. Yes, it was Betty's chamber; he knew +every room in the house well. + +The young horseman who had passed him, having evidently left his steed +somewhere under the trees also, was perceptible at the top of the ladder, +immediately outside Betty's window. While Tupcombe watched, a cloaked +female figure stepped timidly over the sill, and the two cautiously +descended, one before the other, the young man's arms enclosing the young +woman between his grasp of the ladder, so that she could not fall. As +soon as they reached the bottom, young Phelipson quickly removed the +ladder and hid it under the bushes. The pair disappeared; till, in a few +minutes, Tupcombe could discern a horse emerging from a remoter part of +the umbrage. The horse carried double, the girl being on a pillion +behind her lover. + +Tupcombe hardly knew what to do or think; yet, though this was not +exactly the kind of flight that had been intended, she had certainly +escaped. He went back to his own animal, and rode round to the servants' +door, where he delivered the letter for Mrs. Dornell. To leave a verbal +message for Betty was now impossible. + +The Court servants desired him to stay over the night, but he would not +do so, desiring to get back to the Squire as soon as possible and tell +what he had seen. Whether he ought not to have intercepted the young +people, and carried off Betty himself to her father, he did not know. +However, it was too late to think of that now, and without wetting his +lips or swallowing a crumb, Tupcombe turned his back upon King's-Hintock +Court. + +It was not till he had advanced a considerable distance on his way +homeward that, halting under the lantern of a roadside-inn while the +horse was watered, there came a traveller from the opposite direction in +a hired coach; the lantern lit the stranger's face as he passed along and +dropped into the shade. Tupcombe exulted for the moment, though he could +hardly have justified his exultation. The belated traveller was Reynard; +and another had stepped in before him. + +You may now be willing to know of the fortunes of Miss Betty. Left much +to herself through the intervening days, she had ample time to brood over +her desperate attempt at the stratagem of infection--thwarted, +apparently, by her mother's promptitude. In what other way to gain time +she could not think. Thus drew on the day and the hour of the evening on +which her husband was expected to announce himself. + +At some period after dark, when she could not tell, a tap at the window, +twice and thrice repeated, became audible. It caused her to start up, +for the only visitant in her mind was the one whose advances she had so +feared as to risk health and life to repel them. She crept to the +window, and heard a whisper without. + +'It is I--Charley,' said the voice. + +Betty's face fired with excitement. She had latterly begun to doubt her +admirer's staunchness, fancying his love to be going off in mere +attentions which neither committed him nor herself very deeply. She +opened the window, saying in a joyous whisper, 'Oh Charley; I thought you +had deserted me quite!' + +He assured her he had not done that, and that he had a horse in waiting, +if she would ride off with him. 'You must come quickly,' he said; 'for +Reynard's on the way!' + +To throw a cloak round herself was the work of a moment, and assuring +herself that her door was locked against a surprise, she climbed over the +window-sill and descended with him as we have seen. + +Her mother meanwhile, having received Tupcombe's note, found the news of +her husband's illness so serious, as to displace her thoughts of the +coming son-in-law, and she hastened to tell her daughter of the Squire's +dangerous condition, thinking it might be desirable to take her to her +father's bedside. On trying the door of the girl's room, she found it +still locked. Mrs. Dornell called, but there was no answer. Full of +misgivings, she privately fetched the old house-steward and bade him +burst open the door--an order by no means easy to execute, the joinery of +the Court being massively constructed. However, the lock sprang open at +last, and she entered Betty's chamber only to find the window unfastened +and the bird flown. + +For a moment Mrs. Dornell was staggered. Then it occurred to her that +Betty might have privately obtained from Tupcombe the news of her +father's serious illness, and, fearing she might be kept back to meet her +husband, have gone off with that obstinate and biassed servitor to Falls- +Park. The more she thought it over the more probable did the supposition +appear; and binding her own head-man to secrecy as to Betty's movements, +whether as she conjectured, or otherwise, Mrs. Dornell herself prepared +to set out. + +She had no suspicion how seriously her husband's malady had been +aggravated by his ride to Bristol, and thought more of Betty's affairs +than of her own. That Betty's husband should arrive by some other road +to-night, and find neither wife nor mother-in-law to receive him, and no +explanation of their absence, was possible; but never forgetting chances, +Mrs. Dornell as she journeyed kept her eyes fixed upon the highway on the +off-side, where, before she had reached the town of Ivell, the hired +coach containing Stephen Reynard flashed into the lamplight of her own +carriage. + +Mrs. Dornell's coachman pulled up, in obedience to a direction she had +given him at starting; the other coach was hailed, a few words passed, +and Reynard alighted and came to Mrs. Dornell's carriage-window. + +'Come inside,' says she. 'I want to speak privately to you. Why are you +so late?' + +'One hindrance and another,' says he. 'I meant to be at the Court by +eight at latest. My gratitude for your letter. I hope--' + +'You must not try to see Betty yet,' said she. 'There be far other and +newer reasons against your seeing her now than there were when I wrote.' + +The circumstances were such that Mrs. Dornell could not possibly conceal +them entirely; nothing short of knowing some of the facts would prevent +his blindly acting in a manner which might be fatal to the future. +Moreover, there are times when deeper intriguers than Mrs. Dornell feel +that they must let out a few truths, if only in self-indulgence. So she +told so much of recent surprises as that Betty's heart had been attracted +by another image than his, and that his insisting on visiting her now +might drive the girl to desperation. 'Betty has, in fact, rushed off to +her father to avoid you,' she said. 'But if you wait she will soon +forget this young man, and you will have nothing to fear.' + +As a woman and a mother she could go no further, and Betty's desperate +attempt to infect herself the week before as a means of repelling him, +together with the alarming possibility that, after all, she had not gone +to her father but to her lover, was not revealed. + +'Well,' sighed the diplomatist, in a tone unexpectedly quiet, 'such +things have been known before. After all, she may prefer me to him some +day, when she reflects how very differently I might have acted than I am +going to act towards her. But I'll say no more about that now. I can +have a bed at your house for to-night?' + +'To-night, certainly. And you leave to-morrow morning early?' She spoke +anxiously, for on no account did she wish him to make further +discoveries. 'My husband is so seriously ill,' she continued, 'that my +absence and Betty's on your arrival is naturally accounted for.' + +He promised to leave early, and to write to her soon. 'And when I think +the time is ripe,' he said, 'I'll write to her. I may have something to +tell her that will bring her to graciousness.' + +It was about one o'clock in the morning when Mrs. Dornell reached Falls- +Park. A double blow awaited her there. Betty had not arrived; her +flight had been elsewhither; and her stricken mother divined with whom. +She ascended to the bedside of her husband, where to her concern she +found that the physician had given up all hope. The Squire was sinking, +and his extreme weakness had almost changed his character, except in the +particular that his old obstinacy sustained him in a refusal to see a +clergyman. He shed tears at the least word, and sobbed at the sight of +his wife. He asked for Betty, and it was with a heavy heart that Mrs. +Dornell told him that the girl had not accompanied her. + +'He is not keeping her away?' + +'No, no. He is going back--he is not coming to her for some time.' + +'Then what is detaining her--cruel, neglectful maid!' + +'No, no, Thomas; she is-- She could not come.' + +'How's that?' + +Somehow the solemnity of these last moments of his gave him inquisitorial +power, and the too cold wife could not conceal from him the flight which +had taken place from King's-Hintock that night. + +To her amazement, the effect upon him was electrical. + +'What--Betty--a trump after all? Hurrah! She's her father's own maid! +She's game! She knew he was her father's own choice! She vowed that my +man should win! Well done, Bet!--haw! haw! Hurrah!' + +He had raised himself in bed by starts as he spoke, and now fell back +exhausted. He never uttered another word, and died before the dawn. +People said there had not been such an ungenteel death in a good county +family for years. + +* * * * * + +Now I will go back to the time of Betty's riding off on the pillion +behind her lover. They left the park by an obscure gate to the east, and +presently found themselves in the lonely and solitary length of the old +Roman road now called Long-Ash Lane. + +By this time they were rather alarmed at their own performance, for they +were both young and inexperienced. Hence they proceeded almost in +silence till they came to a mean roadside inn which was not yet closed; +when Betty, who had held on to him with much misgiving all this while, +felt dreadfully unwell, and said she thought she would like to get down. + +They accordingly dismounted from the jaded animal that had brought them, +and were shown into a small dark parlour, where they stood side by side +awkwardly, like the fugitives they were. A light was brought, and when +they were left alone Betty threw off the cloak which had enveloped her. +No sooner did young Phelipson see her face than he uttered an alarmed +exclamation. + +'Why, Lord, Lord, you are sickening for the small-pox!' he cried. + +'Oh--I forgot!' faltered Betty. And then she informed him that, on +hearing of her husband's approach the week before, in a desperate attempt +to keep him from her side, she had tried to imbibe the infection--an act +which till this moment she had supposed to have been ineffectual, +imagining her feverishness to be the result of her excitement. + +The effect of this discovery upon young Phelipson was overwhelming. +Better-seasoned men than he would not have been proof against it, and he +was only a little over her own age. 'And you've been holding on to me!' +he said. 'And suppose you get worse, and we both have it, what shall we +do? Won't you be a fright in a month or two, poor, poor Betty!' + +In his horror he attempted to laugh, but the laugh ended in a weakly +giggle. She was more woman than girl by this time, and realized his +feeling. + +'What--in trying to keep off him, I keep off you?' she said miserably. +'Do you hate me because I am going to be ugly and ill?' + +'Oh--no, no!' he said soothingly. 'But I--I am thinking if it is quite +right for us to do this. You see, dear Betty, if you was not married it +would be different. You are not in honour married to him we've often +said; still you are his by law, and you can't be mine whilst he's alive. +And with this terrible sickness coming on, perhaps you had better let me +take you back, and--climb in at the window again.' + +'Is _this_ your love?' said Betty reproachfully. 'Oh, if you was +sickening for the plague itself, and going to be as ugly as the Ooser in +the church-vestry, I wouldn't--' + +'No, no, you mistake, upon my soul!' + +But Betty with a swollen heart had rewrapped herself and gone out of the +door. The horse was still standing there. She mounted by the help of +the upping-stock, and when he had followed her she said, 'Do not come +near me, Charley; but please lead the horse, so that if you've not caught +anything already you'll not catch it going back. After all, what keeps +off you may keep off him. Now onward.' + +He did not resist her command, and back they went by the way they had +come, Betty shedding bitter tears at the retribution she had already +brought upon herself; for though she had reproached Phelipson, she was +staunch enough not to blame him in her secret heart for showing that his +love was only skin-deep. The horse was stopped in the plantation, and +they walked silently to the lawn, reaching the bushes wherein the ladder +still lay. + +'Will you put it up for me?' she asked mournfully. + +He re-erected the ladder without a word; but when she approached to +ascend he said, 'Good-bye, Betty!' + +'Good-bye!' said she; and involuntarily turned her face towards his. He +hung back from imprinting the expected kiss: at which Betty started as if +she had received a poignant wound. She moved away so suddenly that he +hardly had time to follow her up the ladder to prevent her falling. + +'Tell your mother to get the doctor at once!' he said anxiously. + +She stepped in without looking behind; he descended, withdrew the ladder, +and went away. + +Alone in her chamber, Betty flung herself upon her face on the bed, and +burst into shaking sobs. Yet she would not admit to herself that her +lover's conduct was unreasonable; only that her rash act of the previous +week had been wrong. No one had heard her enter, and she was too worn +out, in body and mind, to think or care about medical aid. In an hour or +so she felt yet more unwell, positively ill; and nobody coming to her at +the usual bedtime, she looked towards the door. Marks of the lock having +been forced were visible, and this made her chary of summoning a servant. +She opened the door cautiously and sallied forth downstairs. + +In the dining-parlour, as it was called, the now sick and sorry Betty was +startled to see at that late hour not her mother, but a man sitting, +calmly finishing his supper. There was no servant in the room. He +turned, and she recognized her husband. + +'Where's my mamma?' she demanded without preface. + +'Gone to your father's. Is that--' He stopped, aghast. + +'Yes, sir. This spotted object is your wife! I've done it because I +don't want you to come near me!' + +He was sixteen years her senior; old enough to be compassionate. 'My +poor child, you must get to bed directly! Don't be afraid of me--I'll +carry you upstairs, and send for a doctor instantly.' + +'Ah, you don't know what I am!' she cried. 'I had a lover once; but now +he's gone! 'Twasn't I who deserted him. He has deserted me; because I +am ill he wouldn't kiss me, though I wanted him to!' + +'Wouldn't he? Then he was a very poor slack-twisted sort of fellow. +Betty, _I've_ never kissed you since you stood beside me as my little +wife, twelve years and a half old! May I kiss you now?' + +Though Betty by no means desired his kisses, she had enough of the spirit +of Cunigonde in Schiller's ballad to test his daring. 'If you have +courage to venture, yes sir!' said she. 'But you may die for it, mind!' + +He came up to her and imprinted a deliberate kiss full upon her mouth, +saying, 'May many others follow!' + +She shook her head, and hastily withdrew, though secretly pleased at his +hardihood. The excitement had supported her for the few minutes she had +passed in his presence, and she could hardly drag herself back to her +room. Her husband summoned the servants, and, sending them to her +assistance, went off himself for a doctor. + +The next morning Reynard waited at the Court till he had learnt from the +medical man that Betty's attack promised to be a very light one--or, as +it was expressed, 'very fine'; and in taking his leave sent up a note to +her: + +'Now I must be Gone. I promised your Mother I would not see You yet, and +she may be anger'd if she finds me here. Promise to see me as Soon as +you are well?' + +He was of all men then living one of the best able to cope with such an +untimely situation as this. A contriving, sagacious, gentle-mannered +man, a philosopher who saw that the only constant attribute of life is +change, he held that, as long as she lives, there is nothing finite in +the most impassioned attitude a woman may take up. In twelve months his +girl-wife's recent infatuation might be as distasteful to her mind as it +was now to his own. In a few years her very flesh would change--so said +the scientific;--her spirit, so much more ephemeral, was capable of +changing in one. Betty was his, and it became a mere question of means +how to effect that change. + +During the day Mrs. Dornell, having closed her husband's eyes, returned +to the Court. She was truly relieved to find Betty there, even though on +a bed of sickness. The disease ran its course, and in due time Betty +became convalescent, without having suffered deeply for her rashness, one +little speck beneath her ear, and one beneath her chin, being all the +marks she retained. + +The Squire's body was not brought back to King's-Hintock. Where he was +born, and where he had lived before wedding his Sue, there he had wished +to be buried. No sooner had she lost him than Mrs. Dornell, like certain +other wives, though she had never shown any great affection for him while +he lived, awoke suddenly to his many virtues, and zealously embraced his +opinion about delaying Betty's union with her husband, which she had +formerly combated strenuously. 'Poor man! how right he was, and how +wrong was I!' Eighteen was certainly the lowest age at which Mr. Reynard +should claim her child--nay, it was too low! Far too low! + +So desirous was she of honouring her lamented husband's sentiments in +this respect, that she wrote to her son-in-law suggesting that, partly on +account of Betty's sorrow for her father's loss, and out of consideration +for his known wishes for delay, Betty should not be taken from her till +her nineteenth birthday. + +However much or little Stephen Reynard might have been to blame in his +marriage, the patient man now almost deserved to be pitied. First +Betty's skittishness; now her mother's remorseful _volte-face_: it was +enough to exasperate anybody; and he wrote to the widow in a tone which +led to a little coolness between those hitherto firm friends. However, +knowing that he had a wife not to claim but to win, and that young +Phelipson had been packed off to sea by his parents, Stephen was +complaisant to a degree, returning to London, and holding quite aloof +from Betty and her mother, who remained for the present in the country. +In town he had a mild visitation of the distemper he had taken from +Betty, and in writing to her he took care not to dwell upon its mildness. +It was now that Betty began to pity him for what she had inflicted upon +him by the kiss, and her correspondence acquired a distinct flavour of +kindness thenceforward. + +Owing to his rebuffs, Reynard had grown to be truly in love with Betty in +his mild, placid, durable way--in that way which perhaps, upon the whole, +tends most generally to the woman's comfort under the institution of +marriage, if not particularly to her ecstasy. Mrs. Dornell's +exaggeration of her husband's wish for delay in their living together was +inconvenient, but he would not openly infringe it. He wrote tenderly to +Betty, and soon announced that he had a little surprise in store for her. +The secret was that the King had been graciously pleased to inform him +privately, through a relation, that His Majesty was about to offer him a +Barony. Would she like the title to be Ivell? Moreover, he had reason +for knowing that in a few years the dignity would be raised to that of an +Earl, for which creation he thought the title of Wessex would be +eminently suitable, considering the position of much of their property. +As Lady Ivell, therefore, and future Countess of Wessex, he should beg +leave to offer her his heart a third time. + +He did not add, as he might have added, how greatly the consideration of +the enormous estates at King's-Hintock and elsewhere which Betty would +inherit, and her children after her, had conduced to this desirable +honour. + +Whether the impending titles had really any effect upon Betty's regard +for him I cannot state, for she was one of those close characters who +never let their minds be known upon anything. That such honour was +absolutely unexpected by her from such a quarter is, however, certain; +and she could not deny that Stephen had shown her kindness, forbearance, +even magnanimity; had forgiven her for an errant passion which he might +with some reason have denounced, notwithstanding her cruel position as a +child entrapped into marriage ere able to understand its bearings. + +Her mother, in her grief and remorse for the loveless life she had led +with her rough, though open-hearted, husband, made now a creed of his +merest whim; and continued to insist that, out of respect to his known +desire, her son-in-law should not reside with Betty till the girl's +father had been dead a year at least, at which time the girl would still +be under nineteen. Letters must suffice for Stephen till then. + +'It is rather long for him to wait,' Betty hesitatingly said one day. + +'What!' said her mother. 'From _you_? not to respect your dear father--' + +'Of course it is quite proper,' said Betty hastily. 'I don't gainsay it. +I was but thinking that--that--' + +In the long slow months of the stipulated interval her mother tended and +trained Betty carefully for her duties. Fully awake now to the many +virtues of her dear departed one, she, among other acts of pious devotion +to his memory, rebuilt the church of King's-Hintock village, and +established valuable charities in all the villages of that name, as far +as to Little-Hintock, several miles eastward. + +In superintending these works, particularly that of the church-building, +her daughter Betty was her constant companion, and the incidents of their +execution were doubtless not without a soothing effect upon the young +creature's heart. She had sprung from girl to woman by a sudden bound, +and few would have recognized in the thoughtful face of Betty now the +same person who, the year before, had seemed to have absolutely no idea +whatever of responsibility, moral or other. Time passed thus till the +Squire had been nearly a year in his vault; and Mrs. Dornell was duly +asked by letter by the patient Reynard if she were willing for him to +come soon. He did not wish to take Betty away if her mother's sense of +loneliness would be too great, but would willingly live at King's-Hintock +awhile with them. + +Before the widow had replied to this communication, she one day happened +to observe Betty walking on the south terrace in the full sunlight, +without hat or mantle, and was struck by her child's figure. Mrs. +Dornell called her in, and said suddenly: 'Have you seen your husband +since the time of your poor father's death?' + +'Well--yes, mamma,' says Betty, colouring. + +'What--against my wishes and those of your dear father! I am shocked at +your disobedience!' + +'But my father said eighteen, ma'am, and you made it much longer--' + +'Why, of course--out of consideration for you! When have ye seen him?' + +'Well,' stammered Betty, 'in the course of his letters to me he said that +I belonged to him, and if nobody knew that we met it would make no +difference. And that I need not hurt your feelings by telling you.' + +'Well?' + +'So I went to Casterbridge that time you went to London about five months +ago--' + +'And met him there? When did you come back?' + +'Dear mamma, it grew very late, and he said it was safer not to go back +till next day, as the roads were bad; and as you were away from home--' + +'I don't want to hear any more! This is your respect for your father's +memory,' groaned the widow. 'When did you meet him again?' + +'Oh--not for more than a fortnight.' + +'A fortnight! How many times have ye seen him altogether?' + +'I'm sure, mamma, I've not seen him altogether a dozen times.' + +'A dozen! And eighteen and a half years old barely!' + +'Twice we met by accident,' pleaded Betty. 'Once at Abbot's-Cernel, and +another time at the Red Lion, Melchester.' + +'O thou deceitful girl!' cried Mrs. Dornell. 'An accident took you to +the Red Lion whilst I was staying at the White Hart! I remember--you +came in at twelve o'clock at night and said you'd been to see the +cathedral by the light o' the moon!' + +'My ever-honoured mamma, so I had! I only went to the Red Lion with him +afterwards.' + +'Oh Betty, Betty! That my child should have deceived me even in my +widowed days!' + +'But, my dearest mamma, you made me marry him!' says Betty with spirit, +'and of course I've to obey him more than you now!' + +Mrs. Dornell sighed. 'All I have to say is, that you'd better get your +husband to join you as soon as possible,' she remarked. 'To go on +playing the maiden like this--I'm ashamed to see you!' + +She wrote instantly to Stephen Reynard: 'I wash my hands of the whole +matter as between you two; though I should advise you to _openly_ join +each other as soon as you can--if you wish to avoid scandal.' + +He came, though not till the promised title had been granted, and he +could call Betty archly 'My Lady.' + +People said in after years that she and her husband were very happy. +However that may be, they had a numerous family; and she became in due +course first Countess of Wessex, as he had foretold. + +The little white frock in which she had been married to him at the tender +age of twelve was carefully preserved among the relics at King's-Hintock +Court, where it may still be seen by the curious--a yellowing, pathetic +testimony to the small count taken of the happiness of an innocent child +in the social strategy of those days, which might have led, but +providentially did not lead, to great unhappiness. + +When the Earl died Betty wrote him an epitaph, in which she described him +as the best of husbands, fathers, and friends, and called herself his +disconsolate widow. + +Such is woman; or rather (not to give offence by so sweeping an +assertion), such was Betty Dornell. + +* * * * * + +It was at a meeting of one of the Wessex Field and Antiquarian Clubs that +the foregoing story, partly told, partly read from a manuscript, was made +to do duty for the regulation papers on deformed butterflies, fossil ox- +horns, prehistoric dung-mixens, and such like, that usually occupied the +more serious attention of the members. + +This Club was of an inclusive and intersocial character; to a degree, +indeed, remarkable for the part of England in which it had its +being--dear, delightful Wessex, whose statuesque dynasties are even now +only just beginning to feel the shaking of the new and strange spirit +without, like that which entered the lonely valley of Ezekiel's vision +and made the dry bones move: where the honest squires, tradesmen, +parsons, clerks, and people still praise the Lord with one voice for His +best of all possible worlds. + +The present meeting, which was to extend over two days, had opened its +proceedings at the museum of the town whose buildings and environs were +to be visited by the members. Lunch had ended, and the afternoon +excursion had been about to be undertaken, when the rain came down in an +obstinate spatter, which revealed no sign of cessation. As the members +waited they grew chilly, although it was only autumn, and a fire was +lighted, which threw a cheerful shine upon the varnished skulls, urns, +penates, tesserae, costumes, coats of mail, weapons, and missals, +animated the fossilized ichthyosaurus and iguanodon; while the dead eyes +of the stuffed birds--those never-absent familiars in such collections, +though murdered to extinction out of doors--flashed as they had flashed +to the rising sun above the neighbouring moors on the fatal morning when +the trigger was pulled which ended their little flight. It was then that +the historian produced his manuscript, which he had prepared, he said, +with a view to publication. His delivery of the story having concluded +as aforesaid, the speaker expressed his hope that the constraint of the +weather, and the paucity of more scientific papers, would excuse any +inappropriateness in his subject. + +Several members observed that a storm-bound club could not presume to be +selective, and they were all very much obliged to him for such a curious +chapter from the domestic histories of the county. + +The President looked gloomily from the window at the descending rain, and +broke a short silence by saying that though the Club had met, there +seemed little probability of its being able to visit the objects of +interest set down among the _agenda_. + +The Treasurer observed that they had at least a roof over their heads; +and they had also a second day before them. + +A sentimental member, leaning back in his chair, declared that he was in +no hurry to go out, and that nothing would please him so much as another +county story, with or without manuscript. + +The Colonel added that the subject should be a lady, like the former, to +which a gentleman known as the Spark said 'Hear, hear!' + +Though these had spoken in jest, a rural dean who was present observed +blandly that there was no lack of materials. Many, indeed, were the +legends and traditions of gentle and noble dames, renowned in times past +in that part of England, whose actions and passions were now, but for +men's memories, buried under the brief inscription on a tomb or an entry +of dates in a dry pedigree. + +Another member, an old surgeon, a somewhat grim though sociable +personage, was quite of the speaker's opinion, and felt quite sure that +the memory of the reverend gentleman must abound with such curious tales +of fair dames, of their loves and hates, their joys and their +misfortunes, their beauty and their fate. + +The parson, a trifle confused, retorted that their friend the surgeon, +the son of a surgeon, seemed to him, as a man who had seen much and heard +more during the long course of his own and his father's practice, the +member of all others most likely to be acquainted with such lore. + +The bookworm, the Colonel, the historian, the Vice-president, the +churchwarden, the two curates, the gentleman-tradesman, the sentimental +member, the crimson maltster, the quiet gentleman, the man of family, the +Spark, and several others, quite agreed, and begged that he would recall +something of the kind. The old surgeon said that, though a meeting of +the Mid-Wessex Field and Antiquarian Club was the last place at which he +should have expected to be called upon in this way, he had no objection; +and the parson said he would come next. The surgeon then reflected, and +decided to relate the history of a lady named Barbara, who lived towards +the end of the last century, apologizing for his tale as being perhaps a +little too professional. The crimson maltster winked to the Spark at +hearing the nature of the apology, and the surgeon began. + + + + +DAME THE SECOND--BARBARA OF THE HOUSE OF GREBE +By the Old Surgeon + + +It was apparently an idea, rather than a passion, that inspired Lord +Uplandtowers' resolve to win her. Nobody ever knew when he formed it, or +whence he got his assurance of success in the face of her manifest +dislike of him. Possibly not until after that first important act of her +life which I shall presently mention. His matured and cynical doggedness +at the age of nineteen, when impulse mostly rules calculation, was +remarkable, and might have owed its existence as much to his succession +to the earldom and its accompanying local honours in childhood, as to the +family character; an elevation which jerked him into maturity, so to +speak, without his having known adolescence. He had only reached his +twelfth year when his father, the fourth Earl, died, after a course of +the Bath waters. + +Nevertheless, the family character had a great deal to do with it. +Determination was hereditary in the bearers of that escutcheon; sometimes +for good, sometimes for evil. + +The seats of the two families were about ten miles apart, the way between +them lying along the now old, then new, turnpike-road connecting +Havenpool and Warborne with the city of Melchester: a road which, though +only a branch from what was known as the Great Western Highway, is +probably, even at present, as it has been for the last hundred years, one +of the finest examples of a macadamized turnpike-track that can be found +in England. + +The mansion of the Earl, as well as that of his neighbour, Barbara's +father, stood back about a mile from the highway, with which each was +connected by an ordinary drive and lodge. It was along this particular +highway that the young Earl drove on a certain evening at Christmastide +some twenty years before the end of the last century, to attend a ball at +Chene Manor, the home of Barbara, and her parents Sir John and Lady +Grebe. Sir John's was a baronetcy created a few years before the +breaking out of the Civil War, and his lands were even more extensive +than those of Lord Uplandtowers himself; comprising this Manor of Chene, +another on the coast near, half the Hundred of Cockdene, and +well-enclosed lands in several other parishes, notably Warborne and those +contiguous. At this time Barbara was barely seventeen, and the ball is +the first occasion on which we have any tradition of Lord Uplandtowers +attempting tender relations with her; it was early enough, God knows. + +An intimate friend--one of the Drenkhards--is said to have dined with him +that day, and Lord Uplandtowers had, for a wonder, communicated to his +guest the secret design of his heart. + +'You'll never get her--sure; you'll never get her!' this friend had said +at parting. 'She's not drawn to your lordship by love: and as for +thought of a good match, why, there's no more calculation in her than in +a bird.' + +'We'll see,' said Lord Uplandtowers impassively. + +He no doubt thought of his friend's forecast as he travelled along the +highway in his chariot; but the sculptural repose of his profile against +the vanishing daylight on his right hand would have shown his friend that +the Earl's equanimity was undisturbed. He reached the solitary wayside +tavern called Lornton Inn--the rendezvous of many a daring poacher for +operations in the adjoining forest; and he might have observed, if he had +taken the trouble, a strange post-chaise standing in the halting-space +before the inn. He duly sped past it, and half-an-hour after through the +little town of Warborne. Onward, a mile farther, was the house of his +entertainer. + +At this date it was an imposing edifice--or, rather, congeries of +edifices--as extensive as the residence of the Earl himself; though far +less regular. One wing showed extreme antiquity, having huge chimneys, +whose substructures projected from the external walls like towers; and a +kitchen of vast dimensions, in which (it was said) breakfasts had been +cooked for John of Gaunt. Whilst he was yet in the forecourt he could +hear the rhythm of French horns and clarionets, the favourite instruments +of those days at such entertainments. + +Entering the long parlour, in which the dance had just been opened by +Lady Grebe with a minuet--it being now seven o'clock, according to the +tradition--he was received with a welcome befitting his rank, and looked +round for Barbara. She was not dancing, and seemed to be +preoccupied--almost, indeed, as though she had been waiting for him. +Barbara at this time was a good and pretty girl, who never spoke ill of +any one, and hated other pretty women the very least possible. She did +not refuse him for the country-dance which followed, and soon after was +his partner in a second. + +The evening wore on, and the horns and clarionets tootled merrily. +Barbara evinced towards her lover neither distinct preference nor +aversion; but old eyes would have seen that she pondered something. +However, after supper she pleaded a headache, and disappeared. To pass +the time of her absence, Lord Uplandtowers went into a little room +adjoining the long gallery, where some elderly ones were sitting by the +fire--for he had a phlegmatic dislike of dancing for its own sake,--and, +lifting the window-curtains, he looked out of the window into the park +and wood, dark now as a cavern. Some of the guests appeared to be +leaving even so soon as this, two lights showing themselves as turning +away from the door and sinking to nothing in the distance. + +His hostess put her head into the room to look for partners for the +ladies, and Lord Uplandtowers came out. Lady Grebe informed him that +Barbara had not returned to the ball-room: she had gone to bed in sheer +necessity. + +'She has been so excited over the ball all day,' her mother continued, +'that I feared she would be worn out early . . . But sure, Lord +Uplandtowers, you won't be leaving yet?' + +He said that it was near twelve o'clock, and that some had already left. + +'I protest nobody has gone yet,' said Lady Grebe. + +To humour her he stayed till midnight, and then set out. He had made no +progress in his suit; but he had assured himself that Barbara gave no +other guest the preference, and nearly everybody in the neighbourhood was +there. + +''Tis only a matter of time,' said the calm young philosopher. + +The next morning he lay till near ten o'clock, and he had only just come +out upon the head of the staircase when he heard hoofs upon the gravel +without; in a few moments the door had been opened, and Sir John Grebe +met him in the hall, as he set foot on the lowest stair. + +'My lord--where's Barbara--my daughter?' + +Even the Earl of Uplandtowers could not repress amazement. 'What's the +matter, my dear Sir John,' says he. + +The news was startling, indeed. From the Baronet's disjointed +explanation Lord Uplandtowers gathered that after his own and the other +guests' departure Sir John and Lady Grebe had gone to rest without seeing +any more of Barbara; it being understood by them that she had retired to +bed when she sent word to say that she could not join the dancers again. +Before then she had told her maid that she would dispense with her +services for this night; and there was evidence to show that the young +lady had never lain down at all, the bed remaining unpressed. +Circumstances seemed to prove that the deceitful girl had feigned +indisposition to get an excuse for leaving the ball-room, and that she +had left the house within ten minutes, presumably during the first dance +after supper. + +'I saw her go,' said Lord Uplandtowers. + +'The devil you did!' says Sir John. + +'Yes.' And he mentioned the retreating carriage-lights, and how he was +assured by Lady Grebe that no guest had departed. + +'Surely that was it!' said the father. 'But she's not gone alone, d'ye +know!' + +'Ah--who is the young man?' + +'I can on'y guess. My worst fear is my most likely guess. I'll say no +more. I thought--yet I would not believe--it possible that you was the +sinner. Would that you had been! But 'tis t'other, 'tis t'other, by G---! +I must e'en up, and after 'em!' + +'Whom do you suspect?' + +Sir John would not give a name, and, stultified rather than agitated, +Lord Uplandtowers accompanied him back to Chene. He again asked upon +whom were the Baronet's suspicions directed; and the impulsive Sir John +was no match for the insistence of Uplandtowers. + +He said at length, 'I fear 'tis Edmond Willowes.' + +'Who's he?' + +'A young fellow of Shottsford-Forum--a widow-woman's son,' the other told +him, and explained that Willowes's father, or grandfather, was the last +of the old glass-painters in that place, where (as you may know) the art +lingered on when it had died out in every other part of England. + +'By G--- that's bad--mighty bad!' said Lord Uplandtowers, throwing +himself back in the chaise in frigid despair. + +They despatched emissaries in all directions; one by the Melchester Road, +another by Shottsford-Forum, another coastwards. + +But the lovers had a ten-hours' start; and it was apparent that sound +judgment had been exercised in choosing as their time of flight the +particular night when the movements of a strange carriage would not be +noticed, either in the park or on the neighbouring highway, owing to the +general press of vehicles. The chaise which had been seen waiting at +Lornton Inn was, no doubt, the one they had escaped in; and the pair of +heads which had planned so cleverly thus far had probably contrived +marriage ere now. + +The fears of her parents were realized. A letter sent by special +messenger from Barbara, on the evening of that day, briefly informed them +that her lover and herself were on the way to London, and before this +communication reached her home they would be united as husband and wife. +She had taken this extreme step because she loved her dear Edmond as she +could love no other man, and because she had seen closing round her the +doom of marriage with Lord Uplandtowers, unless she put that threatened +fate out of possibility by doing as she had done. She had well +considered the step beforehand, and was prepared to live like any other +country-townsman's wife if her father repudiated her for her action. + +'D--- her!' said Lord Uplandtowers, as he drove homeward that night. 'D--- +her for a fool!'--which shows the kind of love he bore her. + +Well; Sir John had already started in pursuit of them as a matter of +duty, driving like a wild man to Melchester, and thence by the direct +highway to the capital. But he soon saw that he was acting to no +purpose; and by and by, discovering that the marriage had actually taken +place, he forebore all attempts to unearth them in the City, and returned +and sat down with his lady to digest the event as best they could. + +To proceed against this Willowes for the abduction of our heiress was, +possibly, in their power; yet, when they considered the now unalterable +facts, they refrained from violent retribution. Some six weeks passed, +during which time Barbara's parents, though they keenly felt her loss, +held no communication with the truant, either for reproach or +condonation. They continued to think of the disgrace she had brought +upon herself; for, though the young man was an honest fellow, and the son +of an honest father, the latter had died so early, and his widow had had +such struggles to maintain herself; that the son was very imperfectly +educated. Moreover, his blood was, as far as they knew, of no +distinction whatever, whilst hers, through her mother, was compounded of +the best juices of ancient baronial distillation, containing tinctures of +Maundeville, and Mohun, and Syward, and Peverell, and Culliford, and +Talbot, and Plantagenet, and York, and Lancaster, and God knows what +besides, which it was a thousand pities to throw away. + +The father and mother sat by the fireplace that was spanned by the four- +centred arch bearing the family shields on its haunches, and groaned +aloud--the lady more than Sir John. + +'To think this should have come upon us in our old age!' said he. + +'Speak for yourself!' she snapped through her sobs. 'I am only one-and- +forty! . . . Why didn't ye ride faster and overtake 'em!' + +In the meantime the young married lovers, caring no more about their +blood than about ditch-water, were intensely happy--happy, that is, in +the descending scale which, as we all know, Heaven in its wisdom has +ordained for such rash cases; that is to say, the first week they were in +the seventh heaven, the second in the sixth, the third week temperate, +the fourth reflective, and so on; a lover's heart after possession being +comparable to the earth in its geologic stages, as described to us +sometimes by our worthy President; first a hot coal, then a warm one, +then a cooling cinder, then chilly--the simile shall be pursued no +further. The long and the short of it was that one day a letter, sealed +with their daughter's own little seal, came into Sir John and Lady +Grebe's hands; and, on opening it, they found it to contain an appeal +from the young couple to Sir John to forgive them for what they had done, +and they would fall on their naked knees and be most dutiful children for +evermore. + +Then Sir John and his lady sat down again by the fireplace with the four- +centred arch, and consulted, and re-read the letter. Sir John Grebe, if +the truth must be told, loved his daughter's happiness far more, poor +man, than he loved his name and lineage; he recalled to his mind all her +little ways, gave vent to a sigh; and, by this time acclimatized to the +idea of the marriage, said that what was done could not be undone, and +that he supposed they must not be too harsh with her. Perhaps Barbara +and her husband were in actual need; and how could they let their only +child starve? + +A slight consolation had come to them in an unexpected manner. They had +been credibly informed that an ancestor of plebeian Willowes was once +honoured with intermarriage with a scion of the aristocracy who had gone +to the dogs. In short, such is the foolishness of distinguished parents, +and sometimes of others also, that they wrote that very day to the +address Barbara had given them, informing her that she might return home +and bring her husband with her; they would not object to see him, would +not reproach her, and would endeavour to welcome both, and to discuss +with them what could best be arranged for their future. + +In three or four days a rather shabby post-chaise drew up at the door of +Chene Manor-house, at sound of which the tender-hearted baronet and his +wife ran out as if to welcome a prince and princess of the blood. They +were overjoyed to see their spoilt child return safe and sound--though +she was only Mrs. Willowes, wife of Edmond Willowes of nowhere. Barbara +burst into penitential tears, and both husband and wife were contrite +enough, as well they might be, considering that they had not a guinea to +call their own. + +When the four had calmed themselves, and not a word of chiding had been +uttered to the pair, they discussed the position soberly, young Willowes +sitting in the background with great modesty till invited forward by Lady +Grebe in no frigid tone. + +'How handsome he is!' she said to herself. 'I don't wonder at Barbara's +craze for him.' + +He was, indeed, one of the handsomest men who ever set his lips on a +maid's. A blue coat, murrey waistcoat, and breeches of drab set off a +figure that could scarcely be surpassed. He had large dark eyes, anxious +now, as they glanced from Barbara to her parents and tenderly back again +to her; observing whom, even now in her trepidation, one could see why +the _sang froid_ of Lord Uplandtowers had been raised to more than +lukewarmness. Her fair young face (according to the tale handed down by +old women) looked out from under a gray conical hat, trimmed with white +ostrich-feathers, and her little toes peeped from a buff petticoat worn +under a puce gown. Her features were not regular: they were almost +infantine, as you may see from miniatures in possession of the family, +her mouth showing much sensitiveness, and one could be sure that her +faults would not lie on the side of bad temper unless for urgent reasons. + +Well, they discussed their state as became them, and the desire of the +young couple to gain the goodwill of those upon whom they were literally +dependent for everything induced them to agree to any temporizing measure +that was not too irksome. Therefore, having been nearly two months +united, they did not oppose Sir John's proposal that he should furnish +Edmond Willowes with funds sufficient for him to travel a year on the +Continent in the company of a tutor, the young man undertaking to lend +himself with the utmost diligence to the tutor's instructions, till he +became polished outwardly and inwardly to the degree required in the +husband of such a lady as Barbara. He was to apply himself to the study +of languages, manners, history, society, ruins, and everything else that +came under his eyes, till he should return to take his place without +blushing by Barbara's side. + +'And by that time,' said worthy Sir John, 'I'll get my little place out +at Yewsholt ready for you and Barbara to occupy on your return. The +house is small and out of the way; but it will do for a young couple for +a while.' + +'If 'twere no bigger than a summer-house it would do!' says Barbara. + +'If 'twere no bigger than a sedan-chair!' says Willowes. 'And the more +lonely the better.' + +'We can put up with the loneliness,' said Barbara, with less zest. 'Some +friends will come, no doubt.' + +All this being laid down, a travelled tutor was called in--a man of many +gifts and great experience,--and on a fine morning away tutor and pupil +went. A great reason urged against Barbara accompanying her youthful +husband was that his attentions to her would naturally be such as to +prevent his zealously applying every hour of his time to learning and +seeing--an argument of wise prescience, and unanswerable. Regular days +for letter-writing were fixed, Barbara and her Edmond exchanged their +last kisses at the door, and the chaise swept under the archway into the +drive. + +He wrote to her from Le Havre, as soon as he reached that port, which was +not for seven days, on account of adverse winds; he wrote from Rouen, and +from Paris; described to her his sight of the King and Court at +Versailles, and the wonderful marble-work and mirrors in that palace; +wrote next from Lyons; then, after a comparatively long interval, from +Turin, narrating his fearful adventures in crossing Mont Cenis on mules, +and how he was overtaken with a terrific snowstorm, which had well-nigh +been the end of him, and his tutor, and his guides. Then he wrote +glowingly of Italy; and Barbara could see the development of her +husband's mind reflected in his letters month by month; and she much +admired the forethought of her father in suggesting this education for +Edmond. Yet she sighed sometimes--her husband being no longer in +evidence to fortify her in her choice of him--and timidly dreaded what +mortifications might be in store for her by reason of this _mesalliance_. +She went out very little; for on the one or two occasions on which she +had shown herself to former friends she noticed a distinct difference in +their manner, as though they should say, 'Ah, my happy swain's wife; +you're caught!' + +Edmond's letters were as affectionate as ever; even more affectionate, +after a while, than hers were to him. Barbara observed this growing +coolness in herself; and like a good and honest lady was horrified and +grieved, since her only wish was to act faithfully and uprightly. It +troubled her so much that she prayed for a warmer heart, and at last +wrote to her husband to beg him, now that he was in the land of Art, to +send her his portrait, ever so small, that she might look at it all day +and every day, and never for a moment forget his features. + +Willowes was nothing loth, and replied that he would do more than she +wished: he had made friends with a sculptor in Pisa, who was much +interested in him and his history; and he had commissioned this artist to +make a bust of himself in marble, which when finished he would send her. +What Barbara had wanted was something immediate; but she expressed no +objection to the delay; and in his next communication Edmund told her +that the sculptor, of his own choice, had decided to increase the bust to +a full-length statue, so anxious was he to get a specimen of his skill +introduced to the notice of the English aristocracy. It was progressing +well, and rapidly. + +Meanwhile, Barbara's attention began to be occupied at home with Yewsholt +Lodge, the house that her kind-hearted father was preparing for her +residence when her husband returned. It was a small place on the plan of +a large one--a cottage built in the form of a mansion, having a central +hall with a wooden gallery running round it, and rooms no bigger than +closets to follow this introduction. It stood on a slope so solitary, +and surrounded by trees so dense, that the birds who inhabited the boughs +sang at strange hours, as if they hardly could distinguish night from +day. + +During the progress of repairs at this bower Barbara frequently visited +it. Though so secluded by the dense growth, it was near the high road, +and one day while looking over the fence she saw Lord Uplandtowers riding +past. He saluted her courteously, yet with mechanical stiffness, and did +not halt. Barbara went home, and continued to pray that she might never +cease to love her husband. After that she sickened, and did not come out +of doors again for a long time. + +The year of education had extended to fourteen months, and the house was +in order for Edmond's return to take up his abode there with Barbara, +when, instead of the accustomed letter for her, came one to Sir John +Grebe in the handwriting of the said tutor, informing him of a terrible +catastrophe that had occurred to them at Venice. Mr Willowes and himself +had attended the theatre one night during the Carnival of the preceding +week, to witness the Italian comedy, when, owing to the carelessness of +one of the candle-snuffers, the theatre had caught fire, and been burnt +to the ground. Few persons had lost their lives, owing to the superhuman +exertions of some of the audience in getting out the senseless sufferers; +and, among them all, he who had risked his own life the most heroically +was Mr. Willowes. In re-entering for the fifth time to save his fellow- +creatures some fiery beams had fallen upon him, and he had been given up +for lost. He was, however, by the blessing of Providence, recovered, +with the life still in him, though he was fearfully burnt; and by almost +a miracle he seemed likely to survive, his constitution being wondrously +sound. He was, of course, unable to write, but he was receiving the +attention of several skilful surgeons. Further report would be made by +the next mail or by private hand. + +The tutor said nothing in detail of poor Willowes's sufferings, but as +soon as the news was broken to Barbara she realized how intense they must +have been, and her immediate instinct was to rush to his side, though, on +consideration, the journey seemed impossible to her. Her health was by +no means what it had been, and to post across Europe at that season of +the year, or to traverse the Bay of Biscay in a sailing-craft, was an +undertaking that would hardly be justified by the result. But she was +anxious to go till, on reading to the end of the letter, her husband's +tutor was found to hint very strongly against such a step if it should be +contemplated, this being also the opinion of the surgeons. And though +Willowes's comrade refrained from giving his reasons, they disclosed +themselves plainly enough in the sequel. + +The truth was that the worst of the wounds resulting from the fire had +occurred to his head and face--that handsome face which had won her heart +from her,--and both the tutor and the surgeons knew that for a sensitive +young woman to see him before his wounds had healed would cause more +misery to her by the shock than happiness to him by her ministrations. + +Lady Grebe blurted out what Sir John and Barbara had thought, but had had +too much delicacy to express. + +'Sure, 'tis mighty hard for you, poor Barbara, that the one little gift +he had to justify your rash choice of him--his wonderful good +looks--should be taken away like this, to leave 'ee no excuse at all for +your conduct in the world's eyes . . . Well, I wish you'd married +t'other--that do I!' And the lady sighed. + +'He'll soon get right again,' said her father soothingly. + +Such remarks as the above were not often made; but they were frequent +enough to cause Barbara an uneasy sense of self-stultification. She +determined to hear them no longer; and the house at Yewsholt being ready +and furnished, she withdrew thither with her maids, where for the first +time she could feel mistress of a home that would be hers and her +husband's exclusively, when he came. + +After long weeks Willowes had recovered sufficiently to be able to write +himself; and slowly and tenderly he enlightened her upon the full extent +of his injuries. It was a mercy, he said, that he had not lost his sight +entirely; but he was thankful to say that he still retained full vision +in one eye, though the other was dark for ever. The sparing manner in +which he meted out particulars of his condition told Barbara how +appalling had been his experience. He was grateful for her assurance +that nothing could change her; but feared she did not fully realize that +he was so sadly disfigured as to make it doubtful if she would recognize +him. However, in spite of all, his heart was as true to her as it ever +had been. + +Barbara saw from his anxiety how much lay behind. She replied that she +submitted to the decrees of Fate, and would welcome him in any shape as +soon as he could come. She told him of the pretty retreat in which she +had taken up her abode, pending their joint occupation of it, and did not +reveal how much she had sighed over the information that all his good +looks were gone. Still less did she say that she felt a certain +strangeness in awaiting him, the weeks they had lived together having +been so short by comparison with the length of his absence. + +Slowly drew on the time when Willowes found himself well enough to come +home. He landed at Southampton, and posted thence towards Yewsholt. +Barbara arranged to go out to meet him as far as Lornton Inn--the spot +between the Forest and the Chase at which he had waited for night on the +evening of their elopement. Thither she drove at the appointed hour in a +little pony-chaise, presented her by her father on her birthday for her +especial use in her new house; which vehicle she sent back on arriving at +the inn, the plan agreed upon being that she should perform the return +journey with her husband in his hired coach. + +There was not much accommodation for a lady at this wayside tavern; but, +as it was a fine evening in early summer, she did not mind--walking about +outside, and straining her eyes along the highway for the expected one. +But each cloud of dust that enlarged in the distance and drew near was +found to disclose a conveyance other than his post-chaise. Barbara +remained till the appointment was two hours passed, and then began to +fear that owing to some adverse wind in the Channel he was not coming +that night. + +While waiting she was conscious of a curious trepidation that was not +entirely solicitude, and did not amount to dread; her tense state of +incertitude bordered both on disappointment and on relief. She had lived +six or seven weeks with an imperfectly educated yet handsome husband whom +now she had not seen for seventeen months, and who was so changed +physically by an accident that she was assured she would hardly know him. +Can we wonder at her compound state of mind? + +But her immediate difficulty was to get away from Lornton Inn, for her +situation was becoming embarrassing. Like too many of Barbara's actions, +this drive had been undertaken without much reflection. Expecting to +wait no more than a few minutes for her husband in his post-chaise, and +to enter it with him, she had not hesitated to isolate herself by sending +back her own little vehicle. She now found that, being so well known in +this neighbourhood, her excursion to meet her long-absent husband was +exciting great interest. She was conscious that more eyes were watching +her from the inn-windows than met her own gaze. Barbara had decided to +get home by hiring whatever kind of conveyance the tavern afforded, when, +straining her eyes for the last time over the now darkening highway, she +perceived yet another dust-cloud drawing near. She paused; a chariot +ascended to the inn, and would have passed had not its occupant caught +sight of her standing expectantly. The horses were checked on the +instant. + +'You here--and alone, my dear Mrs. Willowes?' said Lord Uplandtowers, +whose carriage it was. + +She explained what had brought her into this lonely situation; and, as he +was going in the direction of her own home, she accepted his offer of a +seat beside him. Their conversation was embarrassed and fragmentary at +first; but when they had driven a mile or two she was surprised to find +herself talking earnestly and warmly to him: her impulsiveness was in +truth but the natural consequence of her late existence--a somewhat +desolate one by reason of the strange marriage she had made; and there is +no more indiscreet mood than that of a woman surprised into talk who has +long been imposing upon herself a policy of reserve. Therefore her +ingenuous heart rose with a bound into her throat when, in response to +his leading questions, or rather hints, she allowed her troubles to leak +out of her. Lord Uplandtowers took her quite to her own door, although +he had driven three miles out of his way to do so; and in handing her +down she heard from him a whisper of stern reproach: 'It need not have +been thus if you had listened to me!' + +She made no reply, and went indoors. There, as the evening wore away, +she regretted more and more that she had been so friendly with Lord +Uplandtowers. But he had launched himself upon her so unexpectedly: if +she had only foreseen the meeting with him, what a careful line of +conduct she would have marked out! Barbara broke into a perspiration of +disquiet when she thought of her unreserve, and, in self-chastisement, +resolved to sit up till midnight on the bare chance of Edmond's return; +directing that supper should be laid for him, improbable as his arrival +till the morrow was. + +The hours went past, and there was dead silence in and round about +Yewsholt Lodge, except for the soughing of the trees; till, when it was +near upon midnight, she heard the noise of hoofs and wheels approaching +the door. Knowing that it could only be her husband, Barbara instantly +went into the hall to meet him. Yet she stood there not without a +sensation of faintness, so many were the changes since their parting! +And, owing to her casual encounter with Lord Uplandtowers, his voice and +image still remained with her, excluding Edmond, her husband, from the +inner circle of her impressions. + +But she went to the door, and the next moment a figure stepped inside, of +which she knew the outline, but little besides. Her husband was attired +in a flapping black cloak and slouched hat, appearing altogether as a +foreigner, and not as the young English burgess who had left her side. +When he came forward into the light of the lamp, she perceived with +surprise, and almost with fright, that he wore a mask. At first she had +not noticed this--there being nothing in its colour which would lead a +casual observer to think he was looking on anything but a real +countenance. + +He must have seen her start of dismay at the unexpectedness of his +appearance, for he said hastily: 'I did not mean to come in to you like +this--I thought you would have been in bed. How good you are, dear +Barbara!' He put his arm round her, but he did not attempt to kiss her. + +'O Edmond--it _is_ you?--it must be?' she said, with clasped hands, for +though his figure and movement were almost enough to prove it, and the +tones were not unlike the old tones, the enunciation was so altered as to +seem that of a stranger. + +'I am covered like this to hide myself from the curious eyes of the inn- +servants and others,' he said, in a low voice. 'I will send back the +carriage and join you in a moment.' + +'You are quite alone?' + +'Quite. My companion stopped at Southampton.' + +The wheels of the post-chaise rolled away as she entered the dining-room, +where the supper was spread; and presently he rejoined her there. He had +removed his cloak and hat, but the mask was still retained; and she could +now see that it was of special make, of some flexible material like silk, +coloured so as to represent flesh; it joined naturally to the front hair, +and was otherwise cleverly executed. + +'Barbara--you look ill,' he said, removing his glove, and taking her +hand. + +'Yes--I have been ill,' said she. + +'Is this pretty little house ours?' + +'O--yes.' She was hardly conscious of her words, for the hand he had +ungloved in order to take hers was contorted, and had one or two of its +fingers missing; while through the mask she discerned the twinkle of one +eye only. + +'I would give anything to kiss you, dearest, now, at this moment!' he +continued, with mournful passionateness. 'But I cannot--in this guise. +The servants are abed, I suppose?' + +'Yes,' said she. 'But I can call them? You will have some supper?' + +He said he would have some, but that it was not necessary to call anybody +at that hour. Thereupon they approached the table, and sat down, facing +each other. + +Despite Barbara's scared state of mind, it was forced upon her notice +that her husband trembled, as if he feared the impression he was +producing, or was about to produce, as much as, or more than, she. He +drew nearer, and took her hand again. + +'I had this mask made at Venice,' he began, in evident embarrassment. 'My +darling Barbara--my dearest wife--do you think you--will mind when I take +it off? You will not dislike me--will you?' + +'O Edmond, of course I shall not mind,' said she. 'What has happened to +you is our misfortune; but I am prepared for it.' + +'Are you sure you are prepared?' + +'O yes! You are my husband.' + +'You really feel quite confident that nothing external can affect you?' +he said again, in a voice rendered uncertain by his agitation. + +'I think I am--quite,' she answered faintly. + +He bent his head. 'I hope, I hope you are,' he whispered. + +In the pause which followed, the ticking of the clock in the hall seemed +to grow loud; and he turned a little aside to remove the mask. She +breathlessly awaited the operation, which was one of some tediousness, +watching him one moment, averting her face the next; and when it was done +she shut her eyes at the hideous spectacle that was revealed. A quick +spasm of horror had passed through her; but though she quailed she forced +herself to regard him anew, repressing the cry that would naturally have +escaped from her ashy lips. Unable to look at him longer, Barbara sank +down on the floor beside her chair, covering her eyes. + +'You cannot look at me!' he groaned in a hopeless way. 'I am too +terrible an object even for you to bear! I knew it; yet I hoped against +it. Oh, this is a bitter fate--curse the skill of those Venetian +surgeons who saved me alive! . . . Look up, Barbara,' he continued +beseechingly; 'view me completely; say you loathe me, if you do loathe +me, and settle the case between us for ever!' + +His unhappy wife pulled herself together for a desperate strain. He was +her Edmond; he had done her no wrong; he had suffered. A momentary +devotion to him helped her, and lifting her eyes as bidden she regarded +this human remnant, this _ecorche_, a second time. But the sight was too +much. She again involuntarily looked aside and shuddered. + +'Do you think you can get used to this?' he said. 'Yes or no! Can you +bear such a thing of the charnel-house near you? Judge for yourself; +Barbara. Your Adonis, your matchless man, has come to this!' + +The poor lady stood beside him motionless, save for the restlessness of +her eyes. All her natural sentiments of affection and pity were driven +clean out of her by a sort of panic; she had just the same sense of +dismay and fearfulness that she would have had in the presence of an +apparition. She could nohow fancy this to be her chosen one--the man she +had loved; he was metamorphosed to a specimen of another species. 'I do +not loathe you,' she said with trembling. 'But I am so horrified--so +overcome! Let me recover myself. Will you sup now? And while you do so +may I go to my room to--regain my old feeling for you? I will try, if I +may leave you awhile? Yes, I will try!' + +Without waiting for an answer from him, and keeping her gaze carefully +averted, the frightened woman crept to the door and out of the room. She +heard him sit down to the table, as if to begin supper though, Heaven +knows, his appetite was slight enough after a reception which had +confirmed his worst surmises. When Barbara had ascended the stairs and +arrived in her chamber she sank down, and buried her face in the coverlet +of the bed. + +Thus she remained for some time. The bed-chamber was over the dining- +room, and presently as she knelt Barbara heard Willowes thrust back his +chair, and rise to go into the hall. In five minutes that figure would +probably come up the stairs and confront her again; it,--this new and +terrible form, that was not her husband's. In the loneliness of this +night, with neither maid nor friend beside her, she lost all +self-control, and at the first sound of his footstep on the stairs, +without so much as flinging a cloak round her, she flew from the room, +ran along the gallery to the back staircase, which she descended, and, +unlocking the back door, let herself out. She scarcely was aware what +she had done till she found herself in the greenhouse, crouching on a +flower-stand. + +Here she remained, her great timid eyes strained through the glass upon +the garden without, and her skirts gathered up, in fear of the field-mice +which sometimes came there. Every moment she dreaded to hear footsteps +which she ought by law to have longed for, and a voice that should have +been as music to her soul. But Edmond Willowes came not that way. The +nights were getting short at this season, and soon the dawn appeared, and +the first rays of the sun. By daylight she had less fear than in the +dark. She thought she could meet him, and accustom herself to the +spectacle. + +So the much-tried young woman unfastened the door of the hot-house, and +went back by the way she had emerged a few hours ago. Her poor husband +was probably in bed and asleep, his journey having been long; and she +made as little noise as possible in her entry. The house was just as she +had left it, and she looked about in the hall for his cloak and hat, but +she could not see them; nor did she perceive the small trunk which had +been all that he brought with him, his heavier baggage having been left +at Southampton for the road-waggon. She summoned courage to mount the +stairs; the bedroom-door was open as she had left it. She fearfully +peeped round; the bed had not been pressed. Perhaps he had lain down on +the dining-room sofa. She descended and entered; he was not there. On +the table beside his unsoiled plate lay a note, hastily written on the +leaf of a pocket-book. It was something like this: + + 'MY EVER-BELOVED WIFE--The effect that my forbidding appearance has + produced upon you was one which I foresaw as quite possible. I hoped + against it, but foolishly so. I was aware that no _human_ love could + survive such a catastrophe. I confess I thought yours _divine_; but, + after so long an absence, there could not be left sufficient warmth to + overcome the too natural first aversion. It was an experiment, and it + has failed. I do not blame you; perhaps, even, it is better so. Good- + bye. I leave England for one year. You will see me again at the + expiration of that time, if I live. Then I will ascertain your true + feeling; and, if it be against me, go away for ever. E. W.' + +On recovering from her surprise, Barbara's remorse was such that she felt +herself absolutely unforgiveable. She should have regarded him as an +afflicted being, and not have been this slave to mere eyesight, like a +child. To follow him and entreat him to return was her first thought. +But on making inquiries she found that nobody had seen him: he had +silently disappeared. + +More than this, to undo the scene of last night was impossible. Her +terror had been too plain, and he was a man unlikely to be coaxed back by +her efforts to do her duty. She went and confessed to her parents all +that had occurred; which, indeed, soon became known to more persons than +those of her own family. + +The year passed, and he did not return; and it was doubted if he were +alive. Barbara's contrition for her unconquerable repugnance was now +such that she longed to build a church-aisle, or erect a monument, and +devote herself to deeds of charity for the remainder of her days. To +that end she made inquiry of the excellent parson under whom she sat on +Sundays, at a vertical distance of twenty feet. But he could only adjust +his wig and tap his snuff-box; for such was the lukewarm state of +religion in those days, that not an aisle, steeple, porch, east window, +Ten-Commandment board, lion-and-unicorn, or brass candlestick, was +required anywhere at all in the neighbourhood as a votive offering from a +distracted soul--the last century contrasting greatly in this respect +with the happy times in which we live, when urgent appeals for +contributions to such objects pour in by every morning's post, and nearly +all churches have been made to look like new pennies. As the poor lady +could not ease her conscience this way, she determined at least to be +charitable, and soon had the satisfaction of finding her porch thronged +every morning by the raggedest, idlest, most drunken, hypocritical, and +worthless tramps in Christendom. + +But human hearts are as prone to change as the leaves of the creeper on +the wall, and in the course of time, hearing nothing of her husband, +Barbara could sit unmoved whilst her mother and friends said in her +hearing, 'Well, what has happened is for the best.' She began to think +so herself; for even now she could not summon up that lopped and +mutilated form without a shiver, though whenever her mind flew back to +her early wedded days, and the man who had stood beside her then, a +thrill of tenderness moved her, which if quickened by his living presence +might have become strong. She was young and inexperienced, and had +hardly on his late return grown out of the capricious fancies of +girlhood. + +But he did not come again, and when she thought of his word that he would +return once more, if living, and how unlikely he was to break his word, +she gave him up for dead. So did her parents; so also did another +person--that man of silence, of irresistible incisiveness, of still +countenance, who was as awake as seven sentinels when he seemed to be as +sound asleep as the figures on his family monument. Lord Uplandtowers, +though not yet thirty, had chuckled like a caustic fogey of threescore +when he heard of Barbara's terror and flight at her husband's return, and +of the latter's prompt departure. He felt pretty sure, however, that +Willowes, despite his hurt feelings, would have reappeared to claim his +bright-eyed property if he had been alive at the end of the twelve +months. + +As there was no husband to live with her, Barbara had relinquished the +house prepared for them by her father, and taken up her abode anew at +Chene Manor, as in the days of her girlhood. By degrees the episode with +Edmond Willowes seemed but a fevered dream, and as the months grew to +years Lord Uplandtowers' friendship with the people at Chene--which had +somewhat cooled after Barbara's elopement--revived considerably, and he +again became a frequent visitor there. He could not make the most +trivial alteration or improvement at Knollingwood Hall, where he lived, +without riding off to consult with his friend Sir John at Chene; and thus +putting himself frequently under her eyes, Barbara grew accustomed to +him, and talked to him as freely as to a brother. She even began to look +up to him as a person of authority, judgment, and prudence; and though +his severity on the bench towards poachers, smugglers, and +turnip-stealers was matter of common notoriety, she trusted that much of +what was said might be misrepresentation. + +Thus they lived on till her husband's absence had stretched to years, and +there could be no longer any doubt of his death. A passionless manner of +renewing his addresses seemed no longer out of place in Lord +Uplandtowers. Barbara did not love him, but hers was essentially one of +those sweet-pea or with-wind natures which require a twig of stouter +fibre than its own to hang upon and bloom. Now, too, she was older, and +admitted to herself that a man whose ancestor had run scores of Saracens +through and through in fighting for the site of the Holy Sepulchre was a +more desirable husband, socially considered, than one who could only +claim with certainty to know that his father and grandfather were +respectable burgesses. + +Sir John took occasion to inform her that she might legally consider +herself a widow; and, in brief; Lord Uplandtowers carried his point with +her, and she married him, though he could never get her to own that she +loved him as she had loved Willowes. In my childhood I knew an old lady +whose mother saw the wedding, and she said that when Lord and Lady +Uplandtowers drove away from her father's house in the evening it was in +a coach-and-four, and that my lady was dressed in green and silver, and +wore the gayest hat and feather that ever were seen; though whether it +was that the green did not suit her complexion, or otherwise, the +Countess looked pale, and the reverse of blooming. After their marriage +her husband took her to London, and she saw the gaieties of a season +there; then they returned to Knollingwood Hall, and thus a year passed +away. + +Before their marriage her husband had seemed to care but little about her +inability to love him passionately. 'Only let me win you,' he had said, +'and I will submit to all that.' But now her lack of warmth seemed to +irritate him, and he conducted himself towards her with a resentfulness +which led to her passing many hours with him in painful silence. The +heir-presumptive to the title was a remote relative, whom Lord +Uplandtowers did not exclude from the dislike he entertained towards many +persons and things besides, and he had set his mind upon a lineal +successor. He blamed her much that there was no promise of this, and +asked her what she was good for. + +On a particular day in her gloomy life a letter, addressed to her as Mrs. +Willowes, reached Lady Uplandtowers from an unexpected quarter. A +sculptor in Pisa, knowing nothing of her second marriage, informed her +that the long-delayed life-size statue of Mr. Willowes, which, when her +husband left that city, he had been directed to retain till it was sent +for, was still in his studio. As his commission had not wholly been +paid, and the statue was taking up room he could ill spare, he should be +glad to have the debt cleared off, and directions where to forward the +figure. Arriving at a time when the Countess was beginning to have +little secrets (of a harmless kind, it is true) from her husband, by +reason of their growing estrangement, she replied to this letter without +saying a word to Lord Uplandtowers, sending off the balance that was +owing to the sculptor, and telling him to despatch the statue to her +without delay. + +It was some weeks before it arrived at Knollingwood Hall, and, by a +singular coincidence, during the interval she received the first +absolutely conclusive tidings of her Edmond's death. It had taken place +years before, in a foreign land, about six months after their parting, +and had been induced by the sufferings he had already undergone, coupled +with much depression of spirit, which had caused him to succumb to a +slight ailment. The news was sent her in a brief and formal letter from +some relative of Willowes's in another part of England. + +Her grief took the form of passionate pity for his misfortunes, and of +reproach to herself for never having been able to conquer her aversion to +his latter image by recollection of what Nature had originally made him. +The sad spectacle that had gone from earth had never been her Edmond at +all to her. O that she could have met him as he was at first! Thus +Barbara thought. It was only a few days later that a waggon with two +horses, containing an immense packing-case, was seen at breakfast-time +both by Barbara and her husband to drive round to the back of the house, +and by-and-by they were informed that a case labelled 'Sculpture' had +arrived for her ladyship. + +'What can that be?' said Lord Uplandtowers. + +'It is the statue of poor Edmond, which belongs to me, but has never been +sent till now,' she answered. + +'Where are you going to put it?' asked he. + +'I have not decided,' said the Countess. 'Anywhere, so that it will not +annoy you.' + +'Oh, it won't annoy me,' says he. + +When it had been unpacked in a back room of the house, they went to +examine it. The statue was a full-length figure, in the purest Carrara +marble, representing Edmond Willowes in all his original beauty, as he +had stood at parting from her when about to set out on his travels; a +specimen of manhood almost perfect in every line and contour. The work +had been carried out with absolute fidelity. + +'Phoebus-Apollo, sure,' said the Earl of Uplandtowers, who had never seen +Willowes, real or represented, till now. + +Barbara did not hear him. She was standing in a sort of trance before +the first husband, as if she had no consciousness of the other husband at +her side. The mutilated features of Willowes had disappeared from her +mind's eye; this perfect being was really the man she had loved, and not +that later pitiable figure; in whom love and truth should have seen this +image always, but had not done so. + +It was not till Lord Uplandtowers said roughly, 'Are you going to stay +here all the morning worshipping him?' that she roused herself. + +Her husband had not till now the least suspicion that Edmond Willowes +originally looked thus, and he thought how deep would have been his +jealousy years ago if Willowes had been known to him. Returning to the +Hall in the afternoon he found his wife in the gallery, whither the +statue had been brought. + +She was lost in reverie before it, just as in the morning. + +'What are you doing?' he asked. + +She started and turned. 'I am looking at my husb--- my statue, to see if +it is well done,' she stammered. 'Why should I not?' + +'There's no reason why,' he said. 'What are you going to do with the +monstrous thing? It can't stand here for ever.' + +'I don't wish it,' she said. 'I'll find a place.' + +In her boudoir there was a deep recess, and while the Earl was absent +from home for a few days in the following week, she hired joiners from +the village, who under her directions enclosed the recess with a panelled +door. Into the tabernacle thus formed she had the statue placed, +fastening the door with a lock, the key of which she kept in her pocket. + +When her husband returned he missed the statue from the gallery, and, +concluding that it had been put away out of deference to his feelings, +made no remark. Yet at moments he noticed something on his lady's face +which he had never noticed there before. He could not construe it; it +was a sort of silent ecstasy, a reserved beatification. What had become +of the statue he could not divine, and growing more and more curious, +looked about here and there for it till, thinking of her private room, he +went towards that spot. After knocking he heard the shutting of a door, +and the click of a key; but when he entered his wife was sitting at work, +on what was in those days called knotting. Lord Uplandtowers' eye fell +upon the newly-painted door where the recess had formerly been. + +'You have been carpentering in my absence then, Barbara,' he said +carelessly. + +'Yes, Uplandtowers.' + +'Why did you go putting up such a tasteless enclosure as that--spoiling +the handsome arch of the alcove?' + +'I wanted more closet-room; and I thought that as this was my own +apartment--' + +'Of course,' he returned. Lord Uplandtowers knew now where the statue of +young Willowes was. + +One night, or rather in the smallest hours of the morning, he missed the +Countess from his side. Not being a man of nervous imaginings he fell +asleep again before he had much considered the matter, and the next +morning had forgotten the incident. But a few nights later the same +circumstances occurred. This time he fully roused himself; but before he +had moved to search for her, she entered the chamber in her +dressing-gown, carrying a candle, which she extinguished as she +approached, deeming him asleep. He could discover from her breathing +that she was strangely moved; but not on this occasion either did he +reveal that he had seen her. Presently, when she had lain down, +affecting to wake, he asked her some trivial questions. 'Yes, _Edmond_,' +she replied absently. + +Lord Uplandtowers became convinced that she was in the habit of leaving +the chamber in this queer way more frequently than he had observed, and +he determined to watch. The next midnight he feigned deep sleep, and +shortly after perceived her stealthily rise and let herself out of the +room in the dark. He slipped on some clothing and followed. At the +farther end of the corridor, where the clash of flint and steel would be +out of the hearing of one in the bed-chamber, she struck a light. He +stepped aside into an empty room till she had lit a taper and had passed +on to her boudoir. In a minute or two he followed. Arrived at the door +of the boudoir, he beheld the door of the private recess open, and +Barbara within it, standing with her arms clasped tightly round the neck +of her Edmond, and her mouth on his. The shawl which she had thrown +round her nightclothes had slipped from her shoulders, and her long white +robe and pale face lent her the blanched appearance of a second statue +embracing the first. Between her kisses, she apostrophized it in a low +murmur of infantine tenderness: + +'My only love--how could I be so cruel to you, my perfect one--so good +and true--I am ever faithful to you, despite my seeming infidelity! I +always think of you--dream of you--during the long hours of the day, and +in the night-watches! O Edmond, I am always yours!' Such words as +these, intermingled with sobs, and streaming tears, and dishevelled hair, +testified to an intensity of feeling in his wife which Lord Uplandtowers +had not dreamed of her possessing. + +'Ha, ha!' says he to himself. 'This is where we evaporate--this is where +my hopes of a successor in the title dissolve--ha, ha! This must be seen +to, verily!' + +Lord Uplandtowers was a subtle man when once he set himself to strategy; +though in the present instance he never thought of the simple stratagem +of constant tenderness. Nor did he enter the room and surprise his wife +as a blunderer would have done, but went back to his chamber as silently +as he had left it. When the Countess returned thither, shaken by spent +sobs and sighs, he appeared to be soundly sleeping as usual. The next +day he began his countermoves by making inquiries as to the whereabouts +of the tutor who had travelled with his wife's first husband; this +gentleman, he found, was now master of a grammar-school at no great +distance from Knollingwood. At the first convenient moment Lord +Uplandtowers went thither and obtained an interview with the said +gentleman. The schoolmaster was much gratified by a visit from such an +influential neighbour, and was ready to communicate anything that his +lordship desired to know. + +After some general conversation on the school and its progress, the +visitor observed that he believed the schoolmaster had once travelled a +good deal with the unfortunate Mr. Willowes, and had been with him on the +occasion of his accident. He, Lord Uplandtowers, was interested in +knowing what had really happened at that time, and had often thought of +inquiring. And then the Earl not only heard by word of mouth as much as +he wished to know, but, their chat becoming more intimate, the +schoolmaster drew upon paper a sketch of the disfigured head, explaining +with bated breath various details in the representation. + +'It was very strange and terrible!' said Lord Uplandtowers, taking the +sketch in his hand. 'Neither nose nor ears!' + +A poor man in the town nearest to Knollingwood Hall, who combined the art +of sign-painting with ingenious mechanical occupations, was sent for by +Lord Uplandtowers to come to the Hall on a day in that week when the +Countess had gone on a short visit to her parents. His employer made the +man understand that the business in which his assistance was demanded was +to be considered private, and money insured the observance of this +request. The lock of the cupboard was picked, and the ingenious mechanic +and painter, assisted by the schoolmaster's sketch, which Lord +Uplandtowers had put in his pocket, set to work upon the god-like +countenance of the statue under my lord's direction. What the fire had +maimed in the original the chisel maimed in the copy. It was a fiendish +disfigurement, ruthlessly carried out, and was rendered still more +shocking by being tinted to the hues of life, as life had been after the +wreck. + +Six hours after, when the workman was gone, Lord Uplandtowers looked upon +the result, and smiled grimly, and said: + +'A statue should represent a man as he appeared in life, and that's as he +appeared. Ha! ha! But 'tis done to good purpose, and not idly.' + +He locked the door of the closet with a skeleton key, and went his way to +fetch the Countess home. + +That night she slept, but he kept awake. According to the tale, she +murmured soft words in her dream; and he knew that the tender converse of +her imaginings was held with one whom he had supplanted but in name. At +the end of her dream the Countess of Uplandtowers awoke and arose, and +then the enactment of former nights was repeated. Her husband remained +still and listened. Two strokes sounded from the clock in the pediment +without, when, leaving the chamber-door ajar, she passed along the +corridor to the other end, where, as usual, she obtained a light. So +deep was the silence that he could even from his bed hear her softly +blowing the tinder to a glow after striking the steel. She moved on into +the boudoir, and he heard, or fancied he heard, the turning of the key in +the closet-door. The next moment there came from that direction a loud +and prolonged shriek, which resounded to the farthest corners of the +house. It was repeated, and there was the noise of a heavy fall. + +Lord Uplandtowers sprang out of bed. He hastened along the dark corridor +to the door of the boudoir, which stood ajar, and, by the light of the +candle within, saw his poor young Countess lying in a heap in her +nightdress on the floor of the closet. When he reached her side he found +that she had fainted, much to the relief of his fears that matters were +worse. He quickly shut up and locked in the hated image which had done +the mischief; and lifted his wife in his arms, where in a few instants +she opened her eyes. Pressing her face to his without saying a word, he +carried her back to her room, endeavouring as he went to disperse her +terrors by a laugh in her ear, oddly compounded of causticity, +predilection, and brutality. + +'Ho--ho--ho!' says he. 'Frightened, dear one, hey? What a baby 'tis! +Only a joke, sure, Barbara--a splendid joke! But a baby should not go to +closets at midnight to look for the ghost of the dear departed! If it do +it must expect to be terrified at his aspect--ho--ho--ho!' + +When she was in her bed-chamber, and had quite come to herself; though +her nerves were still much shaken, he spoke to her more sternly. 'Now, +my lady, answer me: do you love him--eh?' + +'No--no!' she faltered, shuddering, with her expanded eyes fixed on her +husband. 'He is too terrible--no, no!' + +'You are sure?' + +'Quite sure!' replied the poor broken-spirited Countess. But her natural +elasticity asserted itself. Next morning he again inquired of her: 'Do +you love him now?' + +She quailed under his gaze, but did not reply. + +'That means that you do still, by G---!' he continued. + +'It means that I will not tell an untruth, and do not wish to incense my +lord,' she answered, with dignity. + +'Then suppose we go and have another look at him?' As he spoke, he +suddenly took her by the wrist, and turned as if to lead her towards the +ghastly closet. + +'No--no! Oh--no!' she cried, and her desperate wriggle out of his hand +revealed that the fright of the night had left more impression upon her +delicate soul than superficially appeared. + +'Another dose or two, and she will be cured,' he said to himself. + +It was now so generally known that the Earl and Countess were not in +accord, that he took no great trouble to disguise his deeds in relation +to this matter. During the day he ordered four men with ropes and +rollers to attend him in the boudoir. When they arrived, the closet was +open, and the upper part of the statue tied up in canvas. He had it +taken to the sleeping-chamber. What followed is more or less matter of +conjecture. The story, as told to me, goes on to say that, when Lady +Uplandtowers retired with him that night, she saw near the foot of the +heavy oak four-poster, a tall dark wardrobe, which had not stood there +before; but she did not ask what its presence meant. + +'I have had a little whim,' he explained when they were in the dark. + +'Have you?' says she. + +'To erect a little shrine, as it may be called.' + +'A little shrine?' + +'Yes; to one whom we both equally adore--eh? I'll show you what it +contains.' + +He pulled a cord which hung covered by the bed-curtains, and the doors of +the wardrobe slowly opened, disclosing that the shelves within had been +removed throughout, and the interior adapted to receive the ghastly +figure, which stood there as it had stood in the boudoir, but with a wax- +candle burning on each side of it to throw the cropped and distorted +features into relief. She clutched him, uttered a low scream, and buried +her head in the bedclothes. 'Oh, take it away--please take it away!' she +implored. + +'All in good time namely, when you love me best,' he returned calmly. +'You don't quite yet--eh?' + +'I don't know--I think--O Uplandtowers, have mercy--I cannot bear it--O, +in pity, take it away!' + +'Nonsense; one gets accustomed to anything. Take another gaze.' + +In short, he allowed the doors to remain unclosed at the foot of the bed, +and the wax-tapers burning; and such was the strange fascination of the +grisly exhibition that a morbid curiosity took possession of the Countess +as she lay, and, at his repeated request, she did again look out from the +coverlet, shuddered, hid her eyes, and looked again, all the while +begging him to take it away, or it would drive her out of her senses. But +he would not do so as yet, and the wardrobe was not locked till dawn. + +The scene was repeated the next night. Firm in enforcing his ferocious +correctives, he continued the treatment till the nerves of the poor lady +were quivering in agony under the virtuous tortures inflicted by her +lord, to bring her truant heart back to faithfulness. + +The third night, when the scene had opened as usual, and she lay staring +with immense wild eyes at the horrid fascination, on a sudden she gave an +unnatural laugh; she laughed more and more, staring at the image, till +she literally shrieked with laughter: then there was silence, and he +found her to have become insensible. He thought she had fainted, but +soon saw that the event was worse: she was in an epileptic fit. He +started up, dismayed by the sense that, like many other subtle +personages, he had been too exacting for his own interests. Such love as +he was capable of, though rather a selfish gloating than a cherishing +solicitude, was fanned into life on the instant. He closed the wardrobe +with the pulley, clasped her in his arms, took her gently to the window, +and did all he could to restore her. + +It was a long time before the Countess came to herself, and when she did +so, a considerable change seemed to have taken place in her emotions. She +flung her arms around him, and with gasps of fear abjectly kissed him +many times, at last bursting into tears. She had never wept in this +scene before. + +'You'll take it away, dearest--you will!' she begged plaintively. + +'If you love me.' + +'I do--oh, I do!' + +'And hate him, and his memory?' + +'Yes--yes!' + +'Thoroughly?' + +'I cannot endure recollection of him!' cried the poor Countess slavishly. +'It fills me with shame--how could I ever be so depraved! I'll never +behave badly again, Uplandtowers; and you will never put the hated statue +again before my eyes?' + +He felt that he could promise with perfect safety. 'Never,' said he. + +'And then I'll love you,' she returned eagerly, as if dreading lest the +scourge should be applied anew. 'And I'll never, never dream of thinking +a single thought that seems like faithlessness to my marriage vow.' + +The strange thing now was that this fictitious love wrung from her by +terror took on, through mere habit of enactment, a certain quality of +reality. A servile mood of attachment to the Earl became distinctly +visible in her contemporaneously with an actual dislike for her late +husband's memory. The mood of attachment grew and continued when the +statue was removed. A permanent revulsion was operant in her, which +intensified as time wore on. How fright could have effected such a +change of idiosyncrasy learned physicians alone can say; but I believe +such cases of reactionary instinct are not unknown. + +The upshot was that the cure became so permanent as to be itself a new +disease. She clung to him so tightly, that she would not willingly be +out of his sight for a moment. She would have no sitting-room apart from +his, though she could not help starting when he entered suddenly to her. +Her eyes were well-nigh always fixed upon him. If he drove out, she +wished to go with him; his slightest civilities to other women made her +frantically jealous; till at length her very fidelity became a burden to +him, absorbing his time, and curtailing his liberty, and causing him to +curse and swear. If he ever spoke sharply to her now, she did not +revenge herself by flying off to a mental world of her own; all that +affection for another, which had provided her with a resource, was now a +cold black cinder. + +From that time the life of this scared and enervated lady--whose +existence might have been developed to so much higher purpose but for the +ignoble ambition of her parents and the conventions of the time--was one +of obsequious amativeness towards a perverse and cruel man. Little +personal events came to her in quick succession--half a dozen, eight, +nine, ten such events,--in brief; she bore him no less than eleven +children in the eight following years, but half of them came prematurely +into the world, or died a few days old; only one, a girl, attained to +maturity; she in after years became the wife of the Honourable Mr. +Beltonleigh, who was created Lord D'Almaine, as may be remembered. + +There was no living son and heir. At length, completely worn out in mind +and body, Lady Uplandtowers was taken abroad by her husband, to try the +effect of a more genial climate upon her wasted frame. But nothing +availed to strengthen her, and she died at Florence, a few months after +her arrival in Italy. + +Contrary to expectation, the Earl of Uplandtowers did not marry again. +Such affection as existed in him--strange, hard, brutal as it was--seemed +untransferable, and the title, as is known, passed at his death to his +nephew. Perhaps it may not be so generally known that, during the +enlargement of the Hall for the sixth Earl, while digging in the grounds +for the new foundations, the broken fragments of a marble statue were +unearthed. They were submitted to various antiquaries, who said that, so +far as the damaged pieces would allow them to form an opinion, the statue +seemed to be that of a mutilated Roman satyr; or if not, an allegorical +figure of Death. Only one or two old inhabitants guessed whose statue +those fragments had composed. + +I should have added that, shortly after the death of the Countess, an +excellent sermon was preached by the Dean of Melchester, the subject of +which, though names were not mentioned, was unquestionably suggested by +the aforesaid events. He dwelt upon the folly of indulgence in sensuous +love for a handsome form merely; and showed that the only rational and +virtuous growths of that affection were those based upon intrinsic worth. +In the case of the tender but somewhat shallow lady whose life I have +related, there is no doubt that an infatuation for the person of young +Willowes was the chief feeling that induced her to marry him; which was +the more deplorable in that his beauty, by all tradition, was the least +of his recommendations, every report bearing out the inference that he +must have been a man of steadfast nature, bright intelligence, and +promising life. + +* * * * * + +The company thanked the old surgeon for his story, which the rural dean +declared to be a far more striking one than anything he could hope to +tell. An elderly member of the Club, who was mostly called the Bookworm, +said that a woman's natural instinct of fidelity would, indeed, send back +her heart to a man after his death in a truly wonderful manner +sometimes--if anything occurred to put before her forcibly the original +affection between them, and his original aspect in her eyes,--whatever +his inferiority may have been, social or otherwise; and then a general +conversation ensued upon the power that a woman has of seeing the actual +in the representation, the reality in the dream--a power which (according +to the sentimental member) men have no faculty of equalling. + +The rural dean thought that such cases as that related by the surgeon +were rather an illustration of passion electrified back to life than of a +latent, true affection. The story had suggested that he should try to +recount to them one which he had used to hear in his youth, and which +afforded an instance of the latter and better kind of feeling, his +heroine being also a lady who had married beneath her, though he feared +his narrative would be of a much slighter kind than the surgeon's. The +Club begged him to proceed, and the parson began. + + + + +DAME THE THIRD--THE MARCHIONESS OF STONEHENGE +By the Rural Dean + + +I would have you know, then, that a great many years ago there lived in a +classical mansion with which I used to be familiar, standing not a +hundred miles from the city of Melchester, a lady whose personal charms +were so rare and unparalleled that she was courted, flattered, and spoilt +by almost all the young noblemen and gentlemen in that part of Wessex. +For a time these attentions pleased her well. But as, in the words of +good Robert South (whose sermons might be read much more than they are), +the most passionate lover of sport, if tied to follow his hawks and +hounds every day of his life, would find the pursuit the greatest torment +and calamity, and would fly to the mines and galleys for his recreation, +so did this lofty and beautiful lady after a while become satiated with +the constant iteration of what she had in its novelty enjoyed; and by an +almost natural revulsion turned her regards absolutely netherward, +socially speaking. She perversely and passionately centred her affection +on quite a plain-looking young man of humble birth and no position at +all; though it is true that he was gentle and delicate in nature, of good +address, and guileless heart. In short, he was the parish-clerk's son, +acting as assistant to the land-steward of her father, the Earl of Avon, +with the hope of becoming some day a land-steward himself. It should be +said that perhaps the Lady Caroline (as she was called) was a little +stimulated in this passion by the discovery that a young girl of the +village already loved the young man fondly, and that he had paid some +attentions to her, though merely of a casual and good-natured kind. + +Since his occupation brought him frequently to the manor-house and its +environs, Lady Caroline could make ample opportunities of seeing and +speaking to him. She had, in Chaucer's phrase, 'all the craft of fine +loving' at her fingers' ends, and the young man, being of a +readily-kindling heart, was quick to notice the tenderness in her eyes +and voice. He could not at first believe in his good fortune, having no +understanding of her weariness of more artificial men; but a time comes +when the stupidest sees in an eye the glance of his other half; and it +came to him, who was quite the reverse of dull. As he gained confidence +accidental encounters led to encounters by design; till at length when +they were alone together there was no reserve on the matter. They +whispered tender words as other lovers do, and were as devoted a pair as +ever was seen. But not a ray or symptom of this attachment was allowed +to show itself to the outer world. + +Now, as she became less and less scrupulous towards him under the +influence of her affection, and he became more and more reverential under +the influence of his, and they looked the situation in the face together, +their condition seemed intolerable in its hopelessness. That she could +ever ask to be allowed to marry him, or could hold her tongue and quietly +renounce him, was equally beyond conception. They resolved upon a third +course, possessing neither of the disadvantages of these two: to wed +secretly, and live on in outward appearance the same as before. In this +they differed from the lovers of my friend's story. + +Not a soul in the parental mansion guessed, when Lady Caroline came +coolly into the hall one day after a visit to her aunt, that, during that +visit, her lover and herself had found an opportunity of uniting +themselves till death should part them. Yet such was the fact; the young +woman who rode fine horses, and drove in pony-chaises, and was saluted +deferentially by every one, and the young man who trudged about, and +directed the tree-felling, and the laying out of fish-ponds in the park, +were husband and wife. + +As they had planned, so they acted to the letter for the space of a month +and more, clandestinely meeting when and where they best could do so; +both being supremely happy and content. To be sure, towards the latter +part of that month, when the first wild warmth of her love had gone off, +the Lady Caroline sometimes wondered within herself how she, who might +have chosen a peer of the realm, baronet, knight; or, if serious-minded, +a bishop or judge of the more gallant sort who prefer young wives, could +have brought herself to do a thing so rash as to make this marriage; +particularly when, in their private meetings, she perceived that though +her young husband was full of ideas, and fairly well read, they had not a +single social experience in common. It was his custom to visit her after +nightfall, in her own house, when he could find no opportunity for an +interview elsewhere; and to further this course she would contrive to +leave unfastened a window on the ground-floor overlooking the lawn, by +entering which a back stair-case was accessible; so that he could climb +up to her apartments, and gain audience of his lady when the house was +still. + +One dark midnight, when he had not been able to see her during the day, +he made use of this secret method, as he had done many times before; and +when they had remained in company about an hour he declared that it was +time for him to descend. + +He would have stayed longer, but that the interview had been a somewhat +painful one. What she had said to him that night had much excited and +angered him, for it had revealed a change in her; cold reason had come to +his lofty wife; she was beginning to have more anxiety about her own +position and prospects than ardour for him. Whether from the agitation +of this perception or not, he was seized with a spasm; he gasped, rose, +and in moving towards the window for air he uttered in a short thick +whisper, 'Oh, my heart!' + +With his hand upon his chest he sank down to the floor before he had gone +another step. By the time that she had relighted the candle, which had +been extinguished in case any eye in the opposite grounds should witness +his egress, she found that his poor heart had ceased to beat; and there +rushed upon her mind what his cottage-friends had once told her, that he +was liable to attacks of heart-disease, one of which, the doctor had +informed them, might some day carry him off. + +Accustomed as she was to doctoring the other parishioners, nothing that +she could effect upon him in that kind made any difference whatever; and +his stillness, and the increasing coldness of his feet and hands, +disclosed too surely to the affrighted young woman that her husband was +dead indeed. For more than an hour, however, she did not abandon her +efforts to restore him; when she fully realized the fact that he was a +corpse she bent over his body, distracted and bewildered as to what step +she next should take. + +Her first feelings had undoubtedly been those of passionate grief at the +loss of him; her second thoughts were concern at her own position as the +daughter of an earl. 'Oh, why, why, my unfortunate husband, did you die +in my chamber at this hour!' she said piteously to the corpse. 'Why not +have died in your own cottage if you would die! Then nobody would ever +have known of our imprudent union, and no syllable would have been +breathed of how I mismated myself for love of you!' + +The clock in the courtyard striking the hour of one aroused Lady Caroline +from the stupor into which she had fallen, and she stood up, and went +towards the door. To awaken and tell her mother seemed her only way out +of this terrible situation; yet when she put her hand on the key to +unlock it she withdrew herself again. It would be impossible to call +even her mother's assistance without risking a revelation to all the +world through the servants; while if she could remove the body unassisted +to a distance she might avert suspicion of their union even now. This +thought of immunity from the social consequences of her rash act, of +renewed freedom, was indubitably a relief to her, for, as has been said, +the constraint and riskiness of her position had begun to tell upon the +Lady Caroline's nerves. + +She braced herself for the effort, and hastily dressed herself; and then +dressed him. Tying his dead hands together with a handkerchief; she laid +his arms round her shoulders, and bore him to the landing and down the +narrow stairs. Reaching the bottom by the window, she let his body slide +slowly over the sill till it lay on the ground without. She then climbed +over the window-sill herself, and, leaving the sash open, dragged him on +to the lawn with a rustle not louder than the rustle of a broom. There +she took a securer hold, and plunged with him under the trees. + +Away from the precincts of the house she could apply herself more +vigorously to her task, which was a heavy one enough for her, robust as +she was; and the exertion and fright she had already undergone began to +tell upon her by the time she reached the corner of a beech-plantation +which intervened between the manor-house and the village. Here she was +so nearly exhausted that she feared she might have to leave him on the +spot. But she plodded on after a while, and keeping upon the grass at +every opportunity she stood at last opposite the poor young man's garden- +gate, where he lived with his father, the parish-clerk. How she +accomplished the end of her task Lady Caroline never quite knew; but, to +avoid leaving traces in the road, she carried him bodily across the +gravel, and laid him down at the door. Perfectly aware of his ways of +coming and going, she searched behind the shutter for the cottage door- +key, which she placed in his cold hand. Then she kissed his face for the +last time, and with silent little sobs bade him farewell. + +Lady Caroline retraced her steps, and reached the mansion without +hindrance; and to her great relief found the window open just as she had +left it. When she had climbed in she listened attentively, fastened the +window behind her, and ascending the stairs noiselessly to her room, set +everything in order, and returned to bed. + +The next morning it was speedily echoed around that the amiable and +gentle young villager had been found dead outside his father's door, +which he had apparently been in the act of unlocking when he fell. The +circumstances were sufficiently exceptional to justify an inquest, at +which syncope from heart-disease was ascertained to be beyond doubt the +explanation of his death, and no more was said about the matter then. +But, after the funeral, it was rumoured that some man who had been +returning late from a distant horse-fair had seen in the gloom of night a +person, apparently a woman, dragging a heavy body of some sort towards +the cottage-gate, which, by the light of after events, would seem to have +been the corpse of the young fellow. His clothes were thereupon examined +more particularly than at first, with the result that marks of friction +were visible upon them here and there, precisely resembling such as would +be left by dragging on the ground. + +Our beautiful and ingenious Lady Caroline was now in great consternation; +and began to think that, after all, it might have been better to honestly +confess the truth. But having reached this stage without discovery or +suspicion, she determined to make another effort towards concealment; and +a bright idea struck her as a means of securing it. I think I mentioned +that, before she cast eyes on the unfortunate steward's clerk, he had +been the beloved of a certain village damsel, the woodman's daughter, his +neighbour, to whom he had paid some attentions; and possibly he was +beloved of her still. At any rate, the Lady Caroline's influence on the +estates of her father being considerable, she resolved to seek an +interview with the young girl in furtherance of her plan to save her +reputation, about which she was now exceedingly anxious; for by this +time, the fit being over, she began to be ashamed of her mad passion for +her late husband, and almost wished she had never seen him. + +In the course of her parish-visiting she lighted on the young girl +without much difficulty, and found her looking pale and sad, and wearing +a simple black gown, which she had put on out of respect for the young +man's memory, whom she had tenderly loved, though he had not loved her. + +'Ah, you have lost your lover, Milly,' said Lady Caroline. + +The young woman could not repress her tears. 'My lady, he was not quite +my lover,' she said. 'But I was his--and now he is dead I don't care to +live any more!' + +'Can you keep a secret about him?' asks the lady; 'one in which his +honour is involved--which is known to me alone, but should be known to +you?' + +The girl readily promised, and, indeed, could be safely trusted on such a +subject, so deep was her affection for the youth she mourned. + +'Then meet me at his grave to-night, half-an-hour after sunset, and I +will tell it to you,' says the other. + +In the dusk of that spring evening the two shadowy figures of the young +women converged upon the assistant-steward's newly-turfed mound; and at +that solemn place and hour, the one of birth and beauty unfolded her +tale: how she had loved him and married him secretly; how he had died in +her chamber; and how, to keep her secret, she had dragged him to his own +door. + +'Married him, my lady!' said the rustic maiden, starting back. + +'I have said so,' replied Lady Caroline. 'But it was a mad thing, and a +mistaken course. He ought to have married you. You, Milly, were +peculiarly his. But you lost him.' + +'Yes,' said the poor girl; 'and for that they laughed at me. "Ha--ha, +you mid love him, Milly," they said; "but he will not love you!"' + +'Victory over such unkind jeerers would be sweet,' said Lady Caroline. +'You lost him in life; but you may have him in death _as if_ you had had +him in life; and so turn the tables upon them.' + +'How?' said the breathless girl. + +The young lady then unfolded her plan, which was that Milly should go +forward and declare that the young man had contracted a secret marriage +(as he truly had done); that it was with her, Milly, his sweetheart; that +he had been visiting her in her cottage on the evening of his death; +when, on finding he was a corpse, she had carried him to his house to +prevent discovery by her parents, and that she had meant to keep the +whole matter a secret till the rumours afloat had forced it from her. + +'And how shall I prove this?' said the woodman's daughter, amazed at the +boldness of the proposal. + +'Quite sufficiently. You can say, if necessary, that you were married to +him at the church of St. Michael, in Bath City, in my name, as the first +that occurred to you, to escape detection. That was where he married me. +I will support you in this.' + +'Oh--I don't quite like--' + +'If you will do so,' said the lady peremptorily, 'I will always be your +father's friend and yours; if not, it will be otherwise. And I will give +you my wedding-ring, which you shall wear as yours.' + +'Have you worn it, my lady?' + +'Only at night.' + +There was not much choice in the matter, and Milly consented. Then this +noble lady took from her bosom the ring she had never been able openly to +exhibit, and, grasping the young girl's hand, slipped it upon her finger +as she stood upon her lover's grave. + +Milly shivered, and bowed her head, saying, 'I feel as if I had become a +corpse's bride!' + +But from that moment the maiden was heart and soul in the substitution. A +blissful repose came over her spirit. It seemed to her that she had +secured in death him whom in life she had vainly idolized; and she was +almost content. After that the lady handed over to the young man's new +wife all the little mementoes and trinkets he had given herself; even to +a locket containing his hair. + +The next day the girl made her so-called confession, which the simple +mourning she had already worn, without stating for whom, seemed to bear +out; and soon the story of the little romance spread through the village +and country-side, almost as far as Melchester. It was a curious +psychological fact that, having once made the avowal, Milly seemed +possessed with a spirit of ecstasy at her position. With the liberal sum +of money supplied to her by Lady Caroline she now purchased the garb of a +widow, and duly appeared at church in her weeds, her simple face looking +so sweet against its margin of crape that she was almost envied her state +by the other village-girls of her age. And when a woman's sorrow for her +beloved can maim her young life so obviously as it had done Milly's there +was, in truth, little subterfuge in the case. Her explanation tallied so +well with the details of her lover's latter movements--those strange +absences and sudden returnings, which had occasionally puzzled his +friends--that nobody supposed for a moment that the second actor in these +secret nuptials was other than she. The actual and whole truth would +indeed have seemed a preposterous assertion beside this plausible one, by +reason of the lofty demeanour of the Lady Caroline and the unassuming +habits of the late villager. There being no inheritance in question, not +a soul took the trouble to go to the city church, forty miles off, and +search the registers for marriage signatures bearing out so humble a +romance. + +In a short time Milly caused a decent tombstone to be erected over her +nominal husband's grave, whereon appeared the statement that it was +placed there by his heartbroken widow, which, considering that the +payment for it came from Lady Caroline and the grief from Milly, was as +truthful as such inscriptions usually are, and only required pluralizing +to render it yet more nearly so. + +The impressionable and complaisant Milly, in her character of widow, took +delight in going to his grave every day, and indulging in sorrow which +was a positive luxury to her. She placed fresh flowers on his grave, and +so keen was her emotional imaginativeness that she almost believed +herself to have been his wife indeed as she walked to and fro in her garb +of woe. One afternoon, Milly being busily engaged in this labour of love +at the grave, Lady Caroline passed outside the churchyard wall with some +of her visiting friends, who, seeing Milly there, watched her actions +with interest, remarked upon the pathos of the scene, and upon the +intense affection the young man must have felt for such a tender creature +as Milly. A strange light, as of pain, shot from the Lady Caroline's +eye, as if for the first time she begrudged to the young girl the +position she had been at such pains to transfer to her; it showed that a +slumbering affection for her husband still had life in Lady Caroline, +obscured and stifled as it was by social considerations. + +An end was put to this smooth arrangement by the sudden appearance in the +churchyard one day of the Lady Caroline, when Milly had come there on her +usual errand of laying flowers. Lady Caroline had been anxiously +awaiting her behind the chancel, and her countenance was pale and +agitated. + +'Milly!' she said, 'come here! I don't know how to say to you what I am +going to say. I am half dead!' + +'I am sorry for your ladyship,' says Milly, wondering. + +'Give me that ring!' says the lady, snatching at the girl's left hand. + +Milly drew it quickly away. + +'I tell you give it to me!' repeated Caroline, almost fiercely. 'Oh--but +you don't know why? I am in a grief and a trouble I did not expect!' And +Lady Caroline whispered a few words to the girl. + +'O my lady!' said the thunderstruck Milly. 'What _will_ you do?' + +'You must say that your statement was a wicked lie, an invention, a +scandal, a deadly sin--that I told you to make it to screen me! That it +was I whom he married at Bath. In short, we must tell the truth, or I am +ruined--body, mind, and reputation--for ever!' + +But there is a limit to the flexibility of gentle-souled women. Milly by +this time had so grown to the idea of being one flesh with this young +man, of having the right to bear his name as she bore it; had so +thoroughly come to regard him as her husband, to dream of him as her +husband, to speak of him as her husband, that she could not relinquish +him at a moment's peremptory notice. + +'No, no,' she said desperately, 'I cannot, I will not give him up! Your +ladyship took him away from me alive, and gave him back to me only when +he was dead. Now I will keep him! I am truly his widow. More truly +than you, my lady! for I love him and mourn for him, and call myself by +his dear name, and your ladyship does neither!' + +'I _do_ love him!' cries Lady Caroline with flashing eyes, 'and I cling +to him, and won't let him go to such as you! How can I, when he is the +father of this poor babe that's coming to me? I must have him back +again! Milly, Milly, can't you pity and understand me, perverse girl +that you are, and the miserable plight that I am in? Oh, this +precipitancy--it is the ruin of women! Why did I not consider, and wait! +Come, give me back all that I have given you, and assure me you will +support me in confessing the truth!' + +'Never, never!' persisted Milly, with woe-begone passionateness. 'Look +at this headstone! Look at my gown and bonnet of crape--this ring: +listen to the name they call me by! My character is worth as much to me +as yours is to you! After declaring my Love mine, myself his, taking his +name, making his death my own particular sorrow, how can I say it was not +so? No such dishonour for me! I will outswear you, my lady; and I shall +be believed. My story is so much the more likely that yours will be +thought false. But, O please, my lady, do not drive me to this! In pity +let me keep him!' + +The poor nominal widow exhibited such anguish at a proposal which would +have been truly a bitter humiliation to her, that Lady Caroline was +warmed to pity in spite of her own condition. + +'Yes, I see your position,' she answered. 'But think of mine! What can +I do? Without your support it would seem an invention to save me from +disgrace; even if I produced the register, the love of scandal in the +world is such that the multitude would slur over the fact, say it was a +fabrication, and believe your story. I do not know who were the +witnesses, or anything!' + +In a few minutes these two poor young women felt, as so many in a strait +have felt before, that union was their greatest strength, even now; and +they consulted calmly together. The result of their deliberations was +that Milly went home as usual, and Lady Caroline also, the latter +confessing that very night to the Countess her mother of the marriage, +and to nobody else in the world. And, some time after, Lady Caroline and +her mother went away to London, where a little while later still they +were joined by Milly, who was supposed to have left the village to +proceed to a watering-place in the North for the benefit of her health, +at the expense of the ladies of the Manor, who had been much interested +in her state of lonely and defenceless widowhood. + +Early the next year the widow Milly came home with an infant in her arms, +the family at the Manor House having meanwhile gone abroad. They did not +return from their tour till the autumn ensuing, by which time Milly and +the child had again departed from the cottage of her father the woodman, +Milly having attained to the dignity of dwelling in a cottage of her own, +many miles to the eastward of her native village; a comfortable little +allowance had moreover been settled on her and the child for life, +through the instrumentality of Lady Caroline and her mother. + +Two or three years passed away, and the Lady Caroline married a +nobleman--the Marquis of Stonehenge--considerably her senior, who had +wooed her long and phlegmatically. He was not rich, but she led a placid +life with him for many years, though there was no child of the marriage. +Meanwhile Milly's boy, as the youngster was called, and as Milly herself +considered him, grew up, and throve wonderfully, and loved her as she +deserved to be loved for her devotion to him, in whom she every day +traced more distinctly the lineaments of the man who had won her girlish +heart, and kept it even in the tomb. + +She educated him as well as she could with the limited means at her +disposal, for the allowance had never been increased, Lady Caroline, or +the Marchioness of Stonehenge as she now was, seeming by degrees to care +little what had become of them. Milly became extremely ambitious on the +boy's account; she pinched herself almost of necessaries to send him to +the Grammar School in the town to which they retired, and at twenty he +enlisted in a cavalry regiment, joining it with a deliberate intent of +making the Army his profession, and not in a freak of idleness. His +exceptional attainments, his manly bearing, his steady conduct, speedily +won him promotion, which was furthered by the serious war in which this +country was at that time engaged. On his return to England after the +peace he had risen to the rank of riding-master, and was soon after +advanced another stage, and made quartermaster, though still a young man. + +His mother--his corporeal mother, that is, the Marchioness of +Stonehenge--heard tidings of this unaided progress; it reawakened her +maternal instincts, and filled her with pride. She became keenly +interested in her successful soldier-son; and as she grew older much +wished to see him again, particularly when, the Marquis dying, she was +left a solitary and childless widow. Whether or not she would have gone +to him of her own impulse I cannot say; but one day, when she was driving +in an open carriage in the outskirts of a neighbouring town, the troops +lying at the barracks hard by passed her in marching order. She eyed +them narrowly, and in the finest of the horsemen recognized her son from +his likeness to her first husband. + +This sight of him doubly intensified the motherly emotions which had lain +dormant in her for so many years, and she wildly asked herself how she +could so have neglected him? Had she possessed the true courage of +affection she would have owned to her first marriage, and have reared him +as her son! What would it have mattered if she had never obtained this +precious coronet of pearls and gold leaves, by comparison with the gain +of having the love and protection of such a noble and worthy son? These +and other sad reflections cut the gloomy and solitary lady to the heart; +and she repented of her pride in disclaiming her first husband more +bitterly than she had ever repented of her infatuation in marrying him. + +Her yearning was so strong, that at length it seemed to her that she +could not live without announcing herself to him as his mother. Come +what might, she would do it: late as it was, she would have him away from +that woman whom she began to hate with the fierceness of a deserted +heart, for having taken her place as the mother of her only child. She +felt confidently enough that her son would only too gladly exchange a +cottage-mother for one who was a peeress of the realm. Being now, in her +widowhood, free to come and go as she chose, without question from +anybody, Lady Stonehenge started next day for the little town where Milly +yet lived, still in her robes of sable for the lost lover of her youth. + +'He is _my_ son,' said the Marchioness, as soon as she was alone in the +cottage with Milly. 'You must give him back to me, now that I am in a +position in which I can defy the world's opinion. I suppose he comes to +see you continually?' + +'Every month since he returned from the war, my lady. And sometimes he +stays two or three days, and takes me about seeing sights everywhere!' +She spoke with quiet triumph. + +'Well, you will have to give him up,' said the Marchioness calmly. 'It +shall not be the worse for you--you may see him when you choose. I am +going to avow my first marriage, and have him with me.' + +'You forget that there are two to be reckoned with, my lady. Not only +me, but himself.' + +'That can be arranged. You don't suppose that he wouldn't--' But not +wishing to insult Milly by comparing their positions, she said, 'He is my +own flesh and blood, not yours.' + +'Flesh and blood's nothing!' said Milly, flashing with as much scorn as a +cottager could show to a peeress, which, in this case, was not so little +as may be supposed. 'But I will agree to put it to him, and let him +settle it for himself.' + +'That's all I require,' said Lady Stonehenge. 'You must ask him to come, +and I will meet him here.' + +The soldier was written to, and the meeting took place. He was not so +much astonished at the disclosure of his parentage as Lady Stonehenge had +been led to expect, having known for years that there was a little +mystery about his birth. His manner towards the Marchioness, though +respectful, was less warm than she could have hoped. The alternatives as +to his choice of a mother were put before him. His answer amazed and +stupefied her. + +'No, my lady,' he said. 'Thank you much, but I prefer to let things be +as they have been. My father's name is mine in any case. You see, my +lady, you cared little for me when I was weak and helpless; why should I +come to you now I am strong? She, dear devoted soul [pointing to Milly], +tended me from my birth, watched over me, nursed me when I was ill, and +deprived herself of many a little comfort to push me on. I cannot love +another mother as I love her. She _is_ my mother, and I will always be +her son!' As he spoke he put his manly arm round Milly's neck, and +kissed her with the tenderest affection. + +The agony of the poor Marchioness was pitiable. 'You kill me!' she said, +between her shaking sobs. 'Cannot you--love--me--too?' + +'No, my lady. If I must say it, you were ashamed of my poor father, who +was a sincere and honest man; therefore, I am ashamed of you.' + +Nothing would move him; and the suffering woman at last gasped, +'Cannot--oh, cannot you give one kiss to me--as you did to her? It is +not much--it is all I ask--all!' + +'Certainly,' he replied. + +He kissed her coldly, and the painful scene came to an end. That day was +the beginning of death to the unfortunate Marchioness of Stonehenge. It +was in the perverseness of her human heart that his denial of her should +add fuel to the fire of her craving for his love. How long afterwards +she lived I do not know with any exactness, but it was no great length of +time. That anguish that is sharper than a serpent's tooth wore her out +soon. Utterly reckless of the world, its ways, and its opinions, she +allowed her story to become known; and when the welcome end supervened +(which, I grieve to say, she refused to lighten by the consolations of +religion), a broken heart was the truest phrase in which to sum up its +cause. + +* * * * * + +The rural dean having concluded, some observations upon his tale were +made in due course. The sentimental member said that Lady Caroline's +history afforded a sad instance of how an honest human affection will +become shamefaced and mean under the frost of class-division and social +prejudices. She probably deserved some pity; though her offspring, +before he grew up to man's estate, had deserved more. There was no +pathos like the pathos of childhood, when a child found itself in a world +where it was not wanted, and could not understand the reason why. A tale +by the speaker, further illustrating the same subject, though with +different results from the last, naturally followed. + + + + +DAME THE FOURTH--LADY MOTTISFONT +By the Sentimental Member + + +Of all the romantic towns in Wessex, Wintoncester is probably the most +convenient for meditative people to live in; since there you have a +cathedral with a nave so long that it affords space in which to walk and +summon your remoter moods without continually turning on your heel, or +seeming to do more than take an afternoon stroll under cover from the +rain or sun. In an uninterrupted course of nearly three hundred steps +eastward, and again nearly three hundred steps westward amid those +magnificent tombs, you can, for instance, compare in the most leisurely +way the dry dustiness which ultimately pervades the persons of kings and +bishops with the damper dustiness that is usually the final shape of +commoners, curates, and others who take their last rest out of doors. +Then, if you are in love, you can, by sauntering in the chapels and +behind the episcopal chantries with the bright-eyed one, so steep and +mellow your ecstasy in the solemnities around, that it will assume a +rarer and finer tincture, even more grateful to the understanding, if not +to the senses, than that form of the emotion which arises from such +companionship in spots where all is life, and growth, and fecundity. + +It was in this solemn place, whither they had withdrawn from the sight of +relatives on one cold day in March, that Sir Ashley Mottisfont asked in +marriage, as his second wife, Philippa, the gentle daughter of plain +Squire Okehall. Her life had been an obscure one thus far; while Sir +Ashley, though not a rich man, had a certain distinction about him; so +that everybody thought what a convenient, elevating, and, in a word, +blessed match it would be for such a supernumerary as she. Nobody +thought so more than the amiable girl herself. She had been smitten with +such affection for him that, when she walked the cathedral aisles at his +side on the before-mentioned day, she did not know that her feet touched +hard pavement; it seemed to her rather that she was floating in space. +Philippa was an ecstatic, heart-thumping maiden, and could not understand +how she had deserved to have sent to her such an illustrious lover, such +a travelled personage, such a handsome man. + +When he put the question, it was in no clumsy language, such as the +ordinary bucolic county landlords were wont to use on like quivering +occasions, but as elegantly as if he had been taught it in Enfield's +_Speaker_. Yet he hesitated a little--for he had something to add. + +'My pretty Philippa,' he said (she was not very pretty by the way), 'I +have, you must know, a little girl dependent upon me: a little waif I +found one day in a patch of wild oats [such was this worthy baronet's +humour] when I was riding home: a little nameless creature, whom I wish +to take care of till she is old enough to take care of herself; and to +educate in a plain way. She is only fifteen months old, and is at +present in the hands of a kind villager's wife in my parish. Will you +object to give some attention to the little thing in her helplessness?' + +It need hardly be said that our innocent young lady, loving him so deeply +and joyfully as she did, replied that she would do all she could for the +nameless child; and, shortly afterwards, the pair were married in the +same cathedral that had echoed the whispers of his declaration, the +officiating minister being the Bishop himself; a venerable and +experienced man, so well accomplished in uniting people who had a mind +for that sort of experiment, that the couple, with some sense of +surprise, found themselves one while they were still vaguely gazing at +each other as two independent beings. + +After this operation they went home to Deansleigh Park, and made a +beginning of living happily ever after. Lady Mottisfont, true to her +promise, was always running down to the village during the following +weeks to see the baby whom her husband had so mysteriously lighted on +during his ride home--concerning which interesting discovery she had her +own opinion; but being so extremely amiable and affectionate that she +could have loved stocks and stones if there had been no living creatures +to love, she uttered none of her thoughts. The little thing, who had +been christened Dorothy, took to Lady Mottisfont as if the baronet's +young wife had been her mother; and at length Philippa grew so fond of +the child that she ventured to ask her husband if she might have Dorothy +in her own home, and bring her up carefully, just as if she were her own. +To this he answered that, though remarks might be made thereon, he had no +objection; a fact which was obvious, Sir Ashley seeming rather pleased +than otherwise with the proposal. + +After this they lived quietly and uneventfully for two or three years at +Sir Ashley Mottisfont's residence in that part of England, with as near +an approach to bliss as the climate of this country allows. The child +had been a godsend to Philippa, for there seemed no great probability of +her having one of her own: and she wisely regarded the possession of +Dorothy as a special kindness of Providence, and did not worry her mind +at all as to Dorothy's possible origin. Being a tender and impulsive +creature, she loved her husband without criticism, exhaustively and +religiously, and the child not much otherwise. She watched the little +foundling as if she had been her own by nature, and Dorothy became a +great solace to her when her husband was absent on pleasure or business; +and when he came home he looked pleased to see how the two had won each +other's hearts. Sir Ashley would kiss his wife, and his wife would kiss +little Dorothy, and little Dorothy would kiss Sir Ashley, and after this +triangular burst of affection Lady Mottisfont would say, 'Dear me--I +forget she is not mine!' + +'What does it matter?' her husband would reply. 'Providence is +fore-knowing. He has sent us this one because he is not intending to +send us one by any other channel.' + +Their life was of the simplest. Since his travels the baronet had taken +to sporting and farming; while Philippa was a pattern of domesticity. +Their pleasures were all local. They retired early to rest, and rose +with the cart-horses and whistling waggoners. They knew the names of +every bird and tree not exceptionally uncommon, and could foretell the +weather almost as well as anxious farmers and old people with corns. + +One day Sir Ashley Mottisfont received a letter, which he read, and +musingly laid down on the table without remark. + +'What is it, dearest?' asked his wife, glancing at the sheet. + +'Oh, it is from an old lawyer at Bath whom I used to know. He reminds me +of something I said to him four or five years ago--some little time +before we were married--about Dorothy.' + +'What about her?' + +'It was a casual remark I made to him, when I thought you might not take +kindly to her, that if he knew a lady who was anxious to adopt a child, +and could insure a good home to Dorothy, he was to let me know.' + +'But that was when you had nobody to take care of her,' she said quickly. +'How absurd of him to write now! Does he know you are married? He must, +surely.' + +'Oh yes!' + +He handed her the letter. The solicitor stated that a widow-lady of +position, who did not at present wish her name to be disclosed, had +lately become a client of his while taking the waters, and had mentioned +to him that she would like a little girl to bring up as her own, if she +could be certain of finding one of good and pleasing disposition; and, +the better to insure this, she would not wish the child to be too young +for judging her qualities. He had remembered Sir Ashley's observation to +him a long while ago, and therefore brought the matter before him. It +would be an excellent home for the little girl--of that he was +positive--if she had not already found such a home. + +'But it is absurd of the man to write so long after!' said Lady +Mottisfont, with a lumpiness about the back of her throat as she thought +how much Dorothy had become to her. 'I suppose it was when you +first--found her--that you told him this?' + +'Exactly--it was then.' + +He fell into thought, and neither Sir Ashley nor Lady Mottisfont took the +trouble to answer the lawyer's letter; and so the matter ended for the +time. + +One day at dinner, on their return from a short absence in town, whither +they had gone to see what the world was doing, hear what it was saying, +and to make themselves generally fashionable after rusticating for so +long--on this occasion, I say, they learnt from some friend who had +joined them at dinner that Fernell Hall--the manorial house of the estate +next their own, which had been offered on lease by reason of the +impecuniosity of its owner--had been taken for a term by a widow lady, an +Italian Contessa, whose name I will not mention for certain reasons which +may by and by appear. Lady Mottisfont expressed her surprise and +interest at the probability of having such a neighbour. 'Though, if I +had been born in Italy, I think I should have liked to remain there,' she +said. + +'She is not Italian, though her husband was,' said Sir Ashley. + +'Oh, you have heard about her before now?' + +'Yes; they were talking of her at Grey's the other evening. She is +English.' And then, as her husband said no more about the lady, the +friend who was dining with them told Lady Mottisfont that the Countess's +father had speculated largely in East-India Stock, in which immense +fortunes were being made at that time; through this his daughter had +found herself enormously wealthy at his death, which had occurred only a +few weeks after the death of her husband. It was supposed that the +marriage of an enterprising English speculator's daughter to a poor +foreign nobleman had been matter of arrangement merely. As soon as the +Countess's widowhood was a little further advanced she would, no doubt, +be the mark of all the schemers who came near her, for she was still +quite young. But at present she seemed to desire quiet, and avoided +society and town. + +Some weeks after this time Sir Ashley Mottisfont sat looking fixedly at +his lady for many moments. He said: + +'It might have been better for Dorothy if the Countess had taken her. She +is so wealthy in comparison with ourselves, and could have ushered the +girl into the great world more effectually than we ever shall be able to +do.' + +'The Contessa take Dorothy?' said Lady Mottisfont with a start. 'What--was +she the lady who wished to adopt her?' + +'Yes; she was staying at Bath when Lawyer Gayton wrote to me.' + +'But how do you know all this, Ashley?' + +He showed a little hesitation. 'Oh, I've seen her,' he says. 'You know, +she drives to the meet sometimes, though she does not ride; and she has +informed me that she was the lady who inquired of Gayton.' + +'You have talked to her as well as seen her, then?' + +'Oh yes, several times; everybody has.' + +'Why didn't you tell me?' says his lady. 'I had quite forgotten to call +upon her. I'll go to-morrow, or soon . . . But I can't think, Ashley, +how you can say that it might have been better for Dorothy to have gone +to her; she is so much our own now that I cannot admit any such +conjectures as those, even in jest.' Her eyes reproached him so +eloquently that Sir Ashley Mottisfont did not answer. + +Lady Mottisfont did not hunt any more than the Anglo-Italian Countess +did; indeed, she had become so absorbed in household matters and in +Dorothy's wellbeing that she had no mind to waste a minute on mere +enjoyments. As she had said, to talk coolly of what might have been the +best destination in days past for a child to whom they had become so +attached seemed quite barbarous, and she could not understand how her +husband should consider the point so abstractedly; for, as will probably +have been guessed, Lady Mottisfont long before this time, if she had not +done so at the very beginning, divined Sir Ashley's true relation to +Dorothy. But the baronet's wife was so discreetly meek and mild that she +never told him of her surmise, and took what Heaven had sent her without +cavil, her generosity in this respect having been bountifully rewarded by +the new life she found in her love for the little girl. + +Her husband recurred to the same uncomfortable subject when, a few days +later, they were speaking of travelling abroad. He said that it was +almost a pity, if they thought of going, that they had not fallen in with +the Countess's wish. That lady had told him that she had met Dorothy +walking with her nurse, and that she had never seen a child she liked so +well. + +'What--she covets her still? How impertinent of the woman!' said Lady +Mottisfont. + +'She seems to do so . . . You see, dearest Philippa, the advantage to +Dorothy would have been that the Countess would have adopted her legally, +and have made her as her own daughter; while we have not done that--we +are only bringing up and educating a poor child in charity.' + +'But I'll adopt her fully--make her mine legally!' cried his wife in an +anxious voice. 'How is it to be done?' + +'H'm.' He did not inform her, but fell into thought; and, for reasons of +her own, his lady was restless and uneasy. + +The very next day Lady Mottisfont drove to Fernell Hall to pay the +neglected call upon her neighbour. The Countess was at home, and +received her graciously. But poor Lady Mottisfont's heart died within +her as soon as she set eyes on her new acquaintance. Such wonderful +beauty, of the fully-developed kind, had never confronted her before +inside the lines of a human face. She seemed to shine with every light +and grace that woman can possess. Her finished Continental manners, her +expanded mind, her ready wit, composed a study that made the other poor +lady sick; for she, and latterly Sir Ashley himself, were rather rural in +manners, and she felt abashed by new sounds and ideas from without. She +hardly knew three words in any language but her own, while this divine +creature, though truly English, had, apparently, whatever she wanted in +the Italian and French tongues to suit every impression; which was +considered a great improvement to speech in those days, and, indeed, is +by many considered as such in these. + +'How very strange it was about the little girl!' the Contessa said to +Lady Mottisfont, in her gay tones. 'I mean, that the child the lawyer +recommended should, just before then, have been adopted by you, who are +now my neighbour. How is she getting on? I must come and see her.' + +'Do you still want her?' asks Lady Mottisfont suspiciously. + +'Oh, I should like to have her!' + +'But you can't! She's mine!' said the other greedily. + +A drooping manner appeared in the Countess from that moment. + +Lady Mottisfont, too, was in a wretched mood all the way home that day. +The Countess was so charming in every way that she had charmed her gentle +ladyship; how should it be possible that she had failed to charm Sir +Ashley? Moreover, she had awakened a strange thought in Philippa's mind. +As soon as she reached home she rushed to the nursery, and there, seizing +Dorothy, frantically kissed her; then, holding her at arm's length, she +gazed with a piercing inquisitiveness into the girl's lineaments. She +sighed deeply, abandoned the wondering Dorothy, and hastened away. + +She had seen there not only her husband's traits, which she had often +beheld before, but others, of the shade, shape, and expression which +characterized those of her new neighbour. + +Then this poor lady perceived the whole perturbing sequence of things, +and asked herself how she could have been such a walking piece of +simplicity as not to have thought of this before. But she did not stay +long upbraiding herself for her shortsightedness, so overwhelmed was she +with misery at the spectacle of herself as an intruder between these. To +be sure she could not have foreseen such a conjuncture; but that did not +lessen her grief. The woman who had been both her husband's bliss and +his backsliding had reappeared free when he was no longer so, and she +evidently was dying to claim her own in the person of Dorothy, who had +meanwhile grown to be, to Lady Mottisfont, almost the only source of each +day's happiness, supplying her with something to watch over, inspiring +her with the sense of maternity, and so largely reflecting her husband's +nature as almost to deceive her into the pleasant belief that she +reflected her own also. + +If there was a single direction in which this devoted and virtuous lady +erred, it was in the direction of over-submissiveness. When all is said +and done, and the truth told, men seldom show much self-sacrifice in +their conduct as lords and masters to helpless women bound to them for +life, and perhaps (though I say it with all uncertainty) if she had +blazed up in his face like a furze-faggot, directly he came home, she +might have helped herself a little. But God knows whether this is a true +supposition; at any rate she did no such thing; and waited and prayed +that she might never do despite to him who, she was bound to admit, had +always been tender and courteous towards her; and hoped that little +Dorothy might never be taken away. + +By degrees the two households became friendly, and very seldom did a week +pass without their seeing something of each other. Try as she might, and +dangerous as she assumed the acquaintanceship to be, Lady Mottisfont +could detect no fault or flaw in her new friend. It was obvious that +Dorothy had been the magnet which had drawn the Contessa hither, and not +Sir Ashley. + +Such beauty, united with such understanding and brightness, Philippa had +never before known in one of her own sex, and she tried to think (whether +she succeeded I do not know) that she did not mind the propinquity; since +a woman so rich, so fair, and with such a command of suitors, could not +desire to wreck the happiness of so inoffensive a person as herself. + +The season drew on when it was the custom for families of distinction to +go off to The Bath, and Sir Ashley Mottisfont persuaded his wife to +accompany him thither with Dorothy. Everybody of any note was there this +year. From their own part of England came many that they knew; among the +rest, Lord and Lady Purbeck, the Earl and Countess of Wessex, Sir John +Grebe, the Drenkhards, Lady Stourvale, the old Duke of Hamptonshire, the +Bishop of Melchester, the Dean of Exonbury, and other lesser lights of +Court, pulpit, and field. Thither also came the fair Contessa, whom, as +soon as Philippa saw how much she was sought after by younger men, she +could not conscientiously suspect of renewed designs upon Sir Ashley. + +But the Countess had finer opportunities than ever with Dorothy; for Lady +Mottisfont was often indisposed, and even at other times could not +honestly hinder an intercourse which gave bright ideas to the child. +Dorothy welcomed her new acquaintance with a strange and instinctive +readiness that intimated the wonderful subtlety of the threads which bind +flesh and flesh together. + +At last the crisis came: it was precipitated by an accident. Dorothy and +her nurse had gone out one day for an airing, leaving Lady Mottisfont +alone indoors. While she sat gloomily thinking that in all likelihood +the Countess would contrive to meet the child somewhere, and exchange a +few tender words with her, Sir Ashley Mottisfont rushed in and informed +her that Dorothy had just had the narrowest possible escape from death. +Some workmen were undermining a house to pull it down for rebuilding, +when, without warning, the front wall inclined slowly outwards for its +fall, the nurse and child passing beneath it at the same moment. The +fall was temporarily arrested by the scaffolding, while in the meantime +the Countess had witnessed their imminent danger from the other side of +the street. Springing across, she snatched Dorothy from under the wall, +and pulled the nurse after her, the middle of the way being barely +reached before they were enveloped in the dense dust of the descending +mass, though not a stone touched them. + +'Where is Dorothy?' says the excited Lady Mottisfont. + +'She has her--she won't let her go for a time--' + +'Has her? But she's _mine_--she's mine!' cries Lady Mottisfont. + +Then her quick and tender eyes perceived that her husband had almost +forgotten her intrusive existence in contemplating the oneness of +Dorothy's, the Countess's, and his own: he was in a dream of exaltation +which recognized nothing necessary to his well-being outside that welded +circle of three lives. + +Dorothy was at length brought home; she was much fascinated by the +Countess, and saw nothing tragic, but rather all that was truly +delightful, in what had happened. In the evening, when the excitement +was over, and Dorothy was put to bed, Sir Ashley said, 'She has saved +Dorothy; and I have been asking myself what I can do for her as a slight +acknowledgment of her heroism. Surely we ought to let her have Dorothy +to bring up, since she still desires to do it? It would be so much to +Dorothy's advantage. We ought to look at it in that light, and not +selfishly.' + +Philippa seized his hand. 'Ashley, Ashley! You don't mean it--that I +must lose my pretty darling--the only one I have?' She met his gaze with +her piteous mouth and wet eyes so painfully strained, that he turned away +his face. + +The next morning, before Dorothy was awake, Lady Mottisfont stole to the +girl's bedside, and sat regarding her. When Dorothy opened her eyes, she +fixed them for a long time upon Philippa's features. + +'Mamma--you are not so pretty as the Contessa, are you?' she said at +length. + +'I am not, Dorothy.' + +'Why are you not, mamma?' + +'Dorothy--where would you rather live, always; with me, or with her?' + +The little girl looked troubled. 'I am sorry, mamma; I don't mean to be +unkind; but I would rather live with her; I mean, if I might without +trouble, and you did not mind, and it could be just the same to us all, +you know.' + +'Has she ever asked you the same question?' + +'Never, mamma.' + +There lay the sting of it: the Countess seemed the soul of honour and +fairness in this matter, test her as she might. That afternoon Lady +Mottisfont went to her husband with singular firmness upon her gentle +face. + +'Ashley, we have been married nearly five years, and I have never +challenged you with what I know perfectly well--the parentage of +Dorothy.' + +'Never have you, Philippa dear. Though I have seen that you knew from +the first.' + +'From the first as to her father, not as to her mother. Her I did not +know for some time; but I know now.' + +'Ah! you have discovered that too?' says he, without much surprise. + +'Could I help it? Very well, that being so, I have thought it over; and +I have spoken to Dorothy. I agree to her going. I can do no less than +grant to the Countess her wish, after her kindness to my--your--her--child.' + +Then this self-sacrificing woman went hastily away that he might not see +that her heart was bursting; and thereupon, before they left the city, +Dorothy changed her mother and her home. After this, the Countess went +away to London for a while, taking Dorothy with her; and the baronet and +his wife returned to their lonely place at Deansleigh Park without her. + +To renounce Dorothy in the bustle of Bath was a different thing from +living without her in this quiet home. One evening Sir Ashley missed his +wife from the supper-table; her manner had been so pensive and woeful of +late that he immediately became alarmed. He said nothing, but looked +about outside the house narrowly, and discerned her form in the park, +where recently she had been accustomed to walk alone. In its lower +levels there was a pool fed by a trickling brook, and he reached this +spot in time to hear a splash. Running forward, he dimly perceived her +light gown floating in the water. To pull her out was the work of a few +instants, and bearing her indoors to her room, he undressed her, nobody +in the house knowing of the incident but himself. She had not been +immersed long enough to lose her senses, and soon recovered. She owned +that she had done it because the Contessa had taken away her child, as +she persisted in calling Dorothy. Her husband spoke sternly to her, and +impressed upon her the weakness of giving way thus, when all that had +happened was for the best. She took his reproof meekly, and admitted her +fault. + +After that she became more resigned, but he often caught her in tears +over some doll, shoe, or ribbon of Dorothy's, and decided to take her to +the North of England for change of air and scene. This was not without +its beneficial effect, corporeally no less than mentally, as later events +showed, but she still evinced a preternatural sharpness of ear at the +most casual mention of the child. When they reached home, the Countess +and Dorothy were still absent from the neighbouring Fernell Hall, but in +a month or two they returned, and a little later Sir Ashley Mottisfont +came into his wife's room full of news. + +'Well--would you think it, Philippa! After being so desperate, too, +about getting Dorothy to be with her!' + +'Ah--what?' + +'Our neighbour, the Countess, is going to be married again! It is to +somebody she has met in London.' + +Lady Mottisfont was much surprised; she had never dreamt of such an +event. The conflict for the possession of Dorothy's person had obscured +the possibility of it; yet what more likely, the Countess being still +under thirty, and so good-looking? + +'What is of still more interest to us, or to you,' continued her husband, +'is a kind offer she has made. She is willing that you should have +Dorothy back again. Seeing what a grief the loss of her has been to you, +she will try to do without her.' + +'It is not for that; it is not to oblige me,' said Lady Mottisfont +quickly. 'One can see well enough what it is for!' + +'Well, never mind; beggars mustn't be choosers. The reason or motive is +nothing to us, so that you obtain your desire.' + +'I am not a beggar any longer,' said Lady Mottisfont, with proud mystery. + +'What do you mean by that?' + +Lady Mottisfont hesitated. However, it was only too plain that she did +not now jump at a restitution of one for whom some months before she had +been breaking her heart. + +The explanation of this change of mood became apparent some little time +farther on. Lady Mottisfont, after five years of wedded life, was +expecting to become a mother, and the aspect of many things was greatly +altered in her view. Among the more important changes was that of no +longer feeling Dorothy to be absolutely indispensable to her existence. + +Meanwhile, in view of her coming marriage, the Countess decided to +abandon the remainder of her term at Fernell Hall, and return to her +pretty little house in town. But she could not do this quite so quickly +as she had expected, and half a year or more elapsed before she finally +quitted the neighbourhood, the interval being passed in alternations +between the country and London. Prior to her last departure she had an +interview with Sir Ashley Mottisfont, and it occurred three days after +his wife had presented him with a son and heir. + +'I wanted to speak to you,' said the Countess, looking him luminously in +the face, 'about the dear foundling I have adopted temporarily, and +thought to have adopted permanently. But my marriage makes it too +risky!' + +'I thought it might be that,' he answered, regarding her steadfastly back +again, and observing two tears come slowly into her eyes as she heard her +own voice describe Dorothy in those words. + +'Don't criticize me,' she said hastily; and recovering herself, went on. +'If Lady Mottisfont could take her back again, as I suggested, it would +be better for me, and certainly no worse for Dorothy. To every one but +ourselves she is but a child I have taken a fancy to, and Lady Mottisfont +coveted her so much, and was very reluctant to let her go . . . I am sure +she will adopt her again?' she added anxiously. + +'I will sound her afresh,' said the baronet. 'You leave Dorothy behind +for the present?' + +'Yes; although I go away, I do not give up the house for another month.' + +He did not speak to his wife about the proposal till some few days after, +when Lady Mottisfont had nearly recovered, and news of the Countess's +marriage in London had just reached them. He had no sooner mentioned +Dorothy's name than Lady Mottisfont showed symptoms of disquietude. + +'I have not acquired any dislike of Dorothy,' she said, 'but I feel that +there is one nearer to me now. Dorothy chose the alternative of going to +the Countess, you must remember, when I put it to her as between the +Countess and myself.' + +'But, my dear Philippa, how can you argue thus about a child, and that +child our Dorothy?' + +'Not _ours_,' said his wife, pointing to the cot. 'Ours is here.' + +'What, then, Philippa,' he said, surprised, 'you won't have her back, +after nearly dying of grief at the loss of her?' + +'I cannot argue, dear Ashley. I should prefer not to have the +responsibility of Dorothy again. Her place is filled now.' + +Her husband sighed, and went out of the chamber. There had been a +previous arrangement that Dorothy should be brought to the house on a +visit that day, but instead of taking her up to his wife, he did not +inform Lady Mottisfont of the child's presence. He entertained her +himself as well as he could, and accompanied her into the park, where +they had a ramble together. Presently he sat down on the root of an elm +and took her upon his knee. + +'Between this husband and this baby, little Dorothy, you who had two +homes are left out in the cold,' he said. + +'Can't I go to London with my pretty mamma?' said Dorothy, perceiving +from his manner that there was a hitch somewhere. + +'I am afraid not, my child. She only took you to live with her because +she was lonely, you know.' + +'Then can't I stay at Deansleigh Park with my other mamma and you?' + +'I am afraid that cannot be done either,' said he sadly. 'We have a baby +in the house now.' He closed the reply by stooping down and kissing her, +there being a tear in his eye. + +'Then nobody wants me!' said Dorothy pathetically. + +'Oh yes, somebody wants you,' he assured her. 'Where would you like to +live besides?' + +Dorothy's experiences being rather limited, she mentioned the only other +place in the world that she was acquainted with, the cottage of the +villager who had taken care of her before Lady Mottisfont had removed her +to the Manor House. + +'Yes; that's where you'll be best off and most independent,' he answered. +'And I'll come to see you, my dear girl, and bring you pretty things; and +perhaps you'll be just as happy there.' + +Nevertheless, when the change came, and Dorothy was handed over to the +kind cottage-woman, the poor child missed the luxurious roominess of +Fernell Hall and Deansleigh; and for a long time her little feet, which +had been accustomed to carpets and oak floors, suffered from the cold of +the stone flags on which it was now her lot to live and to play; while +chilblains came upon her fingers with washing at the pump. But thicker +shoes with nails in them somewhat remedied the cold feet, and her +complaints and tears on this and other scores diminished to silence as +she became inured anew to the hardships of the farm-cottage, and she grew +up robust if not handsome. She was never altogether lost sight of by Sir +Ashley, though she was deprived of the systematic education which had +been devised and begun for her by Lady Mottisfont, as well as by her +other mamma, the enthusiastic Countess. The latter soon had other +Dorothys to think of, who occupied her time and affection as fully as +Lady Mottisfont's were occupied by her precious boy. In the course of +time the doubly-desired and doubly-rejected Dorothy married, I believe, a +respectable road-contractor--the same, if I mistake not, who repaired and +improved the old highway running from Wintoncester south-westerly through +the New Forest--and in the heart of this worthy man of business the poor +girl found the nest which had been denied her by her own flesh and blood +of higher degree. + +* * * * * + +Several of the listeners wished to hear another story from the +sentimental member after this, but he said that he could recall nothing +else at the moment, and that it seemed to him as if his friend on the +other side of the fireplace had something to say from the look of his +face. + +The member alluded to was a respectable churchwarden, with a sly chink to +one eyelid--possibly the result of an accident--and a regular attendant +at the Club meetings. He replied that his looks had been mainly caused +by his interest in the two ladies of the last story, apparently women of +strong motherly instincts, even though they were not genuinely staunch in +their tenderness. The tale had brought to his mind an instance of a +firmer affection of that sort on the paternal side, in a nature otherwise +culpable. As for telling the story, his manner was much against him, he +feared; but he would do his best, if they wished. + +Here the President interposed with a suggestion that as it was getting +late in the afternoon it would be as well to adjourn to their respective +inns and lodgings for dinner, after which those who cared to do so could +return and resume these curious domestic traditions for the remainder of +the evening, which might otherwise prove irksome enough. The curator had +told him that the room was at their service. The churchwarden, who was +beginning to feel hungry himself, readily acquiesced, and the Club +separated for an hour and a half. Then the faithful ones began to drop +in again--among whom were not the President; neither came the rural dean, +nor the two curates, though the Colonel, and the man of family, cigars in +mouth, were good enough to return, having found their hotel dreary. The +museum had no regular means of illumination, and a solitary candle, less +powerful than the rays of the fire, was placed on the table; also bottles +and glasses, provided by some thoughtful member. The chink-eyed +churchwarden, now thoroughly primed, proceeded to relate in his own terms +what was in substance as follows, while many of his listeners smoked. + + + + +DAME THE FIFTH--THE LADY ICENWAY +By the Churchwarden + + +In the reign of His Most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, +Defender of the Faith and of the American Colonies, there lived in 'a +faire maner-place' (so Leland called it in his day, as I have been told), +in one o' the greenest bits of woodland between Bristol and the city of +Exonbury, a young lady who resembled some aforesaid ones in having many +talents and exceeding great beauty. With these gifts she combined a +somewhat imperious temper and arbitrary mind, though her experience of +the world was not actually so large as her conclusive manner would have +led the stranger to suppose. Being an orphan, she resided with her +uncle, who, though he was fairly considerate as to her welfare, left her +pretty much to herself. + +Now it chanced that when this lovely young lady was about nineteen, she +(being a fearless horsewoman) was riding, with only a young lad as an +attendant, in one o' the woods near her uncle's house, and, in trotting +along, her horse stumbled over the root of a felled tree. She slipped to +the ground, not seriously hurt, and was assisted home by a gentleman who +came in view at the moment of her mishap. It turned out that this +gentleman, a total stranger to her, was on a visit at the house of a +neighbouring landowner. He was of Dutch extraction, and occasionally +came to England on business or pleasure from his plantations in Guiana, +on the north coast of South America, where he usually resided. + +On this account he was naturally but little known in Wessex, and was but +a slight acquaintance of the gentleman at whose mansion he was a guest. +However, the friendship between him and the Heymeres--as the uncle and +niece were named--warmed and warmed by degrees, there being but few folk +o' note in the vicinity at that time, which made a newcomer, if he were +at all sociable and of good credit, always sure of a welcome. A tender +feeling (as it is called by the romantic) sprang up between the two young +people, which ripened into intimacy. Anderling, the foreign gentleman, +was of an amorous temperament; and, though he endeavoured to conceal his +feeling, it could be seen that Miss Maria Heymere had impressed him +rather more deeply than would be represented by a scratch upon a stone. +He seemed absolutely unable to free himself from her fascination; and his +inability to do so, much as he tried--evidently thinking he had not the +ghost of a chance with her--gave her the pleasure of power; though she +more than sympathized when she overheard him heaving his deep drawn +sighs--privately to himself, as he supposed. + +After prolonging his visit by every conceivable excuse in his power, he +summoned courage, and offered her his hand and his heart. Being in no +way disinclined to him, though not so fervid as he, and her uncle making +no objection to the match, she consented to share his fate, for better or +otherwise, in the distant colony where, as he assured her, his rice, and +coffee, and maize, and timber, produced him ample means--a statement +which was borne out by his friend, her uncle's neighbour. In short, a +day for their marriage was fixed, earlier in the engagement than is usual +or desirable between comparative strangers, by reason of the necessity he +was under of returning to look after his properties. + +The wedding took place, and Maria left her uncle's mansion with her +husband, going in the first place to London, and about a fortnight after +sailing with him across the great ocean for their distant home--which, +however, he assured her, should not be her home for long, it being his +intention to dispose of his interests in this part of the world as soon +as the war was over, and he could do so advantageously; when they could +come to Europe, and reside in some favourite capital. + +As they advanced on the voyage she observed that he grew more and more +constrained; and, by the time they had crossed the Line, he was quite +depressed, just as he had been before proposing to her. A day or two +before landing at Paramaribo, he embraced her in a very tearful and +passionate manner, and said he wished to make a confession. It had been +his misfortune, he said, to marry at Quebec in early life a woman whose +reputation proved to be in every way bad and scandalous. The discovery +had nearly killed him; but he had ultimately separated from her, and had +never seen her since. He had hoped and prayed she might be dead; but +recently in London, when they were starting on this journey, he had +discovered that she was still alive. At first he had decided to keep +this dark intelligence from her beloved ears; but he had felt that he +could not do it. All he hoped was that such a condition of things would +make no difference in her feelings for him, as it need make no difference +in the course of their lives. + +Thereupon the spirit of this proud and masterful lady showed itself in +violent turmoil, like the raging of a nor'-west thunderstorm--as well it +might, God knows. But she was of too stout a nature to be broken down by +his revelation, as many ladies of my acquaintance would have been--so far +from home, and right under the Line in the blaze o' the sun. Of the two, +indeed, he was the more wretched and shattered in spirit, for he loved +her deeply, and (there being a foreign twist in his make) had been +tempted to this crime by her exceeding beauty, against which he had +struggled day and night, till he had no further resistance left in him. +It was she who came first to a decision as to what should be done--whether +a wise one I do not attempt to judge. + +'I put it to you,' says she, when many useless self-reproaches and +protestations on his part had been uttered--'I put it to you whether, if +any manliness is left in you, you ought not to do exactly what I consider +the best thing for me in this strait to which you have reduced me?' + +He promised to do anything in the whole world. She then requested him to +allow her to return, and announce him as having died of malignant ague +immediately on their arrival at Paramaribo; that she should consequently +appear in weeds as his widow in her native place; and that he would never +molest her, or come again to that part of the world during the whole +course of his life--a good reason for which would be that the legal +consequences might be serious. + +He readily acquiesced in this, as he would have acquiesced in anything +for the restitution of one he adored so deeply--even to the yielding of +life itself. To put her in an immediate state of independence he gave +her, in bonds and jewels, a considerable sum (for his worldly means had +been in no way exaggerated); and by the next ship she sailed again for +England, having travelled no farther than to Paramaribo. At parting he +declared it to be his intention to turn all his landed possessions into +personal property, and to be a wanderer on the face of the earth in +remorse for his conduct towards her. + +Maria duly arrived in England, and immediately on landing apprised her +uncle of her return, duly appearing at his house in the garb of a widow. +She was commiserated by all the neighbours as soon as her story was told; +but only to her uncle did she reveal the real state of affairs, and her +reason for concealing it. For, though she had been innocent of wrong, +Maria's pride was of that grain which could not brook the least +appearance of having been fooled, or deluded, or nonplussed in her +worldly aims. + +For some time she led a quiet life with her relative, and in due course a +son was born to her. She was much respected for her dignity and reserve, +and the portable wealth which her temporary husband had made over to her +enabled her to live in comfort in a wing of the mansion, without +assistance from her uncle at all. But, knowing that she was not what she +seemed to be, her life was an uneasy one, and she often said to herself: +'Suppose his continued existence should become known here, and people +should discern the pride of my motive in hiding my humiliation? It would +be worse than if I had been frank at first, which I should have been but +for the credit of this child.' + +Such grave reflections as these occupied her with increasing force; and +during their continuance she encountered a worthy man of noble birth and +title--Lord Icenway his name--whose seat was beyond Wintoncester, quite +at t'other end of Wessex. He being anxious to pay his addresses to her, +Maria willingly accepted them, though he was a plain man, older than +herself; for she discerned in a re-marriage a method of fortifying her +position against mortifying discoveries. In a few months their union +took place, and Maria lifted her head as Lady Icenway, and left with her +husband and child for his home as aforesaid, where she was quite unknown. + +A justification, or a condemnation, of her step (according as you view +it) was seen when, not long after, she received a note from her former +husband Anderling. It was a hasty and tender epistle, and perhaps it was +fortunate that it arrived during the temporary absence of Lord Icenway. +His worthless wife, said Anderling, had just died in Quebec; he had gone +there to ascertain particulars, and had seen the unfortunate woman +buried. He now was hastening to England to repair the wrong he had done +his Maria. He asked her to meet him at Southampton, his port of arrival; +which she need be in no fear of doing, as he had changed his name, and +was almost absolutely unknown in Europe. He would remarry her +immediately, and live with her in any part of the Continent, as they had +originally intended, where, for the great love he still bore her, he +would devote himself to her service for the rest of his days. + +Lady Icenway, self-possessed as it was her nature to be, was yet much +disturbed at this news, and set off to meet him, unattended, as soon as +she heard that the ship was in sight. As soon as they stood face to face +she found that she still possessed all her old influence over him, though +his power to fascinate her had quite departed. In his sorrow for his +offence against her, he had become a man of strict religious habits, self- +denying as a lenten saint, though formerly he had been a free and joyous +liver. Having first got him to swear to make her any amends she should +choose (which he was imagining must be by a true marriage), she informed +him that she had already wedded another husband, an excellent man of +ancient family and possessions, who had given her a title, in which she +much rejoiced. + +At this the countenance of the poor foreign gentleman became cold as +clay, and his heart withered within him; for as it had been her beauty +and bearing which had led him to sin to obtain her, so, now that her +beauty was in fuller bloom, and her manner more haughty by her success, +did he feel her fascination to be almost more than he could bear. +Nevertheless, having sworn his word, he undertook to obey her commands, +which were simply a renewal of her old request--that he would depart for +some foreign country, and never reveal his existence to her friends, or +husband, or any person in England; never trouble her more, seeing how +great a harm it would do her in the high position which she at present +occupied. + +He bowed his head. 'And the child--our child?' he said. + +'He is well,' says she. 'Quite well.' + +With this the unhappy gentleman departed, much sadder in his heart than +on his voyage to England; for it had never occurred to him that a woman +who rated her honour so highly as Maria had done, and who was the mother +of a child of his, would have adopted such means as this for the +restoration of that honour, and at so surprisingly early a date. He had +fully calculated on making her his wife in law and truth, and of living +in cheerful unity with her and his offspring, for whom he felt a deep and +growing tenderness, though he had never once seen the child. + +The lady returned to her mansion beyond Wintoncester, and told nothing of +the interview to her noble husband, who had fortunately gone that day to +do a little cocking and ratting out by Weydon Priors, and knew nothing of +her movements. She had dismissed her poor Anderling peremptorily enough; +yet she would often after this look in the face of the child of her so- +called widowhood, to discover what and how many traits of his father were +to be seen in his lineaments. For this she had ample opportunity during +the following autumn and winter months, her husband being a matter-of- +fact nobleman, who spent the greater part of his time in field-sports and +agriculture. + +One winter day, when he had started for a meet of the hounds a long way +from the house--it being his custom to hunt three or four times a week at +this season of the year--she had walked into the sunshine upon the +terrace before the windows, where there fell at her feet some little +white object that had come over a boundary wall hard by. It proved to be +a tiny note wrapped round a stone. Lady Icenway opened it and read it, +and immediately (no doubt, with a stern fixture of her queenly +countenance) walked hastily along the terrace, and through the door into +the shrubbery, whence the note had come. The man who had first married +her stood under the bushes before her. It was plain from his appearance +that something had gone wrong with him. + +'You notice a change in me, my best-beloved,' he said. 'Yes, Maria--I +have lost all the wealth I once possessed--mainly by reckless gambling in +the Continental hells to which you banished me. But one thing in the +world remains to me--the child--and it is for him that I have intruded +here. Don't fear me, darling! I shall not inconvenience you long; I +love you too well! But I think of the boy day and night--I cannot help +it--I cannot keep my feeling for him down; and I long to see him, and +speak a word to him once in my lifetime!' + +'But your oath?' says she. 'You promised never to reveal by word or +sign--' + +'I will reveal nothing. Only let me see the child. I know what I have +sworn to you, cruel mistress, and I respect my oath. Otherwise I might +have seen him by some subterfuge. But I preferred the frank course of +asking your permission.' + +She demurred, with the haughty severity which had grown part of her +character, and which her elevation to the rank of a peeress had rather +intensified than diminished. She said that she would consider, and would +give him an answer the day after the next, at the same hour and place, +when her husband would again be absent with his pack of hounds. + +The gentleman waited patiently. Lady Icenway, who had now no conscious +love left for him, well considered the matter, and felt that it would be +advisable not to push to extremes a man of so passionate a heart. On the +day and hour she met him as she had promised to do. + +'You shall see him,' she said, 'of course on the strict condition that +you do not reveal yourself, and hence, though you see him, he must not +see you, or your manner might betray you and me. I will lull him into a +nap in the afternoon, and then I will come to you here, and fetch you +indoors by a private way.' + +The unfortunate father, whose misdemeanour had recoiled upon his own head +in a way he could not have foreseen, promised to adhere to her +instructions, and waited in the shrubberies till the moment when she +should call him. This she duly did about three o'clock that day, leading +him in by a garden door, and upstairs to the nursery where the child lay. +He was in his little cot, breathing calmly, his arm thrown over his head, +and his silken curls crushed into the pillow. His father, now almost to +be pitied, bent over him, and a tear from his eye wetted the coverlet. + +She held up a warning finger as he lowered his mouth to the lips of the +boy. + +'But oh, why not?' implored he. + +'Very well, then,' said she, relenting. 'But as gently as possible.' + +He kissed the child without waking him, turned, gave him a last look, and +followed her out of the chamber, when she conducted him off the premises +by the way he had come. + +But this remedy for his sadness of heart at being a stranger to his own +son, had the effect of intensifying the malady; for while originally, not +knowing or having ever seen the boy, he had loved him vaguely and +imaginatively only, he now became attached to him in flesh and bone, as +any parent might; and the feeling that he could at best only see his +child at the rarest and most cursory moments, if at all, drove him into a +state of distraction which threatened to overthrow his promise to the +boy's mother to keep out of his sight. + +But such was his chivalrous respect for Lady Icenway, and his regret at +having ever deceived her, that he schooled his poor heart into +submission. Owing to his loneliness, all the fervour of which he was +capable--and that was much--flowed now in the channel of parental and +marital love--for a child who did not know him, and a woman who had +ceased to love him. + +At length this singular punishment became such a torture to the poor +foreigner that he resolved to lessen it at all hazards, compatible with +punctilious care for the name of the lady his former wife, to whom his +attachment seemed to increase in proportion to her punitive treatment of +him. At one time of his life he had taken great interest in +tulip-culture, as well as gardening in general; and since the ruin of his +fortunes, and his arrival in England, he had made of his knowledge a +precarious income in the hot-houses of nurserymen and others. With the +new idea in his head he applied himself zealously to the business, till +he acquired in a few months great skill in horticulture. Waiting till +the noble lord, his lady's husband, had room for an under-gardener of a +general sort, he offered himself for the place, and was engaged +immediately by reason of his civility and intelligence, before Lady +Icenway knew anything of the matter. Much therefore did he surprise her +when she found him in the conservatories of her mansion a week or two +after his arrival. The punishment of instant dismissal, with which at +first she haughtily threatened him, my lady thought fit, on reflection, +not to enforce. While he served her thus she knew he would not harm her +by a word, while, if he were expelled, chagrin might induce him to reveal +in a moment of exasperation what kind treatment would assist him to +conceal. + +So he was allowed to remain on the premises, and had for his residence a +little cottage by the garden-wall which had been the domicile of some of +his predecessors in the same occupation. Here he lived absolutely alone, +and spent much of his leisure in reading, but the greater part in +watching the windows and lawns of his lady's house for glimpses of the +form of the child. It was for that child's sake that he abandoned the +tenets of the Roman Catholic Church in which he had been reared, and +became the most regular attendant at the services in the parish place of +worship hard by, where, sitting behind the pew of my lady, my lord, and +his stepson, the gardener could pensively study the traits and movements +of the youngster at only a few feet distance, without suspicion or +hindrance. + +He filled his post for more than two years with a pleasure to himself +which, though mournful, was soothing, his lady never forgiving him, or +allowing him to be anything more than 'the gardener' to her child, though +once or twice the boy said, 'That gardener's eyes are so sad! Why does +he look so sadly at me?' He sunned himself in her scornfulness as if it +were love, and his ears drank in her curt monosyllables as though they +were rhapsodies of endearment. Strangely enough, the coldness with which +she treated her foreigner began to be the conduct of Lord Icenway towards +herself. It was a matter of great anxiety to him that there should be a +lineal successor to the title, yet no sign of that successor appeared. +One day he complained to her quite roughly of his fate. 'All will go to +that dolt of a cousin!' he cried. 'I'd sooner see my name and place at +the bottom of the sea!' + +The lady soothed him and fell into thought, and did not recriminate. But +one day, soon after, she went down to the cottage of the gardener to +inquire how he was getting on, for he had been ailing of late, though, as +was supposed, not seriously. Though she often visited the poor, she had +never entered her under-gardener's home before, and was much +surprised--even grieved and dismayed--to find that he was too ill to rise +from his bed. She went back to her mansion and returned with some +delicate soup, that she might have a reason for seeing him. + +His condition was so feeble and alarming, and his face so thin, that it +quite shocked her softening heart, and gazing upon him she said, 'You +must get well--you must! I have been hard with you--I know it. I will +not be so again.' + +The sick and dying man--for he was dying indeed--took her hand and +pressed it to his lips. 'Too late, my darling, too late!' he murmured. + +'But you _must not_ die! Oh, you must not!' she said. And on an impulse +she bent down and whispered some words to him, blushing as she had +blushed in her maiden days. + +He replied by a faint wan smile. 'Time was! . . . but that's past!' he +said, 'I must die!' + +And die he did, a few days later, as the sun was going down behind the +garden-wall. Her harshness seemed to come trebly home to her then, and +she remorsefully exclaimed against herself in secret and alone. Her one +desire now was to erect some tribute to his memory, without its being +recognized as her handiwork. In the completion of this scheme there +arrived a few months later a handsome stained-glass window for the +church; and when it was unpacked and in course of erection Lord Icenway +strolled into the building with his wife. + +'"_Erected to his memory by his grieving widow_,"' he said, reading the +legend on the glass. 'I didn't know that he had a wife; I've never seen +her.' + +'Oh yes, you must have, Icenway; only you forget,' replied his lady +blandly. 'But she didn't live with him, and was seldom seen visiting +him, because there were differences between them; which, as is usually +the case, makes her all the more sorry now.' + +'And go ruining herself by this expensive ruby-and-azure glass-design.' + +'She is not poor, they say.' + +As Lord Icenway grew older he became crustier and crustier, and whenever +he set eyes on his wife's boy by her other husband he would burst out +morosely, saying, + +''Tis a very odd thing, my lady, that you could oblige your first +husband, and couldn't oblige me.' + +'Ah! if I had only thought of it sooner!' she murmured. + +'What?' said he. + +'Nothing, dearest,' replied Lady Icenway. + +* * * * * + +The Colonel was the first to comment upon the Churchwarden's tale, by +saying that the fate of the poor fellow was rather a hard one. + +The gentleman-tradesman could not see that his fate was at all too hard +for him. He was legally nothing to her, and he had served her +shamefully. If he had been really her husband it would have stood +differently. + +The Bookworm remarked that Lord Icenway seemed to have been a very +unsuspicious man, with which view a fat member with a crimson face +agreed. It was true his wife was a very close-mouthed personage, which +made a difference. If she had spoken out recklessly her lord might have +been suspicious enough, as in the case of that lady who lived at +Stapleford Park in their great-grandfathers' time. Though there, to be +sure, considerations arose which made her husband view matters with much +philosophy. + +A few of the members doubted the possibility of this. + +The crimson man, who was a retired maltster of comfortable means, +_ventru_, and short in stature, cleared his throat, blew off his +superfluous breath, and proceeded to give the instance before alluded to +of such possibility, first apologizing for his heroine's lack of a title, +it never having been his good fortune to know many of the nobility. To +his style of narrative the following is only an approximation. + + + + +DAME THE SIXTH--SQUIRE PETRICK'S LADY +By the Crimson Maltster + + +Folk who are at all acquainted with the traditions of Stapleford Park +will not need to be told that in the middle of the last century it was +owned by that trump of mortgagees, Timothy Petrick, whose skill in +gaining possession of fair estates by granting sums of money on their +title-deeds has seldom if ever been equalled in our part of England. +Timothy was a lawyer by profession, and agent to several noblemen, by +which means his special line of business became opened to him by a sort +of revelation. It is said that a relative of his, a very deep thinker, +who afterwards had the misfortune to be transported for life for mistaken +notions on the signing of a will, taught him considerable legal lore, +which he creditably resolved never to throw away for the benefit of other +people, but to reserve it entirely for his own. + +However, I have nothing in particular to say about his early and active +days, but rather of the time when, an old man, he had become the owner of +vast estates by the means I have signified--among them the great manor of +Stapleford, on which he lived, in the splendid old mansion now pulled +down; likewise estates at Marlott, estates near Sherton Abbas, nearly all +the borough of Millpool, and many properties near Ivell. Indeed, I can't +call to mind half his landed possessions, and I don't know that it +matters much at this time of day, seeing that he's been dead and gone +many years. It is said that when he bought an estate he would not decide +to pay the price till he had walked over every single acre with his own +two feet, and prodded the soil at every point with his own spud, to test +its quality, which, if we regard the extent of his properties, must have +been a stiff business for him. + +At the time I am speaking of he was a man over eighty, and his son was +dead; but he had two grandsons, the eldest of whom, his namesake, was +married, and was shortly expecting issue. Just then the grandfather was +taken ill, for death, as it seemed, considering his age. By his will the +old man had created an entail (as I believe the lawyers call it), +devising the whole of the estates to his elder grandson and his issue +male, failing which, to his younger grandson and his issue male, failing +which, to remoter relatives, who need not be mentioned now. + +While old Timothy Petrick was lying ill, his elder grandson's wife, +Annetta, gave birth to her expected child, who, as fortune would have it, +was a son. Timothy, her husband, through sprung of a scheming family, +was no great schemer himself; he was the single one of the Petricks then +living whose heart had ever been greatly moved by sentiments which did +not run in the groove of ambition; and on this account he had not married +well, as the saying is; his wife having been the daughter of a family of +no better beginnings than his own; that is to say, her father was a +country townsman of the professional class. But she was a very pretty +woman, by all accounts, and her husband had seen, courted, and married +her in a high tide of infatuation, after a very short acquaintance, and +with very little knowledge of her heart's history. He had never found +reason to regret his choice as yet, and his anxiety for her recovery was +great. + +She was supposed to be out of danger, and herself and the child +progressing well, when there was a change for the worse, and she sank so +rapidly that she was soon given over. When she felt that she was about +to leave him, Annetta sent for her husband, and, on his speedy entry and +assurance that they were alone, she made him solemnly vow to give the +child every care in any circumstances that might arise, if it should +please Heaven to take her. This, of course, he readily promised. Then, +after some hesitation, she told him that she could not die with a +falsehood upon her soul, and dire deceit in her life; she must make a +terrible confession to him before her lips were sealed for ever. She +thereupon related an incident concerning the baby's parentage, which was +not as he supposed. + +Timothy Petrick, though a quick-feeling man, was not of a sort to show +nerves outwardly; and he bore himself as heroically as he possibly could +do in this trying moment of his life. That same night his wife died; and +while she lay dead, and before her funeral, he hastened to the bedside of +his sick grandfather, and revealed to him all that had happened: the +baby's birth, his wife's confession, and her death, beseeching the aged +man, as he loved him, to bestir himself now, at the eleventh hour, and +alter his will so as to dish the intruder. Old Timothy, seeing matters +in the same light as his grandson, required no urging against allowing +anything to stand in the way of legitimate inheritance; he executed +another will, limiting the entail to Timothy his grandson, for life, and +his male heirs thereafter to be born; after them to his other grandson +Edward, and Edward's heirs. Thus the newly-born infant, who had been the +centre of so many hopes, was cut off and scorned as none of the elect. + +The old mortgagee lived but a short time after this, the excitement of +the discovery having told upon him considerably, and he was gathered to +his fathers like the most charitable man in his neighbourhood. Both wife +and grandparent being buried, Timothy settled down to his usual life as +well as he was able, mentally satisfied that he had by prompt action +defeated the consequences of such dire domestic treachery as had been +shown towards him, and resolving to marry a second time as soon as he +could satisfy himself in the choice of a wife. + +But men do not always know themselves. The embittered state of Timothy +Petrick's mind bred in him by degrees such a hatred and mistrust of +womankind that, though several specimens of high attractiveness came +under his eyes, he could not bring himself to the point of proposing +marriage. He dreaded to take up the position of husband a second time, +discerning a trap in every petticoat, and a Slough of Despond in possible +heirs. 'What has happened once, when all seemed so fair, may happen +again,' he said to himself. 'I'll risk my name no more.' So he +abstained from marriage, and overcame his wish for a lineal descendant to +follow him in the ownership of Stapleford. + +Timothy had scarcely noticed the unfortunate child that his wife had +borne, after arranging for a meagre fulfilment of his promise to her to +take care of the boy, by having him brought up in his house. +Occasionally, remembering this promise, he went and glanced at the child, +saw that he was doing well, gave a few special directions, and again went +his solitary way. Thus he and the child lived on in the Stapleford +mansion-house till two or three years had passed by. One day he was +walking in the garden, and by some accident left his snuff-box on a +bench. When he came back to find it he saw the little boy standing +there; he had escaped his nurse, and was making a plaything of the box, +in spite of the convulsive sneezings which the game brought in its train. +Then the man with the encrusted heart became interested in the little +fellow's persistence in his play under such discomforts; he looked in the +child's face, saw there his wife's countenance, though he did not see his +own, and fell into thought on the piteousness of childhood--particularly +of despised and rejected childhood, like this before him. + +From that hour, try as he would to counteract the feeling, the human +necessity to love something or other got the better of what he had called +his wisdom, and shaped itself in a tender anxiety for the youngster +Rupert. This name had been given him by his dying mother when, at her +request, the child was baptized in her chamber, lest he should not +survive for public baptism; and her husband had never thought of it as a +name of any significance till, about this time, he learnt by accident +that it was the name of the young Marquis of Christminster, son of the +Duke of Southwesterland, for whom Annetta had cherished warm feelings +before her marriage. Recollecting some wandering phrases in his wife's +last words, which he had not understood at the time, he perceived at last +that this was the person to whom she had alluded when affording him a +clue to little Rupert's history. + +He would sit in silence for hours with the child, being no great speaker +at the best of times; but the boy, on his part, was too ready with his +tongue for any break in discourse to arise because Timothy Petrick had +nothing to say. After idling away his mornings in this manner, Petrick +would go to his own room and swear in long loud whispers, and walk up and +down, calling himself the most ridiculous dolt that ever lived, and +declaring that he would never go near the little fellow again; to which +resolve he would adhere for the space perhaps of a day. Such cases are +happily not new to human nature, but there never was a case in which a +man more completely befocled his former self than in this. + +As the child grew up, Timothy's attachment to him grew deeper, till +Rupert became almost the sole object for which he lived. There had been +enough of the family ambition latent in him for Timothy Petrick to feel a +little envy when, some time before this date, his brother Edward had been +accepted by the Honourable Harriet Mountclere, daughter of the second +Viscount of that name and title; but having discovered, as I have before +stated, the paternity of his boy Rupert to lurk in even a higher stratum +of society, those envious feelings speedily dispersed. Indeed, the more +he reflected thereon, after his brother's aristocratic marriage, the more +content did he become. His late wife took softer outline in his memory, +as he thought of the lofty taste she had displayed, though only a plain +burgher's daughter, and the justification for his weakness in loving the +child--the justification that he had longed for--was afforded now in the +knowledge that the boy was by nature, if not by name, a representative of +one of the noblest houses in England. + +'She was a woman of grand instincts, after all,' he said to himself +proudly. 'To fix her choice upon the immediate successor in that ducal +line--it was finely conceived! Had he been of low blood like myself or +my relations she would scarce have deserved the harsh measure that I have +dealt out to her and her offspring. How much less, then, when such +grovelling tastes were farthest from her soul! The man Annetta loved was +noble, and my boy is noble in spite of me.' + +The afterclap was inevitable, and it soon came. 'So far,' he reasoned, +'from cutting off this child from inheritance of my estates, as I have +done, I should have rejoiced in the possession of him! He is of pure +stock on one side at least, whilst in the ordinary run of affairs he +would have been a commoner to the bone.' + +Being a man, whatever his faults, of good old beliefs in the divinity of +kings and those about 'em, the more he overhauled the case in this light, +the more strongly did his poor wife's conduct in improving the blood and +breed of the Petrick family win his heart. He considered what ugly, +idle, hard-drinking scamps many of his own relations had been; the +miserable scriveners, usurers, and pawnbrokers that he had numbered among +his forefathers, and the probability that some of their bad qualities +would have come out in a merely corporeal child, to give him sorrow in +his old age, turn his black hairs gray, his gray hairs white, cut down +every stick of timber, and Heaven knows what all, had he not, like a +skilful gardener, minded his grafting and changed the sort; till at +length this right-minded man fell down on his knees every night and +morning and thanked God that he was not as other meanly descended fathers +in such matters. + +It was in the peculiar disposition of the Petrick family that the +satisfaction which ultimately settled in Timothy's breast found +nourishment. The Petricks had adored the nobility, and plucked them at +the same time. That excellent man Izaak Walton's feelings about fish +were much akin to those of old Timothy Petrick, and of his descendants in +a lesser degree, concerning the landed aristocracy. To torture and to +love simultaneously is a proceeding strange to reason, but possible to +practice, as these instances show. + +Hence, when Timothy's brother Edward said slightingly one day that +Timothy's son was well enough, but that he had nothing but shops and +offices in his backward perspective, while his own children, should he +have any, would be far different, in possessing such a mother as the +Honourable Harriet, Timothy felt a bound of triumph within him at the +power he possessed of contradicting that statement if he chose. + +So much was he interested in his boy in this new aspect that he now began +to read up chronicles of the illustrious house ennobled as the Dukes of +Southwesterland, from their very beginning in the glories of the +Restoration of the blessed Charles till the year of his own time. He +mentally noted their gifts from royalty, grants of lands, purchases, +intermarriages, plantings and buildings; more particularly their +political and military achievements, which had been great, and their +performances in art and letters, which had been by no means contemptible. +He studied prints of the portraits of that family, and then, like a +chemist watching a crystallization, began to examine young Rupert's face +for the unfolding of those historic curves and shades that the painters +Vandyke and Lely had perpetuated on canvas. + +When the boy reached the most fascinating age of childhood, and his +shouts of laughter ran through Stapleford House from end to end, the +remorse that oppressed Timothy Petrick knew no bounds. Of all people in +the world this Rupert was the one on whom he could have wished the +estates to devolve; yet Rupert, by Timothy's own desperate strategy at +the time of his birth, had been ousted from all inheritance of them; and, +since he did not mean to remarry, the manors would pass to his brother +and his brother's children, who would be nothing to him, whose boasted +pedigree on one side would be nothing to his Rupert's. + +Had he only left the first will of his grandfather alone! + +His mind ran on the wills continually, both of which were in existence, +and the first, the cancelled one, in his own possession. Night after +night, when the servants were all abed, and the click of safety locks +sounded as loud as a crash, he looked at that first will, and wished it +had been the second and not the first. + +The crisis came at last. One night, after having enjoyed the boy's +company for hours, he could no longer bear that his beloved Rupert should +be dispossessed, and he committed the felonious deed of altering the date +of the earlier will to a fortnight later, which made its execution appear +subsequent to the date of the second will already proved. He then boldly +propounded the first will as the second. + +His brother Edward submitted to what appeared to be not only +incontestible fact, but a far more likely disposition of old Timothy's +property; for, like many others, he had been much surprised at the +limitations defined in the other will, having no clue to their cause. He +joined his brother Timothy in setting aside the hitherto accepted +document, and matters went on in their usual course, there being no +dispositions in the substituted will differing from those in the other, +except such as related to a future which had not yet arrived. + +The years moved on. Rupert had not yet revealed the anxiously expected +historic lineaments which should foreshadow the political abilities of +the ducal family aforesaid when it happened on a certain day that Timothy +Petrick made the acquaintance of a well-known physician of Budmouth, who +had been the medical adviser and friend of the late Mrs. Petrick's family +for many years; though after Annetta's marriage, and consequent removal +to Stapleford, he had seen no more of her, the neighbouring practitioner +who attended the Petricks having then become her doctor as a matter of +course. Timothy was impressed by the insight and knowledge disclosed in +the conversation of the Budmouth physician, and the acquaintance ripening +to intimacy, the physician alluded to a form of hallucination to which +Annetta's mother and grandmother had been subject--that of believing in +certain dreams as realities. He delicately inquired if Timothy had ever +noticed anything of the sort in his wife during her lifetime; he, the +physician, had fancied that he discerned germs of the same peculiarity in +Annetta when he attended her in her girlhood. One explanation begat +another, till the dumbfoundered Timothy Petrick was persuaded in his own +mind that Annetta's confession to him had been based on a delusion. + +'You look down in the mouth?' said the doctor, pausing. + +'A bit unmanned. 'Tis unexpected-like,' sighed Timothy. + +But he could hardly believe it possible; and, thinking it best to be +frank with the doctor, told him the whole story which, till now, he had +never related to living man, save his dying grandfather. To his +surprise, the physician informed him that such a form of delusion was +precisely what he would have expected from Annetta's antecedents at such +a physical crisis in her life. + +Petrick prosecuted his inquiries elsewhere; and the upshot of his labours +was, briefly, that a comparison of dates and places showed irrefutably +that his poor wife's assertion could not possibly have foundation in +fact. The young Marquis of her tender passion--a highly moral and bright- +minded nobleman--had gone abroad the year before Annetta's marriage, and +had not returned till after her death. The young girl's love for him had +been a delicate ideal dream--no more. + +Timothy went home, and the boy ran out to meet him; whereupon a strangely +dismal feeling of discontent took possession of his soul. After all, +then, there was nothing but plebeian blood in the veins of the heir to +his name and estates; he was not to be succeeded by a noble-natured line. +To be sure, Rupert was his son; but that glory and halo he believed him +to have inherited from the ages, outshining that of his brother's +children, had departed from Rupert's brow for ever; he could no longer +read history in the boy's face, and centuries of domination in his eyes. + +His manner towards his son grew colder and colder from that day forward; +and it was with bitterness of heart that he discerned the characteristic +features of the Petricks unfolding themselves by degrees. Instead of the +elegant knife-edged nose, so typical of the Dukes of Southwesterland, +there began to appear on his face the broad nostril and hollow bridge of +his grandfather Timothy. No illustrious line of politicians was promised +a continuator in that graying blue eye, for it was acquiring the +expression of the orb of a particularly objectionable cousin of his own; +and, instead of the mouth-curves which had thrilled Parliamentary +audiences in speeches now bound in calf in every well-ordered library, +there was the bull-lip of that very uncle of his who had had the +misfortune with the signature of a gentleman's will, and had been +transported for life in consequence. + +To think how he himself, too, had sinned in this same matter of a will +for this mere fleshly reproduction of a wretched old uncle whose very +name he wished to forget! The boy's Christian name, even, was an +imposture and an irony, for it implied hereditary force and brilliancy to +which he plainly would never attain. The consolation of real sonship was +always left him certainly; but he could not help groaning to himself, +'Why cannot a son be one's own and somebody else's likewise!' + +The Marquis was shortly afterwards in the neighbourhood of Stapleford, +and Timothy Petrick met him, and eyed his noble countenance admiringly. +The next day, when Petrick was in his study, somebody knocked at the +door. + +'Who's there?' + +'Rupert.' + +'I'll Rupert thee, you young impostor! Say, only a poor commonplace +Petrick!' his father grunted. 'Why didn't you have a voice like the +Marquis's I saw yesterday?' he continued, as the lad came in. 'Why +haven't you his looks, and a way of commanding, as if you'd done it for +centuries--hey?' + +'Why? How can you expect it, father, when I'm not related to him?' + +'Ugh! Then you ought to be!' growled his father. + +* * * * * + +As the narrator paused, the surgeon, the Colonel, the historian, the +Spark, and others exclaimed that such subtle and instructive +psychological studies as this (now that psychology was so much in demand) +were precisely the tales they desired, as members of a scientific club, +and begged the master-maltster to tell another curious mental delusion. + +The maltster shook his head, and feared he was not genteel enough to tell +another story with a sufficiently moral tone in it to suit the club; he +would prefer to leave the next to a better man. + +The Colonel had fallen into reflection. True it was, he observed, that +the more dreamy and impulsive nature of woman engendered within her +erratic fancies, which often started her on strange tracks, only to +abandon them in sharp revulsion at the dictates of her common +sense--sometimes with ludicrous effect. Events which had caused a lady's +action to set in a particular direction might continue to enforce the +same line of conduct, while she, like a mangle, would start on a sudden +in a contrary course, and end where she began. + +The Vice-President laughed, and applauded the Colonel, adding that there +surely lurked a story somewhere behind that sentiment, if he were not +much mistaken. + +The Colonel fixed his face to a good narrative pose, and went on without +further preamble. + + + + +DAME THE SEVENTH--ANNA, LADY BAXBY +By the Colonel + + +It was in the time of the great Civil War--if I should not rather, as a +loyal subject, call it, with Clarendon, the Great Rebellion. It was, I +say, at that unhappy period of our history, that towards the autumn of a +particular year, the Parliament forces sat down before Sherton Castle +with over seven thousand foot and four pieces of cannon. The Castle, as +we all know, was in that century owned and occupied by one of the Earls +of Severn, and garrisoned for his assistance by a certain noble Marquis +who commanded the King's troops in these parts. The said Earl, as well +as the young Lord Baxby, his eldest son, were away from home just now, +raising forces for the King elsewhere. But there were present in the +Castle, when the besiegers arrived before it, the son's fair wife Lady +Baxby, and her servants, together with some friends and near relatives of +her husband; and the defence was so good and well-considered that they +anticipated no great danger. + +The Parliamentary forces were also commanded by a noble lord--for the +nobility were by no means, at this stage of the war, all on the King's +side--and it had been observed during his approach in the night-time, and +in the morning when the reconnoitring took place, that he appeared sad +and much depressed. The truth was that, by a strange freak of destiny, +it had come to pass that the stronghold he was set to reduce was the home +of his own sister, whom he had tenderly loved during her maidenhood, and +whom he loved now, in spite of the estrangement which had resulted from +hostilities with her husband's family. He believed, too, that, +notwithstanding this cruel division, she still was sincerely attached to +him. + +His hesitation to point his ordnance at the walls was inexplicable to +those who were strangers to his family history. He remained in the field +on the north side of the Castle (called by his name to this day because +of his encampment there) till it occurred to him to send a messenger to +his sister Anna with a letter, in which he earnestly requested her, as +she valued her life, to steal out of the place by the little gate to the +south, and make away in that direction to the residence of some friends. + +Shortly after he saw, to his great surprise, coming from the front of the +Castle walls a lady on horseback, with a single attendant. She rode +straight forward into the field, and up the slope to where his army and +tents were spread. It was not till she got quite near that he discerned +her to be his sister Anna; and much was he alarmed that she should have +run such risk as to sally out in the face of his forces without knowledge +of their proceedings, when at any moment their first discharge might have +burst forth, to her own destruction in such exposure. She dismounted +before she was quite close to him, and he saw that her familiar face, +though pale, was not at all tearful, as it would have been in their +younger days. Indeed, if the particulars as handed down are to be +believed, he was in a more tearful state than she, in his anxiety about +her. He called her into his tent, out of the gaze of those around; for +though many of the soldiers were honest and serious-minded men, he could +not bear that she who had been his dear companion in childhood should be +exposed to curious observation in this her great grief. + +When they were alone in the tent he clasped her in his arms, for he had +not seen her since those happier days when, at the commencement of the +war, her husband and himself had been of the same mind about the +arbitrary conduct of the King, and had little dreamt that they would not +go to extremes together. She was the calmest of the two, it is said, and +was the first to speak connectedly. + +'William, I have come to you,' said she, 'but not to save myself as you +suppose. Why, oh, why do you persist in supporting this disloyal cause, +and grieving us so?' + +'Say not that,' he replied hastily. 'If truth hides at the bottom of a +well, why should you suppose justice to be in high places? I am for the +right at any price. Anna, leave the Castle; you are my sister; come +away, my dear, and save thy life!' + +'Never!' says she. 'Do you plan to carry out this attack, and level the +Castle indeed?' + +'Most certainly I do,' says he. 'What meaneth this army around us if not +so?' + +'Then you will find the bones of your sister buried in the ruins you +cause!' said she. And without another word she turned and left him. + +'Anna--abide with me!' he entreated. 'Blood is thicker than water, and +what is there in common between you and your husband now?' + +But she shook her head and would not hear him and hastening out, mounted +her horse, and returned towards the Castle as she had come. Ay, many's +the time when I have been riding to hounds across that field that I have +thought of that scene! + +When she had quite gone down the field, and over the intervening ground, +and round the bastion, so that he could no longer even see the tip of her +mare's white tail, he was much more deeply moved by emotions concerning +her and her welfare than he had been while she was before him. He wildly +reproached himself that he had not detained her by force for her own +good, so that, come what might, she would be under his protection and not +under that of her husband, whose impulsive nature rendered him too open +to instantaneous impressions and sudden changes of plan; he was now +acting in this cause and now in that, and lacked the cool judgment +necessary for the protection of a woman in these troubled times. Her +brother thought of her words again and again, and sighed, and even +considered if a sister were not of more value than a principle, and if he +would not have acted more naturally in throwing in his lot with hers. + +The delay of the besiegers in attacking the Castle was said to be +entirely owing to this distraction on the part of their leader, who +remained on the spot attempting some indecisive operations, and parleying +with the Marquis, then in command, with far inferior forces, within the +Castle. It never occurred to him that in the meantime the young Lady +Baxby, his sister, was in much the same mood as himself. Her brother's +familiar voice and eyes, much worn and fatigued by keeping the field, and +by family distractions on account of this unhappy feud, rose upon her +vision all the afternoon, and as day waned she grew more and more +Parliamentarian in her principles, though the only arguments which had +addressed themselves to her were those of family ties. + +Her husband, General Lord Baxby, had been expected to return all the day +from his excursion into the east of the county, a message having been +sent to him informing him of what had happened at home; and in the +evening he arrived with reinforcements in unexpected numbers. Her +brother retreated before these to a hill near Ivell, four or five miles +off, to afford the men and himself some repose. Lord Baxby duly placed +his forces, and there was no longer any immediate danger. By this time +Lady Baxby's feelings were more Parliamentarian than ever, and in her +fancy the fagged countenance of her brother, beaten back by her husband, +seemed to reproach her for heartlessness. When her husband entered her +apartment, ruddy and boisterous, and full of hope, she received him but +sadly; and upon his casually uttering some slighting words about her +brother's withdrawal, which seemed to convey an imputation upon his +courage, she resented them, and retorted that he, Lord Baxby himself, had +been against the Court-party at first, where it would be much more to his +credit if he were at present, and showing her brother's consistency of +opinion, instead of supporting the lying policy of the King (as she +called it) for the sake of a barren principle of loyalty, which was but +an empty expression when a King was not at one with his people. The +dissension grew bitter between them, reaching to little less than a hot +quarrel, both being quick-tempered souls. + +Lord Baxby was weary with his long day's march and other excitements, and +soon retired to bed. His lady followed some time after. Her husband +slept profoundly, but not so she; she sat brooding by the window-slit, +and lifting the curtain looked forth upon the hills without. + +In the silence between the footfalls of the sentinels she could hear +faint sounds of her brother's camp on the distant hills, where the +soldiery had hardly settled as yet into their bivouac since their +evening's retreat. The first frosts of autumn had touched the grass, and +shrivelled the more delicate leaves of the creepers; and she thought of +William sleeping on the chilly ground, under the strain of these +hardships. Tears flooded her eyes as she returned to her husband's +imputations upon his courage, as if there could be any doubt of Lord +William's courage after what he had done in the past days. + +Lord Baxby's long and reposeful breathings in his comfortable bed vexed +her now, and she came to a determination on an impulse. Hastily lighting +a taper, she wrote on a scrap of paper: + +'_Blood is thicker than water_, _dear William--I will come_;' and with +this in her hand, she went to the door of the room, and out upon the +stairs; on second thoughts turning back for a moment, to put on her +husband's hat and cloak--not the one he was daily wearing--that if seen +in the twilight she might at a casual glance appear as some lad or hanger- +on of one of the household women; thus accoutred she descended a flight +of circular stairs, at the bottom of which was a door opening upon the +terrace towards the west, in the direction of her brother's position. Her +object was to slip out without the sentry seeing her, get to the stables, +arouse one of the varlets, and send him ahead of her along the highway +with the note to warn her brother of her approach, to throw in her lot +with his. + +She was still in the shadow of the wall on the west terrace, waiting for +the sentinel to be quite out of the way, when her ears were greeted by a +voice, saying, from the adjoining shade-- + +'Here I be!' + +The tones were the tones of a woman. Lady Baxby made no reply, and stood +close to the wall. + +'My Lord Baxby,' the voice continued; and she could recognize in it the +local accent of some girl from the little town of Sherton, close at hand. +'I be tired of waiting, my dear Lord Baxby! I was afeard you would never +come!' + +Lady Baxby flushed hot to her toes. + +'How the wench loves him!' she said to herself, reasoning from the tones +of the voice, which were plaintive and sweet and tender as a bird's. She +changed from the home-hating truant to the strategic wife in one moment. + +'Hist!' she said. + +'My lord, you told me ten o'clock, and 'tis near twelve now,' continues +the other. 'How could ye keep me waiting so if you love me as you said? +I should have stuck to my lover in the Parliament troops if it had not +been for thee, my dear lord!' + +There was not the least doubt that Lady Baxby had been mistaken for her +husband by this intriguing damsel. Here was a pretty underhand business! +Here were sly manoeuvrings! Here was faithlessness! Here was a precious +assignation surprised in the midst! Her wicked husband, whom till this +very moment she had ever deemed the soul of good faith--how could he! + +Lady Baxby precipitately retreated to the door in the turret, closed it, +locked it, and ascended one round of the staircase, where there was a +loophole. 'I am not coming! I, Lord Baxby, despise ye and all your +wanton tribe!' she hissed through the opening; and then crept upstairs, +as firmly rooted in Royalist principles as any man in the Castle. + +Her husband still slept the sleep of the weary, well-fed, and +well-drunken, if not of the just; and Lady Baxby quickly disrobed herself +without assistance--being, indeed, supposed by her woman to have retired +to rest long ago. Before lying down, she noiselessly locked the door and +placed the key under her pillow. More than that, she got a staylace, +and, creeping up to her lord, in great stealth tied the lace in a tight +knot to one of his long locks of hair, attaching the other end of the +lace to the bedpost; for, being tired herself now, she feared she might +sleep heavily; and, if her husband should wake, this would be a delicate +hint that she had discovered all. + +It is added that, to make assurance trebly sure, her gentle ladyship, +when she had lain down to rest, held her lord's hand in her own during +the whole of the night. But this is old-wives' gossip, and not +corroborated. What Lord Baxby thought and said when he awoke the next +morning, and found himself so strangely tethered, is likewise only matter +of conjecture; though there is no reason to suppose that his rage was +great. The extent of his culpability as regards the intrigue was this +much; that, while halting at a cross-road near Sherton that day, he had +flirted with a pretty young woman, who seemed nothing loth, and had +invited her to the Castle terrace after dark--an invitation which he +quite forgot on his arrival home. + +The subsequent relations of Lord and Lady Baxby were not again greatly +embittered by quarrels, so far as is known; though the husband's conduct +in later life was occasionally eccentric, and the vicissitudes of his +public career culminated in long exile. The siege of the Castle was not +regularly undertaken till two or three years later than the time I have +been describing, when Lady Baxby and all the women therein, except the +wife of the then Governor, had been removed to safe distance. That +memorable siege of fifteen days by Fairfax, and the surrender of the old +place on an August evening, is matter of history, and need not be told by +me. + +* * * * * + +The Man of Family spoke approvingly across to the Colonel when the Club +had done smiling, declaring that the story was an absolutely faithful +page of history, as he had good reason to know, his own people having +been engaged in that well-known scrimmage. He asked if the Colonel had +ever heard the equally well-authenticated, though less martial tale of a +certain Lady Penelope, who lived in the same century, and not a score of +miles from the same place? + +The Colonel had not heard it, nor had anybody except the local historian; +and the inquirer was induced to proceed forthwith. + + + + +DAME THE EIGHTH--THE LADY PENELOPE +By the Man of Family + + +In going out of Casterbridge by the low-lying road which eventually +conducts to the town of Ivell, you see on the right hand an ivied manor- +house, flanked by battlemented towers, and more than usually +distinguished by the size of its many mullioned windows. Though still of +good capacity, the building is much reduced from its original grand +proportions; it has, moreover, been shorn of the fair estate which once +appertained to its lord, with the exception of a few acres of park-land +immediately around the mansion. This was formerly the seat of the +ancient and knightly family of the Drenghards, or Drenkhards, now extinct +in the male line, whose name, according to the local chronicles, was +interpreted to mean _Strenuus Miles_, _vel Potator_, though certain +members of the family were averse to the latter signification, and a duel +was fought by one of them on that account, as is well known. With this, +however, we are not now concerned. + +In the early part of the reign of the first King James, there was +visiting near this place of the Drenghards a lady of noble family and +extraordinary beauty. She was of the purest descent; ah, there's seldom +such blood nowadays as hers! She possessed no great wealth, it was said, +but was sufficiently endowed. Her beauty was so perfect, and her manner +so entrancing, that suitors seemed to spring out of the ground wherever +she went, a sufficient cause of anxiety to the Countess her mother, her +only living parent. Of these there were three in particular, whom +neither her mother's complaints of prematurity, nor the ready raillery of +the maiden herself, could effectually put off. The said gallants were a +certain Sir John Gale, a Sir William Hervy, and the well-known Sir George +Drenghard, one of the Drenghard family before-mentioned. They had, +curiously enough, all been equally honoured with the distinction of +knighthood, and their schemes for seeing her were manifold, each fearing +that one of the others would steal a march over himself. Not content +with calling, on every imaginable excuse, at the house of the relative +with whom she sojourned, they intercepted her in rides and in walks; and +if any one of them chanced to surprise another in the act of paying her +marked attentions, the encounter often ended in an altercation of great +violence. So heated and impassioned, indeed, would they become, that the +lady hardly felt herself safe in their company at such times, +notwithstanding that she was a brave and buxom damsel, not easily put +out, and with a daring spirit of humour in her composition, if not of +coquetry. + +At one of these altercations, which had place in her relative's grounds, +and was unusually bitter, threatening to result in a duel, she found it +necessary to assert herself. Turning haughtily upon the pair of +disputants, she declared that whichever should be the first to break the +peace between them, no matter what the provocation, that man should never +be admitted to her presence again; and thus would she effectually +stultify the aggressor by making the promotion of a quarrel a distinct +bar to its object. + +While the two knights were wearing rather a crest-fallen appearance at +her reprimand, the third, never far off, came upon the scene, and she +repeated her caveat to him also. Seeing, then, how great was the concern +of all at her peremptory mood, the lady's manner softened, and she said +with a roguish smile-- + +'Have patience, have patience, you foolish men! Only bide your time +quietly, and, in faith, I will marry you all in turn!' + +They laughed heartily at this sally, all three together, as though they +were the best of friends; at which she blushed, and showed some +embarrassment, not having realized that her arch jest would have sounded +so strange when uttered. The meeting which resulted thus, however, had +its good effect in checking the bitterness of their rivalry; and they +repeated her speech to their relatives and acquaintance with a hilarious +frequency and publicity that the lady little divined, or she might have +blushed and felt more embarrassment still. + +In the course of time the position resolved itself, and the beauteous +Lady Penelope (as she was called) made up her mind; her choice being the +eldest of the three knights, Sir George Drenghard, owner of the mansion +aforesaid, which thereupon became her home; and her husband being a +pleasant man, and his family, though not so noble, of as good repute as +her own, all things seemed to show that she had reckoned wisely in +honouring him with her preference. + +But what may lie behind the still and silent veil of the future none can +foretell. In the course of a few months the husband of her choice died +of his convivialities (as if, indeed, to bear out his name), and the Lady +Penelope was left alone as mistress of his house. By this time she had +apparently quite forgotten her careless declaration to her lovers +collectively; but the lovers themselves had not forgotten it; and, as she +would now be free to take a second one of them, Sir John Gale appeared at +her door as early in her widowhood as it was proper and seemly to do so. + +She gave him little encouragement; for, of the two remaining, her best +beloved was Sir William, of whom, if the truth must be told, she had +often thought during her short married life. But he had not yet +reappeared. Her heart began to be so much with him now that she +contrived to convey to him, by indirect hints through his friends, that +she would not be displeased by a renewal of his former attentions. Sir +William, however, misapprehended her gentle signalling, and from +excellent, though mistaken motives of delicacy, delayed to intrude +himself upon her for a long time. Meanwhile Sir John, now created a +baronet, was unremitting, and she began to grow somewhat piqued at the +backwardness of him she secretly desired to be forward. + +'Never mind,' her friends said jestingly to her (knowing of her humorous +remark, as everybody did, that she would marry them all three if they +would have patience)--'never mind; why hesitate upon the order of them? +Take 'em as they come.' + +This vexed her still more, and regretting deeply, as she had often done, +that such a careless speech should ever have passed her lips, she fairly +broke down under Sir John's importunity, and accepted his hand. They +were married on a fine spring morning, about the very time at which the +unfortunate Sir William discovered her preference for him, and was +beginning to hasten home from a foreign court to declare his unaltered +devotion to her. On his arrival in England he learnt the sad truth. + +If Sir William suffered at her precipitancy under what she had deemed his +neglect, the Lady Penelope herself suffered more. She had not long been +the wife of Sir John Gale before he showed a disposition to retaliate +upon her for the trouble and delay she had put him to in winning her. +With increasing frequency he would tell her that, as far as he could +perceive, she was an article not worth such labour as he had bestowed in +obtaining it, and such snubbings as he had taken from his rivals on the +same account. These and other cruel things he repeated till he made the +lady weep sorely, and wellnigh broke her spirit, though she had formerly +been such a mettlesome dame. By degrees it became perceptible to all her +friends that her life was a very unhappy one; and the fate of the fair +woman seemed yet the harder in that it was her own stately mansion, left +to her sole use by her first husband, which her second had entered into +and was enjoying, his being but a mean and meagre erection. + +But such is the flippancy of friends that when she met them, and secretly +confided her grief to their ears, they would say cheerily, 'Lord, never +mind, my dear; there's a third to come yet!'--at which maladroit remark +she would show much indignation, and tell them they should know better +than to trifle on so solemn a theme. Yet that the poor lady would have +been only too happy to be the wife of the third, instead of Sir John whom +she had taken, was painfully obvious, and much she was blamed for her +foolish choice by some people. Sir William, however, had returned to +foreign cities on learning the news of her marriage, and had never been +heard of since. + +Two or three years of suffering were passed by Lady Penelope as the +despised and chidden wife of this man Sir John, amid regrets that she had +so greatly mistaken him, and sighs for one whom she thought never to see +again, till it chanced that her husband fell sick of some slight ailment. +One day after this, when she was sitting in his room, looking from the +window upon the expanse in front, she beheld, approaching the house on +foot, a form she seemed to know well. Lady Penelope withdrew silently +from the sickroom, and descended to the hall, whence, through the +doorway, she saw entering between the two round towers, which at that +time flanked the gateway, Sir William Hervy, as she had surmised, but +looking thin and travel-worn. She advanced into the courtyard to meet +him. + +'I was passing through Casterbridge,' he said, with faltering deference, +'and I walked out to ask after your ladyship's health. I felt that I +could do no less; and, of course, to pay my respects to your good +husband, my heretofore acquaintance . . . But oh, Penelope, th'st look +sick and sorry!' + +'I am heartsick, that's all,' said she. + +They could see in each other an emotion which neither wished to express, +and they stood thus a long time with tears in their eyes. + +'He does not treat 'ee well, I hear,' said Sir William in a low voice. +'May God in Heaven forgive him; but it is asking a great deal!' + +'Hush, hush!' said she hastily. + +'Nay, but I will speak what I may honestly say,' he answered. 'I am not +under your roof, and my tongue is free. Why didst not wait for me, +Penelope, or send to me a more overt letter? I would have travelled +night and day to come!' + +'Too late, William; you must not ask it,' said she, endeavouring to quiet +him as in old times. 'My husband just now is unwell. He will grow +better in a day or two, maybe. You must call again and see him before +you leave Casterbridge.' + +As she said this their eyes met. Each was thinking of her lightsome +words about taking the three men in turn; each thought that two-thirds of +that promise had been fulfilled. But, as if it were unpleasant to her +that this recollection should have arisen, she spoke again quickly: 'Come +again in a day or two, when my husband will be well enough to see you.' + +Sir William departed without entering the house, and she returned to Sir +John's chamber. He, rising from his pillow, said, 'To whom hast been +talking, wife, in the courtyard? I heard voices there.' + +She hesitated, and he repeated the question more impatiently. + +'I do not wish to tell you now,' said she. + +'But I wooll know!' said he. + +Then she answered, 'Sir William Hervy.' + +'By G--- I thought as much!' cried Sir John, drops of perspiration +standing on his white face. 'A skulking villain! A sick man's ears are +keen, my lady. I heard that they were lover-like tones, and he called +'ee by your Christian name. These be your intrigues, my lady, when I am +off my legs awhile!' + +'On my honour,' cried she, 'you do me a wrong. I swear I did not know of +his coming!' + +'Swear as you will,' said Sir John, 'I don't believe 'ee.' And with this +he taunted her, and worked himself into a greater passion, which much +increased his illness. His lady sat still, brooding. There was that +upon her face which had seldom been there since her marriage; and she +seemed to think anew of what she had so lightly said in the days of her +freedom, when her three lovers were one and all coveting her hand. 'I +began at the wrong end of them,' she murmured. 'My God--that did I!' + +'What?' said he. + +'A trifle,' said she. 'I spoke to myself only.' + +It was somewhat strange that after this day, while she went about the +house with even a sadder face than usual, her churlish husband grew +worse; and what was more, to the surprise of all, though to the regret of +few, he died a fortnight later. Sir William had not called upon him as +he had promised, having received a private communication from Lady +Penelope, frankly informing him that to do so would be inadvisable, by +reason of her husband's temper. + +Now when Sir John was gone, and his remains carried to his family burying- +place in another part of England, the lady began in due time to wonder +whither Sir William had betaken himself. But she had been cured of +precipitancy (if ever woman were), and was prepared to wait her whole +lifetime a widow if the said Sir William should not reappear. Her life +was now passed mostly within the walls, or in promenading between the +pleasaunce and the bowling-green; and she very seldom went even so far as +the high road which then skirted the grounds on the north, though it has +now, and for many years, been diverted to the south side. Her patience +was rewarded (if love be in any case a reward); for one day, many months +after her second husband's death, a messenger arrived at her gate with +the intelligence that Sir William Hervy was again in Casterbridge, and +would be glad to know if it were her pleasure that he should wait upon +her. + +It need hardly be said that permission was joyfully granted, and within +two hours her lover stood before her, a more thoughtful man than +formerly, but in all essential respects the same man, generous, modest to +diffidence, and sincere. The reserve which womanly decorum threw over +her manner was but too obviously artificial, and when he said 'the ways +of Providence are strange,' and added after a moment, 'and merciful +likewise,' she could not conceal her agitation, and burst into tears upon +his neck. + +'But this is too soon,' she said, starting back. + +'But no,' said he. 'You are eleven months gone in widowhood, and it is +not as if Sir John had been a good husband to you.' + +His visits grew pretty frequent now, as may well be guessed, and in a +month or two he began to urge her to an early union. But she counselled +a little longer delay. + +'Why?' said he. 'Surely I have waited long! Life is short; we are +getting older every day, and I am the last of the three.' + +'Yes,' said the lady frankly. 'And that is why I would not have you +hasten. Our marriage may seem so strange to everybody, after my unlucky +remark on that occasion we know so well, and which so many others know +likewise, thanks to talebearers.' + +On this representation he conceded a little space, for the sake of her +good name. But the destined day of their marriage at last arrived, and +it was a gay time for the villagers and all concerned, and the bells in +the parish church rang from noon till night. Thus at last she was united +to the man who had loved her the most tenderly of them all, who but for +his reticence might perhaps have been the first to win her. Often did he +say to himself; 'How wondrous that her words should have been fulfilled! +Many a truth hath been spoken in jest, but never a more remarkable one!' +The noble lady herself preferred not to dwell on the coincidence, a +certain shyness, if not shame, crossing her fair face at any allusion +thereto. + +But people will have their say, sensitive souls or none, and their +sayings on this third occasion took a singular shape. 'Surely,' they +whispered, 'there is something more than chance in this . . . The death +of the first was possibly natural; but what of the death of the second, +who ill-used her, and whom, loving the third so desperately, she must +have wished out of the way?' + +Then they pieced together sundry trivial incidents of Sir John's illness, +and dwelt upon the indubitable truth that he had grown worse after her +lover's unexpected visit; till a very sinister theory was built up as to +the hand she may have had in Sir John's premature demise. But nothing of +this suspicion was said openly, for she was a lady of noble birth--nobler, +indeed, than either of her husbands--and what people suspected they +feared to express in formal accusation. + +The mansion that she occupied had been left to her for so long a time as +she should choose to reside in it, and, having a regard for the spot, she +had coaxed Sir William to remain there. But in the end it was +unfortunate; for one day, when in the full tide of his happiness, he was +walking among the willows near the gardens, where he overheard a +conversation between some basket-makers who were cutting the osiers for +their use. In this fatal dialogue the suspicions of the neighbouring +townsfolk were revealed to him for the first time. + +'A cupboard close to his bed, and the key in her pocket. Ah!' said one. + +'And a blue phial therein--h'm!' said another. + +'And spurge-laurel leaves among the hearth-ashes. Oh-oh!' said a third. + +On his return home Sir William seemed to have aged years. But he said +nothing; indeed, it was a thing impossible. And from that hour a ghastly +estrangement began. She could not understand it, and simply waited. One +day he said, however, 'I must go abroad.' + +'Why?' said she. 'William, have I offended you?' + +'No,' said he; 'but I must go.' + +She could coax little more out of him, and in itself there was nothing +unnatural in his departure, for he had been a wanderer from his youth. In +a few days he started off, apparently quite another man than he who had +rushed to her side so devotedly a few months before. + +It is not known when, or how, the rumours, which were so thick in the +atmosphere around her, actually reached the Lady Penelope's ears, but +that they did reach her there is no doubt. It was impossible that they +should not; the district teemed with them; they rustled in the air like +night-birds of evil omen. Then a reason for her husband's departure +occurred to her appalled mind, and a loss of health became quickly +apparent. She dwindled thin in the face, and the veins in her temples +could all be distinctly traced. An inner fire seemed to be withering her +away. Her rings fell off her fingers, and her arms hung like the flails +of the threshers, though they had till lately been so round and so +elastic. She wrote to her husband repeatedly, begging him to return to +her; but he, being in extreme and wretched doubt, moreover, knowing +nothing of her ill-health, and never suspecting that the rumours had +reached her also, deemed absence best, and postponed his return awhile, +giving various good reasons for his delay. + +At length, however, when the Lady Penelope had given birth to a still- +born child, her mother, the Countess, addressed a letter to Sir William, +requesting him to come back to her if he wished to see her alive; since +she was wasting away of some mysterious disease, which seemed to be +rather mental than physical. It was evident that his mother-in-law knew +nothing of the secret, for she lived at a distance; but Sir William +promptly hastened home, and stood beside the bed of his now dying wife. + +'Believe me, William,' she said when they were alone, 'I am +innocent--innocent!' + +'Of what?' said he. 'Heaven forbid that I should accuse you of +anything!' + +'But you do accuse me--silently!' she gasped. 'I could not write +thereon--and ask you to hear me. It was too much, too degrading. But +would that I had been less proud! They suspect me of poisoning him, +William! But, oh my dear husband, I am innocent of that wicked crime! He +died naturally. I loved you--too soon; but that was all!' + +Nothing availed to save her. The worm had gnawed too far into her heart +before Sir William's return for anything to be remedial now; and in a few +weeks she breathed her last. After her death the people spoke louder, +and her conduct became a subject of public discussion. A little later +on, the physician, who had attended the late Sir John, heard the rumour, +and came down from the place near London to which he latterly had +retired, with the express purpose of calling upon Sir William Hervy, now +staying in Casterbridge. + +He stated that, at the request of a relative of Sir John's, who wished to +be assured on the matter by reason of its suddenness, he had, with the +assistance of a surgeon, made a private examination of Sir John's body +immediately after his decease, and found that it had resulted from purely +natural causes. Nobody at this time had breathed a suspicion of foul +play, and therefore nothing was said which might afterwards have +established her innocence. + +It being thus placed beyond doubt that this beautiful and noble lady had +been done to death by a vile scandal that was wholly unfounded, her +husband was stung with a dreadful remorse at the share he had taken in +her misfortunes, and left the country anew, this time never to return +alive. He survived her but a few years, and his body was brought home +and buried beside his wife's under the tomb which is still visible in the +parish church. Until lately there was a good portrait of her, in weeds +for her first husband, with a cross in her hand, at the ancestral seat of +her family, where she was much pitied, as she deserved to be. Yet there +were some severe enough to say--and these not unjust persons in other +respects--that though unquestionably innocent of the crime imputed to +her, she had shown an unseemly wantonness in contracting three marriages +in such rapid succession; that the untrue suspicion might have been +ordered by Providence (who often works indirectly) as a punishment for +her self-indulgence. Upon that point I have no opinion to offer. + +* * * * * + +The reverend the Vice-President, however, the tale being ended, offered +as his opinion that her fate ought to be quite clearly recognized as a +punishment. So thought the Churchwarden, and also the quiet gentleman +sitting near. The latter knew many other instances in point, one of +which could be narrated in a few words. + + + + +DAME THE NINTH--THE DUCHESS OF HAMPTONSHIRE +By the Quiet Gentleman + + +Some fifty years ago, the then Duke of Hamptonshire, fifth of that title, +was incontestibly the head man in his county, and particularly in the +neighbourhood of Batton. He came of the ancient and loyal family of +Saxelbye, which, before its ennoblement, had numbered many knightly and +ecclesiastical celebrities in its male line. It would have occupied a +painstaking county historian a whole afternoon to take rubbings of the +numerous effigies and heraldic devices graven to their memory on the +brasses, tablets, and altar-tombs in the aisle of the parish-church. The +Duke himself, however, was a man little attracted by ancient chronicles +in stone and metal, even when they concerned his own beginnings. He +allowed his mind to linger by preference on the many graceless and +unedifying pleasures which his position placed at his command. He could +on occasion close the mouths of his dependents by a good bomb-like oath, +and he argued doggedly with the parson on the virtues of cock-fighting +and baiting the bull. + +This nobleman's personal appearance was somewhat impressive. His +complexion was that of the copper-beech tree. His frame was stalwart, +though slightly stooping. His mouth was large, and he carried an +unpolished sapling as his walking-stick, except when he carried a spud +for cutting up any thistle he encountered on his walks. His castle stood +in the midst of a park, surrounded by dusky elms, except to the +southward; and when the moon shone out, the gleaming stone facade, backed +by heavy boughs, was visible from the distant high road as a white spot +on the surface of darkness. Though called a castle, the building was +little fortified, and had been erected with greater eye to internal +convenience than those crannied places of defence to which the name +strictly appertains. It was a castellated mansion as regular as a +chessboard on its ground-plan, ornamented with make-believe bastions and +machicolations, behind which were stacks of battlemented chimneys. On +still mornings, at the fire-lighting hour, when ghostly house-maids stalk +the corridors, and thin streaks of light through the shutter-chinks lend +startling winks and smiles to ancestors on canvas, twelve or fifteen thin +stems of blue smoke sprouted upwards from these chimney-tops, and spread +into a flat canopy on high. Around the site stretched ten thousand acres +of good, fat, unimpeachable soil, plentiful in glades and lawns wherever +visible from the castle-windows, and merging in homely arable where +screened from the too curious eye by ingeniously-contrived plantations. + +Some way behind the owner of all this came the second man in the parish, +the rector, the Honourable and Reverend Mr. Oldbourne, a widower, over +stiff and stern for a clergyman, whose severe white neckcloth, well-kept +gray hair, and right-lined face betokened none of those sympathetic +traits whereon depends so much of a parson's power to do good among his +fellow-creatures. The last, far-removed man of the series--altogether +the Neptune of these local primaries--was the curate, Mr. Alwyn Hill. He +was a handsome young deacon with curly hair, dreamy eyes--so dreamy that +to look long into them was like ascending and floating among summer +clouds--a complexion as fresh as a flower, and a chin absolutely +beardless. Though his age was about twenty-five, he looked not much over +nineteen. + +The rector had a daughter called Emmeline, of so sweet and simple a +nature that her beauty was discovered, measured, and inventoried by +almost everybody in that part of the country before it was suspected by +herself to exist. She had been bred in comparative solitude; a +rencounter with men troubled and confused her. Whenever a strange +visitor came to her father's house she slipped into the orchard and +remained till he was gone, ridiculing her weakness in apostrophes, but +unable to overcome it. Her virtues lay in no resistant force of +character, but in a natural inappetency for evil things, which to her +were as unmeaning as joints of flesh to a herbivorous creature. Her +charms of person, manner, and mind, had been clear for some time to the +Antinous in orders, and no less so to the Duke, who, though scandalously +ignorant of dainty phrases, ever showing a clumsy manner towards the +gentler sex, and, in short, not at all a lady's man, took fire to a +degree that was wellnigh terrible at sudden sight of Emmeline, a short +time after she was turned seventeen. + +It occurred one afternoon at the corner of a shrubbery between the castle +and the rectory, where the Duke was standing to watch the heaving of a +mole, when the fair girl brushed past at a distance of a few yards, in +the full light of the sun, and without hat or bonnet. The Duke went home +like a man who had seen a spirit. He ascended to the picture-gallery of +his castle, and there passed some time in staring at the bygone beauties +of his line as if he had never before considered what an important part +those specimens of womankind had played in the evolution of the Saxelbye +race. He dined alone, drank rather freely, and declared to himself that +Emmeline Oldbourne must be his. + +Meanwhile there had unfortunately arisen between the curate and this girl +some sweet and secret understanding. Particulars of the attachment +remained unknown then and always, but it was plainly not approved of by +her father. His procedure was cold, hard, and inexorable. Soon the +curate disappeared from the parish, almost suddenly, after bitter and +hard words had been heard to pass between him and the rector one evening +in the garden, intermingled with which, like the cries of the dying in +the din of battle, were the beseeching sobs of a woman. Not long after +this it was announced that a marriage between the Duke and Miss Oldbourne +was to be solemnized at a surprisingly early date. + +The wedding-day came and passed; and she was a Duchess. Nobody seemed to +think of the ousted man during the day, or else those who thought of him +concealed their meditations. Some of the less subservient ones were +disposed to speak in a jocular manner of the august husband and wife, +others to make correct and pretty speeches about them, according as their +sex and nature dictated. But in the evening, the ringers in the belfry, +with whom Alwyn had been a favourite, eased their minds a little +concerning the gentle young man, and the possible regrets of the woman he +had loved. + +'Don't you see something wrong in it all?' said the third bell as he +wiped his face. 'I know well enough where she would have liked to stable +her horses to-night, when they have done their journey.' + +'That is, you would know if you could tell where young Mr. Hill is +living, which is known to none in the parish.' + +'Except to the lady that this ring o' grandsire triples is in honour of.' + +Yet these friendly cottagers were at this time far from suspecting the +real dimensions of Emmeline's misery, nor was it clear even to those who +came into much closer communion with her than they, so well had she +concealed her heart-sickness. But bride and bridegroom had not long been +home at the castle when the young wife's unhappiness became plainly +enough perceptible. Her maids and men said that she was in the habit of +turning to the wainscot and shedding stupid scalding tears at a time when +a right-minded lady would have been overhauling her wardrobe. She prayed +earnestly in the great church-pew, where she sat lonely and insignificant +as a mouse in a cell, instead of counting her rings, falling asleep, or +amusing herself in silent laughter at the queer old people in the +congregation, as previous beauties of the family had done in their time. +She seemed to care no more for eating and drinking out of crystal and +silver than from a service of earthen vessels. Her head was, in truth, +full of something else; and that such was the case was only too obvious +to the Duke, her husband. At first he would only taunt her for her folly +in thinking of that milk-and-water parson; but as time went on his +charges took a more positive shape. He would not believe her assurance +that she had in no way communicated with her former lover, nor he with +her, since their parting in the presence of her father. This led to some +strange scenes between them which need not be detailed; their result was +soon to take a catastrophic shape. + +One dark quiet evening, about two months after the marriage, a man +entered the gate admitting from the highway to the park and avenue which +ran up to the house. He arrived within two hundred yards of the walls, +when he left the gravelled drive and drew near to the castle by a +roundabout path leading into a shrubbery. Here he stood still. In a few +minutes the strokes of the castle-clock resounded, and then a female +figure entered the same secluded nook from an opposite direction. There +the two indistinct persons leapt together like a pair of dewdrops on a +leaf; and then they stood apart, facing each other, the woman looking +down. + +'Emmeline, you begged me to come, and here I am, Heaven forgive me!' said +the man hoarsely. + +'You are going to emigrate, Alwyn,' she said in broken accents. 'I have +heard of it; you sail from Plymouth in three days in the _Western +Glory_?' + +'Yes. I can live in England no longer. Life is as death to me here,' +says he. + +'My life is even worse--worse than death. Death would not have driven me +to this extremity. Listen, Alwyn--I have sent for you to beg to go with +you, or at least to be near you--to do anything so that it be not to stay +here.' + +'To go away with me?' he said in a startled tone. + +'Yes, yes--or under your direction, or by your help in some way! Don't +be horrified at me--you must bear with me whilst I implore it. Nothing +short of cruelty would have driven me to this. I could have borne my +doom in silence had I been left unmolested; but he tortures me, and I +shall soon be in the grave if I cannot escape.' + +To his shocked inquiry how her husband tortured her, the Duchess said +that it was by jealousy. 'He tries to wring admissions from me +concerning you,' she said, 'and will not believe that I have not +communicated with you since my engagement to him was settled by my +father, and I was forced to agree to it.' + +The poor curate said that this was the heaviest news of all. 'He has not +personally ill-used you?' he asked. + +'Yes,' she whispered. + +'What has he done?' + +She looked fearfully around, and said, sobbing: 'In trying to make me +confess to what I have never done, he adopts plans I dare not describe +for terrifying me into a weak state, so that I may own to anything! I +resolved to write to you, as I had no other friend.' She added, with +dreary irony, 'I thought I would give him some ground for his suspicion, +so as not to disgrace his judgment.' + +'Do you really mean, Emmeline,' he tremblingly inquired, 'that you--that +you want to fly with me?' + +'Can you think that I would act otherwise than in earnest at such a time +as this?' + +He was silent for a minute or more. 'You must not go with me,' he said. + +'Why?' + +'It would be sin.' + +'It _cannot_ be sin, for I have never wanted to commit sin in my life; +and it isn't likely I would begin now, when I pray every day to die and +be sent to Heaven out of my misery!' + +'But it is wrong, Emmeline, all the same.' + +'Is it wrong to run away from the fire that scorches you?' + +'It would look wrong, at any rate, in this case.' + +'Alwyn, Alwyn, take me, I beseech you!' she burst out. 'It is not right +in general, I know, but it is such an exceptional instance, this. Why +has such a severe strain been put upon me? I was doing no harm, injuring +no one, helping many people, and expecting happiness; yet trouble came. +Can it be that God holds me in derision? I had no supporter--I gave way; +and now my life is a burden and a shame to me . . . Oh, if you only knew +how much to me this request to you is--how my life is wrapped up in it, +you could not deny me!' + +'This is almost beyond endurance--Heaven support us,' he groaned. 'Emmy, +you are the Duchess of Hamptonshire, the Duke of Hamptonshire's wife; you +must not go with me!' + +'And am I then refused?--Oh, am I refused?' she cried frantically. +'Alwyn, Alwyn, do you say it indeed to me?' + +'Yes, I do, dear, tender heart! I do most sadly say it. You must not +go. Forgive me, for there is no alternative but refusal. Though I die, +though you die, we must not fly together. It is forbidden in God's law. +Good-bye, for always and ever!' + +He tore himself away, hastened from the shrubbery, and vanished among the +trees. + +Three days after this meeting and farewell, Alwyn, his soft, handsome +features stamped with a haggard hardness that ten years of ordinary wear +and tear in the world could scarcely have produced, sailed from Plymouth +on a drizzling morning, in the passenger-ship _Western Glory_. When the +land had faded behind him he mechanically endeavoured to school himself +into a stoical frame of mind. His attempt, backed up by the strong moral +staying power that had enabled him to resist the passionate temptation to +which Emmeline, in her reckless trustfulness, had exposed him, was +rewarded by a certain kind of success, though the murmuring stretch of +waters whereon he gazed day after day too often seemed to be articulating +to him in tones of her well-remembered voice. + +He framed on his journey rules of conduct for reducing to mild +proportions the feverish regrets which would occasionally arise and +agitate him, when he indulged in visions of what might have been had he +not hearkened to the whispers of conscience. He fixed his thoughts for +so many hours a day on philosophical passages in the volumes he had +brought with him, allowing himself now and then a few minutes' thought of +Emmeline, with the strict yet reluctant niggardliness of an ailing +epicure proportioning the rank drinks that cause his malady. The voyage +was marked by the usual incidents of a sailing-passage in those days--a +storm, a calm, a man overboard, a birth, and a funeral--the latter sad +event being one in which he, as the only clergyman on board, officiated, +reading the service ordained for the purpose. The ship duly arrived at +Boston early in the month following, and thence he proceeded to +Providence to seek out a distant relative. + +After a short stay at Providence he returned again to Boston, and by +applying himself to a serious occupation made good progress in shaking +off the dreary melancholy which enveloped him even now. Distracted and +weakened in his beliefs by his recent experiences, he decided that he +could not for a time worthily fill the office of a minister of religion, +and applied for the mastership of a school. Some introductions, given +him before starting, were useful now, and he soon became known as a +respectable scholar and gentleman to the trustees of one of the colleges. +This ultimately led to his retirement from the school and installation in +the college as Professor of rhetoric and oratory. + +Here and thus he lived on, exerting himself solely because of a +conscientious determination to do his duty. He passed his winter +evenings in turning sonnets and elegies, often giving his thoughts voice +in 'Lines to an Unfortunate Lady,' while his summer leisure at the same +hour would be spent in watching the lengthening shadows from his window, +and fancifully comparing them with the shades of his own life. If he +walked, he mentally inquired which was the eastern quarter of the +landscape, and thought of two thousand miles of water that way, and of +what was beyond it. In a word he was at all spare times dreaming of her +who was only a memory to him, and would probably never be more. + +Nine years passed by, and under their wear and tear Alwyn Hill's face +lost a great many of the attractive characteristics which had formerly +distinguished it. He was kind to his pupils and affable to all who came +in contact with him; but the kernel of his life, his secret, was kept as +snugly shut up as though he had been dumb. In talking to his +acquaintances of England and his life there, he omitted the episode of +Batton Castle and Emmeline as if it had no existence in his calendar at +all. Though of towering importance to himself, it had filled but a short +and small fragment of time, an ephemeral season which would have been +wellnigh imperceptible, even to him, at this distance, but for the +incident it enshrined. + +One day, at this date, when cursorily glancing over an old English +newspaper, he observed a paragraph which, short as it was, contained for +him whole tomes of thrilling information--rung with more passion-stirring +rhythm than the collected cantos of all the poets. It was an +announcement of the death of the Duke of Hamptonshire, leaving behind him +a widow, but no children. + +The current of Alwyn's thoughts now completely changed. On looking again +at the newspaper he found it to be one that was sent him long ago, and +had been carelessly thrown aside. But for an accidental overhauling of +the waste journals in his study he might not have known of the event for +years. At this moment of reading the Duke had already been dead seven +months. Alwyn could now no longer bind himself down to machine-made +synecdoche, antithesis, and climax, being full of spontaneous specimens +of all these rhetorical forms, which he dared not utter. Who shall +wonder that his mind luxuriated in dreams of a sweet possibility now laid +open for the first time these many years? for Emmeline was to him now as +ever the one dear thing in all the world. The issue of his silent +romancing was that he resolved to return to her at the very earliest +moment. + +But he could not abandon his professional work on the instant. He did +not get really quite free from engagements till four months later; but, +though suffering throes of impatience continually, he said to himself +every day: 'If she has continued to love me nine years she will love me +ten; she will think the more tenderly of me when her present hours of +solitude shall have done their proper work; old times will revive with +the cessation of her recent experience, and every day will favour my +return.' + +The enforced interval soon passed, and he duly arrived in England, +reaching the village of Batton on a certain winter day between twelve and +thirteen months subsequent to the time of the Duke's death. + +It was evening; yet such was Alwyn's impatience that he could not forbear +taking, this very night, one look at the castle which Emmeline had +entered as unhappy mistress ten years before. He threaded the park +trees, gazed in passing at well-known outlines which rose against the dim +sky, and was soon interested in observing that lively country-people, in +parties of two and three, were walking before and behind him up the +interlaced avenue to the castle gateway. Knowing himself to be safe from +recognition, Alwyn inquired of one of these pedestrians what was going +on. + +'Her Grace gives her tenantry a ball to-night, to keep up the old custom +of the Duke and his father before him, which she does not wish to +change.' + +'Indeed. Has she lived here entirely alone since the Duke's death?' + +'Quite alone. But though she doesn't receive company herself, she likes +the village people to enjoy themselves, and often has 'em here.' + +'Kind-hearted, as always!' thought Alwyn. + +On reaching the castle he found that the great gates at the tradesmen's +entrance were thrown back against the wall as if they were never to be +closed again; that the passages and rooms in that wing were brilliantly +lighted up, some of the numerous candles guttering down over the green +leaves which decorated them, and upon the silk dresses of the happy +farmers' wives as they passed beneath, each on her husband's arm. Alwyn +found no difficulty in marching in along with the rest, the castle being +Liberty Hall to-night. He stood unobserved in a corner of the large +apartment where dancing was about to begin. + +'Her Grace, though hardly out of mourning, will be sure to come down and +lead off the dance with neighbour Bates,' said one. + +'Who is neighbour Bates?' asked Alwyn. + +'An old man she respects much--the oldest of her tenant-farmers. He was +seventy-eight his last birthday.' + +'Ah, to be sure!' said Alwyn, at his ease. 'I remember.' + +The dancers formed in line, and waited. A door opened at the farther end +of the hall, and a lady in black silk came forth. She bowed, smiled, and +proceeded to the top of the dance. + +'Who is that lady?' said Alwyn, in a puzzled tone. 'I thought you told +me that the Duchess of Hamptonshire--' + +'That is the Duchess,' said his informant. + +'But there is another?' + +'No; there is no other.' + +'But she is not the Duchess of Hamptonshire--who used to--' Alwyn's +tongue stuck to his mouth, he could get no farther. + +'What's the matter?' said his acquaintance. Alwyn had retired, and was +supporting himself against the wall. + +The wretched Alwyn murmured something about a stitch in his side from +walking. Then the music struck up, the dance went on, and his neighbour +became so interested in watching the movements of this strange Duchess +through its mazes as to forget Alwyn for a while. + +It gave him an opportunity to brace himself up. He was a man who had +suffered, and he could suffer again. 'How came that person to be your +Duchess?' he asked in a firm, distinct voice, when he had attained +complete self-command. 'Where is her other Grace of Hamptonshire? There +certainly was another. I know it.' + +'Oh, the previous one! Yes, yes. She ran away years and years ago with +the young curate. Mr. Hill was the young man's name, if I recollect.' + +'No! She never did. What do you mean by that?' he said. + +'Yes, she certainly ran away. She met the curate in the shrubbery about +a couple of months after her marriage with the Duke. There were folks +who saw the meeting and heard some words of their talk. They arranged to +go, and she sailed from Plymouth with him a day or two afterward.' + +'That's not true.' + +'Then 'tis the queerest lie ever told by man. Her father believed and +knew to his dying day that she went with him; and so did the Duke, and +everybody about here. Ay, there was a fine upset about it at the time. +The Duke traced her to Plymouth.' + +'Traced her to Plymouth?' + +'He traced her to Plymouth, and set on his spies; and they found that she +went to the shipping-office, and inquired if Mr. Alwyn Hill had entered +his name as passenger by the _Western Glory_; and when she found that he +had, she booked herself for the same ship, but not in her real name. When +the vessel had sailed a letter reached the Duke from her, telling him +what she had done. She never came back here again. His Grace lived by +himself a number of years, and married this lady only twelve months +before he died.' + +Alwyn was in a state of indescribable bewilderment. But, unmanned as he +was, he called the next day on the, to him, spurious Duchess of +Hamptonshire. At first she was alarmed at his statement, then cold, then +she was won over by his condition to give confidence for confidence. She +showed him a letter which had been found among the papers of the late +Duke, corroborating what Alwyn's informant had detailed. It was from +Emmeline, bearing the postmarked date at which the _Western Glory_ +sailed, and briefly stated that she had emigrated by that ship to +America. + +Alwyn applied himself body and mind to unravel the remainder of the +mystery. The story repeated to him was always the same: 'She ran away +with the curate.' A strangely circumstantial piece of intelligence was +added to this when he had pushed his inquiries a little further. There +was given him the name of a waterman at Plymouth, who had come forward at +the time that she was missed and sought for by her husband, and had +stated that he put her on board the _Western Glory_ at dusk one evening +before that vessel sailed. + +After several days of search about the alleys and quays of Plymouth +Barbican, during which these impossible words, 'She ran off with the +curate,' became branded on his brain, Alwyn found this important +waterman. He was positive as to the truth of his story, still +remembering the incident well, and he described in detail the lady's +dress, as he had long ago described it to her husband, which description +corresponded in every particular with the dress worn by Emmeline on the +evening of their parting. + +Before proceeding to the other side of the Atlantic to continue his +inquiries there, the puzzled and distracted Alwyn set himself to +ascertain the address of Captain Wheeler, who had commanded the _Western +Glory_ in the year of Alwyn's voyage out, and immediately wrote a letter +to him on the subject. + +The only circumstances which the sailor could recollect or discover from +his papers in connection with such a story were, that a woman bearing the +name which Alwyn had mentioned as fictitious certainly did come aboard +for a voyage he made about that time; that she took a common berth among +the poorest emigrants; that she died on the voyage out, at about five +days' sail from Plymouth; that she seemed a lady in manners and +education. Why she had not applied for a first-class passage, why she +had no trunks, they could not guess, for though she had little money in +her pocket she had that about her which would have fetched it. 'We +buried her at sea,' continued the captain. 'A young parson, one of the +cabin-passengers, read the burial-service over her, I remember well.' + +The whole scene and proceedings darted upon Alwyn's recollection in a +moment. It was a fine breezy morning on that long-past voyage out, and +he had been told that they were running at the rate of a hundred and odd +miles a day. The news went round that one of the poor young women in the +other part of the vessel was ill of fever, and delirious. The tidings +caused no little alarm among all the passengers, for the sanitary +conditions of the ship were anything but satisfactory. Shortly after +this the doctor announced that she had died. Then Alwyn had learnt that +she was laid out for burial in great haste, because of the danger that +would have been incurred by delay. And next the funeral scene rose +before him, and the prominent part that he had taken in that solemn +ceremony. The captain had come to him, requesting him to officiate, as +there was no chaplain on board. This he had agreed to do; and as the sun +went down with a blaze in his face he read amidst them all assembled: 'We +therefore commit her body to the deep, to be turned into corruption, +looking for the resurrection of the body when the sea shall give up her +dead.' + +The captain also forwarded the addresses of the ship's matron and of +other persons who had been engaged on board at the date. To these Alwyn +went in the course of time. A categorical description of the clothes of +the dead truant, the colour of her hair, and other things, extinguished +for ever all hope of a mistake in identity. + +At last, then, the course of events had become clear. On that unhappy +evening when he left Emmeline in the shrubbery, forbidding her to follow +him because it would be a sin, she must have disobeyed. She must have +followed at his heels silently through the darkness, like a poor pet +animal that will not be driven back. She could have accumulated nothing +for the journey more than she might have carried in her hand; and thus +poorly provided she must have embarked. Her intention had doubtless been +to make her presence on board known to him as soon as she could muster +courage to do so. + +Thus the ten years' chapter of Alwyn Hill's romance wound itself up under +his eyes. That the poor young woman in the steerage had been the young +Duchess of Hamptonshire was never publicly disclosed. Hill had no longer +any reason for remaining in England, and soon after left its shores with +no intention to return. Previous to his departure he confided his story +to an old friend from his native town--grandfather of the person who now +relates it to you. + +* * * * * + +A few members, including the Bookworm, seemed to be impressed by the +quiet gentleman's tale; but the member we have called the Spark--who, by +the way, was getting somewhat tinged with the light of other days, and +owned to eight-and-thirty--walked daintily about the room instead of +sitting down by the fire with the majority and said that for his part he +preferred something more lively than the last story--something in which +such long-separated lovers were ultimately united. He also liked stories +that were more modern in their date of action than those he had heard to- +day. + +Members immediately requested him to give them a specimen, to which the +Spark replied that he didn't mind, as far as that went. And though the +Vice-President, the Man of Family, the Colonel, and others, looked at +their watches, and said they must soon retire to their respective +quarters in the hotel adjoining, they all decided to sit out the Spark's +story. + + + + +DAME THE TENTH--THE HONOURABLE LAURA +By the Spark + + +It was a cold and gloomy Christmas Eve. The mass of cloud overhead was +almost impervious to such daylight as still lingered on; the snow lay +several inches deep upon the ground, and the slanting downfall which +still went on threatened to considerably increase its thickness before +the morning. The Prospect Hotel, a building standing near the wild north +coast of Lower Wessex, looked so lonely and so useless at such a time as +this that a passing wayfarer would have been led to forget summer +possibilities, and to wonder at the commercial courage which could invest +capital, on the basis of the popular taste for the picturesque, in a +country subject to such dreary phases. That the district was alive with +visitors in August seemed but a dim tradition in weather so totally +opposed to all that tempts mankind from home. However, there the hotel +stood immovable; and the cliffs, creeks, and headlands which were the +primary attractions of the spot, rising in full view on the opposite side +of the valley, were now but stern angular outlines, while the townlet in +front was tinged over with a grimy dirtiness rather than the pearly gray +that in summer lent such beauty to its appearance. + +Within the hotel commanding this outlook the landlord walked idly about +with his hands in his pockets, not in the least expectant of a visitor, +and yet unable to settle down to any occupation which should compensate +in some degree for the losses that winter idleness entailed on his +regular profession. So little, indeed, was anybody expected, that the +coffee-room waiter--a genteel boy, whose plated buttons in summer were as +close together upon the front of his short jacket as peas in a pod--now +appeared in the back yard, metamorphosed into the unrecognizable shape of +a rough country lad in corduroys and hobnailed boots, sweeping the snow +away, and talking the local dialect in all its purity, quite oblivious of +the new polite accent he had learned in the hot weather from the well- +behaved visitors. The front door was closed, and, as if to express still +more fully the sealed and chrysalis state of the establishment, a sand- +bag was placed at the bottom to keep out the insidious snowdrift, the +wind setting in directly from that quarter. + +The landlord, entering his own parlour, walked to the large fire which it +was absolutely necessary to keep up for his comfort, no such blaze +burning in the coffee-room or elsewhere, and after giving it a stir +returned to a table in the lobby, whereon lay the visitors' book--now +closed and pushed back against the wall. He carelessly opened it; not a +name had been entered there since the 19th of the previous November, and +that was only the name of a man who had arrived on a tricycle, who, +indeed, had not been asked to enter at all. + +While he was engaged thus the evening grew darker; but before it was as +yet too dark to distinguish objects upon the road winding round the back +of the cliffs, the landlord perceived a black spot on the distant white, +which speedily enlarged itself and drew near. The probabilities were +that this vehicle--for a vehicle of some sort it seemed to be--would pass +by and pursue its way to the nearest railway-town as others had done. +But, contrary to the landlord's expectation, as he stood conning it +through the yet unshuttered windows, the solitary object, on reaching the +corner, turned into the hotel-front, and drove up to the door. + +It was a conveyance particularly unsuited to such a season and weather, +being nothing more substantial than an open basket-carriage drawn by a +single horse. Within sat two persons, of different sexes, as could soon +be discerned, in spite of their muffled attire. The man held the reins, +and the lady had got some shelter from the storm by clinging close to his +side. The landlord rang the hostler's bell to attract the attention of +the stable-man, for the approach of the visitors had been deadened to +noiselessness by the snow, and when the hostler had come to the horse's +head the gentleman and lady alighted, the landlord meeting them in the +hall. + +The male stranger was a foreign-looking individual of about eight-and- +twenty. He was close-shaven, excepting a moustache, his features being +good, and even handsome. The lady, who stood timidly behind him, seemed +to be much younger--possibly not more than eighteen, though it was +difficult to judge either of her age or appearance in her present +wrappings. + +The gentleman expressed his wish to stay till the morning, explaining +somewhat unnecessarily, considering that the house was an inn, that they +had been unexpectedly benighted on their drive. Such a welcome being +given them as landlords can give in dull times, the latter ordered fires +in the drawing and coffee-rooms, and went to the boy in the yard, who +soon scrubbed himself up, dragged his disused jacket from its box, +polished the buttons with his sleeve, and appeared civilized in the hall. +The lady was shown into a room where she could take off her snow-damped +garments, which she sent down to be dried, her companion, meanwhile, +putting a couple of sovereigns on the table, as if anxious to make +everything smooth and comfortable at starting, and requesting that a +private sitting-room might be got ready. The landlord assured him that +the best upstairs parlour--usually public--should be kept private this +evening, and sent the maid to light the candles. Dinner was prepared for +them, and, at the gentleman's desire, served in the same apartment; +where, the young lady having joined him, they were left to the rest and +refreshment they seemed to need. + +That something was peculiar in the relations of the pair had more than +once struck the landlord, though wherein that peculiarity lay it was hard +to decide. But that his guest was one who paid his way readily had been +proved by his conduct, and dismissing conjectures, he turned to practical +affairs. + +About nine o'clock he re-entered the hall, and, everything being done for +the day, again walked up and down, occasionally gazing through the glass +door at the prospect without, to ascertain how the weather was +progressing. Contrary to prognostication, snow had ceased falling, and, +with the rising of the moon, the sky had partially cleared, light fleeces +of cloud drifting across the silvery disk. There was every sign that a +frost was going to set in later on. For these reasons the distant rising +road was even more distinct now between its high banks than it had been +in the declining daylight. Not a track or rut broke the virgin surface +of the white mantle that lay along it, all marks left by the lately +arrived travellers having been speedily obliterated by the flakes falling +at the time. + +And now the landlord beheld by the light of the moon a sight very similar +to that he had seen by the light of day. Again a black spot was +advancing down the road that margined the coast. He was in a moment or +two enabled to perceive that the present vehicle moved onward at a more +headlong pace than the little carriage which had preceded it; next, that +it was a brougham drawn by two powerful horses; next, that this carriage, +like the former one, was bound for the hotel-door. This desirable +feature of resemblance caused the landlord to once more withdraw the sand- +bag and advance into the porch. + +An old gentleman was the first to alight. He was followed by a young +one, and both unhesitatingly came forward. + +'Has a young lady, less than nineteen years of age, recently arrived here +in the company of a man some years her senior?' asked the old gentleman, +in haste. 'A man cleanly shaven for the most part, having the appearance +of an opera-singer, and calling himself Signor Smithozzi?' + +'We have had arrivals lately,' said the landlord, in the tone of having +had twenty at least--not caring to acknowledge the attenuated state of +business that afflicted Prospect Hotel in winter. + +'And among them can your memory recall two persons such as those I +describe?--the man a sort of baritone?' + +'There certainly is or was a young couple staying in the hotel; but I +could not pronounce on the compass of the gentleman's voice.' + +'No, no; of course not. I am quite bewildered. They arrived in a basket- +carriage, altogether badly provided?' + +'They came in a carriage, I believe, as most of our visitors do.' + +'Yes, yes. I must see them at once. Pardon my want of ceremony, and +show us in to where they are.' + +'But, sir, you forget. Suppose the lady and gentleman I mean are not the +lady and gentleman you mean? It would be awkward to allow you to rush in +upon them just now while they are at dinner, and might cause me to lose +their future patronage.' + +'True, true. They may not be the same persons. My anxiety, I perceive, +makes me rash in my assumptions!' + +'Upon the whole, I think they must be the same, Uncle Quantock,' said the +young man, who had not till now spoken. And turning to the landlord: +'You possibly have not such a large assemblage of visitors here, on this +somewhat forbidding evening, that you quite forget how this couple +arrived, and what the lady wore?' His tone of addressing the landlord +had in it a quiet frigidity that was not without irony. + +'Ah! what she wore; that's it, James. What did she wear?' + +'I don't usually take stock of my guests' clothing,' replied the landlord +drily, for the ready money of the first arrival had decidedly biassed him +in favour of that gentleman's cause. 'You can certainly see some of it +if you want to,' he added carelessly, 'for it is drying by the kitchen +fire.' + +Before the words were half out of his mouth the old gentleman had +exclaimed, 'Ah!' and precipitated himself along what seemed to be the +passage to the kitchen; but as this turned out to be only the entrance to +a dark china-closet, he hastily emerged again, after a collision with the +inn-crockery had told him of his mistake. + +'I beg your pardon, I'm sure; but if you only knew my feelings (which I +cannot at present explain), you would make allowances. Anything I have +broken I will willingly pay for.' + +'Don't mention it, sir,' said the landlord. And showing the way, they +adjourned to the kitchen without further parley. The eldest of the party +instantly seized the lady's cloak, that hung upon a clothes-horse, +exclaiming: 'Ah! yes, James, it is hers. I knew we were on their track.' + +'Yes, it is hers,' answered the nephew quietly, for he was much less +excited than his companion. + +'Show us their room at once,' said the old man. + +'William, have the lady and gentleman in the front sitting-room finished +dining?' + +'Yes, sir, long ago,' said the hundred plated buttons. + +'Then show up these gentlemen to them at once. You stay here to-night, +gentlemen, I presume? Shall the horses be taken out?' + +'Feed the horses and wash their mouths. Whether we stay or not depends +upon circumstances,' said the placid younger man, as he followed his +uncle and the waiter to the staircase. + +'I think, Nephew James,' said the former, as he paused with his foot on +the first step--'I think we had better not be announced, but take them by +surprise. She may go throwing herself out of the window, or do some +equally desperate thing!' + +'Yes, certainly, we'll enter unannounced.' And he called back the lad +who preceded them. + +'I cannot sufficiently thank you, James, for so effectually aiding me in +this pursuit!' exclaimed the old gentleman, taking the other by the hand. +'My increasing infirmities would have hindered my overtaking her +to-night, had it not been for your timely aid.' + +'I am only too happy, uncle, to have been of service to you in this or +any other matter. I only wish I could have accompanied you on a +pleasanter journey. However, it is advisable to go up to them at once, +or they may hear us.' And they softly ascended the stairs. + +* * * * * + +On the door being opened, a room too large to be comfortable, lit by the +best branch-candlesticks of the hotel, was disclosed, before the fire of +which apartment the truant couple were sitting, very innocently looking +over the hotel scrap-book and the album containing views of the +neighbourhood. No sooner had the old man entered than the young lady--who +now showed herself to be quite as young as described, and remarkably +prepossessing as to features--perceptibly turned pale. When the nephew +entered, she turned still paler, as if she were going to faint. The +young man described as an opera-singer rose with grim civility, and +placed chairs for his visitors. + +'Caught you, thank God!' said the old gentleman breathlessly. + +'Yes, worse luck, my lord!' murmured Signor Smithozzi, in native London- +English, that distinguished alien having, in fact, first seen the light +in the vicinity of the City Road. 'She would have been mine to-morrow. +And I think that under the peculiar circumstances it would be +wiser--considering how soon the breath of scandal will tarnish a lady's +fame--to let her be mine to-morrow, just the same.' + +'Never!' said the old man. 'Here is a lady under age, without +experience--child-like in her maiden innocence and virtue--whom you have +plied by your vile arts, till this morning at dawn--' + +'Lord Quantock, were I not bound to respect your gray hairs--' + +'Till this morning at dawn you tempted her away from her father's roof. +What blame can attach to her conduct that will not, on a full explanation +of the matter, be readily passed over in her and thrown entirely on you? +Laura, you return at once with me. I should not have arrived, after all, +early enough to deliver you, if it had not been for the disinterestedness +of your cousin, Captain Northbrook, who, on my discovering your flight +this morning, offered with a promptitude for which I can never +sufficiently thank him, to accompany me on my journey, as the only male +relative I have near me. Come, do you hear? Put on your things; we are +off at once.' + +'I don't want to go!' pouted the young lady. + +'I daresay you don't,' replied her father drily. 'But children never +know what's best for them. So come along, and trust to my opinion.' + +Laura was silent, and did not move, the opera gentleman looking +helplessly into the fire, and the lady's cousin sitting meditatively +calm, as the single one of the four whose position enabled him to survey +the whole escapade with the cool criticism of a comparative outsider. + +'I say to you, Laura, as the father of a daughter under age, that you +instantly come with me. What? Would you compel me to use physical force +to reclaim you?' + +'I don't want to return!' again declared Laura. + +'It is your duty to return nevertheless, and at once, I inform you.' + +'I don't want to!' + +'Now, dear Laura, this is what I say: return with me and your cousin +James quietly, like a good and repentant girl, and nothing will be said. +Nobody knows what has happened as yet, and if we start at once, we shall +be home before it is light to-morrow morning. Come.' + +'I am not obliged to come at your bidding, father, and I would rather +not!' + +Now James, the cousin, during this dialogue might have been observed to +grow somewhat restless, and even impatient. More than once he had parted +his lips to speak, but second thoughts each time held him back. The +moment had come, however, when he could keep silence no longer. + +'Come, madam!' he spoke out, 'this farce with your father has, in my +opinion, gone on long enough. Just make no more ado, and step downstairs +with us.' + +She gave herself an intractable little twist, and did not reply. + +'By the Lord Harry, Laura, I won't stand this!' he said angrily. 'Come, +get on your things before I come and compel you. There is a kind of +compulsion to which this talk is child's play. Come, madam--instantly, I +say!' + +The old nobleman turned to his nephew and said mildly: 'Leave me to +insist, James. It doesn't become you. I can speak to her sharply +enough, if I choose.' + +James, however, did not heed his uncle, and went on to the troublesome +young woman: 'You say you don't want to come, indeed! A pretty story to +tell me, that! Come, march out of the room at once, and leave that +hulking fellow for me to deal with afterward. Get on quickly--come!' and +he advanced toward her as if to pull her by the hand. + +'Nay, nay,' expostulated Laura's father, much surprised at his nephew's +sudden demeanour. 'You take too much upon yourself. Leave her to me.' + +'I won't leave her to you any longer!' + +'You have no right, James, to address either me or her in this way; so +just hold your tongue. Come, my dear.' + +'I have every right!' insisted James. + +'How do you make that out?' + +'I have the right of a husband.' + +'Whose husband?' + +'Hers.' + +'What?' + +'She's my wife.' + +'James!' + +'Well, to cut a long story short, I may say that she secretly married me, +in spite of your lordship's prohibition, about three months ago. And I +must add that, though she cooled down rather quickly, everything went on +smoothly enough between us for some time; in spite of the awkwardness of +meeting only by stealth. We were only waiting for a convenient moment to +break the news to you when this idle Adonis turned up, and after +poisoning her mind against me, brought her into this disgrace.' + +Here the operatic luminary, who had sat in rather an abstracted and +nerveless attitude till the cousin made his declaration, fired up and +cried: 'I declare before Heaven that till this moment I never knew she +was a wife! I found her in her father's house an unhappy girl--unhappy, +as I believe, because of the loneliness and dreariness of that +establishment, and the want of society, and for nothing else whatever. +What this statement about her being your wife means I am quite at a loss +to understand. Are you indeed married to him, Laura?' + +Laura nodded from within her tearful handkerchief. 'It was because of my +anomalous position in being privately married to him,' she sobbed, 'that +I was unhappy at home--and--and I didn't like him so well as I did at +first--and I wished I could get out of the mess I was in! And then I saw +you a few times, and when you said, "We'll run off," I thought I saw a +way out of it all, and then I agreed to come with you--oo-oo!' + +'Well! well! well! And is this true?' murmured the bewildered old +nobleman, staring from James to Laura, and from Laura to James, as if he +fancied they might be figments of the imagination. 'Is this, then, +James, the secret of your kindness to your old uncle in helping him to +find his daughter? Good Heavens! What further depths of duplicity are +there left for a man to learn!' + +'I have married her, Uncle Quantock, as I said,' answered James coolly. +'The deed is done, and can't be undone by talking here.' + +'Where were you married?' + +'At St. Mary's, Toneborough.' + +'When?' + +'On the 29th of September, during the time she was visiting there.' + +'Who married you?' + +'I don't know. One of the curates--we were quite strangers to the place. +So, instead of my assisting you to recover her, you may as well assist +me.' + +'Never! never!' said Lord Quantock. 'Madam, and sir, I beg to tell you +that I wash my hands of the whole affair! If you are man and wife, as it +seems you are, get reconciled as best you may. I have no more to say or +do with either of you. I leave you, Laura, in the hands of your husband, +and much joy may you bring him; though the situation, I own, is not +encouraging.' + +Saying this, the indignant speaker pushed back his chair against the +table with such force that the candlesticks rocked on their bases, and +left the room. + +Laura's wet eyes roved from one of the young men to the other, who now +stood glaring face to face, and, being much frightened at their aspect, +slipped out of the room after her father. Him, however, she could hear +going out of the front door, and, not knowing where to take shelter, she +crept into the darkness of an adjoining bedroom, and there awaited events +with a palpitating heart. + +Meanwhile the two men remaining in the sitting-room drew nearer to each +other, and the opera-singer broke the silence by saying, 'How could you +insult me in the way you did, calling me a fellow, and accusing me of +poisoning her mind toward you, when you knew very well I was as ignorant +of your relation to her as an unborn babe?' + +'Oh yes, you were quite ignorant; I can believe that readily,' sneered +Laura's husband. + +'I here call Heaven to witness that I never knew!' + +'Recitativo--the rhythm excellent, and the tone well sustained. Is it +likely that any man could win the confidence of a young fool her age, and +not get that out of her? Preposterous! Tell it to the most improved new +pit-stalls.' + +'Captain Northbrook, your insinuations are as despicable as your wretched +person!' cried the baritone, losing all patience. And springing forward +he slapped the captain in the face with the palm of his hand. + +Northbrook flinched but slightly, and calmly using his handkerchief to +learn if his nose was bleeding, said, 'I quite expected this insult, so I +came prepared.' And he drew forth from a black valise which he carried +in his hand a small case of pistols. + +The baritone started at the unexpected sight, but recovering from his +surprise said, 'Very well, as you will,' though perhaps his tone showed a +slight want of confidence. + +'Now,' continued the husband, quite confidingly, 'we want no parade, no +nonsense, you know. Therefore we'll dispense with seconds?' + +The signor slightly nodded. + +'Do you know this part of the country well?' Cousin James went on, in the +same cool and still manner. 'If you don't, I do. Quite at the bottom of +the rocks out there, just beyond the stream which falls over them to the +shore, is a smooth sandy space, not so much shut in as to be out of the +moonlight; and the way down to it from this side is over steps cut in the +cliff; and we can find our way down without trouble. We--we two--will +find our way down; but only one of us will find his way up, you +understand?' + +'Quite.' + +'Then suppose we start; the sooner it is over the better. We can order +supper before we go out--supper for two; for though we are three at +present--' + +'Three?' + +'Yes; you and I and she--' + +'Oh yes.' + +'--We shall be only two by and by; so that, as I say, we will order +supper for two; for the lady and a gentleman. Whichever comes back alive +will tap at her door, and call her in to share the repast with him--she's +not off the premises. But we must not alarm her now; and above all +things we must not let the inn-people see us go out; it would look so odd +for two to go out, and only one come in. Ha! ha!' + +'Ha! ha! exactly.' + +'Are you ready?' + +'Oh--quite.' + +'Then I'll lead the way.' + +He went softly to the door and downstairs, ordering supper to be ready in +an hour, as he had said; then making a feint of returning to the room +again, he beckoned to the singer, and together they slipped out of the +house by a side door. + +* * * * * + +The sky was now quite clear, and the wheelmarks of the brougham which had +borne away Laura's father, Lord Quantock, remained distinctly visible. +Soon the verge of the down was reached, the captain leading the way, and +the baritone following silently, casting furtive glances at his +companion, and beyond him at the scene ahead. In due course they arrived +at the chasm in the cliff which formed the waterfall. The outlook here +was wild and picturesque in the extreme, and fully justified the many +praises, paintings, and photographic views to which the spot had given +birth. What in summer was charmingly green and gray, was now rendered +weird and fantastic by the snow. + +From their feet the cascade plunged downward almost vertically to a depth +of eighty or a hundred feet before finally losing itself in the sand, and +though the stream was but small, its impact upon jutting rocks in its +descent divided it into a hundred spirts and splashes that sent up a mist +into the upper air. A few marginal drippings had been frozen into +icicles, but the centre flowed on unimpeded. + +The operatic artist looked down as he halted, but his thoughts were +plainly not of the beauty of the scene. His companion with the pistols +was immediately in front of him, and there was no handrail on the side of +the path toward the chasm. Obeying a quick impulse, he stretched out his +arm, and with a superhuman thrust sent Laura's husband reeling over. A +whirling human shape, diminishing downward in the moon's rays farther and +farther toward invisibility, a smack-smack upon the projecting ledges of +rock--at first louder and heavier than that of the brook, and then +scarcely to be distinguished from it--then a cessation, then the +splashing of the stream as before, and the accompanying murmur of the +sea, were all the incidents that disturbed the customary flow of the +little waterfall. + +The singer waited in a fixed attitude for a few minutes, then turning, he +rapidly retraced his steps over the intervening upland toward the road, +and in less than a quarter of an hour was at the door of the hotel. +Slipping quietly in as the clock struck ten, he said to the landlord, +over the bar hatchway-- + +'The bill as soon as you can let me have it, including charges for the +supper that was ordered, though we cannot stay to eat it, I am sorry to +say.' He added with forced gaiety, 'The lady's father and cousin have +thought better of intercepting the marriage, and after quarrelling with +each other have gone home independently.' + +'Well done, sir!' said the landlord, who still sided with this customer +in preference to those who had given trouble and barely paid for baiting +the horses. '"Love will find out the way!" as the saying is. Wish you +joy, sir!' + +Signor Smithozzi went upstairs, and on entering the sitting-room found +that Laura had crept out from the dark adjoining chamber in his absence. +She looked up at him with eyes red from weeping, and with symptoms of +alarm. + +'What is it?--where is he?' she said apprehensively. + +'Captain Northbrook has gone back. He says he will have no more to do +with you.' + +'And I am quite abandoned by them!--and they'll forget me, and nobody +care about me any more!' She began to cry afresh. + +'But it is the luckiest thing that could have happened. All is just as +it was before they came disturbing us. But, Laura, you ought to have +told me about that private marriage, though it is all the same now; it +will be dissolved, of course. You are a wid--virtually a widow.' + +'It is no use to reproach me for what is past. What am I to do now?' + +'We go at once to Cliff-Martin. The horse has rested thoroughly these +last three hours, and he will have no difficulty in doing an additional +half-dozen miles. We shall be there before twelve, and there are late +taverns in the place, no doubt. There we'll sell both horse and carriage +to-morrow morning; and go by the coach to Downstaple. Once in the train +we are safe.' + +'I agree to anything,' she said listlessly. + +In about ten minutes the horse was put in, the bill paid, the lady's +dried wraps put round her, and the journey resumed. + +When about a mile on their way, they saw a glimmering light in advance of +them. 'I wonder what that is?' said the baritone, whose manner had +latterly become nervous, every sound and sight causing him to turn his +head. + +'It is only a turnpike,' said she. 'That light is the lamp kept burning +over the door.' + +'Of course, of course, dearest. How stupid I am!' + +On reaching the gate they perceived that a man on foot had approached it, +apparently by some more direct path than the roadway they pursued, and +was, at the moment they drew up, standing in conversation with the +gatekeeper. + +'It is quite impossible that he could fall over the cliff by accident or +the will of God on such a light night as this,' the pedestrian was +saying. 'These two children I tell you of saw two men go along the path +toward the waterfall, and ten minutes later only one of 'em came back, +walking fast, like a man who wanted to get out of the way because he had +done something queer. There is no manner of doubt that he pushed the +other man over, and, mark me, it will soon cause a hue and cry for that +man.' + +The candle shone in the face of the Signor and showed that there had +arisen upon it a film of ghastliness. Laura, glancing toward him for a +few moments observed it, till, the gatekeeper having mechanically swung +open the gate, her companion drove through, and they were soon again +enveloped in the white silence. + +Her conductor had said to Laura, just before, that he meant to inquire +the way at this turnpike; but he had certainly not done so. + +As soon as they had gone a little farther the omission, intentional or +not, began to cause them some trouble. Beyond the secluded district +which they now traversed ran the more frequented road, where progress +would be easy, the snow being probably already beaten there to some +extent by traffic; but they had not yet reached it, and having no one to +guide them their journey began to appear less feasible than it had done +before starting. When the little lane which they had entered ascended +another hill, and seemed to wind round in a direction contrary to the +expected route to Cliff-Martin, the question grew serious. Ever since +overhearing the conversation at the turnpike, Laura had maintained a +perfect silence, and had even shrunk somewhat away from the side of her +lover. + +'Why don't you talk, Laura,' he said with forced buoyancy, 'and suggest +the way we should go?' + +'Oh yes, I will,' she responded, a curious fearfulness being audible in +her voice. + +After this she uttered a few occasional sentences which seemed to +persuade him that she suspected nothing. At last he drew rein, and the +weary horse stood still. + +'We are in a fix,' he said. + +She answered eagerly: 'I'll hold the reins while you run forward to the +top of the ridge, and see if the road takes a favourable turn beyond. It +would give the horse a few minutes' rest, and if you find out no change +in the direction, we will retrace this lane, and take the other turning.' + +The expedient seemed a good one in the circumstances, especially when +recommended by the singular eagerness of her voice; and placing the reins +in her hands--a quite unnecessary precaution, considering the state of +their hack--he stepped out and went forward through the snow till she +could see no more of him. + +No sooner was he gone than Laura, with a rapidity which contrasted +strangely with her previous stillness, made fast the reins to the corner +of the phaeton, and slipping out on the opposite side, ran back with all +her might down the hill, till, coming to an opening in the fence, she +scrambled through it, and plunged into the copse which bordered this +portion of the lane. Here she stood in hiding under one of the large +bushes, clinging so closely to its umbrage as to seem but a portion of +its mass, and listening intently for the faintest sound of pursuit. But +nothing disturbed the stillness save the occasional slipping of gathered +snow from the boughs, or the rustle of some wild animal over the crisp +flake-bespattered herbage. At length, apparently convinced that her +former companion was either unable to find her, or not anxious to do so, +in the present strange state of affairs, she crept out from the bushes, +and in less than an hour found herself again approaching the door of the +Prospect Hotel. + +As she drew near, Laura could see that, far from being wrapped in +darkness, as she might have expected, there were ample signs that all the +tenants were on the alert, lights moving about the open space in front. +Satisfaction was expressed in her face when she discerned that no +reappearance of her baritone and his pony-carriage was causing this +sensation; but it speedily gave way to grief and dismay when she saw by +the lights the form of a man borne on a stretcher by two others into the +porch of the hotel. + +'I have caused all this,' she murmured between her quivering lips. 'He +has murdered him!' Running forward to the door, she hastily asked of the +first person she met if the man on the stretcher was dead. + +'No, miss,' said the labourer addressed, eyeing her up and down as an +unexpected apparition. 'He is still alive, they say, but not sensible. +He either fell or was pushed over the waterfall; 'tis thoughted he was +pushed. He is the gentleman who came here just now with the old lord, +and went out afterward (as is thoughted) with a stranger who had come a +little earlier. Anyhow, that's as I had it.' + +Laura entered the house, and acknowledging without the least reserve that +she was the injured man's wife, had soon installed herself as head nurse +by the bed on which he lay. When the two surgeons who had been sent for +arrived, she learned from them that his wounds were so severe as to leave +but a slender hope of recovery, it being little short of miraculous that +he was not killed on the spot, which his enemy had evidently reckoned to +be the case. She knew who that enemy was, and shuddered. + +Laura watched all night, but her husband knew nothing of her presence. +During the next day he slightly recognized her, and in the evening was +able to speak. He informed the surgeons that, as was surmised, he had +been pushed over the cascade by Signor Smithozzi; but he communicated +nothing to her who nursed him, not even replying to her remarks; he +nodded courteously at any act of attention she rendered, and that was +all. + +In a day or two it was declared that everything favoured his recovery, +notwithstanding the severity of his injuries. Full search was made for +Smithozzi, but as yet there was no intelligence of his whereabouts, +though the repentant Laura communicated all she knew. As far as could be +judged, he had come back to the carriage after searching out the way, and +finding the young lady missing, had looked about for her till he was +tired; then had driven on to Cliff-Martin, sold the horse and carriage +next morning, and disappeared, probably by one of the departing coaches +which ran thence to the nearest station, the only difference from his +original programme being that he had gone alone. + +* * * * * + +During the days and weeks of that long and tedious recovery, Laura +watched by her husband's bedside with a zeal and assiduity which would +have considerably extenuated any fault save one of such magnitude as +hers. That her husband did not forgive her was soon obvious. Nothing +that she could do in the way of smoothing pillows, easing his position, +shifting bandages, or administering draughts, could win from him more +than a few measured words of thankfulness, such as he would probably have +uttered to any other woman on earth who had performed these particular +services for him. + +'Dear, dear James,' she said one day, bending her face upon the bed in an +excess of emotion. 'How you have suffered! It has been too cruel. I am +more glad you are getting better than I can say. I have prayed for +it--and I am sorry for what I have done; I am innocent of the worst, +and--I hope you will not think me so very bad, James!' + +'Oh no. On the contrary, I shall think you very good--as a nurse,' he +answered, the caustic severity of his tone being apparent through its +weakness. + +Laura let fall two or three silent tears, and said no more that day. + +Somehow or other Signor Smithozzi seemed to be making good his escape. It +transpired that he had not taken a passage in either of the suspected +coaches, though he had certainly got out of the county; altogether, the +chance of finding him was problematical. + +Not only did Captain Northbrook survive his injuries, but it soon +appeared that in the course of a few weeks he would find himself little +if any the worse for the catastrophe. It could also be seen that Laura, +while secretly hoping for her husband's forgiveness for a piece of folly +of which she saw the enormity more clearly every day, was in great doubt +as to what her future relations with him would be. Moreover, to add to +the complication, whilst she, as a runaway wife, was unforgiven by her +husband, she and her husband, as a runaway couple, were unforgiven by her +father, who had never once communicated with either of them since his +departure from the inn. But her immediate anxiety was to win the pardon +of her husband, who possibly might be bearing in mind, as he lay upon his +couch, the familiar words of Brabantio, 'She has deceived her father, and +may thee.' + +Matters went on thus till Captain Northbrook was able to walk about. He +then removed with his wife to quiet apartments on the south coast, and +here his recovery was rapid. Walking up the cliffs one day, supporting +him by her arm as usual, she said to him, simply, 'James, if I go on as I +am going now, and always attend to your smallest want, and never think of +anything but devotion to you, will you--try to like me a little?' + +'It is a thing I must carefully consider,' he said, with the same gloomy +dryness which characterized all his words to her now. 'When I have +considered, I will tell you.' + +He did not tell her that evening, though she lingered long at her routine +work of making his bedroom comfortable, putting the light so that it +would not shine into his eyes, seeing him fall asleep, and then retiring +noiselessly to her own chamber. When they met in the morning at +breakfast, and she had asked him as usual how he had passed the night, +she added timidly, in the silence which followed his reply, 'Have you +considered?' + +'No, I have not considered sufficiently to give you an answer.' + +Laura sighed, but to no purpose; and the day wore on with intense +heaviness to her, and the customary modicum of strength gained to him. + +The next morning she put the same question, and looked up despairingly in +his face, as though her whole life hung upon his reply. + +'Yes, I have considered,' he said. + +'Ah!' + +'We must part.' + +'O James!' + +'I cannot forgive you; no man would. Enough is settled upon you to keep +you in comfort, whatever your father may do. I shall sell out, and +disappear from this hemisphere.' + +'You have absolutely decided?' she asked miserably. 'I have nobody now +to c-c-care for--' + +'I have absolutely decided,' he shortly returned. 'We had better part +here. You will go back to your father. There is no reason why I should +accompany you, since my presence would only stand in the way of the +forgiveness he will probably grant you if you appear before him alone. We +will say farewell to each other in three days from this time. I have +calculated on being ready to go on that day.' + +Bowed down with trouble, she withdrew to her room, and the three days +were passed by her husband in writing letters and attending to other +business-matters, saying hardly a word to her the while. The morning of +departure came; but before the horses had been put in to take the severed +twain in different directions, out of sight of each other, possibly for +ever, the postman arrived with the morning letters. + +There was one for the captain; none for her--there were never any for +her. However, on this occasion something was enclosed for her in his, +which he handed her. She read it and looked up helpless. + +'My dear father--is dead!' she said. In a few moments she added, in a +whisper, 'I must go to the Manor to bury him . . . Will you go with me, +James?' + +He musingly looked out of the window. 'I suppose it is an awkward and +melancholy undertaking for a woman alone,' he said coldly. 'Well, +well--my poor uncle!--Yes, I'll go with you, and see you through the +business.' + +So they went off together instead of asunder, as planned. It is +unnecessary to record the details of the journey, or of the sad week +which followed it at her father's house. Lord Quantock's seat was a fine +old mansion standing in its own park, and there were plenty of +opportunities for husband and wife either to avoid each other, or to get +reconciled if they were so minded, which one of them was at least. +Captain Northbrook was not present at the reading of the will. She came +to him afterward, and found him packing up his papers, intending to start +next morning, now that he had seen her through the turmoil occasioned by +her father's death. + +'He has left me everything that he could!' she said to her husband. +'James, will you forgive me now, and stay?' + +'I cannot stay.' + +'Why not?' + +'I cannot stay,' he repeated. + +'But why?' + +'I don't like you.' + +He acted up to his word. When she came downstairs the next morning she +was told that he had gone. + +* * * * * + +Laura bore her double bereavement as best she could. The vast mansion in +which she had hitherto lived, with all its historic contents, had gone to +her father's successor in the title; but her own was no unhandsome one. +Around lay the undulating park, studded with trees a dozen times her own +age; beyond it, the wood; beyond the wood, the farms. All this fair and +quiet scene was hers. She nevertheless remained a lonely, repentant, +depressed being, who would have given the greater part of everything she +possessed to ensure the presence and affection of that husband whose very +austerity and phlegm--qualities that had formerly led to the alienation +between them--seemed now to be adorable features in his character. + +She hoped and hoped again, but all to no purpose. Captain Northbrook did +not alter his mind and return. He was quite a different sort of man from +one who altered his mind; that she was at last despairingly forced to +admit. And then she left off hoping, and settled down to a mechanical +routine of existence which in some measure dulled her grief; but at the +expense of all her natural animation and the sprightly wilfulness which +had once charmed those who knew her, though it was perhaps all the while +a factor in the production of her unhappiness. + +To say that her beauty quite departed as the years rolled on would be to +overstate the truth. Time is not a merciful master, as we all know, and +he was not likely to act exceptionally in the case of a woman who had +mental troubles to bear in addition to the ordinary weight of years. Be +this as it may, eleven other winters came and went, and Laura Northbrook +remained the lonely mistress of house and lands without once hearing of +her husband. Every probability seemed to favour the assumption that he +had died in some foreign land; and offers for her hand were not few as +the probability verged on certainty with the long lapse of time. But the +idea of remarriage seemed never to have entered her head for a moment. +Whether she continued to hope even now for his return could not be +distinctly ascertained; at all events she lived a life unmodified in the +slightest degree from that of the first six months of his absence. + +This twelfth year of Laura's loneliness, and the thirtieth of her life +drew on apace, and the season approached that had seen the unhappy +adventure for which she so long had suffered. Christmas promised to be +rather wet than cold, and the trees on the outskirts of Laura's estate +dripped monotonously from day to day upon the turnpike-road which +bordered them. On an afternoon in this week between three and four +o'clock a hired fly might have been seen driving along the highway at +this point, and on reaching the top of the hill it stopped. A gentleman +of middle age alighted from the vehicle. + +'You need drive no farther,' he said to the coachman. 'The rain seems to +have nearly ceased. I'll stroll a little way, and return on foot to the +inn by dinner-time.' + +The flyman touched his hat, turned the horse, and drove back as directed. +When he was out of sight, the gentleman walked on, but he had not gone +far before the rain again came down pitilessly, though of this the +pedestrian took little heed, going leisurely onward till he reached +Laura's park gate, which he passed through. The clouds were thick and +the days were short, so that by the time he stood in front of the mansion +it was dark. In addition to this his appearance, which on alighting from +the carriage had been untarnished, partook now of the character of a +drenched wayfarer not too well blessed with this world's goods. He +halted for no more than a moment at the front entrance, and going round +to the servants' quarter, as if he had a preconceived purpose in so +doing, there rang the bell. When a page came to him he inquired if they +would kindly allow him to dry himself by the kitchen fire. + +The page retired, and after a murmured colloquy returned with the cook, +who informed the wet and muddy man that though it was not her custom to +admit strangers, she should have no particular objection to his drying +himself; the night being so damp and gloomy. Therefore the wayfarer +entered and sat down by the fire. + +'The owner of this house is a very rich gentleman, no doubt?' he asked, +as he watched the meat turning on the spit. + +''Tis not a gentleman, but a lady,' said the cook. + +'A widow, I presume?' + +'A sort of widow. Poor soul, her husband is gone abroad, and has never +been heard of for many years.' + +'She sees plenty of company, no doubt, to make up for his absence?' + +'No, indeed--hardly a soul. Service here is as bad as being in a +nunnery.' + +In short, the wayfarer, who had at first been so coldly received, +contrived by his frank and engaging manner to draw the ladies of the +kitchen into a most confidential conversation, in which Laura's history +was minutely detailed, from the day of her husband's departure to the +present. The salient feature in all their discourse was her unflagging +devotion to his memory. + +Having apparently learned all that he wanted to know--among other things +that she was at this moment, as always, alone--the traveller said he was +quite dry; and thanking the servants for their kindness, departed as he +had come. On emerging into the darkness he did not, however, go down the +avenue by which he had arrived. He simply walked round to the front +door. There he rang, and the door was opened to him by a man-servant +whom he had not seen during his sojourn at the other end of the house. + +In answer to the servant's inquiry for his name, he said ceremoniously, +'Will you tell The Honourable Mrs. Northbrook that the man she nursed +many years ago, after a frightful accident, has called to thank her?' + +The footman retreated, and it was rather a long time before any further +signs of attention were apparent. Then he was shown into the drawing- +room, and the door closed behind him. + +On the couch was Laura, trembling and pale. She parted her lips and held +out her hands to him, but could not speak. But he did not require +speech, and in a moment they were in each other's arms. + +Strange news circulated through that mansion and the neighbouring town on +the next and following days. But the world has a way of getting used to +things, and the intelligence of the return of The Honourable Mrs. +Northbrook's long-absent husband was soon received with comparative calm. + +A few days more brought Christmas, and the forlorn home of Laura +Northbrook blazed from basement to attic with light and cheerfulness. Not +that the house was overcrowded with visitors, but many were present, and +the apathy of a dozen years came at length to an end. The animation +which set in thus at the close of the old year did not diminish on the +arrival of the new; and by the time its twelve months had likewise run +the course of its predecessors, a son had been added to the dwindled line +of the Northbrook family. + +* * * * * + +At the conclusion of this narrative the Spark was thanked, with a manner +of some surprise, for nobody had credited him with a taste for +tale-telling. Though it had been resolved that this story should be the +last, a few of the weather-bound listeners were for sitting on into the +small hours over their pipes and glasses, and raking up yet more episodes +of family history. But the majority murmured reasons for soon getting to +their lodgings. + +It was quite dark without, except in the immediate neighbourhood of the +feeble street-lamps, and before a few shop-windows which had been hardily +kept open in spite of the obvious unlikelihood of any chance customer +traversing the muddy thoroughfares at that hour. + +By one, by two, and by three the benighted members of the Field-Club rose +from their seats, shook hands, made appointments, and dropped away to +their respective quarters, free or hired, hoping for a fair morrow. It +would probably be not until the next summer meeting, months away in the +future, that the easy intercourse which now existed between them all +would repeat itself. The crimson maltster, for instance, knew that on +the following market-day his friends the President, the Rural Dean, and +the bookworm would pass him in the street, if they met him, with the +barest nod of civility, the President and the Colonel for social reasons, +the bookworm for intellectual reasons, and the Rural Dean for moral ones, +the latter being a staunch teetotaller, dead against John Barleycorn. The +sentimental member knew that when, on his rambles, he met his friend the +bookworm with a pocket-copy of something or other under his nose, the +latter would not love his companionship as he had done to-day; and the +President, the aristocrat, and the farmer knew that affairs political, +sporting, domestic, or agricultural would exclude for a long time all +rumination on the characters of dames gone to dust for scores of years, +however beautiful and noble they may have been in their day. + +The last member at length departed, the attendant at the museum lowered +the fire, the curator locked up the rooms, and soon there was only a +single pirouetting flame on the top of a single coal to make the bones of +the ichthyosaurus seem to leap, the stuffed birds to wink, and to draw a +smile from the varnished skulls of Vespasian's soldiery. + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A GROUP OF NOBLE DAMES*** + + +******* This file should be named 3049.txt or 3049.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/0/4/3049 + + + +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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FOR PUBLIC DOMAIN ETEXTS*Ver.04.07.00*END* + + + + +A GROUP OF NOBLE DAMES + + + + +Contents: + +Preface +Part I--Before Dinner + The First Countess of Wessex + Barbara of the House of Grebe + The Marchioness of Stonehenge + Lady Mottisfont +Part II--After Dinner + The Lady Icenway + Squire Petrick's Lady + Anna, Lady Baxby + The Lady Penelope + The Duchess Of Hamptonshire + The Honourable Laura + + + +PREFACE + + + +The pedigrees of our county families, arranged in diagrams on the +pages of county histories, mostly appear at first sight to be as +barren of any touch of nature as a table of logarithms. But given a +clue--the faintest tradition of what went on behind the scenes, and +this dryness as of dust may be transformed into a palpitating drama. +More, the careful comparison of dates alone--that of birth with +marriage, of marriage with death, of one marriage, birth, or death +with a kindred marriage, birth, or death--will often effect the same +transformation, and anybody practised in raising images from such +genealogies finds himself unconsciously filling into the framework +the motives, passions, and personal qualities which would appear to +be the single explanation possible of some extraordinary conjunction +in times, events, and personages that occasionally marks these +reticent family records. + +Out of such pedigrees and supplementary material most of the +following stories have arisen and taken shape. + +I would make this preface an opportunity of expressing my sense of +the courtesy and kindness of several bright-eyed Noble Dames yet in +the flesh, who, since the first publication of these tales in +periodicals, six or seven years ago, have given me interesting +comments and conjectures on such of the narratives as they have +recognized to be connected with their own families, residences, or +traditions; in which they have shown a truly philosophic absence of +prejudice in their regard of those incidents whose relation has +tended more distinctly to dramatize than to eulogize their +ancestors. The outlines they have also given of other singular +events in their family histories for use in a second "Group of Noble +Dames," will, I fear, never reach the printing-press through me; but +I shall store them up in memory of my informants' good nature. + +T. H. +June 1896. + + + +DAME THE FIRST--THE FIRST COUNTESS OF WESSEX +By the Local Historian + + + +King's-Hintock Court (said the narrator, turning over his memoranda +for reference)--King's-Hintock Court is, as we know, one of the most +imposing of the mansions that overlook our beautiful Blackmoor or +Blakemore Vale. On the particular occasion of which I have to speak +this building stood, as it had often stood before, in the perfect +silence of a calm clear night, lighted only by the cold shine of the +stars. The season was winter, in days long ago, the last century +having run but little more than a third of its length. North, +south, and west, not a casement was unfastened, not a curtain +undrawn; eastward, one window on the upper floor was open, and a +girl of twelve or thirteen was leaning over the sill. That she had +not taken up the position for purposes of observation was apparent +at a glance, for she kept her eyes covered with her hands. + +The room occupied by the girl was an inner one of a suite, to be +reached only by passing through a large bedchamber adjoining. From +this apartment voices in altercation were audible, everything else +in the building being so still. It was to avoid listening to these +voices that the girl had left her little cot, thrown a cloak round +her head and shoulders, and stretched into the night air. + +But she could not escape the conversation, try as she would. The +words reached her in all their painfulness, one sentence in +masculine tones, those of her father, being repeated many times. + +'I tell 'ee there shall be no such betrothal! I tell 'ee there +sha'n't! A child like her!' + +She knew the subject of dispute to be herself. A cool feminine +voice, her mother's, replied: + +'Have done with you, and be wise. He is willing to wait a good five +or six years before the marriage takes place, and there's not a man +in the county to compare with him.' + +'It shall not be! He is over thirty. It is wickedness.' + +'He is just thirty, and the best and finest man alive--a perfect +match for her.' + +'He is poor!' + +'But his father and elder brothers are made much of at Court--none +so constantly at the palace as they; and with her fortune, who +knows? He may be able to get a barony.' + +'I believe you are in love with en yourself!' + +'How can you insult me so, Thomas! And is it not monstrous for you +to talk of my wickedness when you have a like scheme in your own +head? You know you have. Some bumpkin of your own choosing--some +petty gentleman who lives down at that outlandish place of yours, +Falls-Park--one of your pot-companions' sons--' + +There was an outburst of imprecation on the part of her husband in +lieu of further argument. As soon as he could utter a connected +sentence he said: 'You crow and you domineer, mistress, because you +are heiress-general here. You are in your own house; you are on +your own land. But let me tell 'ee that if I did come here to you +instead of taking you to me, it was done at the dictates of +convenience merely. H-! I'm no beggar! Ha'n't I a place of my +own? Ha'n't I an avenue as long as thine? Ha'n't I beeches that +will more than match thy oaks? I should have lived in my own quiet +house and land, contented, if you had not called me off with your +airs and graces. Faith, I'll go back there; I'll not stay with thee +longer! If it had not been for our Betty I should have gone long +ago!' + +After this there were no more words; but presently, hearing the +sound of a door opening and shutting below, the girl again looked +from the window. Footsteps crunched on the gravel-walk, and a shape +in a drab greatcoat, easily distinguishable as her father, withdrew +from the house. He moved to the left, and she watched him diminish +down the long east front till he had turned the corner and vanished. +He must have gone round to the stables. + +She closed the window and shrank into bed, where she cried herself +to sleep. This child, their only one, Betty, beloved ambitiously by +her mother, and with uncalculating passionateness by her father, was +frequently made wretched by such episodes as this; though she was +too young to care very deeply, for her own sake, whether her mother +betrothed her to the gentleman discussed or not. + +The Squire had often gone out of the house in this manner, declaring +that he would never return, but he had always reappeared in the +morning. The present occasion, however, was different in the issue: +next day she was told that her father had ridden to his estate at +Falls-Park early in the morning on business with his agent, and +might not come back for some days. + + +Falls-Park was over twenty miles from King's-Hintock Court, and was +altogether a more modest centre-piece to a more modest possession +than the latter. But as Squire Dornell came in view of it that +February morning, he thought that he had been a fool ever to leave +it, though it was for the sake of the greatest heiress in Wessex. +Its classic front, of the period of the second Charles, derived from +its regular features a dignity which the great, battlemented, +heterogeneous mansion of his wife could not eclipse. Altogether he +was sick at heart, and the gloom which the densely-timbered park +threw over the scene did not tend to remove the depression of this +rubicund man of eight-and-forty, who sat so heavily upon his +gelding. The child, his darling Betty: there lay the root of his +trouble. He was unhappy when near his wife, he was unhappy when +away from his little girl; and from this dilemma there was no +practicable escape. As a consequence he indulged rather freely in +the pleasures of the table, became what was called a three bottle +man, and, in his wife's estimation, less and less presentable to her +polite friends from town. + +He was received by the two or three old servants who were in charge +of the lonely place, where a few rooms only were kept habitable for +his use or that of his friends when hunting; and during the morning +he was made more comfortable by the arrival of his faithful servant +Tupcombe from King's-Hintock. But after a day or two spent here in +solitude he began to feel that he had made a mistake in coming. By +leaving King's-Hintock in his anger he had thrown away his best +opportunity of counteracting his wife's preposterous notion of +promising his poor little Betty's hand to a man she had hardly seen. +To protect her from such a repugnant bargain he should have remained +on the spot. He felt it almost as a misfortune that the child would +inherit so much wealth. She would be a mark for all the adventurers +in the kingdom. Had she been only the heiress to his own unassuming +little place at Falls, how much better would have been her chances +of happiness! + +His wife had divined truly when she insinuated that he himself had a +lover in view for this pet child. The son of a dear deceased friend +of his, who lived not two miles from where the Squire now was, a lad +a couple of years his daughter's senior, seemed in her father's +opinion the one person in the world likely to make her happy. But +as to breathing such a scheme to either of the young people with the +indecent haste that his wife had shown, he would not dream of it; +years hence would be soon enough for that. They had already seen +each other, and the Squire fancied that he noticed a tenderness on +the youth's part which promised well. He was strongly tempted to +profit by his wife's example, and forestall her match-making by +throwing the two young people together there at Falls. The girl, +though marriageable in the views of those days, was too young to be +in love, but the lad was fifteen, and already felt an interest in +her. + +Still better than keeping watch over her at King's Hintock, where +she was necessarily much under her mother's influence, would it be +to get the child to stay with him at Falls for a time, under his +exclusive control. But how accomplish this without using main +force? The only possible chance was that his wife might, for +appearance' sake, as she had done before, consent to Betty paying +him a day's visit, when he might find means of detaining her till +Reynard, the suitor whom his wife favoured, had gone abroad, which +he was expected to do the following week. Squire Dornell determined +to return to King's-Hintock and attempt the enterprise. If he were +refused, it was almost in him to pick up Betty bodily and carry her +off. + +The journey back, vague and Quixotic as were his intentions, was +performed with a far lighter heart than his setting forth. He would +see Betty, and talk to her, come what might of his plan. + +So he rode along the dead level which stretches between the hills +skirting Falls-Park and those bounding the town of Ivell, trotted +through that borough, and out by the King's-Hintock highway, till, +passing the villages he entered the mile-long drive through the park +to the Court. The drive being open, without an avenue, the Squire +could discern the north front and door of the Court a long way off, +and was himself visible from the windows on that side; for which +reason he hoped that Betty might perceive him coming, as she +sometimes did on his return from an outing, and run to the door or +wave her handkerchief. + +But there was no sign. He inquired for his wife as soon as he set +foot to earth. + +'Mistress is away. She was called to London, sir.' + +'And Mistress Betty?' said the Squire blankly. + +'Gone likewise, sir, for a little change. Mistress has left a +letter for you.' + +The note explained nothing, merely stating that she had posted to +London on her own affairs, and had taken the child to give her a +holiday. On the fly-leaf were some words from Betty herself to the +same effect, evidently written in a state of high jubilation at the +idea of her jaunt. Squire Dornell murmured a few expletives, and +submitted to his disappointment. How long his wife meant to stay in +town she did not say; but on investigation he found that the +carriage had been packed with sufficient luggage for a sojourn of +two or three weeks. + +King's-Hintock Court was in consequence as gloomy as Falls-Park had +been. He had lost all zest for hunting of late, and had hardly +attended a meet that season. Dornell read and re-read Betty's +scrawl, and hunted up some other such notes of hers to look over, +this seeming to be the only pleasure there was left for him. That +they were really in London he learnt in a few days by another letter +from Mrs. Dornell, in which she explained that they hoped to be home +in about a week, and that she had had no idea he was coming back to +King's-Hintock so soon, or she would not have gone away without +telling him. + +Squire Dornell wondered if, in going or returning, it had been her +plan to call at the Reynards' place near Melchester, through which +city their journey lay. It was possible that she might do this in +furtherance of her project, and the sense that his own might become +the losing game was harassing. + +He did not know how to dispose of himself, till it occurred to him +that, to get rid of his intolerable heaviness, he would invite some +friends to dinner and drown his cares in grog and wine. No sooner +was the carouse decided upon than he put it in hand; those invited +being mostly neighbouring landholders, all smaller men than himself, +members of the hunt; also the doctor from Evershead, and the like-- +some of them rollicking blades whose presence his wife would not +have countenanced had she been at home. 'When the cat's away--!' +said the Squire. + +They arrived, and there were indications in their manner that they +meant to make a night of it. Baxby of Sherton Castle was late, and +they waited a quarter of an hour for him, he being one of the +liveliest of Dornell's friends; without whose presence no such +dinner as this would be considered complete, and, it may be added, +with whose presence no dinner which included both sexes could be +conducted with strict propriety. He had just returned from London, +and the Squire was anxious to talk to him--for no definite reason; +but he had lately breathed the atmosphere in which Betty was. + +At length they heard Baxby driving up to the door, whereupon the +host and the rest of his guests crossed over to the dining-room. In +a moment Baxby came hastily in at their heels, apologizing for his +lateness. + +'I only came back last night, you know,' he said; 'and the truth o't +is, I had as much as I could carry.' He turned to the Squire. +'Well, Dornell--so cunning Reynard has stolen your little ewe lamb? +Ha, ha!' + +'What?' said Squire Dornell vacantly, across the dining-table, round +which they were all standing, the cold March sunlight streaming in +upon his full-clean shaven face. + +'Surely th'st know what all the town knows?--you've had a letter by +this time?--that Stephen Reynard has married your Betty? Yes, as +I'm a living man. It was a carefully-arranged thing: they parted +at once, and are not to meet for five or six years. But, Lord, you +must know!' + +A thud on the floor was the only reply of the Squire. They quickly +turned. He had fallen down like a log behind the table, and lay +motionless on the oak boards. + +Those at hand hastily bent over him, and the whole group were in +confusion. They found him to be quite unconscious, though puffing +and panting like a blacksmith's bellows. His face was livid, his +veins swollen, and beads of perspiration stood upon his brow. + +'What's happened to him?' said several. + +'An apoplectic fit,' said the doctor from Evershead, gravely. + +He was only called in at the Court for small ailments, as a rule, +and felt the importance of the situation. He lifted the Squire's +head, loosened his cravat and clothing, and rang for the servants, +who took the Squire upstairs. + +There he lay as if in a drugged sleep. The surgeon drew a basin- +full of blood from him, but it was nearly six o'clock before he came +to himself. The dinner was completely disorganized, and some had +gone home long ago; but two or three remained. + +'Bless my soul,' Baxby kept repeating, 'I didn't know things had +come to this pass between Dornell and his lady! I thought the feast +he was spreading to-day was in honour of the event, though privately +kept for the present! His little maid married without his +knowledge!' + +As soon as the Squire recovered consciousness he gasped: ''Tis +abduction! 'Tis a capital felony! He can be hung! Where is Baxby? +I am very well now. What items have ye heard, Baxby?' + +The bearer of the untoward news was extremely unwilling to agitate +Dornell further, and would say little more at first. But an hour +after, when the Squire had partially recovered and was sitting up, +Baxby told as much as he knew, the most important particular being +that Betty's mother was present at the marriage, and showed every +mark of approval. 'Everything appeared to have been done so +regularly that I, of course, thought you knew all about it,' he +said. + +'I knew no more than the underground dead that such a step was in +the wind! A child not yet thirteen! How Sue hath outwitted me! +Did Reynard go up to Lon'on with 'em, d'ye know?' + +'I can't say. All I know is that your lady and daughter were +walking along the street, with the footman behind 'em; that they +entered a jeweller's shop, where Reynard was standing; and that +there, in the presence o' the shopkeeper and your man, who was +called in on purpose, your Betty said to Reynard--so the story goes: +'pon my soul I don't vouch for the truth of it--she said, "Will you +marry me?" or, "I want to marry you: will you have me--now or +never?" she said.' + +'What she said means nothing,' murmured the Squire, with wet eyes. +'Her mother put the words into her mouth to avoid the serious +consequences that would attach to any suspicion of force. The words +be not the child's: she didn't dream of marriage--how should she, +poor little maid! Go on.' + +'Well, be that as it will, they were all agreed apparently. They +bought the ring on the spot, and the marriage took place at the +nearest church within half-an-hour.' + +A day or two later there came a letter from Mrs. Dornell to her +husband, written before she knew of his stroke. She related the +circumstances of the marriage in the gentlest manner, and gave +cogent reasons and excuses for consenting to the premature union, +which was now an accomplished fact indeed. She had no idea, till +sudden pressure was put upon her, that the contract was expected to +be carried out so soon, but being taken half unawares, she had +consented, having learned that Stephen Reynard, now their son-in- +law, was becoming a great favourite at Court, and that he would in +all likelihood have a title granted him before long. No harm could +come to their dear daughter by this early marriage-contract, seeing +that her life would be continued under their own eyes, exactly as +before, for some years. In fine, she had felt that no other such +fair opportunity for a good marriage with a shrewd courtier and wise +man of the world, who was at the same time noted for his excellent +personal qualities, was within the range of probability, owing to +the rusticated lives they led at King's-Hintock. Hence she had +yielded to Stephen's solicitation, and hoped her husband would +forgive her. She wrote, in short, like a woman who, having had her +way as to the deed, is prepared to make any concession as to words +and subsequent behaviour. + +All this Dornell took at its true value, or rather, perhaps, at less +than its true value. As his life depended upon his not getting into +a passion, he controlled his perturbed emotions as well as he was +able, going about the house sadly and utterly unlike his former +self. He took every precaution to prevent his wife knowing of the +incidents of his sudden illness, from a sense of shame at having a +heart so tender; a ridiculous quality, no doubt, in her eyes, now +that she had become so imbued with town ideas. But rumours of his +seizure somehow reached her, and she let him know that she was about +to return to nurse him. He thereupon packed up and went off to his +own place at Falls-Park. + +Here he lived the life of a recluse for some time. He was still too +unwell to entertain company, or to ride to hounds or elsewhither; +but more than this, his aversion to the faces of strangers and +acquaintances, who knew by that time of the trick his wife had +played him, operated to hold him aloof. + +Nothing could influence him to censure Betty for her share in the +exploit. He never once believed that she had acted voluntarily. +Anxious to know how she was getting on, he despatched the trusty +servant Tupcombe to Evershead village, close to King's-Hintock, +timing his journey so that he should reach the place under cover of +dark. The emissary arrived without notice, being out of livery, and +took a seat in the chimney-corner of the Sow-and-Acorn. + +The conversation of the droppers-in was always of the nine days' +wonder--the recent marriage. The smoking listener learnt that Mrs. +Dornell and the girl had returned to King's-Hintock for a day or +two, that Reynard had set out for the Continent, and that Betty had +since been packed off to school. She did not realize her position +as Reynard's child-wife--so the story went--and though somewhat awe- +stricken at first by the ceremony, she had soon recovered her +spirits on finding that her freedom was in no way to be interfered +with. + +After that, formal messages began to pass between Dornell and his +wife, the latter being now as persistently conciliating as she was +formerly masterful. But her rustic, simple, blustering husband +still held personally aloof. Her wish to be reconciled--to win his +forgiveness for her stratagem--moreover, a genuine tenderness and +desire to soothe his sorrow, which welled up in her at times, +brought her at last to his door at Falls-Park one day. + +They had not met since that night of altercation, before her +departure for London and his subsequent illness. She was shocked at +the change in him. His face had become expressionless, as blank as +that of a puppet, and what troubled her still more was that she +found him living in one room, and indulging freely in stimulants, in +absolute disobedience to the physician's order. The fact was +obvious that he could no longer be allowed to live thus uncouthly. + +So she sympathized, and begged his pardon, and coaxed. But though +after this date there was no longer such a complete estrangement as +before, they only occasionally saw each other, Dornell for the most +part making Falls his headquarters still. + +Three or four years passed thus. Then she came one day, with more +animation in her manner, and at once moved him by the simple +statement that Betty's schooling had ended; she had returned, and +was grieved because he was away. She had sent a message to him in +these words: 'Ask father to come home to his dear Betty.' + +'Ah! Then she is very unhappy!' said Squire Dornell. + +His wife was silent. + +''Tis that accursed marriage!' continued the Squire. + +Still his wife would not dispute with him. 'She is outside in the +carriage,' said Mrs. Dornell gently. + +'What--Betty?' + +'Yes.' + +'Why didn't you tell me?' Dornell rushed out, and there was the +girl awaiting his forgiveness, for she supposed herself, no less +than her mother, to be under his displeasure. + +Yes, Betty had left school, and had returned to King's-Hintock. She +was nearly seventeen, and had developed to quite a young woman. She +looked not less a member of the household for her early marriage- +contract, which she seemed, indeed, to have almost forgotten. It +was like a dream to her; that clear cold March day, the London +church, with its gorgeous pews, and green-baize linings, and the +great organ in the west gallery--so different from their own little +church in the shrubbery of King's-Hintock Court--the man of thirty, +to whose face she had looked up with so much awe, and with a sense +that he was rather ugly and formidable; the man whom, though they +corresponded politely, she had never seen since; one to whose +existence she was now so indifferent that if informed of his death, +and that she would never see him more, she would merely have +replied, 'Indeed!' Betty's passions as yet still slept. + +'Hast heard from thy husband lately?' said Squire Dornell, when they +were indoors, with an ironical laugh of fondness which demanded no +answer. + +The girl winced, and he noticed that his wife looked appealingly at +him. As the conversation went on, and there were signs that Dornell +would express sentiments that might do harm to a position which they +could not alter, Mrs. Dornell suggested that Betty should leave the +room till her father and herself had finished their private +conversation; and this Betty obediently did. + +Dornell renewed his animadversions freely. 'Did you see how the +sound of his name frightened her?' he presently added. 'If you +didn't, I did. Zounds! what a future is in store for that poor +little unfortunate wench o' mine! I tell 'ee, Sue, 'twas not a +marriage at all, in morality, and if I were a woman in such a +position, I shouldn't feel it as one. She might, without a sign of +sin, love a man of her choice as well now as if she were chained up +to no other at all. There, that's my mind, and I can't help it. +Ah, Sue, my man was best! He'd ha' suited her.' + +'I don't believe it,' she replied incredulously. + +'You should see him; then you would. He's growing up a fine fellow, +I can tell 'ee.' + +'Hush! not so loud!' she answered, rising from her seat and going to +the door of the next room, whither her daughter had betaken herself. +To Mrs. Dornell's alarm, there sat Betty in a reverie, her round +eyes fixed on vacancy, musing so deeply that she did not perceive +her mother's entrance. She had heard every word, and was digesting +the new knowledge. + +Her mother felt that Falls-Park was dangerous ground for a young +girl of the susceptible age, and in Betty's peculiar position, while +Dornell talked and reasoned thus. She called Betty to her, and they +took leave. The Squire would not clearly promise to return and make +King's-Hintock Court his permanent abode; but Betty's presence +there, as at former times, was sufficient to make him agree to pay +them a visit soon. + +All the way home Betty remained preoccupied and silent. It was too +plain to her anxious mother that Squire Dornell's free views had +been a sort of awakening to the girl. + +The interval before Dornell redeemed his pledge to come and see them +was unexpectedly short. He arrived one morning about twelve +o'clock, driving his own pair of black-bays in the curricle-phaeton +with yellow panels and red wheels, just as he had used to do, and +his faithful old Tupcombe on horseback behind. A young man sat +beside the Squire in the carriage, and Mrs. Dornell's consternation +could scarcely be concealed when, abruptly entering with his +companion, the Squire announced him as his friend Phelipson of Elm- +Cranlynch. + +Dornell passed on to Betty in the background and tenderly kissed +her. 'Sting your mother's conscience, my maid!' he whispered. +'Sting her conscience by pretending you are struck with Phelipson, +and would ha' loved him, as your old father's choice, much more than +him she has forced upon 'ee.' + +The simple-souled speaker fondly imagined that it as entirely in +obedience to this direction that Betty's eyes stole interested +glances at the frank and impulsive Phelipson that day at dinner, and +he laughed grimly within himself to see how this joke of his, as he +imagined it to be, was disturbing the peace of mind of the lady of +the house. 'Now Sue sees what a mistake she has made!' said he. + +Mrs. Dornell was verily greatly alarmed, and as soon as she could +speak a word with him alone she upbraided him. 'You ought not to +have brought him here. Oh Thomas, how could you be so thoughtless! +Lord, don't you see, dear, that what is done cannot be undone, and +how all this foolery jeopardizes her happiness with her husband? +Until you interfered, and spoke in her hearing about this Phelipson, +she was as patient and as willing as a lamb, and looked forward to +Mr. Reynard's return with real pleasure. Since her visit to Falls- +Park she has been monstrous close-mouthed and busy with her own +thoughts. What mischief will you do? How will it end?' + +'Own, then, that my man was best suited to her. I only brought him +to convince you.' + +'Yes, yes; I do admit it. But oh! do take him back again at once! +Don't keep him here! I fear she is even attracted by him already.' + +'Nonsense, Sue. 'Tis only a little trick to tease 'ee!' + +Nevertheless her motherly eye was not so likely to be deceived as +his, and if Betty were really only playing at being love-struck that +day, she played at it with the perfection of a Rosalind, and would +have deceived the best professors into a belief that it was no +counterfeit. The Squire, having obtained his victory, was quite +ready to take back the too attractive youth, and early in the +afternoon they set out on their return journey. + +A silent figure who rode behind them was as interested as Dornell in +that day's experiment. It was the staunch Tupcombe, who, with his +eyes on the Squire's and young Phelipson's backs, thought how well +the latter would have suited Betty, and how greatly the former had +changed for the worse during these last two or three years. He +cursed his mistress as the cause of the change. + +After this memorable visit to prove his point, the lives of the +Dornell couple flowed on quietly enough for the space of a +twelvemonth, the Squire for the most part remaining at Falls, and +Betty passing and repassing between them now and then, once or twice +alarming her mother by not driving home from her father's house till +midnight. + + +The repose of King's-Hintock was broken by the arrival of a special +messenger. Squire Dornell had had an access of gout so violent as +to be serious. He wished to see Betty again: why had she not come +for so long? + +Mrs. Dornell was extremely reluctant to take Betty in that direction +too frequently; but the girl was so anxious to go, her interests +latterly seeming to be so entirely bound up in Falls-Park and its +neighbourhood, that there was nothing to be done but to let her set +out and accompany her. + +Squire Dornell had been impatiently awaiting her arrival. They +found him very ill and irritable. It had been his habit to take +powerful medicines to drive away his enemy, and they had failed in +their effect on this occasion. + +The presence of his daughter, as usual, calmed him much, even while, +as usual too, it saddened him; for he could never forget that she +had disposed of herself for life in opposition to his wishes, though +she had secretly assured him that she would never have consented had +she been as old as she was now. + +As on a former occasion, his wife wished to speak to him alone about +the girl's future, the time now drawing nigh at which Reynard was +expected to come and claim her. He would have done so already, but +he had been put off by the earnest request of the young woman +herself, which accorded with that of her parents, on the score of +her youth. Reynard had deferentially submitted to their wishes in +this respect, the understanding between them having been that he +would not visit her before she was eighteen, except by the mutual +consent of all parties. But this could not go on much longer, and +there was no doubt, from the tenor of his last letter, that he would +soon take possession of her whether or no. + +To be out of the sound of this delicate discussion Betty was +accordingly sent downstairs, and they soon saw her walking away into +the shrubberies, looking very pretty in her sweeping green gown, and +flapping broad-brimmed hat overhung with a feather. + +On returning to the subject, Mrs. Dornell found her husband's +reluctance to reply in the affirmative to Reynard's letter to be as +great as ever. + +'She is three months short of eighteen!' he exclaimed. ''Tis too +soon. I won't hear of it! If I have to keep him off sword in hand, +he shall not have her yet.' + +'But, my dear Thomas,' she expostulated, 'consider if anything +should happen to you or to me, how much better it would be that she +should be settled in her home with him!' + +'I say it is too soon!' he argued, the veins of his forehead +beginning to swell. 'If he gets her this side o' Candlemas I'll +challenge en--I'll take my oath on't! I'll be back to King's- +Hintock in two or three days, and I'll not lose sight of her day or +night!' + +She feared to agitate him further, and gave way, assuring him, in +obedience to his demand, that if Reynard should write again before +he got back, to fix a time for joining Betty, she would put the +letter in her husband's hands, and he should do as he chose. This +was all that required discussion privately, and Mrs. Dornell went to +call in Betty, hoping that she had not heard her father's loud +tones. + +She had certainly not done so this time. Mrs. Dornell followed the +path along which she had seen Betty wandering, but went a +considerable distance without perceiving anything of her. The +Squire's wife then turned round to proceed to the other side of the +house by a short cut across the grass, when, to her surprise and +consternation, she beheld the object of her search sitting on the +horizontal bough of a cedar, beside her being a young man, whose arm +was round her waist. He moved a little, and she recognized him as +young Phelipson. + +Alas, then, she was right. The so-called counterfeit love was real. +What Mrs. Dornell called her husband at that moment, for his folly +in originally throwing the young people together, it is not +necessary to mention. She decided in a moment not to let the lovers +know that she had seen them. She accordingly retreated, reached the +front of the house by another route, and called at the top of her +voice from a window, 'Betty!' + +For the first time since her strategic marriage of the child, Susan +Dornell doubted the wisdom of that step. + +Her husband had, as it were, been assisted by destiny to make his +objection, originally trivial, a valid one. She saw the outlines of +trouble in the future. Why had Dornell interfered? Why had he +insisted upon producing his man? This, then, accounted for Betty's +pleading for postponement whenever the subject of her husband's +return was broached; this accounted for her attachment to Falls- +Park. Possibly this very meeting that she had witnessed had been +arranged by letter. + +Perhaps the girl's thoughts would never have strayed for a moment if +her father had not filled her head with ideas of repugnance to her +early union, on the ground that she had been coerced into it before +she knew her own mind; and she might have rushed to meet her husband +with open arms on the appointed day. + +Betty at length appeared in the distance in answer to the call, and +came up pale, but looking innocent of having seen a living soul. +Mrs. Dornell groaned in spirit at such duplicity in the child of her +bosom. This was the simple creature for whose development into +womanhood they had all been so tenderly waiting--a forward minx, old +enough not only to have a lover, but to conceal his existence as +adroitly as any woman of the world! Bitterly did the Squire's lady +regret that Stephen Reynard had not been allowed to come to claim +her at the time he first proposed. + +The two sat beside each other almost in silence on their journey +back to King's-Hintock. Such words as were spoken came mainly from +Betty, and their formality indicated how much her mind and heart +were occupied with other things. + +Mrs. Dornell was far too astute a mother to openly attack Betty on +the matter. That would be only fanning flame. The indispensable +course seemed to her to be that of keeping the treacherous girl +under lock and key till her husband came to take her off her +mother's hands. That he would disregard Dornell's opposition, and +come soon, was her devout wish. + +It seemed, therefore, a fortunate coincidence that on her arrival at +King's-Hintock a letter from Reynard was put into Mrs. Dornell's +hands. It was addressed to both her and her husband, and +courteously informed them that the writer had landed at Bristol, and +proposed to come on to King's-Hintock in a few days, at last to meet +and carry off his darling Betty, if she and her parents saw no +objection. + +Betty had also received a letter of the same tenor. Her mother had +only to look at her face to see how the girl received the +information. She was as pale as a sheet. + +'You must do your best to welcome him this time, my dear Betty,' her +mother said gently. + +'But--but--I--' + +'You are a woman now,' added her mother severely, 'and these +postponements must come to an end.' + +'But my father--oh, I am sure he will not allow this! I am not +ready. If he could only wait a year longer--if he could only wait a +few months longer! Oh, I wish--I wish my dear father were here! I +will send to him instantly.' She broke off abruptly, and falling +upon her mother's neck, burst into tears, saying, 'O my mother, have +mercy upon me--I do not love this man, my husband!' + +The agonized appeal went too straight to Mrs. Dornell's heart for +her to hear it unmoved. Yet, things having come to this pass, what +could she do? She was distracted, and for a moment was on Betty's +side. Her original thought had been to write an affirmative reply +to Reynard, allow him to come on to King's-Hintock, and keep her +husband in ignorance of the whole proceeding till he should arrive +from Falls on some fine day after his recovery, and find everything +settled, and Reynard and Betty living together in harmony. But the +events of the day, and her daughter's sudden outburst of feeling, +had overthrown this intention. Betty was sure to do as she had +threatened, and communicate instantly with her father, possibly +attempt to fly to him. Moreover, Reynard's letter was addressed to +Mr. Dornell and herself conjointly, and she could not in conscience +keep it from her husband. + +'I will send the letter on to your father instantly,' she replied +soothingly. 'He shall act entirely as he chooses, and you know that +will not be in opposition to your wishes. He would ruin you rather +than thwart you. I only hope he may be well enough to bear the +agitation of this news. Do you agree to this?' + +Poor Betty agreed, on condition that she should actually witness the +despatch of the letter. Her mother had no objection to offer to +this; but as soon as the horseman had cantered down the drive toward +the highway, Mrs. Dornell's sympathy with Betty's recalcitration +began to die out. The girl's secret affection for young Phelipson +could not possibly be condoned. Betty might communicate with him, +might even try to reach him. Ruin lay that way. Stephen Reynard +must be speedily installed in his proper place by Betty's side. + +She sat down and penned a private letter to Reynard, which threw +light upon her plan. + + +'It is Necessary that I should now tell you,' she said, 'what I have +never Mentioned before--indeed I may have signified the Contrary-- +that her Father's Objection to your joining her has not as yet been +overcome. As I personally Wish to delay you no longer--am indeed as +anxious for your Arrival as you can be yourself, having the good of +my Daughter at Heart--no course is left open to me but to assist +your Cause without my Husband's Knowledge. He, I am sorry to say, +is at present ill at Falls-Park, but I felt it my Duty to forward +him your Letter. He will therefore be like to reply with a +peremptory Command to you to go back again, for some Months, whence +you came, till the Time he originally stipulated has expir'd. My +Advice is, if you get such a Letter, to take no Notice of it, but to +come on hither as you had proposed, letting me know the Day and Hour +(after dark, if possible) at which we may expect you. Dear Betty is +with me, and I warrant ye that she shall be in the House when you +arrive.' + +Mrs. Dornell, having sent away this epistle unsuspected of anybody, +next took steps to prevent her daughter leaving the Court, avoiding +if possible to excite the girl's suspicions that she was under +restraint. But, as if by divination, Betty had seemed to read the +husband's approach in the aspect of her mother's face. + +'He is coming!' exclaimed the maiden. + +'Not for a week,' her mother assured her. + +'He is then--for certain?' + +'Well, yes.' + +Betty hastily retired to her room, and would not be seen. + +To lock her up, and hand over the key to Reynard when he should +appear in the hall, was a plan charming in its simplicity, till her +mother found, on trying the door of the girl's chamber softly, that +Betty had already locked and bolted it on the inside, and had given +directions to have her meals served where she was, by leaving them +on a dumb-waiter outside the door. + +Thereupon Mrs. Dornell noiselessly sat down in her boudoir, which, +as well as her bed-chamber, was a passage-room to the girl's +apartment, and she resolved not to vacate her post night or day till +her daughter's husband should appear, to which end she too arranged +to breakfast, dine, and sup on the spot. It was impossible now that +Betty should escape without her knowledge, even if she had wished, +there being no other door to the chamber, except one admitting to a +small inner dressing-room inaccessible by any second way. + +But it was plain that the young girl had no thought of escape. Her +ideas ran rather in the direction of intrenchment: she was prepared +to stand a siege, but scorned flight. This, at any rate, rendered +her secure. As to how Reynard would contrive a meeting with her coy +daughter while in such a defensive humour, that, thought her mother, +must be left to his own ingenuity to discover. + +Betty had looked so wild and pale at the announcement of her +husband's approaching visit, that Mrs. Dornell, somewhat uneasy, +could not leave her to herself. She peeped through the keyhole an +hour later. Betty lay on the sofa, staring listlessly at the +ceiling. + +'You are looking ill, child,' cried her mother. 'You've not taken +the air lately. Come with me for a drive.' + +Betty made no objection. Soon they drove through the park towards +the village, the daughter still in the strained, strung-up silence +that had fallen upon her. They left the park to return by another +route, and on the open road passed a cottage. + +Betty's eye fell upon the cottage-window. Within it she saw a young +girl about her own age, whom she knew by sight, sitting in a chair +and propped by a pillow. The girl's face was covered with scales, +which glistened in the sun. She was a convalescent from smallpox--a +disease whose prevalence at that period was a terror of which we at +present can hardly form a conception. + +An idea suddenly energized Betty's apathetic features. She glanced +at her mother; Mrs. Dornell had been looking in the opposite +direction. Betty said that she wished to go back to the cottage for +a moment to speak to a girl in whom she took an interest. Mrs. +Dornell appeared suspicious, but observing that the cottage had no +back-door, and that Betty could not escape without being seen, she +allowed the carriage to be stopped. Betty ran back and entered the +cottage, emerging again in about a minute, and resuming her seat in +the carriage. As they drove on she fixed her eyes upon her mother +and said, 'There, I have done it now!' Her pale face was stormy, +and her eyes full of waiting tears. + +'What have you done?' said Mrs. Dornell. + +'Nanny Priddle is sick of the smallpox, and I saw her at the window, +and I went in and kissed her, so that I might take it; and now I +shall have it, and he won't be able to come near me!' + +'Wicked girl!' cries her mother. 'Oh, what am I to do! What--bring +a distemper on yourself, and usurp the sacred prerogative of God, +because you can't palate the man you've wedded!' + +The alarmed woman gave orders to drive home as rapidly as possible, +and on arriving, Betty, who was by this time also somewhat +frightened at her own enormity, was put into a bath, and fumigated, +and treated in every way that could be thought of to ward off the +dreadful malady that in a rash moment she had tried to acquire. + +There was now a double reason for isolating the rebellious daughter +and wife in her own chamber, and there she accordingly remained for +the rest of the day and the days that followed; till no ill results +seemed likely to arise from her wilfulness. + +Meanwhile the first letter from Reynard, announcing to Mrs. Dornell +and her husband jointly that he was coming in a few days, had sped +on its way to Falls-Park. It was directed under cover to Tupcombe, +the confidential servant, with instructions not to put it into his +master's hands till he had been refreshed by a good long sleep. +Tupcombe much regretted his commission, letters sent in this way +always disturbing the Squire; but guessing that it would be +infinitely worse in the end to withhold the news than to reveal it, +he chose his time, which was early the next morning, and delivered +the missive. + +The utmost effect that Mrs. Dornell had anticipated from the message +was a peremptory order from her husband to Reynard to hold aloof a +few months longer. What the Squire really did was to declare that +he would go himself and confront Reynard at Bristol, and have it out +with him there by word of mouth. + +'But, master,' said Tupcombe, 'you can't. You cannot get out of +bed.' + +'You leave the room, Tupcombe, and don't say "can't" before me! +Have Jerry saddled in an hour.' + +The long-tried Tupcombe thought his employer demented, so utterly +helpless was his appearance just then, and he went out reluctantly. +No sooner was he gone than the Squire, with great difficulty, +stretched himself over to a cabinet by the bedside, unlocked it, and +took out a small bottle. It contained a gout specific, against +whose use he had been repeatedly warned by his regular physician, +but whose warning he now cast to the winds. + +He took a double dose, and waited half an hour. It seemed to +produce no effect. He then poured out a treble dose, swallowed it, +leant back upon his pillow, and waited. The miracle he anticipated +had been worked at last. It seemed as though the second draught had +not only operated with its own strength, but had kindled into power +the latent forces of the first. He put away the bottle, and rang up +Tupcombe. + +Less than an hour later one of the housemaids, who of course was +quite aware that the Squire's illness was serious, was surprised to +hear a bold and decided step descending the stairs from the +direction of Mr. Dornell's room, accompanied by the humming of a +tune. She knew that the doctor had not paid a visit that morning, +and that it was too heavy to be the valet or any other man-servant. +Looking up, she saw Squire Dornell fully dressed, descending toward +her in his drab caped riding-coat and boots, with the swinging easy +movement of his prime. Her face expressed her amazement. + +'What the devil beest looking at?' said the Squire. 'Did you never +see a man walk out of his house before, wench?' + +Resuming his humming--which was of a defiant sort--he proceeded to +the library, rang the bell, asked if the horses were ready, and +directed them to be brought round. Ten minutes later he rode away +in the direction of Bristol, Tupcombe behind him, trembling at what +these movements might portend. + +They rode on through the pleasant woodlands and the monotonous +straight lanes at an equal pace. The distance traversed might have +been about fifteen miles when Tupcombe could perceive that the +Squire was getting tired--as weary as he would have been after +riding three times the distance ten years before. However, they +reached Bristol without any mishap, and put up at the Squire's +accustomed inn. Dornell almost immediately proceeded on foot to the +inn which Reynard had given as his address, it being now about four +o'clock. + +Reynard had already dined--for people dined early then--and he was +staying indoors. He had already received Mrs. Dornell's reply to +his letter; but before acting upon her advice and starting for +King's-Hintock he made up his mind to wait another day, that Betty's +father might at least have time to write to him if so minded. The +returned traveller much desired to obtain the Squire's assent, as +well as his wife's, to the proposed visit to his bride, that nothing +might seem harsh or forced in his method of taking his position as +one of the family. But though he anticipated some sort of objection +from his father-in-law, in consequence of Mrs. Dornell's warning, he +was surprised at the announcement of the Squire in person. + +Stephen Reynard formed the completest of possible contrasts to +Dornell as they stood confronting each other in the best parlour of +the Bristol tavern. The Squire, hot-tempered, gouty, impulsive, +generous, reckless; the younger man, pale, tall, sedate, self- +possessed--a man of the world, fully bearing out at least one +couplet in his epitaph, still extant in King's-Hintock church, which +places in the inventory of his good qualities + + +'Engaging Manners, cultivated Mind, +Adorn'd by Letters, and in Courts refin'd.' + + +He was at this time about five-and-thirty, though careful living and +an even, unemotional temperament caused him to look much younger +than his years. + +Squire Dornell plunged into his errand without much ceremony or +preface. + +'I am your humble servant, sir,' he said. 'I have read your letter +writ to my wife and myself, and considered that the best way to +answer it would be to do so in person.' + +'I am vastly honoured by your visit, sir,' said Mr. Stephen Reynard, +bowing. + +'Well, what's done can't be undone,' said Dornell, 'though it was +mighty early, and was no doing of mine. She's your wife; and +there's an end on't. But in brief, sir, she's too young for you to +claim yet; we mustn't reckon by years; we must reckon by nature. +She's still a girl; 'tis onpolite of 'ee to come yet; next year will +be full soon enough for you to take her to you.' + +Now, courteous as Reynard could be, he was a little obstinate when +his resolution had once been formed. She had been promised him by +her eighteenth birthday at latest--sooner if she were in robust +health. Her mother had fixed the time on her own judgment, without +a word of interference on his part. He had been hanging about +foreign courts till he was weary. Betty was now as woman, if she +would ever be one, and there was not, in his mind, the shadow of an +excuse for putting him off longer. Therefore, fortified as he was +by the support of her mother, he blandly but firmly told the Squire +that he had been willing to waive his rights, out of deference to +her parents, to any reasonable extent, but must now, in justice to +himself and her insist on maintaining them. He therefore, since she +had not come to meet him, should proceed to King's-Hintock in a few +days to fetch her. + +This announcement, in spite of the urbanity with which it was +delivered, set Dornell in a passion. + +'Oh dammy, sir; you talk about rights, you do, after stealing her +away, a mere child, against my will and knowledge! If we'd begged +and prayed 'ee to take her, you could say no more.' + +'Upon my honour, your charge is quite baseless, sir,' said his son- +in-law. 'You must know by this time--or if you do not, it has been +a monstrous cruel injustice to me that I should have been allowed to +remain in your mind with such a stain upon my character--you must +know that I used no seductiveness or temptation of any kind. Her +mother assented; she assented. I took them at their word. That you +was really opposed to the marriage was not known to me till +afterwards.' + +Dornell professed to believe not a word of it. 'You sha'n't have +her till she's dree sixes full--no maid ought to be married till +she's dree sixes!--and my daughter sha'n't be treated out of nater!' +So he stormed on till Tupcombe, who had been alarmedly listening in +the next room, entered suddenly, declaring to Reynard that his +master's life was in danger if the interview were prolonged, he +being subject to apoplectic strokes at these crises. Reynard +immediately said that he would be the last to wish to injure Squire +Dornell, and left the room, and as soon as the Squire had recovered +breath and equanimity, he went out of the inn, leaning on the arm of +Tupcombe. + +Tupcombe was for sleeping in Bristol that night, but Dornell, whose +energy seemed as invincible as it was sudden, insisted upon mounting +and getting back as far as Falls-Park, to continue the journey to +King's-Hintock on the following day. At five they started, and took +the southern road toward the Mendip Hills. The evening was dry and +windy, and, excepting that the sun did not shine, strongly reminded +Tupcombe of the evening of that March month, nearly five years +earlier, when news had been brought to King's-Hintock Court of the +child Betty's marriage in London--news which had produced upon +Dornell such a marked effect for the worse ever since, and +indirectly upon the household of which he was the head. Before that +time the winters were lively at Falls-Park, as well as at King's- +Hintock, although the Squire had ceased to make it his regular +residence. Hunting-guests and shooting-guests came and went, and +open house was kept. Tupcombe disliked the clever courtier who had +put a stop to this by taking away from the Squire the only treasure +he valued. + +It grew darker with their progress along the lanes, and Tupcombe +discovered from Mr. Dornell's manner of riding that his strength was +giving way; and spurring his own horse close alongside, he asked him +how he felt. + +'Oh, bad; damn bad, Tupcombe! I can hardly keep my seat. I shall +never be any better, I fear! Have we passed Three-Man-Gibbet yet?' + +'Not yet by a long ways, sir.' + +'I wish we had. I can hardly hold on.' The Squire could not +repress a groan now and then, and Tupcombe knew he was in great +pain. 'I wish I was underground--that's the place for such fools as +I! I'd gladly be there if it were not for Mistress Betty. He's +coming on to King's-Hintock to-morrow--he won't put it off any +longer; he'll set out and reach there to-morrow night, without +stopping at Falls; and he'll take her unawares, and I want to be +there before him.' + +'I hope you may be well enough to do it, sir. But really--' + +'I MUST, Tupcombe! You don't know what my trouble is; it is not so +much that she is married to this man without my agreeing--for, after +all, there's nothing to say against him, so far as I know; but that +she don't take to him at all, seems to fear him--in fact, cares +nothing about him; and if he comes forcing himself into the house +upon her, why, 'twill be rank cruelty. Would to the Lord something +would happen to prevent him!' + +How they reached home that night Tupcombe hardly knew. The Squire +was in such pain that he was obliged to recline upon his horse, and +Tupcombe was afraid every moment lest he would fall into the road. +But they did reach home at last, and Mr. Dornell was instantly +assisted to bed. + + +Next morning it was obvious that he could not possibly go to King's- +Hintock for several days at least, and there on the bed he lay, +cursing his inability to proceed on an errand so personal and so +delicate that no emissary could perform it. What he wished to do +was to ascertain from Betty's own lips if her aversion to Reynard +was so strong that his presence would be positively distasteful to +her. Were that the case, he would have borne her away bodily on the +saddle behind him. + +But all that was hindered now, and he repeated a hundred times in +Tupcombe's hearing, and in that of the nurse and other servants, 'I +wish to God something would happen to him!' + +This sentiment, reiterated by the Squire as he tossed in the agony +induced by the powerful drugs of the day before, entered sharply +into the soul of Tupcombe and of all who were attached to the house +of Dornell, as distinct from the house of his wife at King's- +Hintock. Tupcombe, who was an excitable man, was hardly less +disquieted by the thought of Reynard's return than the Squire +himself was. As the week drew on, and the afternoon advanced at +which Reynard would in all probability be passing near Falls on his +way to the Court, the Squire's feelings became acuter, and the +responsive Tupcombe could hardly bear to come near him. Having left +him in the hands of the doctor, the former went out upon the lawn, +for he could hardly breathe in the contagion of excitement caught +from the employer who had virtually made him his confidant. He had +lived with the Dornells from his boyhood, had been born under the +shadow of their walls; his whole life was annexed and welded to the +life of the family in a degree which has no counterpart in these +latter days. + +He was summoned indoors, and learnt that it had been decided to send +for Mrs. Dornell: her husband was in great danger. There were two +or three who could have acted as messenger, but Dornell wished +Tupcombe to go, the reason showing itself when, Tupcombe being ready +to start, Squire Dornell summoned him to his chamber and leaned down +so that he could whisper in his ear: + +'Put Peggy along smart, Tupcombe, and get there before him, you +know--before him. This is the day he fixed. He has not passed +Falls cross-roads yet. If you can do that you will be able to get +Betty to come--d'ye see?--after her mother has started; she'll have +a reason for not waiting for him. Bring her by the lower road-- +he'll go by the upper. Your business is to make 'em miss each +other--d'ye see?--but that's a thing I couldn't write down.' + +Five minutes after, Tupcombe was astride the horse and on his way-- +the way he had followed so many times since his master, a florid +young countryman, had first gone wooing to King's-Hintock Court. As +soon as he had crossed the hills in the immediate neighbourhood of +the manor, the road lay over a plain, where it ran in long straight +stretches for several miles. In the best of times, when all had +been gay in the united houses, that part of the road had seemed +tedious. It was gloomy in the extreme now that he pursued it, at +night and alone, on such an errand. + +He rode and brooded. If the Squire were to die, he, Tupcombe, would +be alone in the world and friendless, for he was no favourite with +Mrs. Dornell; and to find himself baffled, after all, in what he had +set his mind on, would probably kill the Squire. Thinking thus, +Tupcombe stopped his horse every now and then, and listened for the +coming husband. The time was drawing on to the moment when Reynard +might be expected to pass along this very route. He had watched the +road well during the afternoon, and had inquired of the tavern- +keepers as he came up to each, and he was convinced that the +premature descent of the stranger-husband upon his young mistress +had not been made by this highway as yet. + +Besides the girl's mother, Tupcombe was the only member of the +household who suspected Betty's tender feelings towards young +Phelipson, so unhappily generated on her return from school; and he +could therefore imagine, even better than her fond father, what +would be her emotions on the sudden announcement of Reynard's advent +that evening at King's-Hintock Court. + +So he rode and rode, desponding and hopeful by turns. He felt +assured that, unless in the unfortunate event of the almost +immediate arrival of her son-in law at his own heels, Mrs. Dornell +would not be able to hinder Betty's departure for her father's +bedside. + +It was about nine o'clock that, having put twenty miles of country +behind him, he turned in at the lodge-gate nearest to Ivell and +King's-Hintock village, and pursued the long north drive--itself +much like a turnpike road--which led thence through the park to the +Court. Though there were so many trees in King's-Hintock park, few +bordered the carriage roadway; he could see it stretching ahead in +the pale night light like an unrolled deal shaving. Presently the +irregular frontage of the house came in view, of great extent, but +low, except where it rose into the outlines of a broad square tower. + +As Tupcombe approached he rode aside upon the grass, to make sure, +if possible, that he was the first comer, before letting his +presence be known. The Court was dark and sleepy, in no respect as +if a bridegroom were about to arrive. + +While pausing he distinctly heard the tread of a horse upon the +track behind him, and for a moment despaired of arriving in time: +here, surely, was Reynard! Pulling up closer to the densest tree at +hand he waited, and found he had retreated nothing too soon, for the +second rider avoided the gravel also, and passed quite close to him. +In the profile he recognized young Phelipson. + +Before Tupcombe could think what to do, Phelipson had gone on; but +not to the door of the house. Swerving to the left, he passed round +to the east angle, where, as Tupcombe knew, were situated Betty's +apartments. Dismounting, he left the horse tethered to a hanging +bough, and walked on to the house. + +Suddenly his eye caught sight of an object which explained the +position immediately. It was a ladder stretching from beneath the +trees, which there came pretty close to the house, up to a first- +floor window--one which lighted Miss Betty's rooms. Yes, it was +Betty's chamber; he knew every room in the house well. + +The young horseman who had passed him, having evidently left his +steed somewhere under the trees also, was perceptible at the top of +the ladder, immediately outside Betty's window. While Tupcombe +watched, a cloaked female figure stepped timidly over the sill, and +the two cautiously descended, one before the other, the young man's +arms enclosing the young woman between his grasp of the ladder, so +that she could not fall. As soon as they reached the bottom, young +Phelipson quickly removed the ladder and hid it under the bushes. +The pair disappeared; till, in a few minutes, Tupcombe could discern +a horse emerging from a remoter part of the umbrage. The horse +carried double, the girl being on a pillion behind her lover. + +Tupcombe hardly knew what to do or think; yet, though this was not +exactly the kind of flight that had been intended, she had certainly +escaped. He went back to his own animal, and rode round to the +servants' door, where he delivered the letter for Mrs. Dornell. To +leave a verbal message for Betty was now impossible. + +The Court servants desired him to stay over the night, but he would +not do so, desiring to get back to the Squire as soon as possible +and tell what he had seen. Whether he ought not to have intercepted +the young people, and carried off Betty himself to her father, he +did not know. However, it was too late to think of that now, and +without wetting his lips or swallowing a crumb, Tupcombe turned his +back upon King's-Hintock Court. + +It was not till he had advanced a considerable distance on his way +homeward that, halting under the lantern of a roadside-inn while the +horse was watered, there came a traveller from the opposite +direction in a hired coach; the lantern lit the stranger's face as +he passed along and dropped into the shade. Tupcombe exulted for +the moment, though he could hardly have justified his exultation. +The belated traveller was Reynard; and another had stepped in before +him. + +You may now be willing to know of the fortunes of Miss Betty. Left +much to herself through the intervening days, she had ample time to +brood over her desperate attempt at the stratagem of infection-- +thwarted, apparently, by her mother's promptitude. In what other +way to gain time she could not think. Thus drew on the day and the +hour of the evening on which her husband was expected to announce +himself. + +At some period after dark, when she could not tell, a tap at the +window, twice and thrice repeated, became audible. It caused her to +start up, for the only visitant in her mind was the one whose +advances she had so feared as to risk health and life to repel them. +She crept to the window, and heard a whisper without. + +'It is I--Charley,' said the voice. + +Betty's face fired with excitement. She had latterly begun to doubt +her admirer's staunchness, fancying his love to be going off in mere +attentions which neither committed him nor herself very deeply. She +opened the window, saying in a joyous whisper, 'Oh Charley; I +thought you had deserted me quite!' + +He assured her he had not done that, and that he had a horse in +waiting, if she would ride off with him. 'You must come quickly,' +he said; 'for Reynard's on the way!' + +To throw a cloak round herself was the work of a moment, and +assuring herself that her door was locked against a surprise, she +climbed over the window-sill and descended with him as we have seen. + +Her mother meanwhile, having received Tupcombe's note, found the +news of her husband's illness so serious, as to displace her +thoughts of the coming son-in-law, and she hastened to tell her +daughter of the Squire's dangerous condition, thinking it might be +desirable to take her to her father's bedside. On trying the door +of the girl's room, she found it still locked. Mrs. Dornell called, +but there was no answer. Full of misgivings, she privately fetched +the old house-steward and bade him burst open the door--an order by +no means easy to execute, the joinery of the Court being massively +constructed. However, the lock sprang open at last, and she entered +Betty's chamber only to find the window unfastened and the bird +flown. + +For a moment Mrs. Dornell was staggered. Then it occurred to her +that Betty might have privately obtained from Tupcombe the news of +her father's serious illness, and, fearing she might be kept back to +meet her husband, have gone off with that obstinate and biassed +servitor to Falls-Park. The more she thought it over the more +probable did the supposition appear; and binding her own head-man to +secrecy as to Betty's movements, whether as she conjectured, or +otherwise, Mrs. Dornell herself prepared to set out. + +She had no suspicion how seriously her husband's malady had been +aggravated by his ride to Bristol, and thought more of Betty's +affairs than of her own. That Betty's husband should arrive by some +other road to-night, and find neither wife nor mother-in-law to +receive him, and no explanation of their absence, was possible; but +never forgetting chances, Mrs. Dornell as she journeyed kept her +eyes fixed upon the highway on the off-side, where, before she had +reached the town of Ivell, the hired coach containing Stephen +Reynard flashed into the lamplight of her own carriage. + +Mrs. Dornell's coachman pulled up, in obedience to a direction she +had given him at starting; the other coach was hailed, a few words +passed, and Reynard alighted and came to Mrs. Dornell's carriage- +window. + +'Come inside,' says she. 'I want to speak privately to you. Why +are you so late?' + +'One hindrance and another,' says he. 'I meant to be at the Court +by eight at latest. My gratitude for your letter. I hope--' + +'You must not try to see Betty yet,' said she. 'There be far other +and newer reasons against your seeing her now than there were when I +wrote.' + +The circumstances were such that Mrs. Dornell could not possibly +conceal them entirely; nothing short of knowing some of the facts +would prevent his blindly acting in a manner which might be fatal to +the future. Moreover, there are times when deeper intriguers than +Mrs. Dornell feel that they must let out a few truths, if only in +self-indulgence. So she told so much of recent surprises as that +Betty's heart had been attracted by another image than his, and that +his insisting on visiting her now might drive the girl to +desperation. 'Betty has, in fact, rushed off to her father to avoid +you,' she said. 'But if you wait she will soon forget this young +man, and you will have nothing to fear.' + +As a woman and a mother she could go no further, and Betty's +desperate attempt to infect herself the week before as a means of +repelling him, together with the alarming possibility that, after +all, she had not gone to her father but to her lover, was not +revealed. + +'Well,' sighed the diplomatist, in a tone unexpectedly quiet, 'such +things have been known before. After all, she may prefer me to him +some day, when she reflects how very differently I might have acted +than I am going to act towards her. But I'll say no more about that +now. I can have a bed at your house for to-night?' + +'To-night, certainly. And you leave to-morrow morning early?' She +spoke anxiously, for on no account did she wish him to make further +discoveries. 'My husband is so seriously ill,' she continued, 'that +my absence and Betty's on your arrival is naturally accounted for.' + +He promised to leave early, and to write to her soon. 'And when I +think the time is ripe,' he said, 'I'll write to her. I may have +something to tell her that will bring her to graciousness.' + +It was about one o'clock in the morning when Mrs. Dornell reached +Falls-Park. A double blow awaited her there. Betty had not +arrived; her flight had been elsewhither; and her stricken mother +divined with whom. She ascended to the bedside of her husband, +where to her concern she found that the physician had given up all +hope. The Squire was sinking, and his extreme weakness had almost +changed his character, except in the particular that his old +obstinacy sustained him in a refusal to see a clergyman. He shed +tears at the least word, and sobbed at the sight of his wife. He +asked for Betty, and it was with a heavy heart that Mrs. Dornell +told him that the girl had not accompanied her. + +'He is not keeping her away?' + +'No, no. He is going back--he is not coming to her for some time.' + +'Then what is detaining her--cruel, neglectful maid!' + +'No, no, Thomas; she is-- She could not come.' + +'How's that?' + +Somehow the solemnity of these last moments of his gave him +inquisitorial power, and the too cold wife could not conceal from +him the flight which had taken place from King's-Hintock that night. + +To her amazement, the effect upon him was electrical. + +'What--Betty--a trump after all? Hurrah! She's her father's own +maid! She's game! She knew he was her father's own choice! She +vowed that my man should win! Well done, Bet!--haw! haw! Hurrah!' + +He had raised himself in bed by starts as he spoke, and now fell +back exhausted. He never uttered another word, and died before the +dawn. People said there had not been such an ungenteel death in a +good county family for years. + + +Now I will go back to the time of Betty's riding off on the pillion +behind her lover. They left the park by an obscure gate to the +east, and presently found themselves in the lonely and solitary +length of the old Roman road now called Long-Ash Lane. + +By this time they were rather alarmed at their own performance, for +they were both young and inexperienced. Hence they proceeded almost +in silence till they came to a mean roadside inn which was not yet +closed; when Betty, who had held on to him with much misgiving all +this while, felt dreadfully unwell, and said she thought she would +like to get down. + +They accordingly dismounted from the jaded animal that had brought +them, and were shown into a small dark parlour, where they stood +side by side awkwardly, like the fugitives they were. A light was +brought, and when they were left alone Betty threw off the cloak +which had enveloped her. No sooner did young Phelipson see her face +than he uttered an alarmed exclamation. + +'Why, Lord, Lord, you are sickening for the small-pox!' he cried. + +'Oh--I forgot!' faltered Betty. And then she informed him that, on +hearing of her husband's approach the week before, in a desperate +attempt to keep him from her side, she had tried to imbibe the +infection--an act which till this moment she had supposed to have +been ineffectual, imagining her feverishness to be the result of her +excitement. + +The effect of this discovery upon young Phelipson was overwhelming. +Better-seasoned men than he would not have been proof against it, +and he was only a little over her own age. 'And you've been holding +on to me!' he said. 'And suppose you get worse, and we both have +it, what shall we do? Won't you be a fright in a month or two, +poor, poor Betty!' + +In his horror he attempted to laugh, but the laugh ended in a weakly +giggle. She was more woman than girl by this time, and realized his +feeling. + +'What--in trying to keep off him, I keep off you?' she said +miserably. 'Do you hate me because I am going to be ugly and ill?' + +'Oh--no, no!' he said soothingly. 'But I--I am thinking if it is +quite right for us to do this. You see, dear Betty, if you was not +married it would be different. You are not in honour married to him +we've often said; still you are his by law, and you can't be mine +whilst he's alive. And with this terrible sickness coming on, +perhaps you had better let me take you back, and--climb in at the +window again.' + +'Is THIS your love?' said Betty reproachfully. 'Oh, if you was +sickening for the plague itself, and going to be as ugly as the +Ooser in the church-vestry, I wouldn't--' + +'No, no, you mistake, upon my soul!' + +But Betty with a swollen heart had rewrapped herself and gone out of +the door. The horse was still standing there. She mounted by the +help of the upping-stock, and when he had followed her she said, 'Do +not come near me, Charley; but please lead the horse, so that if +you've not caught anything already you'll not catch it going back. +After all, what keeps off you may keep off him. Now onward.' + +He did not resist her command, and back they went by the way they +had come, Betty shedding bitter tears at the retribution she had +already brought upon herself; for though she had reproached +Phelipson, she was staunch enough not to blame him in her secret +heart for showing that his love was only skin-deep. The horse was +stopped in the plantation, and they walked silently to the lawn, +reaching the bushes wherein the ladder still lay. + +'Will you put it up for me?' she asked mournfully. + +He re-erected the ladder without a word; but when she approached to +ascend he said, 'Good-bye, Betty!' + +'Good-bye!' said she; and involuntarily turned her face towards his. +He hung back from imprinting the expected kiss: at which Betty +started as if she had received a poignant wound. She moved away so +suddenly that he hardly had time to follow her up the ladder to +prevent her falling. + +'Tell your mother to get the doctor at once!' he said anxiously. + +She stepped in without looking behind; he descended, withdrew the +ladder, and went away. + +Alone in her chamber, Betty flung herself upon her face on the bed, +and burst into shaking sobs. Yet she would not admit to herself +that her lover's conduct was unreasonable; only that her rash act of +the previous week had been wrong. No one had heard her enter, and +she was too worn out, in body and mind, to think or care about +medical aid. In an hour or so she felt yet more unwell, positively +ill; and nobody coming to her at the usual bedtime, she looked +towards the door. Marks of the lock having been forced were +visible, and this made her chary of summoning a servant. She opened +the door cautiously and sallied forth downstairs. + +In the dining-parlour, as it was called, the now sick and sorry +Betty was startled to see at that late hour not her mother, but a +man sitting, calmly finishing his supper. There was no servant in +the room. He turned, and she recognized her husband. + +'Where's my mamma?' she demanded without preface. + +'Gone to your father's. Is that--' He stopped, aghast. + +'Yes, sir. This spotted object is your wife! I've done it because +I don't want you to come near me!' + +He was sixteen years her senior; old enough to be compassionate. +'My poor child, you must get to bed directly! Don't be afraid of +me--I'll carry you upstairs, and send for a doctor instantly.' + +'Ah, you don't know what I am!' she cried. 'I had a lover once; but +now he's gone! 'Twasn't I who deserted him. He has deserted me; +because I am ill he wouldn't kiss me, though I wanted him to!' + +'Wouldn't he? Then he was a very poor slack-twisted sort of fellow. +Betty, I'VE never kissed you since you stood beside me as my little +wife, twelve years and a half old! May I kiss you now?' + +Though Betty by no means desired his kisses, she had enough of the +spirit of Cunigonde in Schiller's ballad to test his daring. 'If +you have courage to venture, yes sir!' said she. 'But you may die +for it, mind!' + +He came up to her and imprinted a deliberate kiss full upon her +mouth, saying, 'May many others follow!' + +She shook her head, and hastily withdrew, though secretly pleased at +his hardihood. The excitement had supported her for the few minutes +she had passed in his presence, and she could hardly drag herself +back to her room. Her husband summoned the servants, and, sending +them to her assistance, went off himself for a doctor. + +The next morning Reynard waited at the Court till he had learnt from +the medical man that Betty's attack promised to be a very light one- +-or, as it was expressed, 'very fine'; and in taking his leave sent +up a note to her: + +'Now I must be Gone. I promised your Mother I would not see You +yet, and she may be anger'd if she finds me here. Promise to see me +as Soon as you are well?' + +He was of all men then living one of the best able to cope with such +an untimely situation as this. A contriving, sagacious, gentle- +mannered man, a philosopher who saw that the only constant attribute +of life is change, he held that, as long as she lives, there is +nothing finite in the most impassioned attitude a woman may take up. +In twelve months his girl-wife's recent infatuation might be as +distasteful to her mind as it was now to his own. In a few years +her very flesh would change--so said the scientific;--her spirit, so +much more ephemeral, was capable of changing in one. Betty was his, +and it became a mere question of means how to effect that change. + +During the day Mrs. Dornell, having closed her husband's eyes, +returned to the Court. She was truly relieved to find Betty there, +even though on a bed of sickness. The disease ran its course, and +in due time Betty became convalescent, without having suffered +deeply for her rashness, one little speck beneath her ear, and one +beneath her chin, being all the marks she retained. + +The Squire's body was not brought back to King's-Hintock. Where he +was born, and where he had lived before wedding his Sue, there he +had wished to be buried. No sooner had she lost him than Mrs. +Dornell, like certain other wives, though she had never shown any +great affection for him while he lived, awoke suddenly to his many +virtues, and zealously embraced his opinion about delaying Betty's +union with her husband, which she had formerly combated strenuously. +'Poor man! how right he was, and how wrong was I!' Eighteen was +certainly the lowest age at which Mr. Reynard should claim her +child--nay, it was too low! Far too low! + +So desirous was she of honouring her lamented husband's sentiments +in this respect, that she wrote to her son-in-law suggesting that, +partly on account of Betty's sorrow for her father's loss, and out +of consideration for his known wishes for delay, Betty should not be +taken from her till her nineteenth birthday. + +However much or little Stephen Reynard might have been to blame in +his marriage, the patient man now almost deserved to be pitied. +First Betty's skittishness; now her mother's remorseful volte-face: +it was enough to exasperate anybody; and he wrote to the widow in a +tone which led to a little coolness between those hitherto firm +friends. However, knowing that he had a wife not to claim but to +win, and that young Phelipson had been packed off to sea by his +parents, Stephen was complaisant to a degree, returning to London, +and holding quite aloof from Betty and her mother, who remained for +the present in the country. In town he had a mild visitation of the +distemper he had taken from Betty, and in writing to her he took +care not to dwell upon its mildness. It was now that Betty began to +pity him for what she had inflicted upon him by the kiss, and her +correspondence acquired a distinct flavour of kindness +thenceforward. + +Owing to his rebuffs, Reynard had grown to be truly in love with +Betty in his mild, placid, durable way--in that way which perhaps, +upon the whole, tends most generally to the woman's comfort under +the institution of marriage, if not particularly to her ecstasy. +Mrs. Dornell's exaggeration of her husband's wish for delay in their +living together was inconvenient, but he would not openly infringe +it. He wrote tenderly to Betty, and soon announced that he had a +little surprise in store for her. The secret was that the King had +been graciously pleased to inform him privately, through a relation, +that His Majesty was about to offer him a Barony. Would she like +the title to be Ivell? Moreover, he had reason for knowing that in +a few years the dignity would be raised to that of an Earl, for +which creation he thought the title of Wessex would be eminently +suitable, considering the position of much of their property. As +Lady Ivell, therefore, and future Countess of Wessex, he should beg +leave to offer her his heart a third time. + +He did not add, as he might have added, how greatly the +consideration of the enormous estates at King's-Hintock and +elsewhere which Betty would inherit, and her children after her, had +conduced to this desirable honour. + +Whether the impending titles had really any effect upon Betty's +regard for him I cannot state, for she was one of those close +characters who never let their minds be known upon anything. That +such honour was absolutely unexpected by her from such a quarter is, +however, certain; and she could not deny that Stephen had shown her +kindness, forbearance, even magnanimity; had forgiven her for an +errant passion which he might with some reason have denounced, +notwithstanding her cruel position as a child entrapped into +marriage ere able to understand its bearings. + +Her mother, in her grief and remorse for the loveless life she had +led with her rough, though open-hearted, husband, made now a creed +of his merest whim; and continued to insist that, out of respect to +his known desire, her son-in-law should not reside with Betty till +the girl's father had been dead a year at least, at which time the +girl would still be under nineteen. Letters must suffice for +Stephen till then. + +'It is rather long for him to wait,' Betty hesitatingly said one +day. + +'What!' said her mother. 'From YOU? not to respect your dear +father--' + +'Of course it is quite proper,' said Betty hastily. 'I don't +gainsay it. I was but thinking that--that--' + +In the long slow months of the stipulated interval her mother tended +and trained Betty carefully for her duties. Fully awake now to the +many virtues of her dear departed one, she, among other acts of +pious devotion to his memory, rebuilt the church of King's-Hintock +village, and established valuable charities in all the villages of +that name, as far as to Little-Hintock, several miles eastward. + +In superintending these works, particularly that of the church- +building, her daughter Betty was her constant companion, and the +incidents of their execution were doubtless not without a soothing +effect upon the young creature's heart. She had sprung from girl to +woman by a sudden bound, and few would have recognized in the +thoughtful face of Betty now the same person who, the year before, +had seemed to have absolutely no idea whatever of responsibility, +moral or other. Time passed thus till the Squire had been nearly a +year in his vault; and Mrs. Dornell was duly asked by letter by the +patient Reynard if she were willing for him to come soon. He did +not wish to take Betty away if her mother's sense of loneliness +would be too great, but would willingly live at King's-Hintock +awhile with them. + +Before the widow had replied to this communication, she one day +happened to observe Betty walking on the south terrace in the full +sunlight, without hat or mantle, and was struck by her child's +figure. Mrs. Dornell called her in, and said suddenly: 'Have you +seen your husband since the time of your poor father's death?' + +'Well--yes, mamma,' says Betty, colouring. + +'What--against my wishes and those of your dear father! I am +shocked at your disobedience!' + +'But my father said eighteen, ma'am, and you made it much longer--' + +'Why, of course--out of consideration for you! When have ye seen +him?' + +'Well,' stammered Betty, 'in the course of his letters to me he said +that I belonged to him, and if nobody knew that we met it would make +no difference. And that I need not hurt your feelings by telling +you.' + +'Well?' + +'So I went to Casterbridge that time you went to London about five +months ago--' + +'And met him there? When did you come back?' + +'Dear mamma, it grew very late, and he said it was safer not to go +back till next day, as the roads were bad; and as you were away from +home--' + +'I don't want to hear any more! This is your respect for your +father's memory,' groaned the widow. 'When did you meet him again?' + +'Oh--not for more than a fortnight.' + +'A fortnight! How many times have ye seen him altogether?' + +'I'm sure, mamma, I've not seen him altogether a dozen times.' + +'A dozen! And eighteen and a half years old barely!' + +'Twice we met by accident,' pleaded Betty. 'Once at Abbot's-Cernel, +and another time at the Red Lion, Melchester.' + +'O thou deceitful girl!' cried Mrs. Dornell. 'An accident took you +to the Red Lion whilst I was staying at the White Hart! I remember- +-you came in at twelve o'clock at night and said you'd been to see +the cathedral by the light o' the moon!' + +'My ever-honoured mamma, so I had! I only went to the Red Lion with +him afterwards.' + +'Oh Betty, Betty! That my child should have deceived me even in my +widowed days!' + +'But, my dearest mamma, you made me marry him!' says Betty with +spirit, 'and of course I've to obey him more than you now!' + +Mrs. Dornell sighed. 'All I have to say is, that you'd better get +your husband to join you as soon as possible,' she remarked. 'To go +on playing the maiden like this--I'm ashamed to see you!' + +She wrote instantly to Stephen Reynard: 'I wash my hands of the +whole matter as between you two; though I should advise you to +OPENLY join each other as soon as you can--if you wish to avoid +scandal.' + +He came, though not till the promised title had been granted, and he +could call Betty archly 'My Lady.' + +People said in after years that she and her husband were very happy. +However that may be, they had a numerous family; and she became in +due course first Countess of Wessex, as he had foretold. + +The little white frock in which she had been married to him at the +tender age of twelve was carefully preserved among the relics at +King's-Hintock Court, where it may still be seen by the curious--a +yellowing, pathetic testimony to the small count taken of the +happiness of an innocent child in the social strategy of those days, +which might have led, but providentially did not lead, to great +unhappiness. + +When the Earl died Betty wrote him an epitaph, in which she +described him as the best of husbands, fathers, and friends, and +called herself his disconsolate widow. + +Such is woman; or rather (not to give offence by so sweeping an +assertion), such was Betty Dornell. + + +It was at a meeting of one of the Wessex Field and Antiquarian Clubs +that the foregoing story, partly told, partly read from a +manuscript, was made to do duty for the regulation papers on +deformed butterflies, fossil ox-horns, prehistoric dung-mixens, and +such like, that usually occupied the more serious attention of the +members. + +This Club was of an inclusive and intersocial character; to a +degree, indeed, remarkable for the part of England in which it had +its being--dear, delightful Wessex, whose statuesque dynasties are +even now only just beginning to feel the shaking of the new and +strange spirit without, like that which entered the lonely valley of +Ezekiel's vision and made the dry bones move: where the honest +squires, tradesmen, parsons, clerks, and people still praise the +Lord with one voice for His best of all possible worlds. + +The present meeting, which was to extend over two days, had opened +its proceedings at the museum of the town whose buildings and +environs were to be visited by the members. Lunch had ended, and +the afternoon excursion had been about to be undertaken, when the +rain came down in an obstinate spatter, which revealed no sign of +cessation. As the members waited they grew chilly, although it was +only autumn, and a fire was lighted, which threw a cheerful shine +upon the varnished skulls, urns, penates, tesserae, costumes, coats +of mail, weapons, and missals, animated the fossilized ichthyosaurus +and iguanodon; while the dead eyes of the stuffed birds--those +never-absent familiars in such collections, though murdered to +extinction out of doors--flashed as they had flashed to the rising +sun above the neighbouring moors on the fatal morning when the +trigger was pulled which ended their little flight. It was then +that the historian produced his manuscript, which he had prepared, +he said, with a view to publication. His delivery of the story +having concluded as aforesaid, the speaker expressed his hope that +the constraint of the weather, and the paucity of more scientific +papers, would excuse any inappropriateness in his subject. + +Several members observed that a storm-bound club could not presume +to be selective, and they were all very much obliged to him for such +a curious chapter from the domestic histories of the county. + +The President looked gloomily from the window at the descending +rain, and broke a short silence by saying that though the Club had +met, there seemed little probability of its being able to visit the +objects of interest set down among the agenda. + +The Treasurer observed that they had at least a roof over their +heads; and they had also a second day before them. + +A sentimental member, leaning back in his chair, declared that he +was in no hurry to go out, and that nothing would please him so much +as another county story, with or without manuscript. + +The Colonel added that the subject should be a lady, like the +former, to which a gentleman known as the Spark said 'Hear, hear!' + +Though these had spoken in jest, a rural dean who was present +observed blandly that there was no lack of materials. Many, indeed, +were the legends and traditions of gentle and noble dames, renowned +in times past in that part of England, whose actions and passions +were now, but for men's memories, buried under the brief inscription +on a tomb or an entry of dates in a dry pedigree. + +Another member, an old surgeon, a somewhat grim though sociable +personage, was quite of the speaker's opinion, and felt quite sure +that the memory of the reverend gentleman must abound with such +curious tales of fair dames, of their loves and hates, their joys +and their misfortunes, their beauty and their fate. + +The parson, a trifle confused, retorted that their friend the +surgeon, the son of a surgeon, seemed to him, as a man who had seen +much and heard more during the long course of his own and his +father's practice, the member of all others most likely to be +acquainted with such lore. + +The bookworm, the Colonel, the historian, the Vice-president, the +churchwarden, the two curates, the gentleman-tradesman, the +sentimental member, the crimson maltster, the quiet gentleman, the +man of family, the Spark, and several others, quite agreed, and +begged that he would recall something of the kind. The old surgeon +said that, though a meeting of the Mid-Wessex Field and Antiquarian +Club was the last place at which he should have expected to be +called upon in this way, he had no objection; and the parson said he +would come next. The surgeon then reflected, and decided to relate +the history of a lady named Barbara, who lived towards the end of +the last century, apologizing for his tale as being perhaps a little +too professional. The crimson maltster winked to the Spark at +hearing the nature of the apology, and the surgeon began. + + + +DAME THE SECOND: BARBARA OF THE HOUSE OF GREBE +By the Old Surgeon + + + +It was apparently an idea, rather than a passion, that inspired Lord +Uplandtowers' resolve to win her. Nobody ever knew when he formed +it, or whence he got his assurance of success in the face of her +manifest dislike of him. Possibly not until after that first +important act of her life which I shall presently mention. His +matured and cynical doggedness at the age of nineteen, when impulse +mostly rules calculation, was remarkable, and might have owed its +existence as much to his succession to the earldom and its +accompanying local honours in childhood, as to the family character; +an elevation which jerked him into maturity, so to speak, without +his having known adolescence. He had only reached his twelfth year +when his father, the fourth Earl, died, after a course of the Bath +waters. + +Nevertheless, the family character had a great deal to do with it. +Determination was hereditary in the bearers of that escutcheon; +sometimes for good, sometimes for evil. + +The seats of the two families were about ten miles apart, the way +between them lying along the now old, then new, turnpike-road +connecting Havenpool and Warborne with the city of Melchester: a +road which, though only a branch from what was known as the Great +Western Highway, is probably, even at present, as it has been for +the last hundred years, one of the finest examples of a macadamized +turnpike-track that can be found in England. + +The mansion of the Earl, as well as that of his neighbour, Barbara's +father, stood back about a mile from the highway, with which each +was connected by an ordinary drive and lodge. It was along this +particular highway that the young Earl drove on a certain evening at +Christmastide some twenty years before the end of the last century, +to attend a ball at Chene Manor, the home of Barbara, and her +parents Sir John and Lady Grebe. Sir John's was a baronetcy created +a few years before the breaking out of the Civil War, and his lands +were even more extensive than those of Lord Uplandtowers himself; +comprising this Manor of Chene, another on the coast near, half the +Hundred of Cockdene, and well-enclosed lands in several other +parishes, notably Warborne and those contiguous. At this time +Barbara was barely seventeen, and the ball is the first occasion on +which we have any tradition of Lord Uplandtowers attempting tender +relations with her; it was early enough, God knows. + +An intimate friend--one of the Drenkhards--is said to have dined +with him that day, and Lord Uplandtowers had, for a wonder, +communicated to his guest the secret design of his heart. + +'You'll never get her--sure; you'll never get her!' this friend had +said at parting. 'She's not drawn to your lordship by love: and as +for thought of a good match, why, there's no more calculation in her +than in a bird.' + +'We'll see,' said Lord Uplandtowers impassively. + +He no doubt thought of his friend's forecast as he travelled along +the highway in his chariot; but the sculptural repose of his profile +against the vanishing daylight on his right hand would have shown +his friend that the Earl's equanimity was undisturbed. He reached +the solitary wayside tavern called Lornton Inn--the rendezvous of +many a daring poacher for operations in the adjoining forest; and he +might have observed, if he had taken the trouble, a strange post- +chaise standing in the halting-space before the inn. He duly sped +past it, and half-an-hour after through the little town of Warborne. +Onward, a mile farther, was the house of his entertainer. + +At this date it was an imposing edifice--or, rather, congeries of +edifices--as extensive as the residence of the Earl himself; though +far less regular. One wing showed extreme antiquity, having huge +chimneys, whose substructures projected from the external walls like +towers; and a kitchen of vast dimensions, in which (it was said) +breakfasts had been cooked for John of Gaunt. Whilst he was yet in +the forecourt he could hear the rhythm of French horns and +clarionets, the favourite instruments of those days at such +entertainments. + +Entering the long parlour, in which the dance had just been opened +by Lady Grebe with a minuet--it being now seven o'clock, according +to the tradition--he was received with a welcome befitting his rank, +and looked round for Barbara. She was not dancing, and seemed to be +preoccupied--almost, indeed, as though she had been waiting for him. +Barbara at this time was a good and pretty girl, who never spoke ill +of any one, and hated other pretty women the very least possible. +She did not refuse him for the country-dance which followed, and +soon after was his partner in a second. + +The evening wore on, and the horns and clarionets tootled merrily. +Barbara evinced towards her lover neither distinct preference nor +aversion; but old eyes would have seen that she pondered something. +However, after supper she pleaded a headache, and disappeared. To +pass the time of her absence, Lord Uplandtowers went into a little +room adjoining the long gallery, where some elderly ones were +sitting by the fire--for he had a phlegmatic dislike of dancing for +its own sake,--and, lifting the window-curtains, he looked out of +the window into the park and wood, dark now as a cavern. Some of +the guests appeared to be leaving even so soon as this, two lights +showing themselves as turning away from the door and sinking to +nothing in the distance. + +His hostess put her head into the room to look for partners for the +ladies, and Lord Uplandtowers came out. Lady Grebe informed him +that Barbara had not returned to the ball-room: she had gone to bed +in sheer necessity. + +'She has been so excited over the ball all day,' her mother +continued, 'that I feared she would be worn out early . . . But +sure, Lord Uplandtowers, you won't be leaving yet?' + +He said that it was near twelve o'clock, and that some had already +left. + +'I protest nobody has gone yet,' said Lady Grebe. + +To humour her he stayed till midnight, and then set out. He had +made no progress in his suit; but he had assured himself that +Barbara gave no other guest the preference, and nearly everybody in +the neighbourhood was there. + +''Tis only a matter of time,' said the calm young philosopher. + +The next morning he lay till near ten o'clock, and he had only just +come out upon the head of the staircase when he heard hoofs upon the +gravel without; in a few moments the door had been opened, and Sir +John Grebe met him in the hall, as he set foot on the lowest stair. + +'My lord--where's Barbara--my daughter?' + +Even the Earl of Uplandtowers could not repress amazement. 'What's +the matter, my dear Sir John,' says he. + +The news was startling, indeed. From the Baronet's disjointed +explanation Lord Uplandtowers gathered that after his own and the +other guests' departure Sir John and Lady Grebe had gone to rest +without seeing any more of Barbara; it being understood by them that +she had retired to bed when she sent word to say that she could not +join the dancers again. Before then she had told her maid that she +would dispense with her services for this night; and there was +evidence to show that the young lady had never lain down at all, the +bed remaining unpressed. Circumstances seemed to prove that the +deceitful girl had feigned indisposition to get an excuse for +leaving the ball-room, and that she had left the house within ten +minutes, presumably during the first dance after supper. + +'I saw her go,' said Lord Uplandtowers. + +'The devil you did!' says Sir John. + +'Yes.' And he mentioned the retreating carriage-lights, and how he +was assured by Lady Grebe that no guest had departed. + +'Surely that was it!' said the father. 'But she's not gone alone, +d'ye know!' + +'Ah--who is the young man?' + +'I can on'y guess. My worst fear is my most likely guess. I'll say +no more. I thought--yet I would not believe--it possible that you +was the sinner. Would that you had been! But 'tis t'other, 'tis +t'other, by G-! I must e'en up, and after 'em!' + +'Whom do you suspect?' + +Sir John would not give a name, and, stultified rather than +agitated, Lord Uplandtowers accompanied him back to Chene. He again +asked upon whom were the Baronet's suspicions directed; and the +impulsive Sir John was no match for the insistence of Uplandtowers. + +He said at length, 'I fear 'tis Edmond Willowes.' + +'Who's he?' + +'A young fellow of Shottsford-Forum--a widow-woman's son,' the other +told him, and explained that Willowes's father, or grandfather, was +the last of the old glass-painters in that place, where (as you may +know) the art lingered on when it had died out in every other part +of England. + +'By G- that's bad--mighty bad!' said Lord Uplandtowers, throwing +himself back in the chaise in frigid despair. + +They despatched emissaries in all directions; one by the Melchester +Road, another by Shottsford-Forum, another coastwards. + +But the lovers had a ten-hours' start; and it was apparent that +sound judgment had been exercised in choosing as their time of +flight the particular night when the movements of a strange carriage +would not be noticed, either in the park or on the neighbouring +highway, owing to the general press of vehicles. The chaise which +had been seen waiting at Lornton Inn was, no doubt, the one they had +escaped in; and the pair of heads which had planned so cleverly thus +far had probably contrived marriage ere now. + +The fears of her parents were realized. A letter sent by special +messenger from Barbara, on the evening of that day, briefly informed +them that her lover and herself were on the way to London, and +before this communication reached her home they would be united as +husband and wife. She had taken this extreme step because she loved +her dear Edmond as she could love no other man, and because she had +seen closing round her the doom of marriage with Lord Uplandtowers, +unless she put that threatened fate out of possibility by doing as +she had done. She had well considered the step beforehand, and was +prepared to live like any other country-townsman's wife if her +father repudiated her for her action. + +'D- her!' said Lord Uplandtowers, as he drove homeward that night. +'D- her for a fool!'--which shows the kind of love he bore her. + +Well; Sir John had already started in pursuit of them as a matter of +duty, driving like a wild man to Melchester, and thence by the +direct highway to the capital. But he soon saw that he was acting +to no purpose; and by and by, discovering that the marriage had +actually taken place, he forebore all attempts to unearth them in +the City, and returned and sat down with his lady to digest the +event as best they could. + +To proceed against this Willowes for the abduction of our heiress +was, possibly, in their power; yet, when they considered the now +unalterable facts, they refrained from violent retribution. Some +six weeks passed, during which time Barbara's parents, though they +keenly felt her loss, held no communication with the truant, either +for reproach or condonation. They continued to think of the +disgrace she had brought upon herself; for, though the young man was +an honest fellow, and the son of an honest father, the latter had +died so early, and his widow had had such struggles to maintain +herself; that the son was very imperfectly educated. Moreover, his +blood was, as far as they knew, of no distinction whatever, whilst +hers, through her mother, was compounded of the best juices of +ancient baronial distillation, containing tinctures of Maundeville, +and Mohun, and Syward, and Peverell, and Culliford, and Talbot, and +Plantagenet, and York, and Lancaster, and God knows what besides, +which it was a thousand pities to throw away. + +The father and mother sat by the fireplace that was spanned by the +four-centred arch bearing the family shields on its haunches, and +groaned aloud--the lady more than Sir John. + +'To think this should have come upon us in our old age!' said he. + +'Speak for yourself!' she snapped through her sobs. 'I am only one- +and-forty! . . . Why didn't ye ride faster and overtake 'em!' + +In the meantime the young married lovers, caring no more about their +blood than about ditch-water, were intensely happy--happy, that is, +in the descending scale which, as we all know, Heaven in its wisdom +has ordained for such rash cases; that is to say, the first week +they were in the seventh heaven, the second in the sixth, the third +week temperate, the fourth reflective, and so on; a lover's heart +after possession being comparable to the earth in its geologic +stages, as described to us sometimes by our worthy President; first +a hot coal, then a warm one, then a cooling cinder, then chilly--the +simile shall be pursued no further. The long and the short of it +was that one day a letter, sealed with their daughter's own little +seal, came into Sir John and Lady Grebe's hands; and, on opening it, +they found it to contain an appeal from the young couple to Sir John +to forgive them for what they had done, and they would fall on their +naked knees and be most dutiful children for evermore. + +Then Sir John and his lady sat down again by the fireplace with the +four-centred arch, and consulted, and re-read the letter. Sir John +Grebe, if the truth must be told, loved his daughter's happiness far +more, poor man, than he loved his name and lineage; he recalled to +his mind all her little ways, gave vent to a sigh; and, by this time +acclimatized to the idea of the marriage, said that what was done +could not be undone, and that he supposed they must not be too harsh +with her. Perhaps Barbara and her husband were in actual need; and +how could they let their only child starve? + +A slight consolation had come to them in an unexpected manner. They +had been credibly informed that an ancestor of plebeian Willowes was +once honoured with intermarriage with a scion of the aristocracy who +had gone to the dogs. In short, such is the foolishness of +distinguished parents, and sometimes of others also, that they wrote +that very day to the address Barbara had given them, informing her +that she might return home and bring her husband with her; they +would not object to see him, would not reproach her, and would +endeavour to welcome both, and to discuss with them what could best +be arranged for their future. + +In three or four days a rather shabby post-chaise drew up at the +door of Chene Manor-house, at sound of which the tender-hearted +baronet and his wife ran out as if to welcome a prince and princess +of the blood. They were overjoyed to see their spoilt child return +safe and sound--though she was only Mrs. Willowes, wife of Edmond +Willowes of nowhere. Barbara burst into penitential tears, and both +husband and wife were contrite enough, as well they might be, +considering that they had not a guinea to call their own. + +When the four had calmed themselves, and not a word of chiding had +been uttered to the pair, they discussed the position soberly, young +Willowes sitting in the background with great modesty till invited +forward by Lady Grebe in no frigid tone. + +'How handsome he is!' she said to herself. 'I don't wonder at +Barbara's craze for him.' + +He was, indeed, one of the handsomest men who ever set his lips on a +maid's. A blue coat, murrey waistcoat, and breeches of drab set off +a figure that could scarcely be surpassed. He had large dark eyes, +anxious now, as they glanced from Barbara to her parents and +tenderly back again to her; observing whom, even now in her +trepidation, one could see why the sang froid of Lord Uplandtowers +had been raised to more than lukewarmness. Her fair young face +(according to the tale handed down by old women) looked out from +under a gray conical hat, trimmed with white ostrich-feathers, and +her little toes peeped from a buff petticoat worn under a puce gown. +Her features were not regular: they were almost infantine, as you +may see from miniatures in possession of the family, her mouth +showing much sensitiveness, and one could be sure that her faults +would not lie on the side of bad temper unless for urgent reasons. + +Well, they discussed their state as became them, and the desire of +the young couple to gain the goodwill of those upon whom they were +literally dependent for everything induced them to agree to any +temporizing measure that was not too irksome. Therefore, having +been nearly two months united, they did not oppose Sir John's +proposal that he should furnish Edmond Willowes with funds +sufficient for him to travel a year on the Continent in the company +of a tutor, the young man undertaking to lend himself with the +utmost diligence to the tutor's instructions, till he became +polished outwardly and inwardly to the degree required in the +husband of such a lady as Barbara. He was to apply himself to the +study of languages, manners, history, society, ruins, and everything +else that came under his eyes, till he should return to take his +place without blushing by Barbara's side. + +'And by that time,' said worthy Sir John, 'I'll get my little place +out at Yewsholt ready for you and Barbara to occupy on your return. +The house is small and out of the way; but it will do for a young +couple for a while.' + +'If 'twere no bigger than a summer-house it would do!' says Barbara. + +'If 'twere no bigger than a sedan-chair!' says Willowes. 'And the +more lonely the better.' + +'We can put up with the loneliness,' said Barbara, with less zest. +'Some friends will come, no doubt.' + +All this being laid down, a travelled tutor was called in--a man of +many gifts and great experience,--and on a fine morning away tutor +and pupil went. A great reason urged against Barbara accompanying +her youthful husband was that his attentions to her would naturally +be such as to prevent his zealously applying every hour of his time +to learning and seeing--an argument of wise prescience, and +unanswerable. Regular days for letter-writing were fixed, Barbara +and her Edmond exchanged their last kisses at the door, and the +chaise swept under the archway into the drive. + +He wrote to her from Le Havre, as soon as he reached that port, +which was not for seven days, on account of adverse winds; he wrote +from Rouen, and from Paris; described to her his sight of the King +and Court at Versailles, and the wonderful marble-work and mirrors +in that palace; wrote next from Lyons; then, after a comparatively +long interval, from Turin, narrating his fearful adventures in +crossing Mont Cenis on mules, and how he was overtaken with a +terrific snowstorm, which had well-nigh been the end of him, and his +tutor, and his guides. Then he wrote glowingly of Italy; and +Barbara could see the development of her husband's mind reflected in +his letters month by month; and she much admired the forethought of +her father in suggesting this education for Edmond. Yet she sighed +sometimes--her husband being no longer in evidence to fortify her in +her choice of him--and timidly dreaded what mortifications might be +in store for her by reason of this mesalliance. She went out very +little; for on the one or two occasions on which she had shown +herself to former friends she noticed a distinct difference in their +manner, as though they should say, 'Ah, my happy swain's wife; +you're caught!' + +Edmond's letters were as affectionate as ever; even more +affectionate, after a while, than hers were to him. Barbara +observed this growing coolness in herself; and like a good and +honest lady was horrified and grieved, since her only wish was to +act faithfully and uprightly. It troubled her so much that she +prayed for a warmer heart, and at last wrote to her husband to beg +him, now that he was in the land of Art, to send her his portrait, +ever so small, that she might look at it all day and every day, and +never for a moment forget his features. + +Willowes was nothing loth, and replied that he would do more than +she wished: he had made friends with a sculptor in Pisa, who was +much interested in him and his history; and he had commissioned this +artist to make a bust of himself in marble, which when finished he +would send her. What Barbara had wanted was something immediate; +but she expressed no objection to the delay; and in his next +communication Edmund told her that the sculptor, of his own choice, +had decided to increase the bust to a full-length statue, so anxious +was he to get a specimen of his skill introduced to the notice of +the English aristocracy. It was progressing well, and rapidly. + +Meanwhile, Barbara's attention began to be occupied at home with +Yewsholt Lodge, the house that her kind-hearted father was preparing +for her residence when her husband returned. It was a small place +on the plan of a large one--a cottage built in the form of a +mansion, having a central hall with a wooden gallery running round +it, and rooms no bigger than closets to follow this introduction. +It stood on a slope so solitary, and surrounded by trees so dense, +that the birds who inhabited the boughs sang at strange hours, as if +they hardly could distinguish night from day. + +During the progress of repairs at this bower Barbara frequently +visited it. Though so secluded by the dense growth, it was near the +high road, and one day while looking over the fence she saw Lord +Uplandtowers riding past. He saluted her courteously, yet with +mechanical stiffness, and did not halt. Barbara went home, and +continued to pray that she might never cease to love her husband. +After that she sickened, and did not come out of doors again for a +long time. + +The year of education had extended to fourteen months, and the house +was in order for Edmond's return to take up his abode there with +Barbara, when, instead of the accustomed letter for her, came one to +Sir John Grebe in the handwriting of the said tutor, informing him +of a terrible catastrophe that had occurred to them at Venice. Mr +Willowes and himself had attended the theatre one night during the +Carnival of the preceding week, to witness the Italian comedy, when, +owing to the carelessness of one of the candle-snuffers, the theatre +had caught fire, and been burnt to the ground. Few persons had lost +their lives, owing to the superhuman exertions of some of the +audience in getting out the senseless sufferers; and, among them +all, he who had risked his own life the most heroically was Mr. +Willowes. In re-entering for the fifth time to save his fellow- +creatures some fiery beams had fallen upon him, and he had been +given up for lost. He was, however, by the blessing of Providence, +recovered, with the life still in him, though he was fearfully +burnt; and by almost a miracle he seemed likely to survive, his +constitution being wondrously sound. He was, of course, unable to +write, but he was receiving the attention of several skilful +surgeons. Further report would be made by the next mail or by +private hand. + +The tutor said nothing in detail of poor Willowes's sufferings, but +as soon as the news was broken to Barbara she realized how intense +they must have been, and her immediate instinct was to rush to his +side, though, on consideration, the journey seemed impossible to +her. Her health was by no means what it had been, and to post +across Europe at that season of the year, or to traverse the Bay of +Biscay in a sailing-craft, was an undertaking that would hardly be +justified by the result. But she was anxious to go till, on reading +to the end of the letter, her husband's tutor was found to hint very +strongly against such a step if it should be contemplated, this +being also the opinion of the surgeons. And though Willowes's +comrade refrained from giving his reasons, they disclosed themselves +plainly enough in the sequel. + +The truth was that the worst of the wounds resulting from the fire +had occurred to his head and face--that handsome face which had won +her heart from her,--and both the tutor and the surgeons knew that +for a sensitive young woman to see him before his wounds had healed +would cause more misery to her by the shock than happiness to him by +her ministrations. + +Lady Grebe blurted out what Sir John and Barbara had thought, but +had had too much delicacy to express. + +'Sure, 'tis mighty hard for you, poor Barbara, that the one little +gift he had to justify your rash choice of him--his wonderful good +looks--should be taken away like this, to leave 'ee no excuse at all +for your conduct in the world's eyes . . . Well, I wish you'd +married t'other--that do I!' And the lady sighed. + +'He'll soon get right again,' said her father soothingly. + +Such remarks as the above were not often made; but they were +frequent enough to cause Barbara an uneasy sense of self- +stultification. She determined to hear them no longer; and the +house at Yewsholt being ready and furnished, she withdrew thither +with her maids, where for the first time she could feel mistress of +a home that would be hers and her husband's exclusively, when he +came. + +After long weeks Willowes had recovered sufficiently to be able to +write himself; and slowly and tenderly he enlightened her upon the +full extent of his injuries. It was a mercy, he said, that he had +not lost his sight entirely; but he was thankful to say that he +still retained full vision in one eye, though the other was dark for +ever. The sparing manner in which he meted out particulars of his +condition told Barbara how appalling had been his experience. He +was grateful for her assurance that nothing could change her; but +feared she did not fully realize that he was so sadly disfigured as +to make it doubtful if she would recognize him. However, in spite +of all, his heart was as true to her as it ever had been. + +Barbara saw from his anxiety how much lay behind. She replied that +she submitted to the decrees of Fate, and would welcome him in any +shape as soon as he could come. She told him of the pretty retreat +in which she had taken up her abode, pending their joint occupation +of it, and did not reveal how much she had sighed over the +information that all his good looks were gone. Still less did she +say that she felt a certain strangeness in awaiting him, the weeks +they had lived together having been so short by comparison with the +length of his absence. + +Slowly drew on the time when Willowes found himself well enough to +come home. He landed at Southampton, and posted thence towards +Yewsholt. Barbara arranged to go out to meet him as far as Lornton +Inn--the spot between the Forest and the Chase at which he had +waited for night on the evening of their elopement. Thither she +drove at the appointed hour in a little pony-chaise, presented her +by her father on her birthday for her especial use in her new house; +which vehicle she sent back on arriving at the inn, the plan agreed +upon being that she should perform the return journey with her +husband in his hired coach. + +There was not much accommodation for a lady at this wayside tavern; +but, as it was a fine evening in early summer, she did not mind-- +walking about outside, and straining her eyes along the highway for +the expected one. But each cloud of dust that enlarged in the +distance and drew near was found to disclose a conveyance other than +his post-chaise. Barbara remained till the appointment was two +hours passed, and then began to fear that owing to some adverse wind +in the Channel he was not coming that night. + +While waiting she was conscious of a curious trepidation that was +not entirely solicitude, and did not amount to dread; her tense +state of incertitude bordered both on disappointment and on relief. +She had lived six or seven weeks with an imperfectly educated yet +handsome husband whom now she had not seen for seventeen months, and +who was so changed physically by an accident that she was assured +she would hardly know him. Can we wonder at her compound state of +mind? + +But her immediate difficulty was to get away from Lornton Inn, for +her situation was becoming embarrassing. Like too many of Barbara's +actions, this drive had been undertaken without much reflection. +Expecting to wait no more than a few minutes for her husband in his +post-chaise, and to enter it with him, she had not hesitated to +isolate herself by sending back her own little vehicle. She now +found that, being so well known in this neighbourhood, her excursion +to meet her long-absent husband was exciting great interest. She +was conscious that more eyes were watching her from the inn-windows +than met her own gaze. Barbara had decided to get home by hiring +whatever kind of conveyance the tavern afforded, when, straining her +eyes for the last time over the now darkening highway, she perceived +yet another dust-cloud drawing near. She paused; a chariot ascended +to the inn, and would have passed had not its occupant caught sight +of her standing expectantly. The horses were checked on the +instant. + +'You here--and alone, my dear Mrs. Willowes?' said Lord +Uplandtowers, whose carriage it was. + +She explained what had brought her into this lonely situation; and, +as he was going in the direction of her own home, she accepted his +offer of a seat beside him. Their conversation was embarrassed and +fragmentary at first; but when they had driven a mile or two she was +surprised to find herself talking earnestly and warmly to him: her +impulsiveness was in truth but the natural consequence of her late +existence--a somewhat desolate one by reason of the strange marriage +she had made; and there is no more indiscreet mood than that of a +woman surprised into talk who has long been imposing upon herself a +policy of reserve. Therefore her ingenuous heart rose with a bound +into her throat when, in response to his leading questions, or +rather hints, she allowed her troubles to leak out of her. Lord +Uplandtowers took her quite to her own door, although he had driven +three miles out of his way to do so; and in handing her down she +heard from him a whisper of stern reproach: 'It need not have been +thus if you had listened to me!' + +She made no reply, and went indoors. There, as the evening wore +away, she regretted more and more that she had been so friendly with +Lord Uplandtowers. But he had launched himself upon her so +unexpectedly: if she had only foreseen the meeting with him, what a +careful line of conduct she would have marked out! Barbara broke +into a perspiration of disquiet when she thought of her unreserve, +and, in self-chastisement, resolved to sit up till midnight on the +bare chance of Edmond's return; directing that supper should be laid +for him, improbable as his arrival till the morrow was. + +The hours went past, and there was dead silence in and round about +Yewsholt Lodge, except for the soughing of the trees; till, when it +was near upon midnight, she heard the noise of hoofs and wheels +approaching the door. Knowing that it could only be her husband, +Barbara instantly went into the hall to meet him. Yet she stood +there not without a sensation of faintness, so many were the changes +since their parting! And, owing to her casual encounter with Lord +Uplandtowers, his voice and image still remained with her, excluding +Edmond, her husband, from the inner circle of her impressions. + +But she went to the door, and the next moment a figure stepped +inside, of which she knew the outline, but little besides. Her +husband was attired in a flapping black cloak and slouched hat, +appearing altogether as a foreigner, and not as the young English +burgess who had left her side. When he came forward into the light +of the lamp, she perceived with surprise, and almost with fright, +that he wore a mask. At first she had not noticed this--there being +nothing in its colour which would lead a casual observer to think he +was looking on anything but a real countenance. + +He must have seen her start of dismay at the unexpectedness of his +appearance, for he said hastily: 'I did not mean to come in to you +like this--I thought you would have been in bed. How good you are, +dear Barbara!' He put his arm round her, but he did not attempt to +kiss her. + +'O Edmond--it IS you?--it must be?' she said, with clasped hands, +for though his figure and movement were almost enough to prove it, +and the tones were not unlike the old tones, the enunciation was so +altered as to seem that of a stranger. + +'I am covered like this to hide myself from the curious eyes of the +inn-servants and others,' he said, in a low voice. 'I will send +back the carriage and join you in a moment.' + +'You are quite alone?' + +'Quite. My companion stopped at Southampton.' + +The wheels of the post-chaise rolled away as she entered the dining- +room, where the supper was spread; and presently he rejoined her +there. He had removed his cloak and hat, but the mask was still +retained; and she could now see that it was of special make, of some +flexible material like silk, coloured so as to represent flesh; it +joined naturally to the front hair, and was otherwise cleverly +executed. + +'Barbara--you look ill,' he said, removing his glove, and taking her +hand. + +'Yes--I have been ill,' said she. + +'Is this pretty little house ours?' + +'O--yes.' She was hardly conscious of her words, for the hand he +had ungloved in order to take hers was contorted, and had one or two +of its fingers missing; while through the mask she discerned the +twinkle of one eye only. + +'I would give anything to kiss you, dearest, now, at this moment!' +he continued, with mournful passionateness. 'But I cannot--in this +guise. The servants are abed, I suppose?' + +'Yes,' said she. 'But I can call them? You will have some supper?' + +He said he would have some, but that it was not necessary to call +anybody at that hour. Thereupon they approached the table, and sat +down, facing each other. + +Despite Barbara's scared state of mind, it was forced upon her +notice that her husband trembled, as if he feared the impression he +was producing, or was about to produce, as much as, or more than, +she. He drew nearer, and took her hand again. + +'I had this mask made at Venice,' he began, in evident +embarrassment. 'My darling Barbara--my dearest wife--do you think +you--will mind when I take it off? You will not dislike me--will +you?' + +'O Edmond, of course I shall not mind,' said she. 'What has +happened to you is our misfortune; but I am prepared for it.' + +'Are you sure you are prepared?' + +'O yes! You are my husband.' + +'You really feel quite confident that nothing external can affect +you?' he said again, in a voice rendered uncertain by his agitation. + +'I think I am--quite,' she answered faintly. + +He bent his head. 'I hope, I hope you are,' he whispered. + +In the pause which followed, the ticking of the clock in the hall +seemed to grow loud; and he turned a little aside to remove the +mask. She breathlessly awaited the operation, which was one of some +tediousness, watching him one moment, averting her face the next; +and when it was done she shut her eyes at the hideous spectacle that +was revealed. A quick spasm of horror had passed through her; but +though she quailed she forced herself to regard him anew, repressing +the cry that would naturally have escaped from her ashy lips. +Unable to look at him longer, Barbara sank down on the floor beside +her chair, covering her eyes. + +'You cannot look at me!' he groaned in a hopeless way. 'I am too +terrible an object even for you to bear! I knew it; yet I hoped +against it. Oh, this is a bitter fate--curse the skill of those +Venetian surgeons who saved me alive! . . . Look up, Barbara,' he +continued beseechingly; 'view me completely; say you loathe me, if +you do loathe me, and settle the case between us for ever!' + +His unhappy wife pulled herself together for a desperate strain. He +was her Edmond; he had done her no wrong; he had suffered. A +momentary devotion to him helped her, and lifting her eyes as bidden +she regarded this human remnant, this ecorche, a second time. But +the sight was too much. She again involuntarily looked aside and +shuddered. + +'Do you think you can get used to this?' he said. 'Yes or no! Can +you bear such a thing of the charnel-house near you? Judge for +yourself; Barbara. Your Adonis, your matchless man, has come to +this!' + +The poor lady stood beside him motionless, save for the restlessness +of her eyes. All her natural sentiments of affection and pity were +driven clean out of her by a sort of panic; she had just the same +sense of dismay and fearfulness that she would have had in the +presence of an apparition. She could nohow fancy this to be her +chosen one--the man she had loved; he was metamorphosed to a +specimen of another species. 'I do not loathe you,' she said with +trembling. 'But I am so horrified--so overcome! Let me recover +myself. Will you sup now? And while you do so may I go to my room +to--regain my old feeling for you? I will try, if I may leave you +awhile? Yes, I will try!' + +Without waiting for an answer from him, and keeping her gaze +carefully averted, the frightened woman crept to the door and out of +the room. She heard him sit down to the table, as if to begin +supper though, Heaven knows, his appetite was slight enough after a +reception which had confirmed his worst surmises. When Barbara had +ascended the stairs and arrived in her chamber she sank down, and +buried her face in the coverlet of the bed. + +Thus she remained for some time. The bed-chamber was over the +dining-room, and presently as she knelt Barbara heard Willowes +thrust back his chair, and rise to go into the hall. In five +minutes that figure would probably come up the stairs and confront +her again; it,--this new and terrible form, that was not her +husband's. In the loneliness of this night, with neither maid nor +friend beside her, she lost all self-control, and at the first sound +of his footstep on the stairs, without so much as flinging a cloak +round her, she flew from the room, ran along the gallery to the back +staircase, which she descended, and, unlocking the back door, let +herself out. She scarcely was aware what she had done till she +found herself in the greenhouse, crouching on a flower-stand. + +Here she remained, her great timid eyes strained through the glass +upon the garden without, and her skirts gathered up, in fear of the +field-mice which sometimes came there. Every moment she dreaded to +hear footsteps which she ought by law to have longed for, and a +voice that should have been as music to her soul. But Edmond +Willowes came not that way. The nights were getting short at this +season, and soon the dawn appeared, and the first rays of the sun. +By daylight she had less fear than in the dark. She thought she +could meet him, and accustom herself to the spectacle. + +So the much-tried young woman unfastened the door of the hot-house, +and went back by the way she had emerged a few hours ago. Her poor +husband was probably in bed and asleep, his journey having been +long; and she made as little noise as possible in her entry. The +house was just as she had left it, and she looked about in the hall +for his cloak and hat, but she could not see them; nor did she +perceive the small trunk which had been all that he brought with +him, his heavier baggage having been left at Southampton for the +road-waggon. She summoned courage to mount the stairs; the bedroom- +door was open as she had left it. She fearfully peeped round; the +bed had not been pressed. Perhaps he had lain down on the dining- +room sofa. She descended and entered; he was not there. On the +table beside his unsoiled plate lay a note, hastily written on the +leaf of a pocket-book. It was something like this: + + +'MY EVER-BELOVED WIFE--The effect that my forbidding appearance has +produced upon you was one which I foresaw as quite possible. I +hoped against it, but foolishly so. I was aware that no HUMAN love +could survive such a catastrophe. I confess I thought yours DIVINE; +but, after so long an absence, there could not be left sufficient +warmth to overcome the too natural first aversion. It was an +experiment, and it has failed. I do not blame you; perhaps, even, +it is better so. Good-bye. I leave England for one year. You will +see me again at the expiration of that time, if I live. Then I will +ascertain your true feeling; and, if it be against me, go away for +ever. E. W.' + + +On recovering from her surprise, Barbara's remorse was such that she +felt herself absolutely unforgiveable. She should have regarded him +as an afflicted being, and not have been this slave to mere +eyesight, like a child. To follow him and entreat him to return was +her first thought. But on making inquiries she found that nobody +had seen him: he had silently disappeared. + +More than this, to undo the scene of last night was impossible. Her +terror had been too plain, and he was a man unlikely to be coaxed +back by her efforts to do her duty. She went and confessed to her +parents all that had occurred; which, indeed, soon became known to +more persons than those of her own family. + +The year passed, and he did not return; and it was doubted if he +were alive. Barbara's contrition for her unconquerable repugnance +was now such that she longed to build a church-aisle, or erect a +monument, and devote herself to deeds of charity for the remainder +of her days. To that end she made inquiry of the excellent parson +under whom she sat on Sundays, at a vertical distance of twenty +feet. But he could only adjust his wig and tap his snuff-box; for +such was the lukewarm state of religion in those days, that not an +aisle, steeple, porch, east window, Ten-Commandment board, lion-and- +unicorn, or brass candlestick, was required anywhere at all in the +neighbourhood as a votive offering from a distracted soul--the last +century contrasting greatly in this respect with the happy times in +which we live, when urgent appeals for contributions to such objects +pour in by every morning's post, and nearly all churches have been +made to look like new pennies. As the poor lady could not ease her +conscience this way, she determined at least to be charitable, and +soon had the satisfaction of finding her porch thronged every +morning by the raggedest, idlest, most drunken, hypocritical, and +worthless tramps in Christendom. + +But human hearts are as prone to change as the leaves of the creeper +on the wall, and in the course of time, hearing nothing of her +husband, Barbara could sit unmoved whilst her mother and friends +said in her hearing, 'Well, what has happened is for the best.' She +began to think so herself; for even now she could not summon up that +lopped and mutilated form without a shiver, though whenever her mind +flew back to her early wedded days, and the man who had stood beside +her then, a thrill of tenderness moved her, which if quickened by +his living presence might have become strong. She was young and +inexperienced, and had hardly on his late return grown out of the +capricious fancies of girlhood. + +But he did not come again, and when she thought of his word that he +would return once more, if living, and how unlikely he was to break +his word, she gave him up for dead. So did her parents; so also did +another person--that man of silence, of irresistible incisiveness, +of still countenance, who was as awake as seven sentinels when he +seemed to be as sound asleep as the figures on his family monument. +Lord Uplandtowers, though not yet thirty, had chuckled like a +caustic fogey of threescore when he heard of Barbara's terror and +flight at her husband's return, and of the latter's prompt +departure. He felt pretty sure, however, that Willowes, despite his +hurt feelings, would have reappeared to claim his bright-eyed +property if he had been alive at the end of the twelve months. + +As there was no husband to live with her, Barbara had relinquished +the house prepared for them by her father, and taken up her abode +anew at Chene Manor, as in the days of her girlhood. By degrees the +episode with Edmond Willowes seemed but a fevered dream, and as the +months grew to years Lord Uplandtowers' friendship with the people +at Chene--which had somewhat cooled after Barbara's elopement-- +revived considerably, and he again became a frequent visitor there. +He could not make the most trivial alteration or improvement at +Knollingwood Hall, where he lived, without riding off to consult +with his friend Sir John at Chene; and thus putting himself +frequently under her eyes, Barbara grew accustomed to him, and +talked to him as freely as to a brother. She even began to look up +to him as a person of authority, judgment, and prudence; and though +his severity on the bench towards poachers, smugglers, and turnip- +stealers was matter of common notoriety, she trusted that much of +what was said might be misrepresentation. + +Thus they lived on till her husband's absence had stretched to +years, and there could be no longer any doubt of his death. A +passionless manner of renewing his addresses seemed no longer out of +place in Lord Uplandtowers. Barbara did not love him, but hers was +essentially one of those sweet-pea or with-wind natures which +require a twig of stouter fibre than its own to hang upon and bloom. +Now, too, she was older, and admitted to herself that a man whose +ancestor had run scores of Saracens through and through in fighting +for the site of the Holy Sepulchre was a more desirable husband, +socially considered, than one who could only claim with certainty to +know that his father and grandfather were respectable burgesses. + +Sir John took occasion to inform her that she might legally consider +herself a widow; and, in brief; Lord Uplandtowers carried his point +with her, and she married him, though he could never get her to own +that she loved him as she had loved Willowes. In my childhood I +knew an old lady whose mother saw the wedding, and she said that +when Lord and Lady Uplandtowers drove away from her father's house +in the evening it was in a coach-and-four, and that my lady was +dressed in green and silver, and wore the gayest hat and feather +that ever were seen; though whether it was that the green did not +suit her complexion, or otherwise, the Countess looked pale, and the +reverse of blooming. After their marriage her husband took her to +London, and she saw the gaieties of a season there; then they +returned to Knollingwood Hall, and thus a year passed away. + +Before their marriage her husband had seemed to care but little +about her inability to love him passionately. 'Only let me win +you,' he had said, 'and I will submit to all that.' But now her +lack of warmth seemed to irritate him, and he conducted himself +towards her with a resentfulness which led to her passing many hours +with him in painful silence. The heir-presumptive to the title was +a remote relative, whom Lord Uplandtowers did not exclude from the +dislike he entertained towards many persons and things besides, and +he had set his mind upon a lineal successor. He blamed her much +that there was no promise of this, and asked her what she was good +for. + +On a particular day in her gloomy life a letter, addressed to her as +Mrs. Willowes, reached Lady Uplandtowers from an unexpected quarter. +A sculptor in Pisa, knowing nothing of her second marriage, informed +her that the long-delayed life-size statue of Mr. Willowes, which, +when her husband left that city, he had been directed to retain till +it was sent for, was still in his studio. As his commission had not +wholly been paid, and the statue was taking up room he could ill +spare, he should be glad to have the debt cleared off, and +directions where to forward the figure. Arriving at a time when the +Countess was beginning to have little secrets (of a harmless kind, +it is true) from her husband, by reason of their growing +estrangement, she replied to this letter without saying a word to +Lord Uplandtowers, sending off the balance that was owing to the +sculptor, and telling him to despatch the statue to her without +delay. + +It was some weeks before it arrived at Knollingwood Hall, and, by a +singular coincidence, during the interval she received the first +absolutely conclusive tidings of her Edmond's death. It had taken +place years before, in a foreign land, about six months after their +parting, and had been induced by the sufferings he had already +undergone, coupled with much depression of spirit, which had caused +him to succumb to a slight ailment. The news was sent her in a +brief and formal letter from some relative of Willowes's in another +part of England. + +Her grief took the form of passionate pity for his misfortunes, and +of reproach to herself for never having been able to conquer her +aversion to his latter image by recollection of what Nature had +originally made him. The sad spectacle that had gone from earth had +never been her Edmond at all to her. O that she could have met him +as he was at first! Thus Barbara thought. It was only a few days +later that a waggon with two horses, containing an immense packing- +case, was seen at breakfast-time both by Barbara and her husband to +drive round to the back of the house, and by-and-by they were +informed that a case labelled 'Sculpture' had arrived for her +ladyship. + +'What can that be?' said Lord Uplandtowers. + +'It is the statue of poor Edmond, which belongs to me, but has never +been sent till now,' she answered. + +'Where are you going to put it?' asked he. + +'I have not decided,' said the Countess. 'Anywhere, so that it will +not annoy you.' + +'Oh, it won't annoy me,' says he. + +When it had been unpacked in a back room of the house, they went to +examine it. The statue was a full-length figure, in the purest +Carrara marble, representing Edmond Willowes in all his original +beauty, as he had stood at parting from her when about to set out on +his travels; a specimen of manhood almost perfect in every line and +contour. The work had been carried out with absolute fidelity. + +'Phoebus-Apollo, sure,' said the Earl of Uplandtowers, who had never +seen Willowes, real or represented, till now. + +Barbara did not hear him. She was standing in a sort of trance +before the first husband, as if she had no consciousness of the +other husband at her side. The mutilated features of Willowes had +disappeared from her mind's eye; this perfect being was really the +man she had loved, and not that later pitiable figure; in whom love +and truth should have seen this image always, but had not done so. + +It was not till Lord Uplandtowers said roughly, 'Are you going to +stay here all the morning worshipping him?' that she roused herself. + +Her husband had not till now the least suspicion that Edmond +Willowes originally looked thus, and he thought how deep would have +been his jealousy years ago if Willowes had been known to him. +Returning to the Hall in the afternoon he found his wife in the +gallery, whither the statue had been brought. + +She was lost in reverie before it, just as in the morning. + +'What are you doing?' he asked. + +She started and turned. 'I am looking at my husb- my statue, to see +if it is well done,' she stammered. 'Why should I not?' + +'There's no reason why,' he said. 'What are you going to do with +the monstrous thing? It can't stand here for ever.' + +'I don't wish it,' she said. 'I'll find a place.' + +In her boudoir there was a deep recess, and while the Earl was +absent from home for a few days in the following week, she hired +joiners from the village, who under her directions enclosed the +recess with a panelled door. Into the tabernacle thus formed she +had the statue placed, fastening the door with a lock, the key of +which she kept in her pocket. + +When her husband returned he missed the statue from the gallery, +and, concluding that it had been put away out of deference to his +feelings, made no remark. Yet at moments he noticed something on +his lady's face which he had never noticed there before. He could +not construe it; it was a sort of silent ecstasy, a reserved +beatification. What had become of the statue he could not divine, +and growing more and more curious, looked about here and there for +it till, thinking of her private room, he went towards that spot. +After knocking he heard the shutting of a door, and the click of a +key; but when he entered his wife was sitting at work, on what was +in those days called knotting. Lord Uplandtowers' eye fell upon the +newly-painted door where the recess had formerly been. + +'You have been carpentering in my absence then, Barbara,' he said +carelessly. + +'Yes, Uplandtowers.' + +'Why did you go putting up such a tasteless enclosure as that-- +spoiling the handsome arch of the alcove?' + +'I wanted more closet-room; and I thought that as this was my own +apartment--' + +'Of course,' he returned. Lord Uplandtowers knew now where the +statue of young Willowes was. + +One night, or rather in the smallest hours of the morning, he missed +the Countess from his side. Not being a man of nervous imaginings +he fell asleep again before he had much considered the matter, and +the next morning had forgotten the incident. But a few nights later +the same circumstances occurred. This time he fully roused himself; +but before he had moved to search for her, she entered the chamber +in her dressing-gown, carrying a candle, which she extinguished as +she approached, deeming him asleep. He could discover from her +breathing that she was strangely moved; but not on this occasion +either did he reveal that he had seen her. Presently, when she had +lain down, affecting to wake, he asked her some trivial questions. +'Yes, EDMOND,' she replied absently. + +Lord Uplandtowers became convinced that she was in the habit of +leaving the chamber in this queer way more frequently than he had +observed, and he determined to watch. The next midnight he feigned +deep sleep, and shortly after perceived her stealthily rise and let +herself out of the room in the dark. He slipped on some clothing +and followed. At the farther end of the corridor, where the clash +of flint and steel would be out of the hearing of one in the bed- +chamber, she struck a light. He stepped aside into an empty room +till she had lit a taper and had passed on to her boudoir. In a +minute or two he followed. Arrived at the door of the boudoir, he +beheld the door of the private recess open, and Barbara within it, +standing with her arms clasped tightly round the neck of her Edmond, +and her mouth on his. The shawl which she had thrown round her +nightclothes had slipped from her shoulders, and her long white robe +and pale face lent her the blanched appearance of a second statue +embracing the first. Between her kisses, she apostrophized it in a +low murmur of infantine tenderness: + +'My only love--how could I be so cruel to you, my perfect one--so +good and true--I am ever faithful to you, despite my seeming +infidelity! I always think of you--dream of you--during the long +hours of the day, and in the night-watches! O Edmond, I am always +yours!' Such words as these, intermingled with sobs, and streaming +tears, and dishevelled hair, testified to an intensity of feeling in +his wife which Lord Uplandtowers had not dreamed of her possessing. + +'Ha, ha!' says he to himself. 'This is where we evaporate--this is +where my hopes of a successor in the title dissolve--ha, ha! This +must be seen to, verily!' + +Lord Uplandtowers was a subtle man when once he set himself to +strategy; though in the present instance he never thought of the +simple stratagem of constant tenderness. Nor did he enter the room +and surprise his wife as a blunderer would have done, but went back +to his chamber as silently as he had left it. When the Countess +returned thither, shaken by spent sobs and sighs, he appeared to be +soundly sleeping as usual. The next day he began his countermoves +by making inquiries as to the whereabouts of the tutor who had +travelled with his wife's first husband; this gentleman, he found, +was now master of a grammar-school at no great distance from +Knollingwood. At the first convenient moment Lord Uplandtowers went +thither and obtained an interview with the said gentleman. The +schoolmaster was much gratified by a visit from such an influential +neighbour, and was ready to communicate anything that his lordship +desired to know. + +After some general conversation on the school and its progress, the +visitor observed that he believed the schoolmaster had once +travelled a good deal with the unfortunate Mr. Willowes, and had +been with him on the occasion of his accident. He, Lord +Uplandtowers, was interested in knowing what had really happened at +that time, and had often thought of inquiring. And then the Earl +not only heard by word of mouth as much as he wished to know, but, +their chat becoming more intimate, the schoolmaster drew upon paper +a sketch of the disfigured head, explaining with bated breath +various details in the representation. + +'It was very strange and terrible!' said Lord Uplandtowers, taking +the sketch in his hand. 'Neither nose nor ears!' + +A poor man in the town nearest to Knollingwood Hall, who combined +the art of sign-painting with ingenious mechanical occupations, was +sent for by Lord Uplandtowers to come to the Hall on a day in that +week when the Countess had gone on a short visit to her parents. +His employer made the man understand that the business in which his +assistance was demanded was to be considered private, and money +insured the observance of this request. The lock of the cupboard +was picked, and the ingenious mechanic and painter, assisted by the +schoolmaster's sketch, which Lord Uplandtowers had put in his +pocket, set to work upon the god-like countenance of the statue +under my lord's direction. What the fire had maimed in the original +the chisel maimed in the copy. It was a fiendish disfigurement, +ruthlessly carried out, and was rendered still more shocking by +being tinted to the hues of life, as life had been after the wreck. + +Six hours after, when the workman was gone, Lord Uplandtowers looked +upon the result, and smiled grimly, and said: + +'A statue should represent a man as he appeared in life, and that's +as he appeared. Ha! ha! But 'tis done to good purpose, and not +idly.' + +He locked the door of the closet with a skeleton key, and went his +way to fetch the Countess home. + +That night she slept, but he kept awake. According to the tale, she +murmured soft words in her dream; and he knew that the tender +converse of her imaginings was held with one whom he had supplanted +but in name. At the end of her dream the Countess of Uplandtowers +awoke and arose, and then the enactment of former nights was +repeated. Her husband remained still and listened. Two strokes +sounded from the clock in the pediment without, when, leaving the +chamber-door ajar, she passed along the corridor to the other end, +where, as usual, she obtained a light. So deep was the silence that +he could even from his bed hear her softly blowing the tinder to a +glow after striking the steel. She moved on into the boudoir, and +he heard, or fancied he heard, the turning of the key in the closet- +door. The next moment there came from that direction a loud and +prolonged shriek, which resounded to the farthest corners of the +house. It was repeated, and there was the noise of a heavy fall. + +Lord Uplandtowers sprang out of bed. He hastened along the dark +corridor to the door of the boudoir, which stood ajar, and, by the +light of the candle within, saw his poor young Countess lying in a +heap in her nightdress on the floor of the closet. When he reached +her side he found that she had fainted, much to the relief of his +fears that matters were worse. He quickly shut up and locked in the +hated image which had done the mischief; and lifted his wife in his +arms, where in a few instants she opened her eyes. Pressing her +face to his without saying a word, he carried her back to her room, +endeavouring as he went to disperse her terrors by a laugh in her +ear, oddly compounded of causticity, predilection, and brutality. + +'Ho--ho--ho!' says he. 'Frightened, dear one, hey? What a baby +'tis! Only a joke, sure, Barbara--a splendid joke! But a baby +should not go to closets at midnight to look for the ghost of the +dear departed! If it do it must expect to be terrified at his +aspect--ho--ho--ho!' + +When she was in her bed-chamber, and had quite come to herself; +though her nerves were still much shaken, he spoke to her more +sternly. 'Now, my lady, answer me: do you love him--eh?' + +'No--no!' she faltered, shuddering, with her expanded eyes fixed on +her husband. 'He is too terrible--no, no!' + +'You are sure?' + +'Quite sure!' replied the poor broken-spirited Countess. But her +natural elasticity asserted itself. Next morning he again inquired +of her: 'Do you love him now?' + +She quailed under his gaze, but did not reply. + +'That means that you do still, by G-!' he continued. + +'It means that I will not tell an untruth, and do not wish to +incense my lord,' she answered, with dignity. + +'Then suppose we go and have another look at him?' As he spoke, he +suddenly took her by the wrist, and turned as if to lead her towards +the ghastly closet. + +'No--no! Oh--no!' she cried, and her desperate wriggle out of his +hand revealed that the fright of the night had left more impression +upon her delicate soul than superficially appeared. + +'Another dose or two, and she will be cured,' he said to himself. + +It was now so generally known that the Earl and Countess were not in +accord, that he took no great trouble to disguise his deeds in +relation to this matter. During the day he ordered four men with +ropes and rollers to attend him in the boudoir. When they arrived, +the closet was open, and the upper part of the statue tied up in +canvas. He had it taken to the sleeping-chamber. What followed is +more or less matter of conjecture. The story, as told to me, goes +on to say that, when Lady Uplandtowers retired with him that night, +she saw near the foot of the heavy oak four-poster, a tall dark +wardrobe, which had not stood there before; but she did not ask what +its presence meant. + +'I have had a little whim,' he explained when they were in the dark. + +'Have you?' says she. + +'To erect a little shrine, as it may be called.' + +'A little shrine?' + +'Yes; to one whom we both equally adore--eh? I'll show you what it +contains.' + +He pulled a cord which hung covered by the bed-curtains, and the +doors of the wardrobe slowly opened, disclosing that the shelves +within had been removed throughout, and the interior adapted to +receive the ghastly figure, which stood there as it had stood in the +boudoir, but with a wax-candle burning on each side of it to throw +the cropped and distorted features into relief. She clutched him, +uttered a low scream, and buried her head in the bedclothes. 'Oh, +take it away--please take it away!' she implored. + +'All in good time namely, when you love me best,' he returned +calmly. 'You don't quite yet--eh?' + +'I don't know--I think--O Uplandtowers, have mercy--I cannot bear +it--O, in pity, take it away!' + +'Nonsense; one gets accustomed to anything. Take another gaze.' + +In short, he allowed the doors to remain unclosed at the foot of the +bed, and the wax-tapers burning; and such was the strange +fascination of the grisly exhibition that a morbid curiosity took +possession of the Countess as she lay, and, at his repeated request, +she did again look out from the coverlet, shuddered, hid her eyes, +and looked again, all the while begging him to take it away, or it +would drive her out of her senses. But he would not do so as yet, +and the wardrobe was not locked till dawn. + +The scene was repeated the next night. Firm in enforcing his +ferocious correctives, he continued the treatment till the nerves of +the poor lady were quivering in agony under the virtuous tortures +inflicted by her lord, to bring her truant heart back to +faithfulness. + +The third night, when the scene had opened as usual, and she lay +staring with immense wild eyes at the horrid fascination, on a +sudden she gave an unnatural laugh; she laughed more and more, +staring at the image, till she literally shrieked with laughter: +then there was silence, and he found her to have become insensible. +He thought she had fainted, but soon saw that the event was worse: +she was in an epileptic fit. He started up, dismayed by the sense +that, like many other subtle personages, he had been too exacting +for his own interests. Such love as he was capable of, though +rather a selfish gloating than a cherishing solicitude, was fanned +into life on the instant. He closed the wardrobe with the pulley, +clasped her in his arms, took her gently to the window, and did all +he could to restore her. + +It was a long time before the Countess came to herself, and when she +did so, a considerable change seemed to have taken place in her +emotions. She flung her arms around him, and with gasps of fear +abjectly kissed him many times, at last bursting into tears. She +had never wept in this scene before. + +'You'll take it away, dearest--you will!' she begged plaintively. + +'If you love me.' + +'I do--oh, I do!' + +'And hate him, and his memory?' + +'Yes--yes!' + +'Thoroughly?' + +'I cannot endure recollection of him!' cried the poor Countess +slavishly. 'It fills me with shame--how could I ever be so +depraved! I'll never behave badly again, Uplandtowers; and you will +never put the hated statue again before my eyes?' + +He felt that he could promise with perfect safety. 'Never,' said +he. + +'And then I'll love you,' she returned eagerly, as if dreading lest +the scourge should be applied anew. 'And I'll never, never dream of +thinking a single thought that seems like faithlessness to my +marriage vow.' + +The strange thing now was that this fictitious love wrung from her +by terror took on, through mere habit of enactment, a certain +quality of reality. A servile mood of attachment to the Earl became +distinctly visible in her contemporaneously with an actual dislike +for her late husband's memory. The mood of attachment grew and +continued when the statue was removed. A permanent revulsion was +operant in her, which intensified as time wore on. How fright could +have effected such a change of idiosyncrasy learned physicians alone +can say; but I believe such cases of reactionary instinct are not +unknown. + +The upshot was that the cure became so permanent as to be itself a +new disease. She clung to him so tightly, that she would not +willingly be out of his sight for a moment. She would have no +sitting-room apart from his, though she could not help starting when +he entered suddenly to her. Her eyes were well-nigh always fixed +upon him. If he drove out, she wished to go with him; his slightest +civilities to other women made her frantically jealous; till at +length her very fidelity became a burden to him, absorbing his time, +and curtailing his liberty, and causing him to curse and swear. If +he ever spoke sharply to her now, she did not revenge herself by +flying off to a mental world of her own; all that affection for +another, which had provided her with a resource, was now a cold +black cinder. + +From that time the life of this scared and enervated lady--whose +existence might have been developed to so much higher purpose but +for the ignoble ambition of her parents and the conventions of the +time--was one of obsequious amativeness towards a perverse and cruel +man. Little personal events came to her in quick succession--half a +dozen, eight, nine, ten such events,--in brief; she bore him no less +than eleven children in the eight following years, but half of them +came prematurely into the world, or died a few days old; only one, a +girl, attained to maturity; she in after years became the wife of +the Honourable Mr. Beltonleigh, who was created Lord D'Almaine, as +may be remembered. + +There was no living son and heir. At length, completely worn out in +mind and body, Lady Uplandtowers was taken abroad by her husband, to +try the effect of a more genial climate upon her wasted frame. But +nothing availed to strengthen her, and she died at Florence, a few +months after her arrival in Italy. + +Contrary to expectation, the Earl of Uplandtowers did not marry +again. Such affection as existed in him--strange, hard, brutal as +it was--seemed untransferable, and the title, as is known, passed at +his death to his nephew. Perhaps it may not be so generally known +that, during the enlargement of the Hall for the sixth Earl, while +digging in the grounds for the new foundations, the broken fragments +of a marble statue were unearthed. They were submitted to various +antiquaries, who said that, so far as the damaged pieces would allow +them to form an opinion, the statue seemed to be that of a mutilated +Roman satyr; or if not, an allegorical figure of Death. Only one or +two old inhabitants guessed whose statue those fragments had +composed. + +I should have added that, shortly after the death of the Countess, +an excellent sermon was preached by the Dean of Melchester, the +subject of which, though names were not mentioned, was +unquestionably suggested by the aforesaid events. He dwelt upon the +folly of indulgence in sensuous love for a handsome form merely; and +showed that the only rational and virtuous growths of that affection +were those based upon intrinsic worth. In the case of the tender +but somewhat shallow lady whose life I have related, there is no +doubt that an infatuation for the person of young Willowes was the +chief feeling that induced her to marry him; which was the more +deplorable in that his beauty, by all tradition, was the least of +his recommendations, every report bearing out the inference that he +must have been a man of steadfast nature, bright intelligence, and +promising life. + + +The company thanked the old surgeon for his story, which the rural +dean declared to be a far more striking one than anything he could +hope to tell. An elderly member of the Club, who was mostly called +the Bookworm, said that a woman's natural instinct of fidelity +would, indeed, send back her heart to a man after his death in a +truly wonderful manner sometimes--if anything occurred to put before +her forcibly the original affection between them, and his original +aspect in her eyes,--whatever his inferiority may have been, social +or otherwise; and then a general conversation ensued upon the power +that a woman has of seeing the actual in the representation, the +reality in the dream--a power which (according to the sentimental +member) men have no faculty of equalling. + +The rural dean thought that such cases as that related by the +surgeon were rather an illustration of passion electrified back to +life than of a latent, true affection. The story had suggested that +he should try to recount to them one which he had used to hear in +his youth, and which afforded an instance of the latter and better +kind of feeling, his heroine being also a lady who had married +beneath her, though he feared his narrative would be of a much +slighter kind than the surgeon's. The Club begged him to proceed, +and the parson began. + + + +DAME THE THIRD: THE MARCHIONESS OF STONEHENGE +By the Rural Dean + + + +I would have you know, then, that a great many years ago there lived +in a classical mansion with which I used to be familiar, standing +not a hundred miles from the city of Melchester, a lady whose +personal charms were so rare and unparalleled that she was courted, +flattered, and spoilt by almost all the young noblemen and gentlemen +in that part of Wessex. For a time these attentions pleased her +well. But as, in the words of good Robert South (whose sermons +might be read much more than they are), the most passionate lover of +sport, if tied to follow his hawks and hounds every day of his life, +would find the pursuit the greatest torment and calamity, and would +fly to the mines and galleys for his recreation, so did this lofty +and beautiful lady after a while become satiated with the constant +iteration of what she had in its novelty enjoyed; and by an almost +natural revulsion turned her regards absolutely netherward, socially +speaking. She perversely and passionately centred her affection on +quite a plain-looking young man of humble birth and no position at +all; though it is true that he was gentle and delicate in nature, of +good address, and guileless heart. In short, he was the parish- +clerk's son, acting as assistant to the land-steward of her father, +the Earl of Avon, with the hope of becoming some day a land-steward +himself. It should be said that perhaps the Lady Caroline (as she +was called) was a little stimulated in this passion by the discovery +that a young girl of the village already loved the young man fondly, +and that he had paid some attentions to her, though merely of a +casual and good-natured kind. + +Since his occupation brought him frequently to the manor-house and +its environs, Lady Caroline could make ample opportunities of seeing +and speaking to him. She had, in Chaucer's phrase, 'all the craft +of fine loving' at her fingers' ends, and the young man, being of a +readily-kindling heart, was quick to notice the tenderness in her +eyes and voice. He could not at first believe in his good fortune, +having no understanding of her weariness of more artificial men; but +a time comes when the stupidest sees in an eye the glance of his +other half; and it came to him, who was quite the reverse of dull. +As he gained confidence accidental encounters led to encounters by +design; till at length when they were alone together there was no +reserve on the matter. They whispered tender words as other lovers +do, and were as devoted a pair as ever was seen. But not a ray or +symptom of this attachment was allowed to show itself to the outer +world. + +Now, as she became less and less scrupulous towards him under the +influence of her affection, and he became more and more reverential +under the influence of his, and they looked the situation in the +face together, their condition seemed intolerable in its +hopelessness. That she could ever ask to be allowed to marry him, +or could hold her tongue and quietly renounce him, was equally +beyond conception. They resolved upon a third course, possessing +neither of the disadvantages of these two: to wed secretly, and +live on in outward appearance the same as before. In this they +differed from the lovers of my friend's story. + +Not a soul in the parental mansion guessed, when Lady Caroline came +coolly into the hall one day after a visit to her aunt, that, during +that visit, her lover and herself had found an opportunity of +uniting themselves till death should part them. Yet such was the +fact; the young woman who rode fine horses, and drove in pony- +chaises, and was saluted deferentially by every one, and the young +man who trudged about, and directed the tree-felling, and the laying +out of fish-ponds in the park, were husband and wife. + +As they had planned, so they acted to the letter for the space of a +month and more, clandestinely meeting when and where they best could +do so; both being supremely happy and content. To be sure, towards +the latter part of that month, when the first wild warmth of her +love had gone off, the Lady Caroline sometimes wondered within +herself how she, who might have chosen a peer of the realm, baronet, +knight; or, if serious-minded, a bishop or judge of the more gallant +sort who prefer young wives, could have brought herself to do a +thing so rash as to make this marriage; particularly when, in their +private meetings, she perceived that though her young husband was +full of ideas, and fairly well read, they had not a single social +experience in common. It was his custom to visit her after +nightfall, in her own house, when he could find no opportunity for +an interview elsewhere; and to further this course she would +contrive to leave unfastened a window on the ground-floor +overlooking the lawn, by entering which a back stair-case was +accessible; so that he could climb up to her apartments, and gain +audience of his lady when the house was still. + +One dark midnight, when he had not been able to see her during the +day, he made use of this secret method, as he had done many times +before; and when they had remained in company about an hour he +declared that it was time for him to descend. + +He would have stayed longer, but that the interview had been a +somewhat painful one. What she had said to him that night had much +excited and angered him, for it had revealed a change in her; cold +reason had come to his lofty wife; she was beginning to have more +anxiety about her own position and prospects than ardour for him. +Whether from the agitation of this perception or not, he was seized +with a spasm; he gasped, rose, and in moving towards the window for +air he uttered in a short thick whisper, 'Oh, my heart!' + +With his hand upon his chest he sank down to the floor before he had +gone another step. By the time that she had relighted the candle, +which had been extinguished in case any eye in the opposite grounds +should witness his egress, she found that his poor heart had ceased +to beat; and there rushed upon her mind what his cottage-friends had +once told her, that he was liable to attacks of heart-disease, one +of which, the doctor had informed them, might some day carry him +off. + +Accustomed as she was to doctoring the other parishioners, nothing +that she could effect upon him in that kind made any difference +whatever; and his stillness, and the increasing coldness of his feet +and hands, disclosed too surely to the affrighted young woman that +her husband was dead indeed. For more than an hour, however, she +did not abandon her efforts to restore him; when she fully realized +the fact that he was a corpse she bent over his body, distracted and +bewildered as to what step she next should take. + +Her first feelings had undoubtedly been those of passionate grief at +the loss of him; her second thoughts were concern at her own +position as the daughter of an earl. 'Oh, why, why, my unfortunate +husband, did you die in my chamber at this hour!' she said piteously +to the corpse. 'Why not have died in your own cottage if you would +die! Then nobody would ever have known of our imprudent union, and +no syllable would have been breathed of how I mismated myself for +love of you!' + +The clock in the courtyard striking the hour of one aroused Lady +Caroline from the stupor into which she had fallen, and she stood +up, and went towards the door. To awaken and tell her mother seemed +her only way out of this terrible situation; yet when she put her +hand on the key to unlock it she withdrew herself again. It would +be impossible to call even her mother's assistance without risking a +revelation to all the world through the servants; while if she could +remove the body unassisted to a distance she might avert suspicion +of their union even now. This thought of immunity from the social +consequences of her rash act, of renewed freedom, was indubitably a +relief to her, for, as has been said, the constraint and riskiness +of her position had begun to tell upon the Lady Caroline's nerves. + +She braced herself for the effort, and hastily dressed herself; and +then dressed him. Tying his dead hands together with a +handkerchief; she laid his arms round her shoulders, and bore him to +the landing and down the narrow stairs. Reaching the bottom by the +window, she let his body slide slowly over the sill till it lay on +the ground without. She then climbed over the window-sill herself, +and, leaving the sash open, dragged him on to the lawn with a rustle +not louder than the rustle of a broom. There she took a securer +hold, and plunged with him under the trees. + +Away from the precincts of the house she could apply herself more +vigorously to her task, which was a heavy one enough for her, robust +as she was; and the exertion and fright she had already undergone +began to tell upon her by the time she reached the corner of a +beech-plantation which intervened between the manor-house and the +village. Here she was so nearly exhausted that she feared she might +have to leave him on the spot. But she plodded on after a while, +and keeping upon the grass at every opportunity she stood at last +opposite the poor young man's garden-gate, where he lived with his +father, the parish-clerk. How she accomplished the end of her task +Lady Caroline never quite knew; but, to avoid leaving traces in the +road, she carried him bodily across the gravel, and laid him down at +the door. Perfectly aware of his ways of coming and going, she +searched behind the shutter for the cottage door-key, which she +placed in his cold hand. Then she kissed his face for the last +time, and with silent little sobs bade him farewell. + +Lady Caroline retraced her steps, and reached the mansion without +hindrance; and to her great relief found the window open just as she +had left it. When she had climbed in she listened attentively, +fastened the window behind her, and ascending the stairs noiselessly +to her room, set everything in order, and returned to bed. + +The next morning it was speedily echoed around that the amiable and +gentle young villager had been found dead outside his father's door, +which he had apparently been in the act of unlocking when he fell. +The circumstances were sufficiently exceptional to justify an +inquest, at which syncope from heart-disease was ascertained to be +beyond doubt the explanation of his death, and no more was said +about the matter then. But, after the funeral, it was rumoured that +some man who had been returning late from a distant horse-fair had +seen in the gloom of night a person, apparently a woman, dragging a +heavy body of some sort towards the cottage-gate, which, by the +light of after events, would seem to have been the corpse of the +young fellow. His clothes were thereupon examined more particularly +than at first, with the result that marks of friction were visible +upon them here and there, precisely resembling such as would be left +by dragging on the ground. + +Our beautiful and ingenious Lady Caroline was now in great +consternation; and began to think that, after all, it might have +been better to honestly confess the truth. But having reached this +stage without discovery or suspicion, she determined to make another +effort towards concealment; and a bright idea struck her as a means +of securing it. I think I mentioned that, before she cast eyes on +the unfortunate steward's clerk, he had been the beloved of a +certain village damsel, the woodman's daughter, his neighbour, to +whom he had paid some attentions; and possibly he was beloved of her +still. At any rate, the Lady Caroline's influence on the estates of +her father being considerable, she resolved to seek an interview +with the young girl in furtherance of her plan to save her +reputation, about which she was now exceedingly anxious; for by this +time, the fit being over, she began to be ashamed of her mad passion +for her late husband, and almost wished she had never seen him. + +In the course of her parish-visiting she lighted on the young girl +without much difficulty, and found her looking pale and sad, and +wearing a simple black gown, which she had put on out of respect for +the young man's memory, whom she had tenderly loved, though he had +not loved her. + +'Ah, you have lost your lover, Milly,' said Lady Caroline. + +The young woman could not repress her tears. 'My lady, he was not +quite my lover,' she said. 'But I was his--and now he is dead I +don't care to live any more!' + +'Can you keep a secret about him?' asks the lady; 'one in which his +honour is involved--which is known to me alone, but should be known +to you?' + +The girl readily promised, and, indeed, could be safely trusted on +such a subject, so deep was her affection for the youth she mourned. + +'Then meet me at his grave to-night, half-an-hour after sunset, and +I will tell it to you,' says the other. + +In the dusk of that spring evening the two shadowy figures of the +young women converged upon the assistant-steward's newly-turfed +mound; and at that solemn place and hour, the one of birth and +beauty unfolded her tale: how she had loved him and married him +secretly; how he had died in her chamber; and how, to keep her +secret, she had dragged him to his own door. + +'Married him, my lady!' said the rustic maiden, starting back. + +'I have said so,' replied Lady Caroline. 'But it was a mad thing, +and a mistaken course. He ought to have married you. You, Milly, +were peculiarly his. But you lost him.' + +'Yes,' said the poor girl; 'and for that they laughed at me. "Ha-- +ha, you mid love him, Milly," they said; "but he will not love +you!"' + +'Victory over such unkind jeerers would be sweet,' said Lady +Caroline. 'You lost him in life; but you may have him in death AS +IF you had had him in life; and so turn the tables upon them.' + +'How?' said the breathless girl. + +The young lady then unfolded her plan, which was that Milly should +go forward and declare that the young man had contracted a secret +marriage (as he truly had done); that it was with her, Milly, his +sweetheart; that he had been visiting her in her cottage on the +evening of his death; when, on finding he was a corpse, she had +carried him to his house to prevent discovery by her parents, and +that she had meant to keep the whole matter a secret till the +rumours afloat had forced it from her. + +'And how shall I prove this?' said the woodman's daughter, amazed at +the boldness of the proposal. + +'Quite sufficiently. You can say, if necessary, that you were +married to him at the church of St. Michael, in Bath City, in my +name, as the first that occurred to you, to escape detection. That +was where he married me. I will support you in this.' + +'Oh--I don't quite like--' + +'If you will do so,' said the lady peremptorily, 'I will always be +your father's friend and yours; if not, it will be otherwise. And I +will give you my wedding-ring, which you shall wear as yours.' + +'Have you worn it, my lady?' + +'Only at night.' + +There was not much choice in the matter, and Milly consented. Then +this noble lady took from her bosom the ring she had never been able +openly to exhibit, and, grasping the young girl's hand, slipped it +upon her finger as she stood upon her lover's grave. + +Milly shivered, and bowed her head, saying, 'I feel as if I had +become a corpse's bride!' + +But from that moment the maiden was heart and soul in the +substitution. A blissful repose came over her spirit. It seemed to +her that she had secured in death him whom in life she had vainly +idolized; and she was almost content. After that the lady handed +over to the young man's new wife all the little mementoes and +trinkets he had given herself; even to a locket containing his hair. + +The next day the girl made her so-called confession, which the +simple mourning she had already worn, without stating for whom, +seemed to bear out; and soon the story of the little romance spread +through the village and country-side, almost as far as Melchester. +It was a curious psychological fact that, having once made the +avowal, Milly seemed possessed with a spirit of ecstasy at her +position. With the liberal sum of money supplied to her by Lady +Caroline she now purchased the garb of a widow, and duly appeared at +church in her weeds, her simple face looking so sweet against its +margin of crape that she was almost envied her state by the other +village-girls of her age. And when a woman's sorrow for her beloved +can maim her young life so obviously as it had done Milly's there +was, in truth, little subterfuge in the case. Her explanation +tallied so well with the details of her lover's latter movements-- +those strange absences and sudden returnings, which had occasionally +puzzled his friends--that nobody supposed for a moment that the +second actor in these secret nuptials was other than she. The +actual and whole truth would indeed have seemed a preposterous +assertion beside this plausible one, by reason of the lofty +demeanour of the Lady Caroline and the unassuming habits of the late +villager. There being no inheritance in question, not a soul took +the trouble to go to the city church, forty miles off, and search +the registers for marriage signatures bearing out so humble a +romance. + +In a short time Milly caused a decent tombstone to be erected over +her nominal husband's grave, whereon appeared the statement that it +was placed there by his heartbroken widow, which, considering that +the payment for it came from Lady Caroline and the grief from Milly, +was as truthful as such inscriptions usually are, and only required +pluralizing to render it yet more nearly so. + +The impressionable and complaisant Milly, in her character of widow, +took delight in going to his grave every day, and indulging in +sorrow which was a positive luxury to her. She placed fresh flowers +on his grave, and so keen was her emotional imaginativeness that she +almost believed herself to have been his wife indeed as she walked +to and fro in her garb of woe. One afternoon, Milly being busily +engaged in this labour of love at the grave, Lady Caroline passed +outside the churchyard wall with some of her visiting friends, who, +seeing Milly there, watched her actions with interest, remarked upon +the pathos of the scene, and upon the intense affection the young +man must have felt for such a tender creature as Milly. A strange +light, as of pain, shot from the Lady Caroline's eye, as if for the +first time she begrudged to the young girl the position she had been +at such pains to transfer to her; it showed that a slumbering +affection for her husband still had life in Lady Caroline, obscured +and stifled as it was by social considerations. + +An end was put to this smooth arrangement by the sudden appearance +in the churchyard one day of the Lady Caroline, when Milly had come +there on her usual errand of laying flowers. Lady Caroline had been +anxiously awaiting her behind the chancel, and her countenance was +pale and agitated. + +'Milly!' she said, 'come here! I don't know how to say to you what +I am going to say. I am half dead!' + +'I am sorry for your ladyship,' says Milly, wondering. + +'Give me that ring!' says the lady, snatching at the girl's left +hand. + +Milly drew it quickly away. + +'I tell you give it to me!' repeated Caroline, almost fiercely. +'Oh--but you don't know why? I am in a grief and a trouble I did +not expect!' And Lady Caroline whispered a few words to the girl. + +'O my lady!' said the thunderstruck Milly. 'What WILL you do?' + +'You must say that your statement was a wicked lie, an invention, a +scandal, a deadly sin--that I told you to make it to screen me! +That it was I whom he married at Bath. In short, we must tell the +truth, or I am ruined--body, mind, and reputation--for ever!' + +But there is a limit to the flexibility of gentle-souled women. +Milly by this time had so grown to the idea of being one flesh with +this young man, of having the right to bear his name as she bore it; +had so thoroughly come to regard him as her husband, to dream of him +as her husband, to speak of him as her husband, that she could not +relinquish him at a moment's peremptory notice. + +'No, no,' she said desperately, 'I cannot, I will not give him up! +Your ladyship took him away from me alive, and gave him back to me +only when he was dead. Now I will keep him! I am truly his widow. +More truly than you, my lady! for I love him and mourn for him, and +call myself by his dear name, and your ladyship does neither!' + +'I DO love him!' cries Lady Caroline with flashing eyes, 'and I +cling to him, and won't let him go to such as you! How can I, when +he is the father of this poor babe that's coming to me? I must have +him back again! Milly, Milly, can't you pity and understand me, +perverse girl that you are, and the miserable plight that I am in? +Oh, this precipitancy--it is the ruin of women! Why did I not +consider, and wait! Come, give me back all that I have given you, +and assure me you will support me in confessing the truth!' + +'Never, never!' persisted Milly, with woe-begone passionateness. +'Look at this headstone! Look at my gown and bonnet of crape--this +ring: listen to the name they call me by! My character is worth as +much to me as yours is to you! After declaring my Love mine, myself +his, taking his name, making his death my own particular sorrow, how +can I say it was not so? No such dishonour for me! I will outswear +you, my lady; and I shall be believed. My story is so much the more +likely that yours will be thought false. But, O please, my lady, do +not drive me to this! In pity let me keep him!' + +The poor nominal widow exhibited such anguish at a proposal which +would have been truly a bitter humiliation to her, that Lady +Caroline was warmed to pity in spite of her own condition. + +'Yes, I see your position,' she answered. 'But think of mine! What +can I do? Without your support it would seem an invention to save +me from disgrace; even if I produced the register, the love of +scandal in the world is such that the multitude would slur over the +fact, say it was a fabrication, and believe your story. I do not +know who were the witnesses, or anything!' + +In a few minutes these two poor young women felt, as so many in a +strait have felt before, that union was their greatest strength, +even now; and they consulted calmly together. The result of their +deliberations was that Milly went home as usual, and Lady Caroline +also, the latter confessing that very night to the Countess her +mother of the marriage, and to nobody else in the world. And, some +time after, Lady Caroline and her mother went away to London, where +a little while later still they were joined by Milly, who was +supposed to have left the village to proceed to a watering-place in +the North for the benefit of her health, at the expense of the +ladies of the Manor, who had been much interested in her state of +lonely and defenceless widowhood. + +Early the next year the widow Milly came home with an infant in her +arms, the family at the Manor House having meanwhile gone abroad. +They did not return from their tour till the autumn ensuing, by +which time Milly and the child had again departed from the cottage +of her father the woodman, Milly having attained to the dignity of +dwelling in a cottage of her own, many miles to the eastward of her +native village; a comfortable little allowance had moreover been +settled on her and the child for life, through the instrumentality +of Lady Caroline and her mother. + +Two or three years passed away, and the Lady Caroline married a +nobleman--the Marquis of Stonehenge--considerably her senior, who +had wooed her long and phlegmatically. He was not rich, but she led +a placid life with him for many years, though there was no child of +the marriage. Meanwhile Milly's boy, as the youngster was called, +and as Milly herself considered him, grew up, and throve +wonderfully, and loved her as she deserved to be loved for her +devotion to him, in whom she every day traced more distinctly the +lineaments of the man who had won her girlish heart, and kept it +even in the tomb. + +She educated him as well as she could with the limited means at her +disposal, for the allowance had never been increased, Lady Caroline, +or the Marchioness of Stonehenge as she now was, seeming by degrees +to care little what had become of them. Milly became extremely +ambitious on the boy's account; she pinched herself almost of +necessaries to send him to the Grammar School in the town to which +they retired, and at twenty he enlisted in a cavalry regiment, +joining it with a deliberate intent of making the Army his +profession, and not in a freak of idleness. His exceptional +attainments, his manly bearing, his steady conduct, speedily won him +promotion, which was furthered by the serious war in which this +country was at that time engaged. On his return to England after +the peace he had risen to the rank of riding-master, and was soon +after advanced another stage, and made quartermaster, though still a +young man. + +His mother--his corporeal mother, that is, the Marchioness of +Stonehenge--heard tidings of this unaided progress; it reawakened +her maternal instincts, and filled her with pride. She became +keenly interested in her successful soldier-son; and as she grew +older much wished to see him again, particularly when, the Marquis +dying, she was left a solitary and childless widow. Whether or not +she would have gone to him of her own impulse I cannot say; but one +day, when she was driving in an open carriage in the outskirts of a +neighbouring town, the troops lying at the barracks hard by passed +her in marching order. She eyed them narrowly, and in the finest of +the horsemen recognized her son from his likeness to her first +husband. + +This sight of him doubly intensified the motherly emotions which had +lain dormant in her for so many years, and she wildly asked herself +how she could so have neglected him? Had she possessed the true +courage of affection she would have owned to her first marriage, and +have reared him as her son! What would it have mattered if she had +never obtained this precious coronet of pearls and gold leaves, by +comparison with the gain of having the love and protection of such a +noble and worthy son? These and other sad reflections cut the +gloomy and solitary lady to the heart; and she repented of her pride +in disclaiming her first husband more bitterly than she had ever +repented of her infatuation in marrying him. + +Her yearning was so strong, that at length it seemed to her that she +could not live without announcing herself to him as his mother. +Come what might, she would do it: late as it was, she would have +him away from that woman whom she began to hate with the fierceness +of a deserted heart, for having taken her place as the mother of her +only child. She felt confidently enough that her son would only too +gladly exchange a cottage-mother for one who was a peeress of the +realm. Being now, in her widowhood, free to come and go as she +chose, without question from anybody, Lady Stonehenge started next +day for the little town where Milly yet lived, still in her robes of +sable for the lost lover of her youth. + +'He is MY son,' said the Marchioness, as soon as she was alone in +the cottage with Milly. 'You must give him back to me, now that I +am in a position in which I can defy the world's opinion. I suppose +he comes to see you continually?' + +'Every month since he returned from the war, my lady. And sometimes +he stays two or three days, and takes me about seeing sights +everywhere!' She spoke with quiet triumph. + +'Well, you will have to give him up,' said the Marchioness calmly. +'It shall not be the worse for you--you may see him when you choose. +I am going to avow my first marriage, and have him with me.' + +'You forget that there are two to be reckoned with, my lady. Not +only me, but himself.' + +'That can be arranged. You don't suppose that he wouldn't--' But +not wishing to insult Milly by comparing their positions, she said, +'He is my own flesh and blood, not yours.' + +'Flesh and blood's nothing!' said Milly, flashing with as much scorn +as a cottager could show to a peeress, which, in this case, was not +so little as may be supposed. 'But I will agree to put it to him, +and let him settle it for himself.' + +'That's all I require,' said Lady Stonehenge. 'You must ask him to +come, and I will meet him here.' + +The soldier was written to, and the meeting took place. He was not +so much astonished at the disclosure of his parentage as Lady +Stonehenge had been led to expect, having known for years that there +was a little mystery about his birth. His manner towards the +Marchioness, though respectful, was less warm than she could have +hoped. The alternatives as to his choice of a mother were put +before him. His answer amazed and stupefied her. + +'No, my lady,' he said. 'Thank you much, but I prefer to let things +be as they have been. My father's name is mine in any case. You +see, my lady, you cared little for me when I was weak and helpless; +why should I come to you now I am strong? She, dear devoted soul +[pointing to Milly], tended me from my birth, watched over me, +nursed me when I was ill, and deprived herself of many a little +comfort to push me on. I cannot love another mother as I love her. +She IS my mother, and I will always be her son!' As he spoke he put +his manly arm round Milly's neck, and kissed her with the tenderest +affection. + +The agony of the poor Marchioness was pitiable. 'You kill me!' she +said, between her shaking sobs. 'Cannot you--love--me--too?' + +'No, my lady. If I must say it, you were ashamed of my poor father, +who was a sincere and honest man; therefore, I am ashamed of you.' + +Nothing would move him; and the suffering woman at last gasped, +'Cannot--oh, cannot you give one kiss to me--as you did to her? It +is not much--it is all I ask--all!' + +'Certainly,' he replied. + +He kissed her coldly, and the painful scene came to an end. That +day was the beginning of death to the unfortunate Marchioness of +Stonehenge. It was in the perverseness of her human heart that his +denial of her should add fuel to the fire of her craving for his +love. How long afterwards she lived I do not know with any +exactness, but it was no great length of time. That anguish that is +sharper than a serpent's tooth wore her out soon. Utterly reckless +of the world, its ways, and its opinions, she allowed her story to +become known; and when the welcome end supervened (which, I grieve +to say, she refused to lighten by the consolations of religion), a +broken heart was the truest phrase in which to sum up its cause. + + +The rural dean having concluded, some observations upon his tale +were made in due course. The sentimental member said that Lady +Caroline's history afforded a sad instance of how an honest human +affection will become shamefaced and mean under the frost of class- +division and social prejudices. She probably deserved some pity; +though her offspring, before he grew up to man's estate, had +deserved more. There was no pathos like the pathos of childhood, +when a child found itself in a world where it was not wanted, and +could not understand the reason why. A tale by the speaker, further +illustrating the same subject, though with different results from +the last, naturally followed. + + + +DAME THE FOURTH: LADY MOTTISFONT +By the Sentimental Member + + + +Of all the romantic towns in Wessex, Wintoncester is probably the +most convenient for meditative people to live in; since there you +have a cathedral with a nave so long that it affords space in which +to walk and summon your remoter moods without continually turning on +your heel, or seeming to do more than take an afternoon stroll under +cover from the rain or sun. In an uninterrupted course of nearly +three hundred steps eastward, and again nearly three hundred steps +westward amid those magnificent tombs, you can, for instance, +compare in the most leisurely way the dry dustiness which ultimately +pervades the persons of kings and bishops with the damper dustiness +that is usually the final shape of commoners, curates, and others +who take their last rest out of doors. Then, if you are in love, +you can, by sauntering in the chapels and behind the episcopal +chantries with the bright-eyed one, so steep and mellow your ecstasy +in the solemnities around, that it will assume a rarer and finer +tincture, even more grateful to the understanding, if not to the +senses, than that form of the emotion which arises from such +companionship in spots where all is life, and growth, and fecundity. + +It was in this solemn place, whither they had withdrawn from the +sight of relatives on one cold day in March, that Sir Ashley +Mottisfont asked in marriage, as his second wife, Philippa, the +gentle daughter of plain Squire Okehall. Her life had been an +obscure one thus far; while Sir Ashley, though not a rich man, had a +certain distinction about him; so that everybody thought what a +convenient, elevating, and, in a word, blessed match it would be for +such a supernumerary as she. Nobody thought so more than the +amiable girl herself. She had been smitten with such affection for +him that, when she walked the cathedral aisles at his side on the +before-mentioned day, she did not know that her feet touched hard +pavement; it seemed to her rather that she was floating in space. +Philippa was an ecstatic, heart-thumping maiden, and could not +understand how she had deserved to have sent to her such an +illustrious lover, such a travelled personage, such a handsome man. + +When he put the question, it was in no clumsy language, such as the +ordinary bucolic county landlords were wont to use on like quivering +occasions, but as elegantly as if he had been taught it in Enfield's +Speaker. Yet he hesitated a little--for he had something to add. + +'My pretty Philippa,' he said (she was not very pretty by the way), +'I have, you must know, a little girl dependent upon me: a little +waif I found one day in a patch of wild oats [such was this worthy +baronet's humour] when I was riding home: a little nameless +creature, whom I wish to take care of till she is old enough to take +care of herself; and to educate in a plain way. She is only fifteen +months old, and is at present in the hands of a kind villager's wife +in my parish. Will you object to give some attention to the little +thing in her helplessness?' + +It need hardly be said that our innocent young lady, loving him so +deeply and joyfully as she did, replied that she would do all she +could for the nameless child; and, shortly afterwards, the pair were +married in the same cathedral that had echoed the whispers of his +declaration, the officiating minister being the Bishop himself; a +venerable and experienced man, so well accomplished in uniting +people who had a mind for that sort of experiment, that the couple, +with some sense of surprise, found themselves one while they were +still vaguely gazing at each other as two independent beings. + +After this operation they went home to Deansleigh Park, and made a +beginning of living happily ever after. Lady Mottisfont, true to +her promise, was always running down to the village during the +following weeks to see the baby whom her husband had so mysteriously +lighted on during his ride home--concerning which interesting +discovery she had her own opinion; but being so extremely amiable +and affectionate that she could have loved stocks and stones if +there had been no living creatures to love, she uttered none of her +thoughts. The little thing, who had been christened Dorothy, took +to Lady Mottisfont as if the baronet's young wife had been her +mother; and at length Philippa grew so fond of the child that she +ventured to ask her husband if she might have Dorothy in her own +home, and bring her up carefully, just as if she were her own. To +this he answered that, though remarks might be made thereon, he had +no objection; a fact which was obvious, Sir Ashley seeming rather +pleased than otherwise with the proposal. + +After this they lived quietly and uneventfully for two or three +years at Sir Ashley Mottisfont's residence in that part of England, +with as near an approach to bliss as the climate of this country +allows. The child had been a godsend to Philippa, for there seemed +no great probability of her having one of her own: and she wisely +regarded the possession of Dorothy as a special kindness of +Providence, and did not worry her mind at all as to Dorothy's +possible origin. Being a tender and impulsive creature, she loved +her husband without criticism, exhaustively and religiously, and the +child not much otherwise. She watched the little foundling as if +she had been her own by nature, and Dorothy became a great solace to +her when her husband was absent on pleasure or business; and when he +came home he looked pleased to see how the two had won each other's +hearts. Sir Ashley would kiss his wife, and his wife would kiss +little Dorothy, and little Dorothy would kiss Sir Ashley, and after +this triangular burst of affection Lady Mottisfont would say, 'Dear +me--I forget she is not mine!' + +'What does it matter?' her husband would reply. 'Providence is +fore-knowing. He has sent us this one because he is not intending +to send us one by any other channel.' + +Their life was of the simplest. Since his travels the baronet had +taken to sporting and farming; while Philippa was a pattern of +domesticity. Their pleasures were all local. They retired early to +rest, and rose with the cart-horses and whistling waggoners. They +knew the names of every bird and tree not exceptionally uncommon, +and could foretell the weather almost as well as anxious farmers and +old people with corns. + +One day Sir Ashley Mottisfont received a letter, which he read, and +musingly laid down on the table without remark. + +'What is it, dearest?' asked his wife, glancing at the sheet. + +'Oh, it is from an old lawyer at Bath whom I used to know. He +reminds me of something I said to him four or five years ago--some +little time before we were married--about Dorothy.' + +'What about her?' + +'It was a casual remark I made to him, when I thought you might not +take kindly to her, that if he knew a lady who was anxious to adopt +a child, and could insure a good home to Dorothy, he was to let me +know.' + +'But that was when you had nobody to take care of her,' she said +quickly. 'How absurd of him to write now! Does he know you are +married? He must, surely.' + +'Oh yes!' + +He handed her the letter. The solicitor stated that a widow-lady of +position, who did not at present wish her name to be disclosed, had +lately become a client of his while taking the waters, and had +mentioned to him that she would like a little girl to bring up as +her own, if she could be certain of finding one of good and pleasing +disposition; and, the better to insure this, she would not wish the +child to be too young for judging her qualities. He had remembered +Sir Ashley's observation to him a long while ago, and therefore +brought the matter before him. It would be an excellent home for +the little girl--of that he was positive--if she had not already +found such a home. + +'But it is absurd of the man to write so long after!' said Lady +Mottisfont, with a lumpiness about the back of her throat as she +thought how much Dorothy had become to her. 'I suppose it was when +you first--found her--that you told him this?' + +'Exactly--it was then.' + +He fell into thought, and neither Sir Ashley nor Lady Mottisfont +took the trouble to answer the lawyer's letter; and so the matter +ended for the time. + +One day at dinner, on their return from a short absence in town, +whither they had gone to see what the world was doing, hear what it +was saying, and to make themselves generally fashionable after +rusticating for so long--on this occasion, I say, they learnt from +some friend who had joined them at dinner that Fernell Hall--the +manorial house of the estate next their own, which had been offered +on lease by reason of the impecuniosity of its owner--had been taken +for a term by a widow lady, an Italian Contessa, whose name I will +not mention for certain reasons which may by and by appear. Lady +Mottisfont expressed her surprise and interest at the probability of +having such a neighbour. 'Though, if I had been born in Italy, I +think I should have liked to remain there,' she said. + +'She is not Italian, though her husband was,' said Sir Ashley. + +'Oh, you have heard about her before now?' + +'Yes; they were talking of her at Grey's the other evening. She is +English.' And then, as her husband said no more about the lady, the +friend who was dining with them told Lady Mottisfont that the +Countess's father had speculated largely in East-India Stock, in +which immense fortunes were being made at that time; through this +his daughter had found herself enormously wealthy at his death, +which had occurred only a few weeks after the death of her husband. +It was supposed that the marriage of an enterprising English +speculator's daughter to a poor foreign nobleman had been matter of +arrangement merely. As soon as the Countess's widowhood was a +little further advanced she would, no doubt, be the mark of all the +schemers who came near her, for she was still quite young. But at +present she seemed to desire quiet, and avoided society and town. + +Some weeks after this time Sir Ashley Mottisfont sat looking fixedly +at his lady for many moments. He said: + +'It might have been better for Dorothy if the Countess had taken +her. She is so wealthy in comparison with ourselves, and could have +ushered the girl into the great world more effectually than we ever +shall be able to do.' + +'The Contessa take Dorothy?' said Lady Mottisfont with a start. +'What--was she the lady who wished to adopt her?' + +'Yes; she was staying at Bath when Lawyer Gayton wrote to me.' + +'But how do you know all this, Ashley?' + +He showed a little hesitation. 'Oh, I've seen her,' he says. 'You +know, she drives to the meet sometimes, though she does not ride; +and she has informed me that she was the lady who inquired of +Gayton.' + +'You have talked to her as well as seen her, then?' + +'Oh yes, several times; everybody has.' + +'Why didn't you tell me?' says his lady. 'I had quite forgotten to +call upon her. I'll go to-morrow, or soon . . . But I can't think, +Ashley, how you can say that it might have been better for Dorothy +to have gone to her; she is so much our own now that I cannot admit +any such conjectures as those, even in jest.' Her eyes reproached +him so eloquently that Sir Ashley Mottisfont did not answer. + +Lady Mottisfont did not hunt any more than the Anglo-Italian +Countess did; indeed, she had become so absorbed in household +matters and in Dorothy's wellbeing that she had no mind to waste a +minute on mere enjoyments. As she had said, to talk coolly of what +might have been the best destination in days past for a child to +whom they had become so attached seemed quite barbarous, and she +could not understand how her husband should consider the point so +abstractedly; for, as will probably have been guessed, Lady +Mottisfont long before this time, if she had not done so at the very +beginning, divined Sir Ashley's true relation to Dorothy. But the +baronet's wife was so discreetly meek and mild that she never told +him of her surmise, and took what Heaven had sent her without cavil, +her generosity in this respect having been bountifully rewarded by +the new life she found in her love for the little girl. + +Her husband recurred to the same uncomfortable subject when, a few +days later, they were speaking of travelling abroad. He said that +it was almost a pity, if they thought of going, that they had not +fallen in with the Countess's wish. That lady had told him that she +had met Dorothy walking with her nurse, and that she had never seen +a child she liked so well. + +'What--she covets her still? How impertinent of the woman!' said +Lady Mottisfont. + +'She seems to do so . . . You see, dearest Philippa, the advantage +to Dorothy would have been that the Countess would have adopted her +legally, and have made her as her own daughter; while we have not +done that--we are only bringing up and educating a poor child in +charity.' + +'But I'll adopt her fully--make her mine legally!' cried his wife in +an anxious voice. 'How is it to be done?' + +'H'm.' He did not inform her, but fell into thought; and, for +reasons of her own, his lady was restless and uneasy. + +The very next day Lady Mottisfont drove to Fernell Hall to pay the +neglected call upon her neighbour. The Countess was at home, and +received her graciously. But poor Lady Mottisfont's heart died +within her as soon as she set eyes on her new acquaintance. Such +wonderful beauty, of the fully-developed kind, had never confronted +her before inside the lines of a human face. She seemed to shine +with every light and grace that woman can possess. Her finished +Continental manners, her expanded mind, her ready wit, composed a +study that made the other poor lady sick; for she, and latterly Sir +Ashley himself, were rather rural in manners, and she felt abashed +by new sounds and ideas from without. She hardly knew three words +in any language but her own, while this divine creature, though +truly English, had, apparently, whatever she wanted in the Italian +and French tongues to suit every impression; which was considered a +great improvement to speech in those days, and, indeed, is by many +considered as such in these. + +'How very strange it was about the little girl!' the Contessa said +to Lady Mottisfont, in her gay tones. 'I mean, that the child the +lawyer recommended should, just before then, have been adopted by +you, who are now my neighbour. How is she getting on? I must come +and see her.' + +'Do you still want her?' asks Lady Mottisfont suspiciously. + +'Oh, I should like to have her!' + +'But you can't! She's mine!' said the other greedily. + +A drooping mariner appeared in the Countess from that moment. + +Lady Mottisfont, too, was in a wretched mood all the way home that +day. The Countess was so charming in every way that she had charmed +her gentle ladyship; how should it be possible that she had failed +to charm Sir Ashley? Moreover, she had awakened a strange thought +in Philippa's mind. As soon as she reached home she rushed to the +nursery, and there, seizing Dorothy, frantically kissed her; then, +holding her at arm's length, she gazed with a piercing +inquisitiveness into the girl's lineaments. She sighed deeply, +abandoned the wondering Dorothy, and hastened away. + +She had seen there not only her husband's traits, which she had +often beheld before, but others, of the shade, shape, and expression +which characterized those of her new neighbour. + +Then this poor lady perceived the whole perturbing sequence of +things, and asked herself how she could have been such a walking +piece of simplicity as not to have thought of this before. But she +did not stay long upbraiding herself for her shortsightedness, so +overwhelmed was she with misery at the spectacle of herself as an +intruder between these. To be sure she could not have foreseen such +a conjuncture; but that did not lessen her grief. The woman who had +been both her husband's bliss and his backsliding had reappeared +free when he was no longer so, and she evidently was dying to claim +her own in the person of Dorothy, who had meanwhile grown to be, to +Lady Mottisfont, almost the only source of each day's happiness, +supplying her with something to watch over, inspiring her with the +sense of maternity, and so largely reflecting her husband's nature +as almost to deceive her into the pleasant belief that she reflected +her own also. + +If there was a single direction in which this devoted and virtuous +lady erred, it was in the direction of over-submissiveness. When +all is said and done, and the truth told, men seldom show much self- +sacrifice in their conduct as lords and masters to helpless women +bound to them for life, and perhaps (though I say it with all +uncertainty) if she had blazed up in his face like a furze-faggot, +directly he came home, she might have helped herself a little. But +God knows whether this is a true supposition; at any rate she did no +such thing; and waited and prayed that she might never do despite to +him who, she was bound to admit, had always been tender and +courteous towards her; and hoped that little Dorothy might never be +taken away. + +By degrees the two households became friendly, and very seldom did a +week pass without their seeing something of each other. Try as she +might, and dangerous as she assumed the acquaintanceship to be, Lady +Mottisfont could detect no fault or flaw in her new friend. It was +obvious that Dorothy had been the magnet which had drawn the +Contessa hither, and not Sir Ashley. + +Such beauty, united with such understanding and brightness, Philippa +had never before known in one of her own sex, and she tried to think +(whether she succeeded I do not know) that she did not mind the +propinquity; since a woman so rich, so fair, and with such a command +of suitors, could not desire to wreck the happiness of so +inoffensive a person as herself. + +The season drew on when it was the custom for families of +distinction to go off to The Bath, and Sir Ashley Mottisfont +persuaded his wife to accompany him thither with Dorothy. Everybody +of any note was there this year. From their own part of England +came many that they knew; among the rest, Lord and Lady Purbeck, the +Earl and Countess of Wessex, Sir John Grebe, the Drenkhards, Lady +Stourvale, the old Duke of Hamptonshire, the Bishop of Melchester, +the Dean of Exonbury, and other lesser lights of Court, pulpit, and +field. Thither also came the fair Contessa, whom, as soon as +Philippa saw how much she was sought after by younger men, she could +not conscientiously suspect of renewed designs upon Sir Ashley. + +But the Countess had finer opportunities than ever with Dorothy; for +Lady Mottisfont was often indisposed, and even at other times could +not honestly hinder an intercourse which gave bright ideas to the +child. Dorothy welcomed her new acquaintance with a strange and +instinctive readiness that intimated the wonderful subtlety of the +threads which bind flesh and flesh together. + +At last the crisis came: it was precipitated by an accident. +Dorothy and her nurse had gone out one day for an airing, leaving +Lady Mottisfont alone indoors. While she sat gloomily thinking that +in all likelihood the Countess would contrive to meet the child +somewhere, and exchange a few tender words with her, Sir Ashley +Mottisfont rushed in and informed her that Dorothy had just had the +narrowest possible escape from death. Some workmen were undermining +a house to pull it down for rebuilding, when, without warning, the +front wall inclined slowly outwards for its fall, the nurse and +child passing beneath it at the same moment. The fall was +temporarily arrested by the scaffolding, while in the meantime the +Countess had witnessed their imminent danger from the other side of +the street. Springing across, she snatched Dorothy from under the +wall, and pulled the nurse after her, the middle of the way being +barely reached before they were enveloped in the dense dust of the +descending mass, though not a stone touched them. + +'Where is Dorothy?' says the excited Lady Mottisfont. + +'She has her--she won't let her go for a time--' + +'Has her? But she's MINE--she's mine!' cries Lady Mottisfont. + +Then her quick and tender eyes perceived that her husband had almost +forgotten her intrusive existence in contemplating the oneness of +Dorothy's, the Countess's, and his own: he was in a dream of +exaltation which recognized nothing necessary to his well-being +outside that welded circle of three lives. + +Dorothy was at length brought home; she was much fascinated by the +Countess, and saw nothing tragic, but rather all that was truly +delightful, in what had happened. In the evening, when the +excitement was over, and Dorothy was put to bed, Sir Ashley said, +'She has saved Dorothy; and I have been asking myself what I can do +for her as a slight acknowledgment of her heroism. Surely we ought +to let her have Dorothy to bring up, since she still desires to do +it? It would be so much to Dorothy's advantage. We ought to look +at it in that light, and not selfishly.' + +Philippa seized his hand. 'Ashley, Ashley! You don't mean it--that +I must lose my pretty darling--the only one I have?' She met his +gaze with her piteous mouth and wet eyes so painfully strained, that +he turned away his face. + +The next morning, before Dorothy was awake, Lady Mottisfont stole to +the girl's bedside, and sat regarding her. When Dorothy opened her +eyes, she fixed them for a long time upon Philippa's features. + +'Mamma--you are not so pretty as the Contessa, are you?' she said at +length. + +'I am not, Dorothy.' + +'Why are you not, mamma?' + +'Dorothy--where would you rather live, always; with me, or with +her?' + +The little girl looked troubled. 'I am sorry, mamma; I don't mean +to be unkind; but I would rather live with her; I mean, if I might +without trouble, and you did not mind, and it could be just the same +to us all, you know.' + +'Has she ever asked you the same question?' + +'Never, mamma.' + +There lay the sting of it: the Countess seemed the soul of honour +and fairness in this matter, test her as she might. That afternoon +Lady Mottisfont went to her husband with singular firmness upon her +gentle face. + +'Ashley, we have been married nearly five years, and I have never +challenged you with what I know perfectly well--the parentage of +Dorothy.' + +'Never have you, Philippa dear. Though I have seen that you knew +from the first.' + +'From the first as to her father, not as to her mother. Her I did +not know for some time; but I know now.' + +'Ah! you have discovered that too?' says he, without much surprise. + +'Could I help it? Very well, that being so, I have thought it over; +and I have spoken to Dorothy. I agree to her going. I can do no +less than grant to the Countess her wish, after her kindness to my-- +your--her--child.' + +Then this self-sacrificing woman went hastily away that he might not +see that her heart was bursting; and thereupon, before they left the +city, Dorothy changed her mother and her home. After this, the +Countess went away to London for a while, taking Dorothy with her; +and the baronet and his wife returned to their lonely place at +Deansleigh Park without her. + +To renounce Dorothy in the bustle of Bath was a different thing from +living without her in this quiet home. One evening Sir Ashley +missed his wife from the supper-table; her manner had been so +pensive and woeful of late that he immediately became alarmed. He +said nothing, but looked about outside the house narrowly, and +discerned her form in the park, where recently she had been +accustomed to walk alone. In its lower levels there was a pool fed +by a trickling brook, and he reached this spot in time to hear a +splash. Running forward, he dimly perceived her light gown floating +in the water. To pull her out was the work of a few instants, and +bearing her indoors to her room, he undressed her, nobody in the +house knowing of the incident but himself. She had not been +immersed long enough to lose her senses, and soon recovered. She +owned that she had done it because the Contessa had taken away her +child, as she persisted in calling Dorothy. Her husband spoke +sternly to her, and impressed upon her the weakness of giving way +thus, when all that had happened was for the best. She took his +reproof meekly, and admitted her fault. + +After that she became more resigned, but he often caught her in +tears over some doll, shoe, or ribbon of Dorothy's, and decided to +take her to the North of England for change of air and scene. This +was not without its beneficial effect, corporeally no less than +mentally, as later events showed, but she still evinced a +preternatural sharpness of ear at the most casual mention of the +child. When they reached home, the Countess and Dorothy were still +absent from the neighbouring Fernell Hall, but in a month or two +they returned, and a little later Sir Ashley Mottisfont came into +his wife's room full of news. + +'Well--would you think it, Philippa! After being so desperate, too, +about getting Dorothy to be with her!' + +'Ah--what?' + +'Our neighbour, the Countess, is going to be married again! It is +to somebody she has met in London.' + +Lady Mottisfont was much surprised; she had never dreamt of such an +event. The conflict for the possession of Dorothy's person had +obscured the possibility of it; yet what more likely, the Countess +being still under thirty, and so good-looking? + +'What is of still more interest to us, or to you,' continued her +husband, 'is a kind offer she has made. She is willing that you +should have Dorothy back again. Seeing what a grief the loss of her +has been to you, she will try to do without her.' + +'It is not for that; it is not to oblige me,' said Lady Mottisfont +quickly. 'One can see well enough what it is for!' + +'Well, never mind; beggars mustn't be choosers. The reason or +motive is nothing to us, so that you obtain your desire.' + +'I am not a beggar any longer,' said Lady Mottisfont, with proud +mystery. + +'What do you mean by that?' + +Lady Mottisfont hesitated. However, it was only too plain that she +did not now jump at a restitution of one for whom some months before +she had been breaking her heart. + +The explanation of this change of mood became apparent some little +time farther on. Lady Mottisfont, after five years of wedded life, +was expecting to become a mother, and the aspect of many things was +greatly altered in her view. Among the more important changes was +that of no longer feeling Dorothy to be absolutely indispensable to +her existence. + +Meanwhile, in view of her coming marriage, the Countess decided to +abandon the remainder of her term at Fernell Hall, and return to her +pretty little house in town. But she could not do this quite so +quickly as she had expected, and half a year or more elapsed before +she finally quitted the neighbourhood, the interval being passed in +alternations between the country and London. Prior to her last +departure she had an interview with Sir Ashley Mottisfont, and it +occurred three days after his wife had presented him with a son and +heir. + +'I wanted to speak to you,' said the Countess, looking him +luminously in the face, 'about the dear foundling I have adopted +temporarily, and thought to have adopted permanently. But my +marriage makes it too risky!' + +'I thought it might be that,' he answered, regarding her steadfastly +back again, and observing two tears come slowly into her eyes as she +heard her own voice describe Dorothy in those words. + +'Don't criticize me,' she said hastily; and recovering herself, went +on. 'If Lady Mottisfont could take her back again, as I suggested, +it would be better for me, and certainly no worse for Dorothy. To +every one but ourselves she is but a child I have taken a fancy to, +and Lady Mottisfont coveted her so much, and was very reluctant to +let her go . . . I am sure she will adopt her again?' she added +anxiously. + +'I will sound her afresh,' said the baronet. 'You leave Dorothy +behind for the present?' + +'Yes; although I go away, I do not give up the house for another +month.' + +He did not speak to his wife about the proposal till some few days +after, when Lady Mottisfont had nearly recovered, and news of the +Countess's marriage in London had just reached them. He had no +sooner mentioned Dorothy's name than Lady Mottisfont showed symptoms +of disquietude. + +'I have not acquired any dislike of Dorothy,' she said, 'but I feel +that there is one nearer to me now. Dorothy chose the alternative +of going to the Countess, you must remember, when I put it to her as +between the Countess and myself.' + +'But, my dear Philippa, how can you argue thus about a child, and +that child our Dorothy?' + +'Not OURS,' said his wife, pointing to the cot. 'Ours is here.' + +'What, then, Philippa,' he said, surprised, 'you won't have her +back, after nearly dying of grief at the loss of her?' + +'I cannot argue, dear Ashley. I should prefer not to have the +responsibility of Dorothy again. Her place is filled now.' + +Her husband sighed, and went out of the chamber. There had been a +previous arrangement that Dorothy should be brought to the house on +a visit that day, but instead of taking her up to his wife, he did +not inform Lady Mottisfont of the child's presence. He entertained +her himself as well as he could, and accompanied her into the park, +where they had a ramble together. Presently he sat down on the root +of an elm and took her upon his knee. + +'Between this husband and this baby, little Dorothy, you who had two +homes are left out in the cold,' he said. + +'Can't I go to London with my pretty mamma?' said Dorothy, +perceiving from his manner that there was a hitch somewhere. + +'I am afraid not, my child. She only took you to live with her +because she was lonely, you know.' + +'Then can't I stay at Deansleigh Park with my other mamma and you?' + +'I am afraid that cannot be done either,' said he sadly. 'We have a +baby in the house now.' He closed the reply by stooping down and +kissing her, there being a tear in his eye. + +'Then nobody wants me!' said Dorothy pathetically. + +'Oh yes, somebody wants you,' he assured her. 'Where would you like +to live besides?' + +Dorothy's experiences being rather limited, she mentioned the only +other place in the world that she was acquainted with, the cottage +of the villager who had taken care of her before Lady Mottisfont had +removed her to the Manor House. + +'Yes; that's where you'll be best off and most independent,' he +answered. 'And I'll come to see you, my dear girl, and bring you +pretty things; and perhaps you'll be just as happy there.' + +Nevertheless, when the change came, and Dorothy was handed over to +the kind cottage-woman, the poor child missed the luxurious +roominess of Fernell Hall and Deansleigh; and for a long time her +little feet, which had been accustomed to carpets and oak floors, +suffered from the cold of the stone flags on which it was now her +lot to live and to play; while chilblains came upon her fingers with +washing at the pump. But thicker shoes with nails in them somewhat +remedied the cold feet, and her complaints and tears on this and +other scores diminished to silence as she became inured anew to the +hardships of the farm-cottage, and she grew up robust if not +handsome. She was never altogether lost sight of by Sir Ashley, +though she was deprived of the systematic education which had been +devised and begun for her by Lady Mottisfont, as well as by her +other mamma, the enthusiastic Countess. The latter soon had other +Dorothys to think of, who occupied her time and affection as fully +as Lady Mottisfont's were occupied by her precious boy. In the +course of time the doubly-desired and doubly-rejected Dorothy +married, I believe, a respectable road-contractor--the same, if I +mistake not, who repaired and improved the old highway running from +Wintoncester south-westerly through the New Forest--and in the heart +of this worthy man of business the poor girl found the nest which +had been denied her by her own flesh and blood of higher degree. + + +Several of the listeners wished to hear another story from the +sentimental member after this, but he said that he could recall +nothing else at the moment, and that it seemed to him as if his +friend on the other side of the fireplace had something to say from +the look of his face. + +The member alluded to was a respectable churchwarden, with a sly +chink to one eyelid--possibly the result of an accident--and a +regular attendant at the Club meetings. He replied that his looks +had been mainly caused by his interest in the two ladies of the last +story, apparently women of strong motherly instincts, even though +they were not genuinely staunch in their tenderness. The tale had +brought to his mind an instance of a firmer affection of that sort +on the paternal side, in a nature otherwise culpable. As for +telling the story, his manner was much against him, he feared; but +he would do his best, if they wished. + +Here the President interposed with a suggestion that as it was +getting late in the afternoon it would be as well to adjourn to +their respective inns and lodgings for dinner, after which those who +cared to do so could return and resume these curious domestic +traditions for the remainder of the evening, which might otherwise +prove irksome enough. The curator had told him that the room was at +their service. The churchwarden, who was beginning to feel hungry +himself, readily acquiesced, and the Club separated for an hour and +a half. Then the faithful ones began to drop in again--among whom +were not the President; neither came the rural dean, nor the two +curates, though the Colonel, and the man of family, cigars in mouth, +were good enough to return, having found their hotel dreary. The +museum had no regular means of illumination, and a solitary candle, +less powerful than the rays of the fire, was placed on the table; +also bottles and glasses, provided by some thoughtful member. The +chink-eyed churchwarden, now thoroughly primed, proceeded to relate +in his own terms what was in substance as follows, while many of his +listeners smoked. + + + +DAME THE FIFTH THE LADY ICENWAY +By the Churchwarden + + + +In the reign of His Most Excellent Majesty King George the Third, +Defender of the Faith and of the American Colonies, there lived in +'a faire maner-place' (so Leland called it in his day, as I have +been told), in one o' the greenest bits of woodland between Bristol +and the city of Exonbury, a young lady who resembled some aforesaid +ones in having many talents and exceeding great beauty. With these +gifts she combined a somewhat imperious temper and arbitrary mind, +though her experience of the world was not actually so large as her +conclusive manner would have led the stranger to suppose. Being an +orphan, she resided with her uncle, who, though he was fairly +considerate as to her welfare, left her pretty much to herself. + +Now it chanced that when this lovely young lady was about nineteen, +she (being a fearless horsewoman) was riding, with only a young lad +as an attendant, in one o' the woods near her uncle's house, and, in +trotting along, her horse stumbled over the root of a felled tree. +She slipped to the ground, not seriously hurt, and was assisted home +by a gentleman who came in view at the moment of her mishap. It +turned out that this gentleman, a total stranger to her, was on a +visit at the house of a neighbouring landowner. He was of Dutch +extraction, and occasionally came to England on business or pleasure +from his plantations in Guiana, on the north coast of South America, +where he usually resided. + +On this account he was naturally but little known in Wessex, and was +but a slight acquaintance of the gentleman at whose mansion he was a +guest. However, the friendship between him and the Heymeres--as the +uncle and niece were named--warmed and warmed by degrees, there +being but few folk o' note in the vicinity at that time, which made +a newcomer, if he were at all sociable and of good credit, always +sure of a welcome. A tender feeling (as it is called by the +romantic) sprang up between the two young people, which ripened into +intimacy. Anderling, the foreign gentleman, was of an amorous +temperament; and, though he endeavoured to conceal his feeling, it +could be seen that Miss Maria Heymere had impressed him rather more +deeply than would be represented by a scratch upon a stone. He +seemed absolutely unable to free himself from her fascination; and +his inability to do so, much as he tried--evidently thinking he had +not the ghost of a chance with her--gave her the pleasure of power; +though she more than sympathized when she overheard him heaving his +deep drawn sighs--privately to himself, as he supposed. + +After prolonging his visit by every conceivable excuse in his power, +he summoned courage, and offered her his hand and his heart. Being +in no way disinclined to him, though not so fervid as he, and her +uncle making no objection to the match, she consented to share his +fate, for better or otherwise, in the distant colony where, as he +assured her, his rice, and coffee, and maize, and timber, produced +him ample means--a statement which was borne out by his friend, her +uncle's neighbour. In short, a day for their marriage was fixed, +earlier in the engagement than is usual or desirable between +comparative strangers, by reason of the necessity he was under of +returning to look after his properties. + +The wedding took place, and Maria left her uncle's mansion with her +husband, going in the first place to London, and about a fortnight +after sailing with him across the great ocean for their distant +home--which, however, he assured her, should not be her home for +long, it being his intention to dispose of his interests in this +part of the world as soon as the war was over, and he could do so +advantageously; when they could come to Europe, and reside in some +favourite capital. + +As they advanced on the voyage she observed that he grew more and +more constrained; and, by the time they had crossed the Line, he was +quite depressed, just as he had been before proposing to her. A day +or two before landing at Paramaribo, he embraced her in a very +tearful and passionate manner, and said he wished to make a +confession. It had been his misfortune, he said, to marry at Quebec +in early life a woman whose reputation proved to be in every way bad +and scandalous. The discovery had nearly killed him; but he had +ultimately separated from her, and had never seen her since. He had +hoped and prayed she might be dead; but recently in London, when +they were starting on this journey, he had discovered that she was +still alive. At first he had decided to keep this dark intelligence +from her beloved ears; but he had felt that he could not do it. All +he hoped was that such a condition of things would make no +difference in her feelings for him, as it need make no difference in +the course of their lives. + +Thereupon the spirit of this proud and masterful lady showed itself +in violent turmoil, like the raging of a nor'-west thunderstorm--as +well it might, God knows. But she was of too stout a nature to be +broken down by his revelation, as many ladies of my acquaintance +would have been--so far from home, and right under the Line in the +blaze o' the sun. Of the two, indeed, he was the more wretched and +shattered in spirit, for he loved her deeply, and (there being a +foreign twist in his make) had been tempted to this crime by her +exceeding beauty, against which he had struggled day and night, till +he had no further resistance left in him. It was she who came first +to a decision as to what should be done--whether a wise one I do not +attempt to judge. + +'I put it to you,' says she, when many useless self-reproaches and +protestations on his part had been uttered--'I put it to you +whether, if any manliness is left in you, you ought not to do +exactly what I consider the best thing for me in this strait to +which you have reduced me?' + +He promised to do anything in the whole world. She then requested +him to allow her to return, and announce him as having died of +malignant ague immediately on their arrival at Paramaribo; that she +should consequently appear in weeds as his widow in her native +place; and that he would never molest her, or come again to that +part of the world during the whole course of his life--a good reason +for which would be that the legal consequences might be serious. + +He readily acquiesced in this, as he would have acquiesced in +anything for the restitution of one he adored so deeply--even to the +yielding of life itself. To put her in an immediate state of +independence he gave her, in bonds and jewels, a considerable sum +(for his worldly means had been in no way exaggerated); and by the +next ship she sailed again for England, having travelled no farther +than to Paramaribo. At parting he declared it to be his intention +to turn all his landed possessions into personal property, and to be +a wanderer on the face of the earth in remorse for his conduct +towards her. + +Maria duly arrived in England, and immediately on landing apprised +her uncle of her return, duly appearing at his house in the garb of +a widow. She was commiserated by all the neighbours as soon as her +story was told; but only to her uncle did she reveal the real state +of affairs, and her reason for concealing it. For, though she had +been innocent of wrong, Maria's pride was of that grain which could +not brook the least appearance of having been fooled, or deluded, or +nonplussed in her worldly aims. + +For some time she led a quiet life with her relative, and in due +course a son was born to her. She was much respected for her +dignity and reserve, and the portable wealth which her temporary +husband had made over to her enabled her to live in comfort in a +wing of the mansion, without assistance from her uncle at all. But, +knowing that she was not what she seemed to be, her life was an +uneasy one, and she often said to herself: 'Suppose his continued +existence should become known here, and people should discern the +pride of my motive in hiding my humiliation? It would be worse than +if I had been frank at first, which I should have been but for the +credit of this child.' + +Such grave reflections as these occupied her with increasing force; +and during their continuance she encountered a worthy man of noble +birth and title--Lord Icenway his name--whose seat was beyond +Wintoncester, quite at t'other end of Wessex. He being anxious to +pay his addresses to her, Maria willingly accepted them, though he +was a plain man, older than herself; for she discerned in a re- +marriage a method of fortifying her position against mortifying +discoveries. In a few months their union took place, and Maria +lifted her head as Lady Icenway, and left with her husband and child +for his home as aforesaid, where she was quite unknown. + +A justification, or a condemnation, of her step (according as you +view it) was seen when, not long after, she received a note from her +former husband Anderling. It was a hasty and tender epistle, and +perhaps it was fortunate that it arrived during the temporary +absence of Lord Icenway. His worthless wife, said Anderling, had +just died in Quebec; he had gone there to ascertain particulars, and +had seen the unfortunate woman buried. He now was hastening to +England to repair the wrong he had done his Maria. He asked her to +meet him at Southampton, his port of arrival; which she need be in +no fear of doing, as he had changed his name, and was almost +absolutely unknown in Europe. He would remarry her immediately, and +live with her in any part of the Continent, as they had originally +intended, where, for the great love he still bore her, he would +devote himself to her service for the rest of his days. + +Lady Icenway, self-possessed as it was her nature to be, was yet +much disturbed at this news, and set off to meet him, unattended, as +soon as she heard that the ship was in sight. As soon as they stood +face to face she found that she still possessed all her old +influence over him, though his power to fascinate her had quite +departed. In his sorrow for his offence against her, he had become +a man of strict religious habits, self-denying as a lenten saint, +though formerly he had been a free and joyous liver. Having first +got him to swear to make her any amends she should choose (which he +was imagining must be by a true marriage), she informed him that she +had already wedded another husband, an excellent man of ancient +family and possessions, who had given her a title, in which she much +rejoiced. + +At this the countenance of the poor foreign gentleman became cold as +clay, and his heart withered within him; for as it had been her +beauty and bearing which had led him to sin to obtain her, so, now +that her beauty was in fuller bloom, and her manner more haughty by +her success, did he feel her fascination to be almost more than he +could bear. Nevertheless, having sworn his word, he undertook to +obey her commands, which were simply a renewal of her old request-- +that he would depart for some foreign country, and never reveal his +existence to her friends, or husband, or any person in England; +never trouble her more, seeing how great a harm it would do her in +the high position which she at present occupied. + +He bowed his head. 'And the child--our child?' he said. + +'He is well,' says she. 'Quite well.' + +With this the unhappy gentleman departed, much sadder in his heart +than on his voyage to England; for it had never occurred to him that +a woman who rated her honour so highly as Maria had done, and who +was the mother of a child of his, would have adopted such means as +this for the restoration of that honour, and at so surprisingly +early a date. He had fully calculated on making her his wife in law +and truth, and of living in cheerful unity with her and his +offspring, for whom he felt a deep and growing tenderness, though he +had never once seen the child. + +The lady returned to her mansion beyond Wintoncester, and told +nothing of the interview to her noble husband, who had fortunately +gone that day to do a little cocking and ratting out by Weydon +Priors, and knew nothing of her movements. She had dismissed her +poor Anderling peremptorily enough; yet she would often after this +look in the face of the child of her so-called widowhood, to +discover what and how many traits of his father were to be seen in +his lineaments. For this she had ample opportunity during the +following autumn and winter months, her husband being a matter-of- +fact nobleman, who spent the greater part of his time in field- +sports and agriculture. + +One winter day, when he had started for a meet of the hounds a long +way from the house--it being his custom to hunt three or four times +a week at this season of the year--she had walked into the sunshine +upon the terrace before the windows, where there fell at her feet +some little white object that had come over a boundary wall hard by. +It proved to be a tiny note wrapped round a stone. Lady Icenway +opened it and read it, and immediately (no doubt, with a stern +fixture of her queenly countenance) walked hastily along the +terrace, and through the door into the shrubbery, whence the note +had come. The man who had first married her stood under the bushes +before her. It was plain from his appearance that something had +gone wrong with him. + +'You notice a change in me, my best-beloved,' he said. 'Yes, Maria- +-I have lost all the wealth I once possessed--mainly by reckless +gambling in the Continental hells to which you banished me. But one +thing in the world remains to me--the child--and it is for him that +I have intruded here. Don't fear me, darling! I shall not +inconvenience you long; I love you too well! But I think of the boy +day and night--I cannot help it--I cannot keep my feeling for him +down; and I long to see him, and speak a word to him once in my +lifetime!' + +'But your oath?' says she. 'You promised never to reveal by word or +sign--' + +'I will reveal nothing. Only let me see the child. I know what I +have sworn to you, cruel mistress, and I respect my oath. Otherwise +I might have seen him by some subterfuge. But I preferred the frank +course of asking your permission.' + +She demurred, with the haughty severity which had grown part of her +character, and which her elevation to the rank of a peeress had +rather intensified than diminished. She said that she would +consider, and would give him an answer the day after the next, at +the same hour and place, when her husband would again be absent with +his pack of hounds. + +The gentleman waited patiently. Lady Icenway, who had now no +conscious love left for him, well considered the matter, and felt +that it would be advisable not to push to extremes a man of so +passionate a heart. On the day and hour she met him as she had +promised to do. + +'You shall see him,' she said, 'of course on the strict condition +that you do not reveal yourself, and hence, though you see him, he +must not see you, or your manner might betray you and me. I will +lull him into a nap in the afternoon, and then I will come to you +here, and fetch you indoors by a private way.' + +The unfortunate father, whose misdemeanour had recoiled upon his own +head in a way he could not have foreseen, promised to adhere to her +instructions, and waited in the shrubberies till the moment when she +should call him. This she duly did about three o'clock that day, +leading him in by a garden door, and upstairs to the nursery where +the child lay. He was in his little cot, breathing calmly, his arm +thrown over his head, and his silken curls crushed into the pillow. +His father, now almost to be pitied, bent over him, and a tear from +his eye wetted the coverlet. + +She held up a warning finger as he lowered his mouth to the lips of +the boy. + +'But oh, why not?' implored he. + +'Very well, then,' said she, relenting. 'But as gently as +possible.' + +He kissed the child without waking him, turned, gave him a last +look, and followed her out of the chamber, when she conducted him +off the premises by the way he had come. + +But this remedy for his sadness of heart at being a stranger to his +own son, had the effect of intensifying the malady; for while +originally, not knowing or having ever seen the boy, he had loved +him vaguely and imaginatively only, he now became attached to him in +flesh and bone, as any parent might; and the feeling that he could +at best only see his child at the rarest and most cursory moments, +if at all, drove him into a state of distraction which threatened to +overthrow his promise to the boy's mother to keep out of his sight. + +But such was his chivalrous respect for Lady Icenway, and his regret +at having ever deceived her, that he schooled his poor heart into +submission. Owing to his loneliness, all the fervour of which he +was capable--and that was much--flowed now in the channel of +parental and marital love--for a child who did not know him, and a +woman who had ceased to love him. + +At length this singular punishment became such a torture to the poor +foreigner that he resolved to lessen it at all hazards, compatible +with punctilious care for the name of the lady his former wife, to +whom his attachment seemed to increase in proportion to her punitive +treatment of him. At one time of his life he had taken great +interest in tulip-culture, as well as gardening in general; and +since the ruin of his fortunes, and his arrival in England, he had +made of his knowledge a precarious income in the hot-houses of +nurserymen and others. With the new idea in his head he applied +himself zealously to the business, till he acquired in a few months +great skill in horticulture. Waiting till the noble lord, his +lady's husband, had room for an under-gardener of a general sort, he +offered himself for the place, and was engaged immediately by reason +of his civility and intelligence, before Lady Icenway knew anything +of the matter. Much therefore did he surprise her when she found +him in the conservatories of her mansion a week or two after his +arrival. The punishment of instant dismissal, with which at first +she haughtily threatened him, my lady thought fit, on reflection, +not to enforce. While he served her thus she knew he would not harm +her by a word, while, if he were expelled, chagrin might induce him +to reveal in a moment of exasperation what kind treatment would +assist him to conceal. + +So he was allowed to remain on the premises, and had for his +residence a little cottage by the garden-wall which had been the +domicile of some of his predecessors in the same occupation. Here +he lived absolutely alone, and spent much of his leisure in reading, +but the greater part in watching the windows and lawns of his lady's +house for glimpses of the form of the child. It was for that +child's sake that he abandoned the tenets of the Roman Catholic +Church in which he had been reared, and became the most regular +attendant at the services in the parish place of worship hard by, +where, sitting behind the pew of my lady, my lord, and his stepson, +the gardener could pensively study the traits and movements of the +youngster at only a few feet distance, without suspicion or +hindrance. + +He filled his post for more than two years with a pleasure to +himself which, though mournful, was soothing, his lady never +forgiving him, or allowing him to be anything more than 'the +gardener' to her child, though once or twice the boy said, 'That +gardener's eyes are so sad! Why does he look so sadly at me?' He +sunned himself in her scornfulness as if it were love, and his ears +drank in her curt monosyllables as though they were rhapsodies of +endearment. Strangely enough, the coldness with which she treated +her foreigner began to be the conduct of Lord Icenway towards +herself. It was a matter of great anxiety to him that there should +be a lineal successor to the title, yet no sign of that successor +appeared. One day he complained to her quite roughly of his fate. +'All will go to that dolt of a cousin!' he cried. 'I'd sooner see +my name and place at the bottom of the sea!' + +The lady soothed him and fell into thought, and did not recriminate. +But one day, soon after, she went down to the cottage of the +gardener to inquire how he was getting on, for he had been ailing of +late, though, as was supposed, not seriously. Though she often +visited the poor, she had never entered her under-gardener's home +before, and was much surprised--even grieved and dismayed--to find +that he was too ill to rise from his bed. She went back to her +mansion and returned with some delicate soup, that she might have a +reason for seeing him. + +His condition was so feeble and alarming, and his face so thin, that +it quite shocked her softening heart, and gazing upon him she said, +'You must get well--you must! I have been hard with you--I know it. +I will not be so again.' + +The sick and dying man--for he was dying indeed--took her hand and +pressed it to his lips. 'Too late, my darling, too late!' he +murmured. + +'But you MUST NOT die! Oh, you must not!' she said. And on an +impulse she bent down and whispered some words to him, blushing as +she had blushed in her maiden days. + +He replied by a faint wan smile. 'Time was! . . . but that's past!' +he said, 'I must die!' + +And die he did, a few days later, as the sun was going down behind +the garden-wall. Her harshness seemed to come trebly home to her +then, and she remorsefully exclaimed against herself in secret and +alone. Her one desire now was to erect some tribute to his memory, +without its being recognized as her handiwork. In the completion of +this scheme there arrived a few months later a handsome stained- +glass window for the church; and when it was unpacked and in course +of erection Lord Icenway strolled into the building with his wife. + +'"Erected to his memory by his grieving widow,"' he said, reading +the legend on the glass. 'I didn't know that he had a wife; I've +never seen her.' + +'Oh yes, you must have, Icenway; only you forget,' replied his lady +blandly. 'But she didn't live with him, and was seldom seen +visiting him, because there were differences between them; which, as +is usually the case, makes her all the more sorry now.' + +'And go ruining herself by this expensive ruby-and-azure glass- +design.' + +'She is not poor, they say.' + +As Lord Icenway grew older he became crustier and crustier, and +whenever he set eyes on his wife's boy by her other husband he would +burst out morosely, saying, + +''Tis a very odd thing, my lady, that you could oblige your first +husband, and couldn't oblige me.' + +'Ah! if I had only thought of it sooner!' she murmured. + +'What?' said he. + +'Nothing, dearest,' replied Lady Icenway. + + +The Colonel was the first to comment upon the Churchwarden's tale, +by saying that the fate of the poor fellow was rather a hard one. + +The gentleman-tradesman could not see that his fate was at all too +hard for him. He was legally nothing to her, and he had served her +shamefully. If he had been really her husband it would have stood +differently. + +The Bookworm remarked that Lord Icenway seemed to have been a very +unsuspicious man, with which view a fat member with a crimson face +agreed. It was true his wife was a very close-mouthed personage, +which made a difference. If she had spoken out recklessly her lord +might have been suspicious enough, as in the case of that lady who +lived at Stapleford Park in their great-grandfathers' time. Though +there, to be sure, considerations arose which made her husband view +matters with much philosophy. + +A few of the members doubted the possibility of this. + +The crimson man, who was a retired maltster of comfortable means, +ventru, and short in stature, cleared his throat, blew off his +superfluous breath, and proceeded to give the instance before +alluded to of such possibility, first apologizing for his heroine's +lack of a title, it never having been his good fortune to know many +of the nobility. To his style of narrative the following is only an +approximation. + + + +DAME THE SIXTH: SQUIRE PETRICK'S LADY +By the Crimson Maltster + + + +Folk who are at all acquainted with the traditions of Stapleford +Park will not need to be told that in the middle of the last century +it was owned by that trump of mortgagees, Timothy Petrick, whose +skill in gaining possession of fair estates by granting sums of +money on their title-deeds has seldom if ever been equalled in our +part of England. Timothy was a lawyer by profession, and agent to +several noblemen, by which means his special line of business became +opened to him by a sort of revelation. It is said that a relative +of his, a very deep thinker, who afterwards had the misfortune to be +transported for life for mistaken notions on the signing of a will, +taught him considerable legal lore, which he creditably resolved +never to throw away for the benefit of other people, but to reserve +it entirely for his own. + +However, I have nothing in particular to say about his early and +active days, but rather of the time when, an old man, he had become +the owner of vast estates by the means I have signified--among them +the great manor of Stapleford, on which he lived, in the splendid +old mansion now pulled down; likewise estates at Marlott, estates +near Sherton Abbas, nearly all the borough of Millpool, and many +properties near Ivell. Indeed, I can't call to mind half his landed +possessions, and I don't know that it matters much at this time of +day, seeing that he's been dead and gone many years. It is said +that when he bought an estate he would not decide to pay the price +till he had walked over every single acre with his own two feet, and +prodded the soil at every point with his own spud, to test its +quality, which, if we regard the extent of his properties, must have +been a stiff business for him. + +At the time I am speaking of he was a man over eighty, and his son +was dead; but he had two grandsons, the eldest of whom, his +namesake, was married, and was shortly expecting issue. Just then +the grandfather was taken ill, for death, as it seemed, considering +his age. By his will the old man had created an entail (as I +believe the lawyers call it), devising the whole of the estates to +his elder grandson and his issue male, failing which, to his younger +grandson and his issue male, failing which, to remoter relatives, +who need not be mentioned now. + +While old Timothy Petrick was lying ill, his elder grandson's wife, +Annetta, gave birth to her expected child, who, as fortune would +have it, was a son. Timothy, her husband, through sprung of a +scheming family, was no great schemer himself; he was the single one +of the Petricks then living whose heart had ever been greatly moved +by sentiments which did not run in the groove of ambition; and on +this account he had not married well, as the saying is; his wife +having been the daughter of a family of no better beginnings than +his own; that is to say, her father was a country townsman of the +professional class. But she was a very pretty woman, by all +accounts, and her husband had seen, courted, and married her in a +high tide of infatuation, after a very short acquaintance, and with +very little knowledge of her heart's history. He had never found +reason to regret his choice as yet, and his anxiety for her recovery +was great. + +She was supposed to be out of danger, and herself and the child +progressing well, when there was a change for the worse, and she +sank so rapidly that she was soon given over. When she felt that +she was about to leave him, Annetta sent for her husband, and, on +his speedy entry and assurance that they were alone, she made him +solemnly vow to give the child every care in any circumstances that +might arise, if it should please Heaven to take her. This, of +course, he readily promised. Then, after some hesitation, she told +him that she could not die with a falsehood upon her soul, and dire +deceit in her life; she must make a terrible confession to him +before her lips were sealed for ever. She thereupon related an +incident concerning the baby's parentage, which was not as he +supposed. + +Timothy Petrick, though a quick-feeling man, was not of a sort to +show nerves outwardly; and he bore himself as heroically as he +possibly could do in this trying moment of his life. That same +night his wife died; and while she lay dead, and before her funeral, +he hastened to the bedside of his sick grandfather, and revealed to +him all that had happened: the baby's birth, his wife's confession, +and her death, beseeching the aged man, as he loved him, to bestir +himself now, at the eleventh hour, and alter his will so as to dish +the intruder. Old Timothy, seeing matters in the same light as his +grandson, required no urging against allowing anything to stand in +the way of legitimate inheritance; he executed another will, +limiting the entail to Timothy his grandson, for life, and his male +heirs thereafter to be born; after them to his other grandson +Edward, and Edward's heirs. Thus the newly-born infant, who had +been the centre of so many hopes, was cut off and scorned as none of +the elect. + +The old mortgagee lived but a short time after this, the excitement +of the discovery having told upon him considerably, and he was +gathered to his fathers like the most charitable man in his +neighbourhood. Both wife and grandparent being buried, Timothy +settled down to his usual life as well as he was able, mentally +satisfied that he had by prompt action defeated the consequences of +such dire domestic treachery as had been shown towards him, and +resolving to marry a second time as soon as he could satisfy himself +in the choice of a wife. + +But men do not always know themselves. The embittered state of +Timothy Petrick's mind bred in him by degrees such a hatred and +mistrust of womankind that, though several specimens of high +attractiveness came under his eyes, he could not bring himself to +the point of proposing marriage. He dreaded to take up the position +of husband a second time, discerning a trap in every petticoat, and +a Slough of Despond in possible heirs. 'What has happened once, +when all seemed so fair, may happen again,' he said to himself. +'I'll risk my name no more.' So he abstained from marriage, and +overcame his wish for a lineal descendant to follow him in the +ownership of Stapleford. + +Timothy had scarcely noticed the unfortunate child that his wife had +borne, after arranging for a meagre fulfilment of his promise to her +to take care of the boy, by having him brought up in his house. +Occasionally, remembering this promise, he went and glanced at the +child, saw that he was doing well, gave a few special directions, +and again went his solitary way. Thus he and the child lived on in +the Stapleford mansion-house till two or three years had passed by. +One day he was walking in the garden, and by some accident left his +snuff-box on a bench. When he came back to find it he saw the +little boy standing there; he had escaped his nurse, and was making +a plaything of the box, in spite of the convulsive sneezings which +the game brought in its train. Then the man with the encrusted +heart became interested in the little fellow's persistence in his +play under such discomforts; he looked in the child's face, saw +there his wife's countenance, though he did not see his own, and +fell into thought on the piteousness of childhood--particularly of +despised and rejected childhood, like this before him. + +From that hour, try as he would to counteract the feeling, the human +necessity to love something or other got the better of what he had +called his wisdom, and shaped itself in a tender anxiety for the +youngster Rupert. This name had been given him by his dying mother +when, at her request, the child was baptized in her chamber, lest he +should not survive for public baptism; and her husband had never +thought of it as a name of any significance till, about this time, +he learnt by accident that it was the name of the young Marquis of +Christminster, son of the Duke of Southwesterland, for whom Annetta +had cherished warm feelings before her marriage. Recollecting some +wandering phrases in his wife's last words, which he had not +understood at the time, he perceived at last that this was the +person to whom she had alluded when affording him a clue to little +Rupert's history. + +He would sit in silence for hours with the child, being no great +speaker at the best of times; but the boy, on his part, was too +ready with his tongue for any break in discourse to arise because +Timothy Petrick had nothing to say. After idling away his mornings +in this manner, Petrick would go to his own room and swear in long +loud whispers, and walk up and down, calling himself the most +ridiculous dolt that ever lived, and declaring that he would never +go near the little fellow again; to which resolve he would adhere +for the space perhaps of a day. Such cases are happily not new to +human nature, but there never was a case in which a man more +completely befocled his former self than in this. + +As the child grew up, Timothy's attachment to him grew deeper, till +Rupert became almost the sole object for which he lived. There had +been enough of the family ambition latent in him for Timothy Petrick +to feel a little envy when, some time before this date, his brother +Edward had been accepted by the Honourable Harriet Mountclere, +daughter of the second Viscount of that name and title; but having +discovered, as I have before stated, the paternity of his boy Rupert +to lurk in even a higher stratum of society, those envious feelings +speedily dispersed. Indeed, the more he reflected thereon, after +his brother's aristocratic marriage, the more content did he become. +His late wife took softer outline in his memory, as he thought of +the lofty taste she had displayed, though only a plain burgher's +daughter, and the justification for his weakness in loving the +child--the justification that he had longed for--was afforded now in +the knowledge that the boy was by nature, if not by name, a +representative of one of the noblest houses in England. + +'She was a woman of grand instincts, after all,' he said to himself +proudly. 'To fix her choice upon the immediate successor in that +ducal line--it was finely conceived! Had he been of low blood like +myself or my relations she would scarce have deserved the harsh +measure that I have dealt out to her and her offspring. How much +less, then, when such grovelling tastes were farthest from her soul! +The man Annetta loved was noble, and my boy is noble in spite of +me.' + +The afterclap was inevitable, and it soon came. 'So far,' he +reasoned, 'from cutting off this child from inheritance of my +estates, as I have done, I should have rejoiced in the possession of +him! He is of pure stock on one side at least, whilst in the +ordinary run of affairs he would have been a commoner to the bone.' + +Being a man, whatever his faults, of good old beliefs in the +divinity of kings and those about 'em, the more he overhauled the +case in this light, the more strongly did his poor wife's conduct in +improving the blood and breed of the Petrick family win his heart. +He considered what ugly, idle, hard-drinking scamps many of his own +relations had been; the miserable scriveners, usurers, and +pawnbrokers that he had numbered among his forefathers, and the +probability that some of their bad qualities would have come out in +a merely corporeal child, to give him sorrow in his old age, turn +his black hairs gray, his gray hairs white, cut down every stick of +timber, and Heaven knows what all, had he not, like a skilful +gardener, minded his grafting and changed the sort; till at length +this right-minded man fell down on his knees every night and morning +and thanked God that he was not as other meanly descended fathers in +such matters. + +It was in the peculiar disposition of the Petrick family that the +satisfaction which ultimately settled in Timothy's breast found +nourishment. The Petricks had adored the nobility, and plucked them +at the same time. That excellent man Izaak Walton's feelings about +fish were much akin to those of old Timothy Petrick, and of his +descendants in a lesser degree, concerning the landed aristocracy. +To torture and to love simultaneously is a proceeding strange to +reason, but possible to practice, as these instances show. + +Hence, when Timothy's brother Edward said slightingly one day that +Timothy's son was well enough, but that he had nothing but shops and +offices in his backward perspective, while his own children, should +he have any, would be far different, in possessing such a mother as +the Honourable Harriet, Timothy felt a bound of triumph within him +at the power he possessed of contradicting that statement if he +chose. + +So much was he interested in his boy in this new aspect that he now +began to read up chronicles of the illustrious house ennobled as the +Dukes of Southwesterland, from their very beginning in the glories +of the Restoration of the blessed Charles till the year of his own +time. He mentally noted their gifts from royalty, grants of lands, +purchases, intermarriages, plantings and buildings; more +particularly their political and military achievements, which had +been great, and their performances in art and letters, which had +been by no means contemptible. He studied prints of the portraits +of that family, and then, like a chemist watching a crystallization, +began to examine young Rupert's face for the unfolding of those +historic curves and shades that the painters Vandyke and Lely had +perpetuated on canvas. + +When the boy reached the most fascinating age of childhood, and his +shouts of laughter ran through Stapleford House from end to end, the +remorse that oppressed Timothy Petrick knew no bounds. Of all +people in the world this Rupert was the one on whom he could have +wished the estates to devolve; yet Rupert, by Timothy's own +desperate strategy at the time of his birth, had been ousted from +all inheritance of them; and, since he did not mean to remarry, the +manors would pass to his brother and his brother's children, who +would be nothing to him, whose boasted pedigree on one side would be +nothing to his Rupert's. + +Had he only left the first will of his grandfather alone! + +His mind ran on the wills continually, both of which were in +existence, and the first, the cancelled one, in his own possession. +Night after night, when the servants were all abed, and the click of +safety locks sounded as loud as a crash, he looked at that first +will, and wished it had been the second and not the first. + +The crisis came at last. One night, after having enjoyed the boy's +company for hours, he could no longer bear that his beloved Rupert +should be dispossessed, and he committed the felonious deed of +altering the date of the earlier will to a fortnight later, which +made its execution appear subsequent to the date of the second will +already proved. He then boldly propounded the first will as the +second. + +His brother Edward submitted to what appeared to be not only +incontestible fact, but a far more likely disposition of old +Timothy's property; for, like many others, he had been much +surprised at the limitations defined in the other will, having no +clue to their cause. He joined his brother Timothy in setting aside +the hitherto accepted document, and matters went on in their usual +course, there being no dispositions in the substituted will +differing from those in the other, except such as related to a +future which had not yet arrived. + +The years moved on. Rupert had not yet revealed the anxiously +expected historic lineaments which should foreshadow the political +abilities of the ducal family aforesaid when it happened on a +certain day that Timothy Petrick made the acquaintance of a well- +known physician of Budmouth, who had been the medical adviser and +friend of the late Mrs. Petrick's family for many years; though +after Annetta's marriage, and consequent removal to Stapleford, he +had seen no more of her, the neighbouring practitioner who attended +the Petricks having then become her doctor as a matter of course. +Timothy was impressed by the insight and knowledge disclosed in the +conversation of the Budmouth physician, and the acquaintance +ripening to intimacy, the physician alluded to a form of +hallucination to which Annetta's mother and grandmother had been +subject--that of believing in certain dreams as realities. He +delicately inquired if Timothy had ever noticed anything of the sort +in his wife during her lifetime; he, the physician, had fancied that +he discerned germs of the same peculiarity in Annetta when he +attended her in her girlhood. One explanation begat another, till +the dumbfoundered Timothy Petrick was persuaded in his own mind that +Annetta's confession to him had been based on a delusion. + +'You look down in the mouth?' said the doctor, pausing. + +'A bit unmanned. 'Tis unexpected-like,' sighed Timothy. + +But he could hardly believe it possible; and, thinking it best to be +frank with the doctor, told him the whole story which, till now, he +had never related to living man, save his dying grandfather. To his +surprise, the physician informed him that such a form of delusion +was precisely what he would have expected from Annetta's antecedents +at such a physical crisis in her life. + +Petrick prosecuted his inquiries elsewhere; and the upshot of his +labours was, briefly, that a comparison of dates and places showed +irrefutably that his poor wife's assertion could not possibly have +foundation in fact. The young Marquis of her tender passion--a +highly moral and bright-minded nobleman--had gone abroad the year +before Annetta's marriage, and had not returned till after her +death. The young girl's love for him had been a delicate ideal +dream--no more. + +Timothy went home, and the boy ran out to meet him; whereupon a +strangely dismal feeling of discontent took possession of his soul. +After all, then, there was nothing but plebeian blood in the veins +of the heir to his name and estates; he was not to be succeeded by a +noble-natured line. To be sure, Rupert was his son; but that glory +and halo he believed him to have inherited from the ages, outshining +that of his brother's children, had departed from Rupert's brow for +ever; he could no longer read history in the boy's face, and +centuries of domination in his eyes. + +His manner towards his son grew colder and colder from that day +forward; and it was with bitterness of heart that he discerned the +characteristic features of the Petricks unfolding themselves by +degrees. Instead of the elegant knife-edged nose, so typical of the +Dukes of Southwesterland, there began to appear on his face the +broad nostril and hollow bridge of his grandfather Timothy. No +illustrious line of politicians was promised a continuator in that +graying blue eye, for it was acquiring the expression of the orb of +a particularly objectionable cousin of his own; and, instead of the +mouth-curves which had thrilled Parliamentary audiences in speeches +now bound in calf in every well-ordered library, there was the bull- +lip of that very uncle of his who had had the misfortune with the +signature of a gentleman's will, and had been transported for life +in consequence. + +To think how he himself, too, had sinned in this same matter of a +will for this mere fleshly reproduction of a wretched old uncle +whose very name he wished to forget! The boy's Christian name, +even, was an imposture and an irony, for it implied hereditary force +and brilliancy to which he plainly would never attain. The +consolation of real sonship was always left him certainly; but he +could not help groaning to himself, 'Why cannot a son be one's own +and somebody else's likewise!' + +The Marquis was shortly afterwards in the neighbourhood of +Stapleford, and Timothy Petrick met him, and eyed his noble +countenance admiringly. The next day, when Petrick was in his +study, somebody knocked at the door. + +'Who's there?' + +'Rupert.' + +'I'll Rupert thee, you young impostor! Say, only a poor commonplace +Petrick!' his father grunted. 'Why didn't you have a voice like the +Marquis's I saw yesterday?' he continued, as the lad came in. 'Why +haven't you his looks, and a way of commanding, as if you'd done it +for centuries--hey?' + +'Why? How can you expect it, father, when I'm not related to him?' + +'Ugh! Then you ought to be!' growled his father. + + +As the narrator paused, the surgeon, the Colonel, the historian, the +Spark, and others exclaimed that such subtle and instructive +psychological studies as this (now that psychology was so much in +demand) were precisely the tales they desired, as members of a +scientific club, and begged the master-maltster to tell another +curious mental delusion. + +The maltster shook his head, and feared he was not genteel enough to +tell another story with a sufficiently moral tone in it to suit the +club; he would prefer to leave the next to a better man. + +The Colonel had fallen into reflection. True it was, he observed, +that the more dreamy and impulsive nature of woman engendered within +her erratic fancies, which often started her on strange tracks, only +to abandon them in sharp revulsion at the dictates of her common +sense--sometimes with ludicrous effect. Events which had caused a +lady's action to set in a particular direction might continue to +enforce the same line of conduct, while she, like a mangle, would +start on a sudden in a contrary course, and end where she began. + +The Vice-President laughed, and applauded the Colonel, adding that +there surely lurked a story somewhere behind that sentiment, if he +were not much mistaken. + +The Colonel fixed his face to a good narrative pose, and went on +without further preamble. + + + +DAME THE SEVENTH: ANNA, LADY BAXBY +By the Colonel + + + +It was in the time of the great Civil War--if I should not rather, +as a loyal subject, call it, with Clarendon, the Great Rebellion. +It was, I say, at that unhappy period of our history, that towards +the autumn of a particular year, the Parliament forces sat down +before Sherton Castle with over seven thousand foot and four pieces +of cannon. The Castle, as we all know, was in that century owned +and occupied by one of the Earls of Severn, and garrisoned for his +assistance by a certain noble Marquis who commanded the King's +troops in these parts. The said Earl, as well as the young Lord +Baxby, his eldest son, were away from home just now, raising forces +for the King elsewhere. But there were present in the Castle, when +the besiegers arrived before it, the son's fair wife Lady Baxby, and +her servants, together with some friends and near relatives of her +husband; and the defence was so good and well-considered that they +anticipated no great danger. + +The Parliamentary forces were also commanded by a noble lord--for +the nobility were by no means, at this stage of the war, all on the +King's side--and it had been observed during his approach in the +night-time, and in the morning when the reconnoitring took place, +that he appeared sad and much depressed. The truth was that, by a +strange freak of destiny, it had come to pass that the stronghold he +was set to reduce was the home of his own sister, whom he had +tenderly loved during her maidenhood, and whom he loved now, in +spite of the estrangement which had resulted from hostilities with +her husband's family. He believed, too, that, notwithstanding this +cruel division, she still was sincerely attached to him. + +His hesitation to point his ordnance at the walls was inexplicable +to those who were strangers to his family history. He remained in +the field on the north side of the Castle (called by his name to +this day because of his encampment there) till it occurred to him to +send a messenger to his sister Anna with a letter, in which he +earnestly requested her, as she valued her life, to steal out of the +place by the little gate to the south, and make away in that +direction to the residence of some friends. + +Shortly after he saw, to his great surprise, coming from the front +of the Castle walls a lady on horseback, with a single attendant. +She rode straight forward into the field, and up the slope to where +his army and tents were spread. It was not till she got quite near +that he discerned her to be his sister Anna; and much was he alarmed +that she should have run such risk as to sally out in the face of +his forces without knowledge of their proceedings, when at any +moment their first discharge might have burst forth, to her own +destruction in such exposure. She dismounted before she was quite +close to him, and he saw that her familiar face, though pale, was +not at all tearful, as it would have been in their younger days. +Indeed, if the particulars as handed down are to be believed, he was +in a more tearful state than she, in his anxiety about her. He +called her into his tent, out of the gaze of those around; for +though many of the soldiers were honest and serious-minded men, he +could not bear that she who had been his dear companion in childhood +should be exposed to curious observation in this her great grief. + +When they were alone in the tent he clasped her in his arms, for he +had not seen her since those happier days when, at the commencement +of the war, her husband and himself had been of the same mind about +the arbitrary conduct of the King, and had little dreamt that they +would not go to extremes together. She was the calmest of the two, +it is said, and was the first to speak connectedly. + +'William, I have come to you,' said she, 'but not to save myself as +you suppose. Why, oh, why do you persist in supporting this +disloyal cause, and grieving us so?' + +'Say not that,' he replied hastily. 'If truth hides at the bottom +of a well, why should you suppose justice to be in high places? I +am for the right at any price. Anna, leave the Castle; you are my +sister; come away, my dear, and save thy life!' + +'Never!' says she. 'Do you plan to carry out this attack, and level +the Castle indeed?' + +'Most certainly I do,' says he. 'What meaneth this army around us +if not so?' + +'Then you will find the bones of your sister buried in the ruins you +cause!' said she. And without another word she turned and left him. + +'Anna--abide with me!' he entreated. 'Blood is thicker than water, +and what is there in common between you and your husband now?' + +But she shook her head and would not hear him and hastening out, +mounted her horse, and returned towards the Castle as she had come. +Ay, many's the time when I have been riding to hounds across that +field that I have thought of that scene! + +When she had quite gone down the field, and over the intervening +ground, and round the bastion, so that he could no longer even see +the tip of her mare's white tail, he was much more deeply moved by +emotions concerning her and her welfare than he had been while she +was before him. He wildly reproached himself that he had not +detained her by force for her own good, so that, come what might, +she would be under his protection and not under that of her husband, +whose impulsive nature rendered him too open to instantaneous +impressions and sudden changes of plan; he was now acting in this +cause and now in that, and lacked the cool judgment necessary for +the protection of a woman in these troubled times. Her brother +thought of her words again and again, and sighed, and even +considered if a sister were not of more value than a principle, and +if he would not have acted more naturally in throwing in his lot +with hers. + +The delay of the besiegers in attacking the Castle was said to be +entirely owing to this distraction on the part of their leader, who +remained on the spot attempting some indecisive operations, and +parleying with the Marquis, then in command, with far inferior +forces, within the Castle. It never occurred to him that in the +meantime the young Lady Baxby, his sister, was in much the same mood +as himself. Her brother's familiar voice and eyes, much worn and +fatigued by keeping the field, and by family distractions on account +of this unhappy feud, rose upon her vision all the afternoon, and as +day waned she grew more and more Parliamentarian in her principles, +though the only arguments which had addressed themselves to her were +those of family ties. + +Her husband, General Lord Baxby, had been expected to return all the +day from his excursion into the east of the county, a message having +been sent to him informing him of what had happened at home; and in +the evening he arrived with reinforcements in unexpected numbers. +Her brother retreated before these to a hill near Ivell, four or +five miles off, to afford the men and himself some repose. Lord +Baxby duly placed his forces, and there was no longer any immediate +danger. By this time Lady Baxby's feelings were more +Parliamentarian than ever, and in her fancy the fagged countenance +of her brother, beaten back by her husband, seemed to reproach her +for heartlessness. When her husband entered her apartment, ruddy +and boisterous, and full of hope, she received him but sadly; and +upon his casually uttering some slighting words about her brother's +withdrawal, which seemed to convey an imputation upon his courage, +she resented them, and retorted that he, Lord Baxby himself, had +been against the Court-party at first, where it would be much more +to his credit if he were at present, and showing her brother's +consistency of opinion, instead of supporting the lying policy of +the King (as she called it) for the sake of a barren principle of +loyalty, which was but an empty expression when a King was not at +one with his people. The dissension grew bitter between them, +reaching to little less than a hot quarrel, both being quick- +tempered souls. + +Lord Baxby was weary with his long day's march and other +excitements, and soon retired to bed. His lady followed some time +after. Her husband slept profoundly, but not so she; she sat +brooding by the window-slit, and lifting the curtain looked forth +upon the hills without. + +In the silence between the footfalls of the sentinels she could hear +faint sounds of her brother's camp on the distant hills, where the +soldiery had hardly settled as yet into their bivouac since their +evening's retreat. The first frosts of autumn had touched the +grass, and shrivelled the more delicate leaves of the creepers; and +she thought of William sleeping on the chilly ground, under the +strain of these hardships. Tears flooded her eyes as she returned +to her husband's imputations upon his courage, as if there could be +any doubt of Lord William's courage after what he had done in the +past days. + +Lord Baxby's long and reposeful breathings in his comfortable bed +vexed her now, and she came to a determination on an impulse. +Hastily lighting a taper, she wrote on a scrap of paper: + +'Blood is thicker than water, dear William--I will come;' and with +this in her hand, she went to the door of the room, and out upon the +stairs; on second thoughts turning back for a moment, to put on her +husband's hat and cloak--not the one he was daily wearing--that if +seen in the twilight she might at a casual glance appear as some lad +or hanger-on of one of the household women; thus accoutred she +descended a flight of circular stairs, at the bottom of which was a +door opening upon the terrace towards the west, in the direction of +her brother's position. Her object was to slip out without the +sentry seeing her, get to the stables, arouse one of the varlets, +and send him ahead of her along the highway with the note to warn +her brother of her approach, to throw in her lot with his. + +She was still in the shadow of the wall on the west terrace, waiting +for the sentinel to be quite out of the way, when her ears were +greeted by a voice, saying, from the adjoining shade - + +'Here I be!' + +The tones were the tones of a woman. Lady Baxby made no reply, and +stood close to the wall. + +'My Lord Baxby,' the voice continued; and she could recognize in it +the local accent of some girl from the little town of Sherton, close +at hand. 'I be tired of waiting, my dear Lord Baxby! I was afeard +you would never come!' + +Lady Baxby flushed hot to her toes. + +'How the wench loves him!' she said to herself, reasoning from the +tones of the voice, which were plaintive and sweet and tender as a +bird's. She changed from the home-hating truant to the strategic +wife in one moment. + +'Hist!' she said. + +'My lord, you told me ten o'clock, and 'tis near twelve now,' +continues the other. 'How could ye keep me waiting so if you love +me as you said? I should have stuck to my lover in the Parliament +troops if it had not been for thee, my dear lord!' + +There was not the least doubt that Lady Baxby had been mistaken for +her husband by this intriguing damsel. Here was a pretty underhand +business! Here were sly manoeuvrings! Here was faithlessness! +Here was a precious assignation surprised in the midst! Her wicked +husband, whom till this very moment she had ever deemed the soul of +good faith--how could he! + +Lady Baxby precipitately retreated to the door in the turret, closed +it, locked it, and ascended one round of the staircase, where there +was a loophole. 'I am not coming! I, Lord Baxby, despise ye and +all your wanton tribe!' she hissed through the opening; and then +crept upstairs, as firmly rooted in Royalist principles as any man +in the Castle. + +Her husband still slept the sleep of the weary, well-fed, and well- +drunken, if not of the just; and Lady Baxby quickly disrobed herself +without assistance--being, indeed, supposed by her woman to have +retired to rest long ago. Before lying down, she noiselessly locked +the door and placed the key under her pillow. More than that, she +got a staylace, and, creeping up to her lord, in great stealth tied +the lace in a tight knot to one of his long locks of hair, attaching +the other end of the lace to the bedpost; for, being tired herself +now, she feared she might sleep heavily; and, if her husband should +wake, this would be a delicate hint that she had discovered all. + +It is added that, to make assurance trebly sure, her gentle +ladyship, when she had lain down to rest, held her lord's hand in +her own during the whole of the night. But this is old-wives' +gossip, and not corroborated. What Lord Baxby thought and said when +he awoke the next morning, and found himself so strangely tethered, +is likewise only matter of conjecture; though there is no reason to +suppose that his rage was great. The extent of his culpability as +regards the intrigue was this much; that, while halting at a cross- +road near Sherton that day, he had flirted with a pretty young +woman, who seemed nothing loth, and had invited her to the Castle +terrace after dark--an invitation which he quite forgot on his +arrival home. + +The subsequent relations of Lord and Lady Baxby were not again +greatly embittered by quarrels, so far as is known; though the +husband's conduct in later life was occasionally eccentric, and the +vicissitudes of his public career culminated in long exile. The +siege of the Castle was not regularly undertaken till two or three +years later than the time I have been describing, when Lady Baxby +and all the women therein, except the wife of the then Governor, had +been removed to safe distance. That memorable siege of fifteen days +by Fairfax, and the surrender of the old place on an August evening, +is matter of history, and need not be told by me. + + +The Man of Family spoke approvingly across to the Colonel when the +Club had done smiling, declaring that the story was an absolutely +faithful page of history, as he had good reason to know, his own +people having been engaged in that well-known scrimmage. He asked +if the Colonel had ever heard the equally well-authenticated, though +less martial tale of a certain Lady Penelope, who lived in the same +century, and not a score of miles from the same place? + +The Colonel had not heard it, nor had anybody except the local +historian; and the inquirer was induced to proceed forthwith. + + + +DAME THE EIGHTH: THE LADY PENELOPE +By the man of Family + + + +In going out of Casterbridge by the low-lying road which eventually +conducts to the town of Ivell, you see on the right hand an ivied +manor-house, flanked by battlemented towers, and more than usually +distinguished by the size of its many mullioned windows. Though +still of good capacity, the building is much reduced from its +original grand proportions; it has, moreover, been shorn of the fair +estate which once appertained to its lord, with the exception of a +few acres of park-land immediately around the mansion. This was +formerly the seat of the ancient and knightly family of the +Drenghards, or Drenkhards, now extinct in the male line, whose name, +according to the local chronicles, was interpreted to mean Strenuus +Miles, vel Potator, though certain members of the family were averse +to the latter signification, and a duel was fought by one of them on +that account, as is well known. With this, however, we are not now +concerned. + +In the early part of the reign of the first King James, there was +visiting near this place of the Drenghards a lady of noble family +and extraordinary beauty. She was of the purest descent; ah, +there's seldom such blood nowadays as hers! She possessed no great +wealth, it was said, but was sufficiently endowed. Her beauty was +so perfect, and her manner so entrancing, that suitors seemed to +spring out of the ground wherever she went, a sufficient cause of +anxiety to the Countess her mother, her only living parent. Of +these there were three in particular, whom neither her mother's +complaints of prematurity, nor the ready raillery of the maiden +herself, could effectually put off. The said gallants were a +certain Sir John Gale, a Sir William Hervy, and the well-known Sir +George Drenghard, one of the Drenghard family before-mentioned. +They had, curiously enough, all been equally honoured with the +distinction of knighthood, and their schemes for seeing her were +manifold, each fearing that one of the others would steal a march +over himself. Not content with calling, on every imaginable excuse, +at the house of the relative with whom she sojourned, they +intercepted her in rides and in walks; and if any one of them +chanced to surprise another in the act of paying her marked +attentions, the encounter often ended in an altercation of great +violence. So heated and impassioned, indeed, would they become, +that the lady hardly felt herself safe in their company at such +times, notwithstanding that she was a brave and buxom damsel, not +easily put out, and with a daring spirit of humour in her +composition, if not of coquetry. + +At one of these altercations, which had place in her relative's +grounds, and was unusually bitter, threatening to result in a duel, +she found it necessary to assert herself. Turning haughtily upon +the pair of disputants, she declared that whichever should be the +first to break the peace between them, no matter what the +provocation, that man should never be admitted to her presence +again; and thus would she effectually stultify the aggressor by +making the promotion of a quarrel a distinct bar to its object. + +While the two knights were wearing rather a crest-fallen appearance +at her reprimand, the third, never far off, came upon the scene, and +she repeated her caveat to him also. Seeing, then, how great was +the concern of all at her peremptory mood, the lady's manner +softened, and she said with a roguish smile - + +'Have patience, have patience, you foolish men! Only bide your time +quietly, and, in faith, I will marry you all in turn!' + +They laughed heartily at this sally, all three together, as though +they were the best of friends; at which she blushed, and showed some +embarrassment, not having realized that her arch jest would have +sounded so strange when uttered. The meeting which resulted thus, +however, had its good effect in checking the bitterness of their +rivalry; and they repeated her speech to their relatives and +acquaintance with a hilarious frequency and publicity that the lady +little divined, or she might have blushed and felt more +embarrassment still. + +In the course of time the position resolved itself, and the +beauteous Lady Penelope (as she was called) made up her mind; her +choice being the eldest of the three knights, Sir George Drenghard, +owner of the mansion aforesaid, which thereupon became her home; and +her husband being a pleasant man, and his family, though not so +noble, of as good repute as her own, all things seemed to show that +she had reckoned wisely in honouring him with her preference. + +But what may lie behind the still and silent veil of the future none +can foretell. In the course of a few months the husband of her +choice died of his convivialities (as if, indeed, to bear out his +name), and the Lady Penelope was left alone as mistress of his +house. By this time she had apparently quite forgotten her careless +declaration to her lovers collectively; but the lovers themselves +had not forgotten it; and, as she would now be free to take a second +one of them, Sir John Gale appeared at her door as early in her +widowhood as it was proper and seemly to do so. + +She gave him little encouragement; for, of the two remaining, her +best beloved was Sir William, of whom, if the truth must be told, +she had often thought during her short married life. But he had not +yet reappeared. Her heart began to be so much with him now that she +contrived to convey to him, by indirect hints through his friends, +that she would not be displeased by a renewal of his former +attentions. Sir William, however, misapprehended her gentle +signalling, and from excellent, though mistaken motives of delicacy, +delayed to intrude himself upon her for a long time. Meanwhile Sir +John, now created a baronet, was unremitting, and she began to grow +somewhat piqued at the backwardness of him she secretly desired to +be forward. + +'Never mind,' her friends said jestingly to her (knowing of her +humorous remark, as everybody did, that she would marry them all +three if they would have patience)--'never mind; why hesitate upon +the order of them? Take 'em as they come.' + +This vexed her still more, and regretting deeply, as she had often +done, that such a careless speech should ever have passed her lips, +she fairly broke down under Sir John's importunity, and accepted his +hand. They were married on a fine spring morning, about the very +time at which the unfortunate Sir William discovered her preference +for him, and was beginning to hasten home from a foreign court to +declare his unaltered devotion to her. On his arrival in England he +learnt the sad truth. + +If Sir William suffered at her precipitancy under what she had +deemed his neglect, the Lady Penelope herself suffered more. She +had not long been the wife of Sir John Gale before he showed a +disposition to retaliate upon her for the trouble and delay she had +put him to in winning her. With increasing frequency he would tell +her that, as far as he could perceive, she was an article not worth +such labour as he had bestowed in obtaining it, and such snubbings +as he had taken from his rivals on the same account. These and +other cruel things he repeated till he made the lady weep sorely, +and wellnigh broke her spirit, though she had formerly been such a +mettlesome dame. By degrees it became perceptible to all her +friends that her life was a very unhappy one; and the fate of the +fair woman seemed yet the harder in that it was her own stately +mansion, left to her sole use by her first husband, which her second +had entered into and was enjoying, his being but a mean and meagre +erection. + +But such is the flippancy of friends that when she met them, and +secretly confided her grief to their ears, they would say cheerily, +'Lord, never mind, my dear; there's a third to come yet!'--at which +maladroit remark she would show much indignation, and tell them they +should know better than to trifle on so solemn a theme. Yet that +the poor lady would have been only too happy to be the wife of the +third, instead of Sir John whom she had taken, was painfully +obvious, and much she was blamed for her foolish choice by some +people. Sir William, however, had returned to foreign cities on +learning the news of her marriage, and had never been heard of +since. + +Two or three years of suffering were passed by Lady Penelope as the +despised and chidden wife of this man Sir John, amid regrets that +she had so greatly mistaken him, and sighs for one whom she thought +never to see again, till it chanced that her husband fell sick of +some slight ailment. One day after this, when she was sitting in +his room, looking from the window upon the expanse in front, she +beheld, approaching the house on foot, a form she seemed to know +well. Lady Penelope withdrew silently from the sickroom, and +descended to the hall, whence, through the doorway, she saw entering +between the two round towers, which at that time flanked the +gateway, Sir William Hervy, as she had surmised, but looking thin +and travel-worn. She advanced into the courtyard to meet him. + +'I was passing through Casterbridge,' he said, with faltering +deference, 'and I walked out to ask after your ladyship's health. I +felt that I could do no less; and, of course, to pay my respects to +your good husband, my heretofore acquaintance . . . But oh, +Penelope, th'st look sick and sorry!' + +'I am heartsick, that's all,' said she. + +They could see in each other an emotion which neither wished to +express, and they stood thus a long time with tears in their eyes. + +'He does not treat 'ee well, I hear,' said Sir William in a low +voice. 'May God in Heaven forgive him; but it is asking a great +deal!' + +'Hush, hush!' said she hastily. + +'Nay, but I will speak what I may honestly say,' he answered. 'I am +not under your roof, and my tongue is free. Why didst not wait for +me, Penelope, or send to me a more overt letter? I would have +travelled night and day to come!' + +'Too late, William; you must not ask it,' said she, endeavouring to +quiet him as in old times. 'My husband just now is unwell. He will +grow better in a day or two, maybe. You must call again and see him +before you leave Casterbridge.' + +As she said this their eyes met. Each was thinking of her lightsome +words about taking the three men in turn; each thought that two- +thirds of that promise had been fulfilled. But, as if it were +unpleasant to her that this recollection should have arisen, she +spoke again quickly: 'Come again in a day or two, when my husband +will be well enough to see you.' + +Sir William departed without entering the house, and she returned to +Sir John's chamber. He, rising from his pillow, said, 'To whom hast +been talking, wife, in the courtyard? I heard voices there.' + +She hesitated, and he repeated the question more impatiently. + +'I do not wish to tell you now,' said she. + +'But I wooll know!' said he. + +Then she answered, 'Sir William Hervy.' + +'By G- I thought as much!' cried Sir John, drops of perspiration +standing on his white face. 'A skulking villain! A sick man's ears +are keen, my lady. I heard that they were lover-like tones, and he +called 'ee by your Christian name. These be your intrigues, my +lady, when I am off my legs awhile!' + +'On my honour,' cried she, 'you do me a wrong. I swear I did not +know of his coming!' + +'Swear as you will,' said Sir John, 'I don't believe 'ee.' And with +this he taunted her, and worked himself into a greater passion, +which much increased his illness. His lady sat still, brooding. +There was that upon her face which had seldom been there since her +marriage; and she seemed to think anew of what she had so lightly +said in the days of her freedom, when her three lovers were one and +all coveting her hand. 'I began at the wrong end of them,' she +murmured. 'My God--that did I!' + +'What?' said he. + +'A trifle,' said she. 'I spoke to myself only.' + +It was somewhat strange that after this day, while she went about +the house with even a sadder face than usual, her churlish husband +grew worse; and what was more, to the surprise of all, though to the +regret of few, he died a fortnight later. Sir William had not +called upon him as he had promised, having received a private +communication from Lady Penelope, frankly informing him that to do +so would be inadvisable, by reason of her husband's temper. + +Now when Sir John was gone, and his remains carried to his family +burying-place in another part of England, the lady began in due time +to wonder whither Sir William had betaken himself. But she had been +cured of precipitancy (if ever woman were), and was prepared to wait +her whole lifetime a widow if the said Sir William should not +reappear. Her life was now passed mostly within the walls, or in +promenading between the pleasaunce and the bowling-green; and she +very seldom went even so far as the high road which then skirted the +grounds on the north, though it has now, and for many years, been +diverted to the south side. Her patience was rewarded (if love be +in any case a reward); for one day, many months after her second +husband's death, a messenger arrived at her gate with the +intelligence that Sir William Hervy was again in Casterbridge, and +would be glad to know if it were her pleasure that he should wait +upon her. + +It need hardly be said that permission was joyfully granted, and +within two hours her lover stood before her, a more thoughtful man +than formerly, but in all essential respects the same man, generous, +modest to diffidence, and sincere. The reserve which womanly +decorum threw over her manner was but too obviously artificial, and +when he said 'the ways of Providence are strange,' and added after a +moment, 'and merciful likewise,' she could not conceal her +agitation, and burst into tears upon his neck. + +'But this is too soon,' she said, starting back. + +'But no,' said he. 'You are eleven months gone in widowhood, and it +is not as if Sir John had been a good husband to you.' + +His visits grew pretty frequent now, as may well be guessed, and in +a month or two he began to urge her to an early union. But she +counselled a little longer delay. + +'Why?' said he. 'Surely I have waited long! Life is short; we are +getting older every day, and I am the last of the three.' + +'Yes,' said the lady frankly. 'And that is why I would not have you +hasten. Our marriage may seem so strange to everybody, after my +unlucky remark on that occasion we know so well, and which so many +others know likewise, thanks to talebearers.' + +On this representation he conceded a little space, for the sake of +her good name. But the destined day of their marriage at last +arrived, and it was a gay time for the villagers and all concerned, +and the bells in the parish church rang from noon till night. Thus +at last she was united to the man who had loved her the most +tenderly of them all, who but for his reticence might perhaps have +been the first to win her. Often did he say to himself; 'How +wondrous that her words should have been fulfilled! Many a truth +hath been spoken in jest, but never a more remarkable one!' The +noble lady herself preferred not to dwell on the coincidence, a +certain shyness, if not shame, crossing her fair face at any +allusion thereto. + +But people will have their say, sensitive souls or none, and their +sayings on this third occasion took a singular shape. 'Surely,' +they whispered, 'there is something more than chance in this . . . +The death of the first was possibly natural; but what of the death +of the second, who ill-used her, and whom, loving the third so +desperately, she must have wished out of the way?' + +Then they pieced together sundry trivial incidents of Sir John's +illness, and dwelt upon the indubitable truth that he had grown +worse after her lover's unexpected visit; till a very sinister +theory was built up as to the hand she may have had in Sir John's +premature demise. But nothing of this suspicion was said openly, +for she was a lady of noble birth--nobler, indeed, than either of +her husbands--and what people suspected they feared to express in +formal accusation. + +The mansion that she occupied had been left to her for so long a +time as she should choose to reside in it, and, having a regard for +the spot, she had coaxed Sir William to remain there. But in the +end it was unfortunate; for one day, when in the full tide of his +happiness, he was walking among the willows near the gardens, where +he overheard a conversation between some basket-makers who were +cutting the osiers for their use. In this fatal dialogue the +suspicions of the neighbouring townsfolk were revealed to him for +the first time. + +'A cupboard close to his bed, and the key in her pocket. Ah!' said +one. + +'And a blue phial therein--h'm!' said another. + +'And spurge-laurel leaves among the hearth-ashes. Oh-oh!' said a +third. + +On his return home Sir William seemed to have aged years. But he +said nothing; indeed, it was a thing impossible. And from that hour +a ghastly estrangement began. She could not understand it, and +simply waited. One day he said, however, 'I must go abroad.' + +'Why?' said she. 'William, have I offended you?' + +'No,' said he; 'but I must go.' + +She could coax little more out of him, and in itself there was +nothing unnatural in his departure, for he had been a wanderer from +his youth. In a few days he started off, apparently quite another +man than he who had rushed to her side so devotedly a few months +before. + +It is not known when, or how, the rumours, which were so thick in +the atmosphere around her, actually reached the Lady Penelope's +ears, but that they did reach her there is no doubt. It was +impossible that they should not; the district teemed with them; they +rustled in the air like night-birds of evil omen. Then a reason for +her husband's departure occurred to her appalled mind, and a loss of +health became quickly apparent. She dwindled thin in the face, and +the veins in her temples could all be distinctly traced. An inner +fire seemed to be withering her away. Her rings fell off her +fingers, and her arms hung like the flails of the threshers, though +they had till lately been so round and so elastic. She wrote to her +husband repeatedly, begging him to return to her; but he, being in +extreme and wretched doubt, moreover, knowing nothing of her ill- +health, and never suspecting that the rumours had reached her also, +deemed absence best, and postponed his return awhile, giving various +good reasons for his delay. + +At length, however, when the Lady Penelope had given birth to a +still-born child, her mother, the Countess, addressed a letter to +Sir William, requesting him to come back to her if he wished to see +her alive; since she was wasting away of some mysterious disease, +which seemed to be rather mental than physical. It was evident that +his mother-in-law knew nothing of the secret, for she lived at a +distance; but Sir William promptly hastened home, and stood beside +the bed of his now dying wife. + +'Believe me, William,' she said when they were alone, 'I am +innocent--innocent!' + +'Of what?' said he. 'Heaven forbid that I should accuse you of +anything!' + +'But you do accuse me--silently!' she gasped. 'I could not write +thereon--and ask you to hear me. It was too much, too degrading. +But would that I had been less proud! They suspect me of poisoning +him, William! But, oh my dear husband, I am innocent of that wicked +crime! He died naturally. I loved you--too soon; but that was +all!' + +Nothing availed to save her. The worm had gnawed too far into her +heart before Sir William's return for anything to be remedial now; +and in a few weeks she breathed her last. After her death the +people spoke louder, and her conduct became a subject of public +discussion. A little later on, the physician, who had attended the +late Sir John, heard the rumour, and came down from the place near +London to which he latterly had retired, with the express purpose of +calling upon Sir William Hervy, now staying in Casterbridge. + +He stated that, at the request of a relative of Sir John's, who +wished to be assured on the matter by reason of its suddenness, he +had, with the assistance of a surgeon, made a private examination of +Sir John's body immediately after his decease, and found that it had +resulted from purely natural causes. Nobody at this time had +breathed a suspicion of foul play, and therefore nothing was said +which might afterwards have established her innocence. + +It being thus placed beyond doubt that this beautiful and noble lady +had been done to death by a vile scandal that was wholly unfounded, +her husband was stung with a dreadful remorse at the share he had +taken in her misfortunes, and left the country anew, this time never +to return alive. He survived her but a few years, and his body was +brought home and buried beside his wife's under the tomb which is +still visible in the parish church. Until lately there was a good +portrait of her, in weeds for her first husband, with a cross in her +hand, at the ancestral seat of her family, where she was much +pitied, as she deserved to be. Yet there were some severe enough to +say--and these not unjust persons in other respects--that though +unquestionably innocent of the crime imputed to her, she had shown +an unseemly wantonness in contracting three marriages in such rapid +succession; that the untrue suspicion might have been ordered by +Providence (who often works indirectly) as a punishment for her +self-indulgence. Upon that point I have no opinion to offer. + + +The reverend the Vice-President, however, the tale being ended, +offered as his opinion that her fate ought to be quite clearly +recognized as a punishment. So thought the Churchwarden, and also +the quiet gentleman sitting near. The latter knew many other +instances in point, one of which could be narrated in a few words. + + + +DAME THE NINTH: THE DUCHESS OF HAMPTONSHIRE +By the Quiet Gentleman + + + +Some fifty years ago, the then Duke of Hamptonshire, fifth of that +title, was incontestibly the head man in his county, and +particularly in the neighbourhood of Batton. He came of the ancient +and loyal family of Saxelbye, which, before its ennoblement, had +numbered many knightly and ecclesiastical celebrities in its male +line. It would have occupied a painstaking county historian a whole +afternoon to take rubbings of the numerous effigies and heraldic +devices graven to their memory on the brasses, tablets, and altar- +tombs in the aisle of the parish-church. The Duke himself, however, +was a man little attracted by ancient chronicles in stone and metal, +even when they concerned his own beginnings. He allowed his mind to +linger by preference on the many graceless and unedifying pleasures +which his position placed at his command. He could on occasion +close the mouths of his dependents by a good bomb-like oath, and he +argued doggedly with the parson on the virtues of cock-fighting and +baiting the bull. + +This nobleman's personal appearance was somewhat impressive. His +complexion was that of the copper-beech tree. His frame was +stalwart, though slightly stooping. His mouth was large, and he +carried an unpolished sapling as his walking-stick, except when he +carried a spud for cutting up any thistle he encountered on his +walks. His castle stood in the midst of a park, surrounded by dusky +elms, except to the southward; and when the moon shone out, the +gleaming stone facade, backed by heavy boughs, was visible from the +distant high road as a white spot on the surface of darkness. +Though called a castle, the building was little fortified, and had +been erected with greater eye to internal convenience than those +crannied places of defence to which the name strictly appertains. +It was a castellated mansion as regular as a chessboard on its +ground-plan, ornamented with make-believe bastions and +machicolations, behind which were stacks of battlemented chimneys. +On still mornings, at the fire-lighting hour, when ghostly house- +maids stalk the corridors, and thin streaks of light through the +shutter-chinks lend startling winks and smiles to ancestors on +canvas, twelve or fifteen thin stems of blue smoke sprouted upwards +from these chimney-tops, and spread into a flat canopy on high. +Around the site stretched ten thousand acres of good, fat, +unimpeachable soil, plentiful in glades and lawns wherever visible +from the castle-windows, and merging in homely arable where screened +from the too curious eye by ingeniously-contrived plantations. + +Some way behind the owner of all this came the second man in the +parish, the rector, the Honourable and Reverend Mr. Oldbourne, a +widower, over stiff and stern for a clergyman, whose severe white +neckcloth, well-kept gray hair, and right-lined face betokened none +of those sympathetic traits whereon depends so much of a parson's +power to do good among his fellow-creatures. The last, far-removed +man of the series--altogether the Neptune of these local primaries-- +was the curate, Mr. Alwyn Hill. He was a handsome young deacon with +curly hair, dreamy eyes--so dreamy that to look long into them was +like ascending and floating among summer clouds--a complexion as +fresh as a flower, and a chin absolutely beardless. Though his age +was about twenty-five, he looked not much over nineteen. + +The rector had a daughter called Emmeline, of so sweet and simple a +nature that her beauty was discovered, measured, and inventoried by +almost everybody in that part of the country before it was suspected +by herself to exist. She had been bred in comparative solitude; a +rencounter with men troubled and confused her. Whenever a strange +visitor came to her father's house she slipped into the orchard and +remained till he was gone, ridiculing her weakness in apostrophes, +but unable to overcome it. Her virtues lay in no resistant force of +character, but in a natural inappetency for evil things, which to +her were as unmeaning as joints of flesh to a herbivorous creature. +Her charms of person, manner, and mind, had been clear for some time +to the Antinous in orders, and no less so to the Duke, who, though +scandalously ignorant of dainty phrases, ever showing a clumsy +manner towards the gentler sex, and, in short, not at all a lady's +man, took fire to a degree that was wellnigh terrible at sudden +sight of Emmeline, a short time after she was turned seventeen. + +It occurred one afternoon at the corner of a shrubbery between the +castle and the rectory, where the Duke was standing to watch the +heaving of a mole, when the fair girl brushed past at a distance of +a few yards, in the full light of the sun, and without hat or +bonnet. The Duke went home like a man who had seen a spirit. He +ascended to the picture-gallery of his castle, and there passed some +time in staring at the bygone beauties of his line as if he had +never before considered what an important part those specimens of +womankind had played in the evolution of the Saxelbye race. He +dined alone, drank rather freely, and declared to himself that +Emmeline Oldbourne must be his. + +Meanwhile there had unfortunately arisen between the curate and this +girl some sweet and secret understanding. Particulars of the +attachment remained unknown then and always, but it was plainly not +approved of by her father. His procedure was cold, hard, and +inexorable. Soon the curate disappeared from the parish, almost +suddenly, after bitter and hard words had been heard to pass between +him and the rector one evening in the garden, intermingled with +which, like the cries of the dying in the din of battle, were the +beseeching sobs of a woman. Not long after this it was announced +that a marriage between the Duke and Miss Oldbourne was to be +solemnized at a surprisingly early date. + +The wedding-day came and passed; and she was a Duchess. Nobody +seemed to think of the ousted man during the day, or else those who +thought of him concealed their meditations. Some of the less +subservient ones were disposed to speak in a jocular manner of the +august husband and wife, others to make correct and pretty speeches +about them, according as their sex and nature dictated. But in the +evening, the ringers in the belfry, with whom Alwyn had been a +favourite, eased their minds a little concerning the gentle young +man, and the possible regrets of the woman he had loved. + +'Don't you see something wrong in it all?' said the third bell as he +wiped his face. 'I know well enough where she would have liked to +stable her horses to-night, when they have done their journey.' + +'That is, you would know if you could tell where young Mr. Hill is +living, which is known to none in the parish.' + +'Except to the lady that this ring o' grandsire triples is in honour +of.' + +Yet these friendly cottagers were at this time far from suspecting +the real dimensions of Emmeline's misery, nor was it clear even to +those who came into much closer communion with her than they, so +well had she concealed her heart-sickness. But bride and bridegroom +had not long been home at the castle when the young wife's +unhappiness became plainly enough perceptible. Her maids and men +said that she was in the habit of turning to the wainscot and +shedding stupid scalding tears at a time when a right-minded lady +would have been overhauling her wardrobe. She prayed earnestly in +the great church-pew, where she sat lonely and insignificant as a +mouse in a cell, instead of counting her rings, falling asleep, or +amusing herself in silent laughter at the queer old people in the +congregation, as previous beauties of the family had done in their +time. She seemed to care no more for eating and drinking out of +crystal and silver than from a service of earthen vessels. Her head +was, in truth, full of something else; and that such was the case +was only too obvious to the Duke, her husband. At first he would +only taunt her for her folly in thinking of that milk-and-water +parson; but as time went on his charges took a more positive shape. +He would not believe her assurance that she had in no way +communicated with her former lover, nor he with her, since their +parting in the presence of her father. This led to some strange +scenes between them which need not be detailed; their result was +soon to take a catastrophic shape. + +One dark quiet evening, about two months after the marriage, a man +entered the gate admitting from the highway to the park and avenue +which ran up to the house. He arrived within two hundred yards of +the walls, when he left the gravelled drive and drew near to the +castle by a roundabout path leading into a shrubbery. Here he stood +still. In a few minutes the strokes of the castle-clock resounded, +and then a female figure entered the same secluded nook from an +opposite direction. There the two indistinct persons leapt together +like a pair of dewdrops on a leaf; and then they stood apart, facing +each other, the woman looking down. + +'Emmeline, you begged me to come, and here I am, Heaven forgive me!' +said the man hoarsely. + +'You are going to emigrate, Alwyn,' she said in broken accents. 'I +have heard of it; you sail from Plymouth in three days in the +Western Glory?' + +'Yes. I can live in England no longer. Life is as death to me +here,' says he. + +'My life is even worse--worse than death. Death would not have +driven me to this extremity. Listen, Alwyn--I have sent for you to +beg to go with you, or at least to be near you--to do anything so +that it be not to stay here.' + +'To go away with me?' he said in a startled tone. + +'Yes, yes--or under your direction, or by your help in some way! +Don't be horrified at me--you must bear with me whilst I implore it. +Nothing short of cruelty would have driven me to this. I could have +borne my doom in silence had I been left unmolested; but he tortures +me, and I shall soon be in the grave if I cannot escape.' + +To his shocked inquiry how her husband tortured her, the Duchess +said that it was by jealousy. 'He tries to wring admissions from me +concerning you,' she said, 'and will not believe that I have not +communicated with you since my engagement to him was settled by my +father, and I was forced to agree to it.' + +The poor curate said that this was the heaviest news of all. 'He +has not personally ill-used you?' he asked. + +'Yes,' she whispered. + +'What has he done?' + +She looked fearfully around, and said, sobbing: 'In trying to make +me confess to what I have never done, he adopts plans I dare not +describe for terrifying me into a weak state, so that I may own to +anything! I resolved to write to you, as I had no other friend.' +She added, with dreary irony, 'I thought I would give him some +ground for his suspicion, so as not to disgrace his judgment.' + +'Do you really mean, Emmeline,' he tremblingly inquired, 'that you-- +that you want to fly with me?' + +'Can you think that I would act otherwise than in earnest at such a +time as this?' + +He was silent for a minute or more. 'You must not go with me,' he +said. + +'Why?' + +'It would be sin.' + +'It CANNOT be sin, for I have never wanted to commit sin in my life; +and it isn't likely I would begin now, when I pray every day to die +and be sent to Heaven out of my misery!' + +'But it is wrong, Emmeline, all the same.' + +'Is it wrong to run away from the fire that scorches you?' + +'It would look wrong, at any rate, in this case.' + +'Alwyn, Alwyn, take me, I beseech you!' she burst out. 'It is not +right in general, I know, but it is such an exceptional instance, +this. Why has such a severe strain been put upon me? I was doing +no harm, injuring no one, helping many people, and expecting +happiness; yet trouble came. Can it be that God holds me in +derision? I had no supporter--I gave way; and now my life is a +burden and a shame to me . . . Oh, if you only knew how much to me +this request to you is--how my life is wrapped up in it, you could +not deny me!' + +'This is almost beyond endurance--Heaven support us,' he groaned. +'Emmy, you are the Duchess of Hamptonshire, the Duke of +Hamptonshire's wife; you must not go with me!' + +'And am I then refused?--Oh, am I refused?' she cried frantically. +'Alwyn, Alwyn, do you say it indeed to me?' + +'Yes, I do, dear, tender heart! I do most sadly say it. You must +not go. Forgive me, for there is no alternative but refusal. +Though I die, though you die, we must not fly together. It is +forbidden in God's law. Good-bye, for always and ever!' + +He tore himself away, hastened from the shrubbery, and vanished +among the trees. + +Three days after this meeting and farewell, Alwyn, his soft, +handsome features stamped with a haggard hardness that ten years of +ordinary wear and tear in the world could scarcely have produced, +sailed from Plymouth on a drizzling morning, in the passenger-ship +Western Glory. When the land had faded behind him he mechanically +endeavoured to school himself into a stoical frame of mind. His +attempt, backed up by the strong moral staying power that had +enabled him to resist the passionate temptation to which Emmeline, +in her reckless trustfulness, had exposed him, was rewarded by a +certain kind of success, though the murmuring stretch of waters +whereon he gazed day after day too often seemed to be articulating +to him in tones of her well-remembered voice. + +He framed on his journey rules of conduct for reducing to mild +proportions the feverish regrets which would occasionally arise and +agitate him, when he indulged in visions of what might have been had +he not hearkened to the whispers of conscience. He fixed his +thoughts for so many hours a day on philosophical passages in the +volumes he had brought with him, allowing himself now and then a few +minutes' thought of Emmeline, with the strict yet reluctant +niggardliness of an ailing epicure proportioning the rank drinks +that cause his malady. The voyage was marked by the usual incidents +of a sailing-passage in those days--a storm, a calm, a man +overboard, a birth, and a funeral--the latter sad event being one in +which he, as the only clergyman on board, officiated, reading the +service ordained for the purpose. The ship duly arrived at Boston +early in the month following, and thence he proceeded to Providence +to seek out a distant relative. + +After a short stay at Providence he returned again to Boston, and by +applying himself to a serious occupation made good progress in +shaking off the dreary melancholy which enveloped him even now. +Distracted and weakened in his beliefs by his recent experiences, he +decided that he could not for a time worthily fill the office of a +minister of religion, and applied for the mastership of a school. +Some introductions, given him before starting, were useful now, and +he soon became known as a respectable scholar and gentleman to the +trustees of one of the colleges. This ultimately led to his +retirement from the school and installation in the college as +Professor of rhetoric and oratory. + +Here and thus he lived on, exerting himself solely because of a +conscientious determination to do his duty. He passed his winter +evenings in turning sonnets and elegies, often giving his thoughts +voice in 'Lines to an Unfortunate Lady,' while his summer leisure at +the same hour would be spent in watching the lengthening shadows +from his window, and fancifully comparing them with the shades of +his own life. If he walked, he mentally inquired which was the +eastern quarter of the landscape, and thought of two thousand miles +of water that way, and of what was beyond it. In a word he was at +all spare times dreaming of her who was only a memory to him, and +would probably never be more. + +Nine years passed by, and under their wear and tear Alwyn Hill's +face lost a great many of the attractive characteristics which had +formerly distinguished it. He was kind to his pupils and affable to +all who came in contact with him; but the kernel of his life, his +secret, was kept as snugly shut up as though he had been dumb. In +talking to his acquaintances of England and his life there, he +omitted the episode of Batton Castle and Emmeline as if it had no +existence in his calendar at all. Though of towering importance to +himself, it had filled but a short and small fragment of time, an +ephemeral season which would have been wellnigh imperceptible, even +to him, at this distance, but for the incident it enshrined. + +One day, at this date, when cursorily glancing over an old English +newspaper, he observed a paragraph which, short as it was, contained +for him whole tomes of thrilling information--rung with more +passion-stirring rhythm than the collected cantos of all the poets. +It was an announcement of the death of the Duke of Hamptonshire, +leaving behind him a widow, but no children. + +The current of Alwyn's thoughts now completely changed. On looking +again at the newspaper he found it to be one that was sent him long +ago, and had been carelessly thrown aside. But for an accidental +overhauling of the waste journals in his study he might not have +known of the event for years. At this moment of reading the Duke +had already been dead seven months. Alwyn could now no longer bind +himself down to machine-made synecdoche, antithesis, and climax, +being full of spontaneous specimens of all these rhetorical forms, +which he dared not utter. Who shall wonder that his mind luxuriated +in dreams of a sweet possibility now laid open for the first time +these many years? for Emmeline was to him now as ever the one dear +thing in all the world. The issue of his silent romancing was that +he resolved to return to her at the very earliest moment. + +But he could not abandon his professional work on the instant. He +did not get really quite free from engagements till four months +later; but, though suffering throes of impatience continually, he +said to himself every day: 'If she has continued to love me nine +years she will love me ten; she will think the more tenderly of me +when her present hours of solitude shall have done their proper +work; old times will revive with the cessation of her recent +experience, and every day will favour my return.' + +The enforced interval soon passed, and he duly arrived in England, +reaching the village of Batton on a certain winter day between +twelve and thirteen months subsequent to the time of the Duke's +death. + +It was evening; yet such was Alwyn's impatience that he could not +forbear taking, this very night, one look at the castle which +Emmeline had entered as unhappy mistress ten years before. He +threaded the park trees, gazed in passing at well-known outlines +which rose against the dim sky, and was soon interested in observing +that lively country-people, in parties of two and three, were +walking before and behind him up the interlaced avenue to the castle +gateway. Knowing himself to be safe from recognition, Alwyn +inquired of one of these pedestrians what was going on. + +'Her Grace gives her tenantry a ball to-night, to keep up the old +custom of the Duke and his father before him, which she does not +wish to change.' + +'Indeed. Has she lived here entirely alone since the Duke's death?' + +'Quite alone. But though she doesn't receive company herself, she +likes the village people to enjoy themselves, and often has 'em +here.' + +'Kind-hearted, as always!' thought Alwyn. + +On reaching the castle he found that the great gates at the +tradesmen's entrance were thrown back against the wall as if they +were never to be closed again; that the passages and rooms in that +wing were brilliantly lighted up, some of the numerous candles +guttering down over the green leaves which decorated them, and upon +the silk dresses of the happy farmers' wives as they passed beneath, +each on her husband's arm. Alwyn found no difficulty in marching in +along with the rest, the castle being Liberty Hall to-night. He +stood unobserved in a corner of the large apartment where dancing +was about to begin. + +'Her Grace, though hardly out of mourning, will be sure to come down +and lead off the dance with neighbour Bates,' said one. + +'Who is neighbour Bates?' asked Alwyn. + +'An old man she respects much--the oldest of her tenant-farmers. He +was seventy-eight his last birthday.' + +'Ah, to be sure!' said Alwyn, at his ease. 'I remember.' + +The dancers formed in line, and waited. A door opened at the +farther end of the hall, and a lady in black silk came forth. She +bowed, smiled, and proceeded to the top of the dance. + +'Who is that lady?' said Alwyn, in a puzzled tone. 'I thought you +told me that the Duchess of Hamptonshire--' + +'That is the Duchess,' said his informant. + +'But there is another?' + +'No; there is no other.' + +'But she is not the Duchess of Hamptonshire--who used to--' Alwyn's +tongue stuck to his mouth, he could get no farther. + +'What's the matter?' said his acquaintance. Alwyn had retired, and +was supporting himself against the wall. + +The wretched Alwyn murmured something about a stitch in his side +from walking. Then the music struck up, the dance went on, and his +neighbour became so interested in watching the movements of this +strange Duchess through its mazes as to forget Alwyn for a while. + +It gave him an opportunity to brace himself up. He was a man who +had suffered, and he could suffer again. 'How came that person to +be your Duchess?' he asked in a firm, distinct voice, when he had +attained complete self-command. 'Where is her other Grace of +Hamptonshire? There certainly was another. I know it.' + +'Oh, the previous one! Yes, yes. She ran away years and years ago +with the young curate. Mr. Hill was the young man's name, if I +recollect.' + +'No! She never did. What do you mean by that?' he said. + +'Yes, she certainly ran away. She met the curate in the shrubbery +about a couple of months after her marriage with the Duke. There +were folks who saw the meeting and heard some words of their talk. +They arranged to go, and she sailed from Plymouth with him a day or +two afterward.' + +'That's not true.' + +'Then 'tis the queerest lie ever told by man. Her father believed +and knew to his dying day that she went with him; and so did the +Duke, and everybody about here. Ay, there was a fine upset about it +at the time. The Duke traced her to Plymouth.' + +'Traced her to Plymouth?' + +'He traced her to Plymouth, and set on his spies; and they found +that she went to the shipping-office, and inquired if Mr. Alwyn Hill +had entered his name as passenger by the Western Glory; and when she +found that he had, she booked herself for the same ship, but not in +her real name. When the vessel had sailed a letter reached the Duke +from her, telling him what she had done. She never came back here +again. His Grace lived by himself a number of years, and married +this lady only twelve months before he died.' + +Alwyn was in a state of indescribable bewilderment. But, unmanned +as he was, he called the next day on the, to him, spurious Duchess +of Hamptonshire. At first she was alarmed at his statement, then +cold, then she was won over by his condition to give confidence for +confidence. She showed him a letter which had been found among the +papers of the late Duke, corroborating what Alwyn's informant had +detailed. It was from Emmeline, bearing the postmarked date at +which the Western Glory sailed, and briefly stated that she had +emigrated by that ship to America. + +Alwyn applied himself body and mind to unravel the remainder of the +mystery. The story repeated to him was always the same: 'She ran +away with the curate.' A strangely circumstantial piece of +intelligence was added to this when he had pushed his inquiries a +little further. There was given him the name of a waterman at +Plymouth, who had come forward at the time that she was missed and +sought for by her husband, and had stated that he put her on board +the Western Glory at dusk one evening before that vessel sailed. + +After several days of search about the alleys and quays of Plymouth +Barbican, during which these impossible words, 'She ran off with the +curate,' became branded on his brain, Alwyn found this important +waterman. He was positive as to the truth of his story, still +remembering the incident well, and he described in detail the lady's +dress, as he had long ago described it to her husband, which +description corresponded in every particular with the dress worn by +Emmeline on the evening of their parting. + +Before proceeding to the other side of the Atlantic to continue his +inquiries there, the puzzled and distracted Alwyn set himself to +ascertain the address of Captain Wheeler, who had commanded the +Western Glory in the year of Alwyn's voyage out, and immediately +wrote a letter to him on the subject. + +The only circumstances which the sailor could recollect or discover +from his papers in connection with such a story were, that a woman +bearing the name which Alwyn had mentioned as fictitious certainly +did come aboard for a voyage he made about that time; that she took +a common berth among the poorest emigrants; that she died on the +voyage out, at about five days' sail from Plymouth; that she seemed +a lady in manners and education. Why she had not applied for a +first-class passage, why she had no trunks, they could not guess, +for though she had little money in her pocket she had that about her +which would have fetched it. 'We buried her at sea,' continued the +captain. 'A young parson, one of the cabin-passengers, read the +burial-service over her, I remember well.' + +The whole scene and proceedings darted upon Alwyn's recollection in +a moment. It was a fine breezy morning on that long-past voyage +out, and he had been told that they were running at the rate of a +hundred and odd miles a day. The news went round that one of the +poor young women in the other part of the vessel was ill of fever, +and delirious. The tidings caused no little alarm among all the +passengers, for the sanitary conditions of the ship were anything +but satisfactory. Shortly after this the doctor announced that she +had died. Then Alwyn had learnt that she was laid out for burial in +great haste, because of the danger that would have been incurred by +delay. And next the funeral scene rose before him, and the +prominent part that he had taken in that solemn ceremony. The +captain had come to him, requesting him to officiate, as there was +no chaplain on board. This he had agreed to do; and as the sun went +down with a blaze in his face he read amidst them all assembled: +'We therefore commit her body to the deep, to be turned into +corruption, looking for the resurrection of the body when the sea +shall give up her dead.' + +The captain also forwarded the addresses of the ship's matron and of +other persons who had been engaged on board at the date. To these +Alwyn went in the course of time. A categorical description of the +clothes of the dead truant, the colour of her hair, and other +things, extinguished for ever all hope of a mistake in identity. + +At last, then, the course of events had become clear. On that +unhappy evening when he left Emmeline in the shrubbery, forbidding +her to follow him because it would be a sin, she must have +disobeyed. She must have followed at his heels silently through the +darkness, like a poor pet animal that will not be driven back. She +could have accumulated nothing for the journey more than she might +have carried in her hand; and thus poorly provided she must have +embarked. Her intention had doubtless been to make her presence on +board known to him as soon as she could muster courage to do so. + +Thus the ten years' chapter of Alwyn Hill's romance wound itself up +under his eyes. That the poor young woman in the steerage had been +the young Duchess of Hamptonshire was never publicly disclosed. +Hill had no longer any reason for remaining in England, and soon +after left its shores with no intention to return. Previous to his +departure he confided his story to an old friend from his native +town--grandfather of the person who now relates it to you. + + +A few members, including the Bookworm, seemed to be impressed by the +quiet gentleman's tale; but the member we have called the Spark-- +who, by the way, was getting somewhat tinged with the light of other +days, and owned to eight-and-thirty--walked daintily about the room +instead of sitting down by the fire with the majority and said that +for his part he preferred something more lively than the last story- +-something in which such long-separated lovers were ultimately +united. He also liked stories that were more modern in their date +of action than those he had heard to-day. + +Members immediately requested him to give them a specimen, to which +the Spark replied that he didn't mind, as far as that went. And +though the Vice-President, the Man of Family, the Colonel, and +others, looked at their watches, and said they must soon retire to +their respective quarters in the hotel adjoining, they all decided +to sit out the Spark's story. + + + +DAME THE TENTH: THE HONOURABLE LAURA +By the Spark + + + +It was a cold and gloomy Christmas Eve. The mass of cloud overhead +was almost impervious to such daylight as still lingered on; the +snow lay several inches deep upon the ground, and the slanting +downfall which still went on threatened to considerably increase its +thickness before the morning. The Prospect Hotel, a building +standing near the wild north coast of Lower Wessex, looked so lonely +and so useless at such a time as this that a passing wayfarer would +have been led to forget summer possibilities, and to wonder at the +commercial courage which could invest capital, on the basis of the +popular taste for the picturesque, in a country subject to such +dreary phases. That the district was alive with visitors in August +seemed but a dim tradition in weather so totally opposed to all that +tempts mankind from home. However, there the hotel stood immovable; +and the cliffs, creeks, and headlands which were the primary +attractions of the spot, rising in full view on the opposite side of +the valley, were now but stern angular outlines, while the townlet +in front was tinged over with a grimy dirtiness rather than the +pearly gray that in summer lent such beauty to its appearance. + +Within the hotel commanding this outlook the landlord walked idly +about with his hands in his pockets, not in the least expectant of a +visitor, and yet unable to settle down to any occupation which +should compensate in some degree for the losses that winter idleness +entailed on his regular profession. So little, indeed, was anybody +expected, that the coffee-room waiter--a genteel boy, whose plated +buttons in summer were as close together upon the front of his short +jacket as peas in a pod--now appeared in the back yard, +metamorphosed into the unrecognizable shape of a rough country lad +in corduroys and hobnailed boots, sweeping the snow away, and +talking the local dialect in all its purity, quite oblivious of the +new polite accent he had learned in the hot weather from the well- +behaved visitors. The front door was closed, and, as if to express +still more fully the sealed and chrysalis state of the +establishment, a sand-bag was placed at the bottom to keep out the +insidious snowdrift, the wind setting in directly from that quarter. + +The landlord, entering his own parlour, walked to the large fire +which it was absolutely necessary to keep up for his comfort, no +such blaze burning in the coffee-room or elsewhere, and after giving +it a stir returned to a table in the lobby, whereon lay the +visitors' book--now closed and pushed back against the wall. He +carelessly opened it; not a name had been entered there since the +19th of the previous November, and that was only the name of a man +who had arrived on a tricycle, who, indeed, had not been asked to +enter at all. + +While he was engaged thus the evening grew darker; but before it was +as yet too dark to distinguish objects upon the road winding round +the back of the cliffs, the landlord perceived a black spot on the +distant white, which speedily enlarged itself and drew near. The +probabilities were that this vehicle--for a vehicle of some sort it +seemed to be--would pass by and pursue its way to the nearest +railway-town as others had done. But, contrary to the landlord's +expectation, as he stood conning it through the yet unshuttered +windows, the solitary object, on reaching the corner, turned into +the hotel-front, and drove up to the door. + +It was a conveyance particularly unsuited to such a season and +weather, being nothing more substantial than an open basket-carriage +drawn by a single horse. Within sat two persons, of different +sexes, as could soon be discerned, in spite of their muffled attire. +The man held the reins, and the lady had got some shelter from the +storm by clinging close to his side. The landlord rang the +hostler's bell to attract the attention of the stable-man, for the +approach of the visitors had been deadened to noiselessness by the +snow, and when the hostler had come to the horse's head the +gentleman and lady alighted, the landlord meeting them in the hall. + +The male stranger was a foreign-looking individual of about eight- +and-twenty. He was close-shaven, excepting a moustache, his +features being good, and even handsome. The lady, who stood timidly +behind him, seemed to be much younger--possibly not more than +eighteen, though it was difficult to judge either of her age or +appearance in her present wrappings. + +The gentleman expressed his wish to stay till the morning, +explaining somewhat unnecessarily, considering that the house was an +inn, that they had been unexpectedly benighted on their drive. Such +a welcome being given them as landlords can give in dull times, the +latter ordered fires in the drawing and coffee-rooms, and went to +the boy in the yard, who soon scrubbed himself up, dragged his +disused jacket from its box, polished the buttons with his sleeve, +and appeared civilized in the hall. The lady was shown into a room +where she could take off her snow-damped garments, which she sent +down to be dried, her companion, meanwhile, putting a couple of +sovereigns on the table, as if anxious to make everything smooth and +comfortable at starting, and requesting that a private sitting-room +might be got ready. The landlord assured him that the best upstairs +parlour--usually public--should be kept private this evening, and +sent the maid to light the candles. Dinner was prepared for them, +and, at the gentleman's desire, served in the same apartment; where, +the young lady having joined him, they were left to the rest and +refreshment they seemed to need. + +That something was peculiar in the relations of the pair had more +than once struck the landlord, though wherein that peculiarity lay +it was hard to decide. But that his guest was one who paid his way +readily had been proved by his conduct, and dismissing conjectures, +he turned to practical affairs. + +About nine o'clock he re-entered the hall, and, everything being +done for the day, again walked up and down, occasionally gazing +through the glass door at the prospect without, to ascertain how the +weather was progressing. Contrary to prognostication, snow had +ceased falling, and, with the rising of the moon, the sky had +partially cleared, light fleeces of cloud drifting across the +silvery disk. There was every sign that a frost was going to set in +later on. For these reasons the distant rising road was even more +distinct now between its high banks than it had been in the +declining daylight. Not a track or rut broke the virgin surface of +the white mantle that lay along it, all marks left by the lately +arrived travellers having been speedily obliterated by the flakes +falling at the time. + +And now the landlord beheld by the light of the moon a sight very +similar to that he had seen by the light of day. Again a black spot +was advancing down the road that margined the coast. He was in a +moment or two enabled to perceive that the present vehicle moved +onward at a more headlong pace than the little carriage which had +preceded it; next, that it was a brougham drawn by two powerful +horses; next, that this carriage, like the former one, was bound for +the hotel-door. This desirable feature of resemblance caused the +landlord to once more withdraw the sand-bag and advance into the +porch. + +An old gentleman was the first to alight. He was followed by a +young one, and both unhesitatingly came forward. + +'Has a young lady, less than nineteen years of age, recently arrived +here in the company of a man some years her senior?' asked the old +gentleman, in haste. 'A man cleanly shaven for the most part, +having the appearance of an opera-singer, and calling himself Signor +Smithozzi?' + +'We have had arrivals lately,' said the landlord, in the tone of +having had twenty at least--not caring to acknowledge the attenuated +state of business that afflicted Prospect Hotel in winter. + +'And among them can your memory recall two persons such as those I +describe?--the man a sort of baritone?' + +'There certainly is or was a young couple staying in the hotel; but +I could not pronounce on the compass of the gentleman's voice.' + +'No, no; of course not. I am quite bewildered. They arrived in a +basket-carriage, altogether badly provided?' + +'They came in a carriage, I believe, as most of our visitors do.' + +'Yes, yes. I must see them at once. Pardon my want of ceremony, +and show us in to where they are.' + +'But, sir, you forget. Suppose the lady and gentleman I mean are +not the lady and gentleman you mean? It would be awkward to allow +you to rush in upon them just now while they are at dinner, and +might cause me to lose their future patronage.' + +'True, true. They may not be the same persons. My anxiety, I +perceive, makes me rash in my assumptions!' + +'Upon the whole, I think they must be the same, Uncle Quantock,' +said the young man, who had not till now spoken. And turning to the +landlord: 'You possibly have not such a large assemblage of +visitors here, on this somewhat forbidding evening, that you quite +forget how this couple arrived, and what the lady wore?' His tone +of addressing the landlord had in it a quiet frigidity that was not +without irony. + +'Ah! what she wore; that's it, James. What did she wear?' + +'I don't usually take stock of my guests' clothing,' replied the +landlord drily, for the ready money of the first arrival had +decidedly biassed him in favour of that gentleman's cause. 'You can +certainly see some of it if you want to,' he added carelessly, 'for +it is drying by the kitchen fire.' + +Before the words were half out of his mouth the old gentleman had +exclaimed, 'Ah!' and precipitated himself along what seemed to be +the passage to the kitchen; but as this turned out to be only the +entrance to a dark china-closet, he hastily emerged again, after a +collision with the inn-crockery had told him of his mistake. + +'I beg your pardon, I'm sure; but if you only knew my feelings +(which I cannot at present explain), you would make allowances. +Anything I have broken I will willingly pay for.' + +'Don't mention it, sir,' said the landlord. And showing the way, +they adjourned to the kitchen without further parley. The eldest of +the party instantly seized the lady's cloak, that hung upon a +clothes-horse, exclaiming: 'Ah! yes, James, it is hers. I knew we +were on their track.' + +'Yes, it is hers,' answered the nephew quietly, for he was much less +excited than his companion. + +'Show us their room at once,' said the old man. + +'William, have the lady and gentleman in the front sitting-room +finished dining?' + +'Yes, sir, long ago,' said the hundred plated buttons. + +'Then show up these gentlemen to them at once. You stay here to- +night, gentlemen, I presume? Shall the horses be taken out?' + +'Feed the horses and wash their mouths. Whether we stay or not +depends upon circumstances,' said the placid younger man, as he +followed his uncle and the waiter to the staircase. + +'I think, Nephew James,' said the former, as he paused with his foot +on the first step--'I think we had better not be announced, but take +them by surprise. She may go throwing herself out of the window, or +do some equally desperate thing!' + +'Yes, certainly, we'll enter unannounced.' And he called back the +lad who preceded them. + +'I cannot sufficiently thank you, James, for so effectually aiding +me in this pursuit!' exclaimed the old gentleman, taking the other +by the hand. 'My increasing infirmities would have hindered my +overtaking her to-night, had it not been for your timely aid.' + +'I am only too happy, uncle, to have been of service to you in this +or any other matter. I only wish I could have accompanied you on a +pleasanter journey. However, it is advisable to go up to them at +once, or they may hear us.' And they softly ascended the stairs. + + +On the door being opened, a room too large to be comfortable, lit by +the best branch-candlesticks of the hotel, was disclosed, before the +fire of which apartment the truant couple were sitting, very +innocently looking over the hotel scrap-book and the album +containing views of the neighbourhood. No sooner had the old man +entered than the young lady--who now showed herself to be quite as +young as described, and remarkably prepossessing as to features-- +perceptibly turned pale. When the nephew entered, she turned still +paler, as if she were going to faint. The young man described as an +opera-singer rose with grim civility, and placed chairs for his +visitors. + +'Caught you, thank God!' said the old gentleman breathlessly. + +'Yes, worse luck, my lord!' murmured Signor Smithozzi, in native +London-English, that distinguished alien having, in fact, first seen +the light in the vicinity of the City Road. 'She would have been +mine to-morrow. And I think that under the peculiar circumstances +it would be wiser--considering how soon the breath of scandal will +tarnish a lady's fame--to let her be mine to-morrow, just the same.' + +'Never!' said the old man. 'Here is a lady under age, without +experience--child-like in her maiden innocence and virtue--whom you +have plied by your vile arts, till this morning at dawn--' + +'Lord Quantock, were I not bound to respect your gray hairs--' + +'Till this morning at dawn you tempted her away from her father's +roof. What blame can attach to her conduct that will not, on a full +explanation of the matter, be readily passed over in her and thrown +entirely on you? Laura, you return at once with me. I should not +have arrived, after all, early enough to deliver you, if it had not +been for the disinterestedness of your cousin, Captain Northbrook, +who, on my discovering your flight this morning, offered with a +promptitude for which I can never sufficiently thank him, to +accompany me on my journey, as the only male relative I have near +me. Come, do you hear? Put on your things; we are off at once.' + +'I don't want to go!' pouted the young lady. + +'I daresay you don't,' replied her father drily. 'But children +never know what's best for them. So come along, and trust to my +opinion.' + +Laura was silent, and did not move, the opera gentleman looking +helplessly into the fire, and the lady's cousin sitting meditatively +calm, as the single one of the four whose position enabled him to +survey the whole escapade with the cool criticism of a comparative +outsider. + +'I say to you, Laura, as the father of a daughter under age, that +you instantly come with me. What? Would you compel me to use +physical force to reclaim you?' + +'I don't want to return!' again declared Laura. + +'It is your duty to return nevertheless, and at once, I inform you.' + +'I don't want to!' + +'Now, dear Laura, this is what I say: return with me and your +cousin James quietly, like a good and repentant girl, and nothing +will be said. Nobody knows what has happened as yet, and if we +start at once, we shall be home before it is light to-morrow +morning. Come.' + +'I am not obliged to come at your bidding, father, and I would +rather not!' + +Now James, the cousin, during this dialogue might have been observed +to grow somewhat restless, and even impatient. More than once he +had parted his lips to speak, but second thoughts each time held him +back. The moment had come, however, when he could keep silence no +longer. + +'Come, madam!' he spoke out, 'this farce with your father has, in my +opinion, gone on long enough. Just make no more ado, and step +downstairs with us.' + +She gave herself an intractable little twist, and did not reply. + +'By the Lord Harry, Laura, I won't stand this!' he said angrily. +'Come, get on your things before I come and compel you. There is a +kind of compulsion to which this talk is child's play. Come, madam- +-instantly, I say!' + +The old nobleman turned to his nephew and said mildly: 'Leave me to +insist, James. It doesn't become you. I can speak to her sharply +enough, if I choose.' + +James, however, did not heed his uncle, and went on to the +troublesome young woman: 'You say you don't want to come, indeed! +A pretty story to tell me, that! Come, march out of the room at +once, and leave that hulking fellow for me to deal with afterward. +Get on quickly--come!' and he advanced toward her as if to pull her +by the hand. + +'Nay, nay,' expostulated Laura's father, much surprised at his +nephew's sudden demeanour. 'You take too much upon yourself. Leave +her to me.' + +'I won't leave her to you any longer!' + +'You have no right, James, to address either me or her in this way; +so just hold your tongue. Come, my dear.' + +'I have every right!' insisted James. + +'How do you make that out?' + +'I have the right of a husband.' + +'Whose husband?' + +'Hers.' + +'What?' + +'She's my wife.' + +'James!' + +'Well, to cut a long story short, I may say that she secretly +married me, in spite of your lordship's prohibition, about three +months ago. And I must add that, though she cooled down rather +quickly, everything went on smoothly enough between us for some +time; in spite of the awkwardness of meeting only by stealth. We +were only waiting for a convenient moment to break the news to you +when this idle Adonis turned up, and after poisoning her mind +against me, brought her into this disgrace.' + +Here the operatic luminary, who had sat in rather an abstracted and +nerveless attitude till the cousin made his declaration, fired up +and cried: 'I declare before Heaven that till this moment I never +knew she was a wife! I found her in her father's house an unhappy +girl--unhappy, as I believe, because of the loneliness and +dreariness of that establishment, and the want of society, and for +nothing else whatever. What this statement about her being your +wife means I am quite at a loss to understand. Are you indeed +married to him, Laura?' + +Laura nodded from within her tearful handkerchief. 'It was because +of my anomalous position in being privately married to him,' she +sobbed, 'that I was unhappy at home--and--and I didn't like him so +well as I did at first--and I wished I could get out of the mess I +was in! And then I saw you a few times, and when you said, "We'll +run off," I thought I saw a way out of it all, and then I agreed to +come with you--oo-oo!' + +'Well! well! well! And is this true?' murmured the bewildered old +nobleman, staring from James to Laura, and from Laura to James, as +if he fancied they might be figments of the imagination. 'Is this, +then, James, the secret of your kindness to your old uncle in +helping him to find his daughter? Good Heavens! What further +depths of duplicity are there left for a man to learn!' + +'I have married her, Uncle Quantock, as I said,' answered James +coolly. 'The deed is done, and can't be undone by talking here.' + +'Where were you married?' + +'At St. Mary's, Toneborough.' + +'When?' + +'On the 29th of September, during the time she was visiting there.' + +'Who married you?' + +'I don't know. One of the curates--we were quite strangers to the +place. So, instead of my assisting you to recover her, you may as +well assist me.' + +'Never! never!' said Lord Quantock. 'Madam, and sir, I beg to tell +you that I wash my hands of the whole affair! If you are man and +wife, as it seems you are, get reconciled as best you may. I have +no more to say or do with either of you. I leave you, Laura, in the +hands of your husband, and much joy may you bring him; though the +situation, I own, is not encouraging.' + +Saying this, the indignant speaker pushed back his chair against the +table with such force that the candlesticks rocked on their bases, +and left the room. + +Laura's wet eyes roved from one of the young men to the other, who +now stood glaring face to face, and, being much frightened at their +aspect, slipped out of the room after her father. Him, however, she +could hear going out of the front door, and, not knowing where to +take shelter, she crept into the darkness of an adjoining bedroom, +and there awaited events with a palpitating heart. + +Meanwhile the two men remaining in the sitting-room drew nearer to +each other, and the opera-singer broke the silence by saying, 'How +could you insult me in the way you did, calling me a fellow, and +accusing me of poisoning her mind toward you, when you knew very +well I was as ignorant of your relation to her as an unborn babe?' + +'Oh yes, you were quite ignorant; I can believe that readily,' +sneered Laura's husband. + +'I here call Heaven to witness that I never knew!' + +'Recitativo--the rhythm excellent, and the tone well sustained. Is +it likely that any man could win the confidence of a young fool her +age, and not get that out of her? Preposterous! Tell it to the +most improved new pit-stalls.' + +'Captain Northbrook, your insinuations are as despicable as your +wretched person!' cried the baritone, losing all patience. And +springing forward he slapped the captain in the face with the palm +of his hand. + +Northbrook flinched but slightly, and calmly using his handkerchief +to learn if his nose was bleeding, said, 'I quite expected this +insult, so I came prepared.' And he drew forth from a black valise +which he carried in his hand a small case of pistols. + +The baritone started at the unexpected sight, but recovering from +his surprise said, 'Very well, as you will,' though perhaps his tone +showed a slight want of confidence. + +'Now,' continued the husband, quite confidingly, 'we want no parade, +no nonsense, you know. Therefore we'll dispense with seconds?' + +The signor slightly nodded. + +'Do you know this part of the country well?' Cousin James went on, +in the same cool and still manner. 'If you don't, I do. Quite at +the bottom of the rocks out there, just beyond the stream which +falls over them to the shore, is a smooth sandy space, not so much +shut in as to be out of the moonlight; and the way down to it from +this side is over steps cut in the cliff; and we can find our way +down without trouble. We--we two--will find our way down; but only +one of us will find his way up, you understand?' + +'Quite.' + +'Then suppose we start; the sooner it is over the better. We can +order supper before we go out--supper for two; for though we are +three at present--' + +'Three?' + +'Yes; you and I and she--' + +'Oh yes.' + +'--We shall be only two by and by; so that, as I say, we will order +supper for two; for the lady and a gentleman. Whichever comes back +alive will tap at her door, and call her in to share the repast with +him--she's not off the premises. But we must not alarm her now; and +above all things we must not let the inn-people see us go out; it +would look so odd for two to go out, and only one come in. Ha! ha!' + +'Ha! ha! exactly.' + +'Are you ready?' + +'Oh--quite.' + +'Then I'll lead the way.' + +He went softly to the door and downstairs, ordering supper to be +ready in an hour, as he had said; then making a feint of returning +to the room again, he beckoned to the singer, and together they +slipped out of the house by a side door. + + +The sky was now quite clear, and the wheelmarks of the brougham +which had borne away Laura's father, Lord Quantock, remained +distinctly visible. Soon the verge of the down was reached, the +captain leading the way, and the baritone following silently, +casting furtive glances at his companion, and beyond him at the +scene ahead. In due course they arrived at the chasm in the cliff +which formed the waterfall. The outlook here was wild and +picturesque in the extreme, and fully justified the many praises, +paintings, and photographic views to which the spot had given birth. +What in summer was charmingly green and gray, was now rendered weird +and fantastic by the snow. + +From their feet the cascade plunged downward almost vertically to a +depth of eighty or a hundred feet before finally losing itself in +the sand, and though the stream was but small, its impact upon +jutting rocks in its descent divided it into a hundred spirts and +splashes that sent up a mist into the upper air. A few marginal +drippings had been frozen into icicles, but the centre flowed on +unimpeded. + +The operatic artist looked down as he halted, but his thoughts were +plainly not of the beauty of the scene. His companion with the +pistols was immediately in front of him, and there was no handrail +on the side of the path toward the chasm. Obeying a quick impulse, +he stretched out his arm, and with a superhuman thrust sent Laura's +husband reeling over. A whirling human shape, diminishing downward +in the moon's rays farther and farther toward invisibility, a smack- +smack upon the projecting ledges of rock--at first louder and +heavier than that of the brook, and then scarcely to be +distinguished from it--then a cessation, then the splashing of the +stream as before, and the accompanying murmur of the sea, were all +the incidents that disturbed the customary flow of the little +waterfall. + +The singer waited in a fixed attitude for a few minutes, then +turning, he rapidly retraced his steps over the intervening upland +toward the road, and in less than a quarter of an hour was at the +door of the hotel. Slipping quietly in as the clock struck ten, he +said to the landlord, over the bar hatchway - + +'The bill as soon as you can let me have it, including charges for +the supper that was ordered, though we cannot stay to eat it, I am +sorry to say.' He added with forced gaiety, 'The lady's father and +cousin have thought better of intercepting the marriage, and after +quarrelling with each other have gone home independently.' + +'Well done, sir!' said the landlord, who still sided with this +customer in preference to those who had given trouble and barely +paid for baiting the horses. '"Love will find out the way!" as the +saying is. Wish you joy, sir!' + +Signor Smithozzi went upstairs, and on entering the sitting-room +found that Laura had crept out from the dark adjoining chamber in +his absence. She looked up at him with eyes red from weeping, and +with symptoms of alarm. + +'What is it?--where is he?' she said apprehensively. + +'Captain Northbrook has gone back. He says he will have no more to +do with you.' + +'And I am quite abandoned by them!--and they'll forget me, and +nobody care about me any more!' She began to cry afresh. + +'But it is the luckiest thing that could have happened. All is just +as it was before they came disturbing us. But, Laura, you ought to +have told me about that private marriage, though it is all the same +now; it will be dissolved, of course. You are a wid--virtually a +widow.' + +'It is no use to reproach me for what is past. What am I to do +now?' + +'We go at once to Cliff-Martin. The horse has rested thoroughly +these last three hours, and he will have no difficulty in doing an +additional half-dozen miles. We shall be there before twelve, and +there are late taverns in the place, no doubt. There we'll sell +both horse and carriage to-morrow morning; and go by the coach to +Downstaple. Once in the train we are safe.' + +'I agree to anything,' she said listlessly. + +In about ten minutes the horse was put in, the bill paid, the lady's +dried wraps put round her, and the journey resumed. + +When about a mile on their way, they saw a glimmering light in +advance of them. 'I wonder what that is?' said the baritone, whose +manner had latterly become nervous, every sound and sight causing +him to turn his head. + +'It is only a turnpike,' said she. 'That light is the lamp kept +burning over the door.' + +'Of course, of course, dearest. How stupid I am!' + +On reaching the gate they perceived that a man on foot had +approached it, apparently by some more direct path than the roadway +they pursued, and was, at the moment they drew up, standing in +conversation with the gatekeeper. + +'It is quite impossible that he could fall over the cliff by +accident or the will of God on such a light night as this,' the +pedestrian was saying. 'These two children I tell you of saw two +men go along the path toward the waterfall, and ten minutes later +only one of 'em came back, walking fast, like a man who wanted to +get out of the way because he had done something queer. There is no +manner of doubt that he pushed the other man over, and, mark me, it +will soon cause a hue and cry for that man.' + +The candle shone in the face of the Signor and showed that there had +arisen upon it a film of ghastliness. Laura, glancing toward him +for a few moments observed it, till, the gatekeeper having +mechanically swung open the gate, her companion drove through, and +they were soon again enveloped in the white silence. + +Her conductor had said to Laura, just before, that he meant to +inquire the way at this turnpike; but he had certainly not done so. + +As soon as they had gone a little farther the omission, intentional +or not, began to cause them some trouble. Beyond the secluded +district which they now traversed ran the more frequented road, +where progress would be easy, the snow being probably already beaten +there to some extent by traffic; but they had not yet reached it, +and having no one to guide them their journey began to appear less +feasible than it had done before starting. When the little lane +which they had entered ascended another hill, and seemed to wind +round in a direction contrary to the expected route to Cliff-Martin, +the question grew serious. Ever since overhearing the conversation +at the turnpike, Laura had maintained a perfect silence, and had +even shrunk somewhat away from the side of her lover. + +'Why don't you talk, Laura,' he said with forced buoyancy, 'and +suggest the way we should go?' + +'Oh yes, I will,' she responded, a curious fearfulness being audible +in her voice. + +After this she uttered a few occasional sentences which seemed to +persuade him that she suspected nothing. At last he drew rein, and +the weary horse stood still. + +'We are in a fix,' he said. + +She answered eagerly: 'I'll hold the reins while you run forward to +the top of the ridge, and see if the road takes a favourable turn +beyond. It would give the horse a few minutes' rest, and if you +find out no change in the direction, we will retrace this lane, and +take the other turning.' + +The expedient seemed a good one in the circumstances, especially +when recommended by the singular eagerness of her voice; and placing +the reins in her hands--a quite unnecessary precaution, considering +the state of their hack--he stepped out and went forward through the +snow till she could see no more of him. + +No sooner was he gone than Laura, with a rapidity which contrasted +strangely with her previous stillness, made fast the reins to the +corner of the phaeton, and slipping out on the opposite side, ran +back with all her might down the hill, till, coming to an opening in +the fence, she scrambled through it, and plunged into the copse +which bordered this portion of the lane. Here she stood in hiding +under one of the large bushes, clinging so closely to its umbrage as +to seem but a portion of its mass, and listening intently for the +faintest sound of pursuit. But nothing disturbed the stillness save +the occasional slipping of gathered snow from the boughs, or the +rustle of some wild animal over the crisp flake-bespattered herbage. +At length, apparently convinced that her former companion was either +unable to find her, or not anxious to do so, in the present strange +state of affairs, she crept out from the bushes, and in less than an +hour found herself again approaching the door of the Prospect Hotel. + +As she drew near, Laura could see that, far from being wrapped in +darkness, as she might have expected, there were ample signs that +all the tenants were on the alert, lights moving about the open +space in front. Satisfaction was expressed in her face when she +discerned that no reappearance of her baritone and his pony-carriage +was causing this sensation; but it speedily gave way to grief and +dismay when she saw by the lights the form of a man borne on a +stretcher by two others into the porch of the hotel. + +'I have caused all this,' she murmured between her quivering lips. +'He has murdered him!' Running forward to the door, she hastily +asked of the first person she met if the man on the stretcher was +dead. + +'No, miss,' said the labourer addressed, eyeing her up and down as +an unexpected apparition. 'He is still alive, they say, but not +sensible. He either fell or was pushed over the waterfall; 'tis +thoughted he was pushed. He is the gentleman who came here just now +with the old lord, and went out afterward (as is thoughted) with a +stranger who had come a little earlier. Anyhow, that's as I had +it.' + +Laura entered the house, and acknowledging without the least reserve +that she was the injured man's wife, had soon installed herself as +head nurse by the bed on which he lay. When the two surgeons who +had been sent for arrived, she learned from them that his wounds +were so severe as to leave but a slender hope of recovery, it being +little short of miraculous that he was not killed on the spot, which +his enemy had evidently reckoned to be the case. She knew who that +enemy was, and shuddered. + +Laura watched all night, but her husband knew nothing of her +presence. During the next day he slightly recognized her, and in +the evening was able to speak. He informed the surgeons that, as +was surmised, he had been pushed over the cascade by Signor +Smithozzi; but he communicated nothing to her who nursed him, not +even replying to her remarks; he nodded courteously at any act of +attention she rendered, and that was all. + +In a day or two it was declared that everything favoured his +recovery, notwithstanding the severity of his injuries. Full search +was made for Smithozzi, but as yet there was no intelligence of his +whereabouts, though the repentant Laura communicated all she knew. +As far as could be judged, he had come back to the carriage after +searching out the way, and finding the young lady missing, had +looked about for her till he was tired; then had driven on to Cliff- +Martin, sold the horse and carriage next morning, and disappeared, +probably by one of the departing coaches which ran thence to the +nearest station, the only difference from his original programme +being that he had gone alone. + +During the days and weeks of that long and tedious recovery, Laura +watched by her husband's bedside with a zeal and assiduity which +would have considerably extenuated any fault save one of such +magnitude as hers. That her husband did not forgive her was soon +obvious. Nothing that she could do in the way of smoothing pillows, +easing his position, shifting bandages, or administering draughts, +could win from him more than a few measured words of thankfulness, +such as he would probably have uttered to any other woman on earth +who had performed these particular services for him. + +'Dear, dear James,' she said one day, bending her face upon the bed +in an excess of emotion. 'How you have suffered! It has been too +cruel. I am more glad you are getting better than I can say. I +have prayed for it--and I am sorry for what I have done; I am +innocent of the worst, and--I hope you will not think me so very +bad, James!' + +'Oh no. On the contrary, I shall think you very good--as a nurse,' +he answered, the caustic severity of his tone being apparent through +its weakness. + +Laura let fall two or three silent tears, and said no more that day. + +Somehow or other Signor Smithozzi seemed to be making good his +escape. It transpired that he had not taken a passage in either of +the suspected coaches, though he had certainly got out of the +county; altogether, the chance of finding him was problematical. + +Not only did Captain Northbrook survive his injuries, but it soon +appeared that in the course of a few weeks he would find himself +little if any the worse for the catastrophe. It could also be seen +that Laura, while secretly hoping for her husband's forgiveness for +a piece of folly of which she saw the enormity more clearly every +day, was in great doubt as to what her future relations with him +would be. Moreover, to add to the complication, whilst she, as a +runaway wife, was unforgiven by her husband, she and her husband, as +a runaway couple, were unforgiven by her father, who had never once +communicated with either of them since his departure from the inn. +But her immediate anxiety was to win the pardon of her husband, who +possibly might be bearing in mind, as he lay upon his couch, the +familiar words of Brabantio, 'She has deceived her father, and may +thee.' + +Matters went on thus till Captain Northbrook was able to walk about. +He then removed with his wife to quiet apartments on the south +coast, and here his recovery was rapid. Walking up the cliffs one +day, supporting him by her arm as usual, she said to him, simply, +'James, if I go on as I am going now, and always attend to your +smallest want, and never think of anything but devotion to you, will +you--try to like me a little?' + +'It is a thing I must carefully consider,' he said, with the same +gloomy dryness which characterized all his words to her now. 'When +I have considered, I will tell you.' + +He did not tell her that evening, though she lingered long at her +routine work of making his bedroom comfortable, putting the light so +that it would not shine into his eyes, seeing him fall asleep, and +then retiring noiselessly to her own chamber. When they met in the +morning at breakfast, and she had asked him as usual how he had +passed the night, she added timidly, in the silence which followed +his reply, 'Have you considered?' + +'No, I have not considered sufficiently to give you an answer.' + +Laura sighed, but to no purpose; and the day wore on with intense +heaviness to her, and the customary modicum of strength gained to +him. + +The next morning she put the same question, and looked up +despairingly in his face, as though her whole life hung upon his +reply. + +'Yes, I have considered,' he said. + +'Ah!' + +'We must part.' + +'O James!' + +'I cannot forgive you; no man would. Enough is settled upon you to +keep you in comfort, whatever your father may do. I shall sell out, +and disappear from this hemisphere.' + +'You have absolutely decided?' she asked miserably. 'I have nobody +now to c-c-care for--' + +'I have absolutely decided,' he shortly returned. 'We had better +part here. You will go back to your father. There is no reason why +I should accompany you, since my presence would only stand in the +way of the forgiveness he will probably grant you if you appear +before him alone. We will say farewell to each other in three days +from this time. I have calculated on being ready to go on that +day.' + +Bowed down with trouble, she withdrew to her room, and the three +days were passed by her husband in writing letters and attending to +other business-matters, saying hardly a word to her the while. The +morning of departure came; but before the horses had been put in to +take the severed twain in different directions, out of sight of each +other, possibly for ever, the postman arrived with the morning +letters. + +There was one for the captain; none for her--there were never any +for her. However, on this occasion something was enclosed for her +in his, which he handed her. She read it and looked up helpless. + +'My dear father--is dead!' she said. In a few moments she added, in +a whisper, 'I must go to the Manor to bury him . . . Will you go +with me, James?' + +He musingly looked out of the window. 'I suppose it is an awkward +and melancholy undertaking for a woman alone,' he said coldly. +'Well, well--my poor uncle!--Yes, I'll go with you, and see you +through the business.' + +So they went off together instead of asunder, as planned. It is +unnecessary to record the details of the journey, or of the sad week +which followed it at her father's house. Lord Quantock's seat was a +fine old mansion standing in its own park, and there were plenty of +opportunities for husband and wife either to avoid each other, or to +get reconciled if they were so minded, which one of them was at +least. Captain Northbrook was not present at the reading of the +will. She came to him afterward, and found him packing up his +papers, intending to start next morning, now that he had seen her +through the turmoil occasioned by her father's death. + +'He has left me everything that he could!' she said to her husband. +'James, will you forgive me now, and stay?' + +'I cannot stay.' + +'Why not?' + +'I cannot stay,' he repeated. + +'But why?' + +'I don't like you.' + +He acted up to his word. When she came downstairs the next morning +she was told that he had gone. + + +Laura bore her double bereavement as best she could. The vast +mansion in which she had hitherto lived, with all its historic +contents, had gone to her father's successor in the title; but her +own was no unhandsome one. Around lay the undulating park, studded +with trees a dozen times her own age; beyond it, the wood; beyond +the wood, the farms. All this fair and quiet scene was hers. She +nevertheless remained a lonely, repentant, depressed being, who +would have given the greater part of everything she possessed to +ensure the presence and affection of that husband whose very +austerity and phlegm--qualities that had formerly led to the +alienation between them--seemed now to be adorable features in his +character. + +She hoped and hoped again, but all to no purpose. Captain +Northbrook did not alter his mind and return. He was quite a +different sort of man from one who altered his mind; that she was at +last despairingly forced to admit. And then she left off hoping, +and settled down to a mechanical routine of existence which in some +measure dulled her grief; but at the expense of all her natural +animation and the sprightly wilfulness which had once charmed those +who knew her, though it was perhaps all the while a factor in the +production of her unhappiness. + +To say that her beauty quite departed as the years rolled on would +be to overstate the truth. Time is not a merciful master, as we all +know, and he was not likely to act exceptionally in the case of a +woman who had mental troubles to bear in addition to the ordinary +weight of years. Be this as it may, eleven other winters came and +went, and Laura Northbrook remained the lonely mistress of house and +lands without once hearing of her husband. Every probability seemed +to favour the assumption that he had died in some foreign land; and +offers for her hand were not few as the probability verged on +certainty with the long lapse of time. But the idea of remarriage +seemed never to have entered her head for a moment. Whether she +continued to hope even now for his return could not be distinctly +ascertained; at all events she lived a life unmodified in the +slightest degree from that of the first six months of his absence. + +This twelfth year of Laura's loneliness, and the thirtieth of her +life drew on apace, and the season approached that had seen the +unhappy adventure for which she so long had suffered. Christmas +promised to be rather wet than cold, and the trees on the outskirts +of Laura's estate dripped monotonously from day to day upon the +turnpike-road which bordered them. On an afternoon in this week +between three and four o'clock a hired fly might have been seen +driving along the highway at this point, and on reaching the top of +the hill it stopped. A gentleman of middle age alighted from the +vehicle. + +'You need drive no farther,' he said to the coachman. 'The rain +seems to have nearly ceased. I'll stroll a little way, and return +on foot to the inn by dinner-time.' + +The flyman touched his hat, turned the horse, and drove back as +directed. When he was out of sight, the gentleman walked on, but he +had not gone far before the rain again came down pitilessly, though +of this the pedestrian took little heed, going leisurely onward till +he reached Laura's park gate, which he passed through. The clouds +were thick and the days were short, so that by the time he stood in +front of the mansion it was dark. In addition to this his +appearance, which on alighting from the carriage had been +untarnished, partook now of the character of a drenched wayfarer not +too well blessed with this world's goods. He halted for no more +than a moment at the front entrance, and going round to the +servants' quarter, as if he had a preconceived purpose in so doing, +there rang the bell. When a page came to him he inquired if they +would kindly allow him to dry himself by the kitchen fire. + +The page retired, and after a murmured colloquy returned with the +cook, who informed the wet and muddy man that though it was not her +custom to admit strangers, she should have no particular objection +to his drying himself; the night being so damp and gloomy. +Therefore the wayfarer entered and sat down by the fire. + +'The owner of this house is a very rich gentleman, no doubt?' he +asked, as he watched the meat turning on the spit. + +''Tis not a gentleman, but a lady,' said the cook. + +'A widow, I presume?' + +'A sort of widow. Poor soul, her husband is gone abroad, and has +never been heard of for many years.' + +'She sees plenty of company, no doubt, to make up for his absence?' + +'No, indeed--hardly a soul. Service here is as bad as being in a +nunnery.' + +In short, the wayfarer, who had at first been so coldly received, +contrived by his frank and engaging manner to draw the ladies of the +kitchen into a most confidential conversation, in which Laura's +history was minutely detailed, from the day of her husband's +departure to the present. The salient feature in all their +discourse was her unflagging devotion to his memory. + +Having apparently learned all that he wanted to know--among other +things that she was at this moment, as always, alone--the traveller +said he was quite dry; and thanking the servants for their kindness, +departed as he had come. On emerging into the darkness he did not, +however, go down the avenue by which he had arrived. He simply +walked round to the front door. There he rang, and the door was +opened to him by a man-servant whom he had not seen during his +sojourn at the other end of the house. + +In answer to the servant's inquiry for his name, he said +ceremoniously, 'Will you tell The Honourable Mrs. Northbrook that +the man she nursed many years ago, after a frightful accident, has +called to thank her?' + +The footman retreated, and it was rather a long time before any +further signs of attention were apparent. Then he was shown into +the drawing-room, and the door closed behind him. + +On the couch was Laura, trembling and pale. She parted her lips and +held out her hands to him, but could not speak. But he did not +require speech, and in a moment they were in each other's arms. + +Strange news circulated through that mansion and the neighbouring +town on the next and following days. But the world has a way of +getting used to things, and the intelligence of the return of The +Honourable Mrs. Northbrook's long-absent husband was soon received +with comparative calm. + +A few days more brought Christmas, and the forlorn home of Laura +Northbrook blazed from basement to attic with light and +cheerfulness. Not that the house was overcrowded with visitors, but +many were present, and the apathy of a dozen years came at length to +an end. The animation which set in thus at the close of the old +year did not diminish on the arrival of the new; and by the time its +twelve months had likewise run the course of its predecessors, a son +had been added to the dwindled line of the Northbrook family. + + +At the conclusion of this narrative the Spark was thanked, with a +manner of some surprise, for nobody had credited him with a taste +for tale-telling. Though it had been resolved that this story +should be the last, a few of the weather-bound listeners were for +sitting on into the small hours over their pipes and glasses, and +raking up yet more episodes of family history. But the majority +murmured reasons for soon getting to their lodgings. + +It was quite dark without, except in the immediate neighbourhood of +the feeble street-lamps, and before a few shop-windows which had +been hardily kept open in spite of the obvious unlikelihood of any +chance customer traversing the muddy thoroughfares at that hour. + +By one, by two, and by three the benighted members of the Field-Club +rose from their seats, shook hands, made appointments, and dropped +away to their respective quarters, free or hired, hoping for a fair +morrow. It would probably be not until the next summer meeting, +months away in the future, that the easy intercourse which now +existed between them all would repeat itself. The crimson maltster, +for instance, knew that on the following market-day his friends the +President, the Rural Dean, and the bookworm would pass him in the +street, if they met him, with the barest nod of civility, the +President and the Colonel for social reasons, the bookworm for +intellectual reasons, and the Rural Dean for moral ones, the latter +being a staunch teetotaller, dead against John Barleycorn. The +sentimental member knew that when, on his rambles, he met his friend +the bookworm with a pocket-copy of something or other under his +nose, the latter would not love his companionship as he had done to- +day; and the President, the aristocrat, and the farmer knew that +affairs political, sporting, domestic, or agricultural would exclude +for a long time all rumination on the characters of dames gone to +dust for scores of years, however beautiful and noble they may have +been in their day. + +The last member at length departed, the attendant at the museum +lowered the fire, the curator locked up the rooms, and soon there +was only a single pirouetting flame on the top of a single coal to +make the bones of the ichthyosaurus seem to leap, the stuffed birds +to wink, and to draw a smile from the varnished skulls of +Vespasian's soldiery. + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg eText A Group of Noble Dames + diff --git a/old/nbldm10.zip b/old/nbldm10.zip Binary files differnew file mode 100644 index 0000000..c34dc20 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/nbldm10.zip |