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diff --git a/old/44721-8.txt b/old/44721-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..24a2c75 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/44721-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,30726 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The Pillars of the House, Vol. II (of 2), by +Charlotte M. Yonge + + +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: The Pillars of the House, Vol. II (of 2) + or, Under Wode, Under Rode + + +Author: Charlotte M. Yonge + + + +Release Date: January 20, 2014 [eBook #44721] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PILLARS OF THE HOUSE, VOL. II +(OF 2)*** + + +E-text prepared by Clare Graham and Marc D'Hooghe +(http://www.freeliterature.org) from page images generously made available +by the Google Books Library Project (http://books.google.com) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 44721-h.htm or 44721-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44721/44721-h/44721-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/44721/44721-h.zip) + + + Project Gutenberg has the other volume of this work. + Volume I: see http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/6331 + + + Images of the original pages are available through + the Google Books Library Project. See + http://www.google.com/books?id=FQgCAAAAQAAJ + + + + + +THE PILLARS OF THE HOUSE; + +Or, + +Under Wode, Under Rode. + +by + +CHARLOTTE M. YONGE + +Author of 'The Heir of Redclyffe,' etc. + +In Two Volumes. + +VOL II. + + + + + + + +London: +Macmillan and Co. +1875. + + + + +CONTENTS TO VOL II. + + XXIV. FAMILY GHOOLS + XXV. DON GIOVANNI + XXVI. TRANSMUTATION + XXVII. DON OR MYNHEER + XXVIII. STARS GRATIS + XXIX. BRYNHILD + XXX. THE SCULPTOR + XXXI. THE BARBE BLONDE + XXXII. THE NID D'AVIS + XXXIII. A BOOTLESS BENE + XXXIV. THE VICAR OF VALE LESTON + XXXV. THE OLD SQUIRE AND THE NEW + XXXVI. POSSESSION + XXXVII. INVASIONS + XXXVIII. K.T. + XXXIX. FOUR YEARS + XL. A K T STROPHE + XLI. CHESTS AND HEARTS + XLII. A HALCYON DAY + XLIII. PRINCESS FAIR-STAR + XLIV. THE FIDDLER'S RANCH + XLV. THE MYRTLE SPRAY + XLVI. SOUR GRAPES + XLVII. THE TASK OVER + XLVIII. SHATTERED PILLARS + XLIX. THE RIVAL OWLS + CONCLUSION + + + + +THE PILLARS OF THE HOUSE; + +OR, + +UNDER WODE, UNDER RODE. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +FAMILY GHOOLS. + + 'Know ye that Love is a careless child, + And forgets promise past? + He is blind--he is deaf where he list, + And in faith never fast.' + _Raleigh_. + + +Captain Harewood was gone. There was a good deal of truth in Wilmet's +plea that much pain might have been saved if she had been allowed to +abide by her first answer; but by this time she would not have saved it. + +She was a brave woman, and never sought indulgence; and all she +accepted was the spending his last Saturday and Sunday at his home with +him; and even on this she durst not venture without taking Alda, and +exposing the dear untidy household to her disdain; but that October +Sunday walk by the river was worth it all--worth infinitely more than +the July walk; and they both declared it gave them strength. + +Wilmet returned in time for Monday's school, nor did she give in all +the week; but she looked whiter and whiter, and on Saturday morning +turned so faint while dressing, that Alda in a great fright called in +Sibby; and the unprecedented event occurred of her spending two whole +days in bed. She only begged to be let alone; and after this space of +quiet came down again fully recovered, only, as Geraldine daily felt, +softer, gentler, tenderer, less severely strict, and moreover a less +hard mistress to her own beauty. + +Meantime Alda grew increasingly restless and drooping as the autumn +advanced. The confined rooms and monotonous life really affected +health accustomed to variety, change, and luxury; nor could idleness, +disappointment, or ill-humour be wholesome diet. Listless and weary, +she dropped all semblance of occupation, except novel reading; and +there she perversely set her mind on whatever Froggatt and Underwood +wished to keep out of their library. If Ferdinand did come down for a +Sunday, they both looked at the end of it as if they had been worrying +one another to death; if he did not come down, she was affronted and +miserable. Her restlessness was increased by the fact that people were +returning to their winter-quarters in London, and it was to be inferred +that the Thomas Underwoods might soon be there; but Marilda had not +the art of letter-writing, and though she had several times sent a few +warm-hearted lines, encouraging Alda's correspondence, this had dropped +soon after the yearly migration to Spa; and no more was known of the +family movements till there was a letter from Edgar to Cherry. He was +a very uncertain correspondent--always delightful, affectionate, and +amusing, when he did write, but often not doing so for weeks together; +and nothing had been heard of him since he had as usual gone abroad in +the middle of the summer. + +He now wrote from Spa, in amazement at the accumulation of family +events which Marilda had poured upon him, and especially desirous to +know how _any_ captain of any service had ventured upon accosting W.W. +He could not recover the loss it had been not to witness the siege and +the surrender! For himself, Cherry gathered that he had begun, as he +had led her to suppose he would, with the Channel Isles; but whether +he had seen Alice she could not make out; and he had then made his +way, wandering and sketching in old Continental towns, as he had done +last year. He always declared that it answered; he could dispose of +his sketches when he came home, and could likewise write clever bright +descriptions, that could usually command tolerable remuneration. This +time, however, he had been nearly reduced to the condition of George +Primrose, and had made his way to join the family caravan at Spa, by +way of getting helped home. + +There he was hailed with delight, for Mr. Underwood was very unwell +and irritable, prejudiced against German doctors, yet not choosing +to have advice from England, and not fit for a journey without some +effective person to rule him and his wife; for resolute as Marilda +could be, the passionateness of one parent, and the fat flabby +helplessness of the other, had overcome her powers of management at +such a distance from home. It was Edgar's private belief that 'the +poor old boy had had some kind of stroke;' but he had recommended +the homeward journey, and under his escort it was to be immediately +undertaken. A few days more, and tidings came that it had been +successfully accomplished. Mr. Underwood had grown better at every +stage, and now scouted the notion of a doctor; Alda's letters of +inquiry were joyously answered and her spirits sank. + +One afternoon, however, a moon face beamed upon Felix, and a hearty +voice exclaimed, 'How d'ye do? This is a surprise, ain't it? My father +is come down on business, so I made him bring me. I don't like Alda's +account of herself.' + +'I'll take you to her,' said Felix, who decidedly disapproved of +private greetings in the present locality; so as soon as she had dealt +with her fly, he conducted her upstairs. Her father had gone to Mr. +Bruce, and would come for her. Alda was alone in the drawing-room, +but she sprang to her feet in ecstacy; and the two cousins were soon +clinging together, and devouring one another with kisses. Felix asked +where Cherry was. + +'Oh! for pity's sake, Felix, do let us have a little time to +ourselves!' said Alda; 'I'll call Cherry by the time she has done with +Stella.' + +Felix had come to trust nothing concerning Geraldine to Alda; so he +shut the door, and found Cherry in her own room, overlooking Stella's +copy to the sound of Theodore's accordion, all three in warm jackets. +Six months ago he would have made an authoritative remonstrance. Now +he had learnt that cold and exile were more tolerable than Alda's +displeasure. + +Stella leapt up, connecting Cousin Marilda's name with the choicest +presents; but Cherry was quite willing to withhold herself. It was +eight years since she had seen Marilda, and she was conscious of more +repulsion than attraction. She was still debating between civility and +consideration for the _tête-à-tête_, when Wilmet, for whom Felix had +sent, came for her, with cheeks glowing from Marilda's energetic kisses +and congratulations. + +There certainly was a treading on the delicate tips of the feelings. +'O Geraldine, I am glad to see you getting about so well! You are a +courageous girl.' Then to Stella: 'You little darling duck! Here is a +box of goodies for you and the other poor little dear.--Where is he? +You'll let me see him.--What, Lance! I've not seen you since I found +you up a tree!' + +The cousinly cordiality was pleasant, and her patronage was not coarse, +like her mother's; but there was a certain excess of frankness that +made them feel like sensitive-plants, when she examined Wilmet how +often she heard from India, and how the Harewoods treated her--when +she wanted to know exactly how matters stood between the Pursuivant +and Tribune, whether Mr. Smith were to blame, why Lance had gone into +the business, and--worse than all--what was the measure of Theodore's +intellect. + +It was all meant in kindness and sympathy, but it was very trying to +each victim in turn; and the lookers-on found it as impossible to lead +it away as to divert the rush from a pump. When Felix was about to +return to his work, Marilda jumped up, exclaiming, 'Felix, I must speak +to you;' and when she had him alone in the drawing-room, she began, +'Felix, I must take Alda home. We can't get on without her; and she +looks very poorly, and all that nonsense is blown over.' + +'You know she is still engaged.' + +'Oh yes; but no one will think of that unless it is brought forward, +and that she promises not to do.' + +'I believe it will be best,' he answered. 'Our life is not suited to +her, and she is neither well nor happy; but it is very kind of you.' + +'Kind to ourselves. If Wilmet had married at once we should never have +got her back at all, and we want her sadly. I can help my father in +some ways, but I can't amuse him as she can. You don't mind?' + +'Certainly not, if Mr. and Mrs. Underwood wish it,' said Felix, +wondering how Alda made herself either amusing or useful; 'I suppose it +is all right, and that they know how it stands.' + +'Of course they do. They will only be too glad to have her; and though +it is better to say nothing about it just yet, very likely it may end +in his coming into our house, and being what Edgar might have been. How +well he has behaved!' + +'So has some one else,' thought Felix, as he saw her glistening eye; +but he only answered, 'He is an excellent fellow.' + +'Another thing, Felix. This engagement of Edgar's--is it in earnest?' + +'Yes!' emphatically said Felix; 'I trust so.' + +'You! I should have thought nothing could be more foolish. Is she such +a nice girl, then?' + +He had had time to recollect himself, and answered in his set manner, +'She is all that could be wished; and though of course there is a +certain imprudence in the engagement, I can only wish to see Edgar +persevere honourably in what he has undertaken.' + +'But wouldn't it be great misery?' + +'It might be,' said Felix; 'but it is not going to happen yet. Of +course, no one could have wished it to begin; but having begun, he +ought to go on.' + +'Of course! I hate shilly-shally. My father would not believe there +was anything in it. But you are right, Felix; it has done Edgar good. +Somehow there's more purpose in him; and I believe he has worked more +steadily this season. I am so glad you say she is a nice girl.' + +And Felix went down to his work happier than he had been for nearly a +year. What loss to himself equalled the gain of such a report of Edgar? + +Marilda insisted on being shown every corner of the house, and was +evidently full of enjoyment, like a child let loose from school, +talking at random, so as to draw on herself more than one remonstrance +from Alda, who had perfectly recovered her good-humour, and was +absolutely gracious to Cherry. + +About four o'clock came Thomas Underwood, embracing Alda like another +daughter. 'My poor child, you are not looking well.' + +'Not at all, papa,' said Marilda. 'We will take her home, and set her +up again.' + +'Ay, we will!' said her father. 'It has been a pretty muddle +altogether; but there--we'll say no more about it. You'll come home, +and be a wise girl.' + +'O Uncle, how kind you are!' cried Alda. + +Wilmet and Cherry looked at each other in amaze. What might this mean? +How could Alda bear to be received back on such terms? But they could +say nothing; indeed, they were scarcely seen till the greeting to Alda +was over. Then, however, he made up for it by hearty kisses, for which +they were not prepared; and Wilmet coloured crimson as she was again +congratulated and rallied on her slyness in making the most of her time +at Minsterham. + +The illness at Spa had told upon Thomas Underwood. He was still under +fifty, but an elderly look and manner had come on him; he walked +feebly, and seemed to look to his daughter to help him out with +purposes and recollections; while towards Alda there was an almost +imploring tenderness, as if she had carried away with her a good deal +of the enjoyment of his life, which he hoped to bring back again with +her. He did not even seem to like leaving her for the evening to pack +up, but wanted her to come out to Centry Park, and caught eagerly at +Marilda's proposal that Felix should come and spend the evening there. +It was as if they were both afraid of their own dullness in the great +uninhabited house; and no doubt they would have caught at an invitation +to share the family meal. Alda and Wilmet, for different reasons, sat +in dread of Felix, in the reckless hospitality of the male heart, +making such an offer; and in very truth, he was only withheld by +certain authoritatively deprecating glances from those housewifely eyes. + +And let it be observed that Wilmet was right. She could not have fed +Mr. Underwood as would have suited him on such short notice, without +a great deal more expense and personal exertion than would have been +becoming; and to his eyes, their ordinary fare would have seemed +ostentation of neediness. + +Needy was exactly what the Underwoods had never been. It was not merely +the effect of conscience and of resolution, but of Wilmet's more than +ordinary power of method and adjustment, which had kept them from ever +being behindhand, or in difficulties requiring external aid; and it was +this that had won them already respect that hardly belonged to their +years. + +Thomas Underwood really respected Felix, as one who had never asked +assistance from him, yet who had not declined what was offered in +a friendly kinsman-like manner; and besides, had more than once +asserted--modestly indeed, but still asserted--an independent will +and way of his own, and shown that he was capable of carrying it out. +It was five years since Mr. Underwood's prediction that he would find +the attempt keeping house for such a family an utter failure, and would +have to fall back on help he had not deserved: and here he was, without +having made one demand, a partner in the business, and with so small a +fraction of the family apparent, that there was no air of oppression, +no complaint, even though Thomas himself had returned on his hands both +those of whom he had meant to relieve him. + +No wonder, then, that without intending it, his manner to Felix was +not that of patron, but of equal--of kinsman to kinsman, not of rich +man to struggling youth. And Felix, as he sat in the great handsome +dining-room, could not help being amused at all the state that had +followed one man and his daughter for one dinner in their own house: +the courses, and the silver, and the perplexing family of wine-glasses +beside every plate, and all with the Underwood rood and its motto +shining on him--whether on the servant's buttons, on the panels of the +oak-wainscotted hall, and the very china from which he ate his dinner. + +Nothing interested Mr. Underwood more than the account of the visit to +Vale Leston; and warming up under the influence of dinner, he talked +much of the old times there, and with much disparagement of the two +present Fulberts; but Felix was startled to find that he regarded +himself as next in the succession. + +'If you could only have gone into the Church, Felix, I could have given +you the Vicarage. Or is not one of your brothers to be a parson?' + +'Yes, Sir--Clement,' said Felix, smiling, but feeling a sense of injury +that revealed to him how much more he must be reckoning on the chances +than he had supposed himself to be doing. As Alda said, wealth flowed +to wealth; and a little attention from Thomas to his cousins would +easily turn the scale. + +At any rate, poverty did not suit Alda. She was a different creature +now that her exile was coming to an end. + +'It had been like Portsmouth to Fanny Price,' said Geraldine, not +greatly flattered by the overflow of benevolence, which Wilmet accepted +as the token of real affection. + +What would she do about Ferdinand? Wilmet ventured to ask. + +'He certainly must not call,' said Alda; 'that would never do; but with +Edgar's help it will be manageable enough. It will do the gentleman no +harm to have a few difficulties in his way. I don't want him to feel +his coming such a favour.' + +So Alda went; and must it be owned, if there was more peace in +the house, there was also a certain flatness after the incessant +excitements of the former part of the year. At least so Geraldine +felt, and hated herself for feeling, when the numbers had come down to +'the peace establishment,' and she had no companions but Stella and +Theodore through the greater part of the day. She had been recommended +to walk, when the weather permitted, for half an hour every day; and +whenever it was possible, Felix contrived that he or Lance should be +her companion; but as the days shortened, and it became less easy to +contrive this, the constitutional turns up and down the narrow garden +were more dispiriting than sitting occupied upstairs, especially when +she viewed this distaste as frightful unthankfulness; and even when +one of the brothers took her out in the street, or to the 'People's +Park,' though she was happy with them, the wearisome sameness and +dull ugliness of the town oppressed and wearied her; and to be taken +out by Wilmet on a Saturday was more wearing still. Each brother was +her devoted cavalier; but Wilmet, though kind and considerate, made +airing Cherry a secondary object; and to be set upon a high chair in +a shop, to see Wilmet bargain, was what she did not love. She might +have admired to see Wilmet's perfect knowledge of articles and their +value, and the manifest esteem in which that experience was held by +the respectable tradesmen, who did not scruple to tell her that they +had thought 'this will just suit Miss Underwood;' while her scorn and +indignation at an encounter with a Cheap Jack were something rich. But +though Cherry could describe such an expedition with humour that threw +Felix and Lance into a convulsion of merriment, it was very wearisome +to her; and the more she knew it ought to be instructive, the more +it depressed her, and made her feel, as never before, the straitness +of the family means. She longed wearily at times for the sight of +something beautiful. Edgar's descriptions came back on her with an +almost sick longing. She had made much progress in drawing, but the +want of criticism, instruction, or models, made her feel baffled; and +when her brothers and sisters admired most, she was most dissatisfied. +Edgar's criticism alone was worth anything to her æsthetic sense, and +gave her real assistance; and his not coming home was a great loss to +her art, as well as to her affection and intellect. Those windows that +he opened to her of all lovely scenes and forms in nature or art, his +brilliant stories of artist society and foreign manners, could not +but be greatly missed as she lived her monotonous life, not without +intellectual interest, for that came to her through the help she was +able to render to Felix in his newspaper work, and the books she +reviewed or discussed with him; but it was not the living interest of +actual communication at secondhand with that outer world, which looked +so full of beauty, and of all that was bright and charming; and then +poor little Cherry applied to herself all the warnings about not loving +the world. + +Her aspiring compositions and her studies in drawing she almost laid +aside in a fit of hopeless disgust, and she applied herself to what was +less improving, but more immediately profitable. She and Lance took to +the manufacture of Christmas cards, she taking the sentiment and he +the comedy; and what they produced by their joint efforts were pretty +and clever enough to bring in an amount of pocket-money that was very +agreeable to those who otherwise would have had no claim to any. + +The chief outer interest was, as usual, parish affairs. Mr. Bevan was +too ill to come home; but Mr. Mowbray Smith's resignation was accepted, +and he was to go at the beginning of the new year, while his successor +was reported to be elderly and wise. + +Another interest, that was not at all bad for Cherry, was stirred up +by her brothers. There was an interminable family belonging to one of +the printers, who died, leaving them in circumstances that somewhat +parodied those of the Underwoods themselves; and in which the example +as well as the counsel of the young master was no doubt a great +incentive and assistance to the pillars of the still humbler house. +There was a perennial supply of 'little Lightfoots,' to fill the office +elegantly termed printer's devil; and the existing imp being taken +young from school, Felix had his education on his conscience, and asked +Cherry to give him lessons after hours. She was at first desperately +afraid of the boy, and only accepted the work when she found that if +she did not, Felix would impose it on himself; but by-and-by she became +enough interested, and enjoyed enough devotion from her pupil, to make +the time she daily expended upon him not far from one of the pleasures +of her life. + +So came on a winter of unusual bitterness; and the holidays filled +the house, bringing Bernard back under an entirely new phase. At +Stoneborough he had discovered that it was some distinction to be an +Underwood of Vale Leston, and his accession of dignity was enormous. He +regarded the Nareses from a monstrous elevation; and thus infinitely +scandalized Angela, who had a great hatred of pretension, and whose +laughter threatened to dissolve their mutual alliance, offensive and +defensive. Their janglings were a novelty, and not a pleasant one; and +one bitter afternoon, when a sore throat had made Felix come up early +from the shop, Cherry quite rejoiced that Bernard was reported to be +reading downstairs. + +And there sat Felix by the fire, with Theodore at his feet, humming in +rivalry of the big kettle, which had just been brought in, and was soon +followed by Lance, whistling as he came upstairs. + +'Look here!' and Angela, who, for her bane at Brompton, had her full +share of the family talent for caricature, showed him a likeness of +Bernard strutting down the High Street, turning his back on certain +figures in the distance; and beneath was written-- + + 'There was a young Bear of Stoneborough, + Who thought his gentility thorough; + To his townsfolk he said, + "Snobs! I'll cut them all dead," + This high-bred young Bear of Stoneborough.' + +'Capital, Angel!' said Lance; 'but don't show it to him; he's a horrid +Bear to poke fun at.' + +'Oh, but he does get into such jolly rages!' + +'It is beyond being jolly,' said Lance. 'I did this once too often last +holidays; and I don't think he has got over it yet, though I promised +never to do it again.' + +'The more reason I should,' said Angela, laughing saucily in his face, +though both spoke under their breath. + +'No,' said Lance. 'Consider! He is absurdly stuck up; but anything to +disgust him with the Nareses is good.' + +'I see no harm in Jem Nares,' said democratic Angela. 'I'll not have +him cut! give me my picture.' + +'No, I promised he should not be done again.' + +'Promise for yourself another time.' + +She snatched, and there was a sparring match. Lance held off with one +hand, and with the other dashed her drawing into the fire, where it +fell on the top of some black coals; and as he relaxed his grasp, she +sprang to rescue it. Felix looked up in time to see the kettle toppling +over. He flung Theodore out of the way of the boiling stream that +rushed from lid and spout as the whole descended on the hearth, amid +cries from Angela and Theodore that brought all the others together; +nor could the little one be pacified, even though Wilmet ascertained +that he had only been touched by one boiling drop. + +'But Felix!' exclaimed Lance; and they all turned. + +'Never mind,' he said, but with more of a contraction of the lips than +a smile; 'only my neck and arm. Here, Lance, help me;' presenting the +end of his sleeve, and setting his teeth. + +The hasty vigorous pull, made in ignorance on both sides, removed +the coat; but Felix gave something between a gasp and a cry, tried +to totter to a chair, and was caught by Clement as he fainted away; +so much to the terror of Lance, that in three minutes' space he had +broken in on Mr. Rugg's dinner with a peremptory summons. By the time +he crept into the room behind the doctor, he saw Felix on the sofa, +white as a sheet, with closed eyes and drawn brow, Clement standing +ready with a roll of wadding, and Wilmet, having more gently removed +the shirtsleeve, regarding the injury with some perplexity, increased +by the tearful Sibby's voluble counsels. + +She welcomed the arrival with the anxious inquiry, 'O Mr. Rugg! I am so +glad! Should the cotton touch where the skin is broken?--Here--inside +his elbow and hand.' + +'Broken! You have been tearing off the clothes, instead of cutting +them! I thought you knew better, Miss Underwood.' + +'It was my own doing,' murmured Felix, so faintly, that Mr. Rugg, with +his usual roughness, scolded at his not having had some brandy at +once, and then at there being none nearer than the Fortinbras Arms, +whence Clement brought some in about the time that a grand butler would +have taken to produce it. Felix choked at it like a child, but it +brought back his strength; and Wilmet and Clement were assistants too +handy to give much occasion for scolding. The shoulder and chest had +suffered likewise, though partly protected by the flannel shirt. + +On the patient asking how soon he might hope for the use of his arm, +the gruff answer was, 'Not so soon as if you had not begun by tearing +it to pieces. I can't tell. Depends on general health. May be three +weeks, may be six, may be three months, before you get these places +healed, if you trifle with them. Now I'll stay and see you in bed, with +this arm properly settled.' + +This was real kindness for a man in the middle of his dinner; and +Felix stood up, finding himself more shaken than he had expected, and +commanded by acclamation to betake himself to Mr. Froggatt's bedroom. +He chose, however, first to go into the next room, where Cherry had +sunk down, trembling and overcome, and so hysterical that her utmost +powers had been taxed to prevent herself from disturbing those who +could be useful. + +'Here I am, all alive!' he said in a cheerful tone, that somehow had no +solidity in it, and which she could hardly bear. 'Why, Cherry, you poor +little thing! you have come by the worst of it!' + +'Don't, Felix! Isn't it dreadful pain?' + +'Not now; I scarcely feel it. Never mind, Cherry; I'm all right now, +only you will have to write those little fingers nearly off.' + +'Oh! Felix, if Wilmet had been gone!' + +'She wouldn't be looking Gorgons at me now. Where's Angel?' + +Angel had been seized by Robina, and forcibly withheld from flying out +after the doctor; and when assured that Lance was gone, she had dashed +upstairs, and hidden herself in bed, so that Felix was obliged to go to +sleep without seeing her. Remonstrate as he would, he was not allowed +to get up the next morning. Mr. Rugg, who came very early, assured him +that the speed of his recovery greatly depended on perfect stillness at +first, and told him that he would feel the injury if he tried to move; +and Wilmet would not do anything but rejoice that he was compelled to +submit to discipline that was so good for the cold, a much more real +subject of anxiety. + +'I must not grumble,' he sighed, as the doctor shut the door; 'but I +did not reckon on such a stupid disaster when I got two boys to look +after everything.' + +'People will not mind for a few days.' + +'I hope not. Tell Lance to send Lamb up to me as soon as he comes in. +And would Clem walk over to Marshlands? or the Froggery will be in +great commotion.' + +'Perhaps Robina will go too; and they always like to have her.' + +'And Angel? Poor child! I wish she would come.' + +'I'll send her. I want you to talk to her. She is such a perplexity.' + +'_This_ was no fault of hers!' exclaimed Felix. + +'I don't know that. Lance takes it on himself, and says it was just a +squabble; but that is sure to have been her fault.' + +'I shall not go into that,' said Felix. + +'It does seem a chance of making an impression, if you would try,' said +Wilmet. 'Sibby says she was crying half the night, (you know she has to +sleep in the nursery,) and you might get at her now. I don't know what +to do with her.' + +He looked up, astonished at this avowal, from her who had hitherto +queened it so easily. + +'Look at this letter,' she proceeded. 'I have been keeping it till you +had time to think about it.' + +He sighed, feeling, like many another head of the house, that time was +swept away from home responsibilities, and indeed, that great girls +needed a more experienced guide. The letter was the school character, +speaking most highly of Robina, who had quite reconquered esteem. If +she had not so much of any one talent as some of the others, she had +excellent capacity, and studied in a business-like way, as one learning +a profession; so that she had won her promotion into the first ranks, +among elder girls. + +But Angela was one of those who will not or cannot do anything +tolerably except what they like; and she had only two tastes--for +music and fun--except perhaps for churches. She was a puzzle to every +one, by her eagerness for devout observances, and the very little good +they seemed to do her, even by outrageous irreverence when the spirit +of mischief was roused. Teachers detested her, but she was the idol of +half the school. All unclaimed misdeeds were laid to her share; and in +recklessness or generosity, she never troubled herself to disavow them, +even when not her own. She was popularly believed to learn nothing +but music, and even in that to use talent to save pains; and she had +a lead-like affinity to the bottom of her class, yet in the final +examination she had surpassed far more diligent girls. + +Felix read, and puzzled himself, and did not refuse obedience when +Wilmet insisted that he should 'talk to Angela;' though he was only too +well aware that reproof was that paternal duty to which he was least +adequate. First, however, he had time to despatch Robina and Clement on +their mission to his partner, whose winter rheumatics had set in--to +receive young Lamb, laden with a pile of letters and papers, and +lastly, to be cooed over and stroked by Theodore, who curled himself up +at his feet in that perfect serenity that his presence always infused. + +At last Angela came in on tip-toe, looking immensely tall and lank, +with Clement's propensity for longitudinal growth, and the same +infantine smallness of feature, and much less brilliant colouring than +the others; but while his hair was as closely cropped as if he were +just out of a cell, hers was as long and as unmanageable as herself; +and she had moreover the beautiful large-pupilled, darkly-lashed, +mischievous blue eyes that belonged to Edgar, only now their lids +were swollen, and all the colour in her face centred in two great red +patches beneath them--a scarlet garibaldi over a very old brown skirt, +half-way up a long pair of grey legs, seeming to make the whole object +more deplorable. + +'You poor Angel!' exclaimed Felix, his heart more than ever melted; +'you look as if you had been crying all night. Why don't you come and +give me a kiss?' + +'I'll--I'll do anything you please, Felix, but I had rather not.' + +'But I do please! I want you,' said he, holding out his hand; so that +she was forced to come, touch his cheek with her lips, and submit to +a far heartier kiss. 'You are as cold as ice,' he added, trying to +capture the blue, chilly, long, sausage-like fingers, and warm them in +his grasp. + +'No, don't! it will only make my chilblains rage. Let me go, now you've +forgiven me for your own comfort.' + +'Forgiven you for my own comfort! I don't want to forgive you--' + +'Oh--h!' and the eyes disappeared, and the face puckered in unutterable +woe. + +'I haven't anything to forgive you, Angel.' + +'Oh, that's worse! when I've hurt you so terribly!' + +'_You_ didn't; you never meant it. Of course I never blamed you.' + +'Then,' said Angel, trying to get away her other hand, 'why did you +send for me to row me, for I don't call that forgiving.' + +'I heard you were unhappy.' + +'And did you think it would make me any happier to see you lying there +frowning with pain?' broke out Angela, with an angry sob. + +'If I frowned, it was not with pain, but because I don't know what to +make of you.' + +'I don't want to be made anything of!' she said pettishly. 'Wilmet told +me you wanted to talk to me. I suppose that meant she ordered you! So +now you've done it, let me go.' + +'My dear Angel, don't you see that I am just as anxious about you as +Wilmet can be? and when there is plainly something amiss--' + +'Oh, it's old Ful and Fen's character of me, then?' + +'It is, Angela. Perhaps it does seem taking an unfair advantage of you +to catch you now; but you see I so seldom get a chance of a talk with +any one; and I must do the best I can for you, you poor little ones, +who, I'm afraid, haven't even the faintest recollection of our father +and mother to help you.' + +'I remember mamma, but after she was ill,' said Angela, probably trying +not to be softened. 'But I don't think that has much to do with it. You +and Wilmet mind us as much, or more, than most people's born parents. +Yes, Wilmet worrits twice as much as any rational mother does.' + +'That's the very thing, Angel; parents can do the thing without +worrying.' + +'No, I didn't say you did,' said Angela; 'you never did till this +minute, and now you are _druv_ to it;' and she regarded him with a +certain fellow-feeling so comical, that she nearly made him laugh, +though he felt sad enough. + +'Have I neglected you then, Angel?' + +'Oh no; I think you do just as well as most fathers. You keep us all +going,' said Angela, considering; 'and you look after us and set us a +good example, as people say; and isn't that all that fathers have to +do?' + +'My poor little sister! you just show that I cannot be really like a +father to you.' + +'Would a father _do_ all the scolding?' asked Angela in an odd voice. + +'If we still had our own, you would be coming to him to help you, and +telling him freely what it is that makes things go wrong with you.' + +'I'm sure,' answered the girl, 'I'd just as soon tell you, Felix, if +I only knew; but there's only one thing that would do me any good, I +believe.' + +'And that?' + +'If I could only be a Trappist.' + +'A what?' + +'A Trappist, or one of those _Sepolte_ nuns, that never see anybody, +and can't talk to their relations. Oh! I wish I was old enough to turn +Roman Catholic! and then wouldn't I go and cut off this horrible hair, +that is the plague and torment of my life, and never be naughty again!' + +'Which do you want to be rid of most--your hair or your relations?' +asked Felix, half diverted, half dismayed and wholly at a loss. + +But Angela had passed the boundary of earnest now, and went on more +from the heart. 'If I could but be in a real strict nunnery, it would +be so nice! It would always be church. Oh! if church could but last +always!' + +He was more puzzled than ever at the intent yearning look that had +changed the face. 'You could not keep up. It would lose effect,' he +said. + +'I don't know. Lots of girls much better than I--Bobbie herself--don't +like long services, and get tired, but I don't. I'm safe then; I'm +happy altogether. I seem to get wings inside--I could go on singing for +ever. I don't want to be bad; but the instant I go out, I can't live +without fun; and so they think me a horrid false hypocrite--but I'm +not! Only unless I get shut up somewhere, I don't know what will become +of me.' + +'You must try to make your life out of church suit your life in +church,' said Felix, much puzzled how to answer. + +'I would, only I can't be half-and-half, and wishy-washy.' + +'I don't understand.' + +'Don't you? Why, if I have fun, I like to have it real fun. I can't +be always drawing it mild! It is no real fun if one is to be always +thinking about who will be vexed, and what's lady-like, and all that +stuff!' + +'But that's what life in this world is made of.' + +'I know it is; so I hate life in this world, unless one could just +have no conscience at all;' then, as she caught his anxious eye, she +went on, trying to rattle, but with tears in her voice, and submitting +to let him warm her hands all the time, 'Felix, you'd better let me +go into a Sisterhood. It is the only chance for me! Thinking about +being a horrid governess makes me wicked. When I'm good I do long for +a Sisterhood; and when I'm bad I want to get some great rich duke to +marry me, and let me have no end of horses, and go to the races and +the opera--and I don't suppose he will ever come. And I sup_pose_ you +are all too dull and tiresome to let me get to be a public singer! No, +don't tell me to put it out of my head, for it is what I should like +best--best of all!' + +'Better than the duke?' + +'Oh yes! for I think he would be in the way--Felix! _do_ let me be a +Sister! You see it is the only chance.' + +'I can't, Angel; they would not accept a Sister at your age.' + +'Then let me think about it _really_, Felix. Promise that I may be when +I am old enough.' + +'It is impossible to promise that; but I do not think I am likely to +hinder you, if you then wish it, and it seems right.' + +'I wish you would promise me. Look here, Felix,' and the eyes assumed +a deep yearning expression; 'I always did think that if I had a +dedication, like Clement, I could be as good as he is. But I don't +think anything else would put the duke or the opera out of my head.' + +'My dear Angel,' and Felix's eyes grew soft too, 'I could not wish +anything better for you than to be such another as Sister Constance, +but I do not know how you could be dedicated. Even Clement is not; he +could change his mind before he is three-and-twenty. It all depends on +how he goes on.' + +'And if I go on well, will you let me look to it?' + +'As far as may be right.' + +'Only then what is the use of my going to this school, if I am not to +turn governess? It only makes me worse.' + +'No, Angela. It would not be right to stop your education. You must +have the means of maintaining yourself. It would be against my duty to +hinder that. And remember--some Sisterhoods require an endowment. You +would not wish to be a burthen. You may have to work to raise means +for admission; and if you are set to teach, you will need all you are +learning now.' + +'May I think I am preparing?' + +'Yes.' + +'I will, I will--I mean, I will try,' said Angela. 'O Felix! I do like +you now I find you don't want me to be respectable. No, don't say +something grave and prosy, for I _do_ like you now; and never mind +about not being one's father, for I don't believe anybody could be +better to me.' And she put her face down to his and kissed him as she +used when she was a baby girl; then ran away on thinking she heard some +one coming. + +'So,' thought Felix, as he raised himself on his sound elbow, 'the +upshot of it is that I don't want her to be respectable! I hope to +goodness she won't take to being like Tina--though I don't know why I +should either! Poor child! I'll write to Audley about her when I can. +And here comes the dear little Cherry for her hard day's work.' + +With his dictation and superintendence, Geraldine was quite equal to +the Pursuivant's Friday requirements; and altogether this day of rest +and leisure was welcome. The sisters were much less anxious about the +sore throat than if it had been in the shop! and indeed it was nearly +well, and no obstacle to his being talked to and amused, to the +general enjoyment, in the rare pleasure of having him at their mercy. +In the afternoon came a message--'The Miss Pearsons' love, and if she +could leave Mr. Underwood, would Miss Underwood step up?' Such messages +were not infrequent, and this was supposed to spring from a desire to +know the particulars of the accident; so that on her return Wilmet was +greeted with the inquiry whether she was considered responsible for the +tea-kettle's misbehaviour, since she had been kept in so long. + +'No,' said Wilmet, gravely. 'Run away, little ones!' + +Stella alone accepted the epithet; but Wilmet was too much absorbed in +her tidings to look about in the fire-lit twilight for further victims. + +'The Miss Pearsons are very much troubled by their letters from St +Heliers,' she said. 'Alice Knevett is actually married.' + +'To Edgar?' Angela sprang up with a bound. 'Oh, what fun!' + +'No, indeed,' Wilmet replied in her most repressive tone. 'It is to a +Frenchman of the name of Tanneguy, in the wine trade.' + +'The abominable girl!' cried Angela at the top of her indignant voice. +'A Frenchman! I'll never believe in any one again.' + +'Yes, Angela,' said Wilmet; 'it is a lesson, indeed, of what tricks and +subterfuges--' + +'Never mind that, Mettie,' disrespectfully broke in Cherry, who had +quietly moved a curtain so as to cast a shade over Felix's face. 'Tell +us about it. Who writes?' + +Wilmet told that Major Knevett, in a storm of fury, had written to +the aunts that the whole affair had been so secretly conducted, that +neither he nor his wife had guessed at it until his daughter's sudden +disappearance, only sending home a letter to announce her marriage to +M. Achille Tanneguy, with whom she had embarked for Havre, and given an +address at Pau, where her husband was concerned in a wine agency. Major +Knevett had then found out that she had been in the constant habit of +meeting this Tanneguy in the garden of their next neighbour, which +joined to their own; and that she had entirely eluded the vigilance of +'her second mother,' who had, however, never ceased to warn and watch +her; but nothing had been capable of curing her of the coquetry and +intrigue, with which in his passion he accused Bexley of inspiring her. + +'Too true.' The words were breathed on the back of a sigh suppressed +with difficulty. + +'Nonsense, Felix,' said Wilmet; 'It was in her before, or she could not +have so carried it on here. I am sure it had gone on at her horrible +school!' + +'What has she done about Edgar?' asked Clement. + +'The aunts doubt whether she has done anything.--Children, you ought to +be getting ready for tea;' then when Robin and Angel had obeyed this +very broad hint--'I would not say so before them, but they believe that +there is a sort of excuse in the unhappiness of her home.' + +'Of course,' said an almost grateful voice from the pillow. + +'Ever since Edgar was there in the summer,' said Wilmet, 'she has been +doubly watched and teased and scolded. Nothing she could do was right. +The aunts heard from her last a fortnight ago, very miserable, and +entreating them to believe that whatever might happen, she was driven +to it by the unbearable wretchedness of home.' + +'Do you call that an excuse, Wilmet?' exclaimed Clement. 'Is the +privilege of suffering to be made an excuse for treachery?' + +'Much Clement knows of the privilege of suffering,' said Felix, low +and quietly; but Geraldine detected so much of that privilege in his +voice, that she longed to clear the room for him; but though she rose +to set the example, and laid her hand on Clement's arm, there was no +preventing his testimony from being delivered. + +'Personally I do not know it; but I do not understand Wilmet's lowering +her standard to excuse disobedience and unfaithfulness.' + +'Come along, Clem,' entreated Geraldine; 'it is all most sad and +grievous, but the more we say about it the worse we make it;' and she +succeeded in dragging him out without a defensive reply from Wilmet. + +Presently she was sought out by Wilmet herself, to say, 'Cherry, do you +know, there's Felix looking as pale as when he fainted yesterday.' + +She could believe it; but she only ventured to ask, 'Did he say +anything?' + +'No, only to answer "No," when I asked if I hurt him as I was _doing_ +his arm. Cherry, can you tell me, or do you know--does this touch him +for himself?' + +Cherry could only look up with eyes swimming. + +'How blind I have been! Oh! if I had not come and told it so abruptly, +before every one!' + +'Perhaps he liked the unconsciousness better!' + +'Were you in his confidence, or is it guess?' + +'Guessing at first; but we had a very few words about it when he came +home from consulting Dr. Lee last summer.' + +'Then it was that wretched child that hurt his health?' + +'So we thought. Dr. Lee asked him if there was not something on his +mind.' + +'The little wretch! Oh! if I had never asked her here! she has done +more harm than she is worth!' + +'He had got quite well,' said Cherry; 'and now he has his cough back +again. O Mettie!' + +'No,' said Wilmet, 'it is not _that_ cough. It is only a chance cold; +it is nearly gone. Besides, it cannot be the same as her first treason +to him must have been.' + +'That's true,' said Cherry, mournfully. + +'After all,' said Wilmet, 'it _is_ a happy escape for both our boys, if +they can but feel it, poor fellows--but oh! to have been so deceived. +And how ignorant one is--even living in the same house!' And Wilmet had +a hearty fit of crying. + +'And Edgar!' sighed Cherry. + +'You must write. They all come to you, Cherry,' she added wistfully. +'You shall sit with dear Felix this evening, and I will keep the others +away.' + +This ordinance was carried out, but with no result as to conversation; +for Felix's distress took the form of great tenderness as to the manner +in which the blow was to fall upon Edgar. Nothing would satisfy him +but Geraldine's writing immediately, under his own eye. Of course +he ascribed all his own feelings to his brother; and though Cherry +doubted, and could have written much better as from herself, she could +but patiently write and re-write, when poor Felix found--as he did +with everything that cost him consideration--that he was falling into +his leading-article style; while all the time she saw him becoming more +excited and flushed, till at last Wilmet came in, put an end to it, and +sent her to bed, almost brokenhearted for both brothers, and struggling +against her own hatred to the mischievous little witch who had played +with their hearts. + +She took care that the letter should go by the earliest post, partly to +ensure Edgar's getting it without the Sunday's delay, but still more +that it might not be within Felix's power to recall for two whole days. +He just inquired after it, and finding it was gone, said no more. He +was not so anxious to get up as the day before; his arm had come to a +more painful stage, and he had had a feverish sleepless night; so that +he looked so worn and depressed, that Mr. Rugg concluded that he had +been imprudent, and scolded him accordingly. + +When Geraldine came in to put the finishing strokes to the Pursuivant, +she found him so silent and dreamy, that she did nearly the whole on +her own responsibility; till at last he suddenly roused himself, begged +her pardon, and gave his whole mind to the dictation of the political +summary; then became dreamy again, and presently fell into a long sound +sleep, after which he looked, even to the anxious eyes of his sisters, +much better, and began to talk of getting up for the evening. + +At about five o'clock, just as Wilmet was laying his things ready for +him, the door was opened, and there entered first a perfume of tobacco, +the next a lively voice--'What, Blunderbore, lying in state in Froggy's +four-poster! Whom have you been getting into hot water with? Is there +much the matter?' he added in a lower tone, as Wilmet kissed him. + +'Not much,' said Felix; 'it is nothing but a scald in a disabling place +on my arm.' + +'The tea-kettle ought to know its friends better. I met Jem Bruce and +heard of it, so I ran down to see how much of you was boiled. I looked +into the shop, but Master Lance was too important to vouchsafe me a +word. Are you sure it is only your arm, old fellow? you look baddish.' + +'I'm well enough,' said Felix, shifting his head into the shadow of +the curtain; and Wilmet, perceiving that he wished to have it out at +once, left them together. 'Edgar, do you know?' said Felix, earnestly. + +'I scent a crisis in the air, and am doubting whether the Pursuivant is +up a tree, or Wilmet's engineer turned out no go.' + +'You have not had Cherry's letter?' + +'No. Don't torment yourself to beat about the bush. I'd stand anything +rather than see you look like that.' + +'Have you heard from Jersey?' + +'Oh! It is that, is it? I believe it has lasted twelve calendar months, +and that is as much as is reasonable to expect. Little humbugging puss! +What has she taken up with?' + +'Had you no idea that she had fallen in with--with a Frenchman?' + +'The beggar! How far has it gone? or is it only a report from the old +cats of aunts?' + +'It is too certain.' + +'Well, what is it? I suppose she hardly commissioned you to give me my +_congé?_' + +'I fear that she commissioned no one. Harsh treatment seems to have +driven her to desperation. She was married privately, and has written +from France to announce it.' + +Edgar gave a long whistle, then turned round and laid his hand on his +brother's, saying with a short laugh, 'Cool and easy! Well, it was +pretty sport; and this conclusion is unique for simplicity and saving +of trouble. Dear old Fee, here's that pulse of yours going like a young +lady's in a field with a mad bull. Have you been working yourself up +all day to expect me to hang myself, or shoot the frog-eater? Didn't I +always tell you that only the ancient chivalry of the Pursuivant could +take the affair _au grand sérieux?_' + +'Very well,' said Felix in a somewhat smothered voice, 'it is your +affair, and I must accept modern customs. I am glad you understood one +another so well.' + +'Spoken with grave irony worthy of the heavy father, your laudable +model. Dear old chap, you'll be better now.' + +There was something strange in the half-reverent, half-pitying tone of +the tall powerful young man, as, with a sneer on his curling lip, but +a tear in his softened eye, he stooped, pushed back the fair hair, and +kissed the face which in its wistfulness looked younger than his own +(having moreover the hirsuteness of only two days instead of two years). + +Felix fulfilled his intention of getting up, though he went no farther +than his own fire-side, where soon after tea he was joined by Clement, +looking very serious, and armed with Bible, Prayer-book, and copy-book. +He was to take Felix's Sunday class the next day; but whereas he had +done so for the two months of the Ewmouth visit in the summer, there +seemed no special necessity for a consultation, which in fact proved +to be a rehearsal of the morrow's lesson, with various instructions to +Felix himself, on what Clement called 'Church Teaching,' in oblivion +that the simple truths of religion are as much Church teaching as the +distinctive doctrines of his own set. + +As vehement laughter pealed across the passage, Felix ventured to +suggest that something was going on there. + +'Yes,' said Clement; 'they were beginning some game, but I distrust +Edgar's wit.' + +'I don't think holding aloof always good.' + +'When one's presence is a stimulus to irreverence?' + +'Because you present yourself as a butt, instead of laughing with him, +and giving things a turn.' + +'Impossible, where one feels deeply.' + +Felix believed it was impossible in the present case, and resigned +himself, though pricking up his ears at the ripples of mirth and the +shrieks of ecstatic uncontrollable laughter that reached his ear; until +at last Lance burst in, laughing so that he could hardly stand upright, +and bringing a paper in his hand for Felix's benefit. + +It had been the game of adjectives, and Edgar, the conductor, had +audaciously made its framework the Pursuivant's report of the +valedictory sermon that Mr. Mowbray Smith was to preach on the morrow. +It was a most comical combination, so well had Edgar's outline hit off +the editor's desire to make the best of it, coupled with personalities +that neither Mr. Smith would have preached nor he reported unless they +had been in the palace of truth; the whole rendered the more grotesque +by the hap-hazard adjectives that seasoned the discourse, sometimes +deliciously inapposite, sometimes fantastically appropriate. An +audience had stolen behind Lance to taste its sweets a second time; and +the drollery, the _vraisemblance_, and touches of malice, quite choked +him as he read, and overpowered Felix with mirth, all the more at the +shocked countenance that Clement preserved throughout, while in the +background there was a renewed chuckling, roaring, and rolling, at the +more brilliant sallies. + +The whole family had been viewing Edgar with more or less of awe, pity, +and curiosity, as an injured hero, but had been beguiled into the +maddest mirth, though as much disgusted with themselves for giggling +as with him for making them giggle. Wilmet herself had succumbed, and +Cherry had been in an almost hysterical transport of laughter, till her +jaws ached, and her eyes were weak; and she was so exhausted that she +could hardly crawl into Felix's room to wish him good-night, and then +scarcely durst speak to him lest she should burst into tears; while +as to the younger ones, it was altogether delightful to them at the +moment, and they regarded the transactions of February as a dream. + +When they met the next morning, Edgar professed that he could not +venture on sitting under Mr. Smith's actual sermon, but should go to +Minsterham, to pay his respects to Wilmet's future relations, if there +were a feasible train. + +'Yes,' said Clement, 'there's one in twenty minutes, which brings one +in time for the Cathedral.' + +'Dr. Wilmet is engrossed with a distinguished patient. Eh? Come along +then, Lance; I must have some one to present me.' + +Lance gave a joyful leap; but Wilmet interposed, 'Indeed, Lance, it is +hardly safe. Remember how bad your head was after Christmas Day.' + +'It's my own head, and I may do as I like with it!' + +'That's just what you can't now. If you were knocked up to-morrow--as +you certainly would be, between the railroad and the organ--' + +'That would be what you _may_ call a fix,' observed Edgar. 'Knocked up +between a railway and an organ! What a position!' + +'It is quite true, Edgar,' said Wilmet, the more severely for the +laughter of Lance and Angel. 'Lance knows very well that one of his +headaches perfectly disables him. Felix would not be content to leave +Mr. Lamb alone in the shop; and all the good of these three days would +be undone.' + +'Oh--h! it was a pillar of the state I was asking?' said Edgar. 'Is +your head really so ticklish, Lance?' as the boy made a gesture of +disgust. + +'Don't persuade him, Edgar. He ought not to do it,' said Wilmet, in her +blunt authoritative way. + +Lance kicked the heel of his boot against the floor, and said, 'Don't I +pity Jack Harewood, that's all!' + +'Well, a couple of ducks instead of a goose--Bob and Angel, you've no +heads.--Come! I'm too modest to face the Librarian alone, much less the +red-headed daughters.' + +The two girls eagerly looked at their sister. + +'"Gorgons and hydras and chimæras dire!"' ejaculated Edgar. 'If I were +you, W.W., I'd get up a little more charitably disposed towards my +brother on a Sunday morning!' + +'It is Angela's wildness that I am afraid of,' said Wilmet. + +'She sha'n't go near a tea-kettle,' said Edgar. 'Put on your hats, +chick-a-biddies, if you wish to catch the Cathedral.' + +'May we? O Wilmet, pray!' entreated Robina. + +'I will see what Felix says.' + +'A graceful form of shifting the obloquy of the negative,' muttered +Edgar, as Wilmet disappeared. + +'Felix will decide as he thinks good,' said Robina with dignity. + +'As _she_ thinks good, you mean,' said Edgar. 'Well, I wonder how you +all contrive to stand it. I couldn't, I know, even for a quiet life.' + +'You've not been broken in, you see,' said Lance, trying to answer with +nonchalance. + +'No, I only see a specimen occasionally. What has she been doing to you +this morning, that has spoilt your appetite, and brought you under her +thumb?' + +'Don't, Edgar!' burst out Lance, starting up and running away. + +'No, Edgar,' said Geraldine; 'it is not kind. It _is_ hard enough for +him as it is, and it is all for Felix's sake.' + +Luckily, Clement had the wisdom not to speak, and therefore Cherry +obtained a more reasonable answer. + +'Well, that is a plea, Cherry; but it does rile me to see a fellow +like that dragooned over, and thrown away, to bolster up a wretched +little business such as this. It's a mistake, depend upon it, to let +the demon of present necessity engulf another of the best of us. My +squibs are conscientious, I assure you.' + +'I don't care for her!' exclaimed Bernard: 'I'll go with you whenever +you please, Edgar!' + +'Well, Wilmet, under what decent mask do you veil your stony heart?' +asked Edgar, as she re-entered. + +'Felix sees no reason against their going,' said Wilmet, rather +gloomily. 'Only, Edgar, pray don't encourage Angela to get into one of +her states. You don't know what they are.' + +For Felix had decided it against her. 'Yes, let them go. I don't +believe he can bear to face any one in the town, and the charge of them +will be a safe-guard.' + +'But Angela?' + +'My dear, the worst that can happen with her is that she should be a +little boisterous with the Harewoods;' and as Wilmet showed that the +prospect was unpleasing, 'that is better than what he could do alone, +or with Lance.' + +'Yes, I was resolved to stop Lance. I don't know whether to tell you, +but I think you ought to know.' + +'What?' asked Felix anxiously, + +'Last night at half-past eleven--just when I had finished your hand--I +smelt smoke. So I went down to see what was on fire and--' + +'You found Edgar smoking in the kitchen.' + +'If it had been only Edgar, I should not have minded, but it was Lance +too. I do think you ought to give him a warning, Felix, for they would +do nothing but laugh at me. Edgar would only go into transports about +my hair, and say how long it was. I don't think I was ever so nearly in +a passion in my life! If he is teaching Lance those ways--' + +'He is not Lance's first instructor in smoke,' said Felix; 'I believe +your own Harewoods were that, Mettie.' + +'Now you are laughing too, Felix! I don't know how you can. It seems to +me that it is all up with us if Edgar is to lead away Lance; and Lance +was not up this morning for Church--the first time I have known him +miss.' + +'Well,' said Felix, rather hastily, 'it is of no use pulling reins too +tight. Don't keep those poor children waiting, or you'll make them all +too late.' + +Wilmet had to obey, with the fretted sense that she had not been met +as she expected, and that her alarms were injudiciously made light of; +and Geraldine meantime tried to explain Edgar's bitter mischief as pain +of heart; but it grieved her, whatever it was, and her spirits sank +the more for the physical exhaustion of yesterday's violent laughter. +But Edgar, looking in to see whether the little girls were ready, and +finding her alone, leaning against the window disconsolately, came up, +and putting his arm round her, said, 'So I scandalize you, Gerald? I +can't give my carcase to be battened on by the ghools, were they the +best family ghools in the world.' + +'Edgar!' + +'Besides, you know all this was diligently fostered by old +Blunderbore's duteous intermeddling; and as it was not my fault that I +furnished a spectacle for gods and men _then_, I _will_ not now.' + +'Only, Edgar, if you _do_ care for Felix, do not, pray do not spoil his +comfort in Lance!' + +'If I don't, nature will, Cherry. That boy is not the stuff to make a +journeyman stationer, at Wilmet's orders. Oh! if you could but have +seen her, when she surprised us with our pipes last night! I couldn't +get her to stand still, or she would have been a perfect study for +Antigone. She is a magnificent creature with her hair down!--Ha! little +kids, we must scamper for it for the train!' + +And off he went, leaving Geraldine not much less unhappy for his +apology. The long day alone with Felix was a better consolation. She +could not leave the house in such cold as the present; and Felix was +dressed as soon as breakfast was over, and came into the drawing-room, +where after their home service, and when he had proved his freedom from +cough by reading a grand sermon of Newman's, his reserve gave way in +the Sunday calm, and he asked, 'Did Edgar say anything to you, Chérie?' + +She repeated the saying about the ghools, as it was evidently meant for +circulation among those respectable parties. + +Felix smiled, and said, 'I thought so,' and told in return Edgar's +defiant reception of the tidings. + +'I don't think,' said Cherry, 'that I was ever more uncomfortable than +through his fun. It felt like laughing-gas; it forced one on, and yet +it was so unreal. He wants to treat it on the hawk-gone-down-the-wind +principle.' + +'It is the gallant and the wise one, Cherry. So you ought to admire it +more than you seem to do.' + +'It cannot be wise if it be not true. That is, if it ever went deep +with him.' + +'He never meant it to go deep,' said Felix; 'but the very extravagance +of his defiance makes me afraid it took stronger hold than he knew, and +that the shock may be very bad for him.' + +'But she--' and Cherry stopped, afraid to vex him by speaking of +Alice's incapacity to raise a character. + +He calmly finished. 'She was not all we thought her. True, poor child; +but an attachment worthily and steadily maintained, as for all his +nonsense this has been, must be well for a man; and a disruption of +this kind must be a breaking-up--whether he treat it lightly or no--of +foundations such as one who seems to have little besides can ill afford +to stand.' + +It was the first time that the secret anxiety had been openly named, +and Cherry clasped her hands. + +'That is my chief anxiety,' resumed Felix. 'Otherwise the end of this +matter is of course an advantage.' + +'If she could use him so, she was not worth constancy,' said Cherry. + +'No!' It was a decided No, though it was followed by 'As they had made +her. Poor child! She was full of sweet womanly gifts, and might have +been made everything excellent; but Edgar estimated her more truly +than I did. There was always a certain spirit of intrigue, and want of +substance, or she could never have so treated him.' + +'Entirely unfeeling.' + +'Or rather, too light to appreciate feeling otherwise than as a tribute +to herself, or to dwell on the absent,' said Felix sadly. 'I now +believe that she was conscious of--of my liking. Indeed, I am sure of +it; I only tried to hope otherwise, though it was easy to forgive her +preference for one so much more attractive. There was no harm in that. +But as things stood with him, to throw him over without a word shows +an essential want of comprehension of what was due to others.' + +'She might at least have written through her aunts.' + +'With a right sense of honour she would; but I believe she had no +education in such things. Poor little thing! I hope the Frenchman will +do well by her.' + +'Felix dear, may I ask you--this is not the pain that it was before?' + +'No' said Felix, looking steadily at her, with his chin on his hand. +'No, certainly not. I was greatly shocked and upset at first, but +not personally; though of course I must always feel towards her as +I never can for any other woman;' then, at Cherry's start, 'I mean +that the woman who fills one's life with a certain glory and radiance +of--possibility, never can be the same as others to one, even though it +lasted ever so short a time, and was ever so great a mistake. But that +does not mean wishing to begin it over again.' + +'Not with her.' + +'It is absurd to make auguries or protests,' said Felix quietly; 'but +from a boy I knew well that that sort of thing could hardly be for me, +and I am content to have returned to that conviction. Even ending, as +it has done, the year of--of--perhaps fools' paradise was well worth +having, but I hope it will serve me for life. If I can keep faithful to +what I once thought Alice, it will be best for all of us. So don't be +anxious about me, my Whiteheart. The trouble of last winter was over +long ago, and the zest and spirit of life came back with strength and +work. I am quite as happy now as I was before--happier, I think.' + +'Then this need not make you ill,' breathed Cherry, aware that she was +saying something foolish. Indeed, Felix laughed a little. + +'Hardly,' he said playfully. 'Remember, Cherry, what a predicament I +was in--obliged to act the heavy father, as Edgar calls it, when I was +so much concerned myself, and with him telling me I was a fool for my +pains, as I believe I was. Besides, it was a good honest cold I caught +at Brompton, in a very sharp east wind. If you insist on going any +further, you will become a family ghool, Cherry.' She was obliged to +laugh; and he continued, 'No, don't be anxious. This was an opportune +scald. I should have found the day's work severe, if I had not had +time to face this thoroughly. Such a quiet day last spring would have +been worth a quart of cod-liver oil later.' + +Therewith the pattering of many feet resounded on the frost-bound +street; and the church-goers returned, averring that Mr. Smith's +sermon had been like enough to Edgar's to render it difficult to keep +their countenances, and to make them rejoice in Angela's absence. Of +this Felix might judge for himself, for not long after the preacher +himself arrived, offering the MS. for an abstract for the paper, all +unconscious of the second-sight that had reported it already. + +There he lingered, trying to talk, as if he wanted to say something +that would not come out; and at last he was only driven from the field +by the return of Edgar and the girls, who came in open-mouthed and +eager out of the cold. + +Edgar had had a great deal of fun with Mrs. Harewood, and had on his +side fascinated all the family; so that Robina confided to Lance that +she thought Grace Harewood ought to be warned, for Edgar went on with +her like 'You know what.' + +'Make yourself easy,' said Lance; 'Grace and Lucy know all about that +better than any girl in Minsterham. What did old Bill say? and what +anthem did you have?' + +Felix and Geraldine spent the Evening Service hour in very different +fashion from the morning; for Edgar was their companion, and took the +opportunity of making the remonstrance he had threatened about Lance +and his prospects. He had never been _fine_ in Alda's way, and had +not her feelings about losing caste; but whereas his politics were +diametrically opposed to those of the Pursuivant, he thought Felix +ranging himself, according to his essential Blunderbore nature, on the +side of the old giants destined to destruction, and wasting talent and +substance on a hopeless and thankless cause; but he knew his brother to +be past remonstrance, and to be perfectly well aware that this was the +losing side. Only Edgar entered a strong protest against Lance being, +as he said, sacrificed just to make Wilmet's pot boil, and bolster up +the old Pursuivant a little longer. + +'You can't be more averse to it than I,' said Felix. 'If he could only +go back to his work, he might yet get to the University.' + +'Pshaw! that's not what I meant. He is not the stuff; you were the only +one of us that had the making of a scholar. Now Lance has got just the +taste and the talent that were baulked in my case by old Tom's sticking +me down to hides and tallow, when I ought to have been cultivating +them.' + +'There's this difference,' said Geraldine; 'Cousin Thomas stuck you, +but Lance sticks himself.' + +'Under moral compulsion, eh?' + +'The compulsion was on me,' said Felix. 'I was really afraid to deny +him; the idleness, and the fretting over it, were doing his head so +much harm.' + +'That's all very well. No harm done; but to let him go on here in the +stodge is a bit of short-sightedness I can't understand. He'll never be +happy in it; and you'd better let him go before it is too late.' + +'Go? but how, and where? His health is not fit for study, and his voice +ought to rest for another year.' + +Then Edgar explained his own plan. Lance had already considerable +musical knowledge, and ability such that his way in the musical world +would be secure. Amateur as he was himself, Edgar had such a footing +there that he could secure an introduction for his brother, who while +learning would be able to maintain himself; and either by violin or +voice, if not by original composition, win name, fame, and fortune, in +a few years. A manager of high reputation Edgar mentioned as likely to +accept and train the boy; and he added that for his own part he would +watch over the little fellow; and he added, with a look in his eyes +that went to Felix's heart, 'And nothing would do me so much good _now_ +as the charge of him.' + +'That I _do_ believe, Edgar,' said Felix warmly; 'but it would be +throwing the helve after the hatchet in a way you can't expect of a +heavy father.' + +'Exactly what I knew you would say. You veil it a little more; but we +poor Bohemians don't meet with much more charity from you than from our +stately sister. Reprobates all--eh?' + +'Living a life of temptation enough to make me choose no one to be +drawn into it that I can prevent. Have you been talking to Lance about +it?' + +'Well, it rose out of last night's talk to him. Not that he gave in to +it. He's loyal to you to the back-bone, and all importance too with the +charge of the shop. Besides, that cathedral--it's a sort of mother's +milk to him, not out of his mouth.' + +'That's a good hearing!' said Felix, with a rather defiant smile. + +'But it won't last,' said Edgar; 'the drudgery and sameness will tell; +and you'd better give in with a good grace in time, Blunderbore.' + +'You've been persuading him,' said Cherry reproachfully. + +'Well, Cherry, I'm not in the habit of confounding virtue with dulness; +and when the little chap talked to me of the musical doings I had been +after, I felt the sin and shame of getting a nightingale to make a +barn-door fowl of.' + +'I can only tell you,' said Felix, with more annoyance than he usually +betrayed, 'that if you took your nightingale to the din of London, and +the excitement of a concert, you'd have him with inflammation on the +brain before the week was out. Why, I sent him over to see his doctor +at Minsterham, and he says it would be murder to send him back to his +books and the choir for this next quarter at least; and if cathedral +music will not do for him, judge if London concerts would!' + +'And did you think I wanted to carry off your deputy right hand while +your own is hung up in a bag, you jealous old giant? Why, I proposed to +devote myself to the Pursuivant to-morrow!' + +'Thank you; I am afraid it would be taken for the Tribune.' + +'As if I couldn't hit off the complacent, gentlemanly, stick-in-the-mud +style for squiredom! I'll write you a leader--on what shall it be, +municipalities, or the smut in wheat?--that you shall not know from +your own.' + +To wish Edgar away was impossible, and yet how feel willing that Lance +should be under such influence? Withal there was the difficulty of +showing Wilmet that to fret Lance with restrictions was a dangerous +thing at such a moment. She would yield to Felix's desire that she +would not interfere with that orgie over the kitchen fire--which he +regarded all the time with as much dread as herself--but she thought +his concession weak: and Lance himself was perilously like Edgar in all +his bright pleasant qualities, talents, and tastes, so that the two had +an enjoyment in one another's company that it was painful to regard +with anxiety. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +DON GIOVANNI. + + 'Towered cities please us then, + And the busy hum of men. + * * * * * * * * * + And ever against eating cares + Lap me in soft Lydian airs. + * * * * * * * * * + With wanton heed, and giddy cunning, + The melting voice through mazes running.' + _Milton._ + + +The Monday brought business instead of sentiment. Not only was the +Pursuivant to be provided for, but Felix had on his mind the year's +accounts. No one had ever had Froggatt and Underwood's Christmas bill +later than the second week in January--and no one should. Besides, +he was very anxious to balance his books this critical year, and was +unwilling to employ a professional accountant for what, as far as head +went, he could do perfectly well. His willing helpers began to perceive +what they had never realized before--his practised power of quickness +and accuracy. The Pursuivant was quite work enough for Cherry, even if +she could have borne the strain of application to accounts; Lancelot +was needed in the shop; and Wilmet and Clement found themselves whirled +on beyond their power of speed. Robina proved the most efficient +helper; for arithmetic had been so well taught by Miss Fennimore, +that she understood with less trouble to herself and Felix than any +of the rest. They laughed to find that five had been about what he +usually did singly; and that he had all the time been the main-spring +of them all--referee to Lance and Cherry, arranging for the others +in pencil with his left hand, breaking off to direct one, verify for +another, explain to the third, and often distracting them by whistling +to Theodore, amusing Stella, or gossiping with Edgar--all with ease +and without hurry, as if it came naturally to him. 'Julius Caesar was +nothing to him!' laughed Geraldine, as she perceived the ability and +power that she had never ascribed to him before, because he had not +Edgar's brilliance. As to Edgar, though he had been trained for a +merchant's clerk, he professed to have forgotten all his training: +he would only proffer help to the editorial business, and there put +out Cherry's arrangements more than he helped her; and finding every +one much too busy to loiter, he took his departure early on Tuesday +morning, leaving an unsatisfactory sense that he had not been comforted +nor made welcome enough--a sense of regret and yet of relief. + +The result of the balance was that the Pursuivant was a less profitable +investment than hitherto, but by no means a loss; while the Tribune +seemed to have reached a present level of circulation, where it +might rest till some further excitement. There would henceforth be +a hand-to-hand struggle; but the Pursuivant still held its own. And +as to the private budget, the household _had_ pulled through without +exceeding their income, when all the demands of the year were answered. +Moreover, Fulbert had been appointed to a well-paid office, and had +sent home twenty-five pounds, begging that Lance might have the +preference in the disposal; and the whole family were very proud of +this, the first substantial help that had been sent in by any of the +brothers--Lance proudest of all, perhaps, though he declared that it +was no good to him, and begged that it might clear Bernard's first year. + +Lance had said nothing all this time of Edgar's invitations, and no +one was sure whether that unscrupulous person had made them to him in +person or not, till one dismal foggy afternoon at the end of the week. +Felix, though still helpless as to his hand and arm, had resumed his +place down-stairs; and Cherry was sitting in the window, to get light +to pursue her work of unpicking a dove-coloured French merino dress, a +legacy of Alda's, which was to be dyed and made up again for Angela. It +was a business that she disliked--it always seemed to bring the sense +of grinding to her mind--and this particular dress seemed to carry in +every fold the remembrance of some jar between the wearer and herself; +nor was she exhilarated by the accompaniment, for Robina was dutifully +puzzling out on the worn old piano a long difficult sonatina--a sort of +holiday task, which lay heavy on the child's mind, and seemed to Cherry +a mere labyrinth of confused sounds. The dull day, the dull work, and +weary clash up to the place where Robina never failed to stumble, and +then go back to the beginning with no better success, wore Cherry's +spirits. She began to feel as if this were like her life--all mist, all +toil, all din, everything fair and lovely closed up from her, nothing +left but the yearning knowledge that it existed, and that everybody +could enjoy it except herself--she, who felt such capacity for making +the most of it. The sense of imprisoned tedium grew so strong at last, +that she was ready to cry out to stop the only thing she could stop, +when she was sensible that a very different hand was on the keys--no +confused or uncertain touch, but the harmony was being read off, and +the stammering spelling work was exchanged for clear, true, feeling +discourse. She needed not to look round to know that Lance was standing +behind Robina; but presently he came to a dull discordant note, and +broke off with a growl of disgust, 'What, another gone!' + +'Didn't you know that?' + +'No; I can't bear to touch the wretched old thing, it makes me sick!' + +'I wish we could learn to tune it.' + +'Poulter did show me once, but it's no good. It is just as makeshift +and disgusting as all the rest of it!' + +'You've got a head-ache, Lance.' + +'No, I haven't. Felix has been at me, too.' + +'What! he sent you up?' + +'Ay;' and as Robina sat down on a low stool, he threw himself on the +floor, with his head on her lap, delivering himself of a howling yawn. + +'Why did he send you up?' as she stroked his hair back from his temples. + +'Oh, it has been an intolerable bother! All the samples of +writing-paper have somehow been and gone and got into the wrong +drawers, and Mr. Underwood has been in no end of a state of mind--quite +ferocious; and Lamb and I have been sorting and struggling to get 'em +right, till at last I didn't know fancy pink from widow's deepest +affliction; and Felix, by way of the most cutting thing he could do to +me, orders me up-stairs!' + +'I am so sorry! It must have been Lamb's doing.' + +'No: he's much too sober-sided. It was mine, I'm sure, one day when I +was hating it all a little worse than usual.' + +'Hating it all! O Lance! I thought you got on so well!' + +'A nice sort of getting on! I know when it was. There were those two +Miss Bayneses--out at Upham--came in with some fad about note-paper, +made a monstrous fuss; but they are very pretty--something like that +girl at Stoneborough. So I wrote up to Scott's--took no end of trouble. +Scott had to cut it on purpose--wouldn't do less than a ream--and after +all, when it came down, my young ladies just take one quire of it, +turn everything over again, never say one word of thanks, but stand +chattering away to an ape of a cousin that came in with them. I was in +such a wax, that I believe I jumbled up the paper when they'd gone, +and tumbled it all over again; and it has never got the better of it, +though I always meant to set it to rights.' + +'Well, I think it served you right, if you only did it because they +were pretty!' + +'It wasn't altogether that; but I knew they would say nothing was to be +had when Mr. Underwood wasn't there. That's the way of it; one's just a +bit of a machine for getting things!' + +'You knew that before, when you took the work.' + +'Yes; but somehow I did not know it would be so disgusting. I don't +suppose that girl at Stoneborough would look at me over the counter +now. No, and I don't know that she ought, either; only people might +have a civil "Thank you" to throw at one. I'm an ass, that's all! Only +one hates having no one to speak to!' + +'It is different from the Harewoods.' + +'Don't talk about that!' + +'But, Lance, I thought you liked it all. You said you did when I came +home; and when Felix was laid up, you were everything, and did so well. +I thought you would have been pleased.' + +'Yes; I saw the whole stupidity and botheration of the thing. It has +got to be work instead of play--I suppose that's it.' + +'But, Lance, does it follow that you must go on with it all your life, +because you are helping Felix through this winter?' + +'While the accounts look like this, I don't see how he is to pay a +stuck-up shopman. No, it is all stuff and nonsense! I didn't think +Edgar's talk would have upset me like this.' + +'What? his talk about operas, and concerts, and pictures--?' + +'And the spirit and the fun that are always going there. That must +be life! One's eyes and ears do seem given one for something there! +Do you know Bob, he wants me to come up and live with him, and get an +engagement as a pianist, and learn the violin?' + +'O, Lance! but Felix and Wilmet would never consent!' + +'No, and they didn't ought to. No, I could never,' and he spoke low, +but Cherry heard his clear voice distinctly, 'give the stage what was +taught me for that other purpose. If I can't be what I want, I must do +this common work for my living, and not make a market of my music. I +can _give_ that freely to the Church--that is if I ever get my voice +again.' + +'That's right, dear Lancey,' said Robina, looking down at the face on +her knees; 'you could not really like that odd life Edgar leads.' + +'Like it? Much you know about it, Bob. It does make everything else +seem as dull as ditch-water!' + +'Not always.' + +'Not when I can get it out of my head. Only I do wish things wouldn't +be so stupid here. It's just like a horse in a mill seeing a fine +thorough-bred come and kick up his heels at him in a meadow. I say, +Bob, let's go and get a turn at the organ--you can blow for me; it will +get the maggots out of my brain best.' + +'Oh yes, dear Lance, only--' + +'Only what?' + +'If you didn't much mind those horrible notes, could you just show me +the sense of that thing? I must learn before I go back to school; and +Angel hates it so, I did it when she was out.' + +Lance made an ineffable grimace; but having undertaken to act +music-master, he first played the piece as exquisitely as the cracked +piano would allow, and then scolded poor Robin within an inch of her +life at every blunder, for her utter lack of taste, vituperating the +stupidity of those who threw good music away upon her. + +She took it all as an honour and a kindness, though she cried out +for a respite long before she had come up to his rather unreasonable +requirements; and reminding him that it would soon be too dark for his +designs on the church organ, she went to get ready; and the two were +not seen again till after dark, when the patient Robina came in very +cold, but there was a bright peacefulness on Lance's face, as if he had +played away his repinings. + +Felix explained the having sent him away by saying that the strain of +the days when he had been in charge had told on him, for he had grown +so confused and distressed in the endeavour to remedy the mistakes that +had been made, that it had been needful for every reason to send him +away from the scene of action. No doubt the responsibility, and the +resistance to Edgar's invitations had been a considerable pressure on +his mind; but whatever his longings might be, he said no more about +them, and continued to be the sunshine of the house--so bright, frank, +and open that no one would have guessed at the deep reserves within. + +It was about a month later that one evening he darted into the room, +exclaiming, 'I _say_, who do you think is here? Why, Renville, Edgar's +boss!' + +'Nothing the matter, I hope?' cried Cherry. + +'Oh no, nothing; only Tom Underwood has sent him down to see about some +picture at Centry, and so he dropped in, and Felix has asked him to +spend the evening.' + +'The evening!' Wilmet started up. + +'Hark! there they are on the stairs!' + +The introduction was deferred, for Felix shut him into Mr. Froggatt's +room, and then came himself to say, 'I couldn't but ask him; I hope it +is not _very_ troublesome?' + +'N--no--oh, no,' said Wilmet 'Only--Lance, should you mind just running +down to Prothero's to get some rashers; and let me see--eggs, if he has +any he can recommend, and not above sixpence for seven?' + +'Little Lightfoot is there,' said Felix, who even in his shoe-cleaning +days would not have liked such a commission. + +'He has no sense,' returned Wilmet; 'and I can't spare one of the +maids. You don't mind, Lance?' + +'Not a whistle. Only how is my sense to act, if Prothero's conscience +won't warrant his eggs?' + +Wilmet's answer was lost in the clank of coppers, as she left the room +with her willing _aide-de-camp_, and neither of them was seen again for +the next half hour, during which time Felix had introduced the neat +dapper little Mr. Renville to his sister Geraldine and little Stella; +and a conversation had begun which entertained Cherry extremely--it +was so like a breath from that wonderful world of art in which Edgar +lived; and meantime the painter's quick eye was evidently taking stock +of the drawings on the walls, and feasting on little Stella's childish +beauty, though he was too polite to make remarks. There had been only +just time for Felix and Cherry to look at each other, wondering what +their house-keeper designed, when the door between the rooms was opened +by Lance, with a face as red as a boiled lobster: and behind the +tea-tray appeared Wilmet's head, likewise considerable heightened in +complexion, though not so unbecomingly. Nor had they roasted themselves +for nothing. Lance looked and winked with conscious pride at the +poached eggs, frizzled contorted rashers, and crisp toast, wherein he +had had his share of glory; and Wilmet's pile of scones in their snowy +napkin divided the honours of the feast with the rissoles, previously +provided for the brothers, who since Felix's health had become matter +of thought, had come to make their principal meal in the leisure of the +evening, when that notable housewife of theirs could provide for them. + +Certainly, Mr. Renville's own Nuremburg haus-frau could not have turned +out a neater little impromptu supper than Wilmet had done; though she +had decidedly objected to Lance's concealment of the uncouth forms of +the butter with fern-leaves from the garden, and had flatly refused to +let him station either a pot of jonquils or a glass of snowdrops in the +middle of the table. 'Eating, was eating, and flowers were flowers,' +she said; which sentiment somehow tickled Lance so much, that choking +added to the redness of his visage, as, while buttering the muffins, he +tried to exercise some sculpture on the ill-shaped lump. + +To a Londoner, however, all country fare was fresh, pure, and +delicious, more especially when dispensed by one who, for all +her disdain of the poetry of life, could not but be in herself a +satisfaction to the artist's eye. He could not help a little start +of amazement; and as he paused while Cherry made her slow way into +the other room, he could not refrain from whispering to Felix that +he had always thought the portraits Edgar brought from home a little +too ideal, but that he perceived that they did not do justice to the +reality; and Felix, with a little curl of his mouth, and rub of his +hands, asked whether Mr. Renville had seen his other twin sister. 'Yes; +she was extremely handsome, but somehow her style did not explain that +classical beauty in the same manner.' + +To look at Wilmet and Stella, and to talk to Felix and Geraldine, was +no despicable pleasure. Felix's powers of conversation were a good deal +cultivated by the clients of the reading-room, who had always gossiped +with Mr. Froggatt as now with him; and Geraldine had native wit and +liveliness, that were sure to flash out whenever the first chill of +shyness was taken off, as it easily was when her brother was there to +take the lead. + +But Cherry was not prepared for that proposal of Felix's that she +should show her drawings to the guest. Poor man, he must be so much +used to the sight of young-lady drawings; and of late Cherry had been +in the depths of despair about hers, with all their defects, that +she knew not how to remedy, glaring full upon her. She would have +protested, but Lance had handed out the portfolio; and fluttering, +nervous, eager, she must conquer her silly sense of being 'all in a +twitter.' + +Those two or three fanciful groups--his 'Ah, very pretty!' was just +courteous and almost weary. But then came an endeavour to produce +Lance as the faithful little acolyte in the Silver Store. Mr. Renville +looked at that much more attentively, smiled as he nodded at her +model, and praised the accuracy of the drawing of the hand. From that +moment his manner of looking was altogether different. He criticised +so hard that Wilmet was in pain, and thought poor Cherry would be +annihilated; but Cherry, on the other hand, was drinking in every word, +asking questions, explaining difficulties, and Mr. Renville evidently +extremely interested, seeing and hearing nothing but the sketches and +the lame girl. + +'Who had been her teacher?' + +'Edgar.' + +'No one else? Only your brother?' in great surprise. 'I don't know when +I have seen such accuracy even in the school of art.' + +'Edgar is so particular about that.' + +'Well, if I could only get him to learn his own lesson!' + +'I have so little to copy,' said Cherry. 'I have nothing to distract +me.' + +It was little enough; a few second-hand studies of his; a cast that +Felix had given her off an Italian boy's board, which came opportunely +on her birthday; and her living models when she could catch them, +generally surreptitiously. But upon her small materials she had worked +perseveringly, going back to the same subject whenever she gained a +new light, profiting by every hint, till the result was an evident +amazement to the artist; and as he emphatically said, pointing to an +outline caught from John Harewood as he was reading last summer, 'This +is not talent, it is genius! You ought to give yourself advantages, +Miss Underwood.' + +Cherry smiled rather sadly. 'It is quite enough that Edgar should have +them,' she said. + +'Ah! if he would only take half the pains with his drawing that he +seems to have inculcated upon you!' + +It was a disappointment. She had much rather have heard Edgar's genius +praised than her own, which, be it what it might, she had come to +believe must, for want of cultivation, be limited to the supply of +Christmas cards and unsatisfactory illuminations. + +But when the sisters had gone to bed, Mr. Renville had much more to +say. He had sought Felix out a good deal for the purpose of talking +over Edgar, He said that the young man's talent was of a graceful, +fantastic, ingenious description, such as with application would be +available for prosperity if not for eminence; but application Edgar +had never perseveringly given, since he had first found himself +surpassed in the higher efforts of art. His powers were too versatile +for his own good, and he dabbled in everything that was _not_ +his proper occupation--concerts, amateur theatricals, periodical +literature and journalism, comic sketches. His doings were not all +wholly unremunerative; but though he viewed them as mines of wealth, +they were really lures into a shifty uncertain life, and distractions +from steady consistent labour. His fine voice, his brilliant wit, and +engaging manner, made him a star in the lively society on the outskirts +of art; and he was expensive, careless, and irregular in his hours to +a degree that sorely tried the good man, a precisian in his domestic +customs. He and his little German wife, however, loved the lad, as +everybody did love him who came under the influence of his sunshiny +grace and sweetness of temper--the unselfish manner inherited from one +whose unselfishness was real; and used as they were to the freedom of +artist life, their allowances were liberal; but of late there had been +a recklessness and want of purpose about his ways which both grieved +and alarmed them: he was more unsettled than ever, seemed to have lost +all interest in his studies at the Academy, was getting into a set that +had degenerated from permissible eccentricity into something very like +lawlessness, and even while an undesirable inmate, had vexed his kind +friend and master by proposing to remove from under his roof, and set +up with a chosen comrade of his own. + +Committed to his charge, as Edgar Underwood had been by the elder +brother, the kind little artist felt it his duty not to let him go +without an intimation to his family, though well aware that a father +could have little control in such a case, how much less a brother only +by two years the elder? + +All that Felix could hope was, that since this state of dreary +recklessness was so evidently the effect of disappointment, it might +pass with the force of the shock. He himself had experiences of the +irksomeness of the dull round of ordinary occupation when the heart +was rent by a sudden shock; and though he had forced himself on under +the load that had so nearly crushed him, he could perfectly understand +the less chastened, more impetuous nature, under less pressure of +necessity, breaking into aberrations under a far more astounding blow +of desertion. So he hoped. But what could he do? He knew but too well +the cool manner in which Edgar turned over his remonstrances as those +of the would-be heavy father. He could only thank Mr. Renville, promise +to write to Edgar, and entreat him not to remove from the roof which +was so great a safeguard against the worst forms of temptation, advise +him perhaps to study abroad for a time to pacify the restlessness of +his disappointment--at any rate, if he could do nothing else, not let +the brother whom he still loved best of all drift away without feeling +that there were those who grieved and strove for him. + +It was not only of Edgar that Mr. Renville spoke, however. He was +so much impressed with Geraldine's drawings, that he argued that +she should have a quarter's study in the South Kensington Museum, +undertaking, as one of the masters, to facilitate her coming and going, +so that she should not be involved in any scrambles, and declaring +that she only needed a few opportunities of study to render her talent +really excellent and profitable. + +Felix declared her going to be simply impossible; but either Mr. +Renville or Edgar did not let the matter rest there, for a warm +invitation arrived from the family in Kensington Palace Gardens, +backed by many promises of tender care from Marilda. It seemed to +be absolutely throwing away opportunities for Cherry to refuse to +avail herself of such an opening; and though she was in exceeding +trepidation, she had enough of the sacred fire to long to perfect her +art, justified by the wish to render it substantially beneficial. And +then Felix could not help thinking that the presence of his favourite +sister might be a wholesome check to Edgar in one direction, and +incentive in another, at this critical time, and this was no small +weight in his balance. While Cherry, on the one hand, dreaded going +out into the world with the nervous dismay of an invalid, who had +never been anywhere but to St. Faith's; and on the other, felt this +opportunity for herself almost an injustice to Lance, with all his +yearnings. + +She was to go immediately after Easter; and whether by Edgar's +suggestion or not, Marilda imperiously begged that Lance might bring +her up to London, and stay as long as he could be spared. It was +impossible to give him longer than from Saturday till the last train +on Monday, for Felix had reporting business on hand, and must be out +on Tuesday, and did not perhaps regret that things had so settled +themselves. + +Lance's overflowing enjoyment somewhat solaced Geraldine's alarm on +the way up; he was so careful of her, and so proud of the charge; and +after his wistful glance at Minsterham, the novelty was so delightful +to him. His journey with John Harewood reckoned for nothing, for he had +then been far too unwell to look about, and it had besides been on a +different line; but now everything was wonderful, and his exclamations +almost embarrassed Cherry, she thought they must so astonish their +fellow-travellers. Even the hideousness of the suburbs seemed to +fascinate him--there was something in the sense of the multitude that +filled him with excitement. 'It is getting to the heart, Cherry,' he +said, 'where the circulation is quickest.' + +'Into the world--the vortex, I should call it,' returned Cherry +thinking of drops being attracted by the eddy, and sucked into the +whirlpool; but Lance was gone wild at the glimpse of a huge gasometer, +and did not heed. + +Edgar's dainty beard and moustache were the first things that met their +eyes upon the platform; his strong arms helped Cherry out, and in a +wonderfully short time seated her beside Alda in a great luxurious +carriage. + +To her disappointment, however, the two back seats remained vacant. + +'No, no,' said Edgar, his white teeth gleaming in a smile; 'we must +make the most of our time, Lancey boy. What do you say to walking by +Westminster--then we'll get something to eat--and you shall know what +Don Giovanni is like before you are many hours older, my boy?' + +Cherry's last view of Lance was with a look of dancing ecstasy all over +his person. + +'Don Giovanni is the opera, isn't it?' she said in bewilderment. + +'Of course; what did you think?' + +'But I thought that was dreadfully dear.' + +'Oh! Edgar can always get tickets for anything. You must not bring out +Wilmet's frugalities here, Cherry. Dear old Wilmet, how does she bear +this long waiting?' + +Alda was really interested in home tidings, and pleased to point out +matters of interest, so that Cherry was fairly happy, till the awe of +the great handsome house, alone in its gravelled garden, fell on her. + +But when once up the stately stone steps, she was kindly, solicitously, +welcomed by Marilda and her mother. The reception-rooms (as Mrs. +Underwood called them) were all on the ground floor; and Cherry had +only to mount one easy flight of broad steps to reach the former +school-room, with two little bed-rooms opening into it--one assigned to +her, the other to Marilda's old nurse, who had been kept on with little +or nothing to do, and was delighted to devote herself to the lame young +lady. + +She took charge of Geraldine's toilette for the late dinner, so +tremendous to the imagination used to the little back-room at home, +but which turned out after all more tedious than formidable. In truth, +Cherry was very tired, and Alda quite kindly advised her to go to bed. +She wanted to sit up and wait for her brothers, but was laughed at, and +finally was deposited in her very pretty pink bed, where, however, the +strangeness of all things allowed her very little sleep. Quiet as the +place was, she thought something seemed to be going on all night; and +at some semi-light hour in the morning she bounded up as if at a shot, +for there really was a step, and a knock, and her door opening. + +'Cherry, are you awake?' + +'O Lance! what is the matter?' + +'Matter! nothing--only I'm going out to look about me, and I thought +I'd leave word with you and see how you were.' + +'Out! Why, didn't I hear the clock strike five?' + +'Ay. Have you been awake?' + +'A good deal. Have you?' + +'As if anybody could sleep after that! I've gone it all over and over. +I see there's a piano in this outer room. I'll just show you.' + +'O Lance!--_now_--and Sunday!' + +'I forgot. But it is so awful, Cherry: it made one feel more than a +hundred sermons;' and the far-away look came into his eyes; as in +rapid words he sketched the story, described the scenes, dwelt with +passionate fervour on the music, all with an intensity of feeling +resulting in a great sense of awe. His excitement seemed to her so +great that she begged him to go back to bed for the hours that yet +remained before breakfast. + +'I couldn't, I tell you, Cherry.' + +'But you'll have _such_ a head-ache.' + +'Time enough for that when I get home. I don't know what to do with +myself, I tell you; I must get into a church somewhere, or I can't bear +it.' + +'You'll lose your way.' + +'I've got the map of London. If I can I shall get to St. Matthew's; and +so I thought I had better tell you, in case I wasn't back to breakfast. +Edgar showed me your room.' + +'Is Edgar sleeping here?' + +'No; he went to Renville's when he'd put me in. I'll be back anyway by +the time Robin and Angel come, but I can't stay quiet. Nobody ever gave +me any notion what this place is. It makes one feel I don't know how, +only just to see the people--streaming, streaming, streaming, just like +a river! And then that wonderful--most wonderful music!' + +The boy was gone, and Cherry felt as if his fate were sealed--the drop +gone to join the other drops, and to swirl away! + +Edgar was rather amazed and disconcerted, when on coming in about ten +o'clock he found that he had vanished. He had meant to take him to any +ecclesiastical wonder that he wished; but he laughed at Cherry's fears +of the boy losing himself. 'He is a born gamin,' he said--'takes to +London streets as a native element. But Felix is right, he must not +have too much of it. I was heartily glad when it was over last night, +and durst not keep him for the ballet, though I much wanted to see what +he would say to it; but he was worked up to such a pitch I didn't know +what would come next, and I'm sure his remarks taught me more about Don +Giovanni than ever I saw before. He was in such a state when he came +out that I hardly knew what to do with him. I should have given him +a glass of ale but he wouldn't hear of that, so I could only let him +have his will--a great cup of coffee--and send him to bed. I knew he +wouldn't sleep.' + +Lance _did_ appear at the moment of luncheon, when Robina and +Angela arrived to spend the rest of the day. He had not reached St +Matthew's; but he had found a church open early for a grand choral +Celebration, and this not being customary at Minsterham, had been +almost overwhelming to a nature like his. It had lasted so long, that +the bell rang for matins before the congregation had left the church; +and Lance had stayed on, and heard a service far exceeding in warmth +and splendour that of his sober old cathedral, and such a soul-stirring +sermon as was utterly unlike the steady-going discourses of his canons. + +He had never even missed his breakfast, and yet seemed not to care +for the meal before him, though he ate what was put on his plate; and +he had that look of being all brow, eyes, and nose, that had often +recurred ever since his illness; but he would not allow that he was +tired; and so far from being able to sit still, wanted his little +sisters to walk with him in Kensington Gardens, and Robina being a +discreet person, and knowing her way, there was no reason against +this; and off they went, all three supremely happy, and Cherry +feeling a certain hopefulness that Robina's steady good sense would +be a counterpoise to other influences and excitements. But Lance had +not come to any state for sober sense. Under the trees of Kensington +Gardens, the influence of the brilliant spring beauty, and the gay +cheerful vivacity of the holiday crowd, still acted on his eager +self; and he used his sisters as audience for all his impressions as +to Don Giovanni, till he had driven Angela almost as wild as himself +with his vivid descriptions--and to be sure, he treated it as a sort +of religious exercise. Indeed, the sensation he seemed chiefly to +have carried off with him, was that London had been maligned; he had +always supposed it to be a Vanity Fair, where one's religion would +be in extreme peril; and behold, he had found religion there like +everything else--more quickening, more inspiriting, more exquisitely +beautiful and satisfying in its ministrations, than anything that he +could have conceived! Nor did the late Evening Service with which his +day finished--with all its accessories of light and music, and another +sermon from a celebrated preacher--lessen this impression, which made +St Oswald's by comparison so utterly flat, dead, and unprofitable. + +Robina could not help saying to Cherry, with that old-womanish air of +wisdom that belonged to her sometimes, 'I do wish we hadn't taken Lance +to such a nice church. He knows less what London really is now than he +did before.' + +Dear little Robin! as if she knew what London _really_ was! And Cherry +was too anxious an elder sister to give her much comfort, except by +saying, 'It is fair that he should know the truth of what is to be +found there, Bobbie. You see he is only getting good out of it in his +own mind.' + +'Yes, that's true; only he will make himself ill.' + +This had come to be Edgar's fear as well as Cherry's, when they found +that Lance had slept quite as little the second night as the first, +though he brought down those great lustrous blue eyes of his quite as +wide open and full of zest in the morning. It made Edgar cautious in +his choice of sights for the Monday; but one so long habituated to +London, and regarding with contempt its stock lions, could not estimate +what they were to a lad at once so susceptible and so unsophisticated, +and his diversion at Lance's raptures passed into anxiety, not +unmingled with tedium, and almost disdain, at anything so very +countrified; but his real care and good nature never flagged till he +had safely, and to his positive relief, seen his little brother off for +Bexley by the five o'clock train, to work off his intoxication at home, +among his proper guardians. + +'I am sure,' he said to Geraldine, 'if I had had any notion that his +brain had continued so ticklish, I would never have had him on my +hands. The difference between lionizing him and old Blunderbore! why +it was--not exactly fire and water, but Ariel and Gonzalo. Shut the +two up in the same shop! It is ridiculous! No, no, Lance must vegetate +down there till his brains have cooled down from that unlucky stroke; +but after that, you'll see, nothing will keep him down in Felix's hole; +'tisn't in the nature of things that he should be buried there. I've +given him the violin I got at Liège, so he won't be quite wasting his +time.' + +There was rest--at least, for the present--in Edgar's acquiescence in +Lance's vegetation, except so far as it gave food for present anxiety, +by showing how the boy's excitability had alarmed him; and Cherry +anxiously watched for reports from home. Felix and she herself were +the chief letter-writers in the family, and he kept her daily supplied +with tidings. His first account--written at intervals at the reporter's +table at Minsterham--bore that Lance had come all right, and seemed to +have enjoyed himself much. So he had kept up for one day; but on the +third came the inevitable tidings, 'Poor Lance is in bed, with headache +in its worst shape. Wilmet has been obliged to stay at home to attend +to him. It must have been coming on yesterday, for he seems to have +talked more than enough, and made more blunders than can be remedied in +a day. I suppose Edgar would have laughed if I had cautioned him; but +I would about as soon have put the boy to stand on the Equator as have +taken him to that opera.' + +The days of pleasure seemed to have a heavy price; it was not till +Saturday that Felix reported Lance as in his place as usual, but still +looking ill, quiet, and subdued. 'I am afraid,' proceeded the letter, +'that it has been a very fascinating glimpse he has had of Edgar's +way of life, and that F. and U.'s house is more against the grain to +him. I doubt whether it be suited to him; but the other course seems +over-perilous. I wonder whether fathers have the power of insight and +judgment that I need so much. However, for the present, health speaks +plainly that home is the only place for him; and I can with a free +conscience enjoy his bright face and service of good will. To have you +and him both out of the way _was_ severe; but if it were not for his +good, it is for yours.' + +Yes, Geraldine trusted it was for her good. When Thomas Underwood went +to the City in the morning she was always set down at the Renvilles', +whence the transit to the Museum was so short, that she could make it +either with her brother's arm or the master's. It was not thought fit +for her to work all day, so Mrs. Sturt (the old nurse) always came to +meet and take her home to luncheon; after which she either went out +with Mrs. Underwood and Marilda, or was carried about by her brother, +in which case her conveyance was always defrayed at the door with so +little knowledge on her part, that Edgar accused her of supposing +Cousin Thomas to keep innumerable very seedy equipages always in +waiting on her steps. + +It was great enjoyment--real instruction of the best sort in that +which was most congenial to her, putting the crown on her long lonely +perseverance, and giving a daily sense of progress and achievement, +was delightful. She had no notion of rivalry; but when she perceived +that she was excelling, that commendation almost always attended her +attempts, and that in any competition she always came near the mark +and was sometimes foremost, she was conscious of a startling sense of +triumph; and Edgar was full of exultation. If his own studies at the +Royal Academy had been fulfilling all his golden dreams, he could not +have been half so uplifted as he was by Cherry's chances of a medal; +while, if he had only acted on a quarter of the sensible advice he gave +her, he would already have been far advanced in his profession. + +If he had been imprudent in Lancelot's case, he showed much tender +good judgment in his selection on Cherry's behalf of exhibitions and +rehearsals--never overdoing her, and using all his grace and dexterity +to obviate her fatigue and prevent embarrassments from her lameness, +till she began to take courage and feel at ease. + +Alda never went with them. She said Cherry's pace would be the death +of her, and she knew it all by heart. Yet, go where they would, +there generally appeared, soon after four o'clock, a tall, handsome, +black-moustached figure, seldom uttering more than 'Good-morning!' and +'All well at home?' and then content to stalk beside them, perfectly +indifferent to their object, but always ready to give an arm to Cherry, +or to find a cab. + +'Dogged by Montezuma's ghost!' Edgar would mutter when the inevitable +black head came towering into view; and even Cherry sometimes felt +the silent haunting rather a bore. Edgar and Ferdinand were both good +company alone, but together she knew not what to do with them; since +her sole common subject of interest to Ferdinand, church details, +provoked Edgar's sarcasm; and though Edgar had enough to say on a +thousand other points, Fernan was totally silent on all, except horses, +of which on her side she knew nothing. Nevertheless, for very pity, he +was always allowed to know their designs; and Cherry delivered messages +between him and Alda, and marvelled at her never finding it possible to +avail herself of such chances of meeting. + +Indeed, it puzzled Cherry why Ferdinand should be banished from the +house, since Marilda took pains to mark her friendly feeling towards +him as Alda's betrothed; and the resentment of her parents appeared +to be inactive; but Alda declared that any advance on his side would +provoke great wrath, and that open intercourse was impossible; and it +could only be supposed that she was the best judge. + +However, to Cherry herself, Alda was far kinder than at home--perhaps +because her own ground was too secure to leave room for jealousy; and +she viewed her sister as guest rather than rival. During the first +shyness and awe, she was a kind helper, full of tact, which parried the +rather obtrusive patronage of her so-called aunt; she provided books, +quietly ameliorated matters of dress, and threw in judicious hints +and encouragements, so that Cherry's warm heart beat gratefully, and +she thought she had never known how nice Alda could be in her proper +element. + +As to Marilda, she was thoroughly good-natured, perhaps rather teasing, +and tyrannical as to what she thought for Cherry's good, and very +careful that she should not be neglected; but there did not seem to +be much in common between them, they never could get on in a _tête à +tête_; and Cherry, who had heard vast statements from her brothers +about Marilda's original forms of goodness, was disappointed to find +her life so entirely that of a common-place young lady. She was clumsy, +over-dressed, and of a coarse complexion; and though she sometimes said +odd things, they were remarkable not for wit but for frankness. It +seemed as though the world had been too much for Marilda's better self, +and as if she were becoming the purse-proud heiress who fancied wealth +could atone for want of refinement or of delicacy towards people's +feelings. + +It was with the master of the house that Cherry got on best. At first +he treated her like a frail china cup that a touch might break, but +gradually he discovered in her resemblances to all manner of past +Underwoods, talked to her about her parents in their youth, expressed +endless wonder how 'that lad Felix made it out,' and by-and-by +found that a few questions about the day's doings would draw forth +a delightfully fresh, simple, and amusing narrative, given with +animated lips, and eyes that charmed him. He became very fond of little +Geraldine, and accepted her as his special evening companion when his +wife took the other two girls into society. She could talk, read the +paper, or play at cribbage; and was so much pleased to be of use, that +she became as much at ease and therefore as amusing as with old Froggy +himself. + +She had been assured of exemption from parties, but she found that the +sumptuous luncheon was a popular institution, and that radiant ladies, +lounging men, riding parties brought home by Alda, and stout matrons on +a cruise of morning calls, were always dropping in. It was diverting +to sit quietly by and listen to the characteristic confidences of the +city dames, to the dashing nonsense of the girls, and the languid +affectations of the young men; and capital material was furnished for +the long letters that amused the breakfast-table at home--journals, +half full of beautiful description, half full of fun and drollery. +Those gay dames and demoiselles little thought what a pair of keen grey +eyes were watching them, as they passed, almost unheeded, the little +sober-hued person whom they never fairly understood to be the sister of +the beautiful Alda. + +Of the school establishment at Brompton Cherry saw something. She was +invited to drink tea there, for the sake of talking over Angela; +the two heads of the establishment being very glad to get an elder +sister to discuss that puzzling personage with. Of Robina, since the +catastrophe eighteen months ago, they had nothing but good to say; she +had really lived it down, so far as to have proved that if she had +erred, it was only in judgment; but with Angela they still knew not +what to do. + +She had come back subdued and with better impulses, and these had +carried her on up to Easter, giving such satisfaction to the Vicar, +that he had sanctioned her Confirmation; but immediately after the +holidays, the wild spirit had broken out again. She neither learnt nor +tried to learn, attended to nothing but music, and showed up exercises +and dictation flagrantly ill-spelt, and not unfrequently making fun +of the whole subject. As a reward for her weeks of propriety, she had +been promoted to the German class; but she had openly declared that +she hated German, and saw no use in it, and she would not attempt +anything but an occasional caricature of pronunciation. Everybody +liked her--even those whom she most disrespectfully provoked; and +she was like a kind of tame monkey to the school, turning her very +punishments into absurdity. She would lighten solitary confinement +by fantastically decorating the chairs and tables. If shut up in the +dark, her clear shrill voice would convulse all the household with +Lance's whole repertory of comic songs, the favourite being Thackeray's +'Little Billee,' which she always sang as if she expected to be rescued +by the sight of 'Admiral Nelson, K.C.B.,' if not made 'Captain of +a Seventy-three!' and even impositions she always managed to make +ludicrous, by comments, translations, or illustrations, bringing them +up with a certain irresistible innocence and simplicity of countenance. +What was to be done? No, they did not want her to be taken away; +she was a bright dear girl, with a great deal of good in her--very +warm-hearted, and certainly devout; and Miss Fennimore confessed that +she should be very sorry to part with her, or to confess herself beaten +in the struggle. 'Your name is Geraldine?' she asked, suddenly; 'are +you Irish?' + +'My grandmother was.' + +'That accounts for it!' + +'She must have absorbed all the Irish nature in the family, then,' said +Cherry, laughing. + +'Perhaps. But it throws a light on it. I don't know which is the most +curious subject, national or family character.' + +Of course Cherry was set to talk to Angela--an operation that she hated +almost as much as Felix did; and the result of which attempt was this, +'Now don't--don't, Cherry!'--hugging her round the neck; 'you never +were made for scolding, and it is no use spoiling your own pleasure and +mine! Leave it to Wilmet; she does it with dignity, you know!' + +'But, Angel, I do really want to understand why you are so set against +German?' + +'It's a nasty crack-jaw language, that all the infidels write their +books in.' + +'I only wish they did!' murmured Cherry. + +'And it's the Protestant language, too; and that's _worse_,' persisted +Angela. 'No, I won't learn it on principle.' + +'I thought principle was to do what one was told.' + +'That depends. Now, German will never be of use to me; I'm not going to +be a governess, and I sha'n't qualify myself for it!' + +'Yes, Angel, I know what you mean; but isn't obedience the +qualification you must learn--if you are to come to the other thing?' + +'I shall learn it fast enough when the time comes. Don't you know, +Cherry, a republic is much better preparation for despotism than one of +your shilly-shally rational limited monarchies?' + +'That may be true,' said Cherry; 'but you know I think the rational +loyalty the most wholesome training.' + +'Yes, I know. Family life suits you; but I must have the--the real +religious life or none. I don't like secularity.' + +'O Angel, you are much worse with these fine words that deceive you, +when you are really and truly only a naughty idle child!' + +'That's true, Cherry; and yet it is not true,' said Angela, +thoughtfully. 'I am a naughty idle child, and yet I am more.' + +'How is it--after this Confirmation and all?' + +'Ah!' said Angel, frankly. 'I thought it would have done me good and +made me different; but instead there's just one anticipation gone, and +nothing to look to.' + +'Not your own possible future?' (Cherry knew of it, though not Wilmet.) + +'That's such a dreadful way off! No, if you all _will_ keep me in the +world, I must have my fun! Come, Cherry, don't look so horribly vexed! +I'll tell you what, if you'll cheer up, I won't have another flare-up +with old Fen as long as you are here to be bullied about it!' + +And she kept her word so faithfully, that the two ladies thought +that charming little elder sister had had a great effect upon their +troublesome charge. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +TRANSMUTATION. + + 'Affection follows Fortune's wheels, + And soon is shaken from her heels; + For, following beauty or estate, + Her loving soon is turned to hate.' + _Sir Walter Raleigh._ + + +'Do you remember,' wrote Cherry, 'poor Fernan's old rival in the Life +Guards, Sir Adrian Vanderkist? I have seen him! He descended upon +us at luncheon-time in all his glory; and Mrs. Underwood was like +Eve entertaining the Angel. I hope that is not profane! it is only +Paradise Lost. I don't comprehend her delight, for he is only the +grandson of a man who made a great fortune by inventing some metal to +look like silver. Though he must have been Dutch, this youth is not +the conventional Dutchman in seven knickerbockers perched on a barrel, +but is small and insignificant, in spite of his magnificent get-up. +Never did Fernan, in his most bejewelled days, equal that studious +exquisiteness; and I could pity the baronet for having had a rival with +black moustaches that curl of their own accord; but pity evaporates +when I find that he has got Brown Murad, and hear Mrs. Underwood's +gratitude for his promise of tickets for somebody's concert. I wonder +whether he is thinking about Marilda? + +'April 15th. Two great events begin to loom. One is our _soirée +musicale_, for which the cards are actually being written; and Edgar +and Alda are debating the programme. I am to have a quiet corner out of +sight, and use my eyes and ears. How I wish you and Lance could send up +yours! + +'The other is a great function at St. Matthew's, on the opening of the +new infant-schools, on Whit Tuesday. Clement is coming down for it; +and Robin, Angel, and I are to go with Cousin Tom to his office, where +Clem will meet and take charge of us. It certainly is a fine thing to +come to London, and see the world; though the nicest part of the world +to me is that odd little room of Mrs. Renville's where people are so +entertaining, and one catches glimpses of great luminaries in their +moments of unbending and good nature....... + +'May 3rd. Where shall I begin the story of our _soirée_? I will pass +over the misery of serving as a _corpus vile_, for Alda and Mrs. +Sturt to try experiments on with scraps of head-gear and jewellery, +and merely state that I had the white alpaca with blue velvet edges, +and blue beads round my head and neck; and then they did not _very +much_ mind the sight of me; and Edgar even said I looked a tidy little +thing enough. He and Marilda disposed of me in a nice little nook +in the recess of a window, more than half hidden by a curtain, and +capital for seeing and hearing, nearly as good as my old perch in the +organ gallery. Alda looked beautiful--such lovely rosy clouds of soft +gauziness, and wreaths of wild roses! She has put an end to the habit +of dressing like Marilda, to their mutual benefit; but, oh, if I could +see old W.W. in such garb! Doesn't she look disgusted? But who knows +what John may put her into? + +'Oh, the things people wear! (then followed some pen-and-ink outlines,) +and the colours and the festoonings! I trust that in some stratum of +society somewhere there is more notion of the beautiful. If the world +is all like this, I can't tell why it should be so dangerous; for, as +far as I can see, it consists in conjugating the verb _to bore_. + +'However, there was the music, and that was compensation. (A critical +account ensued then.) _Private._ Poor Edgar was quite upset when one of +the ladies varied from the programme by singing Alice's favourite old +"Sands of Dee." I saw him frowning and biting the end of his moustache, +as if he could hardly bear it; but, as you may guess, he was the more +funny and lively when he came to me, teasing me about that Sir Adrian, +whom he calls a specimen of the transmutation of metals--Dutch slime +made shiny, and threatening me with who or what would be transmuted +next; but I think Marilda has more principle. + +'Afterwards I had a great treat, for Edgar spied Mr. Grinstead, whom +we had never expected, though he had a card, as he does not care for +music; and Cousin Tom only knows him through having bought his lovely +group of Una and the Lion. I had met him at the Renvilles'; and Edgar +brought him to my corner, where he leant against the window-shutter, +and talked most pleasantly, only he would go on all through the songs; +but one could excuse a great deal to a man who knew Thorwaldsen, and +has seen Canova; and he told me so much that I wanted to hear, that +it was a perfect feast. When he found I had never seen the Leonardo +at Morecombe House, he caught Mrs. Underwood, and arranged to take us +there at four o'clock on Wednesday. Fancy seeing a Leonardo! and with +him to explain it! Mrs. Underwood was quite in a rapture, because she +wants to see a cabinet that Lady Morecombe gave £150 for; but I thought +it very nasty of Sir Adrian to say that he knew Lord Morecombe very +well, and could take her there any day, to which Alda answered that she +hated show houses.' + + (Enclosed from Edgar.) + +'The fact is, that the Cherry is a brilliant success. She is our one +native genius for conversation; and I will say for the Pursuivant +that it has kept her up to the day. At Renville's she is the life of +everything; and even here the ocean of dullness cannot so entirely +asphyxiate her but that she sparkles up through it; and luckily Alda +has not so perceived it as to begin the extinguishing process--indeed, +she has affairs of her own to look to. As to Grinstead--it is a case +of captivation. Don't be afraid, or the reverse: he is a confirmed old +bachelor, bald and spectacled. Renville showed him her sketch of his +Una, and he said nothing had ever so hit off the soul. He met her at +their house; and she, not knowing who he was, was not encumbered with +any awe of greatness, but chattered like her own little self, till he +was taken with her freshness and cleverness, came here on purpose to +meet her, and is to show her the Morecombe gallery. A fine chance! +Altogether, the little maid has so many feathers in her cap, that she +wouldn't know where to stick them, if--poor little dear!--she ever +found them out, and didn't think every attention pure pity to her lame +foot.' + + * * * * * + +The next was the day of the festival at St. Matthew's. Mr. Underwood +graciously consented to use a carriage large enough to transport Cherry +and both her little sisters to his office, at the door of which there +appeared, however, not Clement, but Ferdinand Travis. The organist +had been suddenly taken ill, and Clement was supplying his place; so +Ferdinand, whose firm had taken a Whitsun holiday, was the substitute, +in the vain hope that Alda would have been of the party. + +'No,' said Angela; 'they are going to ride. And, O Fernan! I am sure I +saw Brown Murad com--' + +There she stopped short, either aghast at a sort of spasm that crossed +Ferdinand's countenance, or diverted by the full current of life in +Holborn; and he, recovering, began to point out whatever could interest +Cherry. He had a great deal to tell about St. Matthew's, where he knew +his way as well as Clement himself, and piloted his charge in good time +to the very place their brother had indicated for them. + +The service was most beautiful, and full of life; and then ensued a +procession to, and benediction of, the new school and nursery for the +little ones. Afterwards came the new experience of luncheon for the +large motley party in the refectory of the clergy-house--new at least +to Cherry, for her sisters were not unfamiliar there; Robina had a dear +friend's little brother among the choristers, and Angela was chattering +to a curate or two. Clement was happy in meeting with old comrades; and +Cherry was glad that she was saved from being a burthen by Ferdinand's +devotion, and quite accepted his assurance that it was a great delight +to him. + +Then followed a feast for the school-children and the aged; but the +atmosphere soon became too much for Cherry, and she thankfully accepted +Ferdinand's proposal of showing her the church in detail. It was only +on the other side of the quadrangle; and there was a great charm in +the lofty, cool, quiet building, where she could dwell thoroughly on +every decoration, permanent or temporary, and in full sympathy with her +companion, who went so fully and deeply into all these subjects, as to +lead her on, and open new meanings to her. At last they sat down in a +sort of cloister that ran round the court, to wait for the rest. + +'Do you know,' said Geraldine, 'this place gives me a sense of life +and vigour. Our own seems to me, in comparison, a sort of sleeping, or +rather a mechanically acting, body, wanting a spirit and soul to be +breathed into it and make it effective.' + +'You have never told me about your new curate,' said Ferdinand; and +indeed, by tacit consent, they had avoided the subject in Edgar's +presence. + +'Mr. Flowerdew? Oh, he is very good, very gentle, and kind; but he is a +depressed elderly man, with all the energy disappointed and worn out of +him. His wife is dead; and he has two or three children, out, settled, +and fighting their way; and there he is alone, still an assistant +curate, tumbled about in secondary positions too long to care for any +more than just doing his duty without any life or spring.' + +'Do you see much of him?' said Ferdinand, surprised by this intimate +knowledge. + +'Yes. He makes the sick his special care, and he thinks me one; so he +comes sometimes, and sits half an hour when I am painting, without +saying a word. I think it is cheerful for him, in his way,' said +Cherry, with a merry laugh. 'And he is very musical; so the boys +like that. But do you know, Ferdinand, when I look at him, I do feel +thankful that my own dear father had not the long weary wear and tear +to change him. That man is older than he would be even now.' + +'Of course it must be good,' said Ferdinand. 'And is there no chance of +Mr. Bevan coming back?' + +'He wants another summer at the baths. The absence of the head +paralyses everything so. I always feel, when I go back from St. +Faith's, as if we had the framework, and of course the real essentials; +but we have to do all the work of bringing it home to ourselves.' + +'I know what you mean,' said Ferdinand; 'though Bexley must be more to +me than any other place, this one is the great help and compensation to +me. How I wish Alda were near it!' + +'Has she ever been here?' + +'Once or twice; but only under its shadow does one enter into the real +life. Some day perhaps--' + +Geraldine could not imagine the day of Alda's entering into the real +life of St. Matthew's; but she could only say, 'Of course there is a +vast difference between only coming as an outsider, and being one of +the congregation.' + +'Immense; though I never found it out till I came to live here; and so +it would be with her. After all, were she but near, or I could see her +freely, I should enjoy my present life very much.' + +'I'll tell you what I should do in your place,' said Cherry. 'I would +go straight to Mr. Underwood, and ask his leave to visit her; and I +don't believe he would make any objection.' + +'No. Alda forbids that,' he answered, decidedly; 'and she can be the +only judge.' Cherry felt small. But presently he added, 'I wish I +could be rid of the doubt whether the present state of things is not +burdensome to her. Perhaps I ought to to have freed her at once; I +could have worked for her without binding her.' + +'Nothing but affection really binds,' said Cherry, in some difficulty +for her answer. + +'No; I might have trusted to that, but I thought the release would cost +her as much as myself; and she was at home then!' and he suppressed a +heavy sigh. + +'She said it would be easier to meet you in London,' said Cherry; 'but +I don't think it is.' + +'And absence leaves room for imaginations,' he said. 'And I have +nothing tangible to set against what I hear--ay, and see.' + +'What?' the word was out of Cherry's mouth before she could check it. + +'You can cast it out of my mind, perhaps,' he said. 'Do you ever see a +fellow of the name of Vanderkist?' + +Cherry could not help starting. And his black brows bent, and his face +became stern, so that she was fain to cry, 'Oh, but it's Marilda!' + +'Impossible!' he said, with what she thought a terrible smile at her +simplicity. 'I tell you, I saw his first look at her--at my Alda!' Some +ruthless Spanish ancestor must have looked out of the deep glow of his +eyes, as he added, 'I hear he has betted that she, as well as whatever +I used to prize, shall be his before the end of the season.' + +'Let him!' said Cherry, proudly. 'Alda can't help that. She can't +hinder his coming to the house.' + +'I know,' he said. 'Do not suppose that I doubt her. I trust her +entirely; but I am foolish enough to long for the assurance that there +is no cause for the rumour that she encourages him.' + +Under such eyes of dark fire, it was well that Cherry could sincerely +answer, 'Oh no! Every one does come round her; but she does not let him +do so a bit more than other people.' + +'You entirely believe that I may dismiss this as a base groundless +suspicion?' + +'I do!' she said, with all her heart. 'We all know that Alda is used +to admiration; it comes to her as naturally as pity and help to me, +and makes no impression on her. Mrs. Underwood likes to have him as a +fashionable guest, that's all. Oh, Alda could never be so wicked!' + +'You are right, Geraldine. Thank you,' he said, just as Clement and +the younger ones came in search of them, with Fred Somers, erst +fellow-chorister, now fellow-Cantab--a little wiry merry fellow, the +very antipodes to his bosom friend. + +All wanted to stay for seven o'clock Evensong; but Robina was clear +that it was impossible, since the ladies were dispersing, and they had +no invitation to the clergy-house. Angela wildly asked if Clement could +not take them to the Tower, or St Paul's; Cherry could sit in a seat +while they went round. + +'Sit in a seat!' cried Robina. 'She is tired already. Clement, do go +and call a cab.' + +'Could you not go to Mrs. Kedge's, Cherry?' asked Clement. 'I want you +to hear our Pentecost Hymns.' + +'Come to my rooms,' said Ferdinand. 'They are much nearer; and you +shall have tea and everything in no time.' + +'Like greased lightning!' returned Angel, who always talked what she +supposed to be Yankee to Ferdinand. 'Oh, what fun! Do come, Cherry!' + +'Do come,' repeated Ferdinand, eagerly; 'it is only round the corner, +no crossing, and no stairs; and you shall have a good rest--much better +than jingling away in a cab.' + +'Thank you;' and Cherry looked inquiringly at Robina, whose discretion +she viewed as little short of Wilmet's. 'Would Miss Fulmort approve?' + +'Yes,' said that wise little bird; 'we need only be in by ten. You had +much better, Cherry. You are quite as good as a brother--aren't you, +Fernan?' + +In ten minutes more, Mr. Travis's landlady was aghast at the procession +pouring into her quiet ground-floor; while, after insisting on Cherry's +installation on a dingy lumpy bumpy sofa, their host might be overheard +giving orders for a sumptuous tea, though not exactly with the genius +of Wilmet or Lance. + +He had cast his anxieties to the winds, and had never shown himself +so lively or so much at ease. To all it was a delightful frolic. Mr. +Somers was full of fun, and even Clement was gay--perhaps because +Whittingtonia had become a sort of native element to him, or else +because the oddity of the thing overcame him; and Angela was in an +ecstatic state, scarcely kept within bounds by her morning's promise to +be _very_ good. + +Those dingy bachelor's rooms, close upon the street, and redolent of +tobacco to the utmost degree, could seldom have re-echoed with such +girlish fun as while Angela roamed about, saucily remarking on the +pipes and smoking equipments--relics, not disused, of the Life Guard +days. So likewise was the beautiful little chased silver tea-pot, +which was committed to Robin's management. Indeed, there was a large +proportion of plate, massive and remarkable. + +'Mexican taste,' said Ferdinand, handing a curious sugar-basin. 'It +belonged to my grandmother, and was turned over to me when I set up for +myself.' + +'What's this on it? said Angel. 'I declare, 'tis the caldron the +Mexicans boiled people's hearts in.' + +'For shame, Angel!' said Robin; 'the Aztecs were not cannibals.' + +'I beg your pardon, Bobbie; I know we read about Cortes seeing them +cutting out people's hearts on their temples like the tower of Babel, +because I thought of Fernan.' + +'Hush!' said Cherry, seeing that the horrid subject was displeasing. +'There's nothing witty in talking of horrors. Besides, is not this the +Spanish olla?' + +'I believe it is,' answered Ferdinand. 'It is the Mendez bearing, and +as the Travises can boast of none, I followed my spoons.' + +'With the dish,' said Mr. Somers; a joke that in their present mood set +them laughing. + +'Nothing can be more suited to the circumstances,' said Cherry, 'as the +olla is the emblem of hospitality.' + +'What are the three things up above?' asked Angel; 'turnips going to be +stewed?' + +'Santiago's cockle-shells, the token of pilgrimage,' said Ferdinand. +'That's the best part of the coat.' + +'Some day I'll work you a banner-screen, Fernan,' said Robina; 'but +that will be when you impale our Underwood rood.' + +'And the pilgrim is brought to the cross,' said Angela, in one of her +grave moments of fanciful imagery. + +The echo of her words, however, struck Cherry as conveying an innuendo +that the child did not mean. Crosses could hardly be wanting to one who +had Alda for his wife; but happily no one else seemed to perceive it; +and they drifted on from grave to gay, and gay back to grave, till it +was time to return to the festival Evensong. + +Clement and his friends had to hurry away to the station directly +after. He would have put his three sisters into a cab, and sent it home +with them; but Ferdinand insisted on squeezing his long limbs into +durance and escorting them, to the tune of Angel's chatter and the +clatter of the windows. Cherry was the first set down; and she went +straight to the drawing-room, ready for interest and sympathy. + +'How late you are!' said Alda. + +'How did you come?' asked Marilda. + +'In a cab. It is gone on with the little girls. We stayed for evening +service. The lights were so beautiful!' + +'Just what boys and girls run after,' said Mr. Underwood. 'I like my +opera to be an opera, and my church to be a church.' + +'Yes,' said Mrs. Underwood, 'staying out so late, and in the city. I +don't half like such doings.' + +'What could you have done between services?' added Alda. 'Were you at +the clergy-house all day?' + +'Of course they were,' said Mr. Underwood. 'Trust a curate to take +care of a pretty girl. High or low, they are all alike.' + +'No,' said Cherry, in blushing indignation; 'we had tea at Mr. +Travis's.' + +'Indeed!' said Alda. + +And Cherry knew the tone but too well; and under this plentiful shower +of cold water, perceiving her own fatigue, bade good night. She was +kindly bidden to send Nurse for wine, tea, or whatever she needed; but +she was still conscious of displeasure. + +In the morning she was weary and dispirited, and for the first time +felt that there was no one to remark, as Felix or Wilmet would have +done, that she was flagging. Failing this, she prepared as usual to go +to her class; but before starting she encountered Mrs. Underwood. + +'Geraldine,' said that lady, majestically, 'you are a talented young +person; but--you must excuse me--I cannot have such independence under +my roof. It is not _comifo_. Bless me, don't tremble so; I don't mean +anything. You meant no harm; only you should have come home, you know, +when your brother wasn't there.' + +'But he was!' gasped Geraldine, colouring. + +'Why, wasn't it that young man Travis met you?' + +'He met us, for Clement was hindered; but Clement was there, and was +with us all the time.' + +'H'm! That ought to have been explained. Why didn't you tell your +sister? She is quite distressed.' + +A summons from Mr. Underwood obliged Cherry to hurry away, her heart +throbbing, her head whirling, and no comfort but hard squeezing the +ivory back of Lord Gerald; and when she reached Mr. Renville's, her +hand was trembling so, that she could not have drawn a line if the +good haus-frau had not dosed her with the strong coffee, which in true +German fashion was always ready. Then the absorbing interest of her art +revived her; and she returned home, cheered, and believing that the +misunderstanding was cleared up. + +Indeed, Mrs. Underwood was as good-natured as ever; and Alda was +chiefly employed in rejecting all the solicitations to accompany +the party to Morecombe House, and rebutting the remonstrances on +the incivility to Mr. Grinstead; to which Marilda had yielded, but +grumbling loudly at the bore of seeing pictures and taking no pains to +conceal that she was cross and angry with Cherry for having brought it +upon her. + +Poor Cherry! Of the few parties of pleasure of her life, this was +that which most reminded her of the old woman of Servia! After having +Marilda's glum face opposite through the drive, she was indeed most +kindly welcomed by Mr. Grinstead; but how could she enjoy the attention +that was so great a kindness and honour, when every pause before a +picture was a manifest injury to her companions? + +Mrs. Underwood indeed had occupation in peeping under holland covers, +estimating the value of carpets and curtains, and admiring the gilt +frames; but this did not hold out as long as the examination of each +favourite picture in detail; and what was worse, Marilda plumped +herself down in the first chair in each room, and sat poking the floor +with her parasol, the model of glum discontent. How could the mind be +free for the Madonna's celestial calm, or the smiling verisimilitude +of portraiture? how respond or linger, when the very language of art +was mere uninteresting jargon to impatient captives, who thought her +comprehension mere affectation? While to all other discomforts must be +added the sense of missing one of the best opportunities of her life, +and of ill responding to a gracious act of condescension. + +She came home tired to death, and with a bad headache, that no one took +the trouble to remark; and she dressed for dinner with a sense that it +mattered to no one how she felt. + +Just as she was ready, Marilda came gravely in, sitting down in +preparation, Cherry felt, for something dreadful; but even her +imagination failed to depict the fact. + +'Geraldine,' was the beginning, 'Alda wishes you to hear that she has +put an end to the engagement.' + +Cherry absolutely screamed, 'Oh, oh, don't let her do that! It would be +so dreadful!' + +Marilda looked severe. 'I don't suppose you thought what it was coming +to.' + +'O! I have often been sorry to see things, but it seemed so atrocious +to think so.' + +'Then you must have known you were doing wrong.' + +'What--how--what have I done? I don't know what you mean!' + +'Indeed! It is of no use to look frightened and innocent. Perhaps you +did not mean anything; but when it grew so marked, Alda could not but +feel it.' + +'What? Does Alda mean _that?_' cried Cherry, starting up, scarlet with +horror. + +'Now I see you understand. She is terribly hurt. She excuses it, for +she says you have been so petted all your life, that you don't know the +right bounds.' + +'And can you really think this of me?' moaned she. + +'It is just like every one when they have the chance--no one ever means +it,' said Marilda. + +'Oh!' cried Cherry, as a fresh horror came across her, 'but if Alda +thinks ever so horridly of me, how can she doubt him? Oh, stop her, +stop her! Let me only tell her how he talked of her yesterday! His +whole soul is full of her. Oh, stop her, Marilda, do!' + +'It is of no use,' said Marilda; 'she has sent her letter. She was +resolved to do nothing hastily, so she went this morning and saw the +little girls.' + +'Oh, oh!' broke in Cherry, with another cry of pain. 'Those poor +children have not been brought into trouble again?' + +'No; it was no doing of theirs; but when she perceived the exclusive +attention that--when she found,' hesitated Marilda, forgetting her +lesson, 'how you had been sitting in the cloister--in short, how it had +all gone on--she said it was the finishing stroke.' + +'Oh!' a sigh or groan, as if stabbed; then with spirit, 'but why wasn't +she there herself? He only took me for want of her! He only speaks to +me because I am her sister. He was so unhappy--I was trying to cheer +him.' + +'So you might think; but that's the way those things run on. There's +the gong!' + +Cherry rose, but felt that sitting at table would end in faintness, and +Marilda went away in doubt, between pity and displeasure, whether at +contrition or affectation. + +No sooner was the door shut, and Cherry alone, than a terrible hysterical +agony came on. There was personal sense of humiliation--passionate anger, +despair, for Ferdinand's sake--miserable loneliness and desertion. She +felt as if she were in a house full of enemies; and had absolute +difficulty in restraining screams for Felix to come and take her +home. The physical need of Wilmet or Sibby, to succour and soothe her +agitation and exhaustion, soon became so great as to overpower the +mental distress; but she would not call or ring; and when Mrs. Sturt +came, the kind woman made as if the headache accounted for all. + +She reported that Miss Alda likewise had gone to her room with a +headache; and Cherry saw no one but Mrs. Underwood, who looked in to +offer impossible remedies, and be civilly but stiffly compassionate. + +The stifled hysteria was much worse for Geraldine than free tears. She +had a weary night of wretched dream fancies, haunted by Ferdinand's +sombre face, convulsed with rage, and tormented by the belief that +she had done something so frightful as to put her out of the pale of +humanity; nor was it till long after daylight that she could so collect +her ideas as to certify herself that if she had done wrong, it had at +least been unwittingly; but even then she was in a misery of shame, and +of the most intense longing for her brother or sister to defend and +comfort her. + +She managed to rise and dress; but she was far too unwell to attempt +the classes for the day. Alda spoke coldly; and she crept away, to lie +on the sofa in the old school-room, trusting that before post-time +her hand might grow steady enough to write an entreaty to be taken +home, and longing--oh! longing more every hour for Edgar, and still +he did not come! Marilda looked in, began to believe her really ill, +grew compassionate, asked how she treated such attacks, deemed her +penitent, and began to soothe her as if she was a naughty baby. Then, +in desperation, Cherry ventured to ask what had been heard of him--Mr. +Travis. He had been at the door--he had taken no refusal--had forced an +interview--he was gone. Alda was in her own room, bolted in. Marilda +had not seen her since. + +Cherry shook from head to foot, and quivered with suppressed strangling +sobs, as the shame of such a requital for the sacrifice of Ferdinand's +whole career agonised her at one moment, and at another she was +terrified at the possible effect on that fervid nature. + +Oh, that long, long piteous day! She never did write--never even felt +as if she could sit up to guide a pen. At last Alda came in, with a +strange awe-struck paleness about her face, as if she had gone through +something terrible; and in a tone that sounded unnatural, said, 'Come, +Cherry, don't give way so. I didn't mean to accuse you. People don't +always know what they are doing. I am thankful on my own account.' + +Cherry had longed for a kind word; but this sort of pardon was like +Alda's taking the advantage of her when Felix was not there to protect +her. Not naturally meek, she was too much shaken to control a voice +that sounded more like temper than sorrow. 'You have no right to accuse +me at all, as if I were a traitor!' + +'Not a deliberate traitor, my dear,' said Alda, in a voice of candour; +'certainly not; but you don't know the advantage helplessness and +cleverness give over us poor beauties who show our best at first. I +blame no one for using their natural weapons.' + +'Don't, Alda!' cried Cherry, with the sharpness of keen offence. 'You +may keep that speech for those you got it up for!' + +'Well, if you are in such a mood as that, nobody can talk to you,' +said Alda, going away, and leaving her to a worse paroxysm of misery +than before, and an inexpressible sense of desolation, passing into an +almost frantic craving for Edgar, to make him take her home. + +Marilda gave a little relief by telling her that he was sent for; but +after long expectation, word came that he was not at home, nor did his +landlady know when he would return. + +By this time it was too late to send a letter; and Cherry began to feel +ashamed of having so given way, and to think of exerting herself to +recover, if only to be in a condition to go home when Edgar should be +found; so she made an effort to remember the remedies with which she +was wont to be passively dosed by Wilmet, went to bed, and tried hard +to put herself to sleep. Though it was long before she effectually +succeeded, she was much calmer in the morning, deeply wounded indeed, +but trying to accept the imputation that her habit of expecting aid +might have led her into what had given umbrage to Alda, and that self +immolation might yet heal the misunderstanding, and the desire to plead +with Alda seemed to brace her nerves; but Alda was not attainable. She +only just came in, in her habit, while Mrs. Sturt was dressing Cherry, +and said that she had such a headache, that she must take a country +ride; and Cherry, who felt as if she had been under a stampede of wild +horses, could only just crawl to the sofa, and lie there; while the +whole family were in such wholesome dread of that dumb hysteria, that +they were as tender as they knew how to be, and abstained from all +reference to the previous day. + +The afternoon had come on the weary, home-sick, exhausted spirit, when +a springy step came along the corridor, a light airy rap struck the +door, and a tall, lithe, yet strong form, and a pair of kind smiling +eyes, brought the sense of love and guardianship that the spoilt child +of home had been pining for. She had yesterday meant to cry out to +him,' O Edgar, take me home!' but she did not speak, only looked up, +glad and relieved. + +'Why, Cherry,' as he kissed her hot brow, and caressingly held her limp +cold hand, 'it seems to be the family fashion to suffer by proxy for +these little catastrophes. Who is to take to his or her bed when some +Indian spinster hooks W.W.'s engineer?' + +'Hush, Edgar! Have you seen _him?_' + +'Have not I?' + +'Ah, I knew you must be with him, when they could not find you!' + +'Me? No; I had enough of it the night before! I had had too narrow an +escape of getting my neck wrung for declining to act as go-between, to +subject myself to the same again, and went off with some fellows to +Richmond--only came back an hour ago.' + +'O, Edgar! if you had but tried--' + +'Take my advice, Cherry. Never put your foot into a boiling cauldron! +Besides, don't you know perfectly well that never was there a worse +matched pair? St. Anthony and Venus attired by the Graces; and very +little more attire could he give her. If dear old Blunderbore had had +a grain of common sense he would have told them so a year ago; and I +should have thought even you could have seen it to be a happy release.' + +'I see you don't know the cause--' + +'Visible enough to the naked eye!' And Edgar, in imitation of Theodore, +hummed 'Mynheer van Dunck.' + +'For shame, Edgar! Oh no! it is only what could be mended if you would +but show her that I--that he--that he only was kind to me for her sake. +If she would only hear what he was saying to me! but she won't! Just +set it straight; and then, please--please take me home.' + +'Well,' said Edgar, as he gathered the drift of her broken phrases, +spoken with her face hidden on his shoulder, 'this is as nasty, +spiteful a trick as Alda ever played! He said she put it on some motive +of jealousy--and she always was a jealous toad; but I never guessed at +this! Never mind, Chérie. She only wanted a pretext, and you came first +to hand. I'll let her know what I think of it--and Polly too!' + +'But, indeed, I don't think I was guarded enough.' + +'Of course you don't. You and Tina think yourselves the most +heavenly-minded when you can accuse yourselves of anything utterly +ridiculous.' + +'It was what she heard from Robin and Angel.' + +'The marplots of the family--little minxes!' said Edgar, with a +bitterness she was sorry to have provoked. 'No,' he added, 'not +marplots in this case. I see it all as plain as a pikestaff! Felix +having shown his usual refreshing innocence by leaving Alda in this +predicament, she had to get out of it as best she could; so she trumps +up this charge between Robin's prudery and Angel's chatter; nor would I +have blamed her a bit if she had only flourished it in his eyes; but to +poison Marilda with it, and annihilate you--I can't forgive that!' + +'Oh, but she believes it.' + +'If she gets up a little delusion--a slight screen to the Mynheer--she +ought to keep it to herself.' + +'I shall try to write it all properly to her when I get home.' + +'Home! You aren't going to be ill?' + +'No; but I can't stay after all this--to be looked on in this way.' + +'I'll settle that.' + +'You can't expose Alda.' + +'I shall expose her no more than I have done fifty times before. Don't +be afraid. We understand one another--Polly, Alda, and I.' + +'Don't defend me! I had so much rather go back.' + +'Of course; but you need not be a little goose. You did not come here +for pleasure, but business. And is this great genius to be stifled +because Alda talks a little unjustifiable nonsense?' + +'Do you think Felix and Wilmet would tell me to stay?' + +'Wilmet certainly would. Felix might be tempted to take his baby home +to rock; but even he has sense enough to tell you that the only way to +deal with such things is to brazen them out.' + +'I haven't got any brass.' + +'Then you must get some. Seriously, Cherry, it would be very silly to +go flying home, throwing up all your opportunities, and the very thing +to give some _vraisemblance_ to Alda's accusation. If I had only been +here yesterday, I'd have choked it in the throat of her, and hindered +you from caring a straw; but I didn't want to meet Travis in his exies.' + +'I wish you would really tell me about him--poor dear Fernan!' + +'Take care! That looks suspicious. Well, poor fellow! the Mexican is +strong in him. _Grattez lui_ ever so slightly. Well for Mynheer that he +is not out with him on a prairie, with a revolver! But, whereas Audley +and Felix caught him in time to make a spoon out of a bowie-knife, I +don't expect much to happen, beyond my distraction from his acting +caged panther in my room till two o'clock that night!' + +'He came here and saw her yesterday. Have you seen him since?' + +No; Edgar had kept out of the way, and would not talk of him; but stood +over his sister, wishing to soothe and relieve the little thing, for +whom he cared more than for all the lovers put together, and whose wan +exhausted looks, visible suffering, and nervous shudders he could not +bear to see. 'I wish you weren't too big for rocking, Baby,' he said. +And then he sat down to the piano, playing and singing a low soft +lullaby, which at last brought quiet sleep to the refreshment of the +harassed mind and weary frame. + +The hum of conversation in an undertone at length gradually roused her. + +'The long and short of it is, that she was tired of it.' + +'But she wouldn't have invented such a story.' + +'I never said she invented it! She's not so stupid but that she can +put a gloss on a thing; and you _know_ she hates to have a civil word +said to any one but herself--particularly to that poor little dear.' + +'Then it wasn't right to let him be always running after her.' + +'Stuff! They'd been cronies ever since he was first caught; in fact, +she was one of the tame elephants that licked him into shape, long +before he set eyes on either of you. No stuff about it at all; they are +just like brother and sister. The poor child would no more be capable +of such a thing than that lay figure of hers--hasn't it in her; and for +you to go and bully her!' + +'Well,' in a half-puzzled, half-angered tone, 'that's what Alda says. +She declares she only told me, and never meant me to speak to _her_ +about the cause.' + +'She wanted to play off the injured heroine; and you--not being up to +such delicate subtilties, walked off to speak your mind. Eh!' + +'I thought I ought.' + +'You put your great thumb on a poor little May-fly, just as if it had +been a tortoise!' + +'I'm sure I had no notion she would be so unhappy; all girls do such +things; and most are proud of it. I was only disappointed to find her +like the rest; but I'd no notion she would cry herself ill.' + +Here Geraldine's senses became sufficiently clear to make her aware +that she was the topic, and ought to rouse herself, no longer to let +the discussion mingle with her dreams. With some effort she opened her +eyes, and saw Edgar astride on the music-stool, and Marilda leaning on +the mantel-shelf. + +'I'm awake,' she drowsily said. + +'To the battle over your prostrate body,' said Edgar. 'Go to sleep +again, little one. Polly is very sorry, and won't do so no more.' + +'She didn't say so, Edgar,' said Cherry; 'and if I had really done so, +she ought to have been a great deal more angry with me.' + +'Well, Geraldine,' said Marilda, 'I believe, whatever you did, you +didn't know it; and I know I was hard on you. My father and mother +don't know anything about it--only that it is off--' + +'And that they rightly ascribe to Alda's good sense,' said Edgar. + +This much relieved Cherry, who had thought it impossible to remain +where she was, viewed as a traitor to her own sister. It wounded her, +indeed, that Marilda should merely condone the offence, instead of +acquitting her; but when she recollected the probability that Marilda +had suffered the like treatment from Alda, who was nevertheless loved +so heartily, it began to dawn upon her that there was a disposition to +view the offence as common, natural, and light, rather than not excuse +the offender. She despised her cousin for lowering the standard to suit +a favourite, and was sure she should never be comfortable again till +she got home; but she was reasonable enough to perceive the force of +what Edgar had shown her--as to the folly of forsaking her studies, and +abandoning the advantages offered to her; and his kindness had much +cheered her; so she said no more about going home, and resumed her +former habits, though feeling that Marilda's patronizing cordiality was +gone, and that Alda was simply cold and indifferent. + +She felt especially unwilling to face the two little girls, who seemed +to have acted as false witnesses against her; but an imploring note +from Robina besought her to call; and on arriving in the parlour, where +interviews were allowed, she was greeted with, 'O Cherry, is it true? +and was that why Alda came here?' + +Then she found that they had heard from home of the rupture of the +engagement; and that they had immediately connected it with Alda's +extraordinary visit of the week previous. + +'She came to bring us a cake,' said Robin; 'but as she never did so +before, I thought something was at the bottom of it, and that she just +wanted to hear more about Ferdinand and his lodgings.' + +'And,' added Angel, who, if less sensible, was far before Robina in a +certain irregular precocity, 'I thought I'd get a rise out of her, and +chaff her a little. She used to be so savage last year, whenever Fernan +treated you with common humanity.' + +'O Angel, how could you!' + +'You don't mean that it did the harm! Bobbie said so; but I didn't +think Alda could be so silly as to think it in earnest, Cherry.' + +'Angel, you have been playing with edge-tools.' + +'Cherry, tell me what you mean!' Angela pounced on both her arms, as if +to shake it out of her. + +'Never do such a thing again, Angel. You cannot tell what you may be +doing.' + +'Well, if any one could be so stupid! So dense, as not to see it was +fun! Now, Robin--' + +'I think,' said the practical Robin, 'that all you can do, is to write +down a full confession that you meant to tease Alda.' + +'Yes, yes, yes,' cried Angela, with less shame than Cherry would have +thought possible, 'I will! I will! and then they'll make it up. Who +would have thought Alda could have been so easily taken in? But how +shall I do it unknownst to the harpies?' + +Cherry offered a pencil, and a bit of her drawing-block. She made no +suggestion, thinking that the more characteristic the confession was, +the more it would prove its authenticity. Angela retired into a window, +and wrote, in her queer unformed hand: + + I, Angela Margaret Underwood, hereby confess that whatever I + told Alda, my sister, about Geraldine and F.T., was all cram; + and if I did it too well, I'm very sorry for it. F.T. didn't + take a bit more notice of Cherry than of Robin and me; and of + course he cannot marry the three of us: and of course it was + all right, for Clement was there. Ask him. + + Witness my hand, + ANGELA MARGARET UNDERWOOD. + + +Then she called, 'Come and witness it, Robin.' + +'Nonsense,' said Robina; and coming to look, she exclaimed, 'you have +made it simply ridiculous. This will do no good!--See, Cherry.' + +But Cherry would not have it altered, and merely bade Robina write her +testimony. + +This took much longer, though the produce was much briefer. It was +only-- + + MY DEAR ALDA, + + Angela was only talking nonsense the other day. If I had not + thought so, I would have told you. + + Your affectionate sister, + ROBINA B. UNDERWOOD. + + +'You've made a letter of it!' exclaimed Angela. 'I thought it was to be +a last will and--no, a dying speech and confession; which is it? Well, +if that does not set it all straight, I can't tell what will!' + +Cherry was a good deal perplexed by the testimony now she had obtained +it. She thought the matter over on her return, and ended by seeking +Marilda; and with much excuse for Angela, putting it into her hands to +show to Alda. She felt it due to herself to make sure that Marilda saw +it, such as it was. + +Marilda undertook that Alda should see it. Geraldine watched and +waited. There was no apology to herself. At that she did not wonder. +Was there any note of recall sounded to Ferdinand? Was Alda proud? or +was she in very truth indifferent, and unwilling to give up her excuse +for a quarrel? or had she really relented, and apologized in secret? + +It was strange to know so little, and venture so much less with her own +sister than could Marilda, whom, in their present stiff reserve, Cherry +durst not question. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +DON OR MYNHEER? + + 'Hear the truth-- + A lame girl's truth, whom no one ever praised + For being patient.' + _George Eliot._ + + +One morning, after a private interview with Alda, Mr. Underwood entered +the drawing-room, hilariously announcing that Alda was a lucky girl +this time, for now she had a man in no fear of his relations. + +Geraldine was glad of the need of getting into the carriage directly, +and that her transit to Mr. Renville's was too brief for any answer to +be needed to her companion's warm satisfaction. Affairs of this sort +had come so thickly upon the family in the course of the last eighteen +months, that she did not feel the excitement of novelty; and she wished +so little to dwell on the present, that at the museum, the absorbing +interest of her life-study drove out the immediate recollection of the +stranger life-study she had left. + +There could be no question as to the veritable cause of Alda's conduct +to Ferdinand; but Cherry was too much ashamed of it to rejoice in her +own justification, scarcely even hoping that Marilda would perceive it. + +Most likely Alda would have preferred staving off the crisis a little +longer--at least till those keen eyes were out of sight--but she had +now to do with a man whose will it was not easy to parry, and whom +delay and coyness might have driven off altogether. Cherry did not see +her till they met at luncheon; and there was Sir Adrian, who promoted +the little lame girl to a shake of the hand. Alda looked gracious and +unusually handsome, being, in fact, relieved from a state of fretting +uneasiness; Mrs. Underwood was beaming with triumph; Marilda--again +there is no word for it but--glum! + +There was a rose show at the Botanic Gardens; but Cherry had declined +it, and Marilda immovably refused to go. After they had seen the other +two ladies set off, resplendent under Sir Adrian's escort, Marilda +announced her intention of driving, as she often did, to the City, to +fetch her father home, and, more cordially than of late, offered a seat +to Cherry, if she did not mind waiting. + +The City to Cherry's ears meant Ferdinand, whom she would not face for +worlds; but she told herself that it was not like Bexley, where every +one who went to the bank was sure to be presently seen at Froggatt's, +and she would not reject this advance from her cousin. + +Indeed, Marilda wanted to talk, and freely told all she had been +hearing. The baronetcy was in the third generation, having been +conferred on the original transmuter, a Lord Mayor, with whom his son +had toiled for the larger half of his days, and comparatively late +had bought an estate, and married a lady of quality. He had not long +survived, and his widow had remarried. Of her nothing more was known; +but her son was so entirely his own master, that her opposition was not +likely to be dangerous. Sir Adrian had the reputation of great wealth; +and though he partook of the usual amusements of young men, there was +no reason to suppose that he did so to an extent that he could not +afford. Altogether, it was a brilliant conquest; but 'How one does hate +it all!' concluded Marilda. + +This was all the amends Cherry received for the reproach that had so +keenly wounded her. Probably Marilda had really dismissed the charge; +but hers was not a fine-grained mind, used to self-examination or +analysis; and she acted on a momentary impression, without much regard +to the past or to consistency. Her affections were deep and strong; +but partly from circumstances they were like those of a dog, depending +rather on contact than esteem. She had accepted Edgar and Alda as +brother and sister, and whatever they did, stood by them with all her +might; nor did she ever so much as realize that Alda had been wrong, +and she herself misled. She would rather believe it the way of the +world, and part of the nature of things, than open her mind to blame +Alda. + +Besides, the sense of not understanding Cherry, and the recollection +of the effect produced on her by words apparently quite inadequate, +the seeing her power of talking to and amusing gentlemen with whom she +herself had not an idea in common, Edgar's tender fervent pride in her, +and Alda's half-contemptuous acknowledgment of her ability--all this +contributed to give Marilda a certain shyness, awe, and constraint, +that sometimes looked cold, and sometimes cross, and puzzled Cherry, +who never dreamt of being formidable. + +When they reached the house of business, Marilda went to her father's +room, for since his illness she often helped him to wind up his +correspondence; and Cherry sat in the carriage, her attention divided +between a book and the busy traffic of the street. + +Presently she saw a tall lean figure in black, with a deeply-cut sallow +face set in grey whiskers. She knew it for the Vicar of St Matthew's; +and he, after bowing and passing, turned, and coming to the window, +said, 'Will you kindly tell me the right address to Mr. Audley, in +Australia? Clement left it with me, but I have mislaid it.' + +'The Rev. C.S. Audley, Carrigaboola, Albertstown, West Australia.' +And as he repeated it with thanks, she could not restrain herself from +stretching out a hand in entreaty, and saying, 'Oh! pray, pray tell me! +How is he? Mr. Travis?' + +'Your eldest brother's letter has done him a great deal of good.' + +'Please tell me about him,' implored Cherry, colouring. 'We have known +him for so long before. How does he bear it?' + +Mr. Fulmort let himself into the carriage, and sat down by her, saying, +'He is bearing it as you could most wish.' + +'I longed to know. I feared it would be very terrible. His is not an +English nature.' + +'It has been a great struggle. That first night he never went home +at all, but wandered about till daylight. I found him at five in the +morning, sunk down on his knees in our porch, with his head against the +church door, in a sort of exhausted doze.' + +'Oh, well that he knew the way!' sighed Cherry. 'No one ever was so +cruelly treated!' she added with frowning vehemence. 'And then?' + +'I took him to my rooms, and made him rest, and I went to Brown's and +excused his non-attendance. By the time he went to your sister he had +quite mastered himself.' + +'He must. She never told about it; but we are sure she was quite +overawed.' + +'He came back quite calm, with a certain air of secresy, and has +gone on with a sort of stern quietness ever since,' said the Vicar, +lowering his voice. 'Only on Sunday--he is one of our collectors at +the Offertory--he brought up his alms-bag bursting with bracelets and +rings, and things of that sort.' + +'Poor Fernan! how like him to do it in that way!' + +'I think it relieved him. He is perfectly free of bitterness towards +your sister--allows no flaw in her; but he is striving hard not to +retain animosity against your uncle.' + +'It is deserved by no one but her!' exclaimed Cherry; 'and there's +worse to come. I don't know whether I ought to mention it; but it will +be better for it to come to him from you.' + +'_It_ is true, then?' said Mr. Fulmort, understanding her directly. 'My +sister told me it was reported.' + +'It was only settled yesterday evening. I am afraid _this_ is worse for +him than if it had been any one else.' + +'So am I. It seems to be the crisis of a long emulation. I begged +Aston--my brother-in-law--to ascertain what was thought about it in the +corps; and he said that though poor Travis had never got on well with +the other men, there was a general feeling that he was not handsomely +treated.' + +'That wretched man betted--' + +Mr. Fulmort kindly but decidedly checked her. 'You had better not +dwell on such reports. Things for which we are not responsible must be +made the best of when they bring us new connections. Our friend is not +unprepared, and I will take care he does not hear this casually.' + +'Thank you--oh! thank you! Give him my--' she caught herself up +and blushed--'my very best remembrances; and tell him,' she added, +carried away in spite of herself, 'that he must always be like one of +ourselves.' + +'It will be a great comfort to him. Nothing can exceed his affection +and gratitude to your family--indeed he said, with tears in his eyes, +that to your brothers he "owes his very self also." I hope nothing will +disturb that friendship.' + +'What will he do? Set about some great work somewhere?' + +Mr. Fulmort smiled sadly. 'It is not safe to rush into great works to +allay disappointment,' he said. 'I think he is wiser to keep steadily +to his occupation, at least for the present; but he is giving his whole +leisure to his district and the evening classes. I am glad to have met +you. Good-bye.' + +It was lucky that Cherry had plenty of time to subside before the +return of Marilda and her father. The latter was much exalted by the +explanation he had had with Sir Adrian and his man of business. The +rent-roll was all that could be desired, and so were the proposed +settlements; nor was there any fear on the score of the family. The +lawyer privately told Mr. Underwood that the mother, Lady Mary Murray, +was a most gentle lady, without a spark of pride, and very anxious to +see her son married. + +Nor did her letter belie this assurance. She expressed gladness that +her son's choice should be a clergyman's daughter, and warmly invited +Alda to come and visit her at the Rectory, and make herself at home +among the new brothers and sisters there. + +It was gathered--partly from Sir Adrian, partly from gossip--that +Lady Mary, a scantily-portioned maiden, had been too timid and docile +to withstand the parental will, which devoted her to the wealthy old +baronet; but in her widowhood she had followed the inclination that +had been pooh-poohed by her family in her girlhood. As a country +clergyman's wife, her homely quiet existence had less and less +influence over her son; and there was no danger of Alda finding in +her an imperious mother-in-law, though, except as a connecting link, +she would be valueless as an introduction. She was absolutely foolish +enough to be romantically delighted at her son's marrying for love; +and Geraldine fell in love with her on the spot, on reading her +letter--one of the very few which Alda showed, for in general she kept +her correspondence to herself. She avoided Cherry, and only talked to +Marilda of externals. + +Nothing was to be definitively arranged till Felix had come to London, +and given his approval to the draught of the settlements, of which he +and Mr. Murray were to be trustees. He was so much grieved and ashamed, +that much urging from Wilmet was needed to convince him that he ought +not to leave the whole to Tom Underwood; but as a counterpoise there +was Cherry to see--and oh! joy of joys! to fetch home. So he consented +to go up on a Saturday afternoon, and return on Tuesday; and thus +it was, that one evening in July Cherry was gathered into his arms, +murmuring 'Felicissimo mio, what an age it is since I have had you!' + +Good-natured Mrs. Underwood had made it a family party, including +Robina and Angela, the worthy dame having little notion how slightly +they appreciated the honour, nor how curiosity, and love of Felix and +a holiday, contended with very tumultuous and angry sensations. That +Alda had never taken the smallest notice of Angela's confession, did +not render her cold kiss the pleasanter, nor the circle less awful as +the party sat round, awaiting the arrival of Sir Adrian. There they +were, nine uncomfortable people, sitting on gilded blue damask chairs, +too few and too far apart for a comfortable whisper; the two youngest +very conscious of their best white frocks; the two eldest--the one in +a flurry of anxiety and suspense, the other in a fret of impatience +and testiness; and Marilda--having announced her opinion that Sir +Adrian would shirk it, and not come at all--in a state of glumness. +Edgar, however--an exception both to the discomfort and the seat--threw +himself into the breach with the story of the mysterious disappearance +of a nun, (Cherry suspected it of being _ben trovato_ for the nonce,) +and when that was worn out, and the master of the house insisted on +ringing for dinner, and the mistress was almost in tears at his hunger +and temper, and her own fear of rudeness, while Marilda only declared +that it was no more than the due of tardiness, it was Edgar alone who +had strength of mind to declare that patience ought to end, and to pull +the bell. + +The guest arrived with the dinner, looking so sulky about the eyes, +that Cherry suspected him of having delayed while pitying himself for +the ante-nuptial infliction of this party. However, he proved to have +some justification, for a little stiffness of movement in giving his +arm to Mrs. Underwood elicited that he had bruised his shoulder in a +fall; and that good lady, pursuing the subject with less tact than +solicitude, drew from him that he had been mounting at his banker's +door, when his horse shied, and got its head away from the groom, but +was caught at once by a clerk sort of fellow. A showy brute, with an +uncertain temper. He should get rid of it. + +Angela had been nudging Edgar all the time, to make him ask what horse +it was; and as he turned a deaf ear, her voice erected itself with the +shrill pert sound that is the misfortune of girlhood--'Was it Brown +Murad?' + +Sir Adrian had to look to find out where the voice came from before he +answered in the affirmative. + +'Then he isn't a brute at all!' said the same voice, with great +decision. 'He is as gentle as a lamb, and will eat bread out of your +hand if you know how to use him properly!' + +Her cheeks were crimson, and she was greatly displeased that Edgar and +Geraldine should both begin talking of other things with all their +might. + +Sir Adrian had more of the art of conversation than poor Ferdinand; and +as politics came up, Edgar declared himself to have become a voluntary +victim to unanimity between the three contracting powers, who had +harmoniously joined in rending his carcase. He left them, nearly as +soon as the ladies did, to discuss the business part of the affair, +and came to the aid of Cherry and Robina, who were vainly trying to +convince Angela of the inexpedience of her outbreak, and obtaining in +return the sentiment, 'I don't care what he does to Alda. It is her +choice, but not poor dear Brown Murad's, that he has got such a master!' + +'You have done your best to make him fare worse.' + +'Now, Edgar, you only want to frighten me.' + +'No. If Vanderkist does not entirely forget the pertness of an _enfant +terrible_, it will just add another sting to his dislike of the poor +beast.' + +Angela fairly burst into tears, and ran away to the school-room, whence +she returned with a bearing so magnanimous and desperate, that Cherry +and Robina dreaded lest she should be meditating an apology and an +appeal on behalf of the horse; so that they were much relieved when the +carriage came to take the young ladies home, before the consultation in +the dining-room broke up. Even then Angel did not wholly abstain, but +when Alda gave her mechanical kiss, she said, 'Alda, please don't let +Sir Adrian be unkind to that poor dear horse!' + +'Silly child! What fancies you take into your head!' said Alda, +laughing, with a good-humoured superiority such as she had not shown +at home. 'You need not fear but that whatever belongs to him is made +happy.' + +Angela returned an unfeigned look of astonishment, and exclaimed, +'After all, I do believe you are really in love with him!' + +'Angel,' said Edgar, putting his hand on her shoulder, 'I called you an +_enfant terrible_ just now; but you are too big for that indulgence, +unless you mean to be equally hateful to friend and foe.' + +Angela shook off his hand, and tossed her head disrespectfully, but +went off in silence. Sir Adrian only came upstairs to say he had +promised to look in on Lady Somebody; and Alda bade good night as soon +as he was gone. She had evidently nothing to say to Felix that night, +nor the next morning, though he waited about after breakfast to give +her the opportunity; accompanied the family to their very dry church; +and then, announcing his intention of repairing to St Matthew's, was +seen no more--not even at dinner-time, when his absence was somewhat +resented by his hosts, and vexed Cherry a good deal. + +However, he appeared before ten o'clock, made an apology about his +unexpected detention, and when the family circle broke up obeyed +Cherry's wistful look, and followed her to her room. + +'Was it about Fernan?' she asked. + +'The clerk sort of fellow who stopped the horse?' + +'It did cross me, but I thought it too good to be true. How was it?' + +'He had been sent on some business to the bank, and was almost at the +door when Sir Adrian came out. The groom may have been holding the +horse carelessly. Sir Adrian spoke angrily; the horse started, got his +head free, and reared, throwing him down with his foot in the stirrup, +so that he would have been dragged if Fernan had not got hold of the +bridle, and his voice quieted poor Brown Murad in a moment.' + +'Dear good fellow! I hope Sir Adrian did not punish him.' + +'He is too valuable for that, I hope; but Sir Adrian did not spare +abuse to man or beast, and threw a thank-you to Ferdinand as if he +did not recognise him. Most likely we should never have heard of the +adventure if it had not jarred the weak place in poor Fernan's back. He +did not find it out at first, and stayed at his work the rest of the +day; but it has been getting worse ever since, and I found him on the +sofa, lengthened out with a chair.' + +'That most horrible of sofas--all bars and bumps! Poor Fernan!' + +'He only told me he had got a sprain in catching a rearing horse; and +then I leapt to the conclusion, and made him tell me. He says he has +hurt himself in the same way before, and that the Life Guards' surgeon +told him there was nothing for it but rest.' + +'Rest, indeed! like St. Lawrence's gridiron--all but the fire! What did +you do for him?' + +'Wished for Wilmet, and remembered Lance's telling me that I was of no +use to myself nor any one else.' + +'Fancy Lance saying that! But you didn't really do nothing?' + +'Luckily Edgar came in search of me, and showed what resource is. +He had up the landlady, and as usual captivated her. She produced a +mattress, and Edgar routed out some air-cushions that Fernan had used +before, and they made him much more comfortable, I want to take him +home, but he does not think he can bear the journey.' + +'No,' said Cherry; 'and he would be always in the way of hearing about +_this;_ but it is dreadful to have him laid up in that dismal hole.' + +'I ran round to the clergy-house, and they will look after him as much +as they can.' + +'How is he looking?' + +'As if he had not slept all night, but otherwise I believe this has +done him good; I fancy he never knew what the first impulse of the +ferocious old Mexican might be.' + +'Did he say anything?' + +'No, but the Vicar did. He has had a terrible time; but I hope the +worst is over. We read the Evening Service together; and he looked +so full of peace, that I thought of the contrast with that Christmas +morning when he opened his heart about the fire. There was all the +difference between blind feeling after truth and holding it in the +hand.' + +'Was Edgar with you then?' asked Cherry, eagerly. + +'No, he came later.' + +'You Blunderbore!' said Cherry, rallying her playfulness to hide the +extinction of that moment's hope; 'how like the good Christian who gave +the wounded man the sermon first and the raspberry-vinegar after!' + +'Come with me to-morrow, and give him the raspberry-vinegar then, +Cherry.' + +'Nay,' said Cherry, feeling this impossible, but withholding the +reason; 'I am as bad--just as much demoralized by a Wilmet--and should +be no good.' + +'The sight of you would be ever so much good. You needn't be shy. You +went with Clem.' + +'Once too often,' faltered Cherry. + +'Eh? Why W.W. said not a word against it!' + +'I would go with all my heart, Felix,' said Cherry, earnestly, 'but +that I am afraid Alda gave him the--the same reason she did to Marilda.' + +'What do you mean? You are all one blush! You can't mean that she +pretended jealousy?' + +'I never meant you to know,' said Cherry. 'O Felix! nothing ever was so +dreadful! Marilda thought it so bad of me. I did so long for you!' + +'You should have sent for me. I never thought of exposing you to such +an insult.' + +'I tried to write, but my hand was too shaky; and then Edgar came, and +was so very dear! He said Alda only laid hold of this as a plea for +getting out of the affair; and you see he was right. Don't be vexed, +Felix; it is all over now, and I hope it has made me more of a woman +and less of a baby; but after this, I could not go to him.' + +'No. I declare I can forgive Alda anything rather than this!' + +'She does not know what she is saying when she is in an ill-used +mood--especially of me. Indeed, I believe I ought to have been more +guarded. Shall you tell her about the horse?' + +'Certainly not.' + +'And are you letting this go on without speaking to her?' + +'I have written twice.' + +'She never told me. What did you say?' + +'A prose--I fear in the leader and heavy father style--which probably +she never read; and the answers were civil enough, but meant that she +would please herself.' + +'You really do not mean to say anything?' + +'If she asks my opinion, I must; but she does not. I am not here +to give my consent to the marriage, but to see fair play in the +settlements.' + +'Do you think that right?' + +'Remember, we know nothing against him, except his conduct to Fernan.' + +'We know he has not much religion.' + +'Cherry, I should put that objection forward decisively if she were +a younger one, for whom I am bound to judge; but she is only a year +younger than I am, and has seen more of the world. She must know more +about his principles than I can, and be able to judge whether she +chooses to trust to them. No argument of mine would make any difference +to her; and I have not the right to thrust in objections unasked.' + +'O Felix!' + +'What?' + +'Is not that rather "Am I my brother's keeper?"' + +'I hope not. You see, the sort of fatherly relation I bear to you all +has never existed towards her. She was given quite away; and where I do +not suppose even a father's remonstrance would avail, I do not feel +called upon to alienate her further by uplifting my testimony unsought.' + +'No, it would hardly do her good; but it would clear your own +conscience.' + +'It might bring dissension and harsh judgment on my conscience. Nothing +can be most conscientious that is not most for another's good; and I +do not think forcing an additional opposition or remonstrance, on mere +grounds of my own estimate of him, would be useful. You observe, too, +that our cool manner of treating this brilliant match is token enough +of our sentiments.' + +'Then you won't go to the wedding?' + +'Not if I can help it; and I don't think my company is desired. +Remember,' as he still saw her dissatisfied, 'it is not the same thing +to be an overt scamp as to be what you and I do not think a religious +man.' + +With a sudden impulse Cherry burst out laughing. 'If the great Sir +Adrian could only see what the little country bookseller thinks of his +alliance?' + +'Don't let pride peep out at the holes in our cloaks,' said Felix, +kissing her. + +She could not refuse herself the satisfaction of letting Marilda hear +the real history of the accident; but she could extract nothing but +'Indeed.' + +Altogether, Marilda disappointed Cherry. She went so entirely along +with the stream, only now and then remorselessly giving way to a +tremendous fit of crossness towards every one except her father, never +seeming scandalized by any doing of Alda's, and snubbing Cherry if she +showed any sort of disapprobation. + +Felix stole the first hour of his busy day for Ferdinand, and then was +distressed to leave him outstretched in his dull, close, noisy den, +ill adapted for the daylight hours of anything but blue-bottle flies; +though neither heat nor idleness was quite so trying to him as they +would have been to an Underwood. He had a cigar and newspaper; but +when books were proposed to him, allowed that reading bored him. When +Felix shifted the cushions, however, under them was a deep devotional +mystical work; and colouring a little, he owned that nothing interested +him but reading and slowly digesting fragments of this kind. And Felix +felt that it would be unreasonable to regret the snapping of the tie +that bound him to Alda. + +After some hours of business in the City, Felix came back, but was +amazed to hear that Mr. Travis was gone. The landlady seemingly rather +hurt at the slur on her attentions, said that an elderly lady had come +and taken him away, leaving an address. This led Felix into Finsbury +Square, where he was started to see waiting at the door a big carriage, +the panels and blinkers displaying the Underwood rood. On his asking +for Mr. Travis, a neat young maid took him to a downstairs room, where +Ferdinand was lying on a large sofa, accepting luncheon from a big +stout housekeeper-looking body, and--Marilda Underwood, her bonnet off, +as if quite at home! + +'Felix!--Granny, have you never seen Felix Underwood!' + +Mrs. Kedge turned round and held out her hand. 'I've never seen +Mr. Felix Hunderwood,' she said; 'but there's no gentleman I 'olds +in 'igher respect.--Sit down Mr. Felix, and take your bit of +noonchine.--Mary, give him some weal.--I could have had some soup if +I'd known I was to be so honoured; but I am a plain body, and likes a +cut from the servants' dinner--and so does Mary, for a change. So,' +before he could insert his civil reply, 'Vell, we've brought off your +friend; I 'ope you think him in good 'ands.' + +'The kindest hands,' said Felix; though, as good Mrs. Kedge discoursed +on hopodeldoc and winegar as sovereign for a sprain, he began to think +the change a doubtful good, and was glad Ferdinand seemed chiefly +sensible of the motherly care of the old lady. + +Marilda offered her cousin a seat in the carriage, when after the meal +she set forth to take her father home, there to hold conference with +Mr. Murray and the lawyer. + +'This is your doing,' he said, gratefully, as they drove off. 'How very +kind!' + +'Grandmamma always liked him,' said Marilda. 'He is so respectful, and +he plays backgammon.' + +'It is much better for him than that doleful room, which was only made +endurable by its being near his friends the curates.' + +'They will come to him there. Granny does not mind. She used to think +they starved Clement; but of late they have come to be great friends +with her, and come to her for rag, or broth, or hospital tickets.' + +'Does she go to their church?' + +'Oh no, she wouldn't to save her life--she thinks it quite shocking; +and there are two young merry ones who have regular quarrels with her, +teasing and making fun, and she scolding them, but so fond of them, +giving them quite large sums for their charities. She really delights +in them.' + +Marilda spoke far more freely to Felix than she ever could to Cherry, +but still she steered clear of Alda and her affairs. Only she did ask +him earnestly to avert all additional care and anxiety from her father +in arranging for the settlements, and above all to hinder any question +over which he could become excited. Then, as he promised to do all in +his power, she asked him what he thought of her father's health and +looks. He could truly say that he thought he was much better since last +autumn, and she looked cheered; but the few words she whispered made +it known to him that she was all this time living in a watchful state +of continual anxiety--being in truth the only person, except perhaps +Edgar, who really understood what last year's attack had been, or the +dangers of another. If her mother and Alda knew, they did not realize; +and he could perceive both the burthen, and the manner in which it +rendered her almost passive, except in obviating discussion or alarm. + +Of the former there was no danger at the conference. Mr. Murray was +just as anxious as Mr. Underwood and Felix could be, that the five +thousand pounds that had been promised to Alda should be settled upon +herself and the younger children, together with a fair proportion +charged upon the estate. He was a pleasing person, a perfect gentleman, +of mildly cordial manners, accepting his new connections with courtesy +and kindness. He was evidently charmed with Alda, whom he wanted to +take home with him to be introduced to Lady Mary, before returning to +choose her outfit. This was to be completed by the end of the month, +that the honeymoon might interfere as little as possible with the moon +fatal to partridges. + +Felix was right. His presence was not desired. The father's part +naturally belonged to Thomas Underwood; and though an invitation was +not wanting, Alda did not remonstrate when Felix spoke of the assize +week requiring him to be at Minsterham, and of Charles Froggatt having +come home in such a broken state of health, that his father's presence +in Bexley could never be depended upon. She had no desire to display +the full dozen _geschwister;_ but to Cherry she qualified things a +little: 'I suppose as Felix will not come, one of you will stay with +him?' + +'Of course I shall! You know I'm wedded!' And she merrily held Lord +Gerald's ivory visage close to her own. + +'I knew you would shrink from it. And those two children at +Brompton--it will be the middle of their holidays, and it will not be +worth while having them; besides, it would be encroaching, as Uncle Tom +gives all those dresses--and one never knows what that Angel might do.' + +'Never,' said Cherry, in full acquiescence, and sure of the same from +Wilmet. + +'But Wilmet and Stella must come. One of the little Murrays will pair +with Stella; and I want Adrian to see her. You will not feel slighted, +Cherry; I know you had rather not.' + +'Much rather not,' said Cherry, for Alda was really speaking +considerately. Indeed, Alda was taking such a leap out of the same +sphere, that she could afford to be gracious to 'the little deformed +one,' as Sir Adrian most inappropriately termed Geraldine. She +graciously accepted for a wedding-present an intended portrait of +Stella, and rejoiced heartily at Cherry's prize for the life-study. + +Never had Cherry, however, been happier than in getting home, away from +constraint, away from fine houses, away from half-comprehended people, +back to free affection and mutual understanding. + +'One's own cobweb for ever! The black caterpillar is crawling home +again to the dear old nettle!' she cried. + +'But you are not sorry to have gone,' said Felix. + +'If only to get back again.' + +'But they were kind.' + +'I don't want people to be kind; I want them to be one with me.' + +'My dear! you did not seem unhappy. We thought you enjoyed yourself.' + +'I did. I was only unhappy once. I liked things very much and shall +more, now I have time. It was such a bustle and whirl; and I felt so +obliged to make the most of it, that it seemed to wear my senses. Don't +you see, it was like snatching at flowers; and now I can sit down to +make up my nosegay, and see what I have gained.' + +Cherry almost expected Wilmet to decline, in her hatred of finery and +her general dissatisfaction; but Wilmet's love of Alda was too strong +for her not to long to be with her at such a crisis of her life, and +she was eager to accept the invitation, without fearing that the +effects of her absence would be as direful as in the previous year. + +The party at home were not by any means disconsolate. Felix was very +busy, for Charles Froggatt had come home, a repentant prodigal, and +slowly sinking under the disease that had carried off his more worthy +brothers; and the father could seldom persuade himself to leave him for +long together, and besides, needed cheering and comfort from his young +friends. But Lance and young Lamb were working well and helpfully; and +William Harewood spent almost as much time at Bexley as his brother had +done. + +He had passed his examination with flying colours, and had previously +matriculated at Oxford; and thus being emancipated from the choir, +which had kept him close at home, he seemed to think it liberty to be +always at Bexley. As a Harewood, Wilmet let him do as he would--sleep +in the barrack, and be like one of their own boys; and Lance's +neighbourhood seemed to be all he wanted, though little of Lance's +company was to be had, except in walking to see him bathe in early +morning, and in long walks after seven in the evening--and for these +the long July days gave ample verge. Robina, Angel, and Bernard often +benefited by these expeditions into the dewy fields, redolent of hay, +and came home to that delightful twilight that seems as if it would +never be darkness. + +Bill professed perfect content in the day hours. He was a voracious +reader, and would remain for hours in the reading-room intent on some +pursuit; and what perhaps was a still greater attraction, he could +talk, and find listeners. + +Cherry only now understood what Lance had always maintained--that that +shock-headed boy was full of thought, poetry, and ability. He had shed +his school-boy slough; and he had moreover adopted the Underwoods, and +for the first time learnt what an appreciative woman could be. + +His poem of this year was so good, that Lance and Robin thought +Felix shockingly blind because he refused to put it bodily into the +Pursuivant, though allowing that it was much better than anything that +would appear instead; and short pieces that the lad was continually +striking off were only too good for the poet's corner, where, however, +they gave an infinity of pleasure and satisfaction to two households +at least. The poet--March Hare, as he signed himself--was an odd +mixture of his father's scholarly tastes with his mother's harum-scarum +forgetfulness; and the consequence was such abstraction at one moment, +such slap-dash action at another, that he was a continual good-natured +laughing-stock. To talk and read to Cherry seemed to be one of his +great objects in life. He began it with Robina; but gradually Cherry, +partly as critic and sub-editor of the Pursuivant, partly on her own +merits, became the recipient of ten thousand visions, reflections, +aspirations, that were crowding upon the young spirit, while she tried +to follow, understand, and answer, with a sense that her powers were +being stretched, and her eyes opened into new regions. + +And then, if a stranger appeared, he sank into the red-headed lout; or +if he had a message or commission, he treated it senselessly. Lance +used to send Bernard up--as he said, to see him into the right train; +and in the home party in the evening, his wit and drollery were the +cause of inexhaustible mirth--Willie, as Robin and Angela agreed, was +better fun than all the weddings, and even all the sights that London +could give. Sometimes they were weary with laughing at him, sometimes +with the lift he gave their minds; for even Angel understood and +followed, and was more susceptible than her elders gave her credit for; +and certainly she had never been so good as she was this summer, though +it was still a flighty odd sort of goodness. + +And all this time there was not a word between him and Robin of that +evening walk. Whether he thought of it or not she knew not; but with +her the recollection had a strength that the moment had not had. It +seemed to be growing up with her. It was a memory that went deeper--far +deeper than was good for her, poor child, since there was no surface +chatter to carry it off; but the maidenliness of fifteen shrank with +a sort of horror and dismay from the bare consciousness that she had +allowed herself to think that those words of his could be serious, even +while they had formed in her a fixed purpose of striving for him; and +every mark of kindness or of preference assumed a value unspeakable +and beyond her years, while her whole self was so entirely the good, +plodding, sensible, simple child, that no one detected the romance +beneath. Did the object of it, himself? + +Meantime Wilmet had found Alda much gratified by her reception at the +Rectory, though confessing that she was glad that it was not in her +immediate neighbourhood. Lady Mary Murray belonged to a severe school +of religious opinions, and was antagonistic to gaiety and ornament, +both secular and ecclesiastic. What effect they and Clement might have +mutually had upon each other was not proved, for he had found a pupil, +and was far away; but as Alda herself owned, Wilmet would have been the +daughter-in-law to suit them. + +Wilmet and Marilda were very congenial in their housewifely tastes and +absence of romance, and above all, in a warm and resolutely blind love +for Alda, never discussing the past, and occupied upon the trousseau, +without an _arrière pensée_. + +Sir Adrian was civil to Wilmet, but he never would acknowledge the +resemblance between the twin-sisters; and as Wilmet wore no earrings, +and kept her hair in the simple style that John Harewood had once +pronounced perfect, he had only once been confused between them, and +then was so annoyed, that Edgar said he was like a virtuoso, who having +secured some unique specimen, finds the charm of possession injured by +the existence of a duplicate. + +Even in the Murray family there might be those who questioned +whether the beauty were equal. Either the smooth folds and plaits +of the rich brown hair pleased a homely taste better than fanciful +varieties, or housewifery and early hours were better preservatives +than London seasons; or maybe the stately sweetness of the original +mould was better and more congenially maintained in the life of +the true 'loaf-giver or lady' of the laborious thrifty home than +in the luxurious dependence of the alien house, and the schemes, +disappointments, and successes of the late campaign. + +At any rate, at three-and-twenty the twins were less alike than of +old; and if Alda had the advantage in the graces of art and society, +Wilmet had a purity of bloom and nobleness of countenance that she +could not equal. If Wilmet were silent, and by no means so entertaining +as Geraldine, her little companion thoroughly compensated for any +deficiencies. Every one was taken by surprise by Stella's beauty, after +the three intermediate sisters, who had little pretensions to anything +remarkable in that line. The child was of the same small delicate frame +as Cherry and Lance; in fact, much what Cherry might have been with +more health and less genius to change those delicately-moulded features +and countenance. The colouring of the blue eyes and silken hair was +rather deeper than the prevailing tint, and the complexion was of the +most exquisite rosy fairness and delicacy, giving a sense of the most +delicate porcelain--the movements and gestures perfectly graceful, and +the innocent chatter delightful, from its eagerness and simplicity. She +was in every one's eyes an extraordinarily lovely and engaging child; +and she could have reigned supreme over the whole house if she had ever +perceived her power, or emancipated herself from her loyal submission +to 'Sister.' + +Many a time did Wilmet's restrictions vex her hosts, and call forth +Edgar's epithets of dragon and Medusa. Luckily the child was of the +faithful spirit that honestly trusts its lawful authorities, fears +forbidden sweets, and feels full compensation in the pleasure of +obedience. One day, when a refusal to take her to the theatre had +caused great indignation, Sir Adrian, who was by no means insensible to +her charms, enlivened an idle moment by trying to excite her to rebel. + +'I would not stand it, Stella--not I! Tell her stars have no business +to be hidden.' + +'It's no use,' said Stella. 'Sister says when once she says No, it is +for always.' + +'How very dreadful! She must be cured as soon as possible!' + +Stella looked greatly perplexed; and Edgar, the only other person +present, looked on in great amusement. + +'Let us organise a combination,' continued Sir Adrian. 'What should we +come to, if women were allowed to keep to a single No?' + +'Which would be the greatest sufferers?' muttered Edgar. + +'It would be very nasty if Sister didn't,' said Stella, understanding +him verbally more nearly than he had expected. + +'Indeed!' said Sir Adrian. + +'Yes. One would never know when to make up one's mind.' + +'One's mind! You little china fairy, have you got the mind of a midge?' + +'Yes, _I_ have!' said Stella, with an emphasis that Edgar at least +understood as an allusion to the difference between herself and +Theodore; and a little in fear of what might come next, he said, 'Mind +enough to assert her woman's privilege, though how she may come to like +to be bound by it is another thing.' + +'Look here, little one,' continued Sir Adrian, 'we'll not let Sister +alone till she comes round, and then I'll put you in my pocket and take +you.' + +'No, thank you,' said Stella, retreating. + +'I thought you wanted to see the fairies?' + +'I did; but Sister knows best.' + +'Come, now; I'd give something to know where, in her secret soul, this +little thing would like to send all the sisters that know best?' + +'To the Neilgherry Hills,' said Stella, with surprising promptness; +'that's where Captain Jack is!' + +'A capital location!' cried the baronet, laughing triumphantly. 'Well +done, little one! Send her off--and then we'll have pine-apple ice, and +smart frocks, and go to as many plays as we please! You know what it +means to have the cat away.' + +'That was what Bernard said when Wilmet was away, and Alda at home,' +said Stella; 'but it was very miserable. It was the very horridest +portion in the whole course of our lives!' + +'Long may it so continue, Stella,' said Edgar. 'You'll get no change +out of her, Vanderkist.' + +'It's an odd little piece of goods. I can't make out if it is a +child at all,' said Sir Adrian. 'I can't believe it is more than +drilling.--Now, my little beauty--no one will tell--walls can't +hear--honour bright--which are you for in your heart of hearts--Sister +Wilmet and propriety, or Alda and--liberty?' + +Edgar listened curiously; but Stella had that good genius of tact +and courtesy that sometimes inspires children; and she made answer, +'Wilmet is my own dear sister, and I am very glad it is Alda that you +have got.' + +'Well said, you little ingenious morsel!' cried Edgar, laughing with +delight, and catching her up in his arms. 'What does nature design this +little being for, Adrian? To marry a great diplomat?' + +'To do execution of some sort, I should say,' returned Sir Adrian; +'unless such alarming discretion cancels the effect of those eyes. +Never saw a pair more meant to make hearts ache,' and he sauntered out +of the room. + +'Why, what now, you star of courtesy? has he kindled the spark of +vanity at last, that you are craning over to the big pier-glass--eh?' +said Edgar, with his little sister still in his arms. + +'I only want to see what he means that is so horrid in my eyes,' said +Stella; 'please show me, Edgar. How can they hurt people so?' + +'It's a way they have, Stella,' he gravely answered, 'when they are +clear, and blue, and big-pupilled, and have great long black lashes.' +And he looked with proud pleasure at the reflection of the sweet little +puzzled face beside his own brown beard. + +'But your eyes are just like that, Edgar; and so are everybody's, +aren't they? Why do you laugh, Edgar? I wish I could go home, for I +don't understand any of you.' + +'So much the better, Sister would say. I declare, I must risk it, and +see the effect. I say, Stella, don't you know that you're a little +beauty, that they are all raving about? There!' + +'Oh yes,' said Stella composedly; 'I know people always do like things +for being little, and young, and pretty. And then they don't see Tedo, +and he is so much prettier than me, you know.' + +'You impracticable child! What! have you no shade of a notion that it +is a fine thing to have such a phiz as that one? Did you never thank +your stars that you weren't as ugly as Martha?' + +'Do you worship the stars, Edgar? For I heard Clem say you were very +little better than a heathen; and I suppose worshipping the stars is +better than worshipping idols.' + +'Is that malice, or simplicity--eh? Never mind my creed. You are my +sister at this moment, and are to answer me truly. Do you know that you +are a beauty? and are you glad of it?' + +'I shouldn't like to be ugly,' said Stella; 'not so ugly that I +couldn't bear to look at myself. But if I was, they wouldn't leave off +being kind to me at home.' + +'Nor abroad either,' said Edgar, kissing her. 'You've got the tongue +that is nearly equal to the eyes, my Stella.' + +Stella's simplicity might soon have been put in the way of further +trials, for there was a serious proposal of adopting her in Alda's +room, and promises of excellent education and an ample provision: and +when Felix's decided though grateful refusal arrived, Mr. and Mrs. +Underwood spoke angrily of his folly, as selfish, and almost undutiful +to his father, who had freely trusted them with the two elders; but +Edgar cut this short. 'No, no, my dear good governor. That won't do; +Felix knows that if my father could have seen the results, he would ten +times rather have let us fight it out in the Irish cabin at home.' + +'I am sure,' exclaimed Mrs. Underwood, 'we have done everything for +you, Edgar! It is enough to cure one of offering to do anything for any +one!' + +'Just what I say,' was Edgar's grave response; but he added, with his +natural sweetness, 'Not but that I believe, in the common herd, we +should have been, if anything, worse than we are now. We brought the +bad drop with us. You did not infuse it.' + +'Speak for yourself, Edgar,' said Marilda, rushing to the defence, as +usual. + +So the family was only represented by two sisters and one brother at +the wedding, which was solemnized by Mr. Murray at the parish church, +and was a regular common-place smart affair, with carriages, favours, +and crowds of spectators in much excitement to catch a sight of the +beautiful bride. + +Murrays mustered in force, and Mrs. Underwood's felicity was complete; +for the titled uncle was so glad to see his Sister Mary happy about +her son, that he came in full state, and made a very gratifying +speech all about nothing. While Wilmet thought of her own soldier on +the Neilgherry hills, and felt how widely her path and that of her +twin-sister must diverge. And Mr. Underwood enjoyed the compliments to +the 'more than father,' and congratulated himself on having truly done +well by poor Edward's child. + +'I only wish he were here to see her!' he cried with an effusion of +almost tearful delight, as he handed Lady Vanderkist to her carriage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +STARS GRATIS. + + 'Back to the cell, and mean employ, + Resume the craftsman and the boy.' + _Browning_. + + +Three months later there was another family gathering, but it was for +Thomas Underwood's funeral. + +It had come very suddenly. Spa had been given up in favour of Brighton; +and there what had seemed a slight casual ailment had been followed by +a recurrence of the disease, and a stroke came on which terminated life +in a few hours. + +Mrs. Underwood was prostrated; but Marilda managed everything, with the +help of Spooner, the confidential clerk. She wrote to Felix that he was +joint executor with herself, and that as her father had wished to be +buried at Centry, he should give orders. Edgar had gone abroad, and no +one knew where to write to him. + +The chosen burial-place was quite in accordance with poor Mr. +Underwood's desire to restore the family. Every year he had made an +effort to reside there, and been as regularly frustrated by his wife's +predilection for German baths, and dislike to the Bexley neighbourhood. +Hers had been the dominion of a noisy tongue, and of ready tears and +reclamations, but, poor woman, she was quite passive between the two +stronger spirits of her mother and her daughter, who brought her down +to Centry the day before the funeral. Mrs. Kedge led her away at once +to her room; but Marilda stood in the hall, excited, yet business-like, +discussing arrangements with Felix, in that prompt, lucid, +all-considering manner that sometimes springs out of the pressure of a +great affliction, settling every detail with eager peremptoriness--as, +for instance, finding that Felix had intended his brothers only to meet +the procession in the grave-yard, she vehemently stipulated that they +should come to the house, and be transported in carriages like the +rest. Her mother would not go, and would be left with Mrs. Kedge; but +she herself was resolved on being present, with Felix for her supporter. + +'You will like to have Wilmet with you?' he asked. + +'I thought Wilmet would have been here now,' she said, as if +disappointed. + +'Alda is coming by the five o'clock train; and she thought you had +rather be together.' + +'But you will stay?' she earnestly entreated. + +Alda arrived, weeping so much that she had to be taken upstairs at +once. The occupation and excitement were perhaps good for Marilda, who +was in a restless tearless state, only eager to be doing something for +some one. She sat at the head of the dinner-table, Mr. Spooner at the +foot; but the conversation was chiefly due to the instinctive habits of +good breeding belonging to Sir Adrian, whose 'go through with it' air +was not unlike what he had worn at his wedding. + +When the ladies went away, he inquired what was known about the +will; but Felix knew nothing, and if Mr. Spooner knew, he would not +say. Thereupon Sir Adrian became silent, and asked the way to the +smoking-room, whither Mr. Spooner deemed it needful to follow, while +Felix repaired to the drawing-room. + +He thought it empty; but Alda's head looked round the tall back of an +easy-chair. + +'Felix, is it you? I was nearly asleep.' + +'Are you tired?' + +'Yes, rather. It is such a shock--and my poor aunt's grief! It is +so frightful to see a large person give way; it makes me quite ill. +Where's Adrian?--smoking?' + +'Yes.' + +'That's man's way of getting out of trouble. If poor Marilda could +smoke, she would not be half so restless and wretched. She has been up +and down here four or five times in ten minutes. It wears one out!' + +'She will be calmer when the bustle is over.' + +'She tells me that you are executor with her.' + +'I am afraid so.' + +'Afraid! why?' + +'Of the complication of business of which I have no experience, and +that must be thoroughly looked into.' + +'Now, for my part,' said Lady Vanderkist, 'I should have expected you +to be gratified at such a mark of confidence.' + +'So I am, Alda. It is not want of gratitude; it is only that I wish I +were better qualified.' + +'You understand business.' + +'Understanding my own business shows me how little I know of other +people's.' + +'It would not be other people's, if you take this as it is meant. There +can be no doubt that he meant to pave the way. Don't look so senseless +and uncompromising, Felix; you must have heard Edgar say so!' + +The colour glowed into Felix's face as he answered, 'You have not been +so silly as to take Edgar's nonsense in earnest?' + +'It is absurd in you to pretend simplicity,' said Alda, sitting +upright, and looking at him earnestly. 'Here is such an opportunity +as you may never have again. This arrangement must have been made on +purpose to remove all scruples.' + +'Nay, Alda,' interrupted Felix, in a tone of regret and shame +at the subject and the time. 'If there were no objection, this +arrangement would be the greatest in itself,' and as she looked at him +incredulously, 'don't you see that he has set me to do a brother's part +to her? anything to interfere with that would be both unfair and cruel.' + +'She knows nothing of such ridiculous refinements as you work +yourselves up to. Besides no one wishes you to do anything at once; +only you ought to have it in your mind, and might be making way all +the time.--Felix,' as she saw his face and gesture, 'you don't mean +that you are so absurdly fastidious. I call that quite wrong--in your +position, too--and when she is the dearest best-hearted girl in the +world!' added Alda, with more genuine feeling. + +'True, Alda; I esteem her goodness and generosity too highly to treat +her with the disrespect and insincerity such a course would imply.' + +'Nonsense! as if it would not be the greatest kindness to save her from +fortune-hunters!' + +Felix smiled. 'What should I be myself?' he said. 'I must speak +plainly, to put this out of your head. Nothing else would lead me to +this, and in me it would be especially abominable, because I am the +only man in the family able to be of any use to her; and besides, I am +not only poor, and in a lower grade, but I have so many dependent upon +me.--Don't you see?' + +'I only see that you are obstinate and unreasonable, throwing away all +my pains to guard her for you!' + +Felix could not but laugh a little ironically as he said, 'Thank you.' + +'You think it mere fancy,' said Lady Vanderkist, nettled into proving +her words by an exposure of herself; 'but she would have had that young +Travis two years ago, if I had not managed to give him a hint before he +got involved.' + +'Alda!' He started up, and stood over her, speaking low, but with pain +and horror inconceivable. 'Alda, if you had not told me this, I should +not have believed it. I do not believe you now.' + +Alda had the grace to colour violently under the force of his +indignation. 'Well, well,' she said, 'of course it was not only that. +No one out of a novel would be so disinterested without a little bit of +infatuation besides; but it is of no use recollecting these things now, +when they are gone by.' + +This was so incontrovertible that Felix made no answer, and was glad +that Marilda returned, trying to work off her restlessness by ringing +all the possibilities of Edgar's seeing the announcement in the +'Times,' and coming home. + +Felix was still too much stunned to reply freely, and took his leave +as soon as possible. He walked home, finding no solace for his dismay +at the usage of Ferdinand, save in plans which his better sense knew +to be impracticable for bringing Ferdinand and Marilda together; but +the match which might have been easily accomplished as a veritable +_mariage de convenance_, could not be contemplated by an almost +penniless clerk. Moreover, the heart had been given away, and Felix +could not believe that it would be possible to turn to Marilda from +one of his own graceful sisters. Even though the essential vulgarity +of Alda's nature had been so painfully evident, the delicate contour +of her face, her refined intonation and pronunciation, and elegance of +appearance and manner, returned on him in contrast with poor Marilda's +heavy uncouthness, and the shock she inflicted on his taste by plain +speaking--worse in manner, if better in matter. + +On his return home, he found that Edgar had arrived, having travelled +day and night ever since the tidings had met his eye. He was very much +tired, and genuinely grieved and overcome, too much even to battle with +the manifestation of his feelings. Always affectionate, he mourned for +one who had, as he said, been far kinder to him than he deserved, and +though often angered with him, had pardoned and overlooked his offences +with the partiality of a father. That their final farewell had been one +of sharp remonstrance on the one hand, and of gay defiant coolness on +the other, added poignancy to his regret; and there was so much more of +actual self-reproach than usually came from his tongue, that a gleam +of hope glanced through the minds of Felix and Cherry that this shock +might be the beginning of better things. + +They certainly had never seen him so subdued as when he set out for +Centry the next morning with his brothers and Wilmet; and the meeting +with Marilda was like that of an orphan brother and sister. With all +her esteem and confidence for Felix, her affection for Edgar was a +much warmer and more instinctive feeling; and the sight of him brought +her tears freely and heartily, while she told him the history of her +father's last hours, and his gentle warmth of manner soothed and +comforted her. + +He was sent for to her mother's dressing-room; and when he left it only +to join the funeral party, he looked pale, shaken, and overwhelmed by +grief he had shared as well as witnessed. The position of son of the +house seemed his right. It was he who led Marilda to the carriage, and +handed in first her, then Wilmet followed. Felix was just about to +step in, when another person thrust forward, and had his hand on the +door, when Edgar said, 'I believe my brother comes with us,' and 'Come +Felix,' was hastily murmured from under Marilda's veil. He obeyed, and +met a shrug and scowl of displeasure and amazement; but nothing could +be thought of except poor Marilda's choking sobs under her veil. + +It is one curious effect of good breeding, that while in one class +publicity seems to stifle the expression of grief, in another it +enhances it; and when Marilda's excitement had once dissolved in +tears, her agitation became so excessive, that her cousins watched +her anxiously, Wilmet attempting all that salts and kind pressures of +the hand could do, and the brothers supporting her, when she clung to +Edgar's arm, as if resting her whole weight on him, when the movement +to the church began. + +It was one of the regular conventional, and therefore most oppressive +of funerals, with a great array of pall-bearers, friends from London, +and a train of persons with whom Thomas Underwood had been associated; +and after all was over, most of them came to a great cold luncheon, +which was to occupy them till the next train. + +There they trooped, a black multitude, into the dreary big dining-room; +and Felix, knowing nobody, and unwilling to take the lead, was much +relieved when Edgar returned from taking Marilda upstairs and went +round with greetings and replies to every one. When he came to the +gentleman who would have entered the carriage, he said, 'Good morning, +Fulbert. Here--my eldest brother.' + +Felix held out his hand, but met an ungracious bend. 'You muster strong +here,' were the words, chiefly addressed to Edgar. + +'I am sorry not to show you any more of us,' said Edgar, with a spice +of malice; 'the others have walked home.' + +Then Felix made some courteous inquiry for the elder Fulbert, and was +answered in the coldest and haughtiest of tones, and the Vicar of Vale +Leston turned away. In this company, all in mourning, he would not +have been taken for a clergyman, chiefly from a sort of free-and-easy +air about his dress, and his unclerical cast of countenance, which was +wearied, bored and supercilious. + +'Take the other end of the table,' indicated Edgar; but Felix would +have abstained, had not Mr. Harford summoned him by a look; and another +scowl from the Reverend Fulbert was the consequence. + +Before long that gentleman was examining the lawyer as to when the +will was to be read; and hearing in return that so few were concerned +that there was to be no public opening. Did Miss Underwood know that +he--Fulbert--was here?--Yes, certainly.--He should like to see her and +her mother. Mr. Harford applied to Edgar, who undertook to ascertain +whether they would wish it. + +'What can it be for?' said Marilda, who was sitting between the twin +sisters, calm, though spent with weeping, and unusually gentle. + +'To warn you against us,' said Edgar. 'He is ready every moment to +insult Felix; but if you can bear it, you had better face him, or he +will say we beset you, and let no one have access to you.' + +'That would be better than his teasing her,' said Wilmet. + +'No, I don't mind whom I see now,' said Marilda. 'I must stand alone. +Send him to me in the library, Edgar.' + +This left Wilmet for the first time alone with Alda, longing to enter +fully into her sister's new life, and hearing that Ironbeam Park was +delightful; beautiful house, splendid drawing-rooms, beautiful grounds, +sheet of water, swans, deer, good neighbourhood, people calling, dinner +invitations without number, guests who had had to be put off. There was +a little attempt at complaint at being overwhelmed by the welcome, but +pleasure and exultation were visible enough; only it seemed to Wilmet +that there was more of the splendour and less of the Adrian, than she +would have expected. Marilda soon came back. + +'Well, was it as Edgar said?' asked Alda. + +'He offers his wife to come and stay with me.' + +'I dare say!' + +'I shouldn't wonder if he meant to be kind!' + +'Now, Marilda, you aren't going to let yourself be talked over!' cried +Alda. + +'He is my relation,' said Marilda, bluffly, in a tone that showed she +meant to be mistress of her own actions. 'I came back to say that there +are things to be done. There are Felix and Edgar walking in the garden; +I want them in the library.' + +She was going to ring to have them summoned; but Wilmet undertook to +fetch them, going through an ante-room with a glass door; which she was +just unfastening, when she heard a voice behind her--'Holloa, where are +you going now?' She perceived her brother-in-law, lounging on a sofa +with a newspaper. + +'I am looking for my brothers.' + +'I say, haven't I told you that I'll not have you eternally running +after that concern?' + +She faced about, and looked full at him with her grave eyes, and neck +held like a stag's. + +'I beg your pardon,' he stammered. 'This confounded mourning makes +everybody alike.' + +She did not wait to hear more, but was gone as soon as the bolt had +yielded. + +The Tartar had shown himself without a scratch. Were these his domestic +manners to his three months' bride? + +She said nothing to her brothers, but brought them to the library, +where Marilda was awaiting them, with the lawyer, Harford, and the +manager, Spooner, to settle about the will. + +Alda's five thousand pounds had been made over to her at her marriage, +so that she was not mentioned. A large share in the mercantile house +already belonged to Mrs. Underwood, and to her was bequeathed the +lease of the Kensington house, with the furniture; but Centry Park was +absolutely left to Mary Alda, the daughter, with all the property in +the funds, or embarked in the business, coupled with a request that +in case of her marriage she should carry with her the name and arms +of Underwood. Among the legacies were fifteen hundred pounds to Felix +Chester Underwood, and one thousand pounds apiece to Thomas Edgar, +Theodore Benjamin, and Stella Eudora--Felix and Mr. Harford trustees +for these last, with liberty to use the interest for their benefit, or +let it accumulate, as might be best. + +No one made any remark; and the lawyer was beginning to tell the two +executors what immediate steps they must take, when Edgar rose, saying, +'I suppose I'm not wanted!' + +Marilda jumped up. 'Edgar, you ain't vexed! Poor Papa thought the +executorship might take time, trouble, and expense, that ought to be +made up for.' + +'Now, Polly,' said Edgar, with his sweet candid smile, 'you are not +thinking me grudging dear old Fee anything man could give him! I only +wish he had mine. He'd do some good with it;' and he fondly laid his +hand on the shoulder of Felix, who, not being used, like him, to view +Harford and Spooner as tame cats, had rather have had this more in +private. + +'You'll leave it in our hands, and let us make the most of it for you, +Edgar,' said warm-hearted Marilda; 'that Pampas railway is never less +than seven per cent., you know.' + +'All very well, Poll, if the item could be suppressed when the will is +blazoned abroad. It is not ingratitude, dear old girl. It is more than +I deserve or expected, and will give me a hoist.' + +'I hope--' began Marilda eagerly. + +'Never mind me. The best part of it is that nest-egg for those babies.' + +'It is indeed,' said Felix; 'I cannot express how thankful I am, +especially for poor Theodore's sake.' + +'It will not do much in the funds,' said Marilda, gratified; 'but leave +it in our hands, and little Stella shall have quite a fortune. You will +judge of our security when you look into our books.' + +Marilda's habit of identifying herself with the firm had begun half +in play years ago; and in fact, the house now chiefly consisted of +herself, her mother, and grandmother, with Spooner, who had shares +enough to give him a personal interest in the transactions. + +'You do not mean to go on with the business?' asked Felix. + +'Why not? I have worked at it, and like it much better than the piano +or bead-work--and I can, can't I, Mr. Spooner?' + +'We all know your competence, Miss Underwood. I would not wish for a +more sagacious head, if--' + +'Yes, if,' said Marilda more sadly; 'but you see, Felix, you may trust +me. Let me keep your own and the twins, for you.' + +'For the twins, I do not know how the law stands. Mr. Harford will tell +me; but for myself, it may make a great difference to have this capital +just now,' said Felix, who had already perceived what it might do for +him. + +Charles Froggatt had been dead about a month, and with him his father +had lost all personal hope or interest in the business, and the few +times he had come into the town, had shrunk from meetings even with +old friends, and crept upstairs to talk to Geraldine. He wished to +retire, and he would have liked to have put Felix Underwood, who had +for nearly nine years been as a dutiful son, into a son's place; but he +had relations to whom he must do justice, and he was unwilling to bring +in a new partner, who might, as a moneyed man, lord it over Felix; +while if he left things in their present condition till his death, +the succession would pass to a family whom he knew to be uncongenial. +All this had been discussed, but without seeing any way out of the +difficulty, until in this legacy Felix saw the means of making himself +master of the house and stock, and thus would obtain a footing as a +citizen, by which he could profit as he gained in age and standing. The +available income of the family would hardly be increased, since the +absolute possession of the house involved expenses that had hitherto +been paid over his head; but the security and independence were worth +more than the pounds, shillings and pence that might otherwise have +been brought in. The certain provision for the helpless Theodore also +made Felix more free. The lawyer, his fellow trustee, greatly to +Wilmet's satisfaction, would not allow the sum in trust to be invested +in anything but government security, and as nothing was needed at +present for the child, the interest might there accumulate in case of +need. + +Edgar showed himself much subdued by the change in the household. He +never spoke plainly about his doings, and direct questions drove him +to his retreat in the ludicrous. However, it could be inferred that in +the recklessness induced by Alice Knevett's desertion, he had gone far +enough to alarm himself, and behold some abyss of exposure and disgrace +whence the legacy would retrieve him, and that he was resolved to pull +up and begin upon a different course. + +He talked eagerly and edifyingly of setting about a picture for +exhibition, the proceeds of which might take him to Italy, to begin a +course of study at Rome, where he might make a home for Cherry to come +and work with him; and they built up a _Château en Espagne_, the more +fervently in proportion to Cherry's want of faith therein. Hours were +spent in devising and sketching subjects for _the_ picture, or rather +pictures, for Mr. Renville was very anxious that Geraldine should make +a venture in water-colours, such as might at least make her known as a +possible illustrator. Edgar's eye and advice were very useful to her; +and she decided on one ideal subject--the faithful little acolyte, who +while the priest slept on the cold morning, + + 'Turned and sought the choir, + Touched the Altar tapers + With a flake of fire.' + +And likewise the sketches of Stella in different attitudes, which she +had made with a view to Alda's picture, were worth working at with her +utmost power. + +For Edgar's own part, he had resolved on a scene which Cherry thought +wild and impracticable, till he had dashed in his sketch of Brynhild +asleep in the circle of fire, with Sigurd about to break through. There +was something so bright and fiery, so expressive and powerful, in the +hastily-designed and partly-coloured _ébauche_ that Cherry gazed at it +like something of weird and magical beauty, only longing for her master +to see it, and own Edgar's genius. + +Brynhild's model was Wilmet, who, much against the grain, was induced +to let down all her mass of hair, and let Edgar pose her on the +sofa squab with bare arms. In his mischief, however, he produced a +counter pen-and-ink outline of Marilda in the same position, with +all the pointed flames labelled with the names of various stocks and +securities; while Sigurd's helmet disclosed Felix, armed with the +Pursuivant, and hesitating to plunge in. He might with equal propriety +have drawn himself, his sister Alda thought, for on failing with Felix, +she had actually whispered the same hint to him, but was met with the +reply, 'Oh no, I am not bad enough for that.' + +She was spending a week longer at Centry, that Sir Adrian might +massacre the pheasants, which, however, he considered to be so +disgracefully preserved, that he spent much time and eloquence in +explaining to Miss Underwood how she might render her game a source of +profit. + +One November day, the last of the Vanderkists' stay at Centry, when the +sisters had been sent for in the afternoon, and he and Lance were to +follow for the evening, Felix, returning into his office, was amazed to +see a figure standing at the fire. + +'Ferdinand! what good wind brings you here?' + +'I am come to say good-bye.' + +'What? Mr. Brown sends you out to America?' + +'No, it is on my own account. His correspondent at Oswego has +telegraphed to him to find me, and let me know of my uncle's death.' + +'Death!' + +'Yes, I know no particulars.' + +'And are you his heir?' + +'That I do not know. Probably. I cannot bring myself to care.' + +'How much is it?' + +'Brown knows of fifty thousand in stock that he can lay his hand upon; +but there must be more than as much again afloat in the States, in +goodness knows what speculations, and I shall have to deal with it all!' + +'It is well you have had an apprenticeship. The Life Guardsman would +have known less about it. When do you start?' + +'I go back to town by the mail train to-night, to Liverpool to-morrow. +I could not go without telling you; and when I tried to write, I felt I +must see you and this place again. But you are going out.' + +'We were, but we shall be glad to get off.' + +'To Centry? Is she there?' + +'Yes. Going early to-morrow.' + +Before Ferdinand had done more than stare into the fire, Lance opened +the door. 'Mr. Flowerdew wants--Holloa! Fernan dropped from the skies!' + +'Is Mr Flowerdew there?' said Felix, about to pass him. + +'No; he only wants you to write up to Novello's.--Do you hear, Fernan? +we are to have _such_ a concert in the town hall, for a real good +organ. Edgar will bring down no end of stars for it. You'll come down +for it?' + +'Fernan will be in the utmost parts of America by that time, Lance.' + +'Look here, Lance,' said Fernan--that dark sad countenance lighting as +it sometimes did--'just you wait a fortnight, and I can all but promise +you--' + +'An organ by Atlantic cable, eh?' said Felix, laughing. 'Look at Lance, +Fernan; he'd hardly thank you. It is the concert they want; the organ +is the excuse.' + +'Now, Felix, you are as much set on the concert as I am. He is to sing, +"Return, blest days,"' rattled on Lance, too eager on his own hobby to +draw the inference as to Fernan's fortunes; 'and Mr. Miles has promised +to come himself with all our own fellows; and so we can have the sacred +part something respectable. It is a horrid pity you can't come!' + +'He will be better employed, Lance; he believes he is come into his +fortune.' + +'And if so, Felix, nothing can hinder me from my greatest possible +pleasure, the giving this organ to St Oswald's--the church of my +baptism.' + +'Well, Fernan, the bear is not caught yet, remember; but when it is, +I'm not the man to hinder you from making up the deficit I strongly +anticipate after this same concert of ours.' + +'Felix! A hundred and sixty reserved seats at a guinea, and--' + +Felix put up his hands to his ears. 'Meantime, Lance, find little +Lightfoot, and tell him to get ready to take a note into the country.' + +Ferdinand of course rose up, insisting on starting by the five o'clock +train, but was withheld while Felix wrote a note to Marilda, in which +he communicated the tidings, leaving it to her and to Wilmet to inform +Lady Vanderkist. + +The note was delivered in the expectant time before dinner, when +Marilda, without any preliminary but 'Bless me! what does Felix write +to me for?' read-- + + MY DEAR COUSIN, + + You must have the kindness to excuse Lance and myself from + joining your party to-night. We are unexpectedly prevented by + the arrival of Mr. Travis, who has come down to take leave, + having been telegraphed for to Oswego on his uncle's death. He + must go back by to-night's mail train; and perhaps you would + kindly send my sisters home a little earlier, as I think they + would wish to see him. + + Your affectionate cousin + F.C. UNDERWOOD. + + +'His uncle dead without a will! If we had but known!' said Mrs. +Underwood, unguardedly. + +'Insolvent, depend on it,' growled Sir Adrian, fitting on the +consequence so that Cherry felt an uncontrollable impulse to giggle, +and was glad to be sunk in the depths of a huge chair. + +She was startled by Alda's answering rather fretfully, 'I don't see +why--he was very rich.' + +'The more reason. It is always the way with those Yankees.' + +Mrs. Underwood took on herself to defend the solidity of the Travis +interest as an article of her husband's belief; Wilmet and Cherry +longed to change the conversation, but neither knew how; and it was Sir +Adrian who found a fresh subject at last, on which the others willingly +rode off. + +They begged to have the carriage ordered at nine, and bade good-bye to +Lady Vanderkist, who had good taste enough not to make another remark +after the first into which she had been betrayed. + +Marilda, however, did. 'Tell him I hope it is all right, and that I +congratulate him with all my heart,' she said; and she looked as if she +could have said more. + +Perhaps Wilmet and Cherry were not sorry that Stella's being seated +between them prevented discussion on the difference patience and +constancy might have made. Wilmet, with her love for her sister, and +recollection of that conjugal interpellation, might regret; while +Geraldine, less prejudiced, felt that Ferdinand could hardly be pitied +for the test that had spared him a wife with whom he could have so +little in common; but both felt the contrast when they were met by +Ferdinand, whose countenance, though not intellectual, was singularly +noble, and full of a grand melancholy sweetness according with the +regular outline and dark olive colouring, while the gentleness of his +tone was not the conventional politeness of society, but somewhat of +the old Spaniard enhanced by Christian grace. + +For all that had come and gone, they were more comfortable with him now +than when he had been Alda's exclusive property, and what was wanting +in love had been made up in jealousy; but he was very low and sad; he +had not come to the point of ceasing to regret Alda, and his native +inertness shrank from the trouble and turmoil before him, when he +had nothing to make riches valuable to him, and could not bear to be +wrenched from the shadow of St. Matthew's, and tossed he knew not where +in the West, among strangers and worse than strangers. But after all, +the home party were soon caring most of all about their concert. + +The St Oswald's Choral Society did in fact give a concert every year, +but in a very quiet way, aiming only at covering their own expenses, +and seeking for no extraneous aid; but this was to be an affair on +a very different scale. It had grown up no one knew how, under the +influence of Mr. Flowerdew, and of two Miss Birkets, daughters of +a gentleman who lived out of the town but in the parish. They were +enthusiastic young ladies, about thirty years old, who had been enough +at Minsterham to have known 'little Underwood' in his glory there, and +to take him up with all their might when they found him with renovated +powers in the choral society. + +He was 'little Underwood' still, and perhaps would always be so, for +in spite of the start of growth he had so eagerly hailed, he would +never be tall, but the slenderness of his bones, hands, feet, and +general frame, made him look neatly and well made; and he was what +every one called, very gentleman-like in appearance. His face had +not the beauty of some of the others, the colouring was pale, and +there was nothing to catch the eye, till it lighted up into mirth or +sweetness; and his manners, from their perfect simplicity and absence +of self-consciousness, were always engaging. He was either a cypher, or +else he had an inexpressible charm about him. When his violin-playing +powers were discovered, the ladies made a point of getting up a piece +on the piano in which he was to accompany them, and a prodigious +quantity of practice it took. Lance had to walk over to them at least +two afternoons in a week. Felix looked on it as patronage, and could +not think how he could bear it; but Lance was too simple to perceive +patronizing--a petticoat was always a petticoat to him, and a little +lingering chatter in their drawing-room was his delight, a few friendly +words over the counter enslaved him. + +Those holidays came, as Felix well knew, much too often; and if he +tried to keep the balance true by tenders of the like liberty to Ernest +Lamb, Lance proved to have left his head behind him, and made mistakes, +or still worse was guilty of neglects. When called to account, partly +from pre-occupation, partly from easiness of temper, he really seemed +incapable of taking a reproof, or understanding the enormity of his +errors. Had these been the days of Redstone, there must have been an +explosion; but young Lamb was one of those whom Lance unconsciously +fascinated, and being used to sparing him in the early days when he +was scarcely more than a convalescent, the good plodding lad took it +for granted that the unmusical should set the musical free, toiled +quietly after him to rectify his mistakes, was absolutely amazed when +Mr. Underwood apologized to him for the unequal weight resting on his +honest shoulders, and was by far the most shocked and distressed when +at last the value of some careless piece of damage was imposed as a +fine. Indeed, Lance viewed this as expiation, troubled his head no more +about the matter, and was in far too transcendent a state to perceive +that he was Felix's daily worry, provocation, and disappointment. + +There was the hope that it would be only for a time, and that it +would blow over the sooner that nothing was heard of Edgar or his +stars. Lance was indeed so radiantly happy, that it was only when he +was doing something very provoking indeed that it was possible to be +displeased with him, and not even to Geraldine would Felix whisper the +heart-sickening misgivings that came over him when he found himself +experiencing exactly what Kedge and Underwood had gone through from +Edgar. + +The concert was to be just within the Christmas vacations, so that the +performers would include Clement, and the audience Robina and Angela, +besides William Harewood, who was to bring his sisters over. It was +delicious to hear Lance's demands upon Wilmet, in his ecstasy at being +once more with his own beloved Minsterham choir. And Wilmet's soft spot +was Minsterham, as the rogue knew. + +'Train comes in at five eleven. I say, Mettie, our fellows must come +here before they go to tune up.' + +'My dear Lance, there are five-and-thirty of them at least! It is quite +impossible! Why they couldn't sit down!' + +Lance whistled. 'I must have little Graeme, Mettie, the little chap has +never been here.' + +'Poor little Dick! Well I don't mind him.' + +'And if he comes, he must bring little George Lee--he's only seven, and +not fit to knock about with men and all.' + +'Very well.' + +'No more is his fellow--that mite of a Bennett that is come instead of +Harewood. His brother was an uncommon good friend to me when I was a +little squeaking treble.' + +Wilmet swallowed the mite of a Bennett. + +'And Poulter! You remember Poulter, surely, Wilmet.' + +'Who used to come twice a day to ask after you. Yes, we must have him.' + +'Then there's Oliver--our big bass! Oh! you must remember old Oliver +with that grizzly beard, coming in and carrying me out like a baby the +first day I went into the avenue.' + +'That good-natured old man--only I should think he would be happier +among his friends.' + +'And Mr. Miles--' + +'Really, Lance, I don't think Mr. Miles would wish to come.' + +'Oh, you're afraid Jack will be jealous!--You know, Cherry, Miles was +almost caught, he had the slyest little flirtation with Mettie when +they thought I was asleep or delirious or something--' + +'Delirious indeed to think so,' interrupted Wilmet indignantly; but +Lance went on unheeding, + +'And if the engineer hadn't been the sharpest, who knows if she +wouldn't have got permanent lodgings in the organ gallery? and now you +see she thinks poor Miles's heart is in such a state that she can't +venture to let him come!' + +'Ah!' said Cherry, gravely taking up the cue, and much amused at +Wilmet's indignant blushes and innocent amazement. 'I've always +understood that things go very deep with those sort of misogynists, +when once they begin.' + +'Now, Cherry, I didn't expect such nonsense in you!' exclaimed Wilmet. +'Mr. Miles is extremely welcome--just as any of Lance's friends are.' + +'There, Lance,' laughed Cherry, 'there goes the wedge! Dick Graeme was +the small end, then came the two little trebles, then the two basses, +and now Mr. Miles himself and any of your friends. And I imagine all +the five-and-thirty are your particular friends.' + +'Why, all that are coming--except Rooke and Higgins, and they always +were disgusting little cads, only one couldn't leave them out by +themselves, as they would be eating dirt some way and getting not fit +to sing; Rooke's got my part now--I always used to be the lady when +there was any spooning going on out of an opera! and if we don't take +them in hand they'll go and stuff themselves with pastry, and wash it +down with cherry brandy, and won't be good for anything.' + +'But there must be some senior to keep them in order.' + +'Oh! there's Black, but he will go to his cousin's in Long Street, and +Charlie Harris, but he was next to me. If any one comes, Charlie must.' + +'My dear, how many are there to come?' + +'Well! four of the little chaps will be away for the holidays, and it +is only six of the lay-vicars that ever do come out, and two of them +have friends here, so it is only two more of them besides Mr. Miles, +and but five more boys. Really, Wilmet, I know Mr. Miles and the +Precentor would be for ever obliged, there's nothing they hate so much +for us as knocking about hotels, and that's why we hardly ever went to +any but private concerts.' + +'Well, every one was so very kind last year, we do owe some return. I +will see what Felix thinks.' + +Felix, so far as he had time to think at all, was sure to be on the +hospitable side, so that ended by a provision of cold meat and tea and +coffee on the back-room table, and permission to Lance to bring in and +feed whomsoever he pleased. After the concert, a regular supper was +provided in the school for all the performers, and Wilmet was released +from all concern except with stray womankind who might want shelter +till the mail train. + +The excitement went on increasing. To use Lance's expression, the +tickets went off like wild-fire; Marilda took a large allowance for her +servants and dependants. + +The type of the programmes was all set up, and Lance had proudly +carried the proof round the house, when a note arrived from Edgar. + + 'Prebels consent to come and give three National Magyar airs, + expenses being paid. Engage rooms for them at the F.A. I trust + this is in time to draw. I shall come down with them.' + + T.E.U. + + +Here were the stars, after all! Lance crushed up his proof and played +at ball with it in his ecstasy; and Felix--for all the trouble it gave +him--was carried along and not much less delighted, as he sent Clement +up to Mr. Flowerdew with the intelligence. + +The brother and sister M. Stanislas and Mlle. Zoraya Prebel were not +exactly in the first ranks of public singers, but were rated highly, +and their fame, when making the round of the provinces with a company +who performed varieties of characteristic national music, had been +quite enough to fire the souls of Bexley with ardour; nor did Felix +murmur, although he had to stay away from the final choral society's +rehearsal to provide for the programmes and hand-bills, without which +the attraction of Mlle. Zoraya would remain unknown to the public. Time +to put it into the Pursuivant would have made all the difference! + +But on that last supreme day, the excitement was such, that anybody was +willing to do anything. Felix could do little but explain to people +where their seats would be on the map of the town hall spread on the +counter, and answer their questions about the Zoraya; Wilmet was over +head and ears on her preparations for her entertainment, and would +have been unable to get any help in laying out her table but Cherry's +if Marilda had not come in to see what was going on, thrown herself +into the business with zeal and promptitude, sent back to Centry for a +supply of flowers, knives and forks, and done the work of half a dozen +parlour-maids. Stella was obediently keeping Theodore out of mischief; +and the other two girls were, with Bill Harewood, assisting a select +party in decorating the town hall with evergreens; and Clement, who had +to his dismay found a whole part made over to him by a young Bruce, who +had an inopportune cold, was practising hard at the old piano (which, +by-the-by, Lance had learned to tune); Mr. Flowerdew and the manager +were catching the doubtful and putting them through their performances; +and little Lightfoot was only preserved by his natural stolidity from +utter distraction among the hundred different ways he was ordered at +once. As for Lance, he tried to help every one, was too excited to keep +at anything, and was usually scolded off from whatever he attempted +till at last he shut himself up in the barrack with his violin, and +practised till he was so desperate at the sense of his failures, +that when Bill Harewood came in search of him, he was, as he mildly +expressed it, hesitating whether to hang himself like Dirk Hatteraick +on the beam. + +'Well, come down, here's Miles as savage as a bear with a sore +head--vows that he was very near turning back again when he saw your +rose-coloured placard of the Zoraya at the station.' + +'If he's sulky, that is a go!' exclaimed Lance, with a look of +consternation, utterly overpowering his stage fright. 'Do you remember +his putting us all out at the Deanery, because Miss Evans affronted +him?' + +'Well do I remember it! He boxed my ears for it so that they sung for a +week!' + +And the two ex-choristers went down, feeling much as when an anthem had +gone wrong. The room was pretty well filled with their old comrades, +but Lance only went from one to the other quietly shaking hands, and +quaking for the future as he heard the organist thundering away to +Wilmet and Cherry. + +He hated singing women some degrees more than the rest of their sex, +and above all Italian singing women, who never appreciated Handel. +Cherry ventured to suggest that the lady was not Italian, but, if +anything, Hungarian. + +'Madam,' he answered in Johnsonian wrath, 'she is cosmopolitan, that is +to say a half breed or quarter breed of everything, with neither home, +nation, nor faith!' + +'Do you know anything against her?' gravely asked Wilmet, with a view +to the possible contingency of being desired to call upon her. + +'I know enough in knowing her to be a second-rate _prima donna_. Faugh! +Now and then comes a first-rate one who can't help it, and is as meek +and simple as you might be; but when this sort of woman comes down as a +favour, I know what that means! Who is to pay the debt you'll have?' + +'They come for their expenses.' + +He held up his hands. 'I'd ten times rather she came at a hundred +guineas a night! Then you'd know what to be at! Whose doing is it?' + +'My brother Edgar's.' + +'Then I hope he is prepared to pay for it. That is, if she comes at +all. You'll have a telegram to say she has a cold, and who is to +announce it to an indignant audience?' + +'I think you had better, Mr. Miles,' said Cherry daringly, 'for you +will congratulate them upon it.' + +'Isn't his face a caution?' whispered Bill to Lance. 'He never got such +sauce before.' + +'He likes it,' returned Lance, triumphantly rubbing his hands. 'Cherry +could come over Pluto himself!' + +And in effect, the lively gracious tongue of the one sister, and the +calm beauty of the other, were producing a wonderful placability and +good-humour; the lads who were feeding by relays in the back room +ventured to talk and laugh above their breath, and the only fear was +of a relapse when Marilda's carriage, with Mr. and Mrs. Spooner in it, +called for Cherry, and the fascination had to be removed. + +Lance was as much delighted to walk down with the choir, though he +sorely missed his cap and gown, as was Will to go, as he said, like +a gentleman, the only one except little Bernard available to escort +the ladies. Robin was quite content, as he took to himself all the +honour and glory of representing his brother, and giving an arm to +the belle of the room, as he persisted in declaring Wilmet, though to +well accustomed Bexley eyes, she was much more likely to appear as the +school teacher. + +They were a merry little snug party, those four sisters behind, with +the three Harewoods; only Wilmet was rather scandalised by the titter +of Grace and Lucy in their delight at being relieved from Mr. Miles's +presence; and their excitement about Edgar, whom they viewed as the +most beautiful vision that had ever dawned on them. Vain were Wilmet's +endeavours to keep them in order by stern repressions of her own +comparatively unoffending sisters, who had little attention to spare +for nonsense, since Robina's whole soul was set on Lance's enjoying and +distinguishing himself, and Angela was in an absolutely painful state +of tension with expectation and anxiety for the star's appearance and +Mr. Miles's temper. + +Presently, after long waiting, there was a look of sensation and +eagerness, and Felix, who had been detained to the last moment, came +edging himself through the lines of chairs, his whiskers in their best +curl, and his hair shining, to exchange a word with his outermost +sister, who chanced to be Robin. + +'All right, if the train is not late. Edgar has telegraphed. Is Cherry +comfortable? I couldn't get away before. There's not a ticket left.' + +Happy those that caught the whisper as Felix made his way up the lane, +and was admitted through the orchestra; but there was still delay +enough to allow some impatient stamping of feet to begin before the +revolution in the programme could be settled which was to give these +erratic meteors time to appear. Then at last came the overture, and +the concert took its course. There was no doubt that Mr. Miles was +accompanying in his best style; Angela was soon far too blissful for +personal anxieties; but it was a great comfort to the sisters to be +secure that all was right, when not only the three brothers--of whom +they had seen and heard their share in the sacred part--but Edgar came +forward. Any sisters might be proud of four such brothers--so bright, +so straight, so strong and fair; Edgar, with his fine robust figure and +silky beard, giving them altogether a distinguished look and character, +though Clement's head was a little the highest, and Lance's voice was +the sweetest and most remarkable in power and expression; but all were +in wonderful accord and harmony. Any other audience would have encored +the performance as something rare and exquisite; but the Underwood +brothers and their glees were rather stock pieces at Bexley, and people +wanted something new. + +Lance's performance with the Miss Birkets was very correct, but not +of the style calculated to produce any very lively sentiments among +the uninitiated audience, who were on the tip-toe of expectation of +the lady whose arrival had been notified in whispers, and hardly fully +appreciating the best that either their own powers or the Minsterham +choir could produce. The first part went by without her; and in the +interval came hope in the shape of Lance, who made an incursion to +ask his sisters how they liked it, and to impart that the Zoraya was +safe come, but was supposed to be dressing. 'Mr. Miles said she would +be dressing till midnight, and would be less worth hearing then than +a decently trained choir-boy. But he's not sulky, after all; yet,' +added Lance, with a look of brightness in his face, 'fancy his telling +Fee that I played that remarkably well just now--truth and taste, he +said--the old villain--only that the ladies would spoil my time if I +didn't take care. And there's a sallow-faced fellow come down with +Mademoiselle, who said it wasn't bad either!' + +No wonder Lance was exalted; and he required equal admiration for all +his favourites, until he had to hurry back again. + +A little of what seemed to the excited commonplace--then came the event +of the evening. The glistening silken lady, with a flashing emerald +spray in her dark hair, lustrous eyes of a colour respecting which no +two persons in the room agreed, and a face of brilliant beauty, was +led bowing forward, and her notes, birdlike, fresh, and clear, rang +through the room, her brother accompanying her. It was a strong clear +voice, and the language and air being alike new, entranced every one; +the applause was vehement, the encoring almost passionate; but the +lady would not be encored, she gave them two songs alone, one with her +brother, accompanied this time by Lance's 'sallow-faced fellow;' and +though she smiled and curtsied graciously, was not to be induced to +repeat herself. + +It seemed to Robina as if the lady herself and the whole public had +taken a great deal of trouble for a very brief matter; but she found it +was rank treason to say so, when at the conclusion of the whole, those +faithful brothers hurried down each to pick up a sister and bestow her +safely at home before repairing to the Fortinbras Arms for the great +supper to the Minsterham choir. The Bexley public had been favoured +beyond all desert or reason; the newness of the airs had been a perfect +revelation to Lance's ears, and he was very angry with Clement for +being disappointed, and repeating Mr. Miles's judgment that there was +lack both of science in the singing and of sweetness in the voice. + +Altogether the evening had been a great success; every one was +delighted with every one else, and the supper was not the least +charming part, preceded as it was by Lance's bringing the little seven +years old choir boy, half asleep, ready to cry and quite worn out, and +putting him under Wilmet's care. He had half his night's rest out on +the sofa before he was picked up in the kindly arms of the big bass and +carried off to the mail train. Lance seemed much disposed to go with +them by mistake; indeed, he was only withheld from accompanying them to +the station by Felix reminding him rather sharply that someone must be +kept sitting up for him. + +It was over, and the morning began with Felix standing straight up in +the office, master now rather than brother, and gravely saying, 'Now, +Lance, that this excitement is at an end, I shall expect attention and +punctuality, and shall excuse no more neglects. Take this invoice, and +overlook the unpacking of those goods.' + +'Yes, sir.' Lance wriggled his shoulders feeling intensely weary of +such tasks; and as he stood, paper in hand, still he partly whistled, +partly hummed the Hungarian air, till the foreman came out of the +printing-house, saying, 'Mr. Lancelot, I should be much obliged if you +would desist. It distracts the young men.' + +Of course Lance bothered the young men, but desisted whenever he +recollected it, and then inly bemoaned the having passed a light-house +of anticipation, and having before him only a dreary irksome twilight +waste. + +Edgar had not been seen that morning, except to leave word that he +meant to breakfast with his friends at the Fortinbras Arms; but at +the dinner hour he looked into the office, and saying, 'You are at +liberty, Lance, I want you,' carried him off, Felix knew not why nor +where, and had no time to ask, even when Lance came back, and this was +not till past two, with the shop overflowing, and customers waiting +to be attended to. It was one of those times when gossipry was rife, +and the master had to stand talking, talking, while his assistants had +more than enough on their hands with the real purchasers, a division of +labour that usually came naturally, but to which Lance was evidently +not conforming himself as usual; and at last Felix heard him absolutely +denying that certain blotting-blocks ever had been, would, or could be +made, and had to turn hastily to the rescue and undertake that they +should be forthcoming by the next week. Also two orders proved to have +been left not entered, and therefore not attended to, and Felix was +thoroughly roused into vexation and anger. As soon as the last hurried +customers had come and gone, while Stubbs and Lightfoot were closing +the shutters, he again summoned Lance with, 'This will not do, Lance. +Your ignorance and laziness are not to be the limit of people's wants, +and I will not have my customers neglected. I have had patience with +you all through this business, and that good fellow Lamb has shown +forbearance that amazes me, but it must go on no longer. Things cannot +be done by halves. Either you must turn over a new leaf, and give your +mind to the business, or you must give it up, and look out for some +other employment.' + +'You wish me to give it up?' mumbled Lance, in a voice that sounded +sullen. + +'You are going the way to make me do so.' + +'You don't want me? Very well.' + +'Stay, Lance,' said Felix, whose reproofs had never before been +received by Lance in this manner, 'I wish you to understand. You +offered your services under a generous impulse last year, when I was +overdone and perplexed; but I doubted then if it were not a mistake. +You had come to be very valuable, more so than any mere hireling could +be, and I am very thankful to you; but if you are to be like what you +have been for a month past, you are doing some harm to the business and +a great deal to yourself; and you had better choose some line that you +can be hearty in.' + +'Could you afford it, Felix?' + +'I must afford it! Such work as yours has been of late is the most +expensive of all. Eh!' rather startled; 'have you anything in your +head?' + +'I hardly know.' + +A message came in at the moment, and by the time Felix had answered it, +Lance had vanished, rather to his vexation and uneasiness. He went up +to supper, the first family meeting where there had been time to talk +over the humours of the day before. Edgar was full of fun; and the +report Cherry had been writing for the Pursuivant was read aloud in the +family conclave, and freely canvassed, but Lance, though he put in a +word or two here and there, was much quieter than usual; and when all +the others moved back into the drawing-room, he touched Robina's arm, +and kept her with him in the dark room. + +'What should you say, Bob, if I got out of it all?' was his first word. + +'Out of it all!' + +'Ay. Felix thinks me no loss, and I've got a chance.' + +'Oh!' a long interrogative not well pleased sound it was, not answered +at once; and Robina added, 'Does Mr. Miles want an assistant?' + +''Tisn't that sort. You saw the gentleman that came down with Edgar and +the Hungarians?' + +'Yes, his name is Allen, he is manager of the National Minstrelsy,' +Edgar said. + +'Just so. He has got a lease of a concert-room in town, and he would +give me five pounds a week to sing two nights a week through the +season!' + +'Lance!' Robina could only stand breathless. + +'I'll tell you all about it. You know Edgar came and called me just at +dinner-time.' + +'I know, and Felix got no dinner at all except a sandwich that Wilmet +sent down.' + +'Well, that was his own fault. However, there they were at the +Fortinbras Arms, in the best blue room, just come down to breakfast.' + +'Who? The Hungarians?' + +'Yes. Mr. Allen and M. Prebel were waiting for the lady, to ring and +have the hot things up. What a stunner she is, to be sure! the finest +woman I ever saw in my life, and such pretty ways when she can't find +an English word, I should think a queen must be just like her.' + +'Yes, if she is waited for in that way. Did you get anything to eat, +then, Lance?' + +'Didn't we, though? Why, they had asked us to breakfast; and such a +breakfast I never set eyes on--devilled kidneys, and pie with truffles +in it, and pine-apple jam--and wine! They asked for wines that Reid the +waiter had never heard of--nor, it is my belief, Mr. Jones either.' + +'But is this all to come out of their expenses that are paid for them?' + +'You're getting like W.W., I declare, Bobbie. I never thought of that; +but I'll go up to Reid, and find out the worth of my own share, and +wipe that out. Well, they were uncommonly kind and civil. Edgar's quite +at home with them, you know; talks French like a house on fire, or +German--I don't know which it was, but she made it sound as pretty as +could be, and I should soon pick it up. I had no notion what they were +at, but Edgar said she wanted to hear me sing that song of Sullivan's +again, and I could not help doing it; and then she smiled and bowed and +thanked, and Mr. Allen made remarks, about my wanting lightness and +style, said it came of singing too much cathedral music.' + +'O Lance, wasn't that like the Little Master saying Montjoie St. +Denis?' + +'Nonsense! He's no more like the Little Master than you are; Edgar says +he's as respectable as Old Time, and has got a little mouse of a wife +as good as gold. But he does want a high tenor to sing his English +ballads, and he'll give me this, with chances to sing at private +concerts, and opportunities of getting lessons on the violin. Think of +that, you solemn bird, you.' + +'Where would you live?' + +'With Edgar. Then I could make up the difference to Fee; and what I +could save, with Edgar's picture, will take us to Italy. And there I +could get finished up first-rate.' + +'You've not settled it so?' + +'Why, no. The first thing that struck me was that it was awfully cool +by Felix, to say all this without notice to him, and I told them as +much; but then they said they didn't want to inconvenience Felix, and +wouldn't want me till March.' + +'Just as if you were his servant.' + +'In that light, so I am.' + +'You don't really think of doing it, Lance?' + +'I don't mean one thing or the other yet, Robin! Here's Felix one side +telling us that he's very much obliged to me, but I am worse than no +use at all; and Edgar and this Allen on the other, saying that here's +the line that I am cut out for.' + +'But Felix can only mean when you are gone mad after the concert.' + +'And who is to help getting mad, when their life is all dulness and +botheration? Edgar told me it would be so--and now Felix himself +declares it was a mistake my ever working here.' + +'Felix must have been terribly displeased, to say so.' + +'I believe he was indeed! but I couldn't help it. How can one mind +foolscap and satin wove, and all the rest of it, when there are such +glorious things beyond?' + +'O Lance, I never heard you say "couldn't help it" before!' + +'Now, Robin, say in three words. Do you want me to be a mere +counter-jumper all my life?' + +'O Lance--don't.' + +'There, you see what you really feel about it. Now--without coming to +such a point as Sims Reeves, or Joachim, or--' (and Lance's face was +full of infinite possibility), 'I could with the most ordinary luck +get up high enough to have a handsome maintenance; and at any rate, I +should live with what is life to me--have time to study the science--be +a composer, maybe--and get into a society that is not all inferior. I +hate the isolation we live in here--not a real lady out of one's own +family to be friendly with one.' + +'But I don't think ladies are so with musical people.' + +'Maybe not, but they are a strong, cultivated, refined society of their +own, able to take care of themselves. What now, Robin, can't you speak? +What is it now?' + +'I was only thinking of what you said last time Edgar asked you.' + +'I hadn't seen London then, I knew nothing about it. The very Sundays +there are different things from what they are in this deadly lively +place.' + +'That's as you make them. Besides, that makes no difference as to that +other thing you said.' + +'What?' (A little crossly.) + +'About the cathedral and the stage,' whispered Robina, hanging her head. + +'One doesn't want all that one ever said when one was a high-flown ass +to be thrown in one's teeth,' said Lance, angrily. + +'Oh!' but otherwise Robina held her tongue. + +Presently Lance began again persuasively. 'You see this is only +training, after all, Bobbie; I may take to sacred music, oratorios or +anything else, when once I have got thoroughly taught; and I can only +do that by living on my own voice. I must lay by enough to take me to +Italy, and when I have learnt there, then I can turn to anything.' + +'Do you think you ever would lay by?' + +That was rather a cutting question, for Lance, though never in debt, +never could keep a sixpence in his pocket. + +'I could if I had a real object.' + +'Only I don't think it would wholly depend on yourself,' said sensible +Robina. 'I suppose they don't pay by the week; and then if the concern +should not answer? + +'That's sheer impossibility. There isn't a safer man in London than +Allen. It is a much more profitable investment than old Pur.' + +'Then if you lived with Edgar, you don't know how much you might have +to go shares for.' + +Thereupon Lance broke out into absolute anger against Robina for her +unkindness to Edgar, talking much of the want of charity of people who +lived at home, and thought everything beyond their ken must be wicked. +She ventured to ask what Felix thought of it, and was told in return +that Felix was not only not his father, but though the best fellow in +the world, had no more knowledge of it than a child in petticoats. It +was for the good of Felix, and everyone else, that they should not all +hang about at home in the stodge and mire. + +How long this might have gone on there is no saying, but Felix's voice +was heard calling to them in preparation for evening prayers. When +Robina heard Lance's voice rise in all its sweetness in the Evening +Hymn, her heart was so full of yearning pain and disappointment, that +she could hardly hold back her tears till she could kneel and hide her +face in her hands. + +She had this comfort. She did not understand from Lance that he had +accepted, and he certainly did not join Edgar that night in the +kitchen, but, saying he was tired out, he went at once to bed. + +On Saturday she had not one private moment with him, but on the other +hand, neither she hoped had Edgar; for the work both of the press and +of the shop happened to be unusually heavy, and neither he nor Felix +had a moment to spare; and Edgar spent the evening with some friends in +the town. + +Sunday afternoon, the family hour for walks and talks, poured with +rain, and thereby was favourable to letters to Fulbert. Indeed, +Angela's commencement of some sacred music was stopped, by the general +voice entreating her to wait till the letters were finished. Lance, who +never wrote to anybody but Fulbert, had resumed the practice ever since +he had received an affectionate letter called forth by his illness, and +was now busy with his little blotty portfolio; while Robina, having no +Sunday correspondent, was half reading, half watching Stella explaining +pictures to Theodore. + +Presently Lance stretched across, and silently put a sheet of +note-paper into her lap, hushing her by a sign. It had been begun in +his best hand, and it must be confessed that that hand was at present a +scratchy one, and there were various erasures. + + DEAR SIR, + + I have done my best to consider your kind and flattering + proposal, and have come to the conclusion that for the present + it will be better for me to continue where I am. There will + thus be no need to apply to my eldest brother. + + With my respectful thanks, + Yours faithfully, + LANCELOT O. UNDERWOOD. + + +Robina made a little pantomime of clapping her hands, for which +Lance did not appear to thank her, but still in dumb show required +her judgment on the choice of several words. She mutely marked her +preference, and he returned to his place and copied it. Still he had +not addressed the letter. He put it into his pocket, with a significant +smile at his sister. Evening came, late service, supper; still it was +in his pocket till the moment of bed-time, and then it was that Robina +saw him linger with Edgar, and went to her room with a heart full of +trembling prayer. + +'Edgar,' as his brother arrived in the kitchen, and prepared his pipe, +'how shall I address this?' + +'Eh! you needn't be in too great a haste. We had better break it to +poor old Blunderbore first.' + +'There's no breaking in the case. I'm not going.' + +'Ah! I knew how it would be when you began running about to all the +womankind in the house.' + +'I've not spoken to a soul but Bobbie,' said Lance rather hotly, as +Edgar laughed. + +'Then one was enough to do your business?' + +'I only spoke to her to clear my own mind.' + +'Ay, to get someone to contemplate Hercules between Vice and Virtue; +but it won't do, my boy. Little Allen is as virtuous as Felix himself, +and the choice is simply between the thing you can do and the thing you +can't.' + +'I can do my duty here,' said Lance bluntly. + +'You've tried, my boy; you made a gallant effort, and I let you alone +while you had a head to be spared, but 'tis no good trying to force the +course of the stream, and you had better break loose, before you get +too old for the real thing that you are made for.' + +'No, Edgar, I've thought it over, and found out how things stand. Here +will Felix begin now to have more on his hands, and can manage to shell +out less than ever while he had Froggy to fall back on. Now, not only +is my nominal salary much less than he could offer a stranger, but half +of it goes back into the housekeeping, while I'm _done for_ at home, +and I don't see how he could meet the difference just now.' + +'Whew! that's the blind way you all go on, putting the present before +the future. If Felix had a grain of spirit, he would revolt at preying +on your flesh and blood. Flesh and blood--why, its genius and spirit +crushed up in this hole!' + +'It is no more than all of us have done by him, ever since he was of my +size.' + +'But it is so short-sighted, Lance. You could make it up to him so +soon. Five pounds for certain the week--and possibilities, remember. +You'll lodge with me--that's nothing; and for the rest, you'll soon +live as we do--like the birds of the air.' + +'I couldn't make it up to him, and save for Italy; besides I should be +earning nothing there.' + +'But I should! Copying is a certain trade. Come now, Lance, you've +taken some panic. Tell me what is at the bottom of it! Have they been +warning you against us wicked Bohemians?' + +'They? Nonsense!' + +'_She_, then?' + +'It is nothing at all that Robina said.' + +'Come, make a clean breast. What lies at the bottom of this absurd +rejection of the best offer you'll ever have in your life?' + +Edgar took the pipe out of his mouth, that the smoke might not obscure +his view of the young face whose brow was resting on an arm leant on +the mantel-piece, and the eyes far away. 'What's the bugbear? and I'll +clear it up.' + +'No bugbear.' + +'You don't trust me. Eh? Is that it? Have they told you I mean to prey +on your innocence?' + +'No, indeed, Edgar!' + +'Are you afraid of the great and wicked world? I thought you'd more +spirit than that; and I've always told you, you might run after as many +churches as you chose. I'd never hinder you. Come, have it out, Lance, +you think me a corrupter of your artless youth?' + +'No!' + +'Come, out with it. What has turned you?' + +The answer came at last in his low clear voice, speaking more into the +fire than to Edgar, the eyes still fixed and far away--'"And here we +offer and present unto Thee ourselves, our souls and bodies, to be a +reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice."' + +'What do you mean? what's that?' said Edgar, half startled, half angry. + +'It comes after the Holy Communion,' said Lance, quite as much shocked +by the novelty with which the familiar sound struck on his brother's +ears. + +'Oh! a pious utterance that only a _tête exaltée_ takes literally.' + +'I should not join in it if I didn't mean it,' muttered Lance, in the +most brief matter-of-fact way. + +'Then why aren't you living barefoot on bread and water in a hermitage?' + +'Because that's not my duty. It would not be reasonable.' + +'There's great force in that word,' began Edgar, with a little scoff in +his tone, but altering it into one of more earnestness. 'Now, Lance, +I want to understand your point of view. How does that formula hinder +you?' + +'Because,' said Lance, much against his will, 'it wouldn't be making my +soul and body a reasonable sacrifice, to turn the training I had for +God's praise into singing love songs to get money and fame.' + +'Why do you assume that beauty and delight of any sort is not just as +pleasing to God as your chants and anthems?' + +'No. One is offered to Him, the other is mere entertainment.' + +'So is the first to most folks. Now, you boy, honestly, do you mean +that it is not much of a muchness with sacred and profane, so far as +motive goes?' + +'It is what I am always trying that it should be,' said Lance. + +'Only trying?' + +'Only trying.' + +'And you consider yourself to be this sacrifice, this victim, by +singing in a surplice for ladies to whisper about, instead of getting +trained to interpret--nay, what I do say! maybe, compose--the grandest +human music. You've got it in you, my boy.' + +'You may say what you please,' said Lance, turning away to the fire. + +'I don't want to vex you, boy, I only want to make it out. I see the +_sacrifice_.' + +'It was my own fault for saying a word about it to you,' muttered Lance. + +'But I don't see the sense of it,' proceeded Edgar, 'or what it is but +your own fancy that puts the one thing up in the heights, the other +down in the depths.' + +'You must know that,' said Lance, 'the fever and transport that comes +of one kind of music has nothing good in it.' + +'That's the question.' + +'I know it has not for me.' + +'And has the other?' + +'Of course it has! Besides, I don't do it for myself. Come, Edgar, tell +me how to direct that letter, and let me go.' + +'You may leave it till I go to town.' + +'That would not be fair. He will want to look out for someone else. +Tell me!' + +'Not I! I'm not going to let you make a fool of yourself in a fit of +religious excitement.' + +Lance smiled. 'Much excitement in a cold dark church in a wet morning, +with not twenty people there.' + +'That's as you work yourself up. Here, sit down and take the other +pipe.' + +'I can't; I can hardly stand yours, my head is raging!' + +'Oh! that accounts for it! Go off to bed, and wake in week-day senses.' + +'I wish you'd let me have done with it,' sighed Lance; but Edgar shook +his head with, 'All for your good, my dear fellow!' + +'If Balak's messengers _will_ stay the night, it is not my doing,' said +Lance to himself, as he wearily mounted the stairs to his sleepless bed +in the barrack; for though his headaches had become much less frequent +and disabling, still his constitution was so sensitive, that a course +of disturbed nights always followed any excitement; and thus the morrow +found him dull and confused enough to render his attempts at diligence +so far from successful, that he was more than once sharply called to +order; and Felix came in at dinner-time, exclaiming, 'I can't think +what's the matter with that boy. He seems as if he would never do any +good again!' + +'_Précisément!_' muttered Edgar. 'You had better give him up with a +good grace, as I told you before.' + +And being at the moment alone in the room with Felix and Geraldine, he +not only detailed his plans for Lance, but eagerly counselled Felix +to invest at least half Thomas Underwood's legacy in the National +Minstrelsy. + +'Really!' said Felix, in a tone of irony, 'this is nearly coming to the +old plan of setting up a family circus! Then it is this that has so +entirely unsettled him?' + +'That the old must pass away is not sufficiently appreciated here.' + +Then Edgar appealed to Cherry for the charms of artist society, and the +confutation of the delusions respecting it held by Philistines at home, +a conversation only interrupted by the arrival of dinner, and the rest +of the population. + +Felix as usual had to go down after a few mouthfuls; Edgar followed him +to say on the stairs, 'I've one piece of advice to give. Remember that +you are an old Philistine giant, and act with due humility.' + +'Is he set upon it?' + +'I cannot say heart and soul, for heart and what he thinks soul are +pulling opposite ways. I say, Felix, you should take into consideration +the effect on me. I haven't sat still to listen to so much piety since +my father's time; it is a caution to see a little chap so simply +literal.' + +Felix could wait no longer. He found Lance alone in the office, resting +his head on his desk. 'You'll be in time for dinner, Lance!' + +'Thank you, I'd rather not. Send Stubbs home.' + +'Head-ache?' + +'Not much now!' + +'I'm sorry I was sharp with you this morning, Lance. You should have +told me!' + +'It was not worth while, but I did mean to have done better to-day, +Felix!' + +'I believe you did. If you think it will set you to rights, I would let +you off this afternoon.' + +'No, thank you; it is getting better.' + +Felix looked at him a moment or two, then said, 'Edgar tells me he has +been talking to you.' + +'Yes. I hope you have given him a settler, Felix.' + +'Have you?' + +'I tried, but he would not take it. He thought it was only Sunday.' + +'Only Sunday!' + +'That made me sure it would not do.' + +'You are quite right, Lance. So far as it depends on me, I should have +done all in my power to keep you from what cannot but be a life of much +temptation, and I am thankful that you have decided it for yourself. +You are really content to stay here with me?' + +'Content--well, not just now; but I shall be again when all the remains +of the bear-fight have subsided,' said Lance. 'I ought and I must, and +that's enough.' + +With which words he ran out as some one was heard entering the shop; +and Felix stood for a few moments over the fire, musing on the brave +way in which his young brother had met the enticement, and on the +danger into which his own reproofs, however well-merited, had driven +him. + +Lance's other occupation that evening did not make him better pleased +with Edgar's friends. Wilmet had decreed--and he had submitted half +ruefully, half-merrily--that what remained of his salary after his +contribution to the house expenses, should be guarded by her for his +wardrobe, only half-a-crown a week being put into his own hands; and +as this always managed to disappear without much to show for it, she +viewed it as quite enough for waste; and indeed, out of what was in her +keeping she had managed to provide him with a watch. + +With his Monday half-crown, and sixpence besides, he repaired to the +Fortinbras Arms to pay for his share of the notable breakfast; but he +found some demur; Mr. Jones was aghast at his own bill, and really +unwilling to send it in. The private supper, the next day's breakfast, +and all that the party had called for, amounted to what would make a +terrible hole in the receipts of the concert. + +As to Lance's paying the fifth part of the _déjeûner_, the landlord +thought it was impossible, and though his three shillings might perhaps +represent the cost of what he had individually consumed, to offer or +accept that was not according to rules. Mr. Jones would gladly have +made this bill his subscription to the organ, if he could but have +afforded the loss; but this, as he told Lance, he could not do. He +listened, however, with a smile of some pity, when Lance assured him +that his own and his brother's shares should be made up; and Lance +picked out the charge, and carried it off to Edgar. + +There again he met with no success. Edgar laughed at him, and told +him he did not know the privileges of the artiste; and when Lance +waxed hot, and declared that if the concert paid the expenses of the +two stars themselves, it was a wicked exaction to make it defray the +expenses of either Mr. Allen or their guests, he was answered coolly +that expensive articles must be taken on their own terms, and that +spoiling the Philistines was always fair. + +'Then don't you mean to pay, Edgar?' + +Edgar gave his foreign shrug, and made a gesture of incapability. He +was vexed with Lance, and at no pains to soften matters. + +'Now,' said Lance, with a sort of grave simplicity, 'I understand what +living like birds of the air means.' + +Lance went back to Mr. Jones, and told him that the two-fifths of the +breakfast should be paid. And in twelve weeks it was done, But by this +specimen it may be guessed that the new organ was not exactly purchased +by the concert. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +BRYNHILD. + + 'Oft with anxious straining eyes + We watch the coming of some joy long hoped for; + And now 'tis near. But at its side a dark + And stealthy thing, that we should fly like death + Did we but see it, is advancing on us, + Yes, step by step with those of its bright compeer.' + _King Henry II., a Drama._ + (_Quoted in Helps' Casimir Maremma._) + + +'Which is to have the precedence, Alda's child or ours?' + +'Alda's child is not likely to be ready for inspection as early as +ours.' + +'Oh! I thought you would vote it treason to babydom not to begin with +Lowndes Square.' + +'My maternal feelings draw me the other way, you see.' + +'You won't confess it to Wilmet!' + +'It is of no use to go to Alda before twelve,' put in Marilda. 'Cherry +had better go to the Royal Academy before it gets full.' + +It was May, and the catalogue of the Royal Academy bore-- + + No. 260.--Brynhild. . . . . . . . . . . . T.E. Underwood. + +and a good way further on, among the water-colours, + + {The Lesson } + No. 601.--Four studies, {Hearing a Story } Geraldine + {With the Kitten } Underwood. + {Listening to Music} + + No. 615.--The Faithful Acolyte . . . Geraldine Underwood. + + 'But abruptly turning, + Hied he to the choir, + Touched the Altar tapers + With a flake of fire.' + (_The Three Crowns._) + +So, these having been accepted, Geraldine had come up to town to see +them in their place. The undertaking was far less formidable than it +had been a year ago, for Cherry was now much more at home with her +cousins. + +She understood Marilda better now, and reproached herself for having +taken for worldliness what was really acquiescence rather than cause +any disturbance in the family such as could worry her father, of whose +state she had been aware all that last summer. Cherry respected her +now, though they had little in common. Marilda had become too much +acclimatized to London to like country life. She made some awkward +attempts at squiress duty, but was far more in her element in her +office, where she took on herself to attend to business so vigorously, +that no one would have known there had been any change but by the +initials. Felix had been of much use to her, and had certainly gained a +good deal in consideration by the manifest reliance placed on him; and +his position among the citizens of Bexley was now a fixed and settled +thing. + +Mrs. Underwood, in the inertness of grief, did not move from Centry +until she was carried up to town by her strong desire to preside at +Lady Vanderkist's confinement. She was, however, disappointed, for Lady +Mary undertook the care of her daughter-in-law; but she made up for it +as well as she could by permitting all the assiduities from the good +lady that Alda would endure, and being herself extremely friendly and +good-natured. + +The first proposal had been that Cherry should go up with them and +see the pictures on the private day, but the east wind and flying +threats of rheumatism had prevented this, till Marilda, running down to +inspect her works at Centry, carried her off, undertaking, with better +knowledge than before, that she should be well cared for. + +So here was the carriage at the door, and Edgar come to escort her +to the realization of the almost incredible fact that she, as well +as himself, was an artist and exhibitor. She had heard favourable +opinions, but none the less did her heart palpitate with far more of +distress than of exultation as at a strange presumptuous unnatural +position--she, who, while striving to be satisfied with faithfully +doing her best, had so much wished for success as to make it a +continual prayer, that the works of their hands might be prospered upon +both, and to feel it an effort honestly to add the clause, 'If it be +thy will--if Thou see it good for us.' + +She had not seen Edgar's picture, nor himself since the concert, and +there had been some breaths of rumour which took form in the saying +that the absence of the family from Kensington Palace Gardens had been +a sad thing for him. + +However that might be, he was as much at his 'Chérie's' service as +ever, though with something of the forced manner she had known in him +at moments of crisis, and which betrayed much anxiety. He repeated +to her many times on the way that Brynhild had been unfairly dealt +with in the hanging, and related anecdotes of injustice suffered +by whoever did not belong to favoured cliques, all which made her +uneasy. Of hers he said little. She knew that water-colours at the +Royal Academy exhibition received little notice, but had obediently +followed some crotchet of Mr. Renville's which had taken her thither. +Trafalgar Square was then still the locality, and when the steps had +been surmounted, and they stood between the two doors leading to the +water-colours, it was straight on that they went, for the sight of +Brynhild was the triumph and delight that Geraldine had figured to +herself for months past. + +It was, as she already knew, in the second room, rather below the +privileged line; and at this early hour, the numbers of visitors were +so scanty that she could see the cocoon shaped glow of yellow flame +across the room. + +'Oh! there she is! She is smaller than I thought.' + +'Just what Polly said. All ladies go in for 'igh hart on the Zam zummin +scale.' + +She must have hurt his feelings, she saw, or he would not have compared +her criticism with Marilda's; and as she felt that he was watching her +countenance as he led her forward and lodged her opposite. From eager +expectation her look became constrained, as it shot through her that +this was not the Brynhild of the sketch and of her imagination. She was +disappointed! + +'Well, what?' asked Edgar impatiently, reading the countenance in spite +of all endeavours. + +'How like Marilda!' + +'What, Brynhild, the toad! So she would be. I suppose the caricature +demoralized me, and the family features are the same.' + +'And Sigurd is Ferdinand.' + +'Nature created him for a model.' + +It was not the likeness to Marilda which gave Cherry the sense of +unfulfilled expectation and dissatisfaction. The lofty expression, the +deep awe, the weird cloud-land grandeur that she had connected either +with the sketch or her memory of it, had passed away from the finished +oil-painting; and when she had called it small, it was not because it +was cabinet sized, but because it was wanting in the sense of majesty +that can be conveyed in a gem as well as in a colossus. What was to +have been a wild scene of terror in the world of mists _would_ look +extravagant, and neither the pose of Brynhild's limbs nor the position +of Sigurd's sword, approved themselves to her eye as correct drawing. + +Brother and sister were both far too acute, and too well used to read +each other's looks and tones, for fencing or disguise to be possible. + +'You don't like it.' + +'O Edgar!' much distressed, 'indeed there is a great deal very +beautiful, but somehow I had imagined it different.' + +'Oh, if you came with a preconceived notion.' + +'Perhaps that's it,' said Cherry, peeping through her eye-lashes, as +long ago at the great Achilles, and making them a sieve to divest the +image before her of all that her eye would condemn in spite of herself. + +'I see a great deal of beauty, but somehow I thought the whole would +have been more finished,' she said. + +'Not possible. A rude half developed myth is not in keeping with the +precision of a miniature. Besides, the finish of Sigurd's armour throws +back the vague beyond.' + +Her feeling had been that the Pre-Raphaelitism of the hauberk was too +like worsted stockings, and not in keeping with the Turneresque whirl +of flame and smoke around the sleeping Valkyr; but the disloyalty of +not admiring Edgar's picture was impossible to her loving spirit; she +listened and looked through her eye-lashes, till though Brynhild's +limbs were to her unassisted sense almost as uncomfortable as those +of Achilles had been, he imparted a glamour, so that she thought she +beheld it as it ought to have been, and believed it to be so great and +deep a work of art that study alone could appreciate it. + +'Yes, I see--I see it now--I could not before--but that is all the +better!' + +The room was filling and they were jostled by a group diligently +working their way with their catalogue from No. 1 to No. 1200. + +'What's that glaring red and yellow thing?' + +'260, Brynhild. Who was she, Flo?' + +'Don't you know, Mamma? That French queen who was torn to pieces by +wild horses.' + +'I don't see any horses. She is all on fire.' + +'I suppose she was burnt afterwards. And that's the king who did it.' + +'What a horrid picture!' + +'There's the intelligent public one works for,' said Edgar. 'Come and +try your luck.' + +He paused, however, to show her the difference a foot's elevation +would have made to his painting; and she, with a mind more at leisure +from itself, waited not only to sympathize but to be fascinated with +the loveliness or power of more than one picture past which he would +have hurried her, with murmurs at the R.A. who had secured the best +situation. + +Here they were in the water-colour room, obliged to wait, to penetrate +the throng round the lesser ones, which were so close together that +there was no distinct appropriation of the remarks. + +'What a dear little thing!' 'Is it all the same child?' 'It can't be +portrait, she is so pretty.' + +Edgar smiled at her, and she whispered, with great inconsistency, 'No, +it can't be that. Besides, childish prettiness always pleases more +people than anything high and ideal.' + +She tried to turn to the Acolyte, and two or three gentlemen yielded +place to the lame girl. 'Geraldine Underwood,' said one, making her +start, till she saw he was reading from his catalogue. 'I don't +remember her name before.' + +'No, and there's so much power as well as good drawing and expression, +that I should not have thought it a woman's work.' + +This, the most ambitioned praise a woman can receive, made her indeed +Cherry-red, and Edgar's beaming glance of congratulation was most +delightful. + +Certainly, whatever his faults, among them was neither jealousy nor +want of affectionateness; and Cherry's success gave him unqualified +pleasure, both agreeing in the belief that she was on a level with the +public taste, while he soared too high beyond it. + +Her paintings had a strength of colouring unusual in inexperienced +artists, perhaps owing to the depth of hue she had grown accustomed to +when painting for her old woman, and thus they asserted themselves, +and were not killed by their neighbours, but rather, as Edgar said, +committed slaughter all round. + +Yet 'The Acolyte' was on the whole a dark picture: the Church was in +a brown dim shade, within which, however, its perspective vaultings, +arches, and tracery, were perfectly drawn, knowing where they were +going and what they meant, yet not obtruded; and the Altar hangings, +richly patterned in olive green and brown gold, were kept back in +spite of all their detail, throwing out the 'flake of fire' and the +glitter reflected on the gold ornaments, which had been drawn with due +deference to Clement's minute information, while in the fragment of the +east window just seen above, glittered a few jewels of stained glass +touched by the rising sun, and to which the subdued colouring of the +rest gave wonderful glory; and the server himself was so tinted with +grey that even his white dress did not glare, while his face was the +face of Lance, as it had been a few years back, boyish and mirthful +through all its dutiful reverence. Of course it was not new to Edgar, +but he owned that he was always struck by it whenever he came that way; +and Cherry heaved a little sigh of parental pride and delight as she +owned that her little 'server' did look better than she had expected. + +Then Edgar elbowed her to what was called at home her 'Constellation,' +where she had caught Stella's sweet little head four times over--in the +seriousness of lesson-learning, with eager parted smiling lips with +which she listened to a story, with her tender caressing expression +towards the kitten she was nursing, and with the rapt dreamy gaze that +her brother's music would bring over her countenance. All had the merit +of being caught--in the first sketch--entirely without consciousness +on Stella's part; and though she had been nailed to the positions +afterwards, it had been possible to preserve the unstudied expression +that was one great charm of the drawings, much more sketchy and +suggestive than was their companion. + +It was not easy to maintain a stand before the frame that held the +four, for people must have told one another of it, and squeezed their +way to it; till the poor little artist, growing nervous at the press, +was grasping her brother tight to make him take her away. Just then +there was a kind eager greeting, 'Good morning; I am delighted to meet +you here. You must allow me to congratulate you.' + +It was Mr. Grinstead, too considerate to utter a name that would +instantly have brought all eyes upon the little lame girl, whom the +gazers were almost sweeping away. He was full of that gracious fatherly +kindness that elderly men were prone to show her, and solicitously +asked where she was staying, and whether he might call upon her; and +then, taking advantage of an interval of people, he brought her again +in front of her pictures. With him on Lord Gerald's side of her, +and Edgar on the other, she felt safe enough to enter into his kind +critique, so discriminating as to gratify, improve, and stimulate her +far more than if it had been all compliment. By the time this was over, +Cherry could stand no longer, and it was time for her visit to her +sister, so the sculptor did Ferdinand's old part by taking care of her +while Edgar hunted up their cousin's brougham. + +'O Edgar, aren't you coming?' + +'Well! I can't say the Mynheer's _ménage_ likes me better than I like +it.' + +'Oh, Eddie, dear, _do_. How shall I ever get in among all those +dreadful strange servants?' + +'What, the crack exhibitor, whose pictures transcend woman's genius, +afraid of a flunky or two!' + +Nevertheless, he let her pull him into the carriage, laughing, and +demanding whether she could not have opposed coachman and footman to +their congeners; but he recollected the stair-case, and was all the +more amenable that in her he had the only perfectly willing auditor of +all his whys and wherefores of all Brynhild's characteristics, all his +hopes of purchasers and plans built upon her, and (now that Brynhild +was out of sight) the most profound believer in her beauties and +sublimities. + +The arrival was impressive. The vista of liveries, flowers, and marble, +was so alarming, that Cherry could hardly have found courage to make +her way through them with no support but Lord Gerald's; but when she +entered the drawing-room the grandeur was instantly mitigated by the +plainly attired, gentle, motherly lady who came forward to greet her +with a kiss. 'So you are Geraldine, the only sister I have never seen. +Alda will be delighted.' + +Lady Mary Murray must have been rather surprised by the sight of 'the +little deformed one,' with her sweet pensive face of sunshine and +shade, and the small slender form, as shapely as that of her sister, +though leaning a little forward when walking. So kind was she, that +Cherry felt that she could quite spare Edgar when he made his retreat, +and never observed that he was not pressed to stay to see Alda, who had +a dress-maker with her, and would send down when ready. + +This gave Cherry time to become at home with Lady Mary, and to receive +some gratifying compliments upon her Constellation, united with a +little caution on the danger of making the little girl vain. 'I hope +not,' said Cherry much in earnest; 'indeed, I think Edgar and I are +mere terrors to all our pretty ones, we tease them so with sitting.' + +'The little boy in a surplice is another brother, I think I heard.' + +'Yes, my brother Lance. He is gone into the business now. He was in the +Cathedral choir at Minsterham.' + +'Oh! I understood that it was a portrait of the one who was in the St. +Matthew's brotherhood, in his ornaments.' + +'Oh no. That was Clement; and I am sure neither of them wore anything +like that! I made out the ornaments from a book.' + +'I am glad to hear it,' said Lady Mary, a little less cordially; and +when Cherry, recollecting her views, proceeded to lead away by speaking +of Brynhild, it was to be met with a kind smile and avowal that Mr. +Underwood's picture was not so easy to understand. + +Then came the summons to Lady Vanderkist's room. It seemed chiefly +addressed to her mother-in-law, who, however, extended it to Cherry, +and proffered a soft, comfortable, substantial arm to help her up the +stairs. + +There sat Alda, beautiful to behold in white and bright blue ribbons, +thinner than formerly, but exquisitely and delicately pretty, and so +eager in her conference with her milliner, that she could only give +Geraldine a hasty kiss, and sign her to a seat, before appealing to +Lady Mary on some point of clashing taste respecting her court dress, +which was the present subject of engrossing interest to the younger +lady, while the elder evidently did not feel greatly at home or +interested in a subject which she said had not come before her since +the maiden days of Queen Victoria. Indeed, when Alda became excited +in maintaining her own opinion, she put an end to it with gentle but +irresistible authority, dismissed the milliner, and insisted upon the +repose that Alda was inclined to laugh to scorn. + +After an exhibition of the little four weeks daughter, a pretty +creature, in whom mother as well as grandmother showed plenty of pride, +the two sisters were left to a _tête à tête_, Cherry feeling almost +hypocritical when Lady Mary supposed them to be so eager for it. + +Rather languidly Alda inquired after everyone at home, chiefly after +Wilmet and Captain Harewood, where he was, and what chance there was of +his return. Then Cherry talked of the great home subject of interest, +namely that the organ was actually ordered; but Lady Vanderkist +attended little, and it was safer as well as more entertaining to let +her talk of herself; and she seemed to have had a very gay winter, to +have been recognized as the great lady of her neighbourhood as well as +bride and beauty, and to have had much sporting society at home and +abroad, while now she looked forward to a season among the circles +which had always been the object of her ambition. No wonder that the +cares and joys of Bexley occupied her but little, and that it was not +much to her whether Felix was to be a town-councillor. However, she +was now among people who considered it an honour to have a sister +exhibiting at the Academy, and she professed much eagerness to see +the Constellation. 'But what could have induced Edgar to send such a +picture?' she added; 'Adrian says it is the maddest thing he ever saw +in his life.' + +'It takes some study,' said Cherry, subduing her indignation. + +'I should think it had taken very little study.' + +'You have not seen it?' + +'No of course not yet. I shall go as soon as I can, it is so stupid +not to be able to talk of the Exhibition; but I don't look forward +to Edgar's picture at all, I hear the drawing and painting are so +disgraceful.' + +'There is an apparent carelessness that enhances effect.' + +'Standing up for Edgar as usual, Cherry! But if you still have any +influence with him, this is the time to use it. Adrian hears that he +has taken up with a lot of tremendous scamps. Indeed, he saw him on +the Derby day betting away with all his might. Now he cannot stand +that long, and Adrian says I must let him know that when he gets into +difficulties, he need not expect to fall back upon us.' + +'The last thing he is likely to do,' said Cherry, burning with +suppressed wrath. + +'Well, give him a warning, and tell him to be careful how he comes in +Adrian's way. It upsets me so when he comes in and asks where I think +he has met my precious brother.' + +'I don't see,' cried Geraldine, breaking out, 'why a place should be +worse for one than for the other.' + +Alda drew up her head with a little contempt, but instead of flying out +as when they were on an equality, she merely said, 'Don't you?' + +Then Geraldine recollected herself, and tried to say meekly something +about the difference made by being able to afford it; but though Alda +was kinder than usual, and changed the subject, there was no more +real comfort throughout the visit, and she went home to be unhappy. +Here it was as hard as ever to behave properly to Alda. Her presence +seemed always to rouse the spitfire propensities, of which Cherry +would otherwise have been unconscious; and what was far worse was the +misgiving that she had only spoken too truly. Cherry's heart sank, +scold it as she would for sinking. Her _will_ might adore Brynhild, +but her sense assured her of grievous carelessness in the execution; +and when she recalled Edgar himself, she knew there was something +indefinable about him that confirmed Alda's suspicions. + +Her own success had been real and brilliant, but through it all her +heart ached with apprehension as she became more conscious of the +difference with which her doings and his were regarded, and could not +always succeed in attributing everything to personal politeness to +herself. She was staying on to take a few more studies, and to collect +materials for the illustrations of a serial tale, an order for which +Mr. Renville had procured her; and she found herself quite at home +at those pleasant little parties at his house, treated as one of the +confraternity who had won her standing, and with new comers begging to +be introduced. Mr. Grinstead was always there, and a real friend and +protector among strangers; and all was delightful except the reserve +about Brynhild, and the frequent absence of Edgar, who used once to be +always welcome, and like a son of the house. + +Even at Lady Vanderkist's, Geraldine found herself a mild sort of lion, +when Alda came out into the world and found that her sister was viewed +as having done something remarkable. + +Not that there was much intercourse. There _was_ an invitation to the +christening, extended even to Edgar and the school girls; but Lady Mary +was more the mover in this than Alda herself. Edgar excused himself, +and it was not a very brilliant festivity. Indeed, one anxiety on +Geraldine's part was lest Lady Mary's engaging kindness should embolden +Angela to break out aloud in the wrath and indignation that stiffened +her neck and shone in her eyes at the bare dull christening on a +week-day--standing all alone--in an ugly 'pewy' church. A luncheon, at +which the health of Mary Alda Vanderkist was drunk, was the only honour +to the occasion; and Sir Adrian, though not actually uncivil, looked as +usual bored, and left the amiable and gracious to his wife and mother. + +Mrs. Underwood was indignant, and abused him all the way home. All +Lady Mary's kindness had not hidden from her the fact that Alda was +ready to spurn aside the scaffolding by which she had mounted to her +present elevation, and was only withheld from so doing in consideration +of Marilda's wealth; while Marilda, with her unfailing good nature +and instinct of defence towards Alda, declared that all arose out +of anxiety lest Sir Adrian should be wearied with them, and bluntly +declared, 'You know, Mamma, we are very tiresome people; not like +Cherry here, who always has something to say.' + +'Oh! Cherry is a genius, but without that people needn't be tiresome, +as you call it, to those that brought them up, and made them what they +are.' + +'We didn't bring up Sir Adrian, Mamma.' + +'I'm not talking of Sir Adrian. One expects nothing from a fine young +man about town; but, Alda, that was like my own child to me, never so +much as asking us to see her in her court dress!' + +'She ought to have done that,' said Cherry, who had been reckoning the +quantity of pleasure that could have been so cheaply given. + +'Now depend on it, Sir Adrian doesn't like his wife to make a show of +herself,' cried Marilda, hitting on a subtly delicate motive rather +than have no weapon of defence for this favourite cousin. Certainly +there never had been a fuller adoption as sister and brother than +hers had been of Alda and Edgar from the moment they had been given +to her. She respected and trusted Felix, and was free and kind with +Cherry and all the rest; but her affection for these two was quite a +different thing, and resolutely blind; and this--just as last year with +Wilmet--made her comfortable to Cherry, since she too ignored all that +could be against Edgar, and fought his battles fiercely when mother or +grandmother picked up reports of his idleness, of the ill success of +the National Minstrelsy, in which he was somehow concerned, and of the +unsatisfactory habits into which he was falling. + +Very dull were the evenings when he did not come, and only worn through +by reading aloud. No doubt the house in its quiet widowed condition +was far less attractive than of old, and that the lively young man +should neglect it, even with his favourite sister there, was more to be +regretted than wondered at; but whenever he did come, he was greeted +with delight, petted and made much of, as if with the desire to secure +that presence, though it was not always as much of a sunbeam as of old. + +One afternoon, however, he hurried in in a state of ecstasy. A wealthy +manufacturer, noted as a purchaser of modern pictures, was in treaty +for Brynhild; and Edgar looked on his fame and fortune as made. +Three days ago the taste of the cotton-spinner had been denounced as +dependant on fashion and notoriety. Now his discernment had gone up to +the skies, and Edgar was wandering about the room in his exultation, +talking to Cherry of a winter trip to Rome, and ready to promise +everything to everybody. Only the next day, however, came out the +principal art journal, containing the long expected mention of Brynhild. + +Alas! No. 260 was disposed of in two lines as 'the flaming production +of a tyro in suspense between the Pre-Raphaelite and the Turneresque, +who in the meantime had better study the primary rules of drawing.' + +Poor Geraldine! She shed a great many bitter tears over the cruel +verdict, while Marilda characterised it as wicked, ill-natured, and +spiteful; and when Edgar came to them they received him with tenderness +and sympathy that would have befitted his sentence in his own proper +person. + +He was crushed as he had never been before. He did not abuse his +critic. Indeed, he had candour enough to tell Cherry that her editorial +experience might have taught her the need of shedding a little +life-blood now and then for the public to slake their thirst upon, but +this very charitableness almost proved it to be his life-blood. + +The intended purchaser had not gone so far but that he could draw back, +and this breath of hostility had effectually blown him away. He had +broken off his treaty and declined Brynhild. + +'I don't blame him,' dejectedly said Edgar; 'all the other critics +will yelp in suit, and he would be the laughing-stock of his fellow +cotton-lords; but he has done for me. The very sight of "Sold" upon my +picture would have saved me.' + +'Shall you be worse off than before?' asked Marilda. + +'Of course one is, for having been led to make engagements under a +deception. But there--never mind. Don't vex yourselves about me. I'm +the most miserable dog in the world, and that's all about it.' + +'Dear Edgar,' said Cherry, smoothing his hand, 'maybe the opposition +paper will take up another line.' + +'Not a hope, Cherry. That demolished me long ago, only they were all +too merciful to show it to you. This was my last chance.' + +He lay back in a sort of collapse of complete depression. + +Marilda, meanwhile, sat writing at her davenport, and presently +rising, came towards him with a closed envelope. 'There, Edgar,' she +said. 'Now put "Sold" on your picture.' + +'Polly, Polly, you're a girl of gold!' cried Edgar, starting to his +feet. 'You've made a man of me. I must give you a kiss.' + +To Cherry's amazement, a little to her horror, the kiss was given; +Marilda only bluntly and gruffly saying, 'There then, only take +warning, and don't be a fool again.' + +'Your warning comes sweetened, my dear,' said Edgar, 'and it ought to +save me. I don't mind confessing that I was in a most awful fix. Well, +you have Brynhild, and we'll hang her over the drawing-room door for a +scare-crow, only don't let in any Sigurds who won't be as good as you +are to art out at elbows!--Good-bye, my Cherry ripe. I must betake me +to shaking off the toils of the hunter, now that this good mouse has +nibbled them through.' + +Cherry had not spirit to rally him on his quiet assumption of the +lion's part. And her acceptance of his embrace was not warm. To +the delicate sense nurtured under Felix, the whole proceeding was +as painful as it was strange; and she was longing to have sold her +pictures so as to relieve him herself. True, she had many visions, but +she would much have preferred freeing her brother herself to seeing +Marilda make a purchase to which she was indifferent, palpably for the +sake of assisting him. + +Maybe he saw the questioning look in her face, and therefore hurried +away so fast that Marilda broke out in regret at having failed to +secure him for an intended visit to Sydenham the next day, when part +of the day would be spent with friends and the rest in the Crystal +Palace. It was the sort of expedition Edgar hated, and Cherry's pride +rose enough against the notion of his being purchased to be dragged at +Marilda's chariot wheels to prevent her from seconding the proposal to +write and ask for his company. + +She would have been glad enough of his arm through the long galleries. +The heartless glare and plaster showiness tired her to death; nor were +Mrs. Underwood's friends particularly restful. + +When she came home late in the evening, she had hardly energy to open a +note that lay on the table; but when she had wearily unfolded it, she +screamed with amazement and delight. Mr. Renville wrote to tell her of +an offer for the Acolyte, and to propose to her to meet the intending +purchaser at his studio on the second day ensuing, at twelve o'clock, +to consult about an order for a companion water-colour, the subject +likewise taken from the Silver Store, the price of the two together +to be £150. Here opened the fulfilment of the longing of her heart, +the lightening of Felix's burthen! Her dreams were a strange maze of +beautiful forms to be drawn, and of benefits to be heaped on all the +world; and her first measure in the morning was to write a dispatch to +Edgar, begging him to come and support her at the interview, and almost +laying her gains at his feet. + +All day she expected him to show himself, full of advice, joy, and +congratulation; but he came not. Her note must have missed him, she +supposed; and she had to experience the lack of sympathy, for Spooner +had come almost before breakfast was over, and Marilda had immediately +gone back with him into the City; and Mrs. Underwood was not sure +whether it were _comifo_ to be elated about selling a picture, and had +no council to give between Cherry's sketches of the robin with the +wheat-ear, the monk and his olive tree, the blessing of the swallows, +or the widow Euphrasia and her straw. + +When Marilda did come home, she was more glum than Cherry had ever seen +her. She would not even guess why Edgar made no answer, but advised +that no one should think about it. Man could not be always dancing +after woman. She was in no better humour in the morning, when Cherry +expressed her security that though he might have come home too late to +answer her note, he would not fail her at the appointment. + +No such thing, he did not come for her; nor did she find him at the +studio, where Mr. Renville was however a perfectly kind and sufficient +protector, in the arrangements with the courteous and gracious old +nobleman who viewed it as a duty to encourage art, and intended the +pictures to adorn his daughter's drawing-room. The choice fell on +Cherry's favourite, the red-breast, and altogether the interview would +have filled her with transport if only Edgar had been there to share +it. She could not believe him to be so changed as to neglect her out +of mortification at the contrast between her success and his own; but +the bare idea poisoned the laudatory critique in the Times of her two +productions. + +It was Mrs Kedge's birthday, when her family always dined with her at +her old-fashioned hour of five. When they set off, Cherry faltered +an entreaty that they might call and inquire for her brother at his +lodgings, but this was so curtly, almost harshly, negatived, that she +feared that she had unwittingly proposed something improper. Still +there remained the chance of his coming to the festival, where he was +certain of a welcome. It would be so like his good nature, that Cherry +never relinquished the hope through the hot stuffy dinner, when, after +the two elder ladies had sighed, shed a few natural tears, but wiped +them soon, over the absence of poor Mr. Underwood, they took to City +gossip, occasionally rallying the two young ladies on their silence +and abstraction; Mrs. Kedge contriving to joke at her grand-daughter's +supposed loss of her 'eart, and at Cherry for having made such a +conquest with her hart. + +Just as dessert came in, and Geraldine was reflecting with a sort of +dreamy despair that it was the hour for driving in the park, there +came a thundering knock, and Cherry bounded on her chair, exclaiming, +'There's Edgar!' while Mrs. Kedge cried out, laughing, 'Just like him! +I knew he'd be in time for my preserved ginger. Ah! Mr. Hedgar, trust +to--What! isn't it him? Who is it, Mary?' handing the card to her. + +'Mr. Travis!' Marilda and the maid exclaimed at the same time; and +the next moment he stood before the quartette, receiving a cordial +welcome from all; for though Mrs. Underwood might bridle a little, +she remembered that Alda was safely disposed of, and that he was now +an undoubted millionaire depending on no one's good-will. Geraldine +was flushed, and quivering between pleasure, shame, and the moment's +disappointment; and Marilda's broad face flashed for a moment with a +look of indescribable illumination and relief, then subsided into its +usual almost stolid calm. + +For himself, he looked more like what he had been as Peter Brown's +clerk than the Life-guardsman, for he had outgrown the boyish display +of ornament, though he had never lost the fine military bearing that +so well became his figure; but he now had a grand black beard, which +made him more romantic-looking than ever. His countenance was as usual +grave, but not so depressed or languid as formerly, and indeed it +lighted into glad animation at the unexpected sight of Geraldine, +as he wrung her hand with the fervour of a brother. He sat down; but +except to drink Mrs. Kedge's health he accepted none of the eager +offers of hospitality, but said he was to dine with Mr. Brown at eight +o'clock. He had come home on business, and not being able to wind up +his uncle's affairs quickly, thought he should have to spend his time +between England and America for a good while to come; but he hoped to +run down and see Felix, 'and to hear about the organ.' Cherry had so +much to tell him about the building of it, and of Lance's delight in +the prospect, that she forgot her anxieties for the moment, till he +asked after the success of the concert, and she had to tell him of +Edgar and his stars. He looked at his watch, and said he should have +time to see after Edgar before dinner. 'Ah, do!' said Cherry; 'and find +out whether he got my note, I haven't seen him these four days!' + +There was a break-up from the dining-room; and Ferdinand, smiling a +sort of apology to Mrs. Kedge, offered his arm to Cherry to take her up +to the drawing-room, where except on these great occasions no one ever +sat; Marilda managed to linger on the stairs, so as to intercept him on +his way down. + +'Mr. Travis,' she said, 'you will do me a great favour, if you will +call on me at our office between ten and twelve to-morrow. Can you?' + +'Certainly,' he replied, much surprised; but she flew up the stairs +before any more could be said. + +She was at her counting-house in full time, sitting at the +library-table in the private room, just like her father, opening +letters and jotting on them the replies to be made by her clerks, +without often needing to take counsel with Spooner. + +At ten o'clock a clerk brought up Mr. Travis, and he was soon seated +opposite to her, not quite so unprepared as on the previous day. + +'Thank you for coming,' she said; 'I knew you were the only person whom +I could trust in for help.' + +'I shall be very happy,' he began. 'Is it about Edgar Underwood?' + +'Do you know anything?' + +'Only that no one at his rooms seems to know where he is.' + +'Ah!' (as if expecting this). 'Now, I know you would do anything for +Felix Underwood and the rest, and can keep silence. To speak would be +worse than anything.' He bent his head: and she went on, 'Read that. +No, you won't understand it;' then collecting herself, 'Poor Edgar! you +know what he is, and how he can't help running into debt. We gave him +his tastes, and it is our fault. This year he managed to do a picture, +an odd red and yellow looking thing, but very fine, with a lady fast +asleep in the middle of a fire. Well, he thought he had sold it, and +made sure of the price, when some spiteful newspaper abused it, and +the shabby man was off his bargain, and left the picture on his hands. +He was so frightfully downcast, and I had reason to think him so hard +up, that I thought I'd take the picture off his hands; and so I popped +a cheque for a hundred, done up in an envelope, into his hand, not +telling him what it was--more's the pity. We were out all the next +day, and he called and wanted to find out where we were gone, but the +footman is stupidity itself, and could not tell him. He came three +times; but we were racketting at that miserable Sydenham, and did not +get home till eleven. If he had only come in and waited! The next day +came Spooner to me in a terrible rage. Now, promise, Mr. Travis, that +this is never mentioned. On your honour!' + +'On my honour. Never!' + +'My cheque had been presented with the one hundred changed into four. +The clerk at the bank doubted it, and had come here, and Spooner came +to Kensington about it. I believe I went nearer to a lie than ever I +did before; I said it was all right, and stood to it so that they both +had to be pacified. You see,' as she saw how shocked Ferdinand was, 'he +was in great difficulties, and he only meant it for a trick which would +have been explained directly, if only I had not been so unfortunately +out of reach.' + +'You don't mean that you would overlook it?' + +'Well, it seems that I was altogether wrong about the value, as +pictures go. Of course I thought it rather too bad, and meant to give +him a piece of my mind and frighten him thoroughly; but ever since poor +Cherry has been pining, and wondering at his not coming; and yesterday +I got this--addressed here, no doubt that Cherry might not see it, but +marked private to keep Spooner's hands off.' + +She thrust a sheet of paper into his hand. + + DEAR MARILDA, + + Had I seen you yesterday, I should not be in my present plight. + I rehearse continually in my own ears the assault I had in + readiness for you for your ignorance of the market price of + art. Brynhild may be worthless, but if she be worth a penny, + she is worth £250, which was what that gay deceiver was to + have given. I had liabilities which I had staved off; indeed, + my villain of a landlord only refrained from seizing my goods + and chattels on the promise of the cash instanter. Other debts + I durst not face. All that was left of your father's bequest + is gone in the smash of the National Minstrelsy. County + courts yawned on me, and only promptitude could save me. But + verily I would not have taken a sheep when a lamb would have + sufficed the first wolf, if _one_ would have lent itself to + transformation into anything but a cool _four_. Your round hand + has been the ruin of me, Polly. It must have been the loop of + your _e_ that undid me. Nevertheless, I had the odd £150 in my + pocket to hand over as your rightful change, (and maybe have + begged of you,) when thrice I failed in finding you; and as I + was coming this very morning--or was it yesterday? I'm all in + a maze--I saw Spooner dash by in a cab, and knew it was all up + with me! + + Don't believe so badly of me as he has told you, dear old Poll. + I have put myself out of his reach that he may have the less + chance to break Felix's heart. For myself, I don't care a rap + what becomes of me; but if it be not too late, I implore you to + screen him and poor little Geraldine from the knowledge. Let + them think it a simple flight from creditors--true enough in + all conscience, as I fear they will soon find. + + If it have got wind, I need not beg you to spare them and + let Lance know that I am thankful to the 'early piety' or + whatever it was that kept him out of the scrape. Some day all + shall be repaid; but until then you have seen and heard the + last of--your not ungrateful in heart, however ungrateful in + deed--the most miserable and unlucky of dogs, + + T.E.U. + + +'Where was this posted?' asked Ferdinand. + +'At Ostend. Here's the post-mark.' + +'Has he sent back the £150?' + +'Oh no; of course he must have that to go on with.' + +'It would have been more like repentance if he had sent it.' + +'No, no; he couldn't. He would have had nothing to live on. Besides, it +makes no real difference. Don't you turn against him, Mr. Travis, for I +have no one else to trust to. I can't tell Felix; for it might do him +serious harm in his business, and he might not consent to hush it up. +Then Clement is a formal prig; and Lance is a boy, and couldn't get +away. Nobody but you can do any good.' + +'And what is it that you wish me to do?' + +'I wanted your advice, first of all; I had no one I could venture to +talk to, lest he might think some dreadful thing his duty, and go and +tell!' + +'There can be no palliating the criminality of the act,' said Ferdinand +gravely; 'but for the sake of the--the innocent--' (his lip quivered +at the word,) 'it may well be concealed, since you are so generous. +Vanderkist might make a cruel use of it.' + +'And I think it would kill Cherry. What I wished was--since one can't +write with no address--if any one could go after him, and tell him +that not a soul knows. I do believe now, after this shock, he might be +sobered and make a new start; not here perhaps--' + +'I'll go!' cried Ferdinand. 'I'll do my business with Brown, and start +by to-night's steamer. Do you know where he is likely to be?' + +'His wish has always been for Italy, but it is hardly the season; and +my dread is of his going to Hesse Homburg, or Baden, or some of those +places, hoping to retrieve this money.' + +'I'll look, I'll make every inquiry. I'll never rest till I have +found him!' said Ferdinand, with the earnestness of one delighted to +have found the means of rendering an important service to his dearest +friends. + +'I felt sure that you could and would, from the moment I saw you,' said +Marilda, 'When your card came in, there seemed to open a way out of +this dreadful black misery.' + +'Remember,' said Ferdinand, 'it would not be right to bring him home +at once on the former terms. You forgive him, and for the sake of his +family you do not expose him; but he ought not to be reinstated.' + +'Not only for his family's sake--for his own!' cried Marilda. 'He is +just like my brother--it was only between brother and sister. But you +are right,' she added, as the man's grave look of severity recalled +her from her sisterly championship; 'it would only be running him into +danger again. He had much better go and study in Italy; and he can be +helped there, if he will only keep out of mischief.' + +She then mentioned all the haunts of his she knew of in Belgium and +Germany; Geraldine might know more, but how was she to be told? +Marilda had a perfect terror of renewing the condition into which she +had last year been thrown, and besides feared her quickness of eye +might discover the secret. She hoped to keep her in ignorance till +Ferdinand could send home tidings, and make Edgar write what would be +some comfort after the suspense; but when the time that, at the lowest +computation, must elapse before anything could be heard was reckoned, +they both felt that it was cruelty to keep Cherry in her present state. +A week more would be enough to destroy her. + +But Marilda, though a strong-minded woman enough ordinarily, shrunk +with dismay from telling her. Should Felix be written to? There was no +doubt that so soon as he heard the tidings from Cherry, or otherwise, +he would hurry up to investigate and to take her home; so that to ask +him to come and break it to her was hardly giving him unreasonable +trouble. Besides the secret might be safer, so managed. Thus, the +two generous spirits who sat in council first destroyed poor Edgar's +letter, lest it should ever serve as evidence against him; and then +Marilda wrote-- + + MY DEAR FELIX, + + Geraldine will have told you that we have not seen Edgar for + some time. From a note received from him, I have reason to + believe that debts are the cause of his flight. Mr. Travis is + kind enough to follow and see what can be done; but I do not + know how to tell poor Cherry, and if you will come up I will + meet you at the station at 11.30. + + Your affectionate cousin, + M.A. UNDERWOOD. + + + + + + CHAPTER XXX. + + THE SCULPTOR. + + 'Her heart, her life, her future, + Her genius, only meant + Another thing to give him, + And be therewith content.' + _A. A. Proctor._ + + +By the time Felix could obey Marilda's missive, and entered Cherry's +sitting-room, she had come to such a state of mind, that not even his +pale, fixed, mournful face was needed to make her lie back in her +chair, gazing piteously up at him, murmuring, 'O Felix, what can it be? +What has become of him?' + +'Marilda has heard from him,' said Felix, kneeling down by her, and +holding her hands. + +'Heard! Oh, why did she not tell me?' + +'She feared to pain you. My poor Cherry, nothing has happened to +him; but his debts have come to a crisis, and he is gone off to the +Continent. That good fellow, Fernan, is gone after him, to see what can +be done for him.' + +'And he wrote to _Marilda?_' asked Cherry, greatly bewildered. + +'Yes; from Ostend.' + +'He wrote to her! Did you see the letter?' + +'No, she had made away with it. She was so shy and short about it, +that, Cherry, I suspect that distress had brought poor Edgar, as a last +resource, to try whether she would accept him.' + +'Oh!' cried Cherry, starting forward with conviction, 'that would +account for it all!' And she told of all that had passed about +Brynhild, now ten days ago--Edgar's despair, Marilda's ready +assistance, and the manner of acknowledging it; and both agreed +that there was strong presumption that he had taken her kindness as +encouragement to venture on a proposal. This would fully account for +her silence and ill humour; and the delusion, perfectly unsuspected +by her, was the best possible auxiliary in guarding her secret, by +preventing the brother and sister from pushing her hard with inquiries, +and sufficiently explaining whatever was mysterious. Indeed, if Edgar +had had the face to make the proposal, there was some grace in the +shame that had caused his disappearance; and luckily for Marilda, +Cherry was far too modest and shame-faced to allude to her own +suspicions. She only longed exceedingly for home, and yet could not +bear to leave the readiest place for receiving intelligence. + +Felix could not of course rest without doing his part towards +inquiring, and went off to Edgar's lodgings, and also in quest of the +National Minstrelsy people, whom Lance had assured him to be the most +likely to give him information. He came back depressed and jaded, and +went straight to his sister's room. She could see in a moment that he +had found out nothing. + +'Nothing! The National Minstrelsy shut up a month ago. Allen and his +family had left their lodgings, and given no address. I tried the +post-office, but they grinned at me, and said many gentlemen came +inquiring. I went to two or three music-shops, and asked after him and +after the Hungarians, but with no better success; no one knew anything +about them. Then I found my way to his lodgings.' + +'Ah! I wanted so much to have called there, but Marilda would not let +me.' + +'As well you did not. Did you know that he had his rooms in +partnership?' + +'No--never!' + +'Nor heard him speak of a man--an artist, named Malone?' + +'Yes. I have heard of him. He has got two pictures in the British +Institution. Poor Edgar wanted me to admire them, but I couldn't; +they are Scripture subjects--Ruth and Rachel--made coarse and vulgar +by being treated with vile reality--looking like Jewish women out of +fruit-shops. He always said Tony Malone was the best fellow in the +world, but he never told me he lived with him.' + +'I was quite taken by surprise. The poor little miserable looking maid +said Mr. Underwood had not been there for ten days; and when I said +I was his brother and wanted to ask some questions, she fetched her +mistress, who said he had paid up just before he went away, but that +he had given no notice, so there was this ten days. Of course this was +reasonable; besides, I wanted to bring home his things; so she took +me up to his rooms while she went to make out his bill, and I thought +entirely that I had come wrong, for I found myself in such a den as +you can hardly conceive--light enough of course, but with the most +wonderful medley of things imaginable, and in the midst a table with +breakfast, and a brandy bottle; a great brawny sailor, half stripped, +lying on the floor, a model for Samson, or Hercules, or somebody; and +this man with a palette on his thumb, a tremendous red beard, and black +elf locks sticking out all manner of ways. And that was the place he +wanted to take Lance to!' + +'He wouldn't have let it get bad if Lance had been with him. Besides, +you old bachelor, don't you know that an artist must live in a mess and +have models?' + +'Of course, I know that, Cherry. I did not expect things to be what +your friend Renville makes them for his young ladies; but the odour of +spirits, the whole air and aspect of the place, had something that gave +me a sense of hopelessness and dissipation, when I found that those +really were Edgar's quarters, and that he had concealed his sharing +them with this Malone ever since he left Renville. The man behaved +very well to me, I will say that for him, as soon as we had made each +other out, and seemed very fond and rather proud of Tom, as he chose to +call Edgar; but he is a prodigious talker, and a rough coarse kind of +fellow, exactly what I couldn't have fancied Edgar putting up with.' + +'I dare say it was out of good nature.' + +'Half of it, no doubt; indeed, he gave me to understand as much. Edgar +can't but be kind wherever he goes; even that wretched little slavey +cried when I gave her a shilling for helping his things into a cab, and +she found he was never coming back! I should think he had spoken the +only kind words she had ever heard in her life.' + +'But this man must have told you something! Had he no notion where he +is gone?' + +'None at all! He knew thus much, that Edgar came into his room about +ten o'clock in the morning--he couldn't tell what day, but we made it +out it must have been on Thursday the 3rd--' + +'The day after we went to Sydenham. Well!' + +'--Looking pale and scared, and saying, "I'm done for, old fellow--I'm +off!" That is all he is clear of, for he was just waked and fast asleep +again directly.' + +'At ten o'clock in the morning!' + +'Well, Cherry, I'm afraid there had been a carouse the night before. +Edgar had sold his picture, you see, and had cleared off old scores--a +few of them, at least. He was restless--Malone said in and out--all the +day before; he could not make him out. I fancy he had sent his letter +to Marilda, and was awaiting a reply, which she must have sent, or he +have called for, early the next morning; and after holding off all +day from the jollification in honour of the sale of his picture, and +deputing Malone and his other friends to hold it without him, he joined +them at the theatre towards ten o'clock, and went to a cider cellar +with them afterwards, where I should gather that he was in a state of +reckless merriment, but quite sober--yes, Malone eagerly assured me of +that, as if that were a merit to be proud of in my father's son! Well, +poor fellow!' added Felix, his bitter tone changing to sorrow, 'he +seems only to have thrown himself down on his bed without undressing; +but Malone, who made no secret of having been "screwed" himself, only +knew of his looking in in the morning. He had driven up, it seems, in +a cab, which he kept waiting--not ten minutes, the landlady says--and +he carried off his violin case and about as many clothes, I should +imagine, as he could stuff into his portmanteau in the time--not by any +means all; but one thing at least you will be glad to hear of, Cherry, +the photograph of my father! Yes, I am quite certain of it; for when +Malone was helping me to collect the other little matters out of his +little hole of a bed-room, he said, when we came to the mantel-piece, +"Yes, that's the only thing he has taken--the photo that stood there; +a parson far gone in decline, the very moral of himself--your father, +wasn't it?"' + +'At least that is a comfort! Poor Edgar, I am sure he will soon write, +even if Ferdinand misses him. You have brought his things?' + +'Only his clothes, his sketches, and a book or two. His jewellery--he +used to have a good deal, I think.' + +'Never so much as Fernan, but in better taste.' + +'That was gone. I thought it right to take an inventory of what I took +away, and get it attested by the landlady and Malone; and I left it +with them, in case the creditors should think I had taken anything of +value.' + +'The creditors, ah!' + +'Yes. I have brought a carpet-bag stuffed choke full of bills, as heavy +as I could carry, though of course many are the same over again. Time +enough to look them over at home.' + +'And paying?' + +'No. I am not liable for them.' + +'But, Felix, you cannot let his name be dishonoured!' + +'My dear Cherry, that is talk out of books. I have no right to give +away what barely suffices for maintaining and educating the younger +ones, for the luxury of satisfying these claims and clearing Edgar's +name. It would be robbing the innocent for the sake of the guilty.' + +'O Felix, how can you?' + +'Guilty at least of extravagance and recklessness, Cherry, though in +a generous way. He had paid up, as I told you, for the lodging--all +for Malone as well as himself; and when the landlady brought up an +exorbitant bill, charging my country innocence three months in advance, +Malone fought her with such vehemence, that I never came in for such a +battle royal, and was ready to cut and run, only to be quit of the pair +of them; and after all she subsided, and was content and civil with +only a fortnight in advance!' + +'I think a great deal must have been the fault of those musical people. +I know Edgar risked some of Mr. Underwood's money with them.' + +'All, I believe, that he did not owe, or was not forced to pay +immediately, and that was a regular smash; but I do not think he was +liable for any of their debts. These looked to me more like personal +luxuries.' + +'Well, Felix, if you will not pay them, I will, as I can, and when I +can.' + +'Do not say I _will_ not, Cherry, but ask yourself whether I ought +either to incur a debt myself, to trench on the capital of the +business, or take home the children from school. You know, for we have +tried, that stinting more than we do already becomes privation; such +as, though we elder ones might willingly endure it for our feelings' +sake, exacerbates the younger ones, and really would be unjust towards +them.' + +Cherry hung her head, with tears in her eyes. 'And is that just to the +creditors?' she said. + +'Well, Cherry, I cannot say I have much pity for the tradesmen who +trust such a young gentleman as Edgar. If it be their system, depend +upon it, they have means of compensation. Chérie, sweet, indeed I am +not hard-hearted, I would cut off my right hand to bring that dear +boy back a free man. When we hear from him--and I have looked over +those miserable bills--I may find some means of compounding with +the creditors; but I cannot despoil Angel and Bernard and Stella of +education or comfort for what he has done.' + +'But I can--I will--I may,' cried Cherry, with excitement; 'I shall be +able to do it all; Mr. Renville said I might make £300 a year, and that +would soon do it! You will not hinder me, Felix?' + +'No,' he said, kissing her; 'it's not the way in which your earnings +ought to go, my Cherry; but you are quite free, and it will make you +happier, I know.' + +'And you will not let Marilda help?' + +'No, not if it can be helped without wounding her too much. You see she +is taking her own measures through Travis.' + +'I could not endure her doing it,' said Cherry, glowing with a sort of +pride. 'And I am the one who ought. My drawing would have been worth +just nothing at all but for him; and all this success is through him, +and it is so cruel he can't have it, when it signifies so much more.' + +'So Sir Bors always thinks,' said Felix, fondling her; but true to his +own faith, he continued, 'But Edgar is not past the age for success +yet. Only three-and-twenty, remember, and this grievous lesson may +be just the making of him. We know he has a warm heart and plenty of +power; and though we must make up our minds not to see him for a good +while, he will come home from Italy some day a made man.' + +'Oh yes, his sketch of Brynhild showed that he could do anything. Do +you know, I think that having such a companion as that Mr. Malone +almost accounts for his having gone wrong. If he can only fall in with +some real nice companions! If he would board at Munich with some family +like the dear Frau Renville's. What a letter we will write to cheer the +poor dear fellow up!' + +Felix and Geraldine never failed one another in that cardinal article +of theirs, trust in Edgar's genius, and in the love that hoped all +things, believed all things, and endured all things from him--all +things personal, namely, for Felix never entirely overlooked the having +tried to tempt away Lance into the life of which one passing glimpse +was enough for his fastidious home-bred spirit, unable to appreciate +the fascination of freedom and unconventionality. Altogether they had +talked themselves into hope and consolation that surprised Marilda, +when, after waiting till her patience could endure no longer, she +knocked at the door, to ask whether Felix had discovered any clue by +which Edgar could be traced. + +It was one of those requitals of generosity that are felt inadequate +because the generosity is really unsuspected. Felix and Cherry _could_ +not be as unreserved with her as if they had felt her a sister and one +of themselves, and not as one whose bounty Edgar had abused. They did +not--nor was it in the nature of things that they could--understand +that Marilda's feelings towards him were as fraternal as their own, +nay, had the force of exclusiveness, and the tenderness of protection; +and so, though Felix replied to her inquiries, it was not with the +detail and confidence he had shown towards his sister; and the more she +questioned and remarked, the more they both felt inclined to shrink +into themselves. In fact, they knew so little worse of him than before, +that after the ten days' agony there was a sort of reaction, without +much visible weight on their spirits. Felix had business which made it +needful to stay another day; and as he was going out Cherry begged him +to take charge of a small box containing a cast which Mr. Grinstead had +lent her to copy, and she did not like to entrust to any chance hand. + +'If you would send in your name,' she said, 'I think he would let +you see his studio, and I do so want you to see his figure of Mercy +knocking at the wicket-gate.' + +'I thought he never did admit strangers.' + +'Oh! Geraldine is favoured,' said Mrs. Underwood, with a laugh. 'Depend +upon it, anyone belonging to her will have the _entray_. But go, go by +all means. They say his house is a perfect little bijou.--Isn't it, +Geraldine? She went to a party there, you know, chaperoned by Mrs. +Renville, and met Lord de Vigny.' + +Felix knew all about it, much better than did Mrs. Underwood--that +little select dinner of the _élite_ of the world of art and genius, +to which Mr. Grinstead had asked Cherry about a fortnight ago, and +which she had described with such delight. He had not much heart for +strangers and works of art at that moment, but he could not refuse +Cherry's commission, nor vex her by omitting to ask to see the studio; +so there, in the course of the morning, he found himself, alone at +first among the statues and casts--grave and graceful creations--more +from the world of Christian than of classic poetry, and if less +æsthetically beautiful, more solemn and more real. + +He had gone in meaning only to fulfil his duty to Cherry, but he found +himself attracted and enchained, and was standing before Cherry's +favourite figure of Mercy, drinking in, as it were, the beseeching +wistful spirit of faint hope that breathed from the whole figure, when +a crimson curtain was lifted, and a gentleman of about five-and-forty +or fifty, but grey-haired and looking older, came with a soft tread +towards him. + +'Mr. Underwood, I believe.' + +Felix bowed. + +'I am very glad to have the pleasure of making your acquaintance.' + +'I am very much obliged for my admission. I should not have ventured, +but that my sister was so anxious that I should see what she enjoys so +much.' + +Mr. Grinstead smiled, and quietly did the honours, while Felix--though, +of course, untrained--modestly showed himself full enough of taste and +intelligence to be worthy of an artist sister; Mr. Grinstead treating +him all along like an honoured guest, and taking him farther into his +private rooms, to see some favourite old German paintings, and to offer +luncheon. + +The house did indeed deserve Mrs. Underwood's term, fitted up with +all that carved wood and well-chosen simple colour could do; and with +wondrous gems of art--all the refinement and beauty that a bachelor, +when he _does_ choose, can bring together even better than a lady can. + +'How long shall you be in town?' had been an early question, answered +by, 'I take my sister home to-morrow;' and then, when it had struck +Felix that his host was becoming increasingly thoughtful and absent, +and he was trying to take leave, but was always prevented, Mr. +Grinstead asked, 'Should I be likely to find your sister at home if I +called this afternoon?' + +'Not early,' said Felix; 'I think she has some commissions to finish. I +am to meet her at five. I am afraid I must wish you good morning.' + +'A few minutes longer. Mr. Underwood, I must begin by making you a +confession, and asking you a question. Do you think there is any chance +for me with that sweet little sister of yours?' + +'With Geraldine!' Felix laid hold of the back of a chair, feeling as if +his senses almost reeled, though whether consternation or exultation +came uppermost, he could not have told. + +'Yes,' was the reply. 'I am speaking abruptly, but I am taken by +surprise at finding that you intend so soon to take her away. Indeed, I +believe these are matters on which long consideration often ends in a +sudden plunge,' he added, smiling a little, as if he wondered a little +to find himself in a situation that seemed to reverse their ages; +indeed, Felix was by far the most embarrassed. + +'I do not think she is at all prepared,' was all that occurred to him +to throw into the gulf of silence. + +'Perhaps not,' said Mr. Grinstead, rather wistfully. 'I see you +think the notion a preposterous one,' he continued, with something +unconsciously of the elder's tone towards inexperienced youth, though +there was pleading in it too; and he put a chair in his visitor's way, +and speaking quietly though eagerly, as Felix tried to utter some +polite disclaimer: 'I see the disparity myself, though perhaps less +strongly than you do. Forty-six does not feel itself so vast an age +as five-and-twenty may think it. The truth is this. I was made a fool +of, as befalls most of us' (Felix looked more assenting than he knew, +poor fellow!), 'and was hit harder than some, I believe. At any rate, +the distaste it gave me was invincible, till I met with that wonderful +compound of brightness and tenderness--spirit and sensitiveness--I +cannot help it. She has haunted me ever since I first met her last +year; and if there be nothing in the way on her side, I believe I could +make her happy.' + +'There is nothing in the way,' repeated Felix, as an honest man, but +with a sense of a jewel being dragged from him, and relieved to have +something to say that was not all consent. 'It is a very great honour +for our little Geraldine to be so thought of, but I think you should be +aware that she has nothing of her own, and--poor child--is sadly frail +and feeble in health.' + +'For that,' said Mr. Grinstead, 'I think you may trust her to my care;' +and he spoke eagerly, as if longing to be taking care of her. 'And +though I am a self-made man, I have had prosperity enough to be able to +secure a comfortable provision for her.' + +'Thank you--yes,' hastily said Felix. 'It was not that I was thinking +of.' + +'I see you are against me,' said the sculptor, perhaps anticipating the +answer that actually came--'Selfishly, sir; only selfishly. Geraldine +is so much our life and light at home, that your--your proposal was a +shock to me; but I see the very great advantage it would be to her, and +I could not desire anything better for her.' There were tears in his +eyes, and the last words came with a choking utterance. + +'I see,' said Mr. Grinstead, 'that I am doing a hard thing by you, and +that to hold out the idea of her becoming even more to you sounds like +mockery. Besides, I am too far from secure to begin to spare any pity +for you. Now tell me, can I see her this evening? Where are you to meet +her?' + +'I am afraid I cannot propose your joining us then,' said Felix, more +cordially, 'for it is to be at the Baker Street Bazaar, about some very +domestic shopping; but I believe we shall come home between six and +seven o'clock.' + +'Very well; you will find me there. You will use your own judgment as +to preparing her.' + +Very domestic shopping indeed it was. The ancient coal-scuttle, a +Froggatt legacy, had three decided holes in it, and Wilmet had a vision +of one glimpsed in Baker Street. She would not trust either Felix or +Cherry to choose it separately, but conjointly she thought they might +counterbalance one another, and combine taste, discretion, and economy; +and they were both afraid of failing her. + +The very contrast of that commission, and the importance ascribed to +it, with the ease and luxuriousness in Mr. Grinstead's house, served +to bring before Felix the sense of the promotion for Geraldine that he +was so ungratefully accepting. Little tender being, the first to wither +under the blight of penury, how could he grudge her the sunshine of +ease and wealth, cherishing care, prosperity, beauty, society--all that +was congenial to her? No, indeed--he rejoiced. Yet how rejoice--when +every time he came in from his work, he felt it a fresh blank when he +did not meet her responsive look of welcome, or hear the half-quaint, +half-pathetic tones that made much of the tiniest adventure of the day. +His heart was sore enough at Edgar's evasion, and to lose Cherry from +his hearth would quench its most cherished spark. He had been so secure +of her, too. She had seemed so set apart from marriage, so peculiarly +dependent on him, that it had been to her that he had turned with a +sort of certainty as his companion in the life of self-sacrifice that +he knew to lie before him. It was no small part of that sacrifice, +that as he went to and fro on foot and by omnibus in the busy streets, +he was schooling his spirit to look on the change not as desertion of +himself, but as a brilliant and happy prospect for the little sister, +who had powers and tastes such as ought not to be buried in the room +over the shop at Bexley. He must keep the regret well out of mind, or +he could never persuade her naturally, or avoid poisoning her happiness. + +Should he prepare her? That must be left to chance. And chance was +not favourable, for when he had found his way into the pit at the +Baker Street Bazaar, appropriated to ornamental ironmongery, he +saw her accompanied by Robina and Angela, whom Mrs. Underwood had +good-naturedly sent for to spend her last afternoon with her. There +was a sort of pang when Cherry's face greeted him, and her hand +nestled into its accustomed hold on his arm just where it had leant +by preference these sixteen years; and as she said in her low playful +tones, 'Is it not a curious study to see invention expended on making +an intrinsically hideous thing beautiful by force of japan, gilding, +and painting? You see the only original design nature provided for a +coal-scuttle is the nautilus shell, and unluckily that is grotesquely +inappropriate! Just look at the row of ungainly things craning out +their chins like overdressed dwarfs. I am decidedly for the simplest +and least disguised, though Robin is for the snail, and Angel, I +believe, for that highly suitable Watteau scene. Which do you vote for?' + +'The most likely to satisfy Wilmet,' said Felix absently, knowing he +should hate whichever it might be, and wondering who would ever again +put so much interest into common things. + +'The scuttle of Mettie's dreams appears to be no more,' said Cherry; +'but as Robin always seems to me guided by her spirit, I am inclined to +think it safest to go by her judgment.' + +'Robin represent Wilmet?' repeated Felix, scanning the plump, honest, +sensible face, as that of his destined housewife; and not a bad +prospect either practically, though without the charms that specially +endeared Cherry. + +She thought him absent, feared he had heard some fresh ill tidings of +Edgar, and though reassured on that head, lost the zest she had caught +up, and the selection was pretty well left to Robina. + +There was no opportunity of confidential talk; the children were with +them all the rest of the drive, and were to return with them to dinner; +and that Angela was much shocked and subdued by the tidings of Edgar's +flight did not conduce to privacy, since it silenced the tongue that +generally sheltered any conversation! Nor could Felix succeed in +hurrying his three ladies: they had a great deal still to do, and awe +of Wilmet made them very particular in the doing of it, so that it +was not till perilously near dinner-time that he brought them home, +and there, on a hurried excursion to the drawing-room to notify the +arrival, was Mr. Grinstead discovered. He had called, avowedly to wish +Miss Underwood good-bye; and the mistress of the house, with perhaps an +inkling of the state of affairs, had asked him to stay and dine. She +could not help it, as she said, in excuse to her daughter, who always +hated clever men, especially associated the sculptor with all the +misery of the day of Alda's rupture with Ferdinand, and also wanted to +have had Felix to herself this evening. + +So she favoured the party with as little of her civility or +conversation as possible; not that it was much missed, for Cherry +was perfectly unsuspecting, and expanded into wit and animation as +usual; and Mr. Grinstead, to Felix's surprise, was not rendered either +silent or _distrait_ by his suspense; and Felix himself had learnt +conversation as a mechanical art in his trade, and could do his part, +with cares and anxieties packed away. + +After the ladies were gone, there only passed the words-- + +'Can I speak to her?' + +'I will fetch her.' + +'You have not prepared her?' + +'I had not a moment.' + +'Better so, perhaps.' + +Felix led the way to her painting-room, having luckily delayed just +long enough not to encounter the two children fetching the purchases +for a great display. From this discussion, so dear to the female heart, +he snatched the unsuspicious Cherry, with the few brief words that Mr. +Grinstead wished to speak to her in her sitting room. + +'An order! oh, it must be an order!' echoed among the sisters; and +as Angela skipped up after them to fetch some further article to be +shown off, there was no opportunity of even a hint except from Felix's +agitated face, and the unconsciously convulsive squeeze of the little +fingers between his arm and his side. He put her in a chair, and +hurried off, disregarding the 'O Felix, are you going?' but shutting +the door, and returning to the dining-room to keep a restless watch. + +It lasted--what must have been a shorter time than he expected, +terribly long as it seemed. Mr. Grinstead came downstairs, and Felix's +heart bounded at the first footfall. + +The kind, far-seeing, thoughtful face did not betray much. He held +out his hand. 'Thank you, Mr. Underwood,' he said; 'I hope I did not +distress her much. I have only one entreaty to make to you. If you +should find that there is any allowance to be made for the surprise and +shock, and newness of the idea, you will be a true friend, and not let +pride or delicacy prevent you from letting me know.' + +'I will not,' said Felix, ready to promise anything to comfort a man +who had lost the Cherry he retained. + +'It is nonsense, though,' added the sculptor; 'she is much too sincere +and transparent a creature to trifle with feelings. Those innocent +things are not to be won so late in life. Go up to her. She will want +you. What a rival you are! I will make my excuses to the ladies.' + +Felix held out his hand, too sorry for him now to know what to say; and +after a strong grasp, they went their different ways. + +Felix found Geraldine cowering down in her chair, with her hands +clasped together over her forehead. She looked up at him, as if +startled by his entrance. 'O Felix, how could you?' broke from her. + +'My dear, I could not help it. Has it been so very distressing?' + +'Oh!' with a great gasp, 'I'm sure to refuse a man is the most horrible +thing in the world--except to accept him! And such a man too--so great +and good and kind. You shouldn't have let him do it, Felix.' + +'Don't scold me, Cherry; how was I to know you would not like it?' + +'Felix! an old man like that!' + +'Well, that's decisive,' said Felix, laughing at the tone; 'but, +indeed, I did think you admired him very much.' + +'So I do--but not in that way--not so as to bear to see him lower +himself--and--and have to grieve him--' and the tears started from her +eyes. 'But you know, he only could have done it because he saw a poor +little lame thing and wanted to take care of her.' + +'I think it goes a good deal deeper than that, Cherry.' + +'I'm very sorry,' said Cherry. 'How very disagreeable it is that such +things will happen; I thought, at any rate, that I was safe from them; +and he was such an old man, and such a kind friend, that I was so proud +of; and now I have vexed him so--and it is all over.' + +'Do you really regret it? are you sure you did not speak only in the +first surprise?' + +'Felix! you! you to be against me!' + +'Not against you, Chérie.' + +She interrupted with a cry of pain. 'Oh! don't let anybody call me that +till Edgar comes home again!' + +'My poor Cherry!' + +Then there was a silence; her head was on his shoulder, and she was +crying silently, but so profusely that he could not tell whether her +tears were all for Edgar or for new feelings stirred in her heart. + +'Cherry dear, don't you think we ought to look at it reasonably? If you +do not feel as if you cared for him--like a novel--yet still--' + +'Hush, Felix! he is much too good to be accepted any other way.' + +'I am not sure that he thinks so.' + +'I do, then!' said Cherry, raising her head up indignantly. 'I should +be ashamed to marry any man without! A lame, sickly, fretful thing like +me ought to bring real love at least, to make up to a man for being +bothered with her. Come, Felix, have done talking sensible nonsense! I +know you don't wish it, so don't pretend.' + +'I am making no pretence. It would be a dreadful business for me; but +all the more I think I ought to make you consider.' + +'Consider! Oh! I'll consider fast enough; that beautiful drawing-room, +with the statues, and the conservatory--and a carriage--and going to +Italy! Do you think I am going to be bribed by things like that?' + +'No; but to have one so fatherly, kind, and tender--' + +'As if one wanted one's husband to be fatherly!' + +'--And the safe position--' + +'I declare you are talking just like Alda!' + +'But if you don't like him, there's an end of it.' + +'I like him, I tell you; but not so much as the tip of your little +finger!' + +'Perhaps not, now; but--' + +'Felix! You don't want to get rid of me? I know you were right to argue +with Wilmet, and persuade her, because she had let her heart go, and +only was afraid to acknowledge it; but mine isn't gone, and couldn't +go. If I had not learnt to work, and had not a work to do, I might try +to think of freeing you from a burthen; but now that I have, why should +I upset it all, and wrench myself away from you? When I lean against +you, I have got my home, and my rest, and all I want here. I never go +away from you but I feel that I _do_ want you so; and when one feels +that, what's the use of looking out for somebody else?' + +'Dear little Sweetheart! Yes!' as she lay contentedly against him, with +his arm round her; 'it only makes me tremble, that you should give up a +home like that, and risk so much upon my one life. The other boys love +you dearly, but they are more likely to make ties for themselves! and +if--' + +'I should love you better dead than any other man alive!' cried +Cherry impetuously. 'I won't do it, Felix! so spare your dutiful +remonstrances! I do hate them so, and I know you don't mean them.' + +'Mean is not the word, Cherry. The more I hated making them, the more I +felt bound to do so.' + +'There, then! You've done.' + +'Yes, I've done. My Cherry, my Cherry! you don't know how much lighter +the world seems to me than it did half an hour ago!' + +'O you foolish old Giant! And there come those irrepressible children! +Oh! I hope and trust they have not found it out!' cried Cherry, +bounding up from her sentimental attitude, as Angela was heard +galloping up the stairs. + +But there was this benefit in dealing with a veteran, that he knew how +to keep his own counsel and other people's. Angela came dashing in. +'Oh! here you both are! Mr. Grinstead said he had forgotten, after +all, to give you this letter. He said you had better write to the lady +herself. It is a capital order, he said--you've been settling about it, +haven't you? What _are_ you going to do?' + +'I don't quite know, Angel,' said Cherry, seeing the letter was +addressed in a strange hand to the sculptor; and thereupon venturing +to open it, and finding it contained a request to obtain from Miss +Underwood an engagement for a set of studies similar to those in the +exhibition, if it were true that these were not for sale. It was from a +lady of wealth and taste, whose name was well known as a patroness in +the artist world; and Cherry could quite understand that Mr. Grinstead +had kept it back, with the feeling that were she his, no toil should be +hers for the future. + +That was little recommendation. Her first rise out of uselessness gave +her more exultation in its novelty than did even the exercise of her +art or the evidence of its success. There was something exquisite in +the sense of power. She had made up her mind to give Wilmet quarterly +the same amount as was charged for Lance, to set aside just enough +besides to clothe herself, and that the remainder of her earnings +should liquidate Edgar's debts; so that some day she should write to +him to come home a free and unburthened man. Viewed in this aspect, +that huge carpet-bag, stuffed to bursting with bills, had not so +frightful an aspect, but rather seemed to her a dragon to be conquered +for Edgar's sake; and Felix laughed at her for tendering him the cheque +for her Acolyte, and asking him just to pay off a few of them before +leaving town. He had to explain to her that equity and custom required +that no one should have the preference, and that she must wait till she +could either pay off the whole, or else make payments of so much in the +pound. + +'Like a bankruptcy! That can't be worth while. Those are your business +ways!' + +'I fear you little know what you have undertaken. Remember, there is no +call to pay any of it.' + +'Indeed! Oh! why does not that tiresome Ferdinand write?' + +'There has not been time.' + +'He could have telegraphed!' + +Marilda was likewise much disappointed at hearing nothing; but +discussion was trying to her, and she dreaded her cousins' sharp +eyes so much, that it was a relief to her to escape them. Nor could +they linger, for Wilmet was anxious about Lance, who was exceedingly +miserable; and in his anxiety hardly knew what he was about, scarcely +what he said. + +If Wilmet wished him to feel what a narrow escape his had been, he +broke into despair that he had not been with Edgar. The room and +the room-mate that had seemed so disgusting to home-bred Felix, had +fascinated him by their charming disregard of wearisome propriety, and +their congenial eccentric liberty; and the picture of Edgar coming +home in his distress to his sleepy, half-conscious comrade made +him wretched. He treated regret like censure, and alarmed as much +as scandalised Wilmet by longings to have been there to share the +wanderings, which, even if they amounted to starvation, could not, he +averred, be 'half so hateful as standing behind a counter.' + +Perhaps he had never before been so near showing temper as in +his arguments with Wilmet, and his determination to defend Edgar +through thick and thin; and she was almost relieved when after the +disappointment of finding that there was no news from Ferdinand, he +collapsed into one of his attacks of headache. Nay, for weeks, though +about again and at work, the lad was not well nor thoroughly himself; +he seemed, like Cherry, to be always watching for tidings that never +came, and unlike her, he made light of whatever could be construed into +censure of any taste of Edgar's. + +Felix, though unwilling to pain him, thought it might be wholesome to +let him see for himself the facts of Edgar's life, and accepted his +assistance in sorting the bagful of revelations of self-indulgence and +dissipation, which he knew Lance's lips might defend, but never his +conscience. + +Judging as well as they could by the dates and charges, there had +not been much amiss except carelessness of expenditure before Alice +Knevett's defection, eighteen months back; but this had been succeeded +by a launch into every sort of excitement, so increasingly painful +and disgraceful, that Felix declared at times that it was profanation +to let the proceeds of Geraldine's pure and high-minded art be spent +in discharging such obligations. There were traces of an endeavour to +pull up after Tom Underwood's legacy, which would have far more than +cleared Edgar, if he had been satisfied to do more than merely pay +'on account,' and stave off difficulties, until the main body of the +bequest had vanished between gambling and the crash of the National +Minstrelsy. + +Meantime the weeks of Edgar's silence and absence were running on to +months, and nothing was known. Ferdinand Travis's quest had been an +utter failure. Baden, Homburg, Spa, Munich, Paris, Florence, Rome, +Monaco, had been searched in vain; ingenious advertisements in the +second column of the 'Times' were unnoticed; and though there was no +outward difference in the manner of the two who loved him best, each +bore about a heavy yearning heartache and foreboding--the one, that +there must be something, worse than was known, to lead so affectionate +a person thus utterly to efface himself; the other, that some terrible +unknown accident, lake-storm or glacier-crevasse, could alone account +for such pitiless disregard of home suspense. His relics had been +hidden away like those of the dead, with sad reverence; and his +name was never mentioned except now and then in low sad tones in a +_tête-à-tête._ + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE BARBE BLONDE. + + '"And neither toil nor time could mar + Those features, so I saw the last + Of Waring." "You! O never star + Was lost here, but it rose afar. + Look east, where old new thousands are."' + _Browning._ + + +The first thing that really cheered Lance was an enforced holiday of +the organist, when he was asked to undertake the church music in the +interregnum. He threw himself into the work, consulted Dr. Miles, +who lent him books, and gave him lessons; and the whole current of +his thoughts became so soothed and changed, that Felix attended to +no remonstrance on the danger of unsettling him, but truly declared +that the few hours he weekly gave to scientific music was more than +compensated by his increased power of attention, and steadiness of +concentration on his business, as if he there found the balance needed +by his sensitive nature. + +His head too, instead of aching more, as Wilmet had feared, suffered +less; but there was a change in him. He had experienced the bitterness +of sin, as nearly and as bitterly as was possible to one yet intact. +He had looked down an abyss, and been forced to recognise that had +he followed Edgar into what he had tried to believe merely exciting, +artistic, or free, he could hardly have been spared a flaw in his life. +It was when wrapt in the grandeurs of sacred harmony that this sense +dawned on him. It was most true of him that 'the joy of the Lord was +his strength.' Respectability had no power over him, he had a liking +for the disreputable; but his reverence and delight for the glory and +beauty of praise seemed, as it were, to force him into guarding his +purity of life and innocence of mind, which might otherwise have been +perilled by his geniality and love of enterprise. At any rate, after +the first shock to health and spirits had passed off, he retained +a more staid manner, entirely abstained from his former plentiful +admixture of slang, caught more of Felix's demeanour, and ceased from +those kinds of sayings and doings which used only not to give his +sisters an impression of recklessness because they knew he always did +rectify his balance in time. + +Meantime another interest arose; for John Harewood had got his +promotion, and had obtained leave to come home and try for an +appointment. Wilmet had reason to believe him actually on his journey, +when one morning, early in October, Lance, who was waiting in the +office, was startled by Will's entrance, asking, 'Have you had a +telegram?' in a scarcely audible voice. + +'No! What is it, Bill?' said Lance, dismayed at his countenance. + +'That dear Jack!' and thrusting two telegraph papers into his hand, +Will threw himself down on the high desk, hiding his face, with +long-drawn gasps of anguished grief, to which he could only now venture +to give way; nor did Lance marvel, as he read-- + + Rameses, Egypt, October 3rd, 2.30 p.m. + + Major Harewood to Rev. Christopher Harewood, the Bailey, + Minsterham, England. + + Boiler explosion. Severe scald. No pain; probably will be none. + Dearest love to W.W. and all. Poor Frank Stone killed. + +The other, which had arrived at the same time, was dated, + + 6 p.m. + + Charles Chenu, Surgeon, to Christopher Harewood. + + Injuries not necessarily mortal, unless from extent. Wanted, + good nurse, water-bed, linen, and all comforts. + +'There's more hope in that!' said Lance. + +'I have none! Don't you remember poor Tom the stoker? + +'Twas just what they said of him,' said Will, raising his face for a +moment. 'And here they've sent me to tell Wilmet! I--O Lance, I just +cannot do it. 'Tis bad enough at home!' and he lay over the desk again, +almost convulsed with grief. + +'I will go and tell Wilmet,' said Felix, who had come in unperceived by +him, and received the telegrams from Lance. 'She is at Miss Pearson's. +Is any one going to him, Will?' + +'My poor father!' gasped William. 'I don't believe it is any good! But +I shall go with him, unless--He sent me on to see whether she--Wilmet +would go. You won't let her, Felix? I must go on to see whether I can +get a nurse at St. Faith's.' + +'I believe Wilmet will wish to go,' said Felix. + +'And be the best nurse,' added Lance. + +'If there were any nursing to do,' said William, looking at them in +amaze. 'I haven't the least hope he can last till we can come out! But +my father _will_ hope--that's the worst--and wants to have her rather +than me. Don't tell her so, though; I don't know what I am saying. Only +she should not be persuaded to go! Oh, that it should come to this!' + +'I will leave him to you, poor fellow!' said Felix, beckoning Lance to +the door, as William again flung himself across the desk. 'I think she +will go, and that it will be better for her.' + +He was interrupted by the arrival of a telegraph boy with a message to +him in his editorial capacity, which threw more light on the accident. + + Telegram from Alexandria, October 4th, 7 a.m. + + Serious explosion of locomotive engine at Rameses, on the + Suez and Alexandria line. Engineer and stoker killed. English + officer injured, without hope of recovery. + +Felix gave it to his brother, and went on his melancholy way--seeing +Miss Pearson first in her parlour, and then sending for his sister. + +Wilmet was just what those who knew her best expected. While there was +scope for action, she would never break down. She inferred at once +that the surgeon expected the comforts he sent for to be of use, and +dwelt upon Mr. Harewood's kindness in allowing her to accompany him. +As soon as she arrived at home, she scolded William, and made him +find sense and hope, which in truth he had only lost when, instead +of having to support and comfort his impulsive mother and sisters, he +could afford to give way himself. He could now give a coherent account +of his father's plans. Mr. Harewood was hastily arranging matters at +home, and would be on his way to Southampton by the last train. If +Wilmet would go with him, she was to meet him at the station--either +with or without a nurse, as she might judge needful. Her decision was +against the nurse. She reminded Will that his brother had with him a +Christian Hindoo servant, who had already proved an efficient attendant +in an attack of fever; and she herself had some experience of scalds, +through Felix's accident, and one that had befallen a servant of Miss +Pearson's. Expense, the prostrate despair of the family at home, and +his own college duties, had alike decided that if she went out, William +must remain in England; but he was despatched to St Faith's, where the +needful appliances were always kept, and could be made over in such an +emergency. + +Meantime Wilmet, grave but steadily calm, made her preparations. She +devised means of providing a substitute at Miss Pearson's, bethought +herself of everything requisite; and when Geraldine pursued her, +trying to help, but panting and sobbing nervously, it was only to be +put down on a chair, and warned not to knock herself up. The keys were +made over to her, but without directions or injunctions; only one soft +whisper--'Dear Cherry! after all, you have made me able to do this.' + +Felix would not be denied going to Southampton with her. Mr. Harewood +was looking out for her at the station, with the resolute mask of +indifference that both must assume for the journey. He took both her +hands, and said, 'Thank you, my dear; I knew I should see you.' And she +said, 'Thank you, for letting me come.' Then she took charge of his +plaid and umbrella, and it was plain that thenceforth she would be his +guardian daughter. + +When Felix and William left the two on board the Havre boat, they knew +that the Wilmet of old was gone for ever. She must come back with a +great change upon her; but who could guess whether that change would be +for weal or woe? + +On went Mr. Harewood and Wilmet by steamer and by rail, unable to +obtain intelligence, and maintaining absolute silence on the one +thought that filled their minds, each solicitously tender of the +other's comfort and fatigue, though both tacitly agreed that nothing +was so trying as a halt. + +When they reached Marseilles, they found the P. and O. agency certain +that if Major Harewood were not living it would be known; and they +likewise learnt that Rameses was a sort of little French colony +around a station that the works for the Suez Canal were raising to an +importance it could hardly have enjoyed since it was a treasure city +of Pharaoh; and, while obliged to await their steamer, they obtained +counsel on the articles likely to be most needful for their patient, +and hence they telegraphed an announcement of their coming, and were +replied to by the Hindoo servant, Zadok Krishnu--'Not worse.' + +At Alexandria they found themselves expected and welcomed. Interested +countenances and sympathising greetings were ready for the father +and supposed sister at both consulate and hotel; and from the name +of the engine-driver, Frank Stone, who had been killed, Mr. Harewood +perceived that John must have recognised in him a clever Minsterham +boy, and this accounted for his having joined him on his engine, where +indeed it was suspected that he had been trying to help him obviate +the dangers caused by Oriental indifference and fatalism. The injuries +were regarded as hopeless, from the great extent of surface; and there +was a kind preparatory intimation that all that could be hoped for was +to find life not extinct, for that opiates were required to such a +degree that there was no consciousness. M. Charles Chenu was a clever +young French doctor; and a deaconess from the Alexandrian branch from +Kaiserswerth was in attendance, as well as an Englishman who had been +in the train, and all the alleviation possible had been given. + +That was all the comfort to be had while waiting for one of the few and +tardy trains, which at length set the travellers down at the strange +little town of European houses and Arab hovels in the midst of the +sand, distinguished by a boulevard and line of palm trees. At the +station stood a short brown-faced figure, in white turban and trousers, +and scarlet tassel, sash, and jacket, who with a salute half military, +half Oriental, inquired in good English for their luggage, and in reply +to their anxious questions, told them that the Sahib was lying in the +same state of unconsciousness produced by opiates. + +The goods, so needful to the sufferer, were all identified, and +extracted at a great cost of patience, and the travellers were +escorted, amid incomprehensible Arab clamours, across a _place_ +ankle-deep in sand, to a one-storied building of such unburnt bricks +as the Israelites might have made, covering a good deal of ground, and +combining the caravanserai and the French hotel. A Greek landlord and +his French wife came forth, and the one talking all languages, the +other only her mother tongue, but both warmly welcoming the arrivals, +and assuring them that _le pauvre Monsieur_ had had every care lavished +on him--Dr. Chenu was there night and day. + +A slender, moustached, brisk young man appeared, asking in French, in a +kindly tone, whether they--especially Mademoiselle--could be prepared +for so sad a sight as awaited them, but assuring them that the mere +fact of life having so long continued had begun to inspire him with a +sort of hope. + +Mr. Harewood's French was not very available, but Wilmet made reply; +and they were admitted into a low empty room, with windows shaded +by screens of reed, through which came a dim light, showing a still +figure, covered with light linen rags steeped in oil and spirit, which +a little square figure in dark blue, with a neat net cap, was changing +and renewing as fast as they dried. + +All the preparation could not prevent the father from being +overwhelmed, and having to turn away to grapple with the shock; but +Wilmet, who had all along sustained herself with the recollection of +John's reference to her awakening Lance from his deadly lethargy, +without pause or shyness bent down, kissed his forehead, and called +him by his name; and perhaps the full sense of his entire prostration +only broke upon her when there was not the slightest token that she +was heard, but the torpor continued unbroken by the faintest movement +of the half-closed eyes or lips. Even then she only looked up with a +piteous appealing glance to the doctor, who told her that the only +chances of consciousness were in the intervals between the passing off +of one anodyne and the administration of another, but that hitherto +these had been spent in a sort of delirium of anguish, that made the +renewal of the opiate immediately necessary. + +Hope that at least the familiar voices might penetrate through the +cloud still buoyed the new-comers up; but when the moans, restlessness, +and half-utterances of dire suffering set in, the eyes opened to dim +glassiness, the ears seemed neither to hear nor understand, and there +was as much relief as disappointment when the slumberous potion had +again brought back the senselessness. Nothing could be done but to +moisten the lips and change the rags, and these seemed to dry up on +one part as fast as another was renewed. The face had indeed escaped, +and so had the back, and for the most part the right side, but the +neck, chest, both shoulders, and the whole length of the left side were +fearfully scalded, with white sodden-looking spaces, the most fatal +appearance of all, worse than even a deep laceration by a splinter +above the hip. Day and night Wilmet, the deaconess, and the Hindoo +were changing the rags, and fanning, or keeping off the flies; and +soon there was a great affection between Sister Hedwige and the young +Englishwoman, who shared the same desolate room close adjoining--or +rather, lay down there by turns. Wilmet spoke German enough to explain +that she was not the patient's sister, but his _Verlobte_, and that in +a matter-of-fact, dreamy kind of way, submitting passively to be kissed +and cried over by the puffy little elderly German. + +Poor Mr. Harewood could give no active assistance, and was in a sad +state of isolation, unable to exchange a sentence with anybody except +Wilmet and Krishnu. He tried Latin and French with the doctor; but +the diversities of accent foiled him in both, and Wilmet had to be +interpreter. He was a great charge to her, but a far greater comfort. +There were his constant prayers, and the sight and example of his deep +resignation; there was the sense of protection and sympathy, the relief +and distraction of attending to him, and of gratitude for his care; and +besides, he wrote all the letters, for which Wilmet had neither time +nor heart. She could keep up while acting, instead of realizing, as the +expression of words must have forced her to do; while the struggle in +the father's mind, was only not to long unsubmissively for a conscious +interval at the last. + +An English army surgeon, who came from Malta a day or two after their +arrival, thoroughly approved of M. Chenu's treatment, but agreed in his +verdict that any other expectation would be futile; recovery, though +not impossible where no vital part was injured, was most improbable +where nature had so large a surface to repair. + +Yet the actual symptoms that would have been immediate doom did not +appear, but as one dim sad day rolled by after another, the parts +least hurt began to show a tendency to heal; and therewith sprang +up a conviction in Wilmet's mind that there was not always a total +insensibility to her presence or Mr. Harewood's, but that the face +changed at their voices, and that there was a preference for her hand; +and then Dr. Chenu began declaring that these English had 'complexions' +like rocks, and that if it were not 'the impossible,' there would be +hope; and instead of giving his anodynes with the reckless desire to +stifle pain, he become cautious, modified them, and only gave them when +decisively expedient. + +There resulted a gradual clearing of the senses. There were lulls when +pain was comparatively in abeyance, and the faculties less and less +clouded, the eyes regained meaning, and smiles of greeting hovered on +the lips; a sense of repose in the presence of Wilmet and his father +was evident; an uneasy perception if either were absent; and at last an +exchange of words--conscious words. When his awakening was marked, not +by a groan of pain, but by the feeble inquiry, 'Where's Wilmet?' she +felt as if she had had her reward. + +Once he asked 'Where's your brother?' and when she explained that none +of her brothers were with her, he seemed confused and dissatisfied; but +his voice died into an indistinct murmuring; and when twice again the +same inquiry recurred, she set it down to the semi-delirious delusions +that the narcotics sometimes occasioned. She knew that an English +gentleman had done much for him at first, and had only left him the day +before her arrival; and she had regretted being unable to discover who +he was from lips unused to British nomenclature, but had been too much +engrossed to think much about the matter. But there were now intervals +in which she fully had her John again, entirely sensible, anxious to +preserve his consciousness, so as to be desirous of putting off the +sedative as long as he could endure the attacks of suffering without +it. He could listen, and sometimes talk; and the next time he returned +to the puzzling question, 'When did your brother go?' there could be no +doubt that he was in full possession of his understanding; and Wilmet +answered, 'Dear John, I do not know what you are thinking of; Felix has +never been here at all.' + +'I do not mean Felix; it was Edgar.' + +'Edgar! You never have seen him, you know, dear,' said Wilmet, speaking +softly, as one persuaded that he was recalling a delusion. + +'I know that I never saw him at home; but he was in the train. He was +the first to come to me; he said he would telegraph. Surely he did so?' + +'That accounts for the correctness of the telegram!' said Mr. Harewood. +'I remember now that the wording was so well put, that it gave me hope +that you must be quite yourself.' + +'What was it?' + +They could well tell him, for it had seemed branded in fire on their +minds for days. + +'Yes, that was his doing. I think I only called you _her_,' he said, +smiling. 'I could trust to his knowing my _her of hers_.' + +'But how did you know one another? Was it in the train?' + +'No. Poor Frank Stone recognised me at Suez, and begged me to come with +him on the engine. I remember his consulting me about representing the +impracticability of some of his subordinates; and next after that I was +somewhere on the stones, unable to stir hand or foot--not in pain, but +a numbness and faintness all over me, with every sense preternaturally +clear, as if I were all spirit. I made no doubt I was dying fast; +and when some one came to see after me, I begged him to take down my +telegram to my father while I could give it. I remember his start and +cry when I gave my name. "Good Heavens!" he said. "You are not Jack? +Wilmet's Jack?" and really, I hardly knew; my voice seemed to come from +somewhere else; but I saw the face over me that belongs to you all.' + +'And did you speak to him? But no, you were in no state for that.' + +'I gave what messages I could think or speak; but the numb faintness +grew on me, and seemed to gather up all my senses. I did not seem able +to care about anything when I felt myself in his hands.' + +'Edgar!' repeated Wilmet, still slow to believe. 'Did you call him by +his name?' + +'I cannot tell; I think I did. I know I no more doubted of its being +he than I do that you are Wilmet. Ah! I remember struggling between +a sense that I ought, and the growing disinclination to speak, and +wanting to tell him to go home, for you were all very unhappy about +him. Did I get it out? Did he answer? I cannot tell! No, dearest, I +know no more, nor why he is not here. Zadok must know; where is he?' + +The Hindoo was summoned, and it was elicited that the English gentleman +had watched over the Sahib day and night, sent the telegrams, called +in the doctor from Malta, and had acted as if the patient had been +his brother, only going away by the last train before the arrival of +Mr. Harewood, and then leaving with him a packet only to be given up +in case the Major should die without recovering the power of speech. +It was claimed, and proved to contain a record of all that poor John +had endeavoured to say, but written in a disguised hand, though merely +in the spelling of the names betraying that the scribe had been no +stranger. It was plain that he had so entirely thought Major Harewood +a dying man, as to have made no attempt at concealing his own identity +from him, but he had kept it carefully guarded from every one else; and +Wilmet's heart smote her as she questioned, 'Would he have fled if it +had been Felix or Cherry who had been coming?' + +Questions were asked, and both M. Chenu and Madame Spiridione testified +that the gentleman who had attended on Major Harewood had been _un +jeune homme extrêmement beau--grand et blond_, but they had no guess as +to his name, and merely knew that he had gone away towards Alexandria. +Both there and at Cairo did Mr. Harewood write to make inquiries, but +always in vain; and the trains were so few and so slow, that he could +not go himself without a longer absence than seemed fitting to propose +in his son's precarious state, when the very efforts that nature was +making towards restoration might so easily result in fever, or in fatal +changes in the wounds. + +The sight of him seemed to be only less precious to John than that of +Wilmet. When in comparative ease, it was almost a basking in their +presence. After his long years of foreign service, no one could guess, +he said, the delight it was to look at them; and when he meditated +on the journey they had taken for his sake, he would break out in +wondering gratitude, not to be checked by Wilmet's simplicity of +protest, 'Of course she had come; she could not help it.' + +The pleasure and comfort she gave him were really serving to bear him +through. Not only was her touch unusually light, firm, dextrous, and +soft, but pain from her hand was not like that given by any one else, +when each dressing was tortured; and when his nerves were strung to +an acute misery of sensitiveness, her look and touch, her voice and +gesture alone were endurable. His first powers of being entertained +were shown when she talked, or sang, not indeed as her brothers could +sing, but in a low, sweet, and correct voice, that had an infinite +charm of soothing that weary sickness. He might strive not to be +exacting; but his face showed in spite of himself that when she quitted +the room the light of his life went with her, and there was nothing +left him but tedium, helplessness, and sore suffering. + +She only did leave him for sleep, which she could usually time while he +was lulled by the anodyne, and for hurried meals at the table d'hôte, +which collected almost every European in the place. Mr. Harewood +likewise made a great point of taking her out every evening for a sandy +walk on the boulevard under the palm trees, as a preservative of her +health, much to the perplexity of the observers. She saw no necessity +for leaving John, to plough her way in the hot sand; but it relieved +the Librarian's mind, and was besides their opportunity for discussing +questions not intended for their patient's ear. + +Here it was that Mr. Harewood communicated his difficulty. He had +exchanged one course at the cathedral, but could not arrange for the +next, and it was imperative that he should be at home by the end of the +second week in the New Year. John, though they dared now to call him +better, was still immovable, and what could be done? 'Shall I,' said +the Librarian, 'telegraph to William to bring out Lucy or Grace?' + +'Would that be of any use?' said Wilmet, thinking only of their +scatter-brained recklessness in Lance's case. + +'They have not your faculties of nursing, my dear; but you see, I don't +perceive how otherwise to contrive for your remaining.' + +'Mine! I must stay!' exclaimed Wilmet, her little proprieties most +entirely vanished into oblivion. + +'I knew you would say so. Indeed, I still think nothing else gives a +hope of pulling my poor boy through; but in that case, you see, my +dear, one of the girls--or their mother--' + +'She would be very uncomfortable, and all for nothing,' said Wilmet; +'and William would lose his term. You know,' and only then the colour +flew into her cheeks, 'I could do very well alone if you were only to +marry us.' + +With such simplicity and straightforwardness was it said, that the +Librarian had replied, 'The very best plan,' before the strangeness +struck him, and he began to falter, 'You have--John has settled it?' + +'No,' said Wilmet, crimson, but grave, steady, and earnest, 'it was +only this that made me think of it; but if it can be managed without +hurting him, it seems to me the most feasible way.' + +This form of speech of course only proceeded from unfathomable depths +of affection and reserve, and it was understood. + +'Dear child,' said Mr. Harewood, 'this is the truest kindness of all. I +will not thank you. You and I are too much one with him for that; but I +wish his mother could have known what he has won.' + +Soft silent tears were dropping fast under Wilmet's broad hat. +Maidenliness would have that revenge; and she could not speak. +The question of broaching the subject to John overwhelmed her +with embarrassment and shamefastness, at the thought of her own +extraordinary proceeding. Perhaps an impulse might have led her into +proposing it to him, as she had done to his father, but the bare idea +of so doing filled her with shame and dismay; and Mr. Harewood, a +ceremonious and punctilious gentleman of the old school, thought it +incumbent on him to lead his son to make the proposition, so that it +might come at least in appearance from the right quarter. + +He had to watch his opportunity, for John was by no means always +fit for conversation, and when he was, was not willing to dispense +with Wilmet's presence; and it was necessary at last to come to, 'I +want to speak to you before she comes back;' and then, having calmed +the restless eye that watched for her, the Librarian explained the +necessities that called him home: and these were fully appreciated by +the Major, who owned that it had been much to have had him for these +six weeks, but therewith came a look of alarm, and the exclamation, +'Oh, but how about her?' + +'She does not think of leaving you. We must consider how to arrange for +her.' + +'Has not Clement finished his terms? Could not he be franked out?' + +'Is there not a simpler way? John, nothing would make me so happy as to +leave that dear girl your wife.' + +'But you go before the New Year. Father, it is not to be thought of,' +he said, with a nervous movement of his right hand, which he could now +partially use. + +'There is no reason that I should not marry you as you lie there. She +would consent.' + +'Dearest! she would consent to anything she thought good for me, but +the more reason that it cannot be thought of. Look at the wreck I am, +and the glorious creature she is.' + +'She would not accept that objection.' + +'The more need that I should. Even if this place in my side do not, +as I expect from day to day, gangrene and make an end of it at once, +it can hardly be expected that there will not be some contraction or +distortion to make an object of me.' + +'Does Chenu tell you this?' asked his father, who had never had the +chances so plainly set before him. + +'No. Chenu does as well as any one can; but he has not the gift of +foresight, and there is no use in taxing his French complaisance by +asking questions that no one can answer,' he answered, with quiet calm +and patience that almost overcame his father. + +'I did not think you were so despondent,' he said. + +'I do not think I am despondent,' was the reply; 'I feel as if I had +only to lie here and wait my orders from above. I suppose weakness and +sedatives blunt the feelings, for I do not regret all that might have +been, as I should have thought I should--nay, as I did, in one night of +fever in India. I can only feel thankfulness for intervals like this, +and the blessing of having you both with me again. Father, I would not +have spoken out, but that I thought you knew it better than I.' + +'So I do--so I ought, my dear boy; but I cannot cease to hope that +your having been so far given back to us is an earnest that God will +entirely restore you.' + +'That may be yet, but in the uncertainty, it hardly seems right to take +advantage of my darling's devotion to bring on her so terrible a blight +in her youth and loveliness. Sending her home a widow, Father!' + +'Poor child! There would be little difference in her grief; and you +should take into consideration that even so, you would leave her freed +from the necessity of working at that school.' + +'I could do that, without injustice to Will and the girls; and there +would be a pension besides,' said John thoughtfully; and his father +ventured to add-- + +'Indeed, I think if your recovery were as partial as you would have me +apprehend, it would still only be a matter of time.' + +'She would have her eyes open,' said John; but he thought long before +he spoke again. 'I cannot trust myself to think of it! It is so great +a temptation! My Wilmet! my darling! to waste her strong young life on +me!' + +Mr. Harewood said no more. He had experience enough to believe such +things worked themselves out without interposition; and he would have +regarded it as compromising Wilmet's dignity and confidence alike to +mention her words. He left the room when she returned, but nothing +resulted. John was restless and uncomfortable; and Wilmet, thinking +he had heard all, and deemed her forward, was unhappy, and would have +become shy, if his perturbation had not brought on feverishness; and +that as usual inflamed the hurts into such acute pain, that the doctor +gave a stronger opiate than had been needed of late, but which at first +only produced distress, moaning, and wandering. They were more anxious +about him that night and all the next day, than they had been for +more than a week; and only towards the second morning did he become +tranquil enough to fall into slumber, which lasted so late into the +following day, that Wilmet, after being up all night, was persuaded to +lie down during the noonday heat, when she had seen his sleep become +more natural, and the distressful expression relax on his countenance. + +She lay on her bed in a kind of waking doze, sad, anxious, and vexed +at what she thought the consequence of the proposal into which she had +been betrayed, feeling desolate, and dreading as much as she desired a +summons to return. + +Sister Hedwige did not call her till she had had more refreshing sleep +than perhaps she was aware of; and then, when she came softly into the +room, his eyes shone wistfully into hers, and she knelt down by him to +stroke back that stiff sandy hair of his, and cool his brow with her +freshly-washed hand. He lifted his as far as he could, inviting her to +clasp it; his eyes again looked into hers, and a smile came out upon +his face. 'My father has put a very wonderful thing into my head,' he +said; then, as the lovely colour deepened on her cheek, 'can it be so, +Wilmet?' + +In her own calm way she answered, 'Do you not think it will be the best +way?' + +'For me? No doubt of that, my dearest, sweetest, best darling!' and the +feeble force of his fingers somehow caused her brow to bend down to his +fervent kiss. 'You look as lovely as--no, ten times lovelier than you +did on the stile when you scolded me for telling you so. Why don't you +now?' + +'Because I am glad my face is a pleasure to you,' she said, glowing, so +as to deserve his words, in spite of the effects of her long vigil. + +'Ah! sick people are privileged to be foolish to their heart's content. +But, Wilmet, let us be wise for once. This must not be till you have +counted the cost.' And he repeated what he had said to his father of +the likelihood of permanent effects being left. + +'You would want me all the more,' she said. + +'And you?' + +'I should want all the more to be with you.' + +Again he smiled fondly on her. 'And more, my love. How easily I may +be a little worse than yesterday, and then you would have to go home +alone.' + +'These things are for always,' said Wilmet; and the tears she had +resolved against came in crystal veils over her eyes, and it was vain +to squeeze them out. + +'I am conquered,' said John, half quaintly, because he was afraid of +emotion. 'Here is a hand, at least! My father must manage the rest. I +can only be the most glad and thankful of men. Love, this is worth it +all!' as she tenderly smoothed his hair with her soft hand in the way +he liked so well. + +'And oh! how nice it will be as you get better!' + +'I can believe I shall, much more than I have hitherto done,' returned +he. Then after a happy pause, while she still stroked his head, and +they looked into one another's faces with hearts swelling with unspoken +prayers, he added, 'But of one thing I must and will be sure--of your +brother's free consent.' + +She was so sure of it herself, that she only smiled at him; but his +was a sort of soldierly punctilio that forbade the profiting by her +devotion without the sanction of her family, and his father supported +him in it, and wrote from his dictation, detailing the provision which +he was making for Wilmet in case of his death and begging for a reply +by telegraph, since there was not time for Mr. Harewood to wait for an +answer by post, then signing it, with great effort, with three crooked +initials. + +There could be no doubt as to the answer; and Wilmet went about her +preparations with her own peculiar modest dignity. The 'belle Mees' +had been a marvel to the French part of the community ever since M. le +docteur had shrugged his amazement at _une grande Anglaise magnifique, +mais blonde et fade,_ coming out instead of a professional _garde +malade_, and then found by experience that her hand and head, her +nerve and gentleness, equalled those of the most skilful _soeur_ with +whom he had ever been thrown. And when it slowly dawned on him what +were her relations with the Major, his wonder at English institutions +knew no bounds. He would have adored her beauty, which grew on him as +something marvellous, if he had not been a little afraid of anything so +lofty and so still, and so incapable of airy chatter, as he found her +at the _table d'hôte_. She produced on him something of the effect of +the Pallas of the Parthenon, come across from Athens to undertake his +patient, or the goddess Neith as John sometimes called her, when he +lay watching her swift needle. + +The Deaconess understood her better. Wilmet was much more nearly +the stately Teutonic maiden than the Grecian divinity; and Sister +Hedwige had had her days of romance, and beheld a Velleda in the +noble, self-possessed, helpful woman, who was equal to any of the +Fliedner disciples in resource and firmness. The German mind, too, +appreciated the betrothal tie; and when Wilmet, who had grown very +fond of the kindly, homely _Schwesterchen_ consulted her about sending +to Alexandria for the bridal white that must not be denied to John's +eyes, she wept with joy, promised the willing aid of the Deaconess' +establishment in procuring all she needed, and, moreover, a wreath from +the myrtle they nourished in memory of home. + +Wilmet's commission was not needed. She found one of the big boxes +that had been in use as tables and seats opened; and Zadok diving into +it under the Major's directions, and turning out parcels innumerable, +among which appeared a snowy mass of India muslin, exquisitely fine and +covered with delicate embroidery. + +'There, Wilmet, you know what that is for.' + +And with all the good-will in the world, Madame Spiridione volunteered +French counsel in the cutting out, and Sister Hedwige German needling +in the making; and Zadok, sitting cross-legged at the door, proved +himself equal to any sewing-machine, and worked faster and better than +either of the European nationalities, as indeed he was the son of a +_dirjee_, or embroiderer-man, and had learnt some of his trade, though +educated at a Mission school. + +Dr. Chenu half despised, half envied the convenience of being married +without the production of the registers of baptism, or the consent of +either of the mayors or the commanding-officer, and a mere telegram, +'With all my heart,' from the elder brother; but still, Mr. Harewood +was obliged to make an expedition to Cairo to arrange the formalities +for the registry of the marriage, for which the Consul promised to send +an official. The question was whether this gentleman should act as +father to the bride, whose choice otherwise lay between M. Spiridione, +Dr. Chenu, and Zadok Krishnu, and who much inclined to the last +mentioned; but on the last day, by the very same train as brought the +secretary, an unexpected arrival took place. + +The one interest of Rameses was the arrival of the trains--few and far +between. Mr. Harewood used to go out to count and report on the pale +faces going westward, and the rosy young ones going eastward, and to +capture the mail-bags and parcels that connected this Egyptian desert +with the outward world. So seldom did any one halt, that he was amazed, +not only to see the secretary, but a slender, black-bearded personage, +portmanteau in hand, Panama hat on head, looking not indeed Oriental, +but so un-English that it was startling to be accosted with, 'Good +morning, Mr. Harewood; I hope your son is still going on well.' + +Then it flashed on the Librarian that this was the Life Guardsman who +had once ridden over to Minsterham as Alda Underwood's betrothed. + +'Mr. Travis! This is unexpected! You don't bring any bad news for Miss +Underwood, I trust,' he added, taking alarm. + +'Oh no, far from it. I came to try to follow up this trail of poor +Edgar. None of the family can,' he proceeded in a tone of apology; 'and +as I have time, I can let no possibility go by.--But is it true, what +they told me at Alexandria--that I am come just in time for a wedding?' + +'Indeed it is, but for a very strange one. I am forced to go home when +that train returns; and that sweet girl will not--nay, cannot leave my +poor son. I hope it is not wrong in me to rejoice, turn out as it may. +They will be delighted to see you.' + +Ferdinand was made very welcome. He was a breath from home that made +them feel how long they had been exiled. It appeared that he had been +at Paris, vainly seeking as usual, when he had received a telegram from +Miss Underwood, _i.e._ Marilda, and hurrying to England, had heard all +that could be gathered from Wilmet's letter; and here he was, intending +to pursue his inquiries in Egypt, and if needful extend his researches +to Palestine or India, according to whatever clue he might gain. + +Such exertions on the part of a stranger in blood were rather +surprising; but Ferdinand seemed to think no explanation needful, +and perhaps his American contempt for space rendered the wonder +less. At any rate, his coming was a great pleasure. He was almost a +brother-in-law to Wilmet, and had belonged to old days in her life, and +he was intermingled with John's time of courtship at Bexley, so that to +both he was like a relation; and Mr. Harewood was much relieved by his +promise to remain comparatively within reach so long as it was possible +that he could be of use to Wilmet or her convalescent, as they durst +not yet term the bridegroom. + +So, as John declared, the wedding was graced by representatives of all +quarters of the world. It was on African soil, between two Europeans, +and one spectator came from Asia, another from America, to say nothing +of the lesser distinctions of France, Germany, Greece, Egypt, and +Arabia, nor of the mingling of Aztec, Spanish, American, and English +blood in the veins of Ferdinand Travis. + +Bizarre as were the conditions, the marriage scene was very solemn and +touching. It had proved impossible to wait for Christmas Day, as had +been wished; so the 21st of December had been chosen, and the time, the +cool early morning, before the heat of the day, and when light could +be let in without glare or scorching, such as the noontide even of +mid-winter brought. + +The room was arrayed as on Sundays, not without thought of the first +Paschal Feast--kept at this very place and round about it--and Mr. +Harewood had robed himself, and brought out the preparations he had +made in case he should arrive in time for his son's last Communion +Feast, but which now served for that of his marriage. + +John had so far decorated himself that he had caused M. Spiridione to +trim his hair, and shave all but his habitual red moustache. There was +not much possibility of alteration in his spare, freckled, sunburnt +face; and his condition was chiefly evident in the prone motionlessness +of his figure on the water bed, covered by a bright striped silk quilt, +outside which lay one wasted hand, still scarred and stiff. He was +striving to be calm and passive; but every now and then his fingers +twitched, and the muscles of his face quivered with strong emotion, so +that the doctor, standing behind in military uniform, with moustaches +waxed into standing out like a cat's, was anxiously watching him. +Krishnu, resplendent in white, red, and gold, was on the other side, +with an English Prayer-book, and over a chair his master's uniform +coat and medals, of which he would not be denied the display. There +too was the Greek, in his unbecoming Frank courier dress, and a few +spectators who had crept in at the unclosed door for the strange sight +of the English wedding. + +Wilmet's matter-of-fact nature and freedom from self-consciousness were +great auxiliaries to her composure. Living always in the work at hand, +severance from home did not come prominently before her, and still less +the strangeness of giving herself, on her own responsibility, in a +foreign land, to one who could scarcely raise a finger to accept her, +and whose life hung on a thread. Of the lookers-on she never thought; +she could only recollect that she was qualifying herself for the entire +charge of John, and the only eyes she thought of were that one pair of +pale greenish-hazel ones, but for those she took as much pains as Alda +had done to face a world of gazers. + +The snowy soft flow and straight folds of the muslin, beneath the green +wreath on her classical braids of light brown hair, far better became +the straight outline than the glossy satin, lace flutter, and formal +wreath, of the London bride. The eyelids cast down, the heightened +carnation, and trembling lip, rendered her grand beauty as modestly +tender as it was majestic, when Ferdinand Travis led her forward, +followed by the sober-suited Deaconess, by Madame Spiridione in a +Parisian cap, and her little boy in full Greek costume. + +Poor Fernan! he had eagerly undertaken the service he was to render +to Wilmet, but it must have been a sad reminder of his own vanished +hopes; and as he led her forward, his slight but fine form, noble cast +of features, and clear dark colouring, so fully equalled her in good +looks, that he seemed a more fitting match for her than the feeble +helpless bridegroom, never at his best _extrêmement beau_. + +However, no such thought crossed the minds of the parties most closely +concerned as Wilmet knelt by the bedside--knelt at times when she ought +to have stood, or her hand would not have been within the reach of +the poor weak one over which her long soft fingers seemed to exercise +cherishing guidance, with that sense of power and protection she had +been used to wield through life. But though her hand was the firmer, +and less nervous, it was a much stronger, clearer, steadier voice +than could have been looked for, as if manly tenderness overcame all +physical prostration, in which John Oglandby took Wilmet Ursula to be +his wedded wife, rising into power and energy, as though even then the +impulse of guarding, protecting, supporting, love were strengthening +him; and Wilmet, on the other hand, quiet and steadfast though she +was, had her eyes swimming in tears, which now and then stole down and +dropped unawares on his coverlid, and the tone, though not broken or +faltering, was low and choked with intensity of purpose and of prayer. +'Till death us do part,' which he had said so gravely and steadily, +came from her with nearly failing breath, as though the words almost +took away her resolution. + +But the Psalm and the Blessing brought back her calmness, and there had +never been any trembling in the hand that held her husband's; there +was only thankful affection in the eyes that gazed at him while she +still knelt on, and all left the chamber except the faithful friend and +faithful servant, who were to share with the newly-married pair the +holiest of feasts. And strangely enough, if Wilmet and her home were +closely interwoven with Ferdinand Travis's first admission to Christian +privileges, it had been Major Harewood's example and occasional words +that had first brought the teaching imbibed in a Mission school to bear +the fruit of true faith and confession thereof in Krishnu. + +So it was a really happy and peaceful wedding-day in that strange +far-away land; and John seemed rather the better than the worse for +the exhilaration of spirits, and the sense of secure possession he +had gained. He was so much delighted with Wilmet's bridal white, that +he grumbled if she tried to put on her former dresses, and her first +personal expense was the keeping up her stock--he loved so well to see +her moving about or hovering over him in her clear pure white folds. + +They were quite sufficient for one another; and Mr. Harewood left them +by the next westward train. Ferdinand went to see him on board the +Alexandrian steamer, and then continued to circulate in the haunts +of travellers, for the chance of Edgar having joined a Nile boat, or +being sketching among the tombs of the Thebaid. Every now and then he +reappeared at Rameses to report how some _barbe blonde_ he had been +hunting down turned out fiery red; and to communicate his hopes in +some other direction. Suez was inquired through in vain; and he could +not learn that any one of the name or description had gone to India. +Indeed, that country seemed less likely to attract a man of Edgar's +tastes than the picturesque and historical Levant; and his artist +powers and charm of manner made it not unlikely that he might have been +engaged to make sketches. + +One hope they had, which died away. The gentleman from the Consulate +mentioned that a party of vocalists had been giving concerts of +national melodies to the European population at Cairo and Alexandria; +and the description reminded Wilmet of last year's meteors. Indeed, it +proved on inquiry that Stanislas and Zoraya Prebel were really among +them, and that they had gone forward to the East, making a tour of the +British dependencies; but when Ferdinand had with difficulty obtained +a sight of an old programme, and a description of the performers, it +was only to convince himself that Edgar could not have been among them. +There was no name like his, and the songs that might have been his were +sung at the very time when his _alibi_ could be proved at Rameses. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +THE NID D'AVIS. + + 'It is called--I forget--_à la_ something which sounded + Like alicampane, but in truth I'm confounded, + What with fillets of roses and fillets of veal, + Things _garni_ with lace and things _garni_ with eel, + One's hair and one's cutlets both _en papillote_, + And a thousand more things I shall ne'er have by rote. + I can scarce tell the diff'rence, at least as to phrase, + Between beef _à la Psyche_ and curls _à la braise;_ + But in short, dear, I'm tricked out quite _à la Française._' + _Moore._ + + +One forenoon, soon after the end of the Christmas vacation, Robina +Underwood was seated at her desk, working deeply at the solution of +a quadratic equation; when from the far-off end of the schoolroom +arose that peculiar hushed choked giggle, that no one ever ascribed to +any cause but some prank of Angela's, more especially on the mornings +devoted to her natural enemy, 'the professor of the exact sciences,' +as he called himself; who was in fact a stop-gap in the absence of the +University man usually employed. + +Robina knew that the more concerned she showed herself the more +madcap tricks were played, and she disturbed herself little about the +commotion, aware that she should only too soon learn the cause, if it +were anything out of the common way. So she did. In the quarter of an +hour of clearance and recreation before dinner, plenty of information +reached her, couched in boarding-school _lingua franca_. + +'_Ah! Rouge Gorge, vous ne savez pas ce qu'elle a fait.' 'Une fille +delicieuse.' 'Une Alouette superbe, tout a fait Angélique!' 'Et M. le +professeur! Comme il etait dans un cire!_' (These phrases being chiefly +the original coinage of Angela herself.) + +'_Mais qu'est ce que c'est qu'elle a fait?'_ demanded the elder sister, +with small sympathy with these ecstasies. + +'_'Le plus exquis!_' and with volubility far outrunning composition, +and resulting in a wonderful compromise of languages, that a new book +had been produced out of which the class had been required to work what +was described as '_un somme dans le règle detrois tout à tort et à +travers; detestable, horrible, vilain_,' to which a chorus chimed in, +'_vilain, vilain vilainissimo_.' The question was, If twelve reapers +cut a field in thirty hours, how long would it take sixteen? As a +matter of course, all but a few mathematical geniuses at the head of +the class had multiplied by 16 and divided by 12, and made the result +40; but Angela, having wit enough to see that this '_n'avait pas le +sens commun_,' instead of trying to make out the difficulty, had +written at the bottom of her slate, what was hastily transcribed for +Robina's edification-- + + Forty, by the best time-keepers. + Reapers? I should call them sleepers, + Lazy heapers, idle creepers, + And their peepers should be weepers! + +All who obtained a sight of this stanza became forthwith weepers with +suppressed giggle, and there was a stern, 'Your slate, if you please, +Miss Angela Underwood.' + +The effects were expressed with all the force the language could +convey. '_Il etait comme un lion enragé--il écumait à la bouche--il +disait qu'il appellerait Mlle. Fennimore_'--a far greater climax, but +after all he only sentenced her to read the rule aloud to the class. No +sooner had she touched the book than she dashed it from her, '_Comme +la poison'--'comme un couleuvre_,' declaring it to be a shocking one, +unfit to touch, so that of course the sums came wrong. Most of her +audience, all girls under thirteen, for she was the arithmetical lag +of the school, had no notion why the title 'Colenso's Arithmetic' so +excited her--the master had none at all; and while Angela, who was +not for nothing sister to a church candle or to a gentleman of the +press, declaimed about heresy and false doctrine, he thought it all +idleness and wilfulness, and fulfilled the threat of a summons to the +authorities. By them the matter was a little better understood; but +the disobedience was unpardonable, even if the testification against +the author were not merely a veil for dislike to the problem, and the +sentence had been solitary confinement until submission. From this +Angela was so far distant, that as the young ladies marched in to +dinner her voice might be heard singing the Ten Little Niggers. + +It was an unlucky time, for the next day was Marilda's twenty-fifth +birthday, and she was going to keep it in a way of her own, namely, +by taking the whole family of children of a struggling young doctor, +over the Zoological Gardens. It was not a very good time of year, and +Marilda's first proposition had been the pantomime, but the mamma had +religious scruples about theatres, and it turned out that the Zoo was +the subject of their aspirations; so Marilda, securing her two young +cousins to help her in the care and entertainment of her party, hoped +for fine weather. + +From this party of pleasure Angela must of course be debarred, unless +she yielded; and her sister was sent to reason with her, but this had +no better effect than usual. Robina was a thoroughly good industrious +girl, who neither read the papers nor listened to controversy; she +cared most for heresies as possible subjects for her examinations in +Church history, and had worked problems innumerable out of Colenso. So +all she gained was a scolding for consenting to the latitudinarianism +that caused correctly-done sums to make sixteen reapers tardier than +twelve; and the assurance that no allurement, no imprisonment, should +make the young martyr consent to truckle to a heretic. Angela looked +exactly like Clement as she spoke, except for an odd twinkle in her +eye, as if she were quizzing herself. + +Robina knew herself to be too much wanted to give up the expedition, +and was sent for by Marilda in time to assist in giving the five +children the good dinner that was an essential part of the programme, +and which reminded Robin of Mr. Audley's picnic. One little boy, +however, seemed bewildered and frightened by the good things, and +more inclined to cry than to eat; but he would not hear of being left +behind, though, when arrived at the Gardens, he could give but feeble +interest even to the bears, and soon fretted and flagged so much that +Marilda thankfully accepted Robin's offer of taking him home in a cab, +and waiting for her till her rounds with the other children should be +finished. + +It turned out that he had had a headache and a 'bone in his throat' all +the morning, but had kept them a secret of misplaced fortitude; and +when Robina had taken him home, wrapped up in her cloak, trembling, +shivering, and moaning, she found the mother with the yearling child +much in the same condition on her lap; and she was rendering kindly +help in putting them to bed (for of course the nurse had a holiday), +when the father came home, driven in by a sore throat and headache of +his own, and forced to pronounce, as best he could, that they were in +for an attack of scarlatina. + +Here was a predicament! Robina had never had the fever, nor had any +of her home brothers and sisters in any unimpeachable manner. She +could not stay where she was, and what would either the school or Mrs. +Underwood do with her? After such consideration as the little boy +allowed her to give, she wrote a note of warning to Marilda, to be +handed to her at the door, and another to be sent on to Miss Fennimore. +The note was handed to the frightened hurried maid, and duly given. +There was a moment's pause, and then the children were left in the +carriage, and Marilda walked into the house. Then there took place what +could only be described as a scrimmage. Marilda was determined on +carrying all the four home with her, out of the way of the infection, +but the mother was persuaded that they must have it already, and would +not part with them. If they were ill in another house she would not +be able to go to them, and the thought distracted her. The father was +appealed to, and between the same dread of separation and scruples +about carrying infection farther, he gave sentence the same way, and +Marilda was most unwillingly defeated. + +She could only take away Robina; and Robina submitted pretty quietly +to her decision that her quarantine must be spent at Kensington Palace +Gardens. In the first place, Marilda protested that she had had 'it;' +and though 'it' turned out only to have been a rash, and it was nearly +certain that Mrs. Underwood would be in despair, yet Robin really knew +not where else to go, and Marilda was quite as old as the constituted +authorities at home. All Robin could insist on was on remaining in +the carriage till Mrs. Underwood had heard the state of the case; but +considering the rule that Marilda exercised, this precaution was of +little use. In five minutes she was called upstairs, a note was sent +to Brompton, and she had to make up her mind to a full fortnight of +quarantine--and what was worse, of lack of appliances for preparing for +the Cambridge examination, her great subject of ambition. + +Neither Mrs. Underwood nor Marilda could suppose that it was not a +treat and consolation to a schoolgirl to get a holiday; they were as +kind as possible, but oh! the dullness of the place! It was much more +dull than in Cherry's visits, for she had her own study and her own +purpose, and Alda and Edgar enlivened the house; but now Marilda had +no pursuits save business and charity, and was out many hours of the +day, there was hardly a book to be found, and Mrs. Underwood expected +her to sit in the drawing-room and do fancy-work. Meantime she was +losing precious time, her chances of marks and prizes at Brompton +were vanishing, to say nothing of her preparation for the Cambridge +examination, on which her whole start in life might depend. + +The doctor's family were all very ill; but she could not think nearly +so much about them as of the music she tried to practise, and the +equations she set herself, while she reckoned the extra work by which +she could make up for lost time. Alas! on the very last day of this +weary fortnight, conscience constrained her to mention an ominous +harshness of throat; and by the evening she was wishing for nothing but +that Wilmet were not in Egypt. + +However, Marilda proved herself far superior as a nurse to what she was +as a companion. She would not be kept out of her cousin's room, and +with Cherry's old friend, Mrs. Stokes, took such good and enlightened +care, that the infection did not spread, and Robina, though ill enough +to be tolerably franked for life, was in due time recovering so +favourably as to be very miserable and wretched about everything, from +the Cambridge examination to her own ingratitude. She never had felt so +like Cherry in her life. + +It was hard to say which was worst, her banishment from school or from +home, or the doleful idea presented to her by that kind promise of +carrying her to be aired at Brighton for six weeks! It was the loss of +the whole term, and all the prizes she had set her heart upon, nor was +there any one to sympathise with her, as she turned her head away and +hoped no one would find out the tears in her eyes. + +It was just as it had been with Lance, she thought; prevented from +sharing in the competition that might have won him success in life. +And how sweetly and brightly Lance had borne it; but then he had never +reckoned on the success she had hoped for, and besides, her nature +had not the surface _insouciance_ that had helped him. She had more +industry, more ambition, more fixity of purpose, and the disappointment +was proportionably severer. + +Poor child! she lay on the sofa, as Mrs. Underwood supposed, fast +asleep, but really trying to work out in her brain puzzling questions, +why it was good to be disappointed when one does one's best, why the +race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, trying to +accept her failure as wholesome mortification to ambition, recalling +'Under Wode under Rode;' but rebelliously feeling that this did not +comfort her greatly in the very unnecessary picture her fancy proceeded +to draw of herself, with attainments fit for nothing but a nursery +governess or school drudge, or a companion to some one duller still +than Mrs. Underwood, magnanimously releasing William Harewood from all +ties to so inferior a being, and proceeding to die of a broken heart, +and to shed a few tears over her own grave; or maybe the still more +melancholy conviction, that there were no ties at all that he would or +ought to remember. + +A postman's knock made her start, and Mrs. Underwood lament that she +had been awakened. Presently she was sitting up, receiving a long, +narrow, green, thin letter, at which she looked with exultation and +delight all over the visage lately so doleful. 'O Mrs. Underwood, it +is from John himself---dear John!' was the cry, as her eyes lighted +on the address; and her pleasure amounted to rapture as she read the +closely-written sheets, in that clear strong neat handwriting that had +hitherto always been Wilmet's monopoly. + + Alexandria, March 20th. + + MY DEAR ROBINA, + + I hope this may find you as it leaves me at present, a thankful + convalescent, and able to think of undertaking a journey with + more motive force in your own person than I can yet boast. My + good little French doctor has unlimited faith in the healing + virtues of the Pyrenean baths, he being Gascon born, and has + even volunteered to help us on our way thither when going home + for his holiday--a chance too good to be lost. Malta must be + our first stage; and if, as I am told to hope, I can get my + sick leave extended, after being sat upon by the doctors there, + we shall go on to Bagnères, where we hope to arrive about the + last week in April. We think you had better meet us there. Miss + Underwood will see about arranging an escort for you; Wilmet + is writing to her about it. She also desires that you will rig + yourself out afresh, bringing nothing you have used while laid + up; and you had better likewise provide the stock of books the + Cambridge dons advise, as we shall be very quiet and stationary + for some time, and I will gladly do my best to help you, unless + modern lights have gone quite beyond the capacities of the R.E. + + You see by my date that we have made our first move. Chenu + was anxious to get us away from Rameses before the Egyptian + plagues should have become rampant, and after Wilmet had found + a scorpion curled amiably up on my pillow, she was ready for an + immediate start. So, amid the shrieks of the Arabs and tears of + the entire establishment, I was carried by Travis and Krishnu + to the station, and deposited in a horse-box, that I fancy + occasionally transports a harem, our host weeping and kissing + Wilmet's hands to the last moment. Poor people! they treated + us with uniform kindness. If you can make inquiries about the + price of a dinner-service, write me the result; it is a sort of + testimonial that might be convenient as well as appropriate. + + Here, in this great hotel, we are no longer No. 1, but + simple units, and find it so much less enlivening, and more + common-place, that we even regret the nightly laughter of the + hyenas. I want Wilmet to join a party who are going to pay + their respects to the Sphinx; but she will not hear of it, even + under the care of Fernan Travis, who has grown quite familiar + with that venerable animal. He is an admirable squire for her + (Mrs. H----, I mean, not Mrs. S----,) at the _table d'hôte_ + and is altogether as excellent a fellow as ever lived. I am + much struck with the ripening he has undergone since we were + together at Bexley, and his deeply conscientious views of his + very trying and difficult position. He means to see us off for + Malta, and then to make his way to Jerusalem for Easter, for + the chance that the throng may attract poor Edgar. Never was + search more indefatigable. Wilmet sends her love, but does + not write, as she has letters in hand to Felix and to Miss + Underwood. + + Hoping to see your face as round as ever before a month is over, + + Your affectionate brother, + J.O. HAREWOOD. + + Write to us at Malta whether you can come, and we will either + write or telegraph to you when to start. + +On a separate page were directions for the journey; and a cheque was +enclosed, the first Robina had ever received, providing amply for +journey, outfit, and books. + +An hour before, the journey to Brighton had seemed a terrific fatigue. +Now a journey to the Pyrenees was only delicious! Her happiness and +gratitude were unspeakable. This was not banishment--this was not loss +of time--this was perfection! + +Wilmet's letter to Marilda, which came at the same time, was a far +more anxious one. She described her husband as certainly better, but +still with three unconquerable wounds, on shoulder, hip, and knee, +that kept him helpless and prevented him from regaining strength. He +was always a bad sailor, and she extremely dreaded the voyage; yet it +was impossible to remain in the Egyptian climate, for already the heat +was fearfully exhausting, and this long, cheerful, well-written letter +must not deceive those at home, for it had been written in the cool of +the evening, when he always revived, but for the greater part of the +day he could scarcely speak or look; and she cautioned Robina against +reckoning too much on the Pyrenean journey, since if the military +authorities would not give John his leave without his presenting +himself in England, they must try some sea-side place there. John's +hopeful plans always ran on so fast whenever he was feeling a little +better. However, Wilmet herself was very eager to have Robina, who she +thought would be a great amusement and occupation to him, and was only +puzzled about the escort, since Felix could hardly spare the time, and +Clement was in the final agony of preparing for his degree. + +This however was settled by Marilda's offering her own maid, who was a +practised traveller; and not long after arrived the final intimation. +All had been made right at Malta; and Robina, who had by this time had +leisure to change her skin, and gather her strength, was to start at +once for Bagnères. + +She was not allowed any parting with Angela, or any of those at home. +It was safer otherwise, and not worth the risk, she was told, and there +was nothing to do but submit; and very much alone in the world did +she feel when she stood on the deck of the Folkestone boat, with the +black-silk maid as her only protector. It was a great plunge into the +vast unknown for one solitary little schoolgirl! + +Behold! A hand was held out to her, a merry pair of yellowish green +eyes twinkled, a wide mouth smiled, a greeting was in her ears: 'That's +right, Bobbie! I thought you'd be for this boat.' + +'Willie! O Willie! You are crossing? How nice! But you shouldn't touch +me.' + +'Bosh! I had it long ago! Are you well and jolly?' + +'Quite well, thank you. You are really coming?' + +'Ay, I thought I'd run over to see Jack, and how Wilmet figures as a +bride; and it is a good speculation to get you to do all the French.' + +'If I can; but here's Marilda's maid, a perfect traveller's book of +dialogues. Mrs. Purle--here is Major Harewood's brother, who is going +the same way.' + +A gentleman was not an unwelcome sight to Mrs. Purle, who was used to +depend on couriers, and who entreated him at once to enforce attention +to certain luggage about which she was distressed. + +And to Robina, he was simply the most delightful sight in the world. +After six weeks of the flatness and tedium of those good ladies in +Kensington Palace Gardens, a little youthful brightness, fresh too +from home, would have been like the pure sea wind after dull London +air, even if it had not been, of all people, Willie, Willie Harewood +himself, timing his journey on purpose to escort her! + +True, there were always two sets of feelings going on within her; +one when she was actually concerned with or about him, when the +common-place aspect overcame the remembrance of that evening by the +river-side, and left only a pleasant companionship of long standing, +with the freedom of family connection and acknowledged preference; +the other, when he was out of sight and hearing, and was the standing +romance of her life. + +It was not a wholly untroubled romance, for she was not certain of her +duty. Their promise had been exchanged when they were such children, +that it would be ridiculous to mention it, and it might be equally +absurd to dwell on it; yet her mind could not help attaching weight to +it, and questioning whether her secresy might not be a fault. Yet it +would be unfair, as well as absurd, to avow seriously nonsense three +years old, and without any further advance on his part. Without any? +That was the question that recurred over and over again to the poor +little heart, whenever romance got the upper hand, the heart that +_would_ one moment yearn, at another fail, at another bound! It was +avowed that Willie was very fond of her, and his sisters made that +fondness one of their standing jokes; but when Robin remembered the +enforced reticence with regard to Wilmet, that was no good sign, and +she could never discover whether he remembered the sixpence they had +not broken. It was no desirable state of suspense, this consequence +of having innocently listened to premature playing at lovers' vows; +and though good sense and modesty might mitigate the evil, that very +conscientiousness gave her the more to endure. + +However, the pain was all in private, and private moments were few, and +encroached on by sleepiness and struggles to write letters. They went +on too fast for more than fleeting views from the train, only at Paris, +after the _table d'hôte_ Willie was urgent for a stroll in the gas-lit +streets, and on Robina's demur, appealed to Mrs. Purle's good-nature, +and brought her out, tired as she was, but enjoying the delight of the +two happy young things. + +It was too late for sight-seeing, but little recked they; the wonder of +the city, then so great and gay, was quite enough for them; the long +illuminated arcades of the streets, the masses of trees in their young +foliage in the Tuileries gardens, the unaccustomed sounds--thundering +omnibus, rushing cabriolet, neighing, shrieking horses, and +high-pitched clamour of tongues, filled them with exhilarating +amusement. Then the people! Maid-servants in quaint white caps, +stately _sergents-de-ville_, soldiers marching to change guard, with +clanging bands, knots of talkers gesticulating, parties sitting out +on the pavement at the cafés--all was so new and queer, and it was so +wonderful to be there with only Will, that Robina could hardly believe +she was herself! + +Above all, the shop windows! How they lingered and admired, like the +frank-hearted children they were! Everything looked so enchanting on +those slopes--photograph, confectionery, porcelain, millinery, or +jewellery. Oh! the raree-show those trinket-shops in the Rue Rivoli +were to them, as they gazed at the wonderful devices--those earrings +and brooches, as flies, as beetles, as fishes, shrimps, and acrobats. +At last they came on a set where the earrings represented a little +silver bird hovering, and the brooch a gold wicker nest with three +pearl eggs, and the same birds standing over it, and Robina's cry of +admiration was instantly replied to with-- + +'You must have those, I vow!' + +'Nonsense! they must be frightfully dear.' + +'I don't care; you are the bird that must have that nest.' + +'But it is earrings!' + +'Well!' + +'I don't wear earrings.' + +'That's no reason you never should.' + +'No, no; Wilmet would not like it, and Mamma never did. It is making +holes in oneself to wear useless ornaments in,' said Robin, hurrying +out her remonstrance without choice of words. + +'And the other thing, with the two birds--is that for your nose?' + +'No, a brooch.' + +'You wear brooches. You have on a thing like a calf's eye.' + +'My poor onyx--for shame!' said Robina, not confessing that it was her +sole possession in that line. + +'Then you shall have those two cockyolly birds.' + +'No, indeed. It is a set, and they won't break it.' + +'Then Grace shall have one bird, and Lucy the other.' + +'Each one earring--you ridiculous boy!' + +'And wear them by turns! Come in, and ask the price prettily.' + +'No, I sha'n't.' + +'I thought you were to speak French for me?' + +'Only when I approve.' + +'Then here goes!' + +And Robin, who was afraid to stand in the street without him, heard him +asking, '_Quoi est le prix de ce nid d'avis?_' + +Fortunately, or unfortunately, it was a bi-lingual shop, and the +purchase was conducted in English; the brooch was separated from the +earrings, the change made right, and the little box containing the +treasure thrust upon Robina, who could only twit the donor with his +_nid d'avis_. + +'_Avis_ not the French for a bird? If it is not, it ought to be. I +thought one only had to speak Latin through one's nose and bite off the +end.' + +'General rules are dangerous of application in particular instances. +There's the first hatch for you out of your nest of advice.' + +'If you hatch advice for me, I'll take it.' + +'That's a pretty considerable engagement!' said Robina, lightly. + +'Your eggs of advice ain't rotten like some folk's.' + +'They won't be pearls like these!' + +'How do you know? My eyes, Bob, there goes a regular old Dominican, +looking just as if he was got up for a charade. What a place this is, +to be sure! and how hard to fancy that it is but a few hours from home +after all!' + +The gift and the few words after it had brought Robina's outer and +inner worlds unusually near together; and when she opened her little +box in her room, she caught herself kissing the silver birds in a +strange thrill of pleasure and yet of doubt whether Wilmet would think +she ought to have accepted it. + +The long, long journey ended in mazy sleep through the diligence part +of the transit, all in the dark, but with a dim consciousness of +wheels, voices, and bumps. It seemed quite the middle of the night, +and far too troublesome to move, when at length she was extracted +by William rather than by her own volition, and something in a +white turban appeared before her dazzled eyes in the lamp-light, +as stumbling with weariness, she was supported and guided by her +companion's arm, and reviving in the cool night air, heard that 'it was +but a few steps, and the Mem Sahib was waiting.' + +Then a great door opened, and showed a flood of light intercepted by a +tall figure, and then Robina found a pair of soft arms round her, and +nestling close to a well-known bosom, felt the infinite relief of being +off her own mind and with her who had ever been the very core of home! + +'My Robin, my Robin! Is she quite well? Oh, this is nice! And Willie--' +giving her sisterly kiss. 'Yes, we had your letter, we were so glad. +Mrs. Purle, how are you? thank you for bringing her! There's some tea +ready--Krishnu will show you.' + +And then they were in the sitting-room, with its bright lamp and +blazing wood fire, and thorough English tea, and Wilmet in muslin and +blue ribbons, as they had never seen her but on rare gala days. + +'How's John?' began William, rather blank at missing him. + +'Much better--so much better, but I told him not to think of seeing you +to-night. He has been in bed more than two hours. And oh, my Bobbie, +you ought to be there too!' + +'Yes, she's tired to death,' said Will; 'we have been going since eight +last night.' + +She really was too much tired to speak or eat, and passively submitted, +scarcely conscious where she was--nay, at some moments thinking herself +in the old nursery in St Oswald's Buildings, in the comfort of being +undressed, cossetted, and put to bed by the hands most natural to her +since infancy. After a time of weariness too great for right sleep, and +of a strange confusion about confessions to Wilmet, she at length lost +the feverish element of over-fatigue, and slept soundly till she opened +her eyes to realise a little festooned bed in an alcove, white curtains +over the windows, strange new street-cries outside, and within, her own +box, a sofa, a table, a chair, and a fine clock, which could not be +going, for it pointed to half-past ten! + +As she was sitting up and looking in vain for some means of washing, +the door gently opened, and that dear motherly face looked in. 'Awake +at last, my poor little tired bird?' + +'O Wilmet, is it really so late?' + +'Of course! never mind. Willie is just as bad; there are his boots +outside his door still. There, drink this coffee before you dress. Yes, +you want it; you could take nothing last night. Let me look at you; are +you quite rested, and fit to get up?' + +'Oh yes!' energetically; 'if only I saw how to wash!' + +Wilmet laughed, and opened a cupboard-door, displaying the requisites, +even including a tub, which she had found and purchased individually. +After the ablutions she could judge of her little sister better, and +thought the cheeks not greatly wanting in their roundness, or healthful +freshness; but all the brown hair had been cropped, and the short wavy +curls added to the childish contour. It was a prim little schoolgirl +figure that stood there in a grey carmelite dress, and black silk apron. + +'My dear, have not you a bow or bit of ribbon? John likes colour.' + +'Only a blue ribbon for Sunday.' + +In a moment Wilmet had hurried to her own room, a rose-coloured snood +was round the brown hair, and a little Maltese cross hung by another +pair of rosy streamers round her neck. + +'And a brooch, my dear. Haven't you one--what's in this box?' + +'O Wilmet, I wanted to ask you about it. Willie would buy it for me at +Paris!' + +'How pretty! There, that will do nicely. Are you ready? John is quite +eager for you, now he is at his best.' + +So Robin, who meant to have put her question in a very different form, +was hurried away, _nid d'avis_ and all, and the next moment found +herself in the sitting-room, where on a couch near the fire, but +commanding a view from the window, lay, half sitting, her new brother, +holding out both hands to draw her to receive his kiss of welcome. +'Well, Robin, quite recruited after the scarlet enemy? So you were dead +beat yesterday!' + +'O John, I did not mean to be so late!' + +'You are beforehand with that lazy brother of mine, who tacked himself +to your skirts. Just in time for _déjeûner_, a thing always going +on here. Is the young Sahib awake, Zadok?' as the white figure with +a brown face entered to lay the cloth, but it was at once followed +by the young gentleman, exclaiming, 'Good morning, Wilmet; I beg +your pardon--I'd no notion of the time.' Then coming to a sudden +stand-still, 'Holloa, Jack!' + +'Holloa, Bill,' replied John, imitating the tone, with a smile. 'How's +my father?' + +'As--as usual! But, Jack, old fellow, how--how small you look?' said +Will, shocked and overcome into small choice of words, as he stood with +a frown of dismay on his face. + +'Boiled to rags, like the policeman in the Area Belle,' said John, +trying to laugh him into reassurance. 'Did you expect the process to +have the same effect as on a pudding?' + +'But my father said he was not altered!' said William, turning to his +sister-in-law. + +'He has gone through a good deal since then,' said Wilmet, wistfully. +'And the sun-burning has had time to fade. If you had seen him before +we came into this mountain air, you would only wonder at him now.' + +'Besides,' added John, 'you are grateful to a man for looking anyhow +at all when he lies like a mummy. And now he is dressed like his +fellow-creatures, you compare him with them.' + +'And that is only since we have been here,' said Wilmet, proudly. + +'And how are they all at home, Bill? How's the mother?' + +'Oh, all right; and she kindly insisted on my taking out some Liebnitz +to you in case you couldn't get anything in these French places. She +fairly took me in this time, and I suggested it was rather tough for +you under present circumstances, but she said that couldn't be, for she +got it warranted in tins at the competitive.' + +'Dear mother!' said John, as they all shrieked with amusement; 'I +don't think Wilmet will be at all ungrateful to her. I am afraid the +commissariat is a weight on her mind. Now, what do you think of her +looks?' demanded John, rather anxiously. + +'Well, she is always--just Wilmet--but she is thinner, and not so pink +as she used to be,' said the uncomplimentary Will. + +'Of course,' said Wilmet, as John's eyes turned on her the more +solicitously, 'after the heat of those last weeks in Egypt; and Malta +was almost worse, except that there was not the constant warfare with +the flies that just kept one alive.' + +'It is very warm here,' said Robina, who had left London in an east +wind. + +'We find it cold up here in the mountains,' said Wilmet, who wore a +velvet jacket and thick glossy striped blue and brown silk. 'Dr. Chenu +warned us to prepare.' + +'Yes,' said John, 'so I sent her out at Marseilles to fit herself out, +and what does she come home with but one lugubrious black silk, which +she tried to persuade me was the correct thing!' + +'And then,' said Wilmet, 'the next thing I found was his bed spread all +over with patterns, and it was all I could do not to have enough to +clothe all Bexley. I was obliged to get a new box as it is, and luggage +is frightfully expensive on these French lines.' + +Willie and Robin, though both in some awe of Wilmet, could not help +smiling at a speech so exactly like herself, as to remind them of +Lance's mischievous averment that she must have married John because it +was so much cheaper than sending any one out. + +Those four happy tongues, how much they had to tell and to ask, about +the two journeys and the two homes, all mixed up together, Bill's +tidings being the most recent, and all that was known by letter +becoming much more real and interesting by word of mouth. + +Cherry? Yes, Cherry was very well, and had no end of a picture for the +exhibition, of the maiden spinning for her lover's ransom--she had +studied the maiden from one of Ernest Lamb's sisters, but she had put +in exactly her own eyes, poor Cherry! There was a picture of Stella +and Theodore upstairs for Wilmet Lance had played his violin to keep +Theodore happy while sitting. Oh, and had they heard that Lance had +really been asked to take the organist's place? The former one had sent +in his resignation, and after the half-year that Lance and the choir +had worked together, there was a general desire that he should take the +post. Mr. Bevan had even written to request it, at £50 a year instead +of £70. + +'What a shame!' broke out Wilmet 'I hope Felix did not consent! I had +much rather he was not paid at all.' + +'That was what Lance wanted, of course,' said Robina; 'he wished to +give his music freely, as he does not give up the business.' + +'But Felix said he had no desire to give either £20 or £70 a year to +my Lady, and that he did not accept her as the Church,' said Will; +'and Miles--old Miles was more rabid than ever he was at the Zoraya; +and Lance was in a state bordering on distraction for fear it should +go off altogether, and he should undergo torture from a fifty-pounder +every Sunday of his life, but my Lady gave in; and Lance reconciles his +conscience to the lucre of gain by getting a lesson from Miles once a +week, and raising the pay on the biggest of those interminable little +Lightfoots.' + +'George, the intelligent one, that Cherry used to have up to teach,' +interposed Robin, 'so that there's another in the shop to make up for +any time Lance spends away from it. And when Fernan's new organ comes, +whenever it is finished, it will be such a delight.' + +'I hate to see him all the same,' muttered Will, with a frown; but the +observation was unheeded, as Robina eagerly told how Theodore had one +day gone in with his brothers to the choir practice, where he had been +in such a state of bliss, and kept his _lieder ohne wörter_ so true +that they had taken him regularly first thither and then to church, +where he accompanied like a little musical instrument, and at last Mr. +Flowerdew could not resist enrolling him in the choir, where, seated +in front of Felix, and with 'one of the interminable Lightfoots' as +guardian by his side, he was safe from molestation from any teasing +freak of the other boys, and however much he might comprehend, there +was no doubt that his felicity was perfect. + +'It has really altered him,' said Will. 'I did not know him when I +saw him in his surplice; and indeed he seems to have got a stimulus +altogether, between that and Scamp.' + +'Scamp!' + +'What, they've not ventured to tell you that they've set up a dog!' and +Bill and Bobbie both fell into convulsions, in which the Major joined +more moderately, at his lady's demure face of astonishment. + +'I suppose it was forgotten, when all the wedding letters were being +written,' said Robina, rather guiltily. + +'And when the mice no longer expected the cat,' said John. + +'No, indeed it wasn't that!' pleaded Robina. 'Lance couldn't help it.' + +'It was a votive offering,' said Will 'Lance has never ceased to be +little Dick Graeme's demi-god ever since he licked him within an inch +of his life for bolting Shapcote's plums. You know those dogs of Mr. +Graeme's, Jack--beautiful black retrievers with tan legs and muzzles. +One belonged to Dick, and no sooner has she a litter of puppies than +he must bring up one for Lance, without a hint to him or any one else, +till one day he coolly marched in with his dog at his heels.' + +'His father was driving in,' said Robin, 'and had no notion the boy +had not settled it all. We were just sitting down to dinner when the +bell rang, and there was a wonderful floundering on the stairs, and in +tumbled Master Dick with this great black beast padding and sprawling +after him. Then, while Cherry stood clutching Lord Gerald in one hand +and the back of her chair in the other, much as if it had been a wolf, +we heard the pleasing intelligence; "He is for you, Underwood; he is +Sal's finest pup, and I brought him up on purpose for you."' + +'But Lance was not forced to keep him.' + +'We could not turn him out neck and crop; and you can imagine the +rapture of Angel and Bear, and Lance wished it so much! Even Cherry did +not like to vex the boy, and when she began to talk of Felix and the +yard, I thought how it would end. But when she said it would frighten +Theodore into fits, the next thing we saw was the two rolling on the +floor together, Tedo's arms round the dog, and Scamp licking his face +all over, and all that satiny puppy hair on the long ears mixed up with +Baby's flax. Cherry made a sketch on the spot, and there was no notion +of sending him away after that. I don't know whether Tedo cannot do +without Stella better than without Scamp, for they seem to understand +one another better, and he is not afraid to go into the garden alone +with Scamp, though he never would with Stella. It is quite new life to +him.' + +'As good a thing as could have been devised for him,' said John. + +'Poor dear Tedo! yes, I am glad for his sake,' said Wilmet; 'only I +hope they don't have him in the house.' + +'Don't they,' said Willie, mischievously; 'didn't I nearly break my +neck over the black back of him last Monday!' + +'But Lance always combs him,' eagerly interposed Robina. + +'Yes, Lance is as dainty about brushing and curry-combing him as he +is over his own lark's crest when the ladies are coming for their +magazines. Oh, Scamp is a great institution; he walks Cherry out every +day, and even Felix can't resist if he makes a set at him.' + +'Capital! What, not reconciled yet, Wilmet?' + +'Not to having him in the house. I am thinking of Mrs. Froggatt's +carpet.' + +'Ours, you mean,' said Robin; 'besides, it is drugget.' + +'And past praying for,' wickedly added Bill, 'since Bernard and I made +a general average of the inkstand and Cherry's painting things at one +swoop.' + +'Abdicated sovereigns should close their ears,' said John. 'No doubt +Constantius' doings much disturbed Diocletian over his cabbages.' + +'I hope I was not such a tyrant,' said Wilmet; who, though used to +raillery from her brothers, had yet to learn to take it from her +husband. + +'At least I hope you have retired on a cabbage, _mon chou_,' he said. + +She smiled, but turned the subject by explaining that their excellent +doctor had not only secured these comfortable rooms on the ground floor +till the season should be advanced enough to remove to Barèges, but +had recommended them to a _confrère_, and had found, what John added +was more difficult to get than the savant, a pony and a wheeled chair, +in which he was going out at two o'clock. 'And it is past twelve now,' +said Wilmet; 'and you ought to be resting.' + +'I'll go and look about, and come back in time to put you in your +chair, Jack,' said William. 'Come along, Robin.' + +'If you are not tired, Robin,' said Wilmet, 'you had better go out. We +can only keep along the road; and John ought to get some sleep before +he goes out.' + +'The cabbage is well drilled, you see,' said John; but he really did +look weary, and Robina was glad enough of the positive command. + +Her sister had clearly no notion but of turning the children out to +play whenever they were in the way; and for the present that was quite +enough to send her down, forgetting everything but the charm of the +walk and the companionship. + +The fresh sunny spring-tide and mountain air would have been +exhilaration and ecstasy in themselves, such as she had never known, +even if there had been nothing to see, and no one she cared for at +her side. And now the ravine, the pine-clad slopes, the scattered +cottages, the rocks, the foliage, the blossoming trees, the picturesque +figures, above all, the veritable mountain summits, still glorified +by their winter snows, cutting the clear blue sky, filled her with +a sense of beauty and wonder, enlarging her whole spirit with a new +incomprehensible sensation; and William was altogether lifted out of +the hair-brained rattle-pate. His frank-hearted nature had no corner +for the affectation of sneering at his own loftiest emotions. It was +his first mountain, and he was perfectly overcome by it; he raised his +hat with an instinct of reverence, and the tears stood in his eyes as +he kept silence at first, and then murmured, 'One seems nearer the +Great White Throne!' + +'I never guessed it was--oh--that there was such a soul in it!' +responded Robina, in low awe-struck accents, as if in a church. + +'No words ever gave one a moment's sense of it,' he answered; and then +they began revelling in individual admiration, climbing and wandering +in oblivion of all but the light and shade, the shimmering torrent +and sheer rock, the cloud-like hills and deep clefts, till far on +the road below they spied a queer high-wheeled pony-chair, a lady in +a broad-leafed flat-crowned hat walking beside it, and the Hindoo's +unmistakable scarlet and white in attendance. + +'Bless me!' cried Will, leaping up, 'didn't I mean to have carried poor +Jack to his chair! Time is nothing in these places!' + +'Can we get down to them?' + +'Of course! Charge, Chester, charge! Give me your hand, and I'll get +you down. I say, Robina,' in a lower, graver tone, 'I'm glad we've had +this sight together! We'll never forget it!' + +Whatever sentiment might be conveyed in these words ended in as English +a view-halloo as ever startled the Pyrenees, causing the party below to +look up and wave gestures deprecatory of the headlong descent, which, +nevertheless, was effected without the fracture of limbs, though Robin +arrived breathless, and panting enough by no means to disdain a seat +by John's side. He was looking as happy as a king, in the enjoyment +of the mountain air and scenery after his long confinement on the +parching Egyptian sands; but it was silent delight, and when Robina had +recovered the physical agitation of her descent, she had time to feel +the heart-swelling at those words, and the afterthought whether it was +a stolen pleasure unless Wilmet fully knew how sweet it was to be sent +out with Will. + +But speaking to Wilmet was no easy matter. She was engrossed with her +husband, and never willingly quitted him for a moment, thinking of +nothing but as it regarded him, and viewing his brother and her sister +more as means for his entertainment than in their substantial aspect. +She did indeed follow Robin to her room that evening, to satisfy +herself about the child's health; but just as the desperate struggle to +begin on this most awkward of subjects was being made, she fancied she +heard John's call, and was gone. + +Next morning, not only were the two sent out together while the doctor +made his call, but William communicated to her the verses that he had +sat up late and risen early to relieve his mind of, beginning with-- + + 'Can we ever forget this day?' + +To be sure it was all mountain, and would have suited Lance equally +well with herself. It was shown to John as a 'March Hare' contribution, +and was destined to the Pursuivant; but did it not begin with _we_, and +had she not had the first-fruits? The consciousness grew more precious, +the conscientiousness more distressed, till it drove her, in her truth +and honesty, to the desperate measure of so decidedly begging for a +private interview, that Wilmet came at once, supposing her unwell. + +'Oh no, no, but--but I wanted to make sure of its being right. All this +about Willie.' + +'About Willie? He is in no scrape, I hope?' + +'Oh no; only I could not be comfortable without your knowing. Those +verses, and--' + +'You little goose! How red you have turned! I didn't think you could be +so silly.' + +'It is not silliness,' exclaimed Robina, hotly; 'he said it.' + +'My dear! he must know better. What and when?' + +'Long ago. That evening at Bexley, just before Lance went to Vale +Leston.' + +Wilmet fairly burst out laughing. 'My dear child, how can you bring me +here to listen to such nonsense? That sort of children's foolishness is +silly enough at the time, but to dwell on it nearly four years after is +too absurd.' + +'I thought it might be play then,' said Robin, 'and everybody would +have laughed if I had told; but it never will quite go out of my head, +and now and then he says or does something that makes me think he has +not forgotten either, and I thought I ought to tell you.' She spoke low +and fast, with averted crimson face. + +'You are a good little girl, Bobbie,' said her sister kindly, from +an immense matronly elevation; 'but it is a pity anything so foolish +and mischievous was ever said to you, and you ought never to have +thought of it again. You should have left the boy if he would talk such +nonsense.' + +'I couldn't. Lance said we must not leave you alone,' murmured Robin. + +Wilmet gave her little clear laugh. 'I'm very much obliged to Lance,' +she said; 'but I am sorry Willie was inspired with a spirit of +imitation.' Then, as the mirror betrayed an unconvinced look, 'Has he +said anything to you since?' + +'I--I can't tell--you might not call it anything. Only that brooch! O +Wilmet, you aren't going to be angry with him--he never said anything +direct.' + +'I shall say nothing to him without far more reason; I never saw any. +At home he talks to Cherry.' + +'Yes, but--' she was ashamed to say 'he likes me best,' and it turned +into 'Everybody does.' + +Which Wilmet could not gainsay; and she went on: 'As to the verses, you +have sense to see they mean nothing. Willie likes you, of course, and +we are all brothers and sisters now; but as for any more, it is the +merest absurdity to think of it, and though you mean to be good, my +dear little sister, this is just working up a mountain out of nothing. +There can't be a more unlucky propensity than fancying everybody is +paying you attention, especially if you are not particularly pretty, +and have to be a governess, and take care of yourself!' + +'I know I'm not pretty,' said Robin, rather proudly; 'and I never shall +expect any one to pay attention to me;' and as Wilmet's smile denoted +incredulity after this specimen, '_this_ is quite different from anyone +else.' + +'I should hope so,' said the elder sister. 'There now, Robin, you have +done quite right to tell me; and now we'll think no more about it, but +go on as usual.' + +With this Robina had to be content; and if the incredulity was +mortifying, at any rate liberty was sweet, and there was a precious +underlying conviction that there was something that, if Wilmet would +not see, it was not her fault. Conscience was free to enjoy the +most brilliant spring her life had known. Throughout the fortnight +of William's stay they were out together nearly all day, sometimes +climbing near home, sometimes joining expeditions of English visitors, +always sympathising in seriousness or sportiveness, and ever ready to +fulfil the sisterly part of beast of burden towards his belongings when +he wanted to climb any specially inaccessible place, or smoke with the +friends he picked up. She always viewed that fortnight as the most +exquisite of her whole life! + +There was no sentiment in their last walk; for a brother and sister, +who were always in the habit of fastening themselves on every one who +was seen going out, stuck to them to their own door; but when Will took +possession of two water-colour sketches he had begged from Robina, and +announced his intention of framing and hanging them in his rooms, to +call up before him what without them would never be forgotten, they won +for their artist a thrill of delight such as none of Geraldine's far +superior performances had ever obtained for her. + +Robin had no one talent in any remarkable degree; her drawing was +exact and tasteful, but without genius; none of the Underwood sisters, +except Angela, had much voice, and her musical powers were only +cultivated at the expense of much diligence; but her general ability, +clear-headedness, and intelligence were excellent; and John surprised +his wife by observing that he thought she resembled Felix the most of +them all, both in countenance and character. Robin's--the round ruddy +face of the family--like Felix's defined delicately moulded features +and fair colouring! John smiled; he never took the trouble to defend an +opinion that Wilmet thought unreasonable, but he contented himself with +saying, 'There was a good deal of stuff in the Robin.' + +She did not flag when her holiday was over; indeed, there was a quiet +purpose in her soul that made her dutiful industry doubly hopeful and +pleasant. She had a good master. John's nature was hard-working, and +the invigoration of cooler air made want of employment irksome enough +to give him great satisfaction in the acquisition of a well-grounded +intelligent girl pupil to whom his aid was of real value. Their lessons +and their subjects multiplied as his strength increased, and though +they had plenty of fun and nonsense over them, Robina soon felt herself +making such progress as far more than compensated for the two months +she had so much regretted. Wilmet, telling them that some day Robin +would know how pleasant it was to have nothing to do with teaching, sat +by, stitching at a set of shirts for Clement. It was her ambition, as a +parting gift, to provide each brother with a stock; she had made those +for Felix and Theodore by John's bedside at Rameses, and to be busy +with the 'white seam,' and watch John eager and interested, and daily +looking less languid and pinched, was entire happiness to her. The +walks and drives became longer, and the neighbour brother and sister +complained that Miss Underwood could never be had, and was always +absorbed by her hard task-master, whom on her side she thought a far +more entertaining companion than they would ever be. + +The move to the mountain nest at Barèges was made, but the scheme made +in the warmth of their hearts in the spring, of William's spending +the long vacation there, was not fulfilled. Two objections stood in +the way; first his reading for honours, secondly the cost. He could +not afford another trip out of the proceeds of his scholarship, and +the Major's means were not so large as not to be seriously affected +by such an illness; while as Her Majesty's service had not required +his proximity to the engine, he could not obtain compensation for his +accident. When Wilmet had come to the understanding of the finances +she was to administer, she was startled at the free and open hand +which might suit a well-endowed bachelor officer on Indian pay, but +would soon drain the resources of a man--very possibly invalided for +life, and with a penniless wife. Robin would hardly have had that +wonderful cheque, if in Malta her sister had been altogether informed +of the balance at John's bankers; and when she was consulted on the +possibility of giving Bill a run, her reply was the more conclusive, +because, little importance as she attached to Robina's confession, she +preferred keeping the youth at a safe distance. Neither examination +would fare the better for mutual distractions on Pyrenean crags, and +both together they would be far less companionable to John than either +separately. + +Beginning wedded life in prostrate helplessness, John had been as +entirely thought for, managed for, and 'done for,' as Theodore himself, +during these earlier months; and when he had a will of his own, it +was treated with indulgence as a sick man's fancy, and yielded to or +not according to his wife's judgment; but as time went on, there was +sometimes a twinkle of amusement on his eye-lashes when he submitted, +or withdrew an opinion rather than exert himself for controversy. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +A BOOTLESS BENE. + + '"What is good for a bootless bene?" + She answered, "Endless sorrow."' + _Wordsworth._ + + +Geraldine was yet to discover how peaceful and happy was her life. +For a year and a half, the words at the head of our chapter--whatever +they may mean--had been running in her head. That 'bootless bene' was +a thing of sudden stabs and longing heartaches; but Edgar had not been +a sufficiently permanent inhabitant to be daily missed, as Wilmet was. +He had been a crowning ornament of the fabric of the house, not a stone +whose loss made a gap, but rather an ever bright, enlivening, exciting +possibility in her life, whose criticism and approval had led her on to +art, and trained her talent and taste. She never worked at a drawing +without an inward moan, and would almost have lost heart, save that he +and the clearance of his name were still her object; but for reliance, +support, and fellow-feeling, she had more in the remaining brothers +than he could ever have given her. Felix and Lance were precious +companions, and Wilmet's departure had left her no time for drooping. +Housekeeping began by being a grievous responsibility. Cherry could not +bargain like Wilmet, nor go down into the kitchen and toss up something +dainty out of mere scraps for her brothers' supper; and when she heard +that Zadok Krishnu excelled in curry and coffee, she could only lift +up her hands and sigh on the waste of good gifts of cookery upon one +Major! Martha was a good faithful servant, but odds and ends did not +go so far as they used to do; and Cherry never could, and never did, +reduce her bills to the original standard, though she brought them on +Saturday nights with such misery and humiliation that Felix was forced +to laugh at her, and represent that their pinch of poverty was over, +and excessive frugality no longer necessary. His position was now what +Mr. Froggatt's had been, and his means, with Lance's payment for board, +were quite sufficient to bear the difference, even without Cherry's +own, which fully covered the diminution through her want of time and +of notability. Waste there was not, profusion there was not; but a +certain ease there was, so soon as Cherry had learnt, as Lance said, +not to believe they should be in the County Court because they had +spent a shilling instead of elevenpence-three-farthings. She felt too +that home was comfortable to the others. The anxious stinting, though +at times needful, had, as Felix hinted to her, been good for no one. +Though praiseworthy and self-denying _when_ it was needful, the habit +had become cramping to Wilmet herself, and to all the brothers it had +been an irritation, endured by some with forbearance, but certainly +prejudicial to others. + +Nobody was afraid of Cherry; but since all had outgrown the bear-garden +age, a sympathetic government was best. _Berserkarwuth_ might require +King Stork's 'Now, boys;' but when the ruler was a lady, and a lame +lady, chivalry might be trusted even in unruly Bernard, who had come to +an age when freedom was better for him than strictness. + +So had the world gone till the autumn, when Major and Mrs. Harewood +had to retreat from their mountain abode, but did not venture on +wintering in England. They had made up their minds to winter at +Biarritz. John would have preferred Pau, but Wilmet set her face +against it, dwelling upon the benefits of sea air; and he yielded, but +he would not be baulked of a day's halt there. It was a place he had +always wished to see; and he would not defraud Robin of the castle of +the Foix, and of the tortoise-shell cradle of _le Grand Monarque_. + +He could walk now, but only with a stick, and stooping and halting a +good deal. His obstinate hip was still troublesome, and his recovery +had been retarded by painful methods of preventing contraction. Nor was +it yet certain whether he would ever be fit to return to his corps; +and though he moved about the house, and discarded invalid habits, he +was still so anxious a charge, that Wilmet was quite justified in her +vexation at the charms of the old castle at Pau, where he _would_ walk +and stand about, admiring and discussing history and architecture with +Robina and a clever French priest, lionising like themselves. She did +catch her sister, and severely forbid her to make a remark that could +protract the survey; but the wicked priest was infinitely worse, and +beguiled them into places where the ordinary guide would never have +thought of taking them; nor was she certain that her provoking John did +not perceive and rather enjoy her agony. + +At last she got him safe to the hotel, and into the tiny bedroom +opening out of their sitting-room. + +'It is much quieter there,' she said, returning. 'I have given him the +_Times_, and I hope he will have a couple of hours' rest before the +_table d'hôte_.' + +'Then, Wilmet, would you come with me? I made out the street, and it is +very near,' said Robin. + +'What street?' + +'Alice Knevett's--Madame Tanneguy. O Wilmet,' as she saw her +countenance, 'you know Cherry promised the aunts that we would see +about her if we went to Pau.' + +'Cherry had no right to make such a promise, and I do not mean to be +bound by it. Madame Tanneguy does not deserve notice, especially from +us! I should have thought you had had enough of her.' + +'But should not I be unforgiving to remember that?' + +'It is not a matter of forgiveness, my dear. Her marriage was the best +thing that could have happened to us. I am absolutely obliged to her +for it; but that does not make her behaviour any better.' + +'No; but suppose she was in distress?' + +'No reason to suppose any such thing! The man was well to do; and of +course she is leading that gay life the _bourgeoisie_ do here--at the +theatre or out on the _place_ all the evening--nothing fit for us to +associate with.' + +'I don't want to associate, and I only think it right to find out.' + +'What does Robin want to find out?' said John, helping himself forward +with the table; 'some defender for Jeanne d'Albrêt, whom we have heard +so run down to-day?' + +'O John! why aren't you lying down?' + +'Because I have no taste for being condemned to solitary confinement as +a punishment for being beguiled by that Jesuit--not even in disguise. +I'm going to write to my father. Aren't you going out again?' + +'No,' said Wilmet. + +'I thought I heard Robin wanting to find out some one for Cherry. These +doors aren't adapted for secrets. What was it, Bobbie?' + +'I did not mean to trouble you about it, John,' said Wilmet. 'Do you +remember about that unfortunate affair of Alice Knevett?' + +'Was it to her that your brother Edgar was attached?' + +'Yes. Remember, it was a clandestine affair; and these children were +made to serve as tools--that is, Angela was; and though Robina refused, +she was involved in the scrape, and suffered so much for it that I +should not have thought she would have wished to run after her again.' + +'Then she married a Frenchman, did she not?' interposed John. + +'Yes. After refusing to give Edgar up, and giving us all an infinity +of trouble and annoyance, she suddenly threw him over without a word, +and ran away with this Frenchman from Jersey. Yet here are the Miss +Pearsons expecting us to call on her, Cherry undertaking that we shall, +and this child expecting me to go and do so!' + +'Do you know anything about the Frenchman?' + +'A sort of commercial traveller, I believe.' + +'Agent for a wine merchant,' said Robina. 'Major Knevett said there was +nothing against his character. Miss Pearson sent the address; it is in +the street at right angles with this, about eight doors off.' + +'Well,' said John, 'I do not see how you can refuse to satisfy the Miss +Pearsons about her.' + +'If she were in a right frame of mind she would write to them. While +she treats them with such neglect, I do not see why I should encourage +her.' + +'Cherry said they thought she was ashamed to begin,' said Robina. 'Miss +Pearson wrote severely at first, and now wants very much to make a +beginning, and to be sure that Alice is not in distress.' + +'I think it ought to be done,' said John; 'it is so near, that you can +walk there at once with Robina, and at least inquire at the door. I do +not see how you can refuse Miss Pearson.' + +Nobody had spoken to Wilmet with authority since her fifteenth year, +and she did not recognise the sound. + +'I do not choose to notice a person who has behaved like that,' she +said; 'Miss Pearson has no right to ask it. Take off your things, +Robina; I am going to pack for to-morrow.' + +There was no temper in her tone, only the calm reasonable determination +that had governed her household and ruled her scholars; and she walked +into the other room and shut the door, as on a concluded affair. + +John looked round. Robina was standing by the table, wiping away a few +tears. + +'I do not know what to do, John,' she said 'I wrote to Cherry that we +were coming here, and would do this. May I have Zadok to walk with me?' + +'Your sister is quite right,' said John. 'I am the fit person to go. +How far did you say it was?' + +'Eight doors, I counted.' + +'Then we need not get a cabriolet,' said John, reaching for his hat and +stick. + +'But you are so tired!' + +'Not at all. If we go early to-morrow, this is the only time for doing +it.' + +Whether she experienced a spark of triumph, or whether she was merely +frightened and uneasy, as her brother-in-law came limping downstairs +after her, Robina knew not. She had never seen any one but Fulbert +fly in Wilmet's face. Felix might sometimes differ and get his way, +but that was by persuasion; and the pillars of the house had always +preserved the dignity of concord towards the younglings. It was +astounding, even considering that he was her husband. So quietly +and easily he did it, too, as if he had no notion what an awful and +unprecedented action he was committing. Force of habit made Robin feel +as naughty as when Fulbert had led her and Lance to see-saw on the +timbers in the carpenter's yard; and she could not divest herself of +fears of some such reception as had awaited them on that occasion. + +Wilmet packed without misgiving. She had foreseen this perplexity when +she endeavoured to avoid Pau, and her mind was too fully made up to be +overruled by Miss Pearson's ill-judged yearnings, Geraldine's imprudent +promise, Robina's foolish impulse, or John's good-nature. It was not +resentment, but disapproval. If Alice had jilted young Bruce she should +have held the same course. She would not argue before her little +sister; but in private John should be brought to a proper understanding +of Alice's enormities, and learn thankfulness to his domestic check on +Harewood easiness and masculine tolerance. + +Then it struck her that those two were unusually quiet in the next +room. Some sounds she had lost in opening drawers and moving boxes; +but now all was still, John no doubt writing, and Robin--could she +have gone to her own room to cry? The elder sister began to relent, +and think the moment come for drawing from her a confession of her +wilfulness. She opened the door to seek her. Behold, John was not +there. No, nor his hat and gloves! Robina was not in her bedroom! Had +they absolutely sallied forth in opposition? + +Wilmet had never been so defied by anything too big to kick and +scream! She stood aghast. Naughty obstinate Robina had wrought +upon John! He ought to have known better! He would knock himself +up--inflammation would come on--the wounds would break out again, all +because of this complication of foolish pity for that horrid little +flirt! + +Wilmet's tears gushed, her chest heaved with sobs. Why could he not +have attended to her? Withal his words came back to her. + +He had distinctly bidden her to go; and had she done so, he would +have been safe on that sofa. Bidden? yes, it had been a clear desire, +courteously and calmly uttered, but decisive; and only at this moment +did it strike her that his orders were more binding on her than those +of Felix. He had commanded. She had disobeyed, and he had done the +thing himself, to his own inconvenience, not to say peril. + +Then came vexation. It was not fair! She would have gone anywhere had +she known the alternative. Was it kind or grateful, after her long +nursing, to risk himself without warning! Nay, could a man use plainer +words than 'You ought'--'You cannot refuse?' Yet was she, as a wife, to +obey blindly at the first word, against her judgment? Perhaps Wilmet +had never known so hard a moment as this first galling of the yoke of +subjection--the sense of being under the will of another. How could he +run after that heartless Alice, who had been Edgar's bane and Felix's +grief? Who could tell what company she kept, or if she were fit company +for Robina? And the creature was so disgustingly pretty that she could +deceive any man, even Felix. True; but a little moderation on her own +part, and she herself--the prudent matron--might have gone forth with +her husband, protecting and protected, instead of exposing Robina's +inexperienced girlhood and his manly good-nature to any possible +contaminations or deceptions. Oh! would they but come! + +There was time for many such cycles of vexation, relenting, +self-reproach, and anxiety--ever growing severer towards herself, +bitterer towards Alice and Robina, tenderer towards John. It was nearly +seven o'clock before the slow thud of the stick, and the steps with +one foot foremost, proclaimed the return. Zadok was in the ante-room +and let them in. She saw John heated and panting; and reproachful +solicitude predominated in her voice as she exclaimed, 'You must stay +here. You are not fit for the _table d'hôte_.' + +'None of us are,' he answered, in a low, grave tone that startled her; +and she then saw that Robina was looking dreadfully white and overcome, +and trembling violently. + +As the girl met her eye, all was forgotten but the old motherly +relation; and there was a rush to hide her face on her, and a +convulsive sobbing of, 'O Wilmet! Wilmet!' + +'Lay her down! I will fetch something,' said John, moving towards the +other room. 'She has held up with all her might.' + +'But oh, what is it? That wretched Alice! Bobbie, my dear child, lie +down! Don't try to keep it in; cry--no, you can't speak. O John! What +is it?--Yes, that's right,' as he brought what was needed from the +medical resources always at hand for himself; 'only tell me the worst.' + +With his eyes on the measure-glass, and his steady hand dropping the +stimulant, he said, in an under-tone, 'A duel! The husband was killed; +but it was hardly Edgar's fault.' + +Wilmet, with Robina almost fainting on the sofa, was wholly occupied in +administering the drops, and bathing the flushed face; and the success +of her efforts was shown by another cry of 'O Wilmet!' and then a +passion of weeping that shook her whole frame violently. + +'That is best,' said John. 'She kept it in bravely.' And as the great +_table d'hôte_ bell clanged, he went to the door and spoke to Zadok. + +As he returned, Robina bounded up, nervously exclaiming, 'O John, lie +down, do; you are done up!' + +But when strength was needed, he found it. 'Not now, thank you, my +dear. I have told Zadok to bring us some dinner. That will make less +disturbance. We will get ready, and after that we shall be better able +to talk.' + +Overwhelmed and crushed, the sisters did just as they were told; but +Wilmet turned once, and said as if out of a dream, 'Is there anything +to be done? Is he here?' + +'Oh no! It was months ago--before I saw him. It was forced on him. You +shall hear all presently, dearest.' + +The gentle kindness restored her, or rather drove everything out of her +thoughts but his flushed, weary, affectionate face, and heavy painful +tread; and when he grasped her arm to be helped into the sitting-room, +and sank with a sigh into his chair, half the world might have killed +the other half, so long as he was neither ill nor angry with her. + +'Will you see for that poor child?' he said, as Zadok came up with the +three couverts; 'she needs restoration as much as any one.' + +Robina had washed her tear-stained face, but was only brought to +the table as an act of obedience; and all through the meal John was +coercing her into swallowing soup and wine, and Wilmet was watching +that he did not neglect his own injunctions. Then disposing of Zadok +with some orders about coffee, he lay down on the sofa, but by a sort +of tacit motion invited Wilmet to give him one hand to play with, and +stroke his hair with the other--his old solace at Rameses--and oh! how +much it made up for to her! Robina was now quite restored, and longing +to relieve her soul, and the narration chiefly fell to her. + +'We soon found the house--one of those immense tall old ones--and we +rang, and asked whether Madame Tanneguy lived there. "_O oui_," said +they, "_au quatrième_." We thought that rather odd; and John asked +again if she were English, and the _concierge_ said, "Yes, assuredly;" +and as someone else came just then, we asked no more questions, only +climbed up, up those dreadful stairs, so dirty and so steep. I wanted +John to sit down and wait for me, but he would not hear of it.' + +Wilmet looked at him with moist eyes, and pressed his hand. 'I was +accountable for the child,' he said, smiling. 'Besides, there was +nothing to sit upon.' + +'At last,' continued Robin, 'we did get to the _quatrième_, and rang; +and we heard a little trot-trotting, and the door was opened by a queer +little French child, that turned and ran away, calling out, "_Maman, +Maman!_" and as we went in--O Wilmet! there rose up, with a little baby +in her arms, poor Alice, all in black, with a great flowing white veil, +like the widow at Bagnères. She knew me directly, and I believe we both +gave a little scream.' + +'That you did,' murmured Major Harewood. + +'And she said, "You--you! what do you come here for?" I did not +know what to say, but I got out something about the aunts; and she +answered, "Then you do not know, or you could never have broken in on +me and my poor orphans!" Really I thought she was mad with grief, and +said the aunts would have sent all the more; but she burst out, "No! +no! not his sister--his--the murderer of my husband!" and she began to +cry. I only thought still she was mad, but--O John, what was it? Didn't +you think so?' + +'No, I saw that was not the case; but I thought she took you for +someone else, and began to explain; and I think the curiosity of making +out who I was, and how we came there, did more to bring her round than +anything else.' + +'But how could this dreadful thing have been?' asked Wilmet. 'You said +it once: but it cannot really be true!' + +'Too true, my dear,' said John, 'but with much extenuation. It was last +September. He really was with those National Minstrels.' + +'Ah!' + +'But not by name in the programme,' said Robina. 'She went to the +theatre with her husband, and there were Hungarian and German songs; +but then when the English ballad began--the Red Cross Knight--the first +notes overcame her; she had a _saisissement_, screamed, and almost +fainted.' + +'Just like her!' exclaimed Wilmet 'Then it was all owing to that?' + +'I fear so. Edgar looked up, and when he saw her, he broke down. He +began again, and got through the rest of his part; but in the meantime +M. Tanneguy had been discovering that he was not Alice's first love.' + +'Not by ever so many,' muttered Wilmet. 'And of course she shuffled and +shifted off the blame to Edgar.' + +'If so, she has suffered for it,' said John, with gentle repressiveness. + +'And,' continued Robina, 'whatever she could say only enraged him more; +he took her home, then waited for Edgar at the door of the theatre, +demanded an explanation, and challenged him. They fought outside the +town, and M. Tanneguy was wounded; but they did not think it so bad; +and, like a brave Frenchman, he kept up to his own door, so that Edgar +might get safe away. On the third day he grew worse, and died! O +Wilmet! who could have thought it? How will Felix bear it?' + +'Remember,' said John, 'that this was fastened on your brother. I +don't, of course, look on it as anything but a crime, but it should not +be exaggerated. To be insulted and called to account by a fiery Gascon, +when you believe yourself the injured party, cannot be easily bearable; +besides, Edgar had had a foreign training, not so alien to duelling as +ours, and his associates would expect it of him. For the rest, I think +he must have won his enemy's heart, for the poor lady said much of her +husband's acknowledgment of his generosity, and desire for his escape. +I am sure he might well, if he did half as much for him as he did for +me.' + +'And he had done this when he touched you,' said Wilmet, shuddering. + +'Or I should not be here,' said John. 'My dear,' and he held both her +hands, 'I wish I could make you look on it in a different light It was +not an assassination. To have refused the challenge would have required +a sort of resolution that few men are capable of; above all, when all +his surroundings would have expected it of him.' + +'What surroundings?' replied Wilmet 'No wonder he could not bear to +face your father and me! Poor Edgar! wandering about like Cain! And +he was such a dear little boy! Papa used to call him his little King +Oberon! Oh! I am glad Papa and Mamma don't know it.' She slipped down +on her knees by John's side, hid her face in his pillow, and cried, but +softly and gently now. + +'I don't think it can be less bad to Felix and Cherry,' said Robina, +sadly. 'How can we write to them?' + +'We had better not do so till I have learnt more,' said John; 'I shall +go to the _bureau de police_ to-morrow, and make inquiries, and try to +see poor Tanneguy's employer, M. Aimery, who seems to have been the +only friend that poor young thing has had.' + +'Why did she not write?' asked Wilmet. + +'M. Aimery did write to her father,' said Robina, 'but he has left +Jersey, and the letter was returned; and as to the aunts, you know Miss +Pearson did write sharply once, and Alice always took her strictness +for unkindness, and never knew how fond of her the aunts were. Indeed, +I fancy she has been too ill and inert to do more than go on from day +to day.' + +'Has she anything to live on, poor child?' + +'Her husband had a small interest in the business, and M. Aimery pays +her the proceeds every month--a hundred francs.' + +'A hundred francs! four pounds three and fourpence for herself and two +children!' + +'She had to move up from the nice apartments below to this dismal +_quatrième_, only one room, and very little in it; and then she was ill +for a long time, and the baby was born; and that took up all the ready +money there was left. She has been thinking whether she could get any +daily-governess work to do among the English; but then, how can she +leave the children?' + +'Poor thing!' said Wilmet, 'I must go and see her to-morrow.' + +'Do,' said her husband affectionately. 'Considering all things, we had +better remain here a few days, had we not?' + +'Certainly. I will speak about the rooms. Of course we must do our best +for her and those poor children. I hope they are girls.' + +'No,' said Robin,' boys--Gustave and Achille. Gustave looks +preternaturally wise and solemn, with his black eyes and bullet head; +but when his mother cried, he went into such an agony, that John had to +show him his watch, and give him his stick to ride on, before we could +hear ourselves speak. O John, what work you have done to-day!' + +'And you too, Bobbie,' said Wilmet kindly, 'you had better go to bed as +soon as you have had your coffee.' + +Her head was aching enough to make her glad to take the advice; and +when she was gone, John lay still, too weary, and yet too comfortable, +for the exertion of going to bed; and he was not far from sleep when +Wilmet came back from giving her sister the tender care that the shock +demanded. + +Bitterness and resistance had long been swept away by those terrible +tidings; but Wilmet could not forget that she had offended, and +gathering herself into a great effort, she stood by the sofa, +dignified, but rather constrained, and said, 'I am very sorry about +this afternoon, John.' + +'You were quite right,' said John, sleepily; 'it was not a business for +women alone.' + +'That was not what I meant,' she answered. 'I ought not to have made +that flat refusal. I did not recollect.' + +John roused himself a little, to say, 'I suppose when two people come +together who have grown up separately, their judgments must sometimes +differ, and there is not always time to adjust them.' These last words +were very sleepy again. + +'No, I see I ought to have submitted; but I had no notion you would go; +I behaved very ill to you, and you did it to punish me.' + +'Not exactly,' he said, stirred up at those words. 'It would have been +kinder to have told, but you had spoken plainly, and there seemed no +time--nor occasion--for--further--Jeanne d'Albrêt--' + +Which last words were sufficient testimony of the power of Morpheus. +After all, he was inflicting, though he did not know it, a severe +punishment. Wilmet was not a self-tormentor like Cherry; but she +did not like to have her little mutiny passed over without a +reconciliation, and to see him so perfectly unruffled by what had made +all the depths of her heart turbid. And when he had 'fallen asleep in +her very face,' she had the strongest possible temptation, if not to +pursue the argument, at least to demand if he meant to sleep there all +night, and rout him into going at once to undress; and when her real +goodness and affection would not permit this, to beguile the time with +the piece of intricate Pyrenean knitting, which had been the solace of +his active nature, when he was good for nothing else. Though she had +taught him to knit, those essential differences in the strength and +manipulation of male and female fingers, made him particularly dislike +to have rows interpolated by either of the ladies, and this she always +so far resented, that it would have been uncommonly agreeable in her +present mood to have gone on with the work. To abstain was all the +harder to a person of her instincts, because no other occupation could +be attained without opening a door, and breaking his slumbers; and +though Wilmet had plenty to think of, the deprivation of mechanical +employment for her fingers was trying enough to take away serenity or +connection from her thoughts. Instead of any sort of meditation on the +terrible tidings of the day, her mind _would_ vibrate between desire to +take up the knitting and resolution to let him sleep till eleven. + +Perhaps in truth, nothing in her whole life was so difficult to Wilmet +Harewood, or of so much service to her, than using such abstinence. + +The shock and horror of the tidings when they reached Bexley may well +be believed. John, after full enquiry, had written both to Felix and +to the Miss Pearsons. Geraldine had perhaps never before believed that +Edgar was lost to her, and the blow of regarding him as a murderer +had such an effect upon her, that an illness was the consequence, in +which Felix had to call in Sister Constance's aid to supplement little +Stella's, and conquer the almost exaggerated feeling that for a time +threatened nervous fever. + +Sometimes, however, a lesser worry becomes a remedy for the effects +of a greater, and Cherry's recovery was certainly not retarded by a +certain dismay at learning that the forgiving aunts had offered a +home to their errant niece and her little ones. No one could grudge +them the asylum, but it roused Cherry from bewailing the crime of the +one brother to a far more common-place anxiety about the other--a +counter-irritant that so restored her health and spirits, that Sister +Constance left her to such peace as it allowed her to enjoy. Felix +had settled down so quietly--he seemed so entirely to have got over +it, that it was hard to have all stirred up and the lady brought back +again, freed in so dreadful a manner. No woman can ever estimate +beforehand the effect that one of her own sex will produce on a man, +however sensible. Her opinion is no gauge for his; and she labours +under the further disadvantage that her better judgment is sure to be +pitied, if not as feminine spite, at least as feminine incapability of +candour; and Sister Constance advised Cherry to abstain from expressing +the faintest regret. The good old aunts religiously preserved the +secret of the mode of Tanneguy's death; but no one who knew the niece +could doubt that the whole story would be at the mercy of whoever chose +to cultivate her confidence. + +Her arrival was notified by the sending in of a parcel from the +travellers, containing Wilmet's sets of shirts for Lance and Bernard +and two beautiful shawls in Pyrenean knitting, one for Cherry and one +for Mr. Harewood. Felix said very little, but his complexion was still +as tell-tale as a girl's. He was restless till Geraldine had called, +though he feared to ask her to do so. She was not indeed uneasy about +his actions; but only lest his affections should be so far out of his +power as to render him unhappy and open the old wound. + +Her visit went off better than she expected. She was greatly touched +by Alice's delicate appearance and altered looks, and was favourably +impressed by her subdued affectionate manner, and her fervent gratitude +to the Harewoods, little guessing that it was to Robina that she owed +it all. There was so much to hear about the Major's degree of recovery, +his kindness, Wilmet's splendid beauty, and the sensation it excited, +and all their arrangements for the winter, that Cherry went home in a +far more ordinary mood than she could have thought possible. + +For some time there was no meeting with Felix. Cherry even began to +wish it was over, and off his mind as well as her own. + +It came about at last suddenly. Felix opened the house door exactly as +Alice was passing; they greeted one another, and shook hands. She had +her eldest boy with her; he was leading Theodore, and Scamp, who was at +their heels, instantly thrust his tan nose into little Gustave's face, +so terrifying the child, that Felix was lifting him in his arms out of +the dog's way, when he was startled by a yell from Theodore. The boy +had an animal's instinctive jealousy. He had never seen any child but +himself and Stella caressed by his brother; and the sight brought on +one of the accesses of passion which had begun to seize him since his +will and his strength had become somewhat more developed. Felix had no +choice but peremptorily to snatch him indoors, leaving Madame Tanneguy +and her child, who were both very much frightened, to Lance. + +No more effective separation could have been devised, for Alice could +not but retain a great horror of that 'dreadful boy,' who, though much +smaller than Stella, and with little force in his soft aimless fingers, +was still nearly eleven years old, and twice as big as her tiny brown +elf. If they had been shut up together, Gustave would have mastered +him in a minute; but she of course viewed him as a formidable being; +and on the other hand, his face changed at the word 'little boy,' +and his blue eyes grew fixed and round, and his soft murmuring to an +angry inarticulate jabber, if he did but catch a sight of the little +French boy from the window. Geraldine was just beginning to feel that +the preventive had come in a curious form, between the two unconscious +creatures, when Madame Tanneguy received a remittance from M. Aimery, +and could not understand how to get it cashed. So just at the old +twilight hour of her former visits she was shown into the drawing-room, +and a message was presently sent to beg Mr. Underwood to come up when +he was at leisure. + +When he came, Geraldine was struck with the peculiar gentleness of his +manner. It was gentle to all women and children, but to Madame Tanneguy +it had a sort of tender reverence that gave its exceeding kindness a +marked character, and was so unlike the good-natured elder-brotherly +raillery that used to veil his youthful adoration, that Alice +scandalised Cherry by exclaiming, 'How altered Mr. Underwood is! Grown +so grave, I should not have known him!' As if anyone would not be grave +when approaching the widow made by his brother. + +He had minutely fulfilled the little service for her, and no doubt the +reverential tone gratified her, for thenceforth she was always coming +for the help and counsel that she never failed to find. 'Nobody could +advise like Mr. Underwood,' she said; and it was amazing how much she +found to consult him about--not only her French investments, but her +arrangements with her aunts, her correspondence, and at last whether +she ought to bring up Gustave and Achille as Roman Catholics. It so +much annoyed him to detect any pleasantry on his submission to her +behests, that Cherry and Lance scarce durst glance their half-amused +annoyance to one another; and Angel and Bear never fell into a +worse scrape in their lives than when they concocted a forgery with +the tidings that Madame Tanneguy presented her compliments to Mr. +Underwood, and was grieved to inform him that Gustave had scratched +Achille's nose. Would he give her his much esteemed advice whether to +apply court-plaster or gold-beater's skin? + +Felix severely told Angela that to make a jest of Madame Tanneguy's +forlorn condition betokened heartlessness, and added to Bernard that +all the assistance that he or any of the brothers could afford was no +more than her due, and could never atone for the past. Bernard was +really awed, and after sulking for the rest of the day, suddenly +veered into a certain private adoration of the lady, who by this time, +with returning health, was resuming her vivacity. She had discarded her +floating crape, and her pretty little head shone in its native glossy +jet, while she smiled, chattered, and except that she was a devoted +mother, and did her duty conscientiously as an assistant in the school, +was the old Alice to all intents and purposes. Nor was it her fault if +the original Felix did not likewise revive; she tried many a little art +to beguile him into the playful terms of their former intercourse, but +he never relaxed that reserved, compassionate gentleness, nor allowed +himself to forget that his brother had first loved and then made her a +widow. Cherry could have jumped for joy that first time she detected, +and saw that Lance did, a shadow of a shade of impatience at those +exactions; and finally she settled into the trust that propinquity was +the best disenchantment, and that though there was still some romance, +it was about the Alice of old visions, not the live Madame Tanneguy, +whose obedient slave he would indeed always be, but merely as Edgar's +brother, and who was fast, by force of boring and of levity, dispersing +all the remaining glamour. + +Cherry had her own anxiety, for an inspection by Wilmet was +approaching, and very suddenly. At the end of the winter, at Biarritz, +the travellers' plans had been deranged by an offer of an appointment +at Woolwich, which hurried them home in the end of February instead of +the beginning of May, as they had intended, and allowed them only to +give one clear day to each of their families. To that day Cherry looked +forward with some dread. Certainly the household was not precisely the +Babel that Wilmet had found on her former return, but a formidable +consciousness of shortcomings that would not bear inquisition beset +her, and she had such a frantic bout of tidying, that Lance found her +hopping about half dead with fatigue, and Stella nearly smothered with +dust; and begging an afternoon's remission from business, he became +the merriest and most helpful of housemaids till the operation was +accomplished. + +After all, the anxiety proved to have been a little superfluous. Winds +howled all night, and Major Harewood's well-known discomfort at sea +made the arrival dubious till about three o'clock, when, in pouring +rain, a fly deposited the voyagers, shaken, battered, jaded, with a +prolonged and wretched passage, and each too anxious that the other +should rest, to be good for anything but wan smiles and affectionate +greetings. They had eaten or tried to eat at Southampton, and nothing +could be done with them but to shut them into Mr. Froggatt's state +bed-chamber and leave them, promising to be better company in the +evening. + +Then there was time for Robina, who meanwhile had done little but run +about in their service, select and open the boxes and bags containing +what was wanted, and introduce the Hindoo, who was put under charge of +a young Lightfoot. + +Then Lance and Robin had time to stand up in the drawing-room gazing +at one another after this thirteen months' interval. Lance held up his +hands and pretended to fall back in dismay: 'Robin-a-Bobbin grown into +a young lady! Ah!' + +'And what's this?' as she flew at him to pinch the thick brown down +upon his lip. 'What kind of crop is this?' And they took one of their +old tumbling waltzes round the room together, as if to shake themselves +into one, while, with the hand that each kept loose, Robin continued to +snatch at the new decoration, and Lance to defend and smoothe it down. + +'Ay,' said Felix (who tolerated it by a certain effort of philosophy, +and the humbling consciousness of being an old Philistine), 'he is +cherishing it for the Handel festival. He wants to be taken for a +German.' + +'O Lance, are you to go to the Handel festival?' + +'Yes, Miles has got me a place in the chorus--jolly, isn't it, of the +old fellow? I say, Robin, we must get you up there.' + +'I--oh! I shall be at Woolwich then, I suppose. Do you know, Cherry, I +must only stay till Monday? Those two aren't in the least fit to get +into their house at Woolwich without help, and John has begged me--' + +'I suppose you must,' said Cherry. 'After all these good accounts, this +is disappointing; but how could you all cross on such a night?' + +'Why, Wilmet never minded the sea before, and John had made up his +mind soldier-fashion, and thought nothing was to be gained by waiting. +And when Wilmet had to succumb she would not believe it, and was so +disgusted at herself, and so miserable about him, that it did her all +the more harm.' + +'And you!' + +'Oh, I was quite well; but it was horrid enough any way--and poor John +had gone from the first to lie quite flat in the gentlemen's cabin, +where I could not get at him.' + +'Before I go, what do you think of him?' asked Felix. 'One can't judge +of his looks to-day.' + +'Oh! he calls himself sound--the wounds are all healed at last, but he +gets a great deal of bad pain still, either rheumatic or neuralgic; he +says it comes from the strain on his constitution, and will take no +advice about it till he can see Dr. Manby. Then he's so cripply that he +could not have gone on in the service if he were not a field-officer. +He says he is quite up to it, but we think it a great experiment. Oh! +Felix--Lance--don't go--there can't be anybody this wet afternoon!' + +'Yes,' said Felix, 'this is just the time that all the old gentlemen +who get tired of their own fire-sides, and all the professionals +that can't take their walk, feel inclined to come and prose at +"Froggatt's."--But they won't want you, Lance; I'll send if there's +anything for you to do.--Good-bye, Robin Redbreast, you do look +uncommonly nice!' and he took her round cheeks between his hands, +and held up her face to kiss each of them, with mouth and brow, +individually and gravely. + +'She's the Robin still,' said Cherry, 'only just a little polished up.' + +'Developing,' said Lance, stalking round her, and speaking his words +deliberately; 'developing--into--the--bloom--of--sweet--seventeen--and +of--' + +'Not beauty!' broke in Robina. 'I would not be as pretty as Wilmet for +two-pence.' + +'Not for a major?' suggested Lance. + +'He didn't marry her for her beauty,' vehemently responded Robina, 'but +for her--her niceness. Her beauty has been always in her way, and a +nuisance to her, and--' + +'Sour grapes!' quoth Lance. + +'Not a bit. It would be a worse hindrance in my branch of the +profession.' + +Lance did not answer in jest this time; he looked at the bright +pleasant-faced girl in her maidenly bloom and fresh stylish dress, and +said, 'What a horrid pity it is! she looks ten times more of a lady +than ninety-nine out of a hundred of 'em--and there she's to go and +grind and be ground just for a governess.' + +'Not a bit more of a pity than that--I'll not say that you should be a +printer, Lance, but than that anybody should be anything. I learnt my +Catechism, you see, to learn and labour to get my _own_ living.' + +'So you sent Madame Tanneguy home to prevent you from getting into +Wilmet's shoes at Miss Pearson's?' + +'I should hope I was fit for something more than that!' + +'Well done, Bob!' + +'I didn't mean--' said Robina, rather distressed, 'but you see I have +had a much better education than ever Wilmet could get, and have gone +on longer with it; and I can go in for things that girls here would not +care to learn; so, as I am not wanted to keep house with Wilmet, it +would be just waste for me to come and do like her--poked up in this +corner.' + +'Ah! you've had a taste of the world,' said Lance, speaking in jest; +but Robina, recollecting how he had crushed any ambition of his own, +and who _did_ veritably feel that though home was home, Bexley was dull +and narrow, turned round with moist eyes. + +'O Lance, I hope it is not that! You know I have been brought up to go +out, and it seems my work and duty; but I think it is a great deal more +honourable to stay here because one is wanted.' + +'Because one can't help it,' said Lance, pulling her hair and smiling. +'Have you learnt to make speeches in France, Bob?' + +'No. But indeed, Lance, I do want to know if you do never get tired of +things now?' + +'Oh! I've no right; I'm not one of the highly educated ones!' said +Lance, in a spirit of teasing. + +'Now, Lance, don't punish me, when I really want to know.' + +'Taking into consideration the awful slowness and stodginess of the +place, and the contempt of one's highly educated brothers and sisters,' +said Lance, slowly, but with a twinkle in his eye that somehow made up +for the words, 'one _does_ drag on life pretty well, by the help of +Pur and the organ. The new one is coming by next summer, if there's any +faith or conscience in the builder, which I believe there is not.' + +'And,' she added, coming near and speaking low, 'did I not hear that +there had been a letter from Ferdinand?' + +Cherry looked for it. 'Felix took it down to answer,' she said, 'but it +was from Sydney. He had seen Mr. Allen.' + +'Oh!' + +'Yes. He tracked those National Minstrels all over India, Bombay, +Calcutta, all manners of places--good faithful fellow--and at last he +found they had gone to Sydney, and there, actually, was Mr. Allen, +settled down as a music-master, making--I don't know what in a week.' + +'But--' + +'But there had been a great quarrel, and the concern had broken up; and +he did not in the least know where poor Edgar was gone,' sighed Cherry. +'Robin, did you hear what name he sung under at Alexandria?' + +'No, Ferdinand only told Wilmet that his name was not in the programme.' + +'That good Cacique!' broke out Lance; 'he is about the slowest-witted +fellow that walks the earth. I believe he would never believe it was he +if he saw anything less than Thomas Edgar Underwood in extra type. If +he only would have sent me, I'll be bound I'd have run Edgar down in no +time, instead of being always three months behind him, and now off the +scent.' + +'No, but is he?' + +'No, he has not given it up,' said Cherry. 'Mr. Allen did not know +whether they were gone to Melbourne or Adelaide, and he meant to try +both; and to go and see Fulbert and Mr. Audley.' + +'One of them will stumble on him while Fernan is staring about with his +nose in the air,' said Lance. + +'I am afraid he will only avoid them,' said Cherry sadly. + +'And another certainty is that he will have taken some fresh alias,' +said Lance, 'while the Cacique is still hunting for Tom Wood. I bet on +Fulbert's finding him!' + +'Has he parted from those Hungarians too?' + +'Ay, there's the question! Should you like a prima-donna sister-in-law, +Robbie?' + +'No, no, no--don't, Lance,' cried Cherry; 'Mr. Allen said Mademoiselle +Zoraya had--the horrid woman--thought much more of Edgar since--' she +could only pause, 'but he was far too sharp to be drawn in.' + +'That I believe,' said Lance. 'Never fear, Cherry, we shall have +him some of these days, with a long beard, a longer fortune, and +the longest story--ah!' with a long sigh, 'if I wasn't an organist, +wouldn't I like to be a scamp!' The offensiveness of which word was +concealed by a sudden embrace of the Scamp dog, who was made to stand +on his hind legs, with his feet in Robina's hands, to display his +beautiful topaz eyes; and in the midst of the exhibition the door +opened, and John came slowly in, leaning on his stout stick. + +'O John, I am glad! are you rested? Haven't you been asleep?' + +'No; I think Wilmet will sleep if she is alone, so I am going to waste +no more time. Thank you,' as Robina put the cushion as he liked it, and +looked into his face with inquiry as she detected the well-known lines +that showed it was pain that made sleep hopeless. He smiled and gave a +little nod, by which she understood that she was to keep her discovery +to herself, and that it was not so severe but that he hoped to amuse it +away; and he began at once laughing with Geraldine. + +'Well, Cherry, you see I've a rival to Lord Gerald.' + +'I began to think I ought to offer him to you, though it would go to my +heart.' + +'As if I would be put off with a slender little wand like that,' said +John. 'That's what I call a stick.' + +'That's what I call a club,' retorted Cherry. 'I should want somebody +else to carry me if I took such a monster;' and they proceeded to a +sort of tilt between their two supporters. + +'I won't have disrespect to my steadfast friend! She's made of olive +tree; her name is Olivia; and I believe Wilmet is jealous of her.' + +'Indeed she is,' said Robin. 'When you go out all by yourself, and come +in hardly able to speak. That's what he went and did at Paris.' + +'When one has got a wife and a sister, one breaks loose sometimes. +Here, you little Star, come and speak to me! Why, you were a +blackberry-gathering baby when I saw you last! Let me look at you now. +How old are you?' + +'Eleven and a quarter,' breathed a little voice, as he gathered two +tiny hands into his, and a pair of porcelain blue eyes glanced up +for a moment out of the most dainty little oval chiselled face and +pink-and-white complexion, set in soft brown hair. + +'And can eleven and a quarter hatch an egg from the Palais Royal? Not +from Bill's _nid d'avis_, but of a bird of larger growth,' as Stella, +with a half-breathed 'thank you' rosiness spreading over her face, +and lips raised for a kiss, beheld a beautiful blue egg, containing +implements of needlework. + +John tried to talk to her over it, but could get nothing but +monosyllables, and blushes, and smiles, till he released her, and she +flew off, 'To show her egg to Theodore,' said Cherry. 'There's some +baking going on; and he never stirs from the kitchen while he can +handle the dough.' + +'What a lovely little fairy it is!' said John; 'but is it wound up to +say nothing but yes or no?' + +'She is awfully shy,' said Lance. 'Bill can't get as much out of her as +you have done.' + +'She has not spoken a word since I have been in the room,' added Robin. + +'She is a strangely silent child,' said Cherry. 'Sometimes I think +living so much with Theodore helps to make her so. She is quick at her +lessons, and is a perfect little book of reference; and will talk to +me gravely when we are alone; but it never seems to come into her head +to chatter. I'm sure Lance and Robin have talked more nonsense in this +hour than she has in six months.' + +'I've a longing to hear Stella perpetrate a little nonsense,' said +Lance. 'When Angel and Bear are at home, and there is a good gabble, +there sits the child, her bright eyes smiling and gleaming, without a +word.' + +A knock at the door. 'Mr. Lancelot, there's the Centry carriage in the +High Street.' + +'There, you see what it is to be the lady's man!' said Lance, laughing +and running down. + +'The Centry carriage means your cousin no more,' said John. + +'No; she has let Centry to an old general with a large family. She said +she knew nothing about country poor, and hated county people; and her +mother likes nothing really but Brighton. I think she is quite right,' +said Cherry. + +'What sort of people are they?' + +'Oh! they do very well for the parish; but of course are nothing to +us. The General proses over the papers to Felix sometimes, and the +daughters have the loveliest eyes in the world.' + +'That's Lance,' said Robina, laughing. 'Is he as tender-hearted as +ever?' + +'Oh yes; or more so; but as long as the ladies _all_ have the most +beautiful faces that ever were seen, and his attentions are confined to +putting attractive advertisements into their parcels, I don't mind.' + +'Lance is the most altered of you all,' said John. + +'Dear Lance,' said Cherry, 'he has got back a great deal of his +sunshine--quite enough to be very delightful to us, though I doubt +whether he is always as bright to himself. There is a certain +_sehnsucht_ in the pieces of music he goes on improvising, that +sometimes makes me anxious.' + +'You mean whether he has got into the right line,' said John. + +'It's no use thinking about that; Felix could not do without him; and +he is fit for nothing else now,' said Cherry. 'I fancy when the new +organ comes, he will have a love in that and be happy.' + +John was thoroughly one of themselves, more eager about Bexley affairs +than his wife, though she was thoroughly her affectionate self when +she joined them in the evening. She was too much tired, and too glad +to see their faces, to do more than repose in the sight; and it was +kinder to sing than to talk to either traveller. Even the next day, +when the ravages of the storm had been repaired, she had too much on +her own hands to have leisure to set Cherry to-rights; and if she +perceived any disuse of her pet economies, she acquiesced as if it +were to be quite expected, and no more worth a protest than matters +at the Bailey, whither she was going the next day. To be sure, there +was a kind of implied expectation that she would some day arrive for a +general rectification of what could just be tolerated under present +circumstances; but this was not a very pressing alarm. + +The visit was over, the new home at Woolwich begun; and before many +weeks were over, it welcomed what father and aunt united in calling a +magnificent boy. Felix went with Mr. Harewood to the christening, and +found his sister a different creature, lovelier than he ever remembered +her. It seemed as if her happiness would have been almost too great +for this earth if John had only been as strong and well as he tried to +appear. But, after all, Felix really believed Wilmet would have been +lost without some one to nurse besides Christopher Underwood, dutifully +named after his two grandfathers. + +Alda had actually come down for the day. It was the first time the +sisters had met since the funeral at Centry Park, and it had cost her +an effort, for her third daughter was but ten days older than Wilmet's +baby; and she could not withhold a slight plaint at the inequalities of +fate, in bestowing only girls where they were less welcome, while the +sex of Wilmet's magnificent boy could be of no possible consequence--a +remark which so exasperated not only the mother, but the father, as +greatly to amuse Felix. + +Lady Vanderkist looked very thin and worn, as if much less recovered +than Wilmet, who had a beautiful fresh bloom, and was vigorous while +Alda was languid; but the brother and sister gathered that her +difficulties in coming down were far less caused by health than by +disregard to her private wishes and plans. Wilmet regretted that she +had not brought her little Mary; and she said she had hoped to do so, +but had found she could not have the horses, and did not like to take +her in a cab. She warmly invited Wilmet to town, but to Marilda's +house, not her own, except for mornings; and she apologized with real +vexation for not being able to offer Felix a bed, Adrian expected +someone that evening. + +She was, of course, beautifully dressed; but Wilmet, in a delicate +pale-grey silk and Parisian rose-bud bonnet, was not the foil she used +to be; and the two sisters were still a very striking pair, though no +one would have guessed them to be twins, so worn did Alda look. She was +much kinder to Robina, too, and absolutely eager to hear of every one +at home. + +But what struck Felix most was this. He had business in London, and +went back with her late in the afternoon. At the last moment, Wilmet, +wanting to cloak her sister, transferred her baby to his father, who, +as he held him, smiled to him with one of those little gestures of +tenderness, that express so very much because they are involuntary +and unconscious; and after the brother and sister were seated in the +fly, when they looked back with a last wave of the hand, Robina alone +answered it; the papa and mamma were wholly occupied in handing back +their treasure with a kiss on either side. Alda went on looking out, +and presently Felix saw her handkerchief stealing up to her eyes. +Perhaps she thought herself composed, for she turned round and said, +with an effort at a smile, 'That's what it is to have a boy! If Adrian +had ever looked like that!' + +Felix charitably refrained from expressing his accordance with her +former sentiment, that it would have been all the same with a girl; and +indeed Alda had miscalculated her fortitude, for speaking brought a +flood of tears. Felix durst not look at her, and doubted whether to let +himself be conscious, but said at last, 'Caresses are no test. Many men +do not care for very young children.' + +She shook her head; but as they arrived at the station she forced back +her tears, bit her lip, and drew forward her spangled veil; Felix +brought her a glass of water, and she walked along the platform with +him, holding his arm with a clasp that reminded him of the day he had +taken her home from Thomas Underwood's, but not a word did she say in +the train. + +There was no carriage to meet her, and Felix could not resolve not to +see her home. + +'Oh! thank you,' she said, more warmly than perhaps she had ever +thanked him before. 'I've always said one must come to you for +chivalry. But it is terribly out of the way; you will be late for the +dinner in Palace Gardens.' + +'They must forgive me,' he said; 'and I should like to see the last of +you.' And as he sat by her in the hansom, he tried to give her a smile, +all affection and no pity. + +'I wish there was time for you to go in. I want you to see little +Mary;' then presently, after an effort, 'You'll not speak of this, +Felix. I'm not strong yet; and I suppose daughters always are a +disappointment where there is a title.' + +Felix supposed it too, and very kindly. + +'Is there any chance of your coming to town again, soon?' she asked, 'I +am always at home and alone before three.' + +'I do not think I shall--no--Lance is going up to the Handel festival, +and we cannot be away together.' + +'Little Lance! I've not seen him since he used to have his head-aches. +But it is no use to think of it, we shall not be in town by that time, +the house is so dreadfully expensive. We shall not have one another +year. One gets sick of so much going out, and with all these little +girls it is time to begin to be prudent.' + +Felix had seen enough of Sir Adrian Vanderkist's name on the turf +to think the sentence ominous; not that he was afraid of any great +crash, but expensive tastes did not accord with estates entailed and +the annual birth of a daughter; and he was greatly touched by Alda's +collapse of self-importance. + +He was late, and Marilda forgave him easily, but Mrs. Underwood was +cross. No doubt she had fumed about poor relations having no right to +keep her waiting; and though there was something indefinable about +Felix that hindered her from manifesting this cause of displeasure, +his having been engaged in Alda's service did not pacify her. She +considered Lady Vanderkist as extremely ungrateful for not having +transported Marilda into those upper circles to which marriage had +introduced her, without taking into account that the obstacle lay, not +with Sir Adrian, who was ready enough to pay court to riches, but with +Marilda herself. That young lady was forming her own way in the world. +She had had enough of the Golden Venus line while, for her father's +sake, she submitted to it; and she did not choose to force herself into +fashionable circles. Country poor and the Lady Bountiful life, that +her mother would have accepted as 'comifo,' were distasteful to her; +but she had thrown her business abilities into the service of London +charities, and was there becoming every year a more considerable power. +Her business premises were in St. Matthew's district; and this made +her regard herself as a parishioner, and undertake no small amount of +service, of descriptions better known to the clergy-house than to her +mother, who set down to the accounts of the office many an hour spent +in Whittingtonian schools and alleys. At any rate, Marilda had become a +much more agreeable person, with more aplomb, more ease, and decidedly +less touch of vulgarity, since she had made her standfast, ceased to be +dragged at the wheels of the car of fashion, and become the managing +spirit of Kedge and Underwood, besides all that St Matthew's knew of. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +THE VICAR OF VALE LESTON. + + 'Cushions and cloth an' books, takin' the old church right roun', + Surplice, shovel, and broom, they would na ha' fetch'd half-a-crown, + Commandments to boot. They was the only good lookin' things + Wi' yellow cherubs between 'em, and nout but heads and wings. + Parson Myles was a hunter, and could gallop through a prayer, + Right straight ahead over anything, an' stop him who dare.' + _Rev. W. Heygate._ + + +There was to be a meeting about the paving of the town: Mr. Underwood, +though only twenty-eight, was a town-councillor, and decidedly an +influence in himself, as well as through the Pursuivant. He had so +worked his way up, that his fellow-citizens accepted him as one of +themselves; and his birth and breeding gave him a power which they +felt without in the least acknowledging. Besides, his conscientious +journalising made him always thoroughly get up his subjects; and he +threw himself into the merits and history of asphalt and flag-stones +with that 'all his might' with which he did whatsoever his hand found +to do. + +He was busy on an article to prepare the way for the meeting, when +Lance, who had been making selections from London papers, laid the +last sheet of the 'Times' on his desk, and silently pointed to the +obituary:-- + + 'On the 4th, at Torquay, aged 37, the Reverend Fulbert Bowles + Underwood, Vicar of Vale Leston Abbas, only son of Fulbert + Underwood, Esquire, of Vale Leston Priory.' + +'I see,' quoth Felix. + +Five minutes' waiting while he wrote. + +'I say, does it go into Pur?' + +'Certainly not. What matters it to any one here?' + +That was all Lance could get out of Felix; and after a time came +the second delivery of the post. All the letters lay in a heap on +the office table, just when, as Lance mentally termed him, the +longest-windedest, button-holderest of all the municipality walked in +to bestow his opinion on the paving question upon Mr. Underwood; and +Lance not only had to retreat from the important conclave, but was +occupied himself by a succession of customers for a quarter of an hour +after its conclusion. When he made another rush into the office, he +found Felix still writing away at the paving stones, but with a good +deal of red in his cheeks, and a letter lying by his side. + +'Read that, Lance,' he said, 'but don't speak till this is done.' + +Lance read:-- + + Vale Leston Priory, May 7th. + + MY DEAR MR. FELIX UNDERWOOD, + + I write by desire of my poor friend Mr. Underwood, to acquaint + you with the death of his son, your cousin, the Vicar, at + Torquay, on the 4th of this month. The melancholy event had + long been anticipated, as there had been a complete break-up of + constitution; and I for one never expected to see him return + home alive when he went to Torquay with his wife last winter. + Mr. Underwood has felt the loss deeply, though not with the + same acuteness as if he had not had such long preparation, + and it had not taken place at a distance. He has become much + more feeble since you saw him five years ago, when certainly + you left a lasting impression. He wishes you to be present + at the funeral, with any of your brothers to whom it may be + convenient. The time is fixed for next Friday, the 10th, at + eleven o'clock. Your rooms will be ready for you on Monday; and + if you will mention your train, you shall be met at Church Ewe + or Ewmouth. It seems premature to mention it, but Mr. Underwood + is so anxious that no time should be lost, that he desires + me to intimate to you, that if you can procure immediate + Ordination, he will present you to the Vicarage. I do not + take this to be as simple a matter as he does, but under the + circumstances, and with your studious turn, I should think it + quite possible for you to be ready before the Vicarage lapses, + and the poor old Squire has evidently set his heart on it, + and planned it ever since he gave up hope of his son's life. + Congratulations would be out of place at this moment, but I + trust that the succession is now secure. + + Remember me to my friend Mr. Lancelot--I trust that headaches + are with him a thing of the past--and believe me, + + Yours very truly, + H. STAPLES. + + +Lance made all manner of contortions with his visage, read and re-read, +indulged in a suppressed war-dance, and finally merged all other +sensations in an agony of impatience, as still Felix's eyes and pen +continued to travel over his sheet; and not a muscle of his face moved +until the last was handed to little Lightfoot, and sent off to the +press. + +'That's done,' then he said. + +'You may well be on the board of paving-stones!' cried Lance. 'Nothing +but one of them could have gone on so.' + +'It had to be done.' + +'I could as soon have done it as flown.' + +'Not if you never let your mind loose from it. Now for the letter. +Stay, we'll take it up to Cherry. I'll just say a word to Lamb.' + +Felix's courtesy to his subordinates always went a great way. The +noontide lull of business was beginning to set in, but Cherry and +Stella looked up from their lessons in amaze as both brothers came in; +and Cherry mutely clasped her hands, and with the word Edgar fluttering +on her lips, but as both faces plainly indicated no, she rallied +instantly, saying, 'What wonder of wonders is it?' + +'Nothing very surprising,' said Felix gravely. 'It is that poor old +Fulbert, at Vale Leston, has lost his son, and wants me to go to the +funeral.' + +'That's not all,' added Lance. 'What do you think of his wanting this +here Giant to get himself ordained, and take the Vicarage on the spot?' + +'Felix, you could not--not in time.' + +'Nor at all. That is not to be thought of; but I shall go through +London, take Clement down with me, and see if I cannot get the living +for him; but let me read you the letter--I could barely glance at it.' + +He read; and Cherry broke out, 'The succession secure! Does that mean +to you?' + +'I am heir-at-law,' said Felix quietly; 'and it was entailed on me in +case his son had no children.' + +'He takes it coolly, doesn't he?' said the far more elated Lance, 'but +then he's had plenty of preparation.' + +'You don't mean that you've known about this?' + +'I knew the estate had been entailed on me to prevent this poor man +from alienating it.' + +'You knew, and you never told anyone, and went on as usual!' + +'How would you have had me go on?' he asked, with a certain provoking +meekness, that sent her into a laugh, while Lance, catching Stella's +wondering eyes, practically answered the question by locking her +fingers in his, and whirling her round in a sort of impromptu choric +dance, chanting:-- + + 'Wrong shall be right, + And right shall be might, + When--' + +('bless me, what a plague three syllables are!') + + 'When Felix' right and Felix' might + Shall meet upon Vale Leston height!' + +'It is not a height,' interposed Felix. + +'The King shall have his own again then,' amended Lance. 'No, I have +it. The enchantment is over, and the Frog-prince is about to resume his +proper shape!' + +'Lance, considering--' + +'Blunderbore, considering the extraordinary relief and disburthening of +my mind, after labouring under this secret five years come August, if +it were not profane, I should compare myself to Christian when the pack +dropped off his back!' + +'But why was it a secret?' + +'For two reasons, Whiteheart,' said Felix. 'First because there was +nothing to tell; and secondly, because that "nothing" might have turned +several heads. Still, I believe you would have known it long ago, if I +had not been ashamed after binding over Lance.' + +'Please, may I understand?' entreated Stella, in rather a melancholy +voice, as she found her usual mode of observation quite inadequate. + +'Understand, my Star! Yes,' said Lance; 'understand that we were all of +us kicked out--all of us that were there to kick, that is to say--from +the jolliest place in all the world; and now things are coming right, +and Felix is going to be a fine old English gentleman who had a great +estate! I declare it makes me so poetical I can't get on!' + +'You'd better come to me, Stella,' interposed Felix. 'Nothing is going +to happen now, my dear. It is only this. The old house where we elder +ones were born was meant to belong to my mother, but there was a flaw +in the will that left it her, and so it went to the more direct heir; +and my father would not go to law because he did not think it right +when he could not afford it, and especially as he was a clergyman.' + +'O Felix!' cried Cherry eagerly. + +'Yes; I have a copy of the letter. And now, the poor old gentleman +who had it has lost his son, and has sent me a kind message, as if he +wished me to go back there; but that will not be in his life-time, so +we need not talk about it. There is nothing to make any change now.' + +'No?' asked Cherry, disappointed. + +'Of course not. Expectations are not good sustenance. The reversion is +possibly very distant, and there may be some mistake about it, after +all.' + +'Well! one ought to be prepared,' said Cherry; 'but oh! to see you at +home--home--yes, Vale Leston is home! O Felix, what it will be!' + +'Don't set yourself on wishing it,' said Felix anxiously. 'Remember Pur +and the business are our dependence or independence, and most likely +are far better and safer for us.' + +'Pshoo!' shouted Lance; 'I won't have you talk book!' + +'May I tell Wilmet?' entreated Cherry. + +'No harm in that; meantime I must get things in train, and then walk +over to explain matters to Mr. Froggatt; and as soon as I can get away +to-morrow I shall go up to town, and make Clement come on with me.' + +'O Fee, one moment! Are we to go into mourning?' Then, as he held up +his hand, 'It means more than you think. It shows how much we hold by +the connection; and if I understand you, you wish nothing so little as +to have it trumpeted about that Mr. Underwood has great expectations.' + +'As prudently stated as W.W. could have done it! It must turn on the +degree of connection.' + +'Is he as near as Tom Underwood was?' + +'The same on my mother's side. Yes, put on black ribbons; but, as you +say, don't trumpet the thing. Don't begin about it, but if any one +asks, explain how it stands.' + +The heir-expectant was gone; and Lance, after waiting to indulge in +another pantomime of exultation, ran after him, humming:-- + + 'Oh, to see him back again!' + +By the middle of the next day Felix was able to leave home, after +having seen the Froggatts, whom he treated with as much deference +and attention as if he were still accountable to them. The reception +of his communication made him glad that he had been silent when the +chances were more remote, for though Mrs. Froggatt was ready to cry +for gladness at the notion of his taking his own proper place as a +gentleman, and had a farmer's daughter's respect for the squirearchy, +her husband feared that empty anticipation would spoil Felix for a +tradesman, and be injurious to the business, which he viewed with +tender pride and solicitude. So he lectured on the uncertainty of +prospective fortunes, and the folly of reckoning on them, till it was +evident that his confidence would have been sorely shattered had the +bare notion been whispered five years earlier. Indeed, his comfort +seemed compromised by finding that Felix would not be the permanent +property of the business, and he was almost displeased, as if he +thought he had allowed it to pass into his hands on false pretences. It +was vexatious and disappointing; but he had to be left to recover the +first shock, which, after all, proved his love and value for the young +man. + +Felix did not reach Whittingtonia till late; and on inquiry at the +clergy-house, heard that Mr. Underwood was not at home, but the Vicar +was. To him therefore Felix went in his study, not sorry to ask his +advice. Clement, who would not receive priest's orders for some weeks, +was over young for the charge of an utterly neglected parish; but it +was dangerous to let the presentation pass by, since only a brother +could satisfactorily co-operate in dealing with the old ancestral +sacrileges, in case he should ever come in for the property himself. + +Mr. Fulmort never spoke while Felix told his story; and the bell for +Evensong had begun by the time it closed. Then he said, 'I am very +glad, heartily glad. I have been watching Clement, and I see he is not +tough enough yet for our work. When a young fellow, of such a length +too, can't eat after any hard day's work, instead of being ravenous, +he is sure to break down the first time he takes cold or catches an +illness, and then he is done for. I should have had to drive him away +elsewhere, at least for some years, poor fellow, though none has ever +been more like a son to me. Yes, of course he is too young, but he is +not the sort of stuff that falls into slackness, and that is more fatal +than any amount of blunders and foolishness.' + +The last words startled Felix. He had been so anxious to place Clement +at Vale Leston, that he had thought of no drawbacks till he was +roused to a foreboding of that dour uncompromising rigidity, left to +itself, sowing dissensions, becoming a hard master to them all--nay, +not improbably alienating the old Squire, and overthrowing all their +prospects! Such a future passed before Felix in his transit across the +quadrangle, and was met, but not disposed of, by the sense that it was +right and just that Clement should be put forward, '_Fais ce que dois, +advienne que pourra._' He had put Clement into his own place to console +his father for his own secession to secular work; and if devotion, +blamelessness, and earnestness were recommendations, they were not +lacking. 'And if he do give offence, and all be left to Marilda,' +thought Felix, 'let it go. It would only be for conscience sake. +Poverty is better than riches! and I may have to show that I believe +so. I only hope that the boy will not do the thing in some pig-headed +way, in which it would be hard to back him up.' + +Misgivings vanished for the time when his brother was in sight. It +was not easy to make him out in the deep perspective of the choir. +Felix only knew that a fair-haired head above the average line must +be his; but when he came forward to the Eagle, whence he was to read +the Second Lesson, and afterwards give his lecture, he was in full +view. In his lankiest hobbedy-hoy days, Clement had always looked his +best surpliced; and now, with the cassock beneath, the stole over +one shoulder, and his black-and-white hood, his figure had a certain +dignity, and his voice gave Felix a thrill. The mixture of hereditary +tone and unconscious imitation were such that when he shut his eyes he +could believe himself a boy at St Oswald's, listening to his father; +and even when he looked up the illusion was hardly dispelled, for the +half-light brought out the similar moulding of the features, and a +hectic tinting. He gave a careful little discourse, evidently one of a +series, and the allegory of the Wilderness life with much more depth +and poetry than the elder brother had expected. + +He had taken care to place himself out of direct view of the young +preacher, and his appearance in the quadrangle was an immense surprise +to Clement. 'Felix! you here! nothing the matter? What's that? Not poor +Edgar?' as his eye fell on Felix's new hat and hat-band. + +'No, no--this is for the younger Fulbert of Vale Leston. I have more to +say to you.' + +'Come in to supper, then. Have you seen the Vicar? Do you stay the +night? That's jolly! Here, Fred, you've not seen my brother!' + +Fred Somers was known to be Clement's friend. With one of the natures +that prefers external to home friendship, Clement had at first bestowed +his affection on poor Harry Lamb, and since upon this companion, who +had been his predecessor by half a year in everything, and in whom +Felix was diverted to see his complete contrast. Mr. Somers was at +least five inches below Clement's six feet one and a half, and was a +dark, plump, merry little man, who looked as if the Vicar never need +scruple about getting any amount of work out of him; and Clement, with +a hand on his shoulder, looked perfectly happy, and as if working at St +Matthew's side by side with him were all he desired. And very overgrown +and boyish Clement looked too at that supper, a very merry one. There +were the six clergy, fourteen choir boys, and sundry chance-helpers, +mostly talking eagerly, with a good deal of laughter at old and new +jokes. Felix, seated by the Vicar, thought Clement far more at his +ease, more playful and familiar, than ever he had seen him at home, and +infinitely less on his dignity than he ever allowed himself to be with +Lance and Bernard. + +After supper, the two brothers repaired to Clement's tiny private room, +uncarpeted, with a table, two Windsor chairs, and a book-case; and +then, when the elder had explained, the younger flatly refused to have +anything to do with Vale Leston Abbas. + +'I!' he said, 'go to a fat easy-going country living when the need is +so urgent here? I to stand alone when I want years of training? It +would be enough to ruin me!' + +'But the place, Clement. This parish will never be ill-supplied while +Mr. Fulmort lives; but people have souls down in the country.' + +Clement had not much feeling for souls whose bodies he had never +realised; but he answered, 'Very bad for the souls to have an +inexperienced priest.' + +'Quite true; but observe, it is not the choice between you and such +a clergyman as you would select, but between you and no one knows +who--certainly a person who could not help in the complication of +family and Church property, as only a brother could do.' + +'That is all in the clouds,' said Clement. 'I have made up my mind to +ten years' service here, and I intend to keep to it.' + +'The Vicar says you have not strength for it.' + +'Then I shall go on without it.' + +'Till you kill yourself.' + +'The best end one could come to.' + +'No, not if there be a leading of Providence elsewhere.' + +'I observe that Providence is generally said to lead in the direction +of ease and £ s.d. No, Felix, I am much obliged, but even if this old +man would appoint a vicar of decided opinions like mine, I cannot allow +myself to be led aside into a path of wealth and luxury contrary to all +I had marked out for myself.' + +'Are people always meant to do all they have marked out for +themselves?' said Felix, as he heard the frequent first person singular. + +'When it is the line of self-abnegation.' + +Felix could not help smiling, and muttering between his teeth, 'Is it?' +Then he added, 'At any rate you will come down to the funeral and see +the old place?' + +'No! I will not raise false expectations to be disappointed.' + +The idea of baffled expectations excited by that long white-faced lad! +Even Felix was beginning to console himself, and think Clement might be +doing the best for them all, when they were summoned to the Oratory by +the evening prayer-bell. As good-nights were spoken at the foot of the +stairs, the Vicar asked Felix, 'Have you prevailed?' + +'No, sir. Perhaps you will talk to him?' + +Mr. Fulmort nodded, and Felix went to his own room. In the morning the +Vicar told him that he had not made much impression, but that he had +actually made it matter of obedience that Clement should go to Vale +Leston with his brother, and not consider his decision as made till he +had thoroughly seen the place. + +And thus it was that Felix, in different company and different mood +from when he had last seen his birthplace, found himself stopping at a +little station called Church Ewe, about three miles short of Ewmouth; +and there a smart servant came up with his finger to his cockaded hat, +and took possession of the two little black bags. + +'The beginning of greatness!' observed Clement, who was very benignant +towards Felix's prospects, though he would accept none for himself, as +they ensconced themselves in the great barouche with the pair of horses. + +Felix shook his head. He wanted to hold himself as loose as possible +from gazing on the place as an inheritance, at the same time as he +greatly desired to see Clement smitten with it, almost as much from +jealousy for the old home as with a view to the future. + +Their way brought them in on the opposite side from the Ewmouth +road; so that the first view was from high ground, whence the lovely +encircling valley, the slopes of wood inclosing it, the purple moorland +above them, the grey sheen of the river, the high-arched bridge, the +noble church, and grand old ancestral-looking priory, partly veiled by +fine trees, in the delicate glory of early summer, lay outstretched +before them, the shimmer of the sea, and a few white sails far in the +distance. + +That sense of the eye satisfying the heart, and being as it were at +rest and at home, which he had felt at the sight five years before, and +never at any other, came over Felix; and exulting in the loveliness, +he looked eagerly to see the effect on Clement, but the smooth young +face was carefully guarded against relaxing, the light blue eye was +steadily set as unmarking anything. Felix was provoked, and then +wondered whether the Deacon were like the Moslem who refused to dwell +at Damascus, lest he should have his Paradise only on earth. A little +local information elicited nothing but civil indifferent answers, that +inspired a desire to shake that inanimate figure. + +Driving up through the park, beauteous with chestnut blossom, they were +shown into the library; and there Mr. Staples came to them, cordially +shaking hands, but, as Felix fancied, somewhat critically scanning that +long straight coat with the little cross at the button-hole. + +'The Squire is tolerable,' he answered to Felix's inquiry. 'I think it +is coming out in gout. He will dine with you. It does him good to see +people.' + +'And Mrs. Underwood?' + +'Came yesterday. Mother and brother here too. Ladies dine together +upstairs.' + +'Are you staying here?' + +'No; but I am over as much as I can. The old Squire wants someone, and +I don't fancy leaving him too much to Smiles--he's the curate, and has +been trying to worm himself in. Will you come to your rooms? Dinner at +seven.' + +To Felix it was like meeting an old friend to tread the black stair, +and the long panelled corridors, all windows on one side, the other +hung with portraits, the Underwood red cheeks and blue eyes staring +round, and coarse like Marilda. Mr. Staples popped Clement into one +wainscotted room, and left him there, but shut himself in with Felix. + +'So that's your clerical brother?' + +'An excellent hard-working devoted fellow.' + +'But very--?' + +'Well, rather!' + +'And it is quite out of the question for yourself?' + +'Entirely so. Even if I thought it right, it could not be done.' + +'I thought so, and told the Squire. Unlucky, for things are a good deal +involved; and you would find the vicarage income handy, while as for +this--why he is a mere boy!' + +'So he feels himself. He is conscious of his want of experience, and +it would be an infinite relief to him to see it in good hands.' + +'Mrs. Fulbert and her mother declare that the Squire promised poor +Fulbert to give it to her brother, Harry Shaw, whom you'll see here +to-night; but he swears he did no such thing; and on the whole, I think +Smiles would have a better chance--he's an obsequious chap, who has +been very attentive to the old man all the winter, half their spy, half +his toady. However, the Squire would never let either of them have it +while there's a parson left with Underwood blood in his veins!' + +All the quaint old bedrooms in this passage opened one into the other, +and Felix unlocked the door between himself and Clement to communicate +the information received, but it apparently took no effect. + +The dinner-party was dismal and incongruous enough. Obsequious was a +word that exactly depicted little, sleek, low-voiced Mr. Smiles, who +though presiding at one end of the table, seemed ready to emulate +Baillie M'Wheeble's posture; and the rival candidate, Mr. Henry Shaw, +was a red-faced, punchy man, hardly distinguishable in appearance or +manner from his farmer kindred, and, as soon became apparent, with such +principles as he had, diametrically opposed to those of Clement, who, +with his refined countenance and form, looked as if he belonged to some +other world. + +Mr. Underwood was wheeled in in his chair. He was not a man to give +way, but rather to try to talk sorrow down; and the curate and Mr. +Staples, knowing his humour, set county politics going, and all +joined with a fervour, not to say violence, that struck the brothers +as unsuitable. It was more than the Squire, between deafness and the +burthen of grief, could follow; he grew abstracted, and presently +rousing himself, turned to Clement to ask what had just passed at the +other end of the table. + +'That the bribery petition will fail, sir,' repeated Clement, bending +with the naturally kind and courteous manner due to age, infirmity, and +sorrow, and speaking in a clear sweet modulated tone, that evidently +struck the old man more than the words. + +'You have the family voice,' he said, looking up at him. 'Why, you are +a mere lad! You don't tell me you are in Orders?' + +'I was ordained Deacon last summer, sir,' said Clement colouring deeply +at having to say it loud enough to attract everyone's attention. + +'Ah! eh! And your age?' + +'Four-and-twenty last March.' + +'You don't look eighteen,' said the Squire, with that still infantine +face close to him, reddening most youthfully. 'Where's your curacy?' + +'At St Matthew's, Whittingtonia,' said Clement impressively, and +casting his eyes round, as if, thought Felix, he were making a +confession of faith and looking for persecution; but, half to the elder +brother's relief, half to his diversion, they had got into a world +where there was no thermometer of London churches, and no one knew +what the avowal implied. Mr. Smiles asked if it were a Bethnal Green +district; and Mr. Shaw observed, loud enough for the Squire to hear, +that London parishes were not the places for plain straightforward +men, no one was looked at who wasn't got up like a swell to please the +ladies; and then they both united in rallying the youthful curate about +tea-parties and pretty young ladies; but Clement was as impervious to +ridicule on that score as if his head had been cowled and tonsured, +and he bore it well, simply and gravely replying that he was too much +occupied to go into society. He volunteered no dangerous topic, but +showed much more good sense and forbearance than Felix had ventured to +give him credit for in the curt answers he was compelled to make; but +the old gentleman did not hear these, and began again. + +'You've a sister married--eh?' + +'Two,' said Clement, for Felix was too far off to be audible and as +further information was looked for, 'one to Major Harewood, and the +other to Sir Adrian Vanderkist.' + +If Felix did for a moment feel that it sounded better than if they had +married the butcher and the baker, Mr. Shaw took care to qualify the +announcement with, 'Sporting baronet, ain't he? Got three horses at +Epsom, I think!' + +'What's that?' demanded Mr. Underwood. 'Your sister's husband on the +turf?' + +'I am sorry to say he is,' said Clement gravely. + +'Not getting into scrapes? Any danger of his going on too fast?' + +'I think not, Sir.' Felix felt he must shout, knowing well that +Clement's regret was directed rather to racing in the abstract, than to +any pecuniary peril, and for the first time feeling bound to defend Sir +Adrian as a brother-in-law. 'He is a prudent man, and not likely to go +beyond his means.' + +Which was true. He was not exceeding present means. The evil was the +future of the little girls, now four in number; but Clement looked +reproachful at the answer he had to repeat to his neighbour, who +relapsed into silence for a little while, then asked again, 'Who said +one of them had married into a marching regiment?' + +Mr. Staples laughed, and came to the rescue this time. 'Regiments never +march but when young ladies marry into them; but it is not true in +this case, Sir. Major Harewood is in the Royal Engineers, and has an +appointment at Woolwich.--Didn't you tell me so?' turning to Felix. +'Have you heard anything from him of this new gun?'--which gun was +safely wielded through the remainder of the meal. + +After dinner, the Squire went back to his room, desiring Felix to come +with him. + +He looked much older than before, and made no more effort at +cheeriness; as he sighed, settled himself, and signed Felix to a chair +near him and his great fire. + +'So!' he said. 'So things come round! Why did you not bring the nice +little lad that was here before?' + +'He and I cannot both leave home together, Sir. He is my right hand in +the business.' + +'You've not brought him up to your business?' + +'I could not help it. That sun-stroke put him back in his studies, and +he could not bear to be idle.' + +'You must find some gentlemanly line for him; not too old, eh? You give +it up, of course, you've thought better of my proposal--eh?' + +'Quite impossible, Sir, thank you,' said Felix. 'You are very kind, but +I am totally unfit. My education was stopped at sixteen.' + +'Don't tell me you can't get through what Harry Shaw there did! +Besides, what do we want of a scholar? I'd rather have a man of sense!' + +'No Bishop would or could ordain me within the time.' + +'Staples did say the Bishops had got more crotchetty now-a-days. How +long would they insist on for preparation? I'd get little Smiles to +hold it for the time.' + +'It is impossible, Sir, thank you, in every way--even if I could think +it right.' + +'Right? It is not right the things should be separated. I've been +crippled by it all my life, and cursed my folly in setting my face +against the Church; and you'll hardly get the property in so good a +condition as I did. Why, you're bookish already, and look like one of +the cloth. Fit! you're fitter by a long chalk than Harry there! Come! +think better of it. I'd not mind the cost if they insist on a turn at +the University.' + +'Thank you, Sir,' said Felix; 'but I cannot do it. It is against +my conscience.' And as he saw that this was incomprehensible, he +thought he had better bring forward a palpable testimony to the +impracticability. 'Besides, I must go on with my work. There are too +many of us for me to give over.' + +'Many! The lad hasn't been fool enough to marry?' + +'No, no, Sir; but there are two, a little brother and sister, at home, +and two more at school, besides Geraldine and Lancelot.' + +'All depending on you?' + +'The four youngest entirely so; Geraldine earns a good deal with her +painting, and Lance quite makes his own maintenance; but I could not +leave them, nor break up the home.' + +Six brothers and sisters were more than any one could adopt on the +spot, and Mr. Underwood felt the cogency of the argument. 'Then you +absolutely must keep up this confounded trade of yours till the breath +is out of my body!' + +'I hope to keep it up a long time yet, Sir,' said Felix; 'I have been +very happy in it.' + +'And--and--there's no other way?' + +'Certainly not, Sir, thank you. All I have is embarked in it; and +while things stand as they do, I should not be justified in making any +change.' + +Whatever Felix's kindred might think of his occupation, they were +always forced to feel the dignity of his industry and independence. +Here was this young man, under thirty, and looking younger than he was, +talking of half-a-dozen of young brothers and sisters as a reason, +not for accepting help, but for being let alone to maintain them; +and actually showing a brother, a clergyman, scholar, and gentleman, +visibly superior to what his kinsman had brought there to meet him. +This was not a young heir to adopt, foster, and command, but a man to +address upon equal terms, and Mr. Underwood put his next suggestion +with less of authority. 'If it were not just absolute trade--retail, +ain't it? It will be against you when you come here, you see. Could not +you get out of it into Kedge and Underwood's firm? That would sound +better.' + +'Yes, Sir, but I could not throw over my business without a great loss; +and it would be undertaking what I don't understand, instead of what I +do.' + +'Besides,' added the Squire, going on with his talk, 'with your +expectations, family, place, and all, that girl of Tom's would jump at +you!' + +Felix shook his head decidedly, though unable to help a little inward +laugh at this revival of Alda's old manoeuvre. + +'By-the-by,' continued the old gentleman, 'what's become of your +brother that Tom bred up?' + +'We knew of him last in Australia, Sir.' + +'Next to you, is he or this tall lad you have here?' + +'He is older than Clement' + +'Poor Tom made too much of him--eh? Well, young men will be young men,' +said Mr. Underwood, too full of his own sorrows to think about Edgar; +'but they come round at last:' and therewith he fell into a talk about +his own son, whose illness and death he proceeded to dwell upon, as he +found he had a kind and attentive auditor; and this lasted till the +butler came to wheel him off to his bed. + +Felix and Clement paid an early visit to the church next morning, and +found it in a course of being muffled in black. 'Seventy-five yards +there allys was for every Underwood on 'em,' said Abednego Tripp, who +had become much more shaky and feeble, had resigned his market-boat +to Kerenhappuch's husband, and was hobbling about the church in a +mixed, but on the whole a pleasant and exulting, frame of mind, by no +means partaking of the intense disgust with which Clement beheld the +sanctuary invaded by the paraphernalia of human woe. + +Dr. May, unasked, brought Bernard over to the funeral, which was at +twelve o'clock. Neither the father nor the widow attended it; but +the incongruity of Edward Underwood's sons acting as chief mourners +was prevented by the nearer claims of the Shaw brothers-in-law. The +farmer tenants came; but the lack of neighbouring clergy and even +gentry struck the brothers in contrast with the overflowing numbers who +had flocked to their father's grave, so far from his ancestral home, +showing how much more the man can be than the position. + +Bernard was staring about him with little endeavour for appearances; +and at the first moment that speech was possible, even while the +hat-bands were coming off, he looked up in the face of Clement with +open eyes, and said, 'My eyes! this is no end of a place! Is it what +is to come to us?' Clement hushed him seriously and vigorously, but +without much effect. 'Did you know 'twas like this?' he persisted, +gazing round. + +'I never thought about it. Hush!' + +'Why, 'tis twice as jolly a house as Abbotstoke! And the woods! And +the river! One might shoot every day, and fish the rest, and be always +boating besides!' exclaimed Bernard, enthusiastically, but happily +under his breath. 'And ain't there a hunter worth £120 here? Where is +he, Clem?' + +'How should I know?' + +'You've been here all night and this morning, haven't you?' said +Bernard, as if he had not thought even Tina capable of such +indifference. 'I'll get down to the stables, and find out.' + +While Clement was trying to stop him, the summons to a lugubrious +luncheon did so more effectually. There Bernard had the opportunity of +fraternizing with a Shaw nephew of his own age, and none of the malice +of his seniors, who imparted the melancholy fact that the hunter-colt +was sold, but undertook to show off the stables; but fate was too +strong for Bear, he was captured by his eldest brother, and told that +while Dr. May's horse was coming round, Mr. Underwood would like to +see him. + +The wish was far from mutual, and Bernard was as sulky as his namesake; +but sulkiness might pass on such an occasion for decorous solemnity; +and Bernard was always one of the show specimens--a big, well-grown, +straight-limbed boy, with a handsome Underwood face, not of the +girlishly rosy tinting of his brother's, but glowing with a hardy +healthy sunburnt hue, and he could not but answer with a sort of glum +awe-struck civility the few questions asked him, as to his age, and +where he was at school, and then whether he had ever been rabbitting. + +'Only once;' and Bernard's face lost its sulkiness. 'Marilda's gone and +let her shooting!' + +'And you like it?' + +Bernard's lips only said 'yes,' but his blue eyes danced. + +'Well, some of these days, you must come over and have a day with the +keeper, when your brother is settled here.' + +The eager face of anticipation fell, and out came at unawares, 'But +that won't be till you are dead;' and then the boy began colouring to +the ears. + +'No, no, I don't mean this brother; but what's his name--the young +parson? When he is here, you must come over. And here--' As the Doctor +came in to take leave, Bernard found in his hand 'tip' that exceeded +even the great days of Ferdinand's munificence! + +He sprang out to Clement, who was standing in the porch. 'Oh! I say, +Clem, what a splendiferous go this is!' + +Again, all he got was a scandalized hush. + +'I don't mean _that_. He told me himself! I'm to come over to shoot +rabbits, and all that is delicious, when you are a clergyman here! +Hurrah!' + +'Hold your tongue, Bernard,' said Clement, with a voice of subdued +impatience, 'and don't talk nonsense.' + +'But you _are_ going to be a clergyman here,' persisted Bernard. 'He +said so.' + +'That does not make it the fact.' + +'O Clem, you'd never be so viciously spiteful as not to come! Think of +the rabbits and the salmon, and a licence by-and-by!' + +'Come, Bernard,' said Dr. May's cheery voice behind; then, as he shook +hands with Clement, 'You must find your way over to Stoneborough when +you are settled here. Our church is a sort of rival to yours.' + +'Not mine,' protested Clement; but the Doctor was in a hurry, and was +off. Business was to be done with the family lawyer, and Felix got a +hint that he might be wanted after a time, so he betook himself to a +nook in the cloister, redolent with old memories, and began a letter +to Mr. Audley. Clement, as he really believed with malice prepense, +put himself entirely out of reach by starting off for a walk with Mr. +Smiles, who, detecting that the London clergyman's mind was far from +made up to bury himself in a dull, secluded, straggling country parish, +had kindly volunteered to show him the beauties of the scenery. + +Nearly two hours had passed, when a tall shadow came across the arch, +and Clement's low eager voice asked, 'Have you any money about you?' + +'Just about enough to get home with. Why?' + +'How near is Ewmouth?' + +'Nearly four miles. What _are_ you after?' + +'I can do it before dinner;' and the long legs seemed about to move off. + +'Stay, Clement! What?' + +'I must raise enough to get a bottle of port. There's a child sinking +in typhus. Don't detain me, Felix. I find there's no help for it. I +must have this place,' he added, as if throwing a tub to the whale to +effect his escape. + +'Stop, ask for some here.' + +'No use. Squire forbids all giving in that quarter.' + +'What do you mean to do?' + +'I must dispose of--of--of--Well, it must be this,' touching his little +cross, Ferdinand's gift, and nearly his favourite possession. + +'Come! It won't do to make your début at Ewmouth by disposing of your +jewelry. I left myself a margin of half-a-crown, and if we walk from +the station, that will save two shillings more.' + +'That will do,' said Clement. 'Thank you, Fee, you shall have it again. +I had given all I had about me in the other hovel. The woman is +waiting in the churchyard. I'll send her off, and then tell you.' + +Felix accompanied him through the beautiful summer garden to the +rough rugged churchyard, where a lean woman in tattered drab-coloured +garments by no means accorded with the paradisaical notion of Vale +Leston. Her distress was so genuine that she scarcely thanked Clement; +but assuring him she could now get what she wanted, she walked off. + +Clement sighed, and looked up at the great massive church, not with +Felix's pitying love, but like a mighty burthen. + +'Well, Clem!' + +'Well! I see it must be done.' + +'I am very glad.' + +'I am sure I am very sorry,' said Clement, with a simplicity new in him. + +Before any more could pass, a servant came in search of them to summon +them to Mr. Underwood's room. He looked worn and sorrowful, but there +was a certain look of pleasure at the entrance of the two young men; +and he made a sort of introduction of them to the lawyer, Mr. Wilder, a +London solicitor, then turning to Felix, he once more asked if he still +declined all idea of eventually taking the living. + +'Certainly I do, thank you, Sir.' + +'So,' said Mr. Underwood, 'as is only just, the offer is passed on to +your brother.' + +Clement bowed his head, colouring crimson, and the tears coming into +his eyes, as with a trembling lip he answered, 'Thank you, Sir; I will +do my best, God helping me.' + +It was curious how this weight of responsibility was extinguishing +self-consciousness, and making a man of him. The tone of his reply +seemed to surprise both Squire and lawyer; and the former said, in an +old man's tone of encouragement, 'That is well. No one can say more. +Now give us your full name, that we may get on with the formalities.' + +'Edward Clement Underwood, B.A., St. Cadoc's.' + +'Edward?' + +'It is my first name, but I have never been so called.' + +'Edward! Strange it should so come about! Well, you may do pretty +well here. Small tithes commuted for £420--(Rather a contrast, thought +Felix, to the recent difficulty of raising a few shillings!)--a fair +provision for a young man; if you are content not to launch out, nor be +in a hurry to marry.' + +'Certainly not,' said Clement, with an emphasis that made everybody +look up to see whether he showed any tokens of having met with a +disappointment in love; but if his cheeks were redder than usual, lip +and eye were steady and resolute enough. + +'I hope not,' proceeded his patron: 'it is the worst thing a young man +can do to get his neck into the noose before he has had time to look +about him. And there's the Vicarage--been used to enlarge our stable +room--will have to be rebuilt altogether; so you had best let your +horse keep your residence for the present, and come and look after the +old man. I would not be much of a burden to you; but this is a big +house, and it is getting lonesome.' + +'I will do whatever I can to be a comfort to you, Sir,' said Clement +earnestly. 'It is very kind in you, and I will certainly come first to +you. Only, Sir, I ought to warn you that I have been bred up in a very +stringent school of principles, and that if I come here, I shall feel +it my duty to do my best to carry them out.' + +Mr. Underwood smiled at the lawyer. 'How exactly boys get the trick +of their father. I could think this twenty years back! Well, changes +for the worse there _can't_ be! Ungrateful set of drunken poaching +rascals as ever lived! And as to the church, what notions you may bring +there won't do me much harm, so long as you don't bring it about your +ears. Only, look you, Edward, a word in your ear. Don't let Jane--Mrs. +Fulbert, I mean--cajole you into doing up the Vicarage for her.' + +'Very well, Sir,' said Clement dreamily. + +'You had better stay on a few days and look about you; I'd send you +over to see the Bishop.' + +'No, Sir, thank you, I must get back to-morrow. I have little enough +time to prepare for my Ordination, but I will come down as soon after +as Mr. Fulmort can make it convenient to spare me.' + +'Ay, and little Smiles will see to the duty meantime; but I say, +Edward, you are inexperienced, and he is a dirty little dog. Don't let +him expect anything from you till you've read in. He's got his quarter, +and 'tis the churchwarden's business to provide.' + +Felix hoped other people did not find Clement's face so intelligible as +he did when this turned out to be the warning to inexperience. There +was little more to be done, and the conference broke up to give the +Squire time to rest before dinner. + +'And now, my dear Vicar,' said Felix, linking his arm into his +brother's, and leading him to a walk beneath a wisteria-covered wall, +'let me hear what brought you to this laudable resolution.' + +'I wish it may be laudable,' said poor Clement, brushing away a couple +of great tear-drops; 'I only know I have taken leave of all comfort or +ease of mind for life, and I suppose that may be right!' + +'I thought,' said Felix, a little hurt, 'that my father's objection to +this place was its perfect ease.' + +'A good deal has gone to the bad since his time,' said Clement, 'and +well it may! I could think of nothing but the traffic in Babylon the +Great of "the souls of men," and wonder whether I was sharing in it! +Not a word as to my fitness or unfitness, not an attempt at inquiry! I +might be the veriest disgrace to my Orders for what they cared, so long +as my name is Underwood!' + +'And, Edward!' said Felix, 'I can't but be touched to see how the poor +old man feels it an act of restitution. It is the best he knows, Clem, +his first step, and I am glad you have not baulked him of it.' + +'It is a vicious and rotten system altogether,' said Clement, 'and I am +not sure how far one is justified in submitting to it.' + +'And now, without going into the question of lay-patronage, what +brought you to submit to it?' + +'I'll tell you, Felix. I set out to walk with Smiles, to see the place, +and set Shaw so far on his way home. We went on beyond the village +street, where all looks smooth and fair--all roses and gable-ends--like +the model place you fancy it, and maybe it was in Father's time. On by +the little river--' + +'The Leston. Isn't it beautiful?' + +'It is like places I saw in Wales. Well, there is another little ravine +running down to meet that--very wild--a show place.' + +'Blackstone Gulley. Isn't there a quarry?' + +'Indeed there is; and _such_ a set of hovels round it, run up in a +hollow without a notion of health or comfort! It seems the demand for +the stone is uncertain; so these wretched quarrymen are half their +time poaching and pilfering, a villainous ferocious lot, that do all +the harm in the neighbourhood--in fact, the Squire flew into a rage at +the very name. He had forbidden anything from his house to be given to +them; and even the Miss Hepburns were afraid to go among them. What are +you laughing at, Felix?' + +'Because I see why Mr. Smiles took you that way. Go on.' + +'He took us to the best point of view, but told us we had better not +go down, as typhus was raging there. I offered to wait if he had any +one to visit; and behold! it was against the principles of both to go +unless they were sent for. Mr. Shaw said it was making oneself too +common, and Mr. Smiles had to consider Mrs. Smiles and the children. By +that time we had been seen, and a woman sallied out to speak to him; +and would you believe it, he tried to warn her off with "You see I +have gentlemen with me! I always tell you to go to Mr. Tripp!" Then it +struck me that I need not stand on the etiquette our Vicar is always so +particular about, since it is nobody's parish just now, and I had the +offer; so I offered to go and see what she wanted. Smiles said a good +deal about the deceitfulness of the women, and the danger of venturing +when the men were at home, as if one had never been down a court in +Whittingtonia.' + +'And was it very bad?' + +'Bad, yes. Except that there's clear air and water outside, it is as +miserable as anything I ever saw in town, and more squalid and savage. +Four huts with cases of typhus! Though after all, it is not worse than +our district is in the winter; and it is by tens, while that is by +hundreds. Moreover, Ewmouth is getting into this parish, building fast +on this side. When I saw and heard those two men, and knew the place +would be turned over to one or other of them, I could not leave it to +such a fate!' + +'Quite right; and not at all what the curate expected.' + +'I had thought,' continued Clement, 'that such clergy had become +extinct; but I suppose nothing of a better stamp would have put up +with the poor man we buried to-day. I had imagined the choice only +lay between me and some one who, if without my advantages, would be +superior in experience and weight; but now I see the alternative: it +is plain that it is a call, though why--why it should have come to me, +I cannot think.' + +'Perhaps,' said Felix, 'because we are especially bound to fight +against the evil our family has allowed to accumulate.' + +'At my age, and all alone! I say, Felix,' after a pause, 'can one get +the key of the church?' + +'The door into the cloister used not to be kept locked,' said Felix, +turning in that direction; and then, struck by the loveliness of +the lights and shadows, and the banksias trailing over the cloister +tracery, he could not help exclaiming, 'There's no place like it! You +will grow very fond of it, Clem!' + +'I dare say I shall,' said Clement, to whose eyes the beauty seemed to +go for nothing, and who was quite past his usual heed to keeping up +his dignity with his brothers; 'I dare say I shall when I have worked +here a little while; but I had rather have had the dingiest cell in the +clergy-house and Fred Somers. Just as I had got back, when we thought +we should have such a time of it--working together there, for life +perhaps!' + +'You might have him for a curate.' + +'Fred! He'd never come to "easy duty in a romantic country and eligible +neighbourhood,"' indignantly quoted Clement; 'and for my part, with +only a population of eight hundred, if I were to set up a curate, I +should just give myself over to be a fat, double-chinned, easy-going +incumbent!' + +'You're a good way from that,' said Felix, looking at the tall slight +being by his side; 'but I think you are right. I am as sorry for +you as can be, Clem, when I think of your pleasant evenings at the +clergy-house, and what it will be with that poor old man; but you see +he ought to be cared for as well as the parish, and there is no one but +you who can do it.' + +'I must try!' said Clement, with something of a gasp. + +'Well,' said Felix, who had by this time reached the door, 'I do feel +obliged to you, Clement. This helps me immensely.' + +It was a great consolation to Clement that one person at least did +not congratulate him on the preferment that weighed on him so sorely; +but after he had spent some time alone in the church, he had mastered +himself, and was quite satisfactory all the evening. Their dinner +companions were the widow and her mother. The former did not look very +much crushed, though she carried a large pocket-handkerchief; and her +mother declared that nothing could have brought her down but her desire +to be acquainted with her cousins. Felix could not help thinking of the +pic-nic; and before long he perceived the drama that was being enacted. +Her great object was evidently to stay on, and continue the ruler of +the Priory; and Mr. Underwood was equally desirous to get her, not +only out of the house, but out of the village; but he could not quite +tell her so on the day of the funeral, and hints neither of them would +take. Then she fastened upon Clement, and discoursed to him about _her_ +charities, and her regrets that during her dear Fulbert's long decline +she could do so little; only she knew things were in such excellent +hands with the Miss Hepburns, good old ladies, perfectly devoted, +treasures for any parish; but for herself--she was only too much at +liberty now, she should be delighted to go the round of the parish with +him, and introduce him to her own peculiar pets! + +Clement could not snub direct; but he only bowed, he did not commit +himself; only in all simplicity he did ask about these charities, and +only succeeded in raising a mist of words, in which the desirableness +of not destroying self-dependence, and the pauperizing tendency of +liberality, were the prominent ideas. + +Clement ventured a question about Blackstone Gulley; but Mrs. Underwood +hurriedly cautioned him under her breath not to say a word about it +before the Squire, it excited him so fearfully--the people were such +desperate poachers and thieves, and did such wanton mischief! They were +evidently viewed as quite out of the pale of humanity. + +Little did the lady imagine that they were the chief attraction to the +Vicar-elect! + +The brothers had to be off so early the next morning, that they made +their farewells that night. Mrs. Underwood hospitably told Clement they +would be better acquainted; but when he took leave with the old Squire, +his hand was held fast, while the broken eager voice entreated, 'You'll +soon be back--you'll come soon? You shall have the study, and any +rooms in the house you like.--Been down to the stables? Just say which +saddle-horse you like best; I'll have him kept for you.' + +'Thank you, Sir, but I am a very good walker.' (Felix was glad he did +not say he could not ride--a degeneracy in an Underwood that plainly +had not occurred to the Squire.) + +'Nonsense! Can't get about in this country without a horse. Mind, I +didn't mean that you should keep it for yourself. Take a look, if you +have not yet, and say which of the two.' + +'The quietest!' exclaimed Clement, in a tone nearly of entreaty, +diverting to his elder brother, who had had enough pony-back before +his eighth year, with a little subsequent refreshment on Mr. Audley's +horse, to give him a pitying disdain for anxieties on that score. + +'Eh? You are a steady-going parson--don't want a showy beast? That's +as young parsons are now-a-days. Well, you shall have the chestnut, +very good to ride or drive. Write, I say, as soon as you can fix your +day. You might see the Bishop in town. Only don't,' lowering his voice, +'leave me long alone with Jane.' + +Just after the hot water had been brought to the brothers' rooms +the next morning, there was a simultaneous knocking at the door of +communication, and then an equally simultaneous turning of the handles, +which was of course ineffectual, till Felix let go, and Clement got it +open; and they stood laughing at each other, each holding an envelope, +one addressed to F. Underwood, Esquire, the other to the Reverend +Edward Underwood, each containing a cheque for £10, and scrawled on the +flap of each--'To cover expenses of journey. F.U.' + +'Expenses of journey--poor old man!' said Felix. 'It would go some way +to a special train!' + +'I suppose this is myself,' said Clement. + +'Ah, you'll have to resign yourself to be Edward for the rest of your +days.' + +'Do you mean to take it?' + +'Impossible not to let him have the pleasure of it. Poor man, depend +upon it he is wishing it had been my father all the time. And it might +have been--' Felix's face quivered and contracted. 'No, it won't do +to think of that. But, Clem, look here--we won't exactly walk from +Paddington; but deducting the one pound five that this really has cost +me, you shall take the rest of mine for Blackstone Gulley.' + +'It must have cost you more.' + +'No, for I was coming to town any way. Did I not tell you that I am to +meet poor Edgar's creditors on Cherry's behalf, and settle with them?' + +'Poor Cherry! It has been a noble thing for her to have carried out, +but one cannot but feel it wasted.' + +'No,' said Felix, 'she will never feel it so. Whatever she may do for +the future, she will be able to feel that she has been just before she +was generous. Remember, she will have sent our name home again cleared +of debt. I am proud to owe that to her! Now, whichever of us is ready +first must write the old man a grateful note, and we will both sign it.' + +'Stay, Felix! I can't have you giving this to my people. I shall have +plenty.' + +'In time, but I don't expect you will have much in hand for some time; +and if the Squire is so furious against these people, you won't like to +ask him. Besides, they are my people, in a way, as well as yours; and +if this is really the earnest of my inheritance, I should like it to go +to them.' + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +THE OLD SQUIRE AND THE NEW. + + 'I remember, I remember, + The house where I was born, + The little window where the sun + Came peeping in at morn.' + _T. Hood._ + + +So it was that the Reverend Edward Clement Underwood became Vicar of +Vale Leston Abbas; and as Geraldine observed, when she saw his whole +worldly possessions waiting for the omnibus, he probably carried with +him less personal property than any entering incumbent on the rolls of +fame. All was contained in one box, one portmanteau, and one black bag, +and chiefly consisted in the more clerical of his father's books, his +pocket-communion plate in the well-worn case, and a few gifts from St +Matthew's, not unaccompanied with cautions on their use. + +He spent a few days at home; and Mr. Bevan, who after his five years' +holiday had just come home, not only called on him, but asked him to +preach and to dine, including Felix in the latter invitation; but both +were impossible, as Clement was due at Vale Leston on the Saturday. +Thenceforth his family heard little of him. He had never been much of +a letter-writer, except when he sent a sort of essay on Church affairs +to direct the Pursuivant, and even these nearly ceased, so that, as +Lance said, there was no guessing whether he viewed the squire as the +wicked world or as a sick old sinner. And with Lance, Clement had had +a sort of passage-at-arms. He wanted much to have sent him to the +University, and was much vexed when Lance for many reasons declined; +but the offer and refusal were unknown--by the wish of both parties--to +the rest of the family. Clement said it was all indolence, and passion +for that organ of Ferdinand Travis's, which, now it had come at last, +had proved transcendently well worth waiting for. Clement viewed it +with some jealousy, and predicted that Lance would rue his decision; +and Lance could not help resenting what was unjust in the accusation +and prognostic, the more for what was just in it. To be sure, his +displeasure went no further than the resumption of the impudent old +name of Tina, but from Lance that implied much. + +Clement as a beneficed clergyman was something tangible; otherwise +people were rather disappointed to find Mr. Underwood in his natural +place, looking just as usual, and though to one or two close inquirers +he allowed that some property might come to him some day, he declared +that it made no difference. And when people found no blunders in +their accounts, no failures in their serials, and no neglect of their +parcels, they left off thinking he must necessarily be demoralised; and +though the Tribune sneered more than ever at the organ of a bloated +aristocracy, the world in general soon forgot, and then disbelieved, +that their attentive bookseller had any 'expectations.' + +Indeed, Felix himself had made up his mind, as he told his home sister +and brother, that the Squire had still many years to live, and that +the inheritance was only to be viewed as a dispensation from laying by +for old age, a point on the duty of which he had never decided, having +in truth nothing to lay by. The interests he now had in the place, and +the security of a welcome, satisfied his affection for it; and he was +too much at home in his present occupation to feel impatient to have it +ended. + +Geraldine found the waiting a greater trial. Longings for the green +grass, the purple moorland, the sparkling river, and broad sea would +come over her; and she would wonder whether the best years of their +lives were to be spent in the Bexley streets, where she could not +help fancying the smoke of the potteries more apparent than ever; +and whether Felix were condemned to stand behind a counter till he +had grown too old to begin a new life. Then she blamed herself, and +tried to struggle the thought away; but there was to her an absolute +oppression in Bexley summer air, and an uncongeniality in the dull ugly +surroundings, that made content an almost impossible achievement; and +the anticipation assuredly did not make her happier for the present. + +She declared however that Angela was wholesome to her, as a tipsy Helot +was to the Spartans. The girl was intoxicated with the prospect when +she suddenly plunged into it on coming home for the summer holidays. It +seemed nearly as good as her intended Duke, and she talked continually +of the horses she would ride, the tours she would take, the balls she +would frequent, while Felix would drily build up her castles to some +such manifestly outrageous height as to make them topple down headlong +with her. + +She was not the only Helot. Madame Tanneguy's sympathetic excitement +knew no bounds, and she clasped her hands with a gesture learnt in +France, as she rejoiced in Mr. Underwood being reinstated, and never +would hear or understand that there was no _re_ in the case. She would +be enthusiastic; she would drop in on Sundays, and question Felix point +by point about that magnificent place; and it must be owned that he +liked sympathy well enough not to answer her as ungraciously as Cherry +would have approved. She even tried to bring little Gustave, that he +and Theodore might grow accustomed to one another; but in this she +never succeeded, for Theodore having learnt that he must neither scream +at nor attack the little Frenchman, never saw him approach without +retreating to Sibby in the kitchen, or his brothers in the office. + +But Lady Price's demonstrations were much more amusing. She had come +home a good deal subdued and more on her guard, and she could take +advantage of the former Miss Underwood having been so fully occupied +to excuse her past neglect. She asked Felix to dinner, and his +sisters to croquet parties indefatigably, and tried to get up musical +entertainments which must lead to his singing with Miss Caroline. +What to do was a perplexity. Felix did not like to refuse altogether +overtures from the Rectory, for he had a warm feeling for poor Mr. +Bevan himself; but the horrible penance of singing with Miss Price he +backed out of pitilessly on the score of want of time; and as to the +garden parties, Geraldine hated them, and would have declined them +altogether if Angela had not been wild to go; and Felix and Wilmet +both decreed that it would be better for the child to accustom her to a +little society than to leave her pining and raving for amusement within +her reach. So as long as Angela was at home, Cherry consented to go to +the Rectory croquet, and horribly dull she found it. Lady Price used +demonstratively to inquire after her sister Lady Vanderkist, and how +Mr. Clement was getting on, and would introduce her to two or three of +the lookers on; but they were not apt to be of the mould who brought +out Cherry's powers of conversation; and she never got on well with +any one but the old Miss Crabbe who had once brought Stella home, and +who knew the Vale Leston neighbourhood, and could tell her a good deal +about it. + +Wilmet had never come home to institute her reformation. John's +occupation did not give him much leisure, and his mother's kindred sent +him so urgent an invitation, that he felt the more obliged to carry his +wife among them, because it was an act of forgiveness for his marrying +her. One of his mother's sisters had died, leaving him her portion, +and the survivor yearned after poor Lucy's son and his little boy. So +Wilmet was taken amongst the Oglandby clan, and took all the gentlemen +by storm by her beauty, and all the ladies by her domesticity and good +sense; and John found himself so taken up with business connected +with the bequest, that no time could be made for either of the homes. +Besides, it was greatly suspected that as a mother Wilmet was afraid of +Theodore and his jealousy, for she never offered to run down without +her husband. Indeed, he was carrying on a hard struggle to keep up to +his work through the inveterate remains of neuralgic suffering left by +his accident, and only those who stayed any time in the house knew how +brave an effort were his industry and cheerfulness. + +Robina had a capital situation as second governess in a large +household, where she seemed very happy; while William Harewood +continued to win prosperity and honour at Oxford, ending by obtaining +a first class, and becoming a student of Christchurch. Who would have +augured the like of Bill? + +The most visible effects of the heirship were big hampers of game, +which appeared at intervals all through the autumn and winter; and +Felix did thoroughly enjoy the carrying over the choicest spoils +therefrom to Marshlands, where they gave a great deal of pleasure and +a certain kind of pride. Now that Mr. Froggatt had seen no symptoms of +the turning of Felix's head, he began to believe in his prospects, and +to be a good deal divided between regard for him and for the business. + +Bernard was the one who profited most by the present state of things. +Not only did he go over twice, for a day, from Stoneborough to Vale +Leston, but he spent a week there at the beginning of the Christmas +holidays, chiefly in the society of the gamekeeper. So supremely happy +was he, and so brilliant were his descriptions to Madame Tanneguy, +that by the time they had gone through a Russian scandal process among +her confidantes Vale Leston had swelled to the dimensions of Windsor +Castle; and Lance and Angel were incited to prepare for her especial +benefit a parody of 'Bolton Abbey in the Olden Time,' with Clement +in the character and costume of the Abbot, presiding over the like +profusion of game. + +Not much more could be got out of the boy. He would talk indeed +plentifully, but it was all of rabbits and ferrets, pheasants and +ducks, horses and dogs. He evidently viewed himself as the Underwood +who alone could do his duty by the _feræ naturæ_ of the estate; and +though his magniloquence was not perfectly trustworthy, the elders +gathered from it that the old Squire had really been pleased to find +in one of the brothers the sportsman tastes he could appreciate, and +had encouraged the boy by telling him all manner of hunting anecdotes, +and letting him have the run of the woods. Bernard was small enough to +have no dignity to lose, and had galloped on the ponies turned out to +grass; but Felix had a curiosity to learn how Clement got on with the +chestnut, a question which set the school-boy into fits of laughing. +'Oh! I believe he sticks on somehow now, but just like a pair of +compasses, you know. Joe says if he has been spilt once he has been +spilt forty times. He knows by the mud on his clothes, you see; but +Mr. Eddard, as every one calls him, never says one word about it, but +stalks in just as upright as ever, and only once or twice they thought +he was a little stiff.' + +'But does he go on all the same?' asked Cherry, rather alarmed. + +'Oh yes, 'tis dogged as does it; and one can't get about there without +riding; such roads, and mud, and water-courses up to your knees. Yes, +and Joe doesn't think he's been off for more than a month now.' + +'Hurrah!' said Lance, 'I always knew Clem had lots of pluck in his own +way! And does he drive?' + +'He drives out the Squire whenever it is fine enough.' + +Much more could not be made out. The boy had, as Cherry said, a fine +singleness of eye. The game was in full focus, all the rest very dim +and obscure. Yes, Clem had a jolly room enough. What he did, or whether +he went out much, this deponent knew not, only that he believed the +church bell rang at eight--he thought Clem rang it himself. Dinner was +at seven, uncommon jolly--a capital cellar--and he was with difficulty +called back from an imposing enumeration of wines, to say that Mrs. +Fulbert was certainly not in the house. Mr. Underwood seldom left his +room till the middle of the day, and then, if he were well and the +weather fine, Clement attended his airing, then left him to sleep, +and after dinner played piquet or cribbage with him. When once Mr. +Staples dined there, Bernard had taken a hand at whist, of which he was +inordinately proud. + +That was all that could be gathered with any certainty, though Bernard +did nothing but groan for Vale Leston whenever he was not skating. They +had learnt that the Vicar of Vale Leston could ride and play at cards, +and they might make the most of that. + +Nor did they hear more till the next April, when Felix received the +following note:-- + + Vale Leston Priory, April 29th. + + MY DEAR FELIX, + + If you can get away I wish you would come down without loss of + time. Just after Bernard left us, Mr. Underwood got a chill, + and has had a good deal of suppressed gout. The doctor thinks + ill of him. I find he never has been a Communicant. Latterly, + the sense of wrong done to my father has held him back. It is + not satisfactory now, and I long for a priest of experience, + but I must do my best, and time and faculty seem failing. Your + presence and participation would be a comfort. Can you run + down? I will have the 4.40 train met on Monday. + + Your affectionate Brother, + E.C.U. + + +At 4.40 accordingly, Felix beheld a sporting-looking dog-cart of +varnished wood, containing a long black figure holding a very big +chestnut horse, and stretching out an eager hand to grasp his +brother's. 'That's right, Felix! I'm glad you are come!' + +'Is he worse?' + +'He has been changing rapidly since I wrote to you. Page does not know +what to think of him. I've been writing to ask Dr. May to come over +to-morrow.' + +'You look fagged, Clem. Does the nursing fall on you?' + +'We have a nurse now; and he seemed disposed to sleep, so I thought I +might come and meet you,' said Clement, who not only had the heavy eyes +of broken rest, but altogether had lost the childish contour of face, +and acquired the stamp of thought and reality. + +'The daughter-in-law is no help, I suppose?' + +Clement laughed, but rather sadly. 'They had had a great row over poor +Fulbert's properties before I came on the scene at all. She never was +anything but a grievance to him. He meant his son to have had Marilda; +and when that failed, consented to pay his debts and let him marry this +person, on his yielding to take Holy Orders--a miserable business, +and he feels it so now. I have tried to bring about a better state of +feeling, but I can't feel my way. I think there is more good in her +than he gives her credit for; and he fancies she blinds me, and has as +good as ordered me never to speak of her again.' + +'Then he has quite adopted you?' + +'Oh, yes, he is very kind to me,' said Clement warmly, and from what +he went on to say, it was clear that he had grown fond of his charge, +and found it far less of a burthen than he had expected, though he must +have been often crossed, and could have met with little congeniality. + +He had been left quite unfettered in action as a clergyman; indeed, the +Squire had supported him under the growls of a few malcontents, and +though this was chiefly on the ground that State must stand by Church, +Underwood by Underwood, and that tenants had no business to think, +still it was effective. The only quarrels had been caused by the young +Vicar's peacemaking endeavours towards the widow, his proclivities +towards the pariahs of Blackstone Gulley, and his backwardness to +enter into county gaieties. + +'Young men were hardly to be trusted if they were not like young men,' +argued the Squire; and he was vexed if he found Clement avoiding a +party or refusing a dinner on the score of parish engagements. Indeed, +an invitation from a sporting nobleman of a questionable repute was +declined at the cost of such offence, that Clement had thought he +should have to reconstruct the Vicarage, if not repair at once to +sleep in the hay-loft thereof; but after one evening's storm, the +subject had never been renewed. To have had more of the animal and +less of the spiritual in his young inmate would have been pleasanter +and more comprehensible to the old gentleman; and he had begun by a +certain distrust of what the military comrades of his youth and the +hunting associates of his later years would have declared sanctimonious +hypocrisy in so young a man. The first offer--as a mere matter of +course--to read prayers to him had been received with a snarl, and a +dry 'Thank you, I'll let you know when I require your services.' + +Clement had desisted, and strengthened by the Vicar's counsel, had +waited to feel his way and win his ground, by many a reading of the +newspaper, many a game at piquet, many a prose on the Shaw misdeeds +and on county politics, and by what the poor old man had never known +before--the genuine filial kindness of reverence for age and infirmity, +without interested adulation. + +After all, it was the attacks on the young parson's new-fangledness +that first led to discussions that died away only to be renewed again, +revealing queer prejudices and conclusions based on nearly total +ignorance--the ignorance of a careless son of a careless household +sixty years back, and since alienated from all religious teaching +by the consciousness of one act of injustice in requital of unusual +forbearance and generosity. + +Clement felt as though he had done nothing, and that the opportunity +was fast fleeting. Where he had but stirred the waters, he thought that +a man like Mr. Fulmort might have produced real effect; and he was +downcast and humble at his own inefficiency, though he allowed that +no stranger would probably have been permitted to go so far as he, a +youth, an Underwood, and a son of the injured cousin's. + +This, Felix's third arrival, was unlike the former ones. He had no +need to watch his brother's countenance for tokens of interest; +Clement was the one at home, and with his heart in the place, though +still he looked as if he thought there was irrelevance in the cry of +loving joy that broke from Felix at first sight of the valley in its +beauty. The moor, the wood, the river, and the sea, did not go for much +with the Vicar--it was the people he thought of, and the damages and +deficiencies of the Church struck him infinitely more than the grandeur +of the tower and picturesque beauty of the building. + +He had no power to make changes in the fabric; and indeed, it had +been Mr. Fulmort's advice that in all the alterations which he should +introduce, he should carefully distinguish between essentials and +non-essentials, including in the former that spiritual support for +himself, which was needful to prevent the salt from losing savour, and +himself from becoming lowered to his people's level while waiting to +raise them, but omitting what would be viewed as mere outward ornament +till minds were trained to enter into it. + +So, though Abednego Tripp's voice still reigned supreme in the +responses, there was a full complement of daily prayer and weekly +feast, though the Vicar's very heart ached over the blankness, +dreariness, and scant attendance. The main body of the parishioners +never indeed openly censured an Underwood, but they viewed these +aberrations on the part of 'Mr. Eddard,' as an outcome of gentlefolks' +lack of employment 'The last Passon Fulbert, _he_ were all for hosses, +this here Passon Eddard, _he_ be all for churchings,' was the parish +judgment; and only now and then were deep-set grafts implanted by his +father discovered to cheer his heart. + +Indeed, the influences of school, visiting, lectures, and classes, were +the more impeded by the influence of the four Miss Hepburns. + +'Ah!' said Clement, as he touched his hat to a tall grey and russet +form, 'there goes one of the trials of my life! All the religion in +the parish was kept up by those good ladies, and now they think mine +worse than none. They call me "Poor young man!" Yes, you may laugh, +Felix; but it is they who prevent me from making way. If they were only +Dissenters, I should know what to be at; but they have deserved all the +love and reverence of the parish all these years, and now they turn it +against me!' + +'Knowingly?' + +'So far as that they sigh at me, and warn people against trusting to +ordinances, as if I ever taught any such thing, or as if people needed +to be told _not_ to go to church.' + +'They don't do that?' + +'Not exactly; but it amounts to an excuse for not going. And if I +object to one tract, they ingeniously substitute another just as bad. +I can't turn them out of the school. They were so much disgusted when +I got the Sunday school out of the Lady Chapel into the Vicarage, the +stable you know, that I was in hopes they would cut the concern; but +no, they go on like martyrs. Their object is to counteract me. They +have as good as told me they think it their mission.' + +'Do you argue?' + +'Oh yes, I did so plentifully the first six months, but they always +assumed I said something I never even dreamt of. They even went to Mr. +Underwood, but I don't think they got much out of him,' said Clement, +laughing a little. 'Of late I have had no time to go near them; and my +one comfort is they don't think Blackstone Gulley a place for ladies, +and fancy we have nothing to do with the East Ewmouth suburb. I don't +know why I should rejoice, though! The place there grows every day, and +into heathenism.' + +No wonder poor Clement was fagged, melancholy, and discouraged. His +life was lonely. There were no gentry in the village but these ladies; +and he--with his strong opinions and assertion of his office--was +exactly the person to be as heavy a trial to middle-aged ladies +of opposite traditions, and accustomed to a semi-pastorate in the +neglected parish, as ever they could be to him. The neighbouring +clergy, except one overtasked incumbent, on the farther side of +Ewmouth, were of their way of thinking, pitied them, and stood +courteously aloof from the new-comer. Stoneborough was too far off for +much intercourse, and even there his peculiarities stood in his light, +and his position as the guest of his invalid kinsman prevented him from +bringing a friend to stay with him, or arranging an exchange to give +himself relaxation. He had not even been able to go up to Cambridge +for his M.A. degree, and had not once slept out of the Priory. Of this +he did not complain, but no doubt this isolation had assisted in his +depression and belief that he was failing utterly, and doing nothing +but mischief. + +It seemed to be an inexpressible relief to talk to some one who could +understand him; and perhaps he had never so enjoyed his brother's +society before. + +The butler met them at the door, saying that Mr. Underwood was awake, +and asking for both him and 'Mr. Felix;' and Clement led the way at +once to the sitting-room, where the old man still was daily wheeled, +for the restlessness of rapid failure was on him; and the sight of his +wan puffy-looking face and the sinking in of his whole figure startled +Felix, even after what he had heard. He lighted up a little at the +sight of 'Edward,' and held out a cold damp hand to Felix, complaining +of chill; nor could he bear to lose sight of the younger cousin again. +Every moment he wanted his help to change his posture or alter his +pillows; and when the brothers were called away to dinner, Clement +would hardly have gone save to obtain an opportunity of telling his +brother that he saw much change in this short time, and to despatch a +message for the medical man from Ewmouth. + +He, however, said nothing definite, but administered an anodyne, and +promised to come early, advising Clement to leave the night-watch to +the nurse, as causing less excitement, and perhaps with a view likewise +to the visible effects of a long course of anxious and disturbed nights. + +But in the early light of May morning, Clement was standing by his +brother's bed-side, saying in a low agitated voice, 'Felix, I think the +end is coming. His mind is clear, and he wants to see you. I think we +ought to have the Celebration. I hoped to have brought him to send for +Jane--in fact, I have sent. You must judge if we ought to wait.' + +Felix had less experience of the approach of death than the young +clergyman, but the ashy sunken face and hollow breath assured him that +there was no time to lose. The old man was sensible, and perfectly knew +Felix, but was too much oppressed to speak much; only after a time he +said, with an odd kind of smile, 'That boy Edward does more for me than +ever my own, poor fellow--like his father--glad he has his place--he's +not next to you?' + +'Not if poor Edgar be living, sir.' + +'Don't let a scamp come between him and the property,' gasped the old +man; but Felix felt no need of answering. + +'Wish my uncle had signed his will,' was the next murmur. 'Edward and +Mary would have done better--maybe, my poor boy, too. Is Edward there? +I say--you lads--never drive a son into the Church, whatever you do.' + +It was a remote temptation, but there was an echo of repentance in +the warning. No more was said till all had been made ready. Old Tripp +had been sent for to make up the number; the household contained no +Communicant. The dying man made each brother give him his hand, and +said, 'Peace with all, isn't that it? You, both of you, Felix and +Edward, I did use your father and mother as I ought not, though somehow +I thought at the time I had the right, but I believe I have suffered +for it all my life; and I ask your pardon as I would ask theirs.' + +'Indeed you have it, as I know you had theirs,' Felix said. 'My brother +knows as well as I, how no word like bitterness was ever allowed +amongst us.' + +'Did Edward forgive me at last?' + +'Not at last,' said Felix; 'he had done it so much at first, that he +never thought of it.' + +'And,' added Clement, 'will you not send a message to your +daughter-in-law--to Jane, sir?' + +'To Jane? Much she cares! Well, if you say I must, and if Edward +forgave me, I suppose--Tell her I'll do my best to forgive--but if she +had never got hold of poor Fulbert--God forgive me--what am I getting +to? Only mind she doesn't do the same by you. Ay, I'm at peace with her +and all of 'em! Only don't let her come. God have mercy on me?' The cry +was, at least, half bodily. + +And so the holy rite began in dark doubt and dim trust and hope. How +unlike the bright cheeriness and the joy that no man could take away +from Edward Underwood's last Communion! This was the last interval of +clear consciousness. All that day he was dying, with just perception +enough to cling to Clement's presence and voice, as almost unceasingly +the young man held him up, and prayed with and for him with the +earnestness of one who held intensely full faith in the might of +intercessory prayer to aid the spirit in the doubtful strife, often +supported by the thought of the prayers that were rising in so many +churches far away for the struggling and the dying. + +Felix was with him at times, but no one could do much to aid his +physical exertion; and it was needful to keep guard over Mrs. Fulbert +Underwood, as long as there was mind enough left for her presence to +cause emotion. It had been right of Clement to send for her, but she +was a trying element in the day, though not loud or coarse, but tearful +and affectionate about the dear old Squire's former kindness and the +wretched misunderstanding that had come between. There was every +reason to believe her a harpy, but at this moment she could not show +her talons; and Felix was divided between sense of humbug and fear of +injustice during the long uncongenial _tête-à-tête_. The only breaks in +it were from the doctors. Mr. Page was backwards and forwards the whole +day, and Dr. May came in the course of the morning; but they could do +nothing but apply these resources of science that seem but to lengthen +out the death agony. However, the greatest refreshment of that day was +a turn under the wall with Dr. May, hearing how highly he thought of +Clement's whole conduct towards the old man. + +'I don't say the lad is altogether after my cut,' said the Doctor. +'We old folks used to think ourselves up in the steeple, and now we +find these young ones think us down in the crypts. I'm afraid he may +be bringing a hornet's nest about his ears, but that's all outside; +and for the rest, nobody could have had such an effect on poor old Ful +Underwood without something very genuine in him.' + +'That is quite true,' said Felix; 'Clement has startled us sometimes, +but we have never done otherwise than respect his thorough sincerity; +and he always shows to the very best in any trouble or trial.' + +'Ay,' said Dr. May; 'and I'll tell you another thing I've been slow +to find out. It's not one youth in a hundred that if he is moderate +enough to stop with what satisfied our--my--generation, has anything in +him. Why, as I saw it well put the other day--Ethel was delighted with +the notion--King Arthur tried to work up the Round Table, and because +Christian chivalry had raised that generation, comes the Quest of the +Sancgreal to lead them higher. 'Tis one of the tests of life whether we +will take to our Quest and let others take to it. Tying them down to +our Round Table does no good at all. But what am I talking of? You are +one of these boys yourself.' + +'I suppose I am,' said Felix; 'but I own I should be happier to see +things as my father would have had them.' + +'Somehow I saw it in you. Veneration has fixed your standard, I take +it; and you've had all the cares in the world to sober you. But +depend upon it--I've seen it many a time, in my own boys as well as +others--enthusiasm carries on the work, and where that is, you may be +only too thankful to give a loose rein. A young man must have it out +one way or another; and we may well be thankful if he gives it to the +Church, even though he may run into what seems queer to us.' + +Felix laid up the conversation for himself and Geraldine, and thought +it over many times that long day. + +Not till late in the evening was the unconsciousness such that Mrs. +Underwood could be admitted, and it was not till two in the morning +that the struggle was over. Clement had scarcely tasted anything since +the hurried, interrupted dinner the previous day, except what his +brother had almost forced on him at the bed-side; and he was so stiff, +spent, and worn out, that Felix could think of nothing till he had seen +him safe in bed. + +Nor was it till the clash of the knell had sounded several times, +that at eight next morning, Felix gradually awoke; and only slowly +did the strokes, as he mechanically counted them, recall to him that +the event had happened--that he was in his own house--his mother's +rightful inheritance--and that his years of toil and effort were over! +To say that his first thought was not exultation would not be true. The +recovery of his natural position, and the possession of such a home for +his sisters, could not but rejoice him, though with it came the sense +of responsibility, and of a perplexing knot to be untied, a knot of +wrong to be undone at _any_--yes, at _any_ cost. 'Even if it leave us +as poor as heretofore,' he spoke to himself, 'God grant me to prove my +faith in His word as to poverty.' + +Ere the tolls had ceased all the multiplied honours they could pay +to sixty-five years and Squire-rector, Felix saw Clement, instead of +sleeping, on his way to the church. Felix followed thither ere long, +and the brothers met at the churchyard gate. + +'Well, Clement,' said Felix, as their hands met, 'you have led this to +end better than one durst hope.' + +'It had all been working long before,' said Clement in a trembling +voice. + +'It has been a terrible time for you. Are you rested?' + +'A little stiff and achy--but that will work off, thank you.' + +'And now, Clem, you must stand by me, and help me in what is to be +done.' + +The two brothers stood looking at the fine old house, the cloister +connecting it with the church, the spring beauty blossoming round; +Clement put his hand on his brother's shoulder, and said, in a half +apologetic tone, 'After all, I can't help being glad it has come to you +at last.' + +It may be doubted whether any congratulation pleased Felix so much. 'I +am glad to have known it so long beforehand,' he answered. 'I hope we +shall be enabled to see the right and do it.' + +Clement looked at the church and at the village; and again, with warm +impulse and tears in his eyes, exclaimed, 'I cannot help being glad. +Now I have some hope for my poor people.' + +'We will do our best,' said Felix; 'and you will bear with me if I +disappoint you.' + +'Nay,' said Clement, the tears nearly choking him, 'the really best +thing for the place would be, if you would let me give up, and appoint +old Flowerdew.' + +'What! be driven away by the clan Hepburn?' + +'Not that, exactly, except that an older man, who had not made such a +wretchedly bad beginning, might make all the difference. Till you are +settled in here, you will not conceive the mess I have made of it all.' + +'I see you have had a great strain on you; you will look on it +differently when you have rested.' + +'I don't know,' said Clement. 'It is not that I don't care for the +place, Felix,' he added, pleadingly; 'I do now, with all my heart and +soul--it _is_ my charge, and must be--only if I could learn a little +more, and get rid of a little of my youth and priggishness before I +come back, it would be so much better for the people.' + +'Of that last article I think you have got rid considerably.' + +'I'm sure there's been enough to take the conceit out of me;' and +perhaps he proved it by adding, 'But I leave it to you, Felix; I know +you think it may be essential to your plans that a brother should hold +the vicarage, and if so, of course I would go on, knowing too what +an immense difference the influence of this house will make, and the +having you to turn to for advice.' + +'If we can live here at all,' said Felix. 'I do not in the least know +the rights of the property.' + +Nor could he tell till after a good deal of talk with the lawyers and +looking over of papers. The funeral was to be on the Saturday, and +conducted exactly like that of last year. Felix thought the present +no time for a protest against the seventy-five yards of black cloth. +'Though this is the last of it,' he said to Clement, 'I'll have no +church put in mourning for me.' + +He saw very little of his brother, for the house was a good deal beset +with Shaws; and besides, Clement, who was to go up to London on the +Monday, had a good deal of parish visiting and business in arrear to +make up, and so far from resting, scarcely sat down or ate. He would +accept no assistance at the funeral, but every one remarked how ill he +looked. Afterwards there was a public reading of the will, which named +Felix as sole executor as well as heir; and added to the provision for +the daughter-in-law by the settlements a charge of three hundred a year +on the estate so long as she should remain a widow. A few very unkind +things were said by the Shaws, which Clement was young enough to mind a +good deal, after all his peacemaking efforts, and which made Bernard's +eyes flash. + +Bernard was to stay with his brothers over the Sunday; but he must have +found it a dull evening, for Clement had a sermon to write, and Felix +was deep in calculations till long after the boy had yawned himself off +to bed. + +At last Felix knocked at Clement's study-door. 'Up still! Clem, you +want rest.' + +'Not I. But I have just finished. How do things turn out?' + +'Fairly,' said Felix, showing him a paper where he had drawn up a +statement. 'The property altogether, you see, has been counted at four +thousand five hundred a year. Well, out of that Mrs. Underwood has +eight hundred a year, and the involvements of Fulbert's debts reduce +it a good deal more, so that Mr. Wilder says I must not reckon on more +than two thousand three hundred at present, and of that nine hundred +and fifty is the great tithe, and the rent of the Glebe farm is three +hundred and seventy. Blackstone Gulley belongs to the estate, and could +not be sold; but the speculator gave a round sum for a twenty-one +years' lease, which will not be run out these four years, so we can do +nothing about that at present. Now, Clem, this nine hundred and fifty a +year--I'm not going to make it over to you bodily. I think that, with +the Glebe Farm, your income as Vicar will be quite as much as is good +for a parson.' + +'I suppose so,' said Clement, laughing; 'I never felt poor in my life +till I had four hundred a year, and I should be poorer still if I had +fourteen hundred.' + +'No wonder, if you subscribe to everything, and pay for whatever is +wanted in the parish instead of asking those who ought! I believe +four thousand would not make much difference to you, or four hundred +thousand either,' said Felix, who had come to some appalling +discoveries as to Clement's ways of dealing with money. + +'Perhaps not,' he answered, good humouredly; 'but what do you mean to +do? To be your own ecclesiastical commissioner?' + +'Something like it; at any rate, not to put it out of my own hands +till I see the best way, and that there will be time to do while it +is putting the church and the Glebe cottages into a proper state, and +setting the Vicarage to rights. Perhaps first of all should come a +school-chapel for Blackstone Gully; and as I reckon that all this will +take six or seven years, by that time we shall be able to judge what +is most wanted--a church and endowment for Blackstone, or for that +Ewmouth suburb, or both; and when that is done, I would make over the +rectorial rights to the living.' + +'O Felix! I never durst think of anything--so like a dream!' said +Clement, looking up at him. + +'And you will stay here, Clem? I think you must; for you see I can hand +over the rent of the glebe, and settle these things with you, taking my +time about them in a way I could not do if the incumbent were not my +brother and my next heir.' + +'But I am not your next heir.' + +'I have made you so. I thought it right to draw up a very short will, +leaving everything to you, with John Harewood as executor, to save the +dead lock there would be in case of my coming to some sudden end. I can +perfectly trust to you to do right by the sisters and Theodore; and +if Edgar, poor fellow! should come home, I know you would hand over +to him what is really secular, and you would feel to be his right. +But, Clement, you need have the less scruple at my doing this, that I +have come to think there is little likelihood of the dear fellow being +alive.' + +'Indeed!' + +'More than a year ago, Fulbert sent me a scrap of newspaper with +an account of a man being found murdered by the bush-rangers. He +had been robbed, and there was nothing about him to lead to his +identification; but the diggers he had last been with called him Ned +Wood. Fulbert went to the place and made all possible inquiries, but +could find out nothing, but that he had been noted for singing, and was +light-complexioned. Fulbert himself believes it; and I think nothing +else would have led Fernan to give up his search. I thought it so +entirely vague and improbable, that I let no one but Lance see the +letter; indeed, I so utterly disbelieved it, that it did not dwell on +me at the time; but the longer we are without hearing, the more I am +driven to believe it.' + +'You have not told Cherry?' + +'If it were a certainty, I could not tell her half what Fulbert heard. +I have never spoken to her about it. I will not take away her hope on +such grounds.' + +'I think you are right. I do not think anything of this story myself.' + +'Nor I, at times when I think of "the child of so many prayers,"' said +Felix. 'But with such a dreadful possibility, never to be cleared up, +you see it would never do to leave things unsettled; so I just did this +for the present.' + +'Yes, it can be altered at need,' said Clement, with a long breath. + +'This house,' said Felix, returning to business, 'is clearly our own; +and you will go on with us of course for the present, if we can live +here. It has certainly been a priory, but I do not therefore feel bound +to restore that; I have read and thought much about those religious +houses, and I think that there is no call to give them up as things now +stand.' + +'If?' + +'I must talk it over with some of the financial heads. Of course I wish +it for the girls, and my own duty seems to lie here; but if it will not +do, I must let the place till the entanglements clear themselves.' + +'Let the place? What! and go on with the business?' cried Clement, in +consternation. + +'I must keep on the business any way.' + +'Felix! Impossible! In your position--' + +'I cannot have the position if I cannot have the business. Look at it: +here is Bernard to be educated, and Lance to go to the University, and +four girls without any provision worth naming, besides Theodore; and +how is all to be done out of less than a thousand pounds a year, with +this house and grounds to be kept up, and where people are used to see +five thousand spent?' + +'Could you not sell the business?' + +'Of course I could; but judging by what I have gathered during this +year, the capital I should receive would not bring me in anything in +proportion to what I make now; and I cannot afford to lose so much.' + +'I don't see that you are a bit better off than you were before!' + +'Rather worse, as far as money goes.--But this place! You don't feel +the charm of it half enough. What will it not be to Cherry, and little +Stella? I do think Cherry will get along here; though Wilmet will say +we ought not to try. But I shall pay off all the servants on Monday, +and we'll start on a new tack.' + +'Yes; I believe they have preyed awfully on the old Squire. There's not +one I should wish to keep, in-door or out-door.' + +'Then we would begin on a smaller scale, and harden ourselves against +traditions. I would get a real good assistant for Lamb, go backwards +and forwards, and keep on the Pursuivant myself as before.' + +'The Pursuivant is all very well. It is a valuable influence: but can't +you keep that, and drop the retail affair?' + +'I can't give up three hundred a year for the honour of the thing.' + +'But if I live with you, could you not keep the rent of the Glebe farm +as my board?' + +'You certainly have been sumptuously maintained here, but hardly at the +cost of three hundred and seventy pounds! No; I think it would be only +fair that you should give a hundred towards the housekeeping, as Mr. +Audley used to do, and something more for your horse; but to take any +more would only be robbing the Church under another form.' + +'I don't like it! It will do you harm in the neighbourhood. You will +never take your proper place;' then, as Felix half smiled, 'you wonder +at these arguments from me? Yes, but I know the neighbourhood better +than you do, and I do not like to see your influence and usefulness +crippled.' + +'That may be; but the choice lies between being looked down on for +being in trade and continuing in this wrong to the Church.' + +'Surely we could live at small expense here! We have all been used to +frugality.' + +'Yes, and I have seen that stinting has not a happy effect. In such +a house as this, we cannot live as we have done at home. We can do +without display, but plain hospitality we must have, and debt would be +worse than trade. Ah, Clem! the old home has made you the exclusive +aristocrat again! Recollect, such a restitution must involve sacrifice +of some sort. We must have the Underwood "rood" some way or other. You +are ready enough to let it be in money and luxury, but can't you let it +be in--what shall I call it--consideration? That is, if it does make +any difference, or if we find it out.' + +'You'll find it out fast enough from the Miss Hepburns,' muttered +Clement. + +Felix laughed 'Poor Clem! Hepburns first and last! I'm sorry to +disgrace you!' + +But during that laugh Clement had bethought himself. 'I beg your +pardon, Felix; you are a lesson to me. I did not know that it was the +world that was arguing in me. To go on working in trade in order to +make restitution to the Church is heroism I did not grasp at first.' + +'Perhaps,' said Felix more lightly, 'it is all reluctance to give up +being somebody at Bexley for the sake of being nobody in Ewshire. Don't +look so unhappy, old fellow; University men and beneficed clergy, +like you, think much of what I was inured to long ago. Come, put out +your lamp, and come up to bed; I am sure you can't finish that sermon +to-night.' + +'If I did,' said Clement, shutting it up, 'it would be to say I was not +worth ever to preach again!' + +Perhaps Felix, who had entirely disbelieved the report of Edgar's +fate till his mind had in a manner become accustomed to the idea, had +underrated the amount of shock that it would give Clement, who had +never been half so much attached to poor Edgar as himself; nor perhaps +might it have done so, but for the unnerved overstrained condition to +which the year's solitude and responsibility, the months of nursing, +and the days of severe fatigue, had brought him. + +Felix was wakened from his first sleep by the strangled scream of +nightmare in the next room, and hastening in, broke the spell, and +found that poor Clement had been dreaming out what he had told him, and +had deemed himself bound, gagged, struggling to come to Edgar's aid, +and ask his pardon for having done him some horrible injury, the load +of which did not at first pass with awakening. + +'No,' he said, when he had entirely resumed his waking powers, 'it is +too true! Things never were as they ought to have been between us! Who +knows what difference it might have made!' + +'Of course,' said Felix, thinking that to talk it all out would conduce +to Clement's quieter rest. 'We can all look back to much that we would +have had otherwise; but I trace the original mischief to those days +when Mr. Ryder, young and eager, talked out all his crudities to the +cleverest boy in his school, just as he had done to his Oxford friends. +He feels it himself, I think. He gave unintentionally a sort of +resource against whatever was distasteful, and made all the scepticism +that the poor dear fellow was exposed to abroad not seem a mere foreign +aberration. Somehow he was afraid of what religion might do to him, and +so took refuge not so much in doubt, as in knowing it was doubted. The +only thing that I ever knew touch him, was something Lance said to him +about refusing to go and live with him in London.' + +'Yes; his brightness did good, where my assumptions only added to the +general contempt.' + +'Still, the more I think, the more I do believe that whether we ever +know it or not, so sweet and loving a nature must come right at last.' + +And there in the dark those two brothers knelt down together and in +deep undertones uttered a few clauses of intense prayer. Then Clement +said in a broken voice, 'Felix, _do_ keep your present room, and let us +say this together every night.' + +And the elder brother's only answer was such a fatherly kiss as he gave +the younger ones. They remembered that night long after! + +On the Sunday Clement was not only exhausted and unwell, but could +not help allowing it, for he fainted after his first service, and was +forced to allow himself to lie by whenever he was not actually needed, +letting Felix spare him whatever was possible. Thus it was that the new +Squire astonished the natives by taking the Vicar's Sunday class in the +stable that served for the school. By-the-by, instead of receiving such +a lecture as used to be the penalty of intrusting his own Bexley boys +to Clement, he was now dejectedly forewarned that the Vale Lestonites +did not know half as much, and had the more reason to think it true +because such an extraordinary proceeding on a Squire's part filled them +with blank speechless amazement. + +The congregation were equally full of wonder, approaching to +incredulity, when their new Mr. Underwood stood forth surpliced, and +read the Lessons. He had done the like often for Mr. Flowerdew; but +he would not have thus amazed the villagers on this first Sunday if +he had not been really uneasy as to their Vicar's powers of getting +through the services. And it really was a memorable thing, to Clement +at least, to hear his full clear beautiful voice setting forth the +delights of the Land of Promise, the goodly houses and fields, and the +warnings that he was verily taking to himself against the heart being +lifted up, and forgetting, or turning to serve the gods the former +nations had served--the gods may be of family pride, and pleasure, and +ease, and comfort. To Clement it seemed as though he read the whole +magnificent chapter of Deuteronomy like a manifesto of his own future +course, declaring all against which he meant to beware. It was just +as, when he had to seal up a bundle of papers that evening, he took +up a big old white cornelian seal with the family shield, and said, +squeezing it down into a deep well-prepared bed of red sealing-wax, +'There, I never did that before; I couldn't be liable for armorial +bearings!' And as Bernard exclaimed, 'Yes, now you are a gentleman +out and out!' he answered gravely, 'Not forgetting the motto, Bear. +Remember what we take up.' + +'There's no sense in those old sing-song saws,' boldly averred Bernard. + +'Perhaps you'll know better some day.' + +Felix went himself to St Matthew's with Clement, and had a private +conference with Mr. Fulmort, the result of which was, that the senior +curate, very glad of a breath of May loveliness, went down for three +weeks to Vale Leston, while the Vicar thereof refreshed his spirit at +St Matthew's, and that when he went back again he was to take with him +the Reverend Frederick Somers, to stay till the family move should +bring him other companions. + +The only sister within reasonable distance was Robina; and Felix could +not deny himself a call on her, especially as there were no further +considerations about incommoding the family with her relations. He +was shown into a big drawing-room, not at the moment inhabited, but +with the air of being used by easy-going happy people; and almost +immediately in flew the neat trim black-silken personage with the sunny +round face he had come in search of. + +'Felix! dear Felix! how nice and good to come in all your glory! Lady +de la Poer was in the school-room, and she told me to ask you to +stay to luncheon. Do, pray! I want you to see her and Grace, and my +children.' + +'Very well. If I do, can you come out with me afterwards? I want your +help.' + +'Oh yes! I am sure I shall be able. I'll ask at luncheon, if Lady de la +Poer does not offer.' + +'Have you spoken to her?' + +'Told her? Of course. We had quite a festival in the schoolroom, and +all drank your health in cowslip wine. We had had a whole lot of +cowslips sent up from the Towers; and their papa came in, and wanted to +know if Mr. Underwood were not worthy of a more generous beverage. Oh, +I wish he were at home; I want you to see him!' ('And him to see you,' +she had on the tip of her tongue, but she thought he would not like it.) + +'And when are you coming home?' + +'When you all go to take possession. I would not lose that for +anything. I am to have my holiday then.' + +'Holiday! You are coming for good.' + +'Don't you think,' she said, looking up in his face, 'that after all +this education on purpose for a teacher, it would be a shame to throw +it all up and come to live on you?' + +'That was just one of the things I value this inheritance for, Robin. +There's no fear but that you would find plenty to do.' + +'You have three to do it,' she said; 'and the more Angela has on her +hands the better she will get on. I have been thinking it over ever +since you wrote, Felix, and I cannot see that your having an estate +makes it right in me to live dependent when I can maintain myself. It +would not if I were your brother.' + +'You are not going in for women's rights, Bob?' he said, smiling. + +'Not out-and-out. But listen. What you have for us is just the run of +the house, isn't it?' + +'Well, yes,' he hesitated. 'It will take some time and prudence to make +a provision for you, you horribly wise bird!' + +'Then would it not be foolish to come and eat up your provision at home +when I can do something towards making one myself; and I am really very +happy?' and there was colour enough in her cheek slightly to startle +her brother. + +'Oh, if you are too happy here to come away--' + +'Don't say that! she cried. 'I like it, for they are all kind and +bright; and I never had such a friend as Lady Grace--and I feel as if I +were doing a duty; but--oh no!--' + +'Don't be so horribly discomfited, my dear. Only when young ladies are +so happy away from home, and want to make a provision--My dear little +sister, I beg your pardon--' + +'Stay, Felix; I must tell you now, that you may not fancy anything so +dreadful as that it is any one here.' + +'Then there's an "it is," after all!' + +'No! oh, I don't know! I tried to speak to Wilmet, and she would not +let me; but when we were both ridiculous children, a little foolish +nonsense passed between him and me.' + +'Whom?' + +'Willie!' + +'Will Harewood? I thought that was all the Bailey nonsense.' + +'I can't tell,' said Robina, leaning against him and looking down. 'Do +all I can, I can't forget the sort of--of promise; and I've never been +sure whether he meant it, but--but I think he did. O Fee! is it bad of +me?' + +'My sweet Bob,' he said, and kissed her, 'I am glad you have told me. I +never thought of such an affair being on your little mind. I must say I +wish it had not happened.' + +'No, don't say that,' said Robina. 'It does not worry me;' and she +laughed at the very sound of the words. 'Why, can't you see how happy +I am? and I _mean_ to be. I know how good and nice he is; and if he +doesn't remember, or can't do it, there's no harm done. (This was in +a tone brave because it was incredulous.) But if ever it did come to +anything, I should like to have something to help on with.' + +'Very practical and business-like, my bird! And I am afraid it is a +sign it goes deep!' he said musingly. + +'Deep!' she said, looking up to him, 'of course it does! It would be +very odd if it did not! But that will only make me glad of whatever is +good for Will; and I think the waiting is all right. I do want to have +done something for him! The only question is whether it will be bad for +you at Vale Leston to have a governess sister.' + +'There's worse than that, Robin,' said Felix, gravely, 'for the Squire +himself remains a bookseller!' + +'You don't mean that!' + +He briefly explained. + +'That quite settles it,' she said. 'I could not go home and live in +idleness while you were working on.' + +'I believe you are right, Robin; but I am disappointed. I did reckon on +my sisters living like ladies!' + +'Isn't three enough for you,' laughed Robin, 'to set up in a row and +wait upon, as Stella does on her dolls?' + +'Precisely so. I don't think I could have let you turn Effective Female +on my hands, if you hadn't a pretty little feminine aim of your own.' + +'For shame, Felix! Don't ever think about that again! Only tell me when +to ask for my holiday.' + +'There are a few repairs that must be done at once; besides I've made a +clean sweep of the servants, and turned in old Tripp's daughter to do +for Clement. I don't think we can possibly be ready for a month or six +weeks.' + +By this time the gong was sounding; and Lady de la Poer came in with a +kind and friendly greeting. Felix soon found himself in the midst of a +large family party of all ages, full of bright mirth, among whom Robina +spoke and moved with home-like ease, and he himself took his place as +naturally as it was given to him. Lady de la Poer knew a little of +Ewshire, and talked to him about it in the pleasantest manner, giving +the sense of congratulation without obtruding it; and she, without +waiting to be requested--proposed Miss Underwood's going out with him, +proclaiming that she would herself take the children into Kensington +Gardens. + +Then, while Robina was gone to prepare, she said, 'Your sister told me +she does not wish to leave us. I said I could not consider the answer +as final till she had seen you. Perhaps I ought not till she has seen +your new home.' + +'Thank you,' said Felix. 'I confess it seemed to me startlingly prudent +and independent; but when I came to think it over, I could hardly say +that the child is wrong.' + +'We were very glad, as you may believe, to find that she was happy +enough to be willing to stay on. Indeed, we both feel the benefit not +only to the little ones, but of the companionship to the elder girls. +Grace is especially fond of her, and I hope it will be a lasting +friendship.' + +Felix coloured as one very much pleased, and made some acknowledgment. + +'There's a sturdy fearless good sense, and yet liveliness, about her,' +continued the lady, 'which has already been of great use to Grace, who +is naturally all ups and downs. However, if she changes her mind among +the attractions of home, we promise not to feel ill-used.' + +'What is Mamma saying?' exclaimed Lady Grace in person, entering the +room with Robina as her mother was speaking. 'Is she pretending that we +shall not feel ill-used if Miss Underwood deserts us? No such thing! I +shall never forgive her--never! If you try to persuade her, mind, it is +at peril of being haunted by the ghost of a forlorn maiden, pined to +death for a faithless friend!' + +'You don't half like to trust her with Mr. Underwood,' said her mother, +laughing. + +'I told you how good he was, Gracie,' interposed Robina. + +'He is pretending to consent, and he means to undermine me! It will be +just like Beauty and the Beast. Your sisters will do their eyes with +onions, to work on your feelings; and then you'll stay on, and find the +poor Beast--that's me--at the last gasp!' + +'That will be when she goes home,' said Felix, laughing. 'I promise to +bring her safe back now, Lady Grace; but surely you have enough sisters +of your own to spare me mine!' + +'Now listen, Mr. Underwood. It is true, as a matter of history and +genealogy, that I've got five sisters; but Number Two--that's Mary--is +married, and no good to anybody; and Number One--that's Fanny--is +always looking after her when she is not looking after Mamma. Then +Adelaide, whom nature designed for my own proper sister, is altogether +devoted to Kate Caergwent, and cares for nobody else; and as to the +little ones--why, they are only nine and ten, and good for nothing but +an excuse for having Miss Underwood in the house! Now is not it true +that you have three sisters already at your beck and call?' + +'Two, I allow; but the third is hardly at any one's beck.' + +'What, that most entertaining person, Angela? I don't think we have had +such fun in the school-room since Kate's maddest days.' + +'My dear, I think you have a remnant of them,' said Lady de la Poer. +'Let Miss Underwood go; I am sure her brother has no time to spare.' + +'I hope,' said Felix, when they were in the street, 'that Angel has not +been exposing herself there.' + +'No, no, not much,' said Robina, hesitating. 'The first time or two she +was asked to tea in the school-room she kept me sitting on thorns, and +liked it--the wicked child; but after all, there is something about +their manners that keeps her in check; they are so merry, and yet +so refined. I think nothing improves her so much as an evening with +them--except, indeed, when there's any external element.' + +'External element?' + +'Anything that--that excites her,' hastily said Robina. 'But is not +Lady Grace delightful?' + +'She seems passionately fond of you--or was it a young lady's strong +language?' + +'Oh, she means it, dear Gracie! She is lonely, you see. Lady Adelaide +is rather a wise one, and she and Lady Caergwent read and study deep, +and have plans together, and leave poor Grace out; and they all tease +her for being so excitable.' + +'Well, I thought she was almost crying while she talked her nonsense.' + +'Just so I think her the sweetest of them all, because she feels so +easily; but her sisters do snub her a little. And my Lady herself--is +not she exactly one's imagination of a real great lady?' + +'_Crême de la Crême?_' + +'Yes, perfect dignity and simplicity, and as tender and careful a +mother all the time as a cottage woman. I never felt any one so +mother-like, even to me.' + +'I can quite believe that. Yes, if you _are_ to work, you could hardly +do so more comfortably.' + +It was a concession, and Robina had to put up with it; for as they +turned into Piccadilly he changed the subject by demanding, 'Now, +Robin, what shall it be? Seal-skins?' + +'Seal-skins in the height of summer?' + +'I thought all ladies pined for seal-skins. We have half a column of +advertisements of them at a time.' + +'You don't want to extend the business to them?' + +'No, but to give one to each of my sisters.' + +'They are a monstrous price, you know. You should have heard Lord de la +Poer grumble when Addie and Grace had theirs!' + +'Fifty pound will do the five, I suppose?' + +'I thought there were heavy expenses, and not much ready money.' + +'There's enough for that, and I mean it. I shall not know that I have +come into my fortune till I have taken home something to show for it.' + +'I wonder what Wilmet would say.' + +'Wilmet is not my master, and a chit like you had best not try her +line. It won't do, with your face and figure.' + +Robina could only laugh, and feel that she was still Felix's child, and +if he chose to be extravagant she could not stop him. + +'Which shall it be?' he continued; 'seal-skins, or silk gowns, or +anything of jewellery?' + +'Jewellery would last longest, and none of us have got any,' said +Robin; 'but I believe you like the seals best.' + +'I want to stroke Cherry in one. And wouldn't Wilmet look grand? She +hasn't got one, has she?' + +'No. I was out with her and John last winter, when she dragged him past +the shop.' + +'I thought you were aping her! Well, I've broken loose, and she will +have no choice now.' + +'You don't mean to include Alda?' + +'Poor Alda! Seal-skins have ceased to be an object to her; but I have +had a very warm letter from her.' + +So Robina was only allowed the privilege of assisting in the selection +of the smooth brown coats and muffs. Felix insisted on despatching Mrs. +John Harewood's to her at once; and he wanted to send Angela's, but +yielded, on Robin's representation of the impossibility of her putting +it away in any security from the moth. His exultation in his purchases +was very amusing, as he stroked them like so many cats, as if he +were taking seisin of his inheritance. And when, some hours later, he +sprang out of the train, and was met by the station-master with, 'Mr. +Underwood! allow me to offer my most sincere congratulations,' and +everybody ran for his luggage as never before, he still clung close to +his precious parcel, like a child with a new toy, even to his own door, +which was suddenly opened at his bell, Sibby crying aloud, 'No, no, +Martha, not a sowl shall open the door, barring meself, to me own boy +that's come to his own again, an' got the better of all the nagurs that +kep' him out. Blessings on you, Masther Felix, me jewel, an' long life +to you to reign over it!' And she really had her arms round his neck, +kissing him. + +'Well done, Sibby, and thank you! Your heart warms to the old place, +does it?' and he held out a hand to the less demonstrative Martha, who +stood curtseying, and observing, 'I wish you joy, Sir.' + +By that time Stella had flown upon him, Theodore was clinging to his +leg, Lance half way downstairs, and Cherry hanging over the balusters. + +'You villain!' were Lance's first words; 'why didn't you come home by +daylight? All the establishment waited till the six o'clock train was +in to give you three times three!' + +'And now you are come,' added Cherry, 'stand there, right in the +middle! I want to see how a Squire looks!' + +He obeyed by planting his feet like a colossus, tucking his umbrella +under his arm like a whip, putting on his hat over his brow, and +altogether assuming the conventional jolly Squire attitude, which was +greeted by shrieks of laughter and applause. + +'Now let me see how a Squire's sister looks,' he continued, opening his +parcel, and thrusting Stella into the first coat that came to hand, +which being Angela's, came down to her heels. + +Cherry shouted, 'Like the brown bear!' and Scamp began to bark, and +was forcibly withheld by Lance from demolishing the little brown muff +that rolled out; while Felix turned on Cherry with the jacket meant +for Stella; and she, in convulsions of merriment, could do nothing but +shriek, 'Cyrus! Cyrus! Cyrus!' + +'Well, then, take the great coat, puss,' said Felix. 'Here, Stella, let +me pull you out of that! That's more like it!' + +'My dear Felix,' continued Cherry, in great affected gravity, 'are +these the official garments wherein we are to be installed? Nearly as +severe as royal ermine.' + +'Don't scold, Whiteheart. I had enough of that from the wise Robin +before she would help me choose them. I had set my heart on them.' + +'Dear old Giant!' cried Cherry, craning up to kiss him; 'he couldn't +believe he had a landed estate till he had seen it on our backs! But,' +she added, fearing to be disappointing, 'I never knew before what it +was to be sleek and substantial. If ever I did covet a thing, it was +the coat of a seal.' + +'But how is Mr. Froggatt, Lance?' + +'As well as can be expected,' was Lance's reply. 'He congratulates with +tears in his eyes, says you deserve it, but bemoans poor Pur, till I am +minded to tell him that I'll stick by him and the concern; for really +I don't know what else I'm good for, and honest Lamb couldn't write a +leader to save his life.' + +'I'll walk over to-morrow, and set him at rest,' said Felix. 'I could +not drop Pur if I would.' + +'I'm so glad,' said Cherry. 'I felt quite sad over the proofs, like +casting off an old friend.' + +'Or kicking adrift the plank that has brought one to land. I knew +Cherry would have broken her heart to part with Pur.' + +'Besides, it is a real power and influence,' added Cherry; 'and it +is so improved. We had up a whole file of it for years back. Willie +Harewood had lost some of his earlier March Hare poems, and thought +they were there; so he and I hunted over reams of ancient Pur, and +couldn't find them after all. I believe you had declined them; and they +would have been lost to the world if Lance hadn't written to Robina, +and she had copies of them all, laid up in lavender.' + +'And they are the most splendid of all!' said Lance. + +'Only too good for the Pursuivant,' laughed Felix. + +'Well,' said Cherry, 'Will and I held up our hands to find how stupid +Pur used to be four or five years ago, when you were in bondage to Mr. +Froggatt's fine words and his fears.' + +'Yes, and had no opposition to put us on our mettle,' added Lance. +'The Tribune was the making of the Pursuivant; I'm inclined to offer +it a testimonial. By-the-by, Felix, are you prepared for a testimonial +yourself--or at the very least, a dinner in the Town Hall, from your +fellow citizens? They're all agog about it.' + +'On the principle that "as long as thou doest well unto thyself men +will speak good of thee?"' asked Felix. 'No,' correcting himself, +'that's hardly fair; there's kind feeling in it, too; but perhaps they +will let me off when they find it is not a farewell.' + +'Not!' + +'Now, Cherry and Lance, I want you to look at this statement. Clement +has seen it, of course; but I don't want it to go any further, except +to Jack. It is enough to say that I find the property a good deal +burthened, which is only too true.' + +'You don't seem to have much of a bargain!' said Lance, coming round to +read over Cherry's shoulder. + +'The question is whether Cherry can trample on Underwood traditions, +and keep house for a thousand a year where people expect three or four +times the sum to be laid out.' + +'I thought you reckoned things here at five hundred.' + +'Hardly so much. We shall have to get our old bugbear, the superior +assistant. Besides, Lance, now's your time. You must begin to get ready +for Oxford at once.' + +'I?' said Lance. 'No, thank you, Felix. Clement offered me the same +last year, but my head wouldn't stand grinding nohow. No, if you stick +to the old plank, so will I. I was more than half wishing it before, +and ready to break my heart at leaving the organ to some stick of my +Lady's choosing, only I didn't know what you might think due to the +manes of the Underwoods.' + +'The manes of the Underwoods must make up their minds to a good deal,' +said Felix; 'but is it really true that you do not think yourself fit +for study?' + +'No, but music I can combine with the work here,' said Lance; 'and +that would save the superior assistant, and you will be free to make a +gentleman of Bear.' + +'Yes, that must be done,' said Felix. 'Even Stoneborough will not do +now. He is such a cocky little chap, that the only chance for him is +to get him to a great public school, where this promotion will seem +nothing to anybody.' + +'My poor little Bear! I am very glad,' said Cherry. 'And he is still +young enough; yet it hardly seems fair, when all his elders had to earn +their own education.' + +'Such as it was!' interjected Lance. + +'Yes,' said Felix; 'and when I remember the sighs my father now and +then let out about Eton or Harrow, I feel bound to give the benefit to +the one who can take it; but I don't like the spending two hundred a +year on that boy, and then leaving you, Lance, to all the drudgery, and +a solitary house.' + +'That matters the less,' said Lance, 'because I am busy with the choir +and with practice two evenings in the week, and should be more, if it +wasn't for doing the agreeable to Cherry.' + +'He'll turn into a misogynist, like Mr. Miles,' laughed Cherry. + +'No, he'll be consumed by an unrequited affection for all the young +ladies that come in with the loveliest eyes in the world,' said Felix. + +'He'll set the March Hare poetry to music, and serenade them with it,' +added Cherry. + +'No, I shall cultivate the Frogs,' said Lance. 'It would be too bad to +have left the poor old boy in the lurch.' + +'Yes, that has weighed a good deal with me,' said Felix. 'I'm +determined that they shall come and stay with us at the Priory as soon +as we can get it in order, and before the winter. I'll bring them up +myself. You see, Lance, whenever I take a turn here you can be at home.' + +'Home! he has begun already!' + +'It was home to me first, and I always feel that it is whenever I come +in sight of it. Lancey, boy, when I think of leaving you here, it seems +letting you sacrifice yourself too much!' + +'Nonsense, Blunderbore. You can't give this back to the Church if we +don't keep off your hands; and next, that _coup d'état_ addled my +brains so far that I'm good for no work but this that I have drifted +into.' + +'Then, Cherry, you must help me make an estimate of the expenses, and +see whether we can venture to live at the Priory, or whether we must +let it, and go on here for seven years.' + +'Oh!' They both looked very blank. + +'I'd rather live on bread and cheese in the country,' said Cherry. + +'So had I,' said Felix, 'if the manes of the Underwoods are appeasable. +One step is a riddance of all the servants; I wonder how many you can +do with. Five maids and five men I paid off, only keeping on one man, +to look after Clem's horse and see to the garden.' + +'By-the-bye,' said Lance, 'George Lightfoot begged me to state that +his sister is at home, and always had a great wish to live with Miss +Underwood.' + +'Let her come and speak to me, then,' said Cherry; 'though I am +afraid she must moderate her expectations. It seems to me that except +for the honour of the thing, this is another version of our old +friend--"poortith cauld."' + +'Our best friend, maybe, Cherry,' said Felix, 'if we can only heartily +believe it?' + +'His bride, as truly as St. Francis's,' thought she; 'and without the +credit of it.' + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +POSSESSION. + + 'And while the wings of fancy still are free, + And I can view this mimic show of thee, + Time has but half succeeded in his theft-- + Thyself removed, thy power to soothe me left.' + _Cowper._ + + +Though Felix had gone to town both in going to Vale Leston and coming +from it, a much shorter way was feasible, only necessitating a couple +of hours' delay at a junction. + +This was not so entirely inconvenient, on Felix's twenty-ninth +birthday, which had been fixed for the general migration to the new +home, since Robina was to meet the others there from a country house +of Lord de la Poer's, seven or eight miles off, and Major and Mrs. +Harewood, and their two sons, would be in the down-train that was +to pick the party up. Not only were they to assist in the taking +possession, but they had secured lodgings for three months at the Glebe +Farm. 'It will be such a good thing,' had Wilmet said, 'to settle them +all in, and put Cherry and her housekeeping on the right tack.' + +'My dear Wilmet, I am perfectly sensible of the admirable monarchical +constitution Kit and I live under; but my principles are against +annexation, and if you extend it to Cherry's house, I shall carry you +off at once to Buckinghamshire, or to the Hebrides!' + +'I only meant to help,' said Wilmet, with a little dignity; then +changing her tone as she saw a smile twitch his moustache, 'and you +shall be judge what is help!' + +Clement was already at Vale Leston; and Bernard, declaring that no +one should catch him again at that filthy hole, Bexley, had repaired +thither as soon as his holidays began. Martha, Amelia Lightfoot, and a +superior housemaid of Wilmet's selection, were gone on to make ready; +also a young gardener, whose face had pleased Felix when he came to +advertise: and half the Underwood family were at the station, together +with Willie Harewood, Sibby, and Scamp--the latter chiefly in the +service of Theodore. Sibby was useful in other ways; but she was, as +ever, to have the chief charge of the boy by day, be his refuge from +strangers, and attend to his meals, it being one of his peculiarities +that he never could or would eat at the family table. And Scamp, though +Lance's property, was so much Theodore's delight, that separation would +have been cruelty; and Lance had resigned him with free good nature, +and not without hopes of Scamp's brother as an inmate, for Dick Graeme +himself had been articled to a surveyor, and was to live and board +with Lance, his mother declaring her conviction that this was the best +security both for his moral, and his rather fragile physical, health. +One of the 'everlasting Lightfoots,' as Angela called them, had married +a nice young wife, and was to occupy the lower rooms, and _do_ for them. + +So there were nine individuals seeking what pastime the junction +afforded. The Squire--Felix's present nickname--was, to every one's +amusement, seated at the table in the waiting-room, writing a leader +with the rapidity and abstraction peculiar to himself. A leather couch +was occupied by everybody's hand-bags, umbrellas, and parasols; a cage +of doves, a basket of the more precious flower-roots, and another with +a kitten, under Geraldine's protection; while she endeavoured to keep +Theodore happy and not troublesome by a judicious dole of biscuits +to be shared with Scamp, whom he held in a string--until, at Lance's +step on the platform, the dog rushed out after him, dragging Theodore +after him--Cherry limped after Theodore, Felix hurried after them all, +and Lance took Theodore by the hand, and led boy and dog wherever it +pleased them to go, and they could go safely, while Stella rushed to +satisfy herself of the welfare of her kitten and birds. + +Except for such interruptions, the public was mostly concerned to find +a place whence to behold Robina's arrival. 'What will she come in!' +said Stella. 'A carriage like the Centry one?' + +'Rattling up in an old fly,' said Will, gruffly. + +'Will is jealous of the swells that have proved so attractive!' said +Angela. 'Aren't you burning with curiosity to see them?' + +'Not in the least! I know quite enough of them.' + +'Know them?' + +'A couple of tufts at Christ Church. Not a bad oar--but a regular +stuck-up fellow!' + +'Which? or is the description collective?' + +'Look, Angel!' cried Stella, as an open waggonette, drawn by two +handsome black horses and full of a merry party of young people, came +dashing up; a cockaded servant opened the door, and a youth in summer +costume sprang out. + +'That's him!' quoth Will. + +'Lord Ernest!' responded Angela. + +Then the well-known figure of their own Robin was handed out by him, +and lastly one of the other damsels, whom Angel identified as Lady +Grace. + +'They are not coming in here!' exclaimed Bill, grimly. + +Nevertheless they were; the waggonette drove off amid nods and smiles, +and Robin and her two companions were the next moment in presence, and +Will was forced to shake hands with Lord Ernest, while Lady Grace went +through the same ceremony with Felix and Angela, indeed with every one. +'I know you all, already,' she said; 'I'm so glad to have seen you, if +only to warn you not to keep _her_.' + +'Are you going our way?' asked Cherry, feeling the bright charm of +manner. + +'No; we only came to see her safe into your hands. Come, Ernest!' But +he was enthusiastically admiring Scamp, and inquiring how to procure +the like; and it was some minutes before he shook hands with Robina, +saying, 'Then you'll let Gracie know whether one is to be had for love +or money?' + +'I thought you were to have one of the brown setters?' + +'Well, why not?' + +'One can't have more than one dog of one's heart,' said Angela. + +'They must compete for that honour, then. Dogs, as well as other +beings, must earn their place by their qualities. Eh, Gracie?' + +'You foolish boy!' was his sister's reply. 'Come along. Good-bye, +my dear little Copsey. If I don't get a letter every day I shall be +convinced that your sisters are putting onions in their eyes.' + +'What bright creatures!' exclaimed Cherry. + +'What did she call you?' said Will + +'Copsey. Oh, Copse, Underwood--the children all call me so. It is my +pet name.' + +'Insufferable impudence!' muttered Will. 'And what were you thinking +of, Lance, to talk of getting him a dog of that breed, when you know +Graeme would as soon sell his children?' + +'Was not he very proud of the Richborough keeper coming over after +them?' + +'Those weren't sold.' + +'I beg your pardon. Dick told me what he got for them.' + +'One may do a thing for a neighbour, that one wouldn't for a chance +stranger at a station.' + +'You Red Republican!' said Angela. + +'It is enough to make one a republican in earnest.' + +'In _earnest_, indeed!' mischievously echoed Angela. + +'To see a shallow young tuft expecting to get whatever he chooses to +ask for, and every one else encouraging him in it--even those who +should have more sense!' + +'Meaning me!' said Lance, putting an arm in his and walking him off to +the end of the ticket-taker's little platform; but they had no sooner +turned back than he exclaimed, 'There's that fellow again!' + +There indeed he was, with 'Here's your parasol, Miss Underwood. Of +course you know the guilty person?' + +'Mine was almost exactly like Lady Caergwent's, thank you!' said +Robina, comparing the plain blue sun-shade with the one she held. + +'Except that hers is minus the tassel,' said Lord Ernest. 'You plainly +don't understand the principle of barter and exchange.' + +'What? Always to take the least scratchy slate, and longest slate +pencil!' said Angel. + +'That's an essentially school illustration that _I_ should not have +dared to make,' said Lord Ernest. + +'Nor I,' said Angela, 'but for the blissful fact that I'm no longer a +schoolgirl.' + +'I envy you,' he said, with something like a sigh. 'Your wings are +grown!' + +But there Robina uneasily said, 'You are keeping Lady Caergwent all +this time without her parasol.' + +'There, you see!' he returned, in a half pathetic tone of appeal, +which made Angela laugh excessively. 'But, indeed, there's no fear; +she and my sisters are in Long's shop, and will spend the next two +hours in debating whether print in spots or stripes best conduces to +the morality of their old women. That's the next stage after leaving +school is it not?' turning to Angela; 'the first use to be made of your +liberty!' + +'To wear stars and stripes?' she asked, with a little wilful gloss. + +And so with desultory nonsense they went on; Robina more than once +interfering, and trying to send Lord Ernest off, but always hovering +about them, in a certain ill-at-ease condition. Felix, having posted +his leader, and taken his tickets, came out on the platform, and +watched the group with a shade of perplexity. + +There stood Angela, the bloom of seventeen brightening her pale +colouring, and her play of feature and beautiful mischievous dark +grey eyes making her face full of attraction. A knowing little black +Tyrolese hat, with a single peacock's feather, was tipped over her +forehead; her mass of flaxen hair was in huge loops, tied with crisp +streamers; and her tall figure, in the same silver-grey as all the +sisters had agreed on, looked dashing, where Robina's--with the +adjuncts of a shady hat and a good deal of falling black lace--was +quietness itself. Robina's face, still round, honest, and rosy, had +grown more womanly, and had a distressed uneasy aspect, as she stood +a little aloof, not quite mingling in the conversation, but yet not +separating herself from it. The youth who was talking to Angela was +dark haired, with rather aquiline features, but with that peculiar +whiteness of complexion which is one of the characteristics of old +nobility, and though not exactly handsome, with a very pleasing +countenance, and an air of birth and breeding, a decided contrast to +the figure who regarded them from a little distance. William Harewood +had developed into a much bigger man than his brother, but he had not +the advantage of John's neatness of figure and soldierly bearing. +He had his mother's odd looseness of make, as if his limbs had got +together by accident, and his clothes ditto. John's hair was of the +pale sandy hue; but his, including long whiskers, was of the darker, +more fiery tint, which Lance, at his politest, termed cinnamon. To +be sure, he had a huge massive forehead, under which his yellow +green-flecked eyes could twinkle and sparkle; and his wide mouth, when +grinning from ear to ear, was an engine of fascinating drollery, while +a few deep thoughts or words instantly gave majesty to the whole face, +and extinguished all sense of its grotesqueness; but at present, as +he leant against one of the posts of the platform, a heavy ill-humour +had settled upon his countenance, which made his whole look and air +more befitting a surly navvy than a first-class prizeman, tutor of a +distinguished college, and able to get more aristocratic pupils than he +wanted for his intended reading-party on the hills of the upper Ewe. + +Felix had stood for some moments, looking on, wondering what it all +meant, when the bell rang, the train swept up, the doors flew open, and +John Harewood sprang out among them. + +'A crowded train!' he said. 'There's only room for three in there, +with Wilmet; Krishnu and the nurse have been keeping the places. Here, +Cherry!--Here, Robin!--What, Stella! all this live-stock?' + +'Oh, yes, please, _please_, Robina, take the doves; I can't trust them +or my pussy with any one else.' + +And past various self-concentrated people, intensely aggravated at +exchanging the companionship of one baby for that of two doves and a +kitten, the sisters were bundled, to find Wilmet watching for them, +with her elder boy asleep on her knee, a great serene good-tempered +fellow, with her features and clear skin, and though with true Harewood +hair, a Kit to be proud of. + +'But where's Angela?' + +'There--running after Lance.' + +'In that hat! Angel? I saw her as the train came up, and never thought +of her belonging to us. How could you let her make such a figure of +herself?' + +'Nature is partly accountable,' said Cherry, in an odd sort of voice. +'And--Well, she brought home the hat, and it does become her. She can +be very picturesque!' + +'I'm no artist,' said Wilmet, remembering her husband's caution, and +abstaining; then, as the train began to move, 'Ah! Willie will be left +behind! No; he made a rush! How foolish! What's the matter with him? He +seemed in a brown study.' + +'He is out of sorts,' said Cherry. 'I believe he is very much put out +with Lance for not going to Oxford.' + +Robina looked up eagerly. 'He must have wished it very much!' she said, +catching gladly at this explanation of his ill-humour. + +'Yes,' said Cherry; 'nothing would have so relieved him from the +sense that Lance blighted his prospects in his service. He came down +persuaded, I believe, that he and his big head could shove Lance +through all the passes, just as he could put him over a gap.' + +'Everything comes so easy to him, that he has no notion how hard it is +to Lance,' said Robina. 'John says Lance is right, but I am sorry--' + +'So Felix wrote,' said Wilmet, 'and one can only acquiesce. Oh, and +before this good little traveller wakes, tell me all about the dinner.' + +'There's more that you have not heard about,' said Cherry, triumphantly. + +'The inkstand!' said Stella. 'O sister! they have given him the most +splendid inkstand!' + +'Who? The Bexley people?' + +'Yes,' said Cherry, 'a regular testimonial. They kept it a great +secret; only Mr. Lamb came blushing in one day and borrowed one of the +old books with the coat-of-arms in it, so that I thought something was +brewing. Half the town subscribed--all Felix's young men's class, and +quantities of his old scholars; and there's a little silver knight on +the top, with a frosty silver pennon with the Rood upon it.' + +'The Pursuivant himself?' said Robin. + +'Yes, standing on a pedestal--a match-box, I believe, with such an +inscription on it that Felix is ashamed of it; and we have had such a +fight about its standing in the drawing-room or being suppressed in his +study, that Felix said at last that we were like Joseph's brothers in +prosperity, and wanted the warning, "See that ye fall not out by the +way."' + +But the quarrel had not been a serious one, to judge by her happy face. + +'It is very nice, very nice,' said Wilmet, 'and I am not at all +surprised. I thought they must do something of the kind. Was it given +at the dinner?' + +'Yes; it was brought in when Mr. Postlethwayte began his speech. He +is Mayor this year, and he was so kind--he came and asked us whether +we should _object_ to go with Mrs. Froggatt, to sit in the gallery. +_Object_, indeed! I wouldn't have missed it for anything in the world; +and we were just above our dear old fellow's head, where he could not +see us, which was all the better for him.' + +'Was he nervous?' + +'No; he said there was a reality of kindness about it all that made +him feel it as friend to friend. So the Minsterham reporter said too. +Felix brought him in to tea, because we are to have his report for Pur. +He said he had never seen such genuine feeling on all sides. He wanted +to call it an ovation. And Felix puzzled him so by declaring that +inapplicable, unless it had all been mutton.' + +'And Mr. Bolton did send ever so much venison,' put in Stella; 'and a +letter besides, because he could not come himself. Mr. Postlethwayte +began by reading it.' + +'Yes; that was all the right and proper thing,' said Cherry; 'all +civility about his valuable supporter. As well might he say, for hasn't +Pur fought for him through thick and thin--and suffered too! But it was +Mr. Postlethwayte who had his heart in it. There, Stella, you can say +it all off by heart like a little live page of Pur. Tell Wilmet what he +said about example.' + +'He said,' rehearsed Stella, 'that Felix had set a noble example of +considering no means of independence derogatory, and only manifesting +his birth in the high sense of honour which, in the name of his +fellow-citizens, he confessed to have been no slight stimulus.' + +'Well done! That was much for Mr. Postlethwayte to say.' + +'Oh! everybody said everything!' answered Cherry. 'Mr. Bruce went on +about the paper. Poor dear old Pur, he never had so much good said of +him before, and every word true; but the real beauty of the thing was +the Frogs.' + +'I am so glad Mr. Froggatt could go.' + +'He said he would not have missed if he had had one foot in the grave. +I really was afraid, once or twice, Mrs. Froggatt would have embraced +us then and there in the gallery, before all the people. How she did +cry, dear old lady!' + +'She was thinking of her own sons, poor dear!' + +'Partly; but I do think half was pride and pleasure, and that sort of +feeling that grows up of unanimity. I can't describe, but it is like a +spirit mastering all. You will read in the report; but it does not give +a notion of the kind of glow, and the ecstasy of the cheer, when Mr. +Underwood of Vale Leston was given out--the looks of all the faces! Oh! +I can't describe it--one seemed obliged to sob for gratitude! And then, +in the lull at last came his voice, so clear and sweet and strong, and +taking them all by surprise. Now, Stella, go on!' + +'Felix stood up,' said Stella, with a pretty little tone of +enthusiastic imitation in her low sweet voice, 'and said perhaps it +was not regular to criticise the manner of such an honour as they had +done him, but he must say that he had rather they had proposed him as +Underwood of 14 High Street. For if his good friends thought they were +disposing of him with a long farewell, he must tell them they would not +be rid of him so soon. For he said that for the means of fulfilling +his new duties he must look in great measure to his old sphere, and +their unvarying friendliness. What a noise they did make then! and when +he went on to thank them for their kindness in treating him as one of +themselves, though without any claim of long standing. And then wasn't +it nice when he went on about Mr. Froggatt!' + +'Can't you see, Wilmet,' continued Geraldine, 'how being altogether +moved and excited, all sorts of things came out that he never could +have said in cold blood? About the gentleman he said it was all owing +to--his accepting him when he was a raw friendless lad, giving him an +opening for exertion--patience--kindness. You'll read it, but if you +could only have seen and heard when he said he should always esteem the +connecting of their names among the dearest honours of his life, as it +had certainly been the proudest. He told us afterwards that he saw a +face looking as if it sounded like humbug; so he added louder, "Yes, +as much the proudest and dearest, as what one may hope is personal +is better than what comes by the accident of birth." And he could +not believe that any honour could bestow on him the pleasure he had +felt when he first saw the names of Froggatt and Underwood together. +Whatever he had done or hoped to do, he felt to be due not only to +the first start, but to the long thorough training in diligent habits +of business. As Mr. Bevan said afterwards, it was the most beautiful +outpouring of gratitude without false shame. And Mr. Froggatt, who +had not the least expected it, was quite past speaking. "Gentlemen, +my feelings--" he said, and broke down, and every one cheered, and he +tried again, but only got as far as "Gentlemen, my feelings--" and +put his hand on Mr. Ryder's arm, and begged him to say it for him, +something about "a thousandfold repaid." Mr. Ryder made a set speech +of it, all very true and good, really the best of all, looking so in +the Pursuivant, but nothing to "Gentlemen, my feelings--" and the great +sob.' + +'Dear old gentleman! is he more reconciled to the losing you all?' + +'Yes, he is so much pleased to keep Lance, and that Felix does not +throw it all up. Indeed, if we could have given up Bexley it would have +been a great difficulty, for Felix feels that he took the duties of a +son upon him.' + +'It does to a certain degree qualify one's regret,' said Wilmet. 'As +John says, one would not take the responsibility of saying a word of +remonstrance; he is no fanciful lad, but a man well used to practical +questions; but I still am sorry he should so cripple himself by acting +on scruples Papa never entertained.' + +'We can hardly be sure of that,' said Cherry. 'That old letter to Mr. +Staples looked as if he were doubtful. When I told Sister Constance--I +could not help it, though Felix had not given me leave--she seemed +quite overcome, and then she pointed out how right it had all come, for +in the ordinary course of things most likely this restitution would +not have been possible. If he had been brought up as an eldest son, +and we had all had an expensive education like other people, not only +should we all have grown into acquiescence in an unavoidable sort of +abuse, but there would have been none of the power of independence that +enables him to do this; and there would have been settlements and all +manner of things to tie it up. Remember, too, that dear Papa was always +thankful that he did not have the trial of unmixed prosperity.' + +Those were the last words before there was a slackening of speed; +Wilmet resumed the one Kit, Stella the other, Robina wielded the doves, +and gathered the parcels, a tall fair head under a big black hat +nodded and smiled welcome, and the little station seemed to flash with +greeting, as in another moment the halt was made, Clement wrenched open +the door, swung out Stella, holding fast by the basket, and set her +down with a kiss, next putting forth a long tender pair of arms to lift +Cherry down, and then receiving his nephew and holding him while Wilmet +and Robina extracted the other impedimenta, and the other two-thirds of +the party hurried up, amid touching of hats and services of porters, +Bernard and Angela flying upon one another, and luggage pouring out of +the van. + +'I hope there's room,' said Clement, surveying the numbers. 'I brought +everything on wheels that I could get beasts for.' + +And making Kit over to his father's hand, he conveyed Cherry to a +corner of the big barouche with post-horses, and then hurried back +to pack in Wilmet and her boy. He would have put in Robina and Major +Harewood, but they both cried out that this was the place for Squire +himself. Clement and John dragged him from some selection of boxes in a +recusant but passive state, and deposited him opposite to Geraldine, as +she merrily called him 'to enjoy the novel sensation of riding in one's +own coach.' + +'Theodore!' he remonstrated; but Wilmet's eyes grew uneasy, and Clement +said, 'Better let Lance and me take him. You'll have a noisy welcome, +and he had better not have the first brunt. Here, Tedo, jump up by +Lance; see my big horse! Ha! I see Angel and Bear have climbed to the +box. Now then, Robin, in with you! Can you make room for Stella?' + +So having packed the barouche, Clement sent it off with a dash, taking +John and Will Harewood as well as his two brothers in that dog-cart +that fitted him so oddly, while Sibby, Krishnu, the nurse and baby, +and the luggage, were disposed of in a sort of break which would hold +everything, and came soberly behind with a farm-horse. + +It had been well done of the brothers to relieve Felix from the charge +of keeping the peace between Theodore and Kit, and leave him free to +enjoy the arrival with his sisters, and to be happy in having Wilmet +with him, the sharer in all his earlier exertions, and the best able to +enter into his recollections, though at first she failed to recognise +the old landmarks he pointed out, and Cherry sat dreamily smiling, +owning that she recollected nothing in particular, but all was lovely +and delicious, and not like a strange place, but as if she belonged to +it. + +Then came the summit of the hill, the church tower, and the river, and +the rich valley stretched before them; and as there was a halt to put +on the drag, up came on the breeze a clash and peal. 'The bells! the +bells!' cried Stella; and Wilmet held up the finger to her boy, 'The +bells, Kit, the bells for Uncle Felix! Listen!' + +'Don't you ever forget,' cried Cherry, bending to kiss the wondering +child; and grasping Felix's hand in irrepressible agitation, 'Oh! how +often I have wondered whether we should live to see this day!' + +'Thank Heaven that you share it, Sweetheart,' fervently whispered +Felix; while Bernard and Angela turned round, and screamed to them to +look. + +And there was a big arch all across the road, all greenery, big +white and orange lilies, and 'Welcome' and 'F.C.U.'s, and a flag +on the church tower, and a tremendous onset of drums and trumpets, +obstreperously hailing the conquering hero, who had to take off his +hat and bow to the mounted array of some dozen tenants and their +sons, all the cavalry of the estate turned out to meet him. 'Master +Kistopher' was hardened enough to military bands not to mind this at +all; but it was well that Theodore was a little behind, for the lungs +of all Vale Leston Abbas, and more too, united in the cheer as the +arch was reached. 'Oh! I hope they won't take out the horses!' cried +Cherry, more than half frightened, while Bernard and Angel danced up +and down with ecstatic cries of 'Jolly! jolly! Here's the whole place +turned out! They'll draw us up to the house! Hurrah! hurrah!' bowing so +graciously, that Cherry, in a counter paroxysm of diversion, called to +them that they would be taken for the man and maid if they appropriated +all the enthusiasm. + +Happily no one was venturesome enough to meddle with the horses, but +the whole population attended the carriage up to the house, making so +much discordant uproar, that the reception was a very questionable +pleasure to the nervous; Cherry was between laughter and sobs, and +Wilmet had to spend much pains in persuading her boy that it was all +excellent fun. + +At last, upon the stone steps stood Felix, with Cherry on his arm, +Theodore in his hand, nine altogether out of his twelve brothers +and sisters round him, on this the threshold of the home of his +forefathers. There he stood, bare-headed, moist-eyed, thanks to Heaven +swelling his heart, thanks to man fluttering on his lip, as he heard +the fresh shout of welcome, and the old men's 'There he is! God bless +him!' + +'Well may they say so!' whispered John Harewood to his wife. 'Here, at +twenty-nine, he stands a stainless knight, with a stainless shield, as +though he had not had to fight his way, and bear up all these around +him!' + +Felix meantime, withstanding Theodore's terrified tugs at his hand, put +him into Sibby's care, to be taken as far as possible from the human +greeting, and to enjoy that of the bells; Clement, with a prevision +of the welcome, had provided a supply of cider, wherewith he and the +other gentlemen proceeded to administer draughts to the health of the +new master, who was allowed to do nothing but stand on the step to +make a tableau, as Bill said, with his sisters, and return by look and +gesture the tokens of welcome and the cheer, which Clement, gathering +his choir, contrived to render considerably less inharmonious. + +Then Felix, feeling that some words were due, and trained a little by +town-council exigencies, spoke forth. 'Thanks, thanks with all our +hearts, my good friends and neighbours. We did not expect so hearty a +welcome, and I am sure we shall never forget it. As far as an earnest +wish and purpose to do my best will carry me, I will try to deserve +it; but you must bear with me if I often unavoidably disappoint you, +and do not come up to the old golden age of this house. Any way, let +us do our best, one and all, to live here to the glory of God, and in +friendliness to one another. Then it will go hard if we are not very +happy together.' + +The bright smile and joyous hope in his face awoke a shout of 'Yes, +yes!' and another cheer, followed by a farmer's voice proposing the +health of the ladies, with the homely addition from another quarter, +'Bless their sweet faces!' and an observation which the Major delighted +to overhear--'That there tall one, with the child by her side, was a +right-down comely one, just such as our ladies up here did used to was.' + +Health to 'Mr. Eddard' followed, surprising the new comers who had not +learnt to accept the Vicar's parish name. It drained his provision of +liquor, and gave him the opportunity of saying, 'Thank you sincerely, +dear friends. We are old friends, you know, and I need say no more, +only that now we have seen the good time coming, you had better wish +the travellers good-night, and let my sisters rest. You will all be +better acquainted soon.' + +'Well managed, Mr. Edward,' said Felix, smiling, as Clement, for the +first time able to speak to him after dismissing his flock, ran up the +steps looking heated and radiant. + +'There's another thing I've done, Felix,' he said, rather breathlessly. +'I've got a supper for the ringers in the long room. Martha is much +displeased about it, but it is the only chance of breaking the neck of +the drinking at the Rood without making you unpopular.' + +'All right, Clem, thank you. Well! you look better than when I saw you +last!' + +'I'm quite jolly, thank you;' and indeed, the fagged air of depression +had changed to hope and sunshine; he had grown quite sunburnt, and as +Cherry followed up the compliment, had turned into a vigorous country +parson instead of a white town-bred one. He was acting as a sort of +host. 'This way, Wilmet. You must settle about the rooms, Cherry. It +was all guess-work between Martha and me. There's some tea in the +drawing-room by this time.' + +He led them quickly through a large hall, paved with black and white +lozenges, into a sort of conservatory passage, glazed on one side, +and containing old orange-trees in tubs, and more recent fuchsias and +geraniums, a great curtain of lilac Bougainvillia drooping at one +end--making the girls shriek with ecstasy, and reproach Felix with +never having told them of it. + +'I am afraid I had forgotten it,' said he. 'I never went into this part +of the house on my last two visits.' + +'It was Jane's territory (Mrs. Fulbert),' said Clement, 'and I am +afraid she has dismantled the room a good deal. The one hundred pounds +you allowed her to choose as her own furniture came chiefly out of +that, and the valuable things poor Fulbert had in his smoking-room. +It was an odd choice, but I thought you would not mind that, and the +valuation man looked sharp after her. I kept out of the way of the +squabble.' + +'I know where I am now,' said Wilmet. 'There's the garden-door at the +end. And here is the drawing-room door. Ah! it does look empty.' + +'Oh, never mind tables and chairs. The window!' cried Angela, flying +forward to the eastern one, a deep bay, cushioned round, and looking +out on the sloping lawn, gay with flower-beds, in pleasant evening +shadow, the river sparkling beyond, and with a sidelong view of the +bridge on the one hand and the church on the other. Two other windows +looked to the south, also into the garden. + +'At least she has left the piano,' said Lance. + +'It was valued at eighty pounds, which would have made too large a +hole,' said Clement. 'Also she has left a chair for you to sit on, +Cherry. Are you tired?' + +'I haven't time! I can't grasp it! Home! So exquisite, and all ours. +Oh! the pictures! That lady, with the bent head over the rose, and the +arch pensive eyes! She can't choose but be a Sir Joshua.' + +'Right, Cherry,' said Lance, mounting a chair and turning to the back; +'"Lady Geraldine Underwood, 1770. J. Reynolds."' + +'The Irishwoman that gave you eyes and mischief. Your best +possessions,' said Will. + +He looked at Angela. Did he forget that neither Irish eyes nor mischief +were Robina's portion? + +At that moment Stella, who had gone up to the hearth, exclaimed, +'Edgar!' then checked herself, at the sound of the seldom uttered name; +but Felix and Wilmet had both sprung to look. + +'I remember,' said the latter. + +'Is it my father?' whispered Stella. + +It was one of a pair of the largest size of miniatures in Ross's +most exquisite style of finish, thirty years back, just before the +marriage of Edward and Mary Underwood. He, still a layman, was in a +shooting-coat, with a dog by his side, and with the look of life and +light, youth and sunshine, that had never left him--indeed, none but +the little ones who had never really seen him could have hesitated for +a moment; but it was different with the fellow-portrait. If Felix and +Wilmet had not remembered 'Mamma's picture,' they would hardly have +connected the bright soft smiling rose-tinted girl with the toil-worn +faded image on their memories. Wilmet's tears gathered; and Felix +murmured to Cherry, 'One feels that the life was killed out of her! She +looks as if one would have died to save her a breath of care! Oh! to +have brought her back!' + +And with a wistful sigh he looked at Stella, the most like the +portrait, though none of the sisters really reproduced it; indeed, +the peculiar caressing and relying expression could hardly have been +brought out, except by a petted shielded life, free from all care or +hardness. Wilmet was on a more majestic and commanding scale; something +of the darling child expression was in Geraldine, but intellect and +illness had changed both the mould and colouring of the features. +Robina was of the round-faced, round-eyed type, only refined; Angela +like no one but Clement; and even Stella was not only too small, but +too thoughtful, to recall that flower-like careless loveliness of Mary +Underwood's maiden bloom. + +'It was hard on you not to have had these,' said John. + +'I suppose,' said Felix, 'that they were done for my uncle, and that my +father thought them too valuable to take away.' + +'Better so,' said Cherry, quietly. + +'Yes,' said Lance; 'to have had these before one's eyes would have made +one ready to fly at that man's throat,' glancing at the old squire in +uniform. + +'And now,' said Cherry, 'they are smiling their greeting to us.' + +'You'll turn out the Squire, won't you, Felix?' added Lance. 'You won't +keep him here, gloating on his victims?' + +'Certainly not, if he suggests such ideas,' said Felix. 'It is Cherry's +domain, though, and she must decide whether to banish him.' + +'Oh! oh!' screamed Angela, who had meanwhile followed Bernard out of +the room. 'Come here, all of you! Felix, we must have a ball! Nature +and fate decree it.' + +Felix laughed, gave Cherry his arm, and the procession moved on. 'Tripp +says this conservatory was glazed for a surprise to my mother while +she was on her wedding tour,' said Clement. 'You know this wing is the +recent part of the house, built by my old great-uncle, when people had +come to have large notions as to drawing and dining rooms. Here's the +dining-room, but we shall go in there for severe tea presently. This +is the middle period, the Stewart style part,' as they came back into +the wainscotted hall, rising to the top of the house, with a staircase +opposite to the front-door, and a handsome balustraded gallery running +round the first floor. + +But Angela's discovery was a great arched doorway, mantled only by a +curtain, and leading into the only really ancient part of the building +(except one turret). It was a very long room, with dark oak floor, six +arched and cusped windows looking into as many arches of the cloister +that ran along it, and black wainscot panelled walls, and oak beams, +painted with coats-of-arms. So long was it, that the billiard table at +one end, and at the other Clement's table laid out for the ringers' +supper, made little show in it; and Angela, pouncing on Will Harewood, +waltzed wildly with him up and down the shining floor, while Bernard +learnedly expounded to Stella the games at billiards he had enjoyed +with Mr. Somers there, and Lance went straight to the organ at the +farther end. + +'Ah! if you can do any good with that!' said Clement. 'I have been +trying, but have only driven it and myself distracted!' + +'How well I know the place!' cried Wilmet. 'Oh, if Alda could see it! +I remember your driving us all in a team here, Fee!--Yes, Kit, trot, +trot, all along. It is as if I saw you, Cherry, taking your first run +alone there.' + +'Better than now, I fear,' said Felix. 'Why, Cherry, woman, we must lay +down bridges of matting for you,' as he felt her clutch his arm. + +'Are all the floors so dreadful?' she sighed, as Clement next opened +from the hall door into the library, with only a bit of carpet as an +island in the middle. The library ranged with the drawing and dining +rooms, though older. It had a window and a door into the cloister, and +two windows to the east, and was surrounded with caged book-shelves. +Here stood an harmonium, and the table and deep window-seats were piled +with the miscellaneous parish appurtenances of the nineteenth-century +pastor. + +'You had better have this room, Felix,' said Clement; 'there was so +much to do that I could not get my traps moved after Somers went.' + +To which Felix replied by insisting that Clement should retain it. The +door into the cloister, communicating with the church and churchyard, +made it particularly eligible for the Vicar; and the study, on the +opposite side of the hall, the Squire's favourite sitting-room, with +the two south windows, would suit him and Pur,--the better that the +adjoining room, where old Fulbert had slept in his infirm days, would +serve as a housekeeper's room for Sibby and a retreat and home for +Theodore. It opened into a passage leading to the offices. + +'Never mind them now,' said Clement. 'Let Martha recover before we face +her. I don't know which she resents most, the supper, or my sending +in Kerenhappuch to help her. You all will be glad to find your nests, +ladies,' he added, as poor Cherry surmounted each slippery shallow +step, clinging hard to Felix's arm, while Angela and Stella had flown +all round the upper story, and were helping Bill to laugh at the +round-eyed range of ancestors in the corridor. + +'Here I put you, our grand company, Mettie,' said Clement, opening the +door of the handsome bedroom of the drawing-room wing; 'the nursery is +up over, as I daresay you remember.' + +'As if I did not!' + +And up to it with one accord they all went, Cherry and all--for the +stairs were close by, and of deal. At the moment of entrance, Felix, +Wilmet, and Cherry, broke into a simultaneous shout of delight, as they +beheld, staring at them in open-nostrilled pride, the rocking-horse of +their youth. In one moment Cherry's arms were round its neck, Wilmet +had her boy on the saddle, Felix was gently moving it, and patting its +dappled sides with the tenderness of ancient love. + +'This at least is unprofaned! I suppose no child has mounted it since +we five hung rocking on it altogether that last morning!' + +'I should like a ride now, dear old Gee-gee,' said Cherry, half +sentimentally, as Kit insisted on being taken down to go to his Emma +and his tea; and to her surprise and fright, her brothers snatched her +up, and deposited her on its back, between screaming and laughing; and +hardly was she lifted down, before Wilmet was on her knees, as Lance +said, worshipping the doll's house over which she and Alda had broken +their hearts, and setting all the the chairs and tables on their legs +again. + +The very cribs in the inner nursery were all in their old places; and +to the great amusement of the rest, the four who had the honour of +being natives, each sat down upon his or her own; and Felix and Wilmet +had quite a little quarrel which owned the favoured cane-sided one, +where one could poke one's fingers through. + +'One's fingers--or rather two's fingers--are rather too big to decide +that question now,' said Felix. 'However, you can take possession by +deputy, Mettie, and some day Alda shall fill them all.' + +'Ah! to meet her here!' + +But there was one more sadly missed--the King Oberon of the nursery, +whose star of cracked glass still marked one of the panes. Kit was +the first to see it, trot up to point, and say 'Naughty!' but no one +answered him, and Felix struggled back to a cheerful tone to say, +'After all, cane crib and all, I was not here to the last; I slept in +Papa's dressing-room after Clem came to the fore.' + +'Mamma's room was the one over the library,' said Cherry, as they +descended. + +'Here it is!' with transomed windows, trailed over with vine and +Virginia creeper, one towards the river, and two towards the church, +and Cherry's own particular boxes were in it. 'Oh! my dear Lord +Chamberlain,' she cried, 'this is the place the master ought to have!' + +'I had rather be on the other side, Cherry,' said Felix. 'It is better +for Theodore that Clem and I should have rooms opening into one +another, as he will look to him when I sleep out.' + +'And I thought the dressing-room would serve for Stella,' added +Clement. 'Why, she is quite pink!' + +'Have I really a room to myself?' + +'There are enough in the house for that, my little Star,' said Felix. +'I suppose you will hardly make a further progress now, Whiteheart?' + +'Only let me show her the Prior's room,' said Clement, taking her to +the floor above the billiard-room. It had been a smoking-room in the +last reign; the windows were hung with heavy curtains; there was both +a stove and a cheerful grate in it, a thick carpet and cushions in the +windows, and a high screen, to cut off the draught from the little +window into the south transept, where the Prior of old used to hear +Mass, if indisposed. + +'I have been purifying this room, literally and metaphorically,' said +Clement, thinking of the pictures he had removed, and the air he had +let in. 'It will make Cherry a capital painting-room.' + +'Oh! but it is too much! You must not give me all the best rooms in the +house.' + +'Who should have them but our lady of the house?' cried both brothers. + +'And after all, there are conveniences in not painting in the +drawing-room,' said Cherry. 'May I tell, Lance?' as they both fell into +a transport of laughter. 'You must know, Willie there insisted that I +should do Cleomenes after the battle, when he would not go into his +deserted house. He used so much moral compulsion, that though I knew +that a Greek warrior was as much beyond me as an archangel, I only +feebly objected the want of a model; and Lance, in a spirit of classic +friendship, said he would sit. So one afternoon--there he stood, with +his trousers turned up to his knees, and his shirt-sleeves up to his +shoulders, no shoes or stockings--the table-cover gracefully disposed +with a big shawl-brooch on one shoulder for a chlamys--leaning on +Sibby's long broom-stick by way of a spear, endeavouring to compose his +face as if his wife were dead, and his children in captivity, and he +just beaten horse and foot, and going after them.' + +[Illustration: Vale Leston house floor plans] + +[Illustration: Vale Leston area map] + +'Cleomenes is no laughing matter,' sternly interposed Bill. + +'Cleomenes was not, but Lance was. Well, I was just making a study of +his foot, never dreaming of anybody getting in but by the street-door, +when of all things in the world, up comes Miss Pearson herself--Miss +Pearson, senior! and three girls! They had met a mad ox in the street, +or some trifle of that sort, had bolted into the shop nearly in fits, +and this unthinking Felix had popped them through the office to be +still more scandalized upstairs.' + +'Poor Miss Pearson!' said Lance; 'I shall never forget her gentle "Do +I intrude?" going off into the wildest scream. And I couldn't escape +by the other door, for Cherry had her easel up against it. She could +only shriek "He's sitting!" technically, you see, like an old hen, or a +schoolmaster, for I wasn't sitting at all.' + +'Well, you need have no such catastrophes here,' said Felix, when the +laughter began to subside; 'but your progress has been long enough; now +we have landed you. You younger fry, you must shake into your rooms as +you choose.' + +'I secure the octagon turret-room at the end of the corridor,' cried +Angela. + +'And I shall hold to my room with the rum ceiling,' said Bernard. 'It +is as good as the barrack at home! Come and see, Lance.' + +'I ordered tea at seven,' said Clement, 'that Felix might be ready to +speak to the ringers after it. You must take us in hand, now, Cherry; +that is my last domestic order.' + +So Cherry was left with her little sister. There was a little bustle +of unpacking at first; but by the time Cherry was ready, she missed all +sounds of Stella, and looking into her room, saw the child standing +by the window, gazing intently out in a kind of dream, which ended +in her running up to Cherry with a gasp of ecstasy, and hiding her +face against her. 'O Cherry!' she said, 'I did not know it could be +so--so--so exquisite!' and her bosom heaved with the struggle of new +emotion--she who had seen nothing but Bexley suburbs in her little life. + +'It does seem almost impossible to believe we are really always to live +with these lovely sights,' said Cherry. 'It is like getting into the +Promised Land! Why, my Star, it quite overcomes you!' + +'Oh! if Tedo could--could--' It was a sort of moan that burst from +Stella, followed by a shower of tears. + +'Ah! Stella, sweet! We all of us miss somebody. It is not the Promised +Land yet, for there you know there will be Ephphatha indeed!' and +Cherry strangled her own sob, as her supplication went up that all +might be as well there with her heart's grief as with Stella's. +'Besides,' she added, cheerfully, 'Theodore will be happier here; he +will have more liberty and more pets.' + +'And he likes the bells,' said Stella; but there was a wistful yearning +look on the sweet face, as if the excess of pleasure increased the +longing for companionship in her twin. + +Cherry took her hand to encounter the dread waste of slipperiness +before her; but in further proof who was the lady and the darling of +the house, no sooner did her door open, than Felix hastened across from +his room, Clement strode up from the library, John Harewood's head +emerged from his dressing-room door; but Lance was beforehand with all, +for he was close by, helping Golightly the gardener to carry the boxes +as near as possible to their destinations. + +He bore her off in triumph, with so much laughter, that the consequence +was a slip, and a shout of warning displeasure from the elder brothers. + +'No fault of his,' cried back Cherry, holding tight to him. 'Only if +four brothers at once will make me so proud, I can but have a fall.' + +'Aren't you prouder now?' said Lance, as they trooped into the +dining-room. 'There's a table to sit down at the head of!' + +What a glittering array it was of glass and silver and +brightly-coloured china; and the profusion of country fare--roast fowl, +green pease, yellow butter in ice, virgin combs of transparent liquid +golden honey, mountains of strawberries, great jugs of milk and cream. +There was no formality indeed in the Amen that responded to their +chaplain's grace. + +'Good creatures verily,' ejaculated Felix, as he took up carving-knife +and fork. + +'Is it a feast for his birthday?' whispered Stella, 'or is it to be +always like this?' + +'You see,' said Cherry to her neighbour, the Major, 'we remember when +we used to have a quart of blue milk, and save for the babies.' + +'I say, Felix,' cried Angela, 'have we got a farm, with cows, and +turkey-cocks, and turnips, and all sorts of jolly things?' + +'Stunning!' said Bernard; 'and an old bull with a ring in his nose, +that would toss you as soon as look at you!' + +'That home farm is a difficulty,' said Felix. 'I believe I ought to get +rid of it, for I know nothing of farming, and have no time to learn.' + +'Oh, let me manage it, if that's all!' said Angel. 'I'll get a +smock-frock and big shoes, and a long whip, and get up at four in the +morning.' + +'Seriously, I hope you can keep it in your own hands,' said Clement. +'There's no getting milk otherwise. You might as well ask the farmers' +wives for their hearts' blood. There's a child that I baptized soon +after I came; the mother is sickly, and had lost two before. I found +her feeding it with some mess of pounded acorns, and recommended milk, +but found I might as well have talked of melted gold. Even when I +offered to pay, it could not be done--would break up the cheese-making. +I thought of buying a cow and some hay, and putting her in the +Vicarage; but when I saw a great jug of hot milk come in with my coffee +every morning, I ended by getting a mug and carrying it down every day; +and really the child has lived.' + +'But, Clem,' said Angel, with a sort of affectation of solemnity, +'wasn't that a difficult case of conscience? Weren't you stealing Mr. +Underwood's milk?' + +'No; for our old _régime_--not to say St. Matthew's--had taught him to +go without,' said Felix, smiling, for he had seen the mug in force. + +'Till the new Squire came, and I could unblushingly prey on him,' +rejoined Clement. + +'Whereby I propose,' said Major Harewood, 'that we drink the health of +the said new Squire--with all birthday wishes--and long may he reign!' + +'All birthday wishes, Felix,' responded Wilmet, who, like some of the +others, had begun tea with a glass of claret. 'Do you remember this day +thirteen years, when Robin did not know what a cold chicken was?' + +'I remember it well,' said Felix, gravely. 'It seems to me to have +been the last day that I was a boy. Thank you,' as each bright face +nodded at him. 'Haven't I made speeches enough? Well, then, Ladies and +Gentlemen, many thanks to you for coming here to-day. It's little good +this place would be to me without you. And--' from the playfulness a +sudden emotion came over and thrilled his voice--'may God grant we may +still be all as happy together as we have been these thirteen years!' + +'I would not have missed this for anything!' was John's very warm +aside; but a little afraid of emotion, he added, 'Yes, you are worth +looking at. You certainly are a right goodly family.' + +'Seen in the light of prosperity,' said Cherry. + +'He need not be accused of that,' said Wilmet. 'He never saw so many of +us together before.' + +'Except the first time,' said John, 'when I thought you would never +have done coming into the room.' + +'Poor John!' said Felix, 'I pity your blushes. I wonder you were not +frightened away at once!' + +'And it was not Robin's fault,' said Cherry. 'Do you remember, Bobbie, +the agony you were in, till you grew desperate, and stopped Clem and me +by speaking out?' + +'Robin could have had nothing to speak about,' said Wilmet, with a +resumption of her old manner that tickled the others exceedingly. + +'_In_deed!' quoth Lance. 'Bill remembers his confidences by the river.' + +'Moonshine!' growled Bill, but scarce heeded, for John had turned to +his wife with a droll injured air of condolence, saying, 'Ah! my dear, +these little secrets will come out; but we must make the best of it!' + +'And talking of rivers and moonshine,' cried Angela, 'we'll have a turn +in the boat. Hurrah for the boat! Come, Bear--come, Bill--I want my +first lesson in rowing.' + +'Stay,' said Felix; 'that eddy where the Leston comes down makes +the river not safe when you do not know it. Now, girls, all of you, +remember once for all that I desire you will never go in the boat +without some one who can swim, nor take Theodore without me.' + +He seldom gave a direct command, but there was enforcement in his tone; +and John added, 'Quite right. I see it is a stream not to be trusted.' + +'It is just a device to hinder our going at all,' pouted Angela. + +'And swimming is a mere hindrance to drowning aisy, if you are to be +drownded,' added Bill. + +'Do you know,' added Clement, 'that + + "To Leston and Ewe + Underwood pays due," + +in every generation?' + +'Where did you pick up that adage?' asked Felix. + +'A prophecy, a prophecy!' cried Angela. 'What fun! I shall hold up my +head more than ever, now we have a saw of our own! What fun!' + +'Where did you hear it?' repeated Cherry, who as well as Stella looked +discomfited. + +'I did not hear it,' said Clement, 'the people were far too polite to +tell me; but it was administered to Somers by way of warning, after +some eccentric proceedings in the boat with Bear. They say an Underwood +is drowned in every generation--I suppose since the sacrilege.' + +'Prove the fact,' said Felix. + +'Somers and I did try to make out,' said Clement, 'between registers +and monuments. We found one Lancelot in 1750, with a note +"Drowned" attached to his name, and a conglomeration of urns and +water-nymphs--Leston and Ewe, I presume--scrambling about his monument +in the south transept; and the old Squire had told me that the crayon +young lady in a cap in the library was our old great-uncle's intended, +but was drowned in crossing the ferry at Ewmouth, before the bridge was +built. She is not very pretty; and I was going to have put a photograph +in her place, but it seemed to me profane, when she had hung there so +many years for the poor old faithful lover to look at.' + +'The Ewe seems to have been in overhaste to claim its due, before she +was an Underwood,' said Angela. + +'Quite enough for an adage,' said John; 'one real Underwood, and one +intended.' + +'However, as I do not mean the rivers to get their due through any +fool-hardiness,' said Felix, 'you must attend to my rule.' + +'And I think it renders boating reasonably safe,' added Clement. 'There +are no holes, and the only danger is when there has been a good deal +of rain to make the currents strong; otherwise it is quite safe for a +tolerable swimmer. I learnt at Cambridge, and Bear is a perfect cork; +but I did not know you could swim, Fee.' + +'I improved my opportunities at Ewmouth five years ago, when unluckily +Lance could not.' + +'I should try again if I were to be much here,' said Lance; but the +general voice dissuaded him; and at the same time Tripp knocked at the +door--the summons to the Vicar and Squire to visit the ringers at their +banquet. + +'You had better go to bed, Cherry,' said Felix, as he rose; 'you look +like a white rag.' + +'Triumphs are tiring processes, to say nothing of making tea,' said +Cherry; 'but I don't want to disturb Sibby just yet.' + +'I'll put you to bed, if you like,' said Wilmet 'I want to send Emma +down, and keep within hearing of the children.' + +'Oh, that will be most delicious of all! So like old times!' And the +two sisters went off, to be happy together, and coo a little delight +in their Squire and his beautiful home, mingled with a domestic +consultation how the bared drawing-room could be inexpensively rendered +a pleasant family gathering place. + +'A little chintz will do a great deal,' said Wilmet; 'we will see about +it.' + +Which assurance set Cherry's mind at rest on that score, for her belief +in Wilmet's notable abilities was boundless. 'But what is the matter +with Robina?' she added after a few minutes, recalling the events of +the day. 'She is so silent, and has a distressed anxious look I never +saw about her before. I wonder whether she regrets the not coming home +for good.' + +'I am not sure,' said Wilmet; 'I am inclined to think she is sorry to +be away from Repworth Towers.' + +'O Wilmet! impossible, unnatural!' + +'I never do quite understand Robin,' said Wilmet. 'She seems the +simplest, soberest girl in the world; and yet I suppose that folly of +Alice's put things into her head, for she has a strange propensity to +think people are paying her attention. Even at Barèges I saw symptoms +of it, which I put a stop to at once.' + +'I can't think it of any one so honest and sensible as the Robin.' + +'I know it, unfortunately; and it is the more curious that she has only +moderate good looks, and no other tokens of vanity. It is particularly +unlucky in her position.' + +'You don't imagine there's anything going on!' + +'I hope not.' + +'I have a great deal too much confidence in the Robin to suspect her.' + +'Not of consciously doing wrong, but of having been flattered, and now +perhaps in a difficulty. However, I shall say nothing till we have seen +more. She may be only tired.' + +Felix--with all that was on his hands--had likewise noted the absence +of the Robin's chirp, and looked for her when he came back from the +ringers' supper, to which Clement and Lance had followed him. They then +went off to Clement's library for a consultation about some music; and +Felix, repairing to the drawing-room, found nothing there but a lonely +cockchafer, knocking his head against a lonely lamp on the lonely round +table in the centre--not an enlivening spectacle; but hearing steps on +the gravel, he went out, and found John pacing under the wall with a +cigar, and Bernard emulously following in his wake. + +'Where are all the others?' he asked; 'it is not far from ten.' + +'Wilmet went up to the babies,' said John; 'the others are about +somewhere.' + +'Larking about,' added Bernard, with superior wisdom. 'Well, John, you +were saying--' + +Felix was too thankful to have Bernard doing anything so sensible as to +talk to John to interrupt them further, and turned away. He stood for a +few minutes to enjoy the strange repose of the exquisite loveliness of +the scene--the summer sunset, not yet entirely died away, but tingeing +the northern sky with pure light, while the great moon, still low, +silvered the river, and defined the grand outline of the church. + +And this, not only a scene to be gazed at, but the home he had reached +at last--the home so long withheld! + +'Entering into rest,' he said to himself, for the repose of mind was +great. 'And yet-- + + "Your rest must be no rest below." + +No, home duties--higher duties, still more--forbid me to make this more +than a resting-place--not rest. "There remaineth yet a rest for the +people of God"--yet a home, but its shadow here is very sweet. Let it +not beguile me!' + +Just then Angela's laugh, a very musical and yet a very giddy one, like +a rapid peal of silver bells, caught his ear; and in the moonlight in +the churchyard he saw her tall light figure, and what could be none +other than Will beside her. He was vexed. She was bare-headed, and the +churchyard was open to the village on the other side, and had a public +pathway through it. He walked quickly towards them, and called as soon +as he could do so in a low voice, 'Come in directly, Angela. You know +this is not private ground.' + +'O Felix, we have found such a delicious ghost! Don't you see its white +wings?' + +'Angel thinks it is her own kin, a fossil cherub,' said Will. 'Why +aren't you all out? 'tis not a scene to be wasted, especially with +Angels and Ministers of Grace to defend us.' + +'Minister of _Grace_--that's Robin,' laughed Angela. + +'Hush, Angela! come in,' said Felix, severely; 'this is no place for +nonsense--especially unkind nonsense,' he added in a lower voice. + +She did not answer, but the church clock began its chimes--sweet, +mysterious, tender--given by some musical Underwood long ago, and +sounding in the dark quite unearthly, while the long deep tones of the +ten o'clock that followed came with awe upon the ear. Will was heard +to give a long sigh, but no one spoke as they all came back to the +drawing-room, which was full enough by this time--four gentlemen, hotly +discussing a cricket-match by the chimney-piece; Wilmet knitting on a +stiff chair in the corner; and Robina, under the lamp, hard at work on +some point-lace on a green roll. + +'Putting out your eyes, Bob,' said Felix, feeling the need of saying +something kind to her. 'What are you doing that for?' + +'Lady de la Poer has some point de Venise that she can't use because +one ruffle is wanting,' said Robina, 'and I have made out the pattern. +I want to take it back with me and surprise her.' + +'It is all willing sacrifice when one puts out one's eyes in a +marchioness's service,' said Will's voice from the window. + +Robina looked up resolutely. 'Very willing when one is grateful for a +great deal of motherly kindness,' she said, steadily, and yet with a +certain sadness in her voice. + +'Oh yes! a handle to one's name makes a little civility go a great way.' + +'You know nothing about it.' The voice was steady but indignant, and +there was a flush of deep colour on the cheeks. + +'It is quite true, Robina,' said John. 'It is one of the trials of +life, that when we live in two different worlds, the inhabitants of the +one are apt to resent and misunderstand our feelings for the other.' + +They were all grateful for this generalization; and Felix now spoke of +the household prayers. 'I had not begun them,' said Clement; 'I thought +the real master of the house should take the initiative.' + +'Set up the domestic halter, as Mrs. Shapcote says,' added Lance. + +'We might make that organ available,' said Felix, 'and screen off the +end part of the long room where it stands, for a permanency.' + +'Yes, there's rather a nice window down there with our Rood in +it--nothing incongruous,' said Clement, 'if Lance can only cure the +organ.' + +'Meantime, I suppose we had better have the servants in here, and use +the piano.' + +'They will be all dispersed, and not like to come in,' said Wilmet. + +'Possibly,' said Felix, 'but I shall go and see. I have a feeling +against beginning our first night in our new home without some +collective commendation of ourselves.' + +'If we had but an authorized form for dedicating a new home, like the +Russian Church,' said Clement. + +'You have not thought of anything in especial. Well, see.' And he +pointed to some marks in the prayer-book he left in Clement's hand, +while he left the room for a word or two, which he thought would better +prepare the household than a peremptory bell. + +Clement was struck, as indeed they all were, with his selection. There +was the Psalm, 'Except the Lord build the house;' a short lesson (the +reading of which Felix reserved to himself), namely, the words from +Deuteronomy, against the presumption of prosperity; and the Collects, +'Prevent us O Lord in all our doings,' 'Charity,' 'the sundry and +manifold changes of the world,' and 'things temporal and things +eternal;' and then came the hymn--it was, 'Lead Thou me on.' Felix +believed he had heard its echoes in his little bed that last Sunday +night, and therefore wished for it, though it seemed a strange choice +for the new house. How Edward and Mary must have felt that 'one step +enough for me,' when they went forth with their little ones into the +moor and fen! But in this hour of restoration, was it still to be a +looking forth into mist and fog, led only by the kindly Light, + + 'Till through the dawn the Angel faces smile.' + +Some who looked at those pictures felt as if they had had a foretaste +of those angel faces. + +'And,' said Kerenhappuch to her father, 'to see Miss Mary's sons, those +dear young gentlemen, all a standing singing together like so many +lambs--it was just a picture like the three chorister boys. I says to +myself, "Keren, this 'ill be a blessed place. If this isn't the angels +come down after all!"' + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +INVASIONS. + + 'He muttered, "Eggs and bacon, + Lobster, and duck, and toasted cheese."' + _Phantasmagoria._ + + +'When did Bernard Underwood say his people were coming?' + +'On Wednesday.' + +'To-day! That's right. I can take you over to-morrow to call on them.' + +'So soon!' + +'Welcomes can't be too soon.' + +'If one is not settled in?' + +'The furniture was left to them.' + +'That's all men know about it!' + +'I know this, that if I don't go to-morrow, I have not another free day +for a fortnight.' + +'It is all very well for you. I daresay the man-kind have a room in +some trim, or don't know it if they have not; but to fall promiscuously +on the female sect, with their little amenities in an experimental +state of development, is the way to be obnoxious. Can't you go solus, +and make pretty speeches?' + +'No, Ethel; it must be attention here from woman to woman. It may help +them to start in the neighbourhood.' + +'I submit. How are we to go? What is the distance?' + +'Twelve miles. Suppose we went by railway, and took a boat up from +Ewmouth. What do you say to that, Daisy?' + +'That I have had quite enough specimens of the family in Master Bernard +and his clerical brother.' + +'You liked the former specimens well enough. Eh! Do you remember +Daisiana?' + +An angry flush rose to Gertrude May's cheeks, but she tried to answer +composedly, 'The man-kind, as Ethel calls them, are no matter; but what +can woman-kind be, after a life-struggle to preserve gentility over a +stationer's shop?' + +'The more reason they should be susceptible to mortification from +their father's old friends,' said Dr. May, as he left the room. + +'No, you can't get off, Daisy,' said Ethel. 'It must be done, and I +only wish it could be a little later, for fear we should inflict more +vexation than pleasure.' + +'No; it can't be helped. He is going to run a-muck and take us in his +train,' said the spoilt child, shrugging her shoulders. + +On the Thursday morning, at the Vale Leston breakfast-table it was, +'The first thing is to make the drawing-room habitable before any one +calls.' + +'No one will presume on such barbarity till after Sunday!' exclaimed +Cherry. + +'Unless the Miss Hepburns should--' said Wilmet. + +'No,' decidedly stated Clement; 'they told me they should wait till +Monday.' + +'And your library is as respectable as it is in the nature of the male +animal to keep its lair,' said Cherry; 'so I don't mind if a gentleman +comes, such as Captain Audley.' + +'You need not trouble yourself about Captain Audley,' interposed +Bernard. 'Never calls on ladies by any chance; hates 'em worse than +poison.' + +'Bosh, Bear! We met him at a picnic,' quoth Lance. + +'That was long ago, and it grows on him; and it's monstrous hard lines +on Charlie, now he's big enough to be spooney, that he never will go +anywhere among humans. He's gone off in his yacht now to shoot seals, +and cut the Arckey--Archey--Archidiaconal meeting.' + +'Archidiaconal? He's not a churchwarden, is he?' + +'What is it, Clem? You know. A whole lot of fine ladies and swells and +dons and big-wigs coming to Ewmouth to go on about Gothic arches, and +Roman camps, and Britons' bones, and all that sort of rubbish.' + +'Does Stoneborough derive archæology from arches?' said Felix. + +'Perhaps he thinks Archidiaconal functions consist in looking after +them,' added Will. + +'I remember now,' said Clement; 'there is really to be a meeting of the +Archæological Society at Ewmouth, and it is to be apprehended that they +may make a descent upon this place.' + +'Happy hunting grounds,' said Felix. 'I only hope they will give us due +notice.' + +The bare idea quickened the breakfast. By ten o'clock a survey had +been taken, and Cherry had thankfully accepted Wilmet's assurance that +there were sufficient resources scattered through the house to repair +the ravages of Mrs. Fulbert without more serious expense than that of a +piece of chintz; and having resigned the command into her hands, beheld +her consulting Clement on the possibility of being driven into Ewmouth, +which he undertook to do in person in his dog-cart without loss of +time. An exchange of all the other existing vehicles had been arranged +for one roomy waggonette, and a basket pony-carriage, fit for Cherry +to drive if ever she took courage--they had only been kept to meet the +exigencies of the arrival _en masse_. + +By a quarter to one Dr. May had landed his daughters at the garden +steps, and was walking them up to the cloister door, when they were +greeted with a hideous whistling bray, followed by the apparition of a +figure with a pink and white shirt and grey legs, a great deal of dust +and brown moustaches, upon inflated cheeks puffing vigorously through +a big golden tube, which he next proceeded to spy down with one eye, +and through that telescope became aware of one of the new comers, and +uttered an ejaculation, 'Dr. May, by all that's lucky!' at the same +time, using both eyes more naturally, he perceived the two ladies, +blushed up to the eyes, and came forward with an apologetic greeting +and hands far too dusty for any grasp less eager than the doctor's. +'Grown out of knowledge, but you're an old friend, I see.' + +'I'm sorry to be in this awful mess, but I want to get the organ to +rights before Saturday, when I must get back,' he said, as he led them +through a world of organ-pipes, scattered here, there, and everywhere, +and conducted them straight to the drawing-room. There the scene +disclosed a giddy fabric, consisting of the round table, pushed up to +a window and surmounted by a chair, and that again by a footstool, on +the top of all a lady, dropping a measuring-tape to the floor, where +a little girl was holding it by the ring at the end. The floor was +bespread with slippery glossy lengths of chintz, patterned with pink +and purple heather, on which a third sister was performing with a big +pair of scissors in a crawling position on the floor, and a fourth +was supplying the yawning shelves of a chiffonier with books. Ethel's +prognostic was justified to the full. + +'Wilmet!' exclaimed Lance, 'take care! How could you? Why didn't you +send me up?' + +'I should not have trusted you; but now you may help me, down.' And +there she became conscious of the guests, but with a curious simplicity +and dignity, she took no notice of them; while they thought it best to +engross themselves in shaking hands with the lame sister, with her who +scrambled up from the floor with a red and fagged visage, and with the +little one, who, amid all the dust and confusion, looked as dainty and +shining-haired as if she had been newly adorned for a feast. + +'Here she is on the ordinary level of society!' said Geraldine. 'This +is Mrs. Harewood, Dr. May--Wilmet, whom I think you remember.' + +Wilmet had brought her composure down with her, and astonished the +visitors therewith, as well as by the rare quality of her beauty, +reminding Ethel of the fair matronly dames of early Italian art, both +for her silence and her substantial stateliness. Nor was there the +least flutter or affectation about Cherry; she thought the adventure +fun, and had seen in a moment what sort of treatment was suitable to +the present company, so she merrily observed, 'Now that Lance has +given you a pleasing peep behind the scenes, won't you come to a less +dismantled region?' + +'It is only the consequence of resigning oneself to one's gentlemen,' +returned Ethel. 'If I had had my way, you should have had time to "big +your bower."' + +'Ah! but we could not afford to miss a kind welcome,' said Geraldine, +with the little pathos of sweetness that was such an attraction. 'My +brother is surveying his new domains, but he will come in almost +directly to early dinner. You are come for it? You'll come and take off +your hats. Lance!' + +Lance had fled, so soon as he had extricated Wilmet from her perilous +attitude. No wonder; particular as he was about young ladies, his +déshabillé, nearly as bad as that of Cleomenes, must have been dreadful +to him; and it was Wilmet who gave Cherry an arm over the oak floor. +They put Dr. May into the library, where Clement came to light; while +they took the daughters upstairs, where they were almost as much +pleased to see, as the sisters to show, the beauties of the quaint +old house, and were perfectly sensible of the well-bred simplicity, +playfulness, and absence of all false shame, so entirely different from +what they had expected. + +Ethel had been prepared to spend her day in a state of good-humoured +forbearance and repression of Gertrude's intolerance. Instead of which +she found herself in that state of ease which comes of accordance +of tone, and she saw--what she had never beheld before--in her keen +unvenerative sister, who had never formed any kind of attachment out +of her own family and not many in it, the process of falling into +an enthusiasm. That lame Miss Underwood, like an old fairy with her +ivory-headed crutch stick; her marked eye-brows, thin expressive face, +with its flashes of fun and plaintive sweetness, youthful complexion +and pronounced features, was--what Daisy called--'so uncommon' as to +strike her fancy, to a wonderful degree, and she had hardly eyes or +ears to spare for anybody else; when at the sound of the dinner-bell, +which had a charming little extinguisher of its own at the top of +the octagon tower, the whole of the party were exhibited in the +dining-room--Felix and John Harewood from a round of inspection with +the bailiff; Angela from the kitchen-garden. She had been set to work +unpacking books with Robina, but becoming discursive, had flown off +to a tour on the leads with Bernard. 'So much less considerate than +Stella!' sighed Robin, left to the tasks that could only fall to the +quietest and strongest female of the family. For one happy half hour +she was cheered by Will, who volunteered help, gave her all the volumes +wrong, or put them upside-down, then lighting on Chaucer, read aloud +Palæmon and Arcite, with comments, until Angela burst in, and whirled +him away to shake an apple-tree for half a dozen urchins, with whom she +had made acquaintance in the churchyard; and Robina had toiled on alone +till, on Wilmet's return, she was swept into the furniture vortex. + +Dr. May's heart, like Ethel's, warmed to the long table so like their +own best days; and the perfect absence of pretension in the plain leg +of mutton and vegetables delighted them eagerly. Moreover, he was +dazzled by Wilmet's grand beauty, and the general comeliness of his old +friend's family, while he talked with immense satisfaction to Felix and +Major Harewood; but some strange change had fallen on Daisy. + +She had been only fourteen at the time of her escapade on the Kitten's +Tail, and now at nineteen the presence of the gentleman concerned in it +seemed actually to keep her silent, so that she did not respond to the +advances of her nearest contemporaries, Robina and Angela, one of whom +had a good deal more manner and the other a good deal more assurance +than she could boast; and though Lance had reappeared in irreproachable +costume, she daunted his attempts at conversation by her evident +determination to listen to the elders' discussion of architects. + +'Aren't you going to the Church?' asked Robina, finding him leaning +against the cloister door when there had been a move to show the Church +to the visitors. + +'No use in crowding them up with all the ruck. I shall strip, and go +back to my organ-pipes. I shall not come here much. 'Tis no use being +in a false position.' + +'Nonsense. A false position is pretending to be what one is not.' + +'Here I pretend to be on equality, and am shown my place,' said Lance, +disconsolately; for he was very soft-hearted, and had an immense turn +for young ladies. + +'You're annihilated by a breath,' said Robin; 'besides, it was only +shyness.' + +'Shy? You should have seen her last time!' + +'That's the very reason. If you only knew how horrid things done at one +end of one's teens feel at the other!' + +However, with Robina things were mending. Will had recovered his +temper. There had been nothing to remind him of the obnoxious +family at Repworth, when the pointlace had yielded perforce to the +heather-patterned chintz, which was crackling about in all directions +under the needles of all the ladies, and even of Krishnu. Everybody, +except Angela, who said it hurt her fingers, was at work at petticoats +for ottomans and robes for armchairs, or coats for curious settees +routed out from upstairs, while Wilmet used the sewing-machine on +the curtains, to supply the place of the brocade borne off by Mrs. +Fulbert, and brought to light exquisite tamboured work of Lady +Geraldine's that happily had been entirely unappreciated in the last +reign. + +Robina was stitching away the next day, when she had a treat. Bill +came after her with the blottiest of all rolls of MS., being an essay +to prove that the sun, the dawn, and the clouds, were _not_ the origin +of everything and everybody everywhere in legend and mythology, and +he wanted a pair of ears to which to read it, so that he might hear +it himself before submitting it to John. Lance was perpetrating worse +screeches than ever with his organ-pipes, and could not Robin bring her +needling out of the sound of them and listen to a fellow? + +Ample space was no small privilege to a family accustomed to be cramped +and crowded, and there was a pleasant sense of expansion in sitting +down under the cedar-tree, with Bill luxuriously spread on the grass. + +Such a sense Felix had in sorting his papers into the numerous drawers +and pigeon-holes in his ample study-table, trusting himself not to +make them so many traps for losing things, since he did not hold with +Bill, that it is best to have no partitions, and have only one place +to search through. Clement was making over to him the memoranda of the +transactions conducted in his absence, when horses' feet were heard at +the front-door, and Clement reconnoitring at the window, said, 'Mr. +Milwright--the Rector of Ewford--no doubt it is about the Archæology.' + +'A friend of yours?' + +'Not particularly. I sat next him at the Visitation, and as the +Charge ended, he touched me and said, "I'll show you the only bit of +fourteenth-century glass in the choir;" and when we came out, and he +heard my name, he said, "I congratulate you on the possession of the +finest specimen of Cistercian architecture in the rural deanery." I'm +afraid he minds his ecclesiology more than his ecclesia.' + +By this time the entrance was effected of a lively well-bred man of +middle age, not at all the conventional antiquarian, though still +with one master idea. He apologized for his early call, but explained +his purpose, namely to ask permission to conduct a party of the +archæologists over the Church and Priory, and to make a preliminary +inspection at once, to compare his old notes and prepare fresh ones. +They were both willingly granted; and Felix went to summon his sisters, +who would gladly profit by the primary survey without a crowd, and be +delighted to learn the traditions of the place, which were necessarily +a good deal lost to them. When the pair under the cedar looked round on +hearing voices, Robina exclaimed with surprise and recognition of the +guest. + +'How do you know him?' asked her companion. + +'He was staying at the Towers last winter. He was once a curate at +Repworth.' + +'Will he know you?' + +'Not so likely as if he had seen me as a brass; but I must go and speak +to him.' + +'Such an enchanting encounter in your exile!' + +'Nonsense! I only don't choose to seem ashamed of my vocation,' she +answered rather proudly, as she came forward to join the party, for +whose benefit Mr. Milwright was drawing the plan of the original Priory +with his stick in the gravel. Felix was about to introduce her, but +she held out her hand, saying, 'I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. +Milwright before at Repworth. I am one of the governesses.' + +He made civil acknowledgment, but would hardly have cared if she had +avowed herself kitchen-maid there. He knew only that two intelligent +auditors had come up; and all were soon absorbed in the interest of his +discourse, an entirely new pleasure to most. + +To read in the peculiarity of the dog-tooth round the pointed arch, as +clearly as in Arabic figures, the date when the church was founded, +and to bring out stone by stone each fresh stage of improvement; to +see when a building prior came from France, and put in a flamboyant +window in the south transept; when a sturdy baron atoned for ravages +in Brittany, by giving that perpendicular tower and cloister; and +when, in a spirit of renovation, the last effort broke forth in those +marvellous fan pendants in the Lady Chapel--these were feats delightful +to enter into, and it was amusing as well as instructive to see the +ecclesiologist poke into rubbishy corners, and disinter fragments +of capitals and mouldings, sedilia and piscinæ, altars, and prior's +coffin-lids with floriated crosses, giving an account of their origin +as confidently as if he had had a pre-existence as a brother in the +Priory. Moreover, his intentions furnished an excellent pretext for +doing away with the seventy-five yards of black without outraging the +squire's memory; indeed, Clement undid a good deal of it to facilitate +the researches, and no one could pass it without a sly tweak to detach +another nail. + +'I'll keep the hatchment over the door as long as man can wish,' said +Felix; 'but the Church in mourning I cannot stand.' + +'And I think the three-decker might come down too,' added Clement. 'It +is clearly within the chancel, and is your undisputed property.' + +In which opinion Mr. Milwright, as a Rector, confirmed him, and +likewise bestowed some good advice as to the manner of the intended +restoration. 'The worst of it is,' he said, 'it can't be done under +some thousands; and there's so much work of that sort about, the public +is nearly wrung dry. However, it would be the very time to set a +subscription going.' + +'Paying toll,' said Felix, drily. 'No. I think the Rectory ought to do +it gradually.' + +'Oh, I beg your pardon.' And Mr. Milwright recollected that he had +heard something of young Underwood being in trade, and concluded that +he had made a good thing of it; and when on the way to the house some +question was asked as to what was usual on such domiciliary visits, +he did not scruple to say that a luncheon was usually bestowed by the +inhabitants. + +The visit to the house was still more entertaining. The long room +was explained to be the remnant of the old hospitium below, with the +Prior's chamber above; but the cellar was the oldest part of the house. +Felix had been thither to take stock of the wine, and had only carried +away a sense of the elaborate arrangement of the bins, and the ages +it would take to consume their contents; but Mr. Milwright passed all +these, and finally made a set like a pointer at a big beer-barrel, +pointing to a low door behind it. Golightly was sent for to assist +in moving it, which he did with great reluctance, asserting on the +authority of Mrs. Macnamara (Sibby) that it led to nothing but ruins +and foul air. + +'Ah!' said Mr. Milwright, 'I am glad my friend Dobby is not quite +forgotten.' + +'Indeed, Sir, if you mean to imply that I ever was actuated by such +a superstition!' cried Golightly, giving all his strength to assist +his young masters; while Angela capered about in delight at having +acquired a ghost as well as a prophecy, and Felix recollected having +been threatened with Dobby by a young nursery-maid. The door proved +to lead to a vaulted passage cut out in the solid rock, and ending in +a beautiful semicircular chamber with melon-like divisions, uniting +in one large boss at the summit, carved with the five stars which had +been the shield of the Priory. The bad conscience of some despoiling +Underwood had probably led to the idea of a walled-up monk, whose +phantom was accustomed to take his walks abroad, rattling a chain, +under the pleasing name of Dobby. + +But the vault was a grand possession, and the access to it was to +be made as favourable as circumstances would permit. Mr. Milwright +next showed that the big knobs at the posts of the balustrade of the +staircase unscrewed for the insertion of flambeaux, since the builders +of the mansion, following instincts bequeathed from times of peril, +had put their banqueting-room at the top of the house. All that +was now divided by floor and wainscot into the long corridor and a +rabbit-warren of rooms, had once been a banqueting-hall, the ceiling +of which, in the upper story, still showed handsome chequer-work of +plaster mouldings, the intersections alternately adorned with roods and +crowns, L.U., and J.R. The octagon tower at the end was of earlier +date, and had formed a part of the principal entrance, flanking one of +the two great gateway towers, of which only one stump remained, built +into a wood shed. + +And, as to the Prior's kitchen, a splendid octagon, with eight arches +for as many fires, and a chimney in the middle, it had been so hemmed +in with sheds and leans-to, that though it existed as a coalhole, no +one had yet explored it. Geraldine was ashamed, both as housewife and +antiquary; but she had been so much engrossed during these two first +days that she had by no means learnt all the ins and outs of her new +old home, of which all felt much prouder than before, and on the +renovation of which Mr. Milwright preached as earnestly as that of the +Church. + +He took leave, having greatly excited the whole family as to the coming +feast of antiquities, and their own especial share of it. + +'What shall you do about this luncheon?' asked Wilmet, when the party +next assembled round the long table. + +'Give it,' briefly answered Felix. + +'It will be tremendously expensive.' + +'An elegant cold collation from the pastrycook at Ewmouth would be; but +I don't see why we should not have a few cold joints. Eh, Cherry?' + +'Like our celebrated supper to the Minsterham choir,' responded she. + +'You neither of you know what it will lead to,' was the old phrase into +which Wilmet relapsed. + +'Never mind her,' interposed her husband. 'She is demoralized by +regimental déjeûners.' + +'It serves you right for dragging me to them,' retorted Wilmet. + +'I don't do so to please you, my dear, but because I can't have Major +Harewood said to mew up his handsome wife out of sight.' + +'I own,' she said, not quite pleased, 'I am afraid of this affair being +more expensive than Felix imagines. If it is done at all, it must be +done properly.' + +'Of course it must,' pronounced Bernard. 'If it is to be a snobbish +concern, I wash my hands of it. I shall go off to Jem Shaw out of the +way!' + +'I'll tell you how to make it snobbish, Bear,' said Cherry. 'To have +the very same waiters in the very same cotton gloves, handing about the +very same lobster-salad, in the very same moulds, and and tongues in +the very same ruffles, with the very same carrot and turnip flowers on +them, that have haunted the archæologists at every meal.' + +'Bravo, Cherry!' broke in Will. 'Commend me to the unconventional +woman!' + +'Whereas,' proceeded Cherry, still directing herself on Bernard, 'no +snob ever had such a place as the hospitium, nor such a salt-cellar as +Amelia showed me this morning, and which I'm sadly afraid was filched +from my Lord Prior, nor such wonderful old China plates and dishes, +with all the acts of the romance of the willow pattern.' + +'It's all plates and dishes so far, with nothing on them, like a +Spanish don,' said Lance. + +'Stay a bit,' said Cherry. 'We'll get a big piece of hung beef, +and break into Mrs. Froggatt's parting gift of hams. Then Will and +Bear shall kill us some rabbits, and they and the pigeons in that +delicious old dovecote will make no end of pies; and what with the +chick-a-biddies in the yard, and the unlimited lobsters Tripp talks +of, and a big dish of curds and cream, and Wilmet's famous lemon +cheesecakes, and all the melons and the cucumbers, and the apricocks +and mulberries, the purple grapes, green figs, and dewberries, I think +Bear's snob will be rather surprised! Then we'll have clean plates on +the side-table, and let the gentlemen fetch them for the ladies; and +if John will lend us Zadok, and Miss Lightfoot and Mr. Golightly act +according to their names, I think we shall manage it all without any +outgoing except for the solid eatables.' + +'And drinkables there are enough and to spare in the cellar,' said +Felix; 'and John must sit in judgment on them. It seems to me a clear +matter of hospitality to feed hungry and tired people who turn up at +one's house, and they must be content without mere display. In fact I +see how to pay for such a feast as Cherry's genius sketches, and our +tickets into the bargain. I'll write up to the "Old World," and offer +an account of the whole concern.' + +'Learning is better than house and land,' muttered Will. + +'But it makes extra work of your holiday,' objected Wilmet. + +'Reporting comes as natural to me as listening,' said Felix; 'besides, +I mean this to be only a sketch at the end of each day. I won't go as a +reporter this time, it is thrusting it too much down people's throats; +and besides, this is rather out of Pur's line.' + +'I shall do it for that,' said Cherry. 'I won't have poor Pur +neglected.' + +'We must have my father up here,' added John. 'What a banquet it will +be to him!' + +'He might deliver his mind of his lecture on mediæval seals, which got +so much too learned for Minsterham,' added Will. + +There ensued a dispute for the possession of the Librarian. Major +and Mrs. Harewood meant to move off to their lodgings at the Glebe +Farm on the Monday, for even these two days showed that Theodore and +Kit were incompatible elements in the household. The poor little +uncle's uncertain conscience had been so far reached, that he knew he +must keep his hands off; but to see the child noticed by any one he +loved was misery to him, and 'Master Kistofer' was by no means safe +from being the aggressor. He viewed all toys as his exclusive right, +and did not scruple to snatch from the astonished fingers; and as he +was active and enterprising, and could climb stairs and open doors, +it was never certain where he might next appear, nor would he obey +anybody except his own natural lawful authorities. Poor Stella was +continually on the alert; indeed she was the greatest sufferer, for +her only weapon against her nephew was coaxing, the sight of which +excited Theodore to a passion of jealousy; and though she never uttered +a murmur, she was undergoing a perpetual agony between them. The only +safety was when Kit was in the charge of Zadok, whose dark face was +Theodore's horror, and another reason for relieving the Priory of the +establishment. John apologized for the luxury of such an attendant as +Krishnu. He had brought him home with the idea of letting him study at +St. Augustine's, but his care had become a necessity during that tardy +convalescence; and when it proved that his attainments were not up to +the St Augustine's mark, and that he had no strong inclination to make +them so, but shrank from leaving his master, the decision was welcome. +He was northern mountaineer enough to bear the climate; and Wilmet +declared that he did the work of half there besides his own proper +business. He certainly was invaluable in those days of bustle and +arrival, and would have been more so but for the unlucky feud between +Kit and Theodore. However, the farm was so near, that the safe members +of the family could be together almost as much as ever. + +Visitors thickened. The reported excursion of the Archæological Society +made every one feel that it was expedient that the first call should +have been previously made. Sunday was the limit Even the Miss Hepburns +came not till that day; Clement merely presented them when he brought +down his imposing staff of new assistants to the horse-boxes that so +conveniently partitioned the classes, and gladly made over the big +boys to the well-practised Squire--a set of little stolid urchins to +Angela, and all the infants to Stella. If he hoped his display would +induce the former teachers to withdraw, he was mistaken; their close +white-trimmed bonnets still kept guard over the girls. + +On the Monday they called, and kept on safe commonplace ground, like +the ladies they were, and grew so cordial that Wilmet proposed walking +back to see the invalid and introduce Robina, her namesake godchild. + +The girl's staid looks and manners gave great satisfaction, in contrast +with Geraldine and Angela, who were thought flighty, and demonstrations +were made which led to the explanation that she was only on a visit at +home. 'A governess!' The four ladies were horror-struck. 'So selfish of +Mr. Underwood!' + +Robin swelled up like her kind preparing for duels on the October lawn. +'My BROTHER!' she said, in the emphatic tone that never meant any one +but Felix. + +'It is entirely her own choice,' added Wilmet. + +'Nothing should have induced him to consent,' said Miss Isabella, +decidedly. + +'We did not see it in that light,' said Wilmet. 'He has worked so hard +for us all, that we are glad to do anything to relieve him.' + +'It can't be necessary!' exclaimed Miss Bridget, who always spoke +breathlessly, and looking appealingly to Isabella. + +'Not absolutely necessary,' said Wilmet; 'but you know that so many +would be a burthen on a much larger property.' + +There was a gasp all round at this, and Miss Isabella warmly said, 'My +dear Mrs. Harewood, do not let yourself be blinded. We know perfectly +what the property is, and allowing for Mrs. Fulbert's settlement and +any follies of the poor young man, I can assure you there is no reason +your sisters should not remain at home, which is the only proper place +for young women. I speak to you, as the married sister, who, as your +brother Edward tells me, have acted the part of a mother. It is your +bounden duty to protect your sisters.' (Wilmet had to frown at Robin, +who sprang up in her chair.) 'Of course your brother is meaning to +marry;' (The negative went for nothing.) 'You cannot expect anything +else; but still it is his first obligation not to cast them off, but to +provide a home for them near at hand--the only becoming thing.' + +'Home is quite ready for us all, always,' cried Robina. 'My brother +would never let us want that; but while I can, I had rather maintain +myself than be a burthen upon him.' + +'Ah! my dear, that is a dangerous because plausible spirit of pride +and independence. As those who have tried can tell you, very little +suffices single women, who have long ago broken with the world.' + +This beautiful sentiment was received with an assenting breath by the +other three, while Miss Isabella triumphantly added, 'And that your +brother is bound to provide.' + +'I saw it stated,' continued Miss Martha, 'that no one worthy the name +of man will permit the ladies of his family to go out into the world +for maintenance.' + +'A man that provideth not for his own household,' whispered sadly even +gentle Miss Hepburn. + +'And, Isabella--tell them,' pursued Miss Bridget, 'from facts we know--' + +'Yes,' said Miss Isabella, striking the nail. 'If it is alleged to +you that the estate is not sufficient, I warn you that there must be +something wrong about the matter.' + +'You know,' said Wilmet, feeling it almost wrong to extend the misdeeds +of the dead so much, 'the estate does not come clear.' + +'I allow for that, but I know from Mrs. Fulbert herself what that is; +and, pardon me, that is no sufficient plea, and you ought not to be +allowed to think it is. Why, the Rectory alone is twelve hundred a +year!' + +Was Felix's secret to be kept at the expense of his character? However, +Miss Martha brought some relief, by saying, 'And of course it can't be +true that those persons who were staying with Mr. Edward were monks, +come down to take possession of the Priory and restore it?' + +The sisters laughed, and Wilmet explained. 'They were former +fellow-curates of his. They came down to help, because he was so much +knocked up.' + +'Then,' said Miss Isabella, hushing some further observations that +evidently quivered on her sisters' tongues, 'we may assure our friends +that there is no truth in the preposterous rumour of a so-called +restitution.' + +'Certainly not of the Priory,' said Wilmet. + +'Nor the Rectory?' chimed in Miss Bridget. + +'I am hardly at liberty to answer,' said Wilmet. 'I do not know what my +brother means to do, nor will he act hastily; but I know he has strong +feelings about tithes, and that all the rest wish to be no hindrance in +the way of what he thinks right.' + +'To sacrifice his family to a scruple!' + +'Quite fanatical!' + +'And we heard he was so sensible!' mourned the sisterhood; while their +spokeswoman returned to the charge. + +'You remember, my dear lady, that the wealth which corrupted the clergy +was curtailed by the wisdom of our forefathers?' + +'Tithes!' breathed Robin, for here she thought they had an indisputable +stronghold. + +'We are not under the Jewish dispensation,' said Miss Isabella, with a +half severe, half triumphant expression; 'but I see how it is. I have +traced it all along--the system of works.' + +'Yes, Isabella; you saw from the time that Mr. Edward, dear misguided +young man, took from the poor dear children that precious hymn, + + "Till to Redemption's[1] work you cling + By a simple faith, + 'Doing' is a deadly thing, + 'Doing' ends in death."' + +So sighed Bridget; while Martha added, 'If Mr. Underwood would only +come to discuss it with Isabella, I am sure she would convince him.' + +'And then you need not be sacrificed, my dear!' said the eldest lady. + +'Nor his position in society!' added another. + +'For you know, Mrs. Harewood, it is hardly fair towards the +neighbourhood to connect it with trade. Our county people are not +accustomed to it.' + +'I daresay not,' said Wilmet, who had risen during the last sayings. +'Good-bye! I will tell my brother what you say.' + +'Do so, my dear; I cannot bear to see a family I have known so long, +suffer for, I must say, a mere Judaizing scruple!' + +Robina uttered two gasps on her way home. 'Doing ends in death!' The +other--'Single women who have broken with the world!' + +Confession to Felix of the betrayal of his purpose was needful. He took +it coolly enough. 'Never mind! We can't charge poor Fulbert's memory +with such a _deficit;_ but there are not many who will probe so hard.' + +As Cherry saw, he could stand its being talked of much better as a +very chimerical and unjustifiable action than even as simple honesty. +'Do you mean to encounter them?' she asked. 'I see now the meaning of +Perseus going among the Graiæ,-for they seem to have but one eye; and I +think poor Clement would be glad if they had but one tooth.' + +'No,' said that misguided young man; 'don't be unfair on them. They +are not in the least spiteful. Miss Martha is the only one who has the +gossip in her, and her sisters always repress her. They are very good +women, and I believe I have learnt much from them.' + +He said it with melancholy candour; and Robina indignantly recurred +to their unconscious worldliness about what was due to the county; to +which Clement replied, that he feared that they would find that Felix's +resolution _did_ cost them something besides mere luxury. + +Cherry understood this when the Staples family called. The father +was all that was warm and cordial; and his wife meant to be the +same, but she patronized. She expatiated on the rapacity of Mrs. +Fulbert in carrying off so many handsome articles, and gave a sort of +'all very well' commendation of the substitutes. And she proffered +recommendations to shops and servants, and the use of her name, and +even chaperonage, in a manner that made Cherry shrink into herself +with dry thanks. It was credible that Mrs. Staples pitied the present +Underwoods, and thought they had been so much damaged by their present +circumstances as not to know how to do justice to their promotion. + +The daughter Felix and Lance had liked best was married to Mr. Welsh, +the member for Ewmouth, a self-made man, and great shipowner, who, +though disappointed that working among the people had not imbued Mr. +Underwood with popular politics, was friendly and pleasant; and his +wife, a merry prosperous young matron, much more lady-like than her +mother, and drolly vehement in her new opinions, was only vexed that +the new comers declined her dinner-parties, and could only be engaged +to lunch on the first great archæological day. She knew nothing about +archæologists, but she should keep open house, and it would be great +fun. + +Very different were the next visitors--namely, Sir Vesey Hammond, +the patriarch of the county, the undisturbed forty years' member, +the very picture of a country gentleman, white-haired, clear-eyed, +ruddy-cheeked, tall and robust, all vigorous health, and bringing an +almost equally beautiful old wife. Theirs was a real welcome. They had +come fifteen miles to give it; for had not Sir Vesey been a friend of +great-uncle Fulbert, and had not Mary been the admiration of both? Did +not Lady Hammond recollect the twins, and was not she equally ready +to do homage to 'Master Kistofer'? Nay! did she not even appease any +lurking furniture regrets, by exclaiming, 'I am so fond of this room, +and now it looks like old times. I never could like it as Mrs. Fulbert +Underwood made it, but now it is so bright and fresh and liveable! Ah! +there's the dear old treble-seated settee again. I must go and sit in +it for old acquaintance' sake!' + +There was a wonderful matronly charm about her, with her dark eyes +that had last none of their softness, her snowy hair, and her sweet +old face; and all the sisters drew round, unspeakably attracted by the +motherliness that gave them a sense of what had been so long wanting to +them. + +Her husband seemed to be satisfying himself that the new squire's +politics neither disgraced him, nor he his politics. Cherry caught an +echo of--'tells me you have been editing a Conservative paper.' + +'Yes, Sir; I do so still.' + +'I am glad of it. You are a benefactor to the country!' + +Wherewith Cherry had to respond to the old lady; and when next her ears +were open county matters had set in, and the baronet was hailing a +useful auxiliary, and pressing Felix to come to dinner, next Thursday, +to be introduced to the lord-lieutenant of the county; and she found +herself included by both in the invitation. + +There was a pause for an answer, and the colour came into Felix's face. +'You are very kind, Sir Vesey; but my sister is rather an invalid, and +I am still in business--only backwards and forwards here. In short, as +I told Mr. Staples just now, we cannot afford dinner visiting.' + +'I understand,' said Sir Vesey, quickly and kindly, and no doubt +crediting poor Fulbert with a good deal. 'We are quite out of distance +for mere dinners. Fifteen miles is far too much for driving home at +night; but could not you and your sister come and spend a couple of +nights? We would meet you at the station.' + +Lady Hammond not only backed the invitation with all her might, but +guessing perhaps that the lame invalid wanted help, extended it to +a second sister. It was impossible to decline, it was not a case of +reciprocity; and when Felix mentioned his acceptance to Mr. Staples, he +found the worthy man as gratified at his adoption by Sir Vesey as if it +had been a personal compliment. + +Robina was the other sister who was to go; for, said Cherry, 'She has +customs and costumes adapted to high society, which can't be said for +all of us!' Robina thought Angela should benefit by the introduction, +but Felix declared that he could not trust Cherry to her--a cruel +stroke which she did not quite deserve, for she had a good deal of the +nursing instinct. + +The expedition was chiefly memorable to Cherry in that she first saw +Felix there as a country gentleman, and could judge of his appearance +among others. The party was, however, mostly of the higher order of +'county people,' above the mark of even the original Underwoods, more +of the London-going type of which members are made. They and their +woman-kind were not as full of talent and brilliancy as Cherry's +artist friends, but had none of the stiff dullness of her cousin +Tom's circle. They were well bred, and had no lack of sensible and +fairly intellectual talk about the subjects of the day, and all were +intimately at home with one another. All the gentlemen, and most of +the ladies, were addressed by their host like one who had known them +from boys and girls. Yet though every one was so intimate, there was +no exclusiveness, and the two girls were at once let into the circle, +as it were, and made one with the rest of the ladies; in truth, Cherry +effected one of her usual conquests, and quite subdued Sir Vesey's +heart as he drove her from the station. The dinner and appointments +would not have been pronounced by Mrs. Tom Underwood _comifo;_ they +lagged a good deal behind the complications of delicacies, and vessels, +and implements, which modern luxury delights in multiplying, and the +dresses were of a quieter style than Cherry expected, so that it by no +means fulfilled her awful notions of a state dinner in the country. + +And how did her own Squire hold his place compared with others? Looking +at him critically, as she tried to do, she saw that his complexion was +devoid of the embrowning of sun and wind, his hands were over-white and +delicate, and too many cares had pressed on his young shoulders not to +have rounded them; so that he did not look like the active athletic +men who had led an out-of-door life; but in look, movement, and tone, +he was as thorough a gentleman as any one. Evening dress was perhaps +most favourable to him, for he had rejected, with a sort of dislike, +all semi-sporting morning costumes; and there was a little precision in +his neatness, not like the ideal squire, but thoroughly individual in +him, and the effect of his doing whatever he was about in the best way +he could. When Bernard once declared that Felix's dress looked as if it +were always Sunday, Stella gravely made answer, 'I think it is always +the Fourth Commandment with him!' In which, perhaps, the little woman +found the key of his nature. + +There was no lack of ease about him; he did perhaps say 'Sir' more +than is the ordinary custom, but this had rather a graceful effect to +an elderly man; and he had no backwardness in conversation, but was +as well-informed and intelligent as any newly-arrived squire could be +expected to be, or more so. If he did not shoot, or hunt, that was his +own affair: these were not men of the calibre to appreciate nothing +else; they felt they had got a sensible, honourable, practical man +among them, and accepted him as a fellow-worker for the welfare of +their county. If he did sell books elsewhere, that was nothing to them; +they felt he was a gentleman, and that was all they wanted. + +Perhaps it was altogether more gratification than enjoyment, where +all was so new and strange; but the second evening was pleasanter +than the first, and the last breakfast made them like old friends. The +introductions during those two evenings had been very opportune, in +giving a little foothold among the denizens of the county before the +great gathering of the antiquaries. + +Ewmouth had been selected as head-quarters, on account of its castle, +its church, and a bit of Roman wall, besides a Roman villa, and several +curious churches within distance for excursions. The names of readers +of papers were very promising, and included 'Mediæval Seals, by the +Reverend Christopher Harewood.' These lectures were to be given in the +mornings; in the afternoons the excursions were to take place, and one +evening there was to be a soirée at Mr. Welsh's. + +Tickets for the week cost a guinea. Felix took one apiece for himself +and Geraldine; and Wilmet, not caring for such things, made her ticket +over to Robina. This week would nearly finish William Harewood's +holiday. A few days later he was to meet a reading-party at a vast +old farm-house called Penbeacon, in the moors at the source of the +Leston--five miles off, but still in the vast straggling parish, whose +acreage little corresponded to its population. + +Clement and the Harewoods, meantime, spent their leisure moments in +routing in Abednego Tripp's rubbish holes, and bringing out quantities +of fragments of lace-work canopies, heads of saints and demons, +and shattered Priors' coffin-lids. The black cloth came down; two +divisions of the three-decker were stored away in the hay-loft over +the vicarage-stable. The third and lowest was to serve Clement for his +sermon, and Abednego must make the best of a place in the choir. As to +the trumpeting angel at the top of the sounding-board, Felix was so +constant to it, that he carefully dusted it, proved it to be really +rather graceful, and set it up against the wall in his own bedroom. +Will Harewood declared it was the idol representing the Pursuivant, +and he rejoined that he only hoped that the Pursuivant might sound in +accordance with that trumpet. + +[Footnote 1: The real word is too sacred for quotation. (_Author_)] + +[Transcriber's note: "real word": 'Jesus', in the original hymn (J. +Proctor and I.D. Sankey, 'Nothing, either great or small').] + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +K. T. + + 'So black of hue, + With orange tawny Bill.' + _Midsummer Night's Dream._ + + +The town-hall at Ewmouth was a good fifteenth-century building. The +common herd sat on chairs and gazed at the speakers behind the table +on the dais. There were the Lord Lieutenant and the local peer (he +with whom Clement would not dine), Sir Vesey Hammond, and Mr. Welsh, +together with Geraldine's old acquaintance, Lord de Vigny, who was sure +to turn up at every sort of _dilettante_ gathering in the kingdom, +made words on the benefits of local research, and compliments on local +hospitality; and then some wise man gave an excellent compendious +sketch of the history of the city and neighbourhood, notifying the +connection of the spots it was intended to visit, beginning with the +Castle that very afternoon. Meantime there was not much opportunity for +greetings; people were all in rows on the same level, looking into the +fabrics on the crania of their neighbours in front. + +'That's the way with ladies,' said William Harewood; 'they'll go +anywhere to see one another's bonnets. That's the real point, whatever +the excuse may be.' + +The remark was made in all good humour. Everything had been smooth +all these ten days. Had not Robina copied out his whole essay in her +beautiful clear script, and tied it up with purple ribbons? Had she +not toiled early and late at effective shaded diagrams of his father's +seals? had she not listened intelligently to his own supplemental +lecture on the unconscious poetry those queer devices expressed? +and had she not rescued an important letter of his from the slit in +Clement's S.P.G. box, which he was always taking for the post? + +The lecture over, there was a dispersion to lunch at various houses or +hotels. The Underwoods were of Mrs. Welsh's party, where Geraldine was +made much of under Lady Hammond's kind protection, and Robina remained +in enviable obscurity at a side-table. Lady Hammond's age obliged her +to ascend to the Castle afterwards in her carriage, and she insisted on +taking her lame young friend with her. Every one else walked--Robina +with her brother and Will, for both the Major and his father had fallen +in with old acquaintance and gone their own way. + +Other parties debouched from other streets; and as Robina climbed the +Castle hill, she was aware of Lord Ernest de la Poer in the act of +greeting her. + +'You here!' she exclaimed. + +'I am at Eweford with Milwright.' + +'But your reading!' + +'Here I am, improving my mind.' + +'Hardly in the needful manner.' + +'Nay, but why is this holiday month to be all play and no work to every +one but dis here unlucky nigger?' + +'You've not earned the right to play.' + +'Nor ever shall at home. You know what a farce it is to "call it either +work or play."' + +Felix did not wholly like the tone of this dialogue, but just then a +brother of the press entreated a few moments' conversation. It was to +ask for a recommendation, which he was now in a condition to give; and +he was obliged to leave his sister to Will's care, intending speedily +to overtake her. + +Meanwhile, Lord Ernest went on, with somewhat less of reserve, 'Now +I put it to you, which is which under the K.T. influence--Greek or +croquet?' + +'The last is not her influence.' + +'No, nor her nature, but her uncle's drill into complaisance. She is a +victim to filial piety, and drags me to the same shrine.' + +'Just what she does not want to do.' + +'No, but now you are gone, the games would never end if one didn't get +her through a hoop occasionally.' + +Robina averted her head, for there was a general halt and a silence, +and a voice made itself heard, explaining that here was the Roman +masonry. + +The Castle was a large place, containing the county hall, and having +likewise a small garrison of artillery to take care of the sea +defences, on which modern science had of late been busy. The lecturer +led his flock literally from pillar to post, stopping to expound all +points of interest, and handing round drawings and photographs. There +was nothing to do but to follow, and hope to fall in with some of the +others. Of Geraldine there was no hope; old Sir Vesey had tucked her +under his vigorous arm as soon as she stepped out of the carriage; Lord +de Vigny had claimed her as an acquaintance, and her lameness gave her +_brevet_ rank for the nonce, for she was thrust into the forefront +among the dames of high estate, and had a near view of everything. +Felix had vanished; and Will, whose arm would have been very convenient +to Robina in the throng, hung a little aloof, wearing an almost +quaintly desperate air of surliness, while Lord Ernest hovered close, +speaking to her at every pause in the lecture. + +This uncomfortable trio were far in the rear, and a good deal jostled +about, without very clear ideas where they were going or what they were +seeing. Now it was along a moat; now out on a rampart with a green +slope open to the sea, a very living looking cannon in the embrasures; +now gazing up to a machicolated turret, then dragged up its spiral +stair to be handed out on a leaden roof, and get a grand view, and +a general impression that one of the King Henrys had done something +there; then diving down to a doleful dungeon, where somebody had been +starved to death, but as it was not true, it did not signify who it +was. Such were all the ideas that Robina or either of her cavaliers +could have given of their perambulation of Ewmouth Castle. It was lucky +for the Pursuivant that they were not its caterers. + +By the time she had ascended a dusky stair into the great hall of +columns, which had never been a chapel, Robina found that the tour was +ended, and moreover that Will--as well as all the rest--had been lost +in the throng, and that no one was near whom she knew but Ernest de la +Poer. + +'I wonder where they all are!' + +'We had better stand near the door,' he answered; 'they must pass this +way.' + +They waited while the stream of people flowed past; and when an +acquaintance came, who was going to shake hands with Robina's companion +as one of the many brothers, she piteously asked for tidings of her +party. + +'I saw Miss Underwood in Lady Hammond's carriage at the other door.' + +'That accounts for it,' said Lord Ernest; 'I saw there was an eddy in +the flood. Shall we go across?' + +The move was a relief, and Robina hoped to find Felix waiting for +her at the other door, for the hall was emptying fast, and they were +the last to make their exit by the opposite porch. Not only were +the carriages gone, but the foot-passengers; and the policemen were +shutting the doors behind them, so that there was no returning across +the hall. + +'I will go round to the High Street again,' said Robina. 'Some of them +will be sure to come back to look for me.' + +'Where did you have luncheon? Will not they be there?' + +'At Mr. Welsh's; but I don't think we were to go back there. We were +to get in at the inn where the carriage was to be put up, only I don't +know the name of it. My brother drove there after setting us down.' + +Lord Ernest applied to a policeman for the name and locality of the +principal stables. 'The Antelope,' he said; but it proved to be in the +opposite direction to Mr. Welsh's, and so distant that Robina doubted +whether Felix could have gone thither. She begged not to delay her +companion; and he answered, as she knew he would, that he was quite +at her service; indeed, she was quite at her ease so far as he was +personally concerned, and if it had been any other town in the kingdom +except perhaps Bexley, Oxford, or Minsterham, she would sooner have +trusted to him in a difficulty than to any one whose name did not end +with wood. He was too considerate to worry her with talking during +the quick walk, and with some difficulty he caught a busy ostler, who +averred that Mr. Underwood's carriage had not been there at all--no, +not the horse, which he knew perfectly well. He evidently thought the +new Squire's family rightly served for deserting their ancient haunt, +and he ran away instead of answering whether there were other yards +nearer Mr. Welsh's. + +Nothing remained but to retrace their steps up the steep High Street +that climbed the Castle cliff, meeting many a load of happy people who +had found their carriages. Presently they came full on Mrs. Fulbert +Underwood, who had been one of the callers in the last week, but who +would have passed without recognition, but for Robina's despairing +entreaty, 'Could you tell me where our carriage can be put up?' + +'What! Rosina Underwood! I am surprised!' + +'I have missed the others in the crowd at the Castle. I thought I +should have met them at the Antelope, but our carriage has not been +there.' + +'_We_ always put up at the Antelope,' said Mrs. Underwood; 'there may +be inferior stables, but I do not know them. I have not been to all +this lecturing--I don't like such things for ladies; but I can go round +by Vale Leston, and set you down.' + +'No, thank you. I could walk if that were all, only I must find the +others, for they will not go without me.' + +'Oh! if you are better off--I did not see that you had a beau. Mr. +Harewood?' + +'No,' said Robin, in her fiercest straightforwardness, 'Lord Ernest de +la Poer. You know I am his sisters' governess. He is kindly helping me +to find my brother and sister.' + +'Oh! I leave you in good hands. Good-bye. If I meet any of your party, +I will mention that I have seen you.' + +Robina had been reddening all the afternoon. She was crimson now, but +she was resolved not to make things worse by visible discomposure. + +'Who was that obliging lady?' asked Lord Ernest. + +'The last Mr. Underwood's daughter-in-law,' said Robin, so angry as to +disclaim connection as much as possible; 'perhaps one is well off to +have only one odd sort of relation.' + +'I see a man who dined with Milwright yesterday,' exclaimed Lord +Ernest. 'He may not be above all inns but the Antelope.' + +He charged across the street, and brought back intelligence of a Fox's +Brush in Castle Street, and of a short cut through a narrow alley and +the churchyard; but there seemed risk of another miss, and besides, +something like a waggonette was discerned near the top of the hill. It +proved to be a break full of strangers; and by that time Robina, though +bravely breasting the hill, was so tired and breathless that Lord +Ernest offered his arm, but was refused with a certain weary sharpness. + +At last the corner of Castle Street afforded a view of another hopeful +looking vehicle a good way down; and at the same moment, Felix, very +pink, hurried up from one quarter, and Will Harewood, fiery red, dashed +down from another. + +Felix had been to the Antelope by the by-street, and had met Mrs. +Fulbert, then had posted after to overtake them; Willie had been all +round the Castle, trying every gate in vain; Mr. Harewood was on the +quest in another direction. + +Robina thanked her escort, Felix did so more coldly, Willie gave +a savage little bow, and they parted. Cherry was waiting in the +waggonette, with the Major, who might not be overwalked, sitting on +the box, holding the horse; and as Will was about to plunge after his +father, Cherry called, 'Pray put on your hat! you look like a mad +hatter instead of the March hare.' + +'Enough to drive one mad,' muttered Will, sharply, pulling his hat +nearly down to his eye-brows, and disappearing just as his father came +soberly back from inquiry at Mr. Welsh's. + +This time it was decided to drive down the High Street--always a slow +operation, since it required a drag; and Felix left the reins in John's +more practised hands, through the difficult navigation. They drew +up at sight of Will in confabulation with Mrs. Fulbert, not much to +the improvement of the serenity of his manner as he bestowed himself +within the vehicle. Geraldine begun taking all the blame on her own bad +chaperonage, and pitying Robina for being heated and tired. + +'Well she may!' said Will, 'after galloping all over the place with +that donkey.' + +'A four-legged donkey might have been convenient,' said Cherry, +laughing; 'but how came you to be left to him? I thought you safe with +the Squire.' + +'The Squire was called off to speak to some one,' said Robina. + +'And I am afraid you were remiss, William,' said the Librarian. + +'She seemed well satisfied,' he growled. + +'I think you forget yourself,' said his father, gravely, as if his +first-class son were still a little boy. The most courteous of men +himself, he was always trying to teach manners to his family, but had +egregiously failed excepting with the Major. + +That Robina's adventure was relished by no one, might be gathered from +the fact that none of the five alluded to it, and no objection was +made when she came down the next morning in a stay-at-home garb, and +announced her intention of remaining to assist in preparing for 'the +spread' of Wednesday. + +Cherry could not help remembering Wilmet's allegation that Robina was +apt to attach much importance to ordinary attention; but at least if +there were an error, it was on the side of precaution; and Cherry had +so many qualms of conscience at taking her pleasure and devolving the +trouble on Wilmet, that she was glad to leave so effective an assistant. + +The day's entertainment was Mr. Harewood's lecture and another in the +morning, and then a sort of picnic at the Roman villa. Lord Ernest +found the Vale Leston party out, and Cherry thought he looked a little +blank; but he took to cultivating her, and in the absence of her +more distinguished cavaliers, made himself very pleasant, though she +discerned that he cared not a rush for its baths and mosaic pavements; +but she liked him so much, and thought him so genuinely kind and +attentive, as to acquit him of all but humane courtesy to his sisters' +governess, only hoping Robina so understood it. + +That night Felix was dutifully writing his summary of the proceedings +of the day, when a knock came to his study door, and as his boding soul +anticipated, it was the prelude to Robina's entrance. With a solemn +directness, not unlike that when she had dealt the death-blow to his +early dream, she thus addressed him: 'Brother, are you very busy, or +can you speak to me?' + +He felt a cold dismay, and only said, 'Well!' + +'It hardly seems right even to tell you, but I have this letter, and I +want you to help me.' + +'A letter!' + +'Troublesome ass!' was at the tip of his tongue, but he was thankful it +had gone no further, when Robina answered, 'Yes, from Lady de la Poer, +and from Grace. You brought them from the second post.' + +'You are in no scrape, I trust?' he said, somewhat relieved, but not +enough for warmth or encouragement. + +'Not that I know of,' said Robina, 'though I don't know whether I shall +be able to go back after this.' And the tears came into her eyes. + +'And what is _this?_' said Felix. 'Don't be afraid to tell me, my dear; +I know you mean honestly.' + +She seemed to have some difficulty in beginning, and finally put a note +with a coroneted cipher into his hand. He read-- + + MY DEAR MISS UNDERWOOD, + + I hope you are in full enjoyment at home. I believe Grace keeps + you fully informed of the doings here, so I will not waste + time over the wherefore of the inquiry I feel constrained to + make--among other reasons, to satisfy myself of the children's + truth. Cecil has told Lady Caergwent, on Susan's authority, + that his brother Ernest told you that K (or C) T were the two + most troublesome letters of the alphabet, an unmitigated bore + except in cricket. As you know, Susan always holds fast to + Cecil; and for their sakes we trust to you to tell us what was + said or misunderstood. We should, of course, apply to Ernest + himself, but he went on Thursday to the Ballford cricket-match, + and we do not know how soon he will return: otherwise I should + not disturb your holiday. Susie and Annie seem lost without + you; and I rather suspect that idleness was in this case the + mother of mischief, though some foundation there must have + been, and I am sure you will let me clearly understand what it + was. + + Yours very sincerely, + FRANCES DE LA POER. + + +Felix drew a long breath; then smiled, and asked, 'What does it all +mean?' + +'Don't you see? K T. Katie--Lady Caergwent.' + +'And did you really receive this extraordinary confidence?' + +'Not quite like that.' + +'Is this your Countess in her own right, who was said to be engaged to +one of the De la Poers?' + +'To Lord Ernest, yes;' and to Felix's satisfaction, there was no +shrinking from his eye--she looked clear and innocent. 'The slip you +sent me from that paper was altogether impertinent and premature. There +is no engagement yet, but there is to be.' + +'In spite of this opinion about the letters of the alphabet?' + +'That is no more than one of Bear's growls. You must know, Lady +Caergwent is an odd girl. She is only twenty, very clever at any +headwork, but curiously childish about anything real. Her uncle +and aunt, with whom she lives, were obliged to go abroad with Mrs. +Umfraville's sick brother; and she is a ward in Chancery, and could not +go, so she has been at Repworth all the summer. I believe the elders +have settled it. Colonel Umfraville says if she does not marry young +she will never marry at all.' + +'Are you in his confidence too?' + +'No, but Lord de la Poer talks to Lord Repworth, and he tells Grace. +They are all open-hearted; and, except Lady Fanny, none of them can +help talking.' + +'Well, I didn't know _mariages de convenance_ went on still.' + +'No, indeed; they really like each other. No one could doubt it some +time ago, when they were not thinking about it; and there is a sort of +understanding that it will be, though it is not to come on formally +till he has done with Oxford. Well, that understanding has spoilt every +one's comfort.' + +'I should think so!' + +'Will you not see, Felix, that they really care for one another, only +he is a little ashamed of the good match, and its all being made up +for them. Then this summer has been unlucky: he was to read with Mr. +Crichton, the Curate, a very clever man, a friend of Lord Repworth, who +teaches Cecil and some of the girls Latin.' + +'Is he married?' + +'Oh dear yes!' + +'Then he is a K T?' + +'Twice over, by name and nature. It would have done very well for Lord +Ernest to read with him, as he did last year, if they had been let +alone. Not that Lady Caergwent wants to interrupt. Her uncle has taught +her a good deal of those kind of things; indeed, she spurred Adelaide +up to it, and only wanted to work with her and her brother.' + +'Spurring leads to recalcitration--eh?' + +'If you would only understand. She is not at all what you are fancying. +She is a sort of intense child. She is slight and feminine, a great +coward, as nervously excitable as Cherry, and showing it more, so +that her eagerness quite overdoes people. Then, she is very shy, and +so much hates to take the initiative, that people think her proud and +ungracious. I soon found the only way to set her at her ease was to +behave as if we were two girls on equal terms. It is so provoking, when +she has just been the life of the whole schoolroom, to see her shrivel +up as if a stranger was a blight--especially a shy one. And the more +she makes a conscience of being agreeable, the worse it is, for the +nervous fright paralyzes her. There never was any one with so little +presence of mind. She can't get on without being under somebody's wing. +And another unlucky thing is that she has no dexterity of hand, and +hates all games that turn on it, like croquet. There's no keeping out +of them, for there is a garden-party at Repworth to all the neighbours +every Tuesday in the summer; and there would be quite a fuss among the +natives if Lady Caergwent did not show herself. I believe her uncle put +her under a solemn promise not to sit in the pollard in the park with +Addy all the afternoon. So she plays like a martyr, infinitely worse +than among ourselves, and some one always has to get her through to end +the affair. The last day before I came home I had stayed in with little +Susan, who was upset with the heat, and had been naughty enough to be +kept in as a sort of sedative penance. I thought she was asleep on her +board when Lord Ernest came in. Now, Lady Caergwent had been all the +morning poking out some dates and marking some books she knew he would +want; and she had left them with me for him to take when he came in for +the two hours' reading he always was to take before dinner, and which +_she_ never let him off. If I had seen at first how hot and fuming +he was with the bother first of her croquet and then of her hints, I +should have put off executing my commission; but unluckily I gave my +message, and he broke out, "Crichton, croquet, (pronouncing the t,) K +T for ever--the most intolerable conjunction in the alphabet--nothing +tolerable spelt with them." I laughed, and said, "Is cricket in that +_cate_gory?" and he answered, "The only one that is not an unmitigated +bore."' + +'But, Robin, what would Wilmet say to your having him gossipping in +your schoolroom?' + +'It is not my schoolroom, it is Miss Oswald's, and the brothers are all +tame about her like their sisters. Indeed, this was a mere accident; +and when I found he meant to stay and grumble, I made an excuse about +looking for Annie, and left him. Now hear what Grace says:-- + + "We have an awkward mess just now, and I hope you can help + us out of it. You know how Papa dislikes that cricket mania + which makes playing at a match a sort of public duty, to which + everything is to be sacrificed; and how the boys say he would + not mind if Colonel Umfraville had not worked him up. At any + rate, as it was understood that Ernest was reading, and could + not play in matches, the Breretons need not have summoned him + fiery-cross fashion to their Oxford eleven. Kate broke out in + the middle of breakfast, that it was a great shame, and she + hated bondage; and he was provoked to answer, 'So did he.' + Mamma hushed it down; but Kate's blood was up, and she never + knows when to let a thing alone, so she hunted him into a + corner after breakfast, and argued with him; and you know no + man could stand that." + +'No, indeed,' said Felix. 'It is quite enough to have to marry a +Countess!' + +'Don't, Felix! If you could only see the slight clinging thing! It +all comes of her eager faith in her uncle. It is imploring, not +domineering.' + +'Well, go on; was that what drove him here?' + +'Gracie goes on-- + + "They must have been very near a quarrel, for she rushed off, + and unluckily came full pelt upon Papa. She did not speak, + but he had seen tears in her eyes, and that brought it to a + crisis. He accused Ernest of trifling with her, and amusing + himself with everybody else; and Ernest made some answer that + I am afraid was very foolish, and went off to Ballford. I met + him in the hall, and he said things were past endurance, he + should like to enlist as a private soldier, and he did not know + when he was coming home, but I thought he only meant whether + it would be Saturday or Monday. Kate was vexed, but would not + show it; and when she found Cecil dawdling in a fit of the + nothing-to-does, she suggested some sensible employment, and + that exasperated him into telling her Ernest had gone away + because he said that all K Ts were horrible. I don't think + Kate would have mentioned it; but she turned white, and Addy + was there, and was furious with Cecil, and it came to such a + row that Mamma came in. Cecil stood out that Susie heard him + say it to you, and Susan added that it was because Kate is so + tiresome at croquet, and set him such a long lesson. Mamma + thought she should have it out with him if she went to fetch + him home from Ballford and had him all to herself; but when she + came there, he was gone, and none of the Breretons could tell + where. I fancy it may be to Eweford, for Mr. Milwright wanted + both him and Repworth for his ecclesiological meeting. If you + see him, pray talk to him and send him home, for Kate has been + in great trouble about it, laying the blame on herself, (as + well she may,) and she has actually written to her other uncle, + Mr. Wardour, to propose going to him. It is very horrid. Papa + feels keenly that she has been--what he calls insulted in his + house by his sons; and yet we can't do much, because--oh why + is she not only Kate Umfraville? The light is gone out of her + brown eyes, and she looks as she did before the Colonel came + home. She wants to be too proud to show it to us, but there is + no pride in her, and she can't act it. If you could only get + at that boy and send him home, it would all come right. There's + the whole story: I hope it will not spoil your pleasure; but if + you have a scrap of time, write, and comfort your poor loving + + G. DE LA P."' + +There was an odd look in Felix's face as he said, 'Poor young man!' + +'It is too bad of him!' said Robina, hotly. + +'And are you armed with a long whip to send him back to his Countess +and his book?' + +'Please, Felix, be in earnest! It is a serious matter.' + +'Because it concerns such exalted personages.' + +'No,' said Robina, the tears burning in her eyes, 'because Grace is my +friend, and Kate Caergwent a dear bright girl, who must not have her +life spoilt--nor he either. Felix, you never were unfeeling before!' + +'Have you let them know where to find their truant?' + +'I had begun a letter this morning, but had no time to finish.' + +'But you can give your evidence on the K T case by to-morrow's post.' + +'Yes, if you can get my letter to Ewmouth before nine o'clock.' + +'I will take care of that; and then you will have done all that ought +to be expected of you.' + +'Oh! I must speak to Lord Ernest.' + +'Really, Robina, I am so thankful to see you so well out of the scrape +that I don't see why you should thrust yourself into it. Surely, when +the boy's parents know where to find him, they are competent to act.' + +'Don't you see, they will not get my letter till the day after +to-morrow, and by that time Lady Caergwent will have gone. Now, if he +would only go back to-morrow of his own accord, it would have a much +better grace. Why do you laugh, Felix?' + +'I profess not to understand lords and ladies,' said Felix, recovering +his gravity; 'but I doubt the effectiveness of the remonstrance, and I +greatly fear your burning your own fingers.' + +'There's no fear of that,' she said, with dignity. 'It is a duty to +friends who are dearer and kinder to me than any one here believes!' +And the tears started on her cheeks. + +'Of your duty you are the best judge. I see you must have been +discreet, to have earned so much affection and confidence. I own I +should have thought the fewer who meddled in such a concern the better! +and that--though I daresay it is very shocking--there was something +rather wholesome in the poor boy's exertion of free will.' He was near +laughing, the whole affair struck him as so ludicrous, especially +Robina's look of dismay. + +'Oh! His sisters! Lady Caergwent! His mother, and all! Oh no! If I +don't try my utmost to get him home, I should feel treacherous--as if I +were encouraging him here.' + +'Honestly, do you think your being here has anything to do with his +coming?' + +'N--no! At least, I think the sight of you all so bright and pleasant +at the station put it into his head. He is very much amused with +Angela; but--oh no! I am certain he does not come after any one--least +of all me!' + +'There is one person who seems to think otherwise, if I may judge from +his manner,' said Felix, tentatively. + +'It is very unjust and unfair!' cried Robina, flaming up. 'He ought +to know and trust me better. I will not heed such unworthy fancies. A +son of the house, indeed! He ought to know that if there were no other +reason, I should think it dishonourable.' + +'Yet was it not on that account that you stayed at home to-day?' + +'Yes,' she said more softly; 'but that ought to content him. I cannot +give up a duty for unworthy suspicions.' And her neck bridled, and her +eyes shone with hurt dignity through her tears. + +'Well, Robina, you know best. You understand your own affairs, I +suppose, and I see you are really trying to act rightly and honourably. +I will give you any opportunity I can of speaking to this youth, +though, for your own sake, I should strongly advise your only giving +him his mother's letter, and letting it speak for itself.' + +Robina shook her head. It was useless to argue it further. Like a +woman, and a young woman, she was resolved to run all risks in her +friend's cause, deeming it ignoble to make any concession to William's +unfounded jealousy, and not appreciating Felix's doubts of any young +man, especially one in a chafing refractory mood, going back to the +yoke at the behest of his sisters' governess. + +Felix did not like it at all, but he was always slow to act where he +did not understand his ground; and the tone of the two letters showed +such confidence in Robina, that he felt that her prudence might be +trusted; while as to William Harewood, an unrecognised engagement did +not deserve consideration from the family. + +So he kept her counsel, and let things take their course, on the busy +confused morning that preluded the first attempt of the family at an +entertainment. + +Breakfast was enlivened by a discussion whether precedence was to be +respected, and next what that precedence was. 'Ought the Baron, or the +Marquis's younger son, to come first and take Miss Underwood?' + +'The Baron, I hope,' said Cherry. 'Old men are twice as nice as young +ones, though your friend is very pleasant, Bobbie. Which is it to be? +You are the experienced one.' + +'Not I,' said Robina. 'Of course I don't dine late, and they go into +luncheon nohow, as I should say was the best way here. Let Felix take +Lady Hammond, and leave the rest to settle it. Depend upon it, they +know their places better than we do.' + +'"Ladies and Gentlemen, sort yourselves," as the parson said, when he +had married five couple all at one go,' said Bernard. + +'Don't they sometimes stick in the door-way curtseying? They do in +books,' said Cherry. + +'Not out of them,' said Robin. 'If there is a choice, I think age gets +it more than actual rank.' + +'There's nothing Lord Ernest hates like dowagers,' cried Angela, 'when +all the jolly girls are out of reach.' + +'What do you know about it, Angela?' said Felix, rather sharply. + +'I've heard him say so twenty times. We are prodigious allies, and it +was very sly of Robin never to tell me he was coming. Bear and I would +have got up Dobby for his special edification.' + +'You will do no such thing, for him or any one else!' broke forth in +displeasure from Felix. + +Angela shrugged her shoulders. 'Our Squire has grown very peremptory +since he came to his kingdom,' she said; and perhaps he thought so, for +he said to her at a quiet moment, 'Angela, perhaps I should have given +you credit for not meaning what you said. You must know the impropriety +of playing tricks on our guests, more especially when concerned with +the world of spirits.' + +The words appealed to the more accessible side of her nature, and she +was silent. He considered whether to warn her about Lord Ernest, but +was deciding that it would only excite her to further mischief, when +he was summoned to admire the preparations that had absorbed the home +party all the previous day. + +The screen, a high wooden carved one, entirely cut off the end of +the long room appropriated to the household prayers. The long table +was laid with the fine old damask, the wealth of plate, glass, and +old china, to which the substantial cold viands, and the jellies and +creams, compounded by Wilmet and her ingenious Krishnu, were now to be +added. The only failure had been in the unlimited lobsters, which had +been all absorbed by Ewmouth itself; but then, Marilda, hearing all +about it from Lance on his way through London, had actually sent them +last night two venison pasties and a grouse pie, ready made, besides a +great deal of her best fruit. + +All stood admiring except Geraldine, who cried, 'Oh, that big +epergne! Oh, those dahlias! They are just like a pincushion, or +Protheroe's window! Stella--Bear--Bobbie--for pity's sake get me some +fuchsias--traveller's joy, Bougainvillia--anything trailing--and I'll +get a little of the stiffness out before Wilmet comes, and then she'll +never find it out! And where's my salt-cellar? Oh for Lance!' + +When Wilmet came upon the scene, she found Cherry seated as the +centre-piece on the table, contending with the difficulties of adorning +without concealing the curious old salt, the table-cloth bestrewn with +green leaves and fallen fuchsia bells, and the epergne, the triumph +of her art, the subject of her distant admiration at the last dinner +party of the olden time, (Clement's christening feast,) relegated to +a much inferior station, its formal glories of purple and crimson +quilled dahlias obscured by loose streamers of passion-flower and hoary +clematis. + +Other people besides Robina had something to bear that day, but there +was nothing in which John's influence was more shown than in the mutual +forbearance of Wilmet and Geraldine. The latter took the initiative +with a torrent of thanks and apologies; and Wilmet, remembering whose +house it was, submitted with a good grace, and concealed her vexation +by hurrying to the kitchen to take the jellies out of their moulds. +There at least she was supreme. Martha was only too glad to have her to +sympathize with her new glories, and for her sake could even bear with +'that there blackamore chap.' + +Robina, in a nearly sleepless night, had decided on giving William a +word or two of explanation as to her having a message from home for +Lord Ernest; but in the rush after flowers, Angela had carried Bill off +to rob a wisteria of its second bloom, and by the time they came back, +Felix was hurrying his party into the waggonette. + +Only the gentlemen went; the ladies had enough to do at home, since it +was only too true that Cherry's improvements had doubled their work, +and she felt herself the more graceless that she could not run about +to supply the labour she had created. Indeed, all were watching lest +she should overtire herself; but she was one of those who never feel +weariness while excitement lasts. + +The last jelly was scarcely in its place, the last wine-glass adjusted, +when Angela announced a carriage turning over the bridge; and the long +approach up the lane, and down the drive enabled Cherry, by the united +efforts of her sisters, to cast her housewifely slough, don her white +dress and mauve ribbons, and seat herself in the drawing-room, with +Clement as her supporter. + +Luckily Cherry had never been afraid of people, and she faced the +inroad with great composure. This proved to be only the advanced guard, +namely, Mr. Milwright, bringing Lord Ernest and a fellow ecclesiologist +with whom he wanted to hold a private discussion over the fragments +of a shrine in the south transept; and Clement went to show his +discoveries. + +So cruelly were opportunities wasted, that Robina was in the far end +of the west wing, dressing herself and Angela, while Lord Ernest was +having a twenty minutes _tête-à-tête_ with Cherry, whom he consulted as +to joining Will Harewood's reading party, and told her that the Vale +Leston choir was renowned as the best in the neighbourhood; and that +old Milwright, being unable to go in out-and-out for the mediæval, let +things alone, and was content with two fiddles and a flute. Wherefore +he should walk from Eweford on the ensuing Sunday, to this--simply +the most charming place he had ever seen. Whereupon Miss Underwood +innocently invited him to luncheon between the services. + +Robina could only come down just as Felix returned, immediately +followed by the whole multitude, exceeding the expectations of the +family so much, that Marilda's pasties were a comfortable reflection, +and Wilmet's imagination fell to reckoning knives and forks. Places at +the table must be hopeless for many; and when Felix, in desperation, +offered an arm to Lady Hammond, he left a chaos behind which he hoped +would, as Bernard said, 'sort itself.' + +People must have been quite as curious about the Underwoods as about +their Priory, for the most improbable guests had come, even the +undesirable peer, whose earldom complicated matters. He assumed, +however, that the eldest and handsomest bonnetless lady must be her +of the house, and accordingly gave his arm to Mrs. Harewood; Lord de +Vigny, who knew better, took his old acquaintance, Miss Underwood, and +dipped her once more in the dear old world of art; the others paired +somehow, and, as Robina had foreseen, Lord Ernest left himself behind +with the common herd, who, after the seats at the long table were +occupied, betook themselves to the cushioned embrasures of the windows, +and to catering for themselves at the side-board, where, happily, there +was no lack of supplies. It was great fun, and Angela agreed with Lord +Ernest in pronouncing it so much jollier than a wedding-breakfast, as +there were no wretched victims to be turned off. If there were any +victims, one was Robina, who was penned up in a corner by Mr. Henry +Shaw, doing his best to be polite; and the other was Will, who had +on his hands two ladies, a gushing mother and daughter, who had just +discovered him to be the author of those delicious songs, signed March +Hare! + +The discourse, the occasion of all, began in the long room, Mr. +Milwright taking up station after station, while people herded round to +look at what he pointed out. This tour must be Robina's opportunity. +There were a good many stragglers from the troop of listeners; and +among them was Angela, keeping close to Lord Ernest, and delighted to +take him on a counter round, displaying all the charms of her new home. + +This Robina had expected. She knew that it might be said that the +two young Miss Underwoods were running after that young man, and she +wanted to speak as soon as possible, to put an end to the pursuit. So +when Angela had led him to a shed where resided an owl captured in the +church tower, she took the bull by the horns. 'Angel, I have a message +from Repworth to deliver. I must ask you to leave us a little while.' +And she opened the door leading into the walled kitchen garden. Angela +shrugged her shoulders, but fell back. + +'And so you have betrayed me? Could not you let a poor fellow breathe a +little free air for once in his life?' + +'Read that!' was all her answer. + +The effect of his mother's letter resembled that on Felix; he burst out +laughing, much more unreservedly exclaiming, 'Well done, Cecy!' + +'But it is not what you said!' + +'Wasn't it? Then my words fell short of my thoughts. What was it the +King of France said when he had got away from captivity or Catherine de +Medici (his K Ts, you see)--"I am yet a man and a brother."' + +'Please don't make light of it. Grace is in such distress.' + +'There generally is a commotion when a prisoner breaks loose. I thought +better of you, Miss Underwood, than to suppose you a detective in +disguise.' + +'I only want you to realize how wrong it is that you should be here.' + +'I assure you it is all for the family honour. _Tout est perdu fors +l'honneur_.--That was the fellow's sentiment--wasn't it?' + +'I don't see the application.' + +'Don't you? Sha'n't I be ploughed to a dead certainty if I go on trying +to carry this on at home!' said Lord Ernest, much more seriously. 'How +about _l'honneur_ then?' + +Robina could not deny the danger, and knew not how to answer. He +saw his advantage, and pursued it. 'Was not reading, under the +circumstances, a delusion? You won't speak treason? Never mind, I see +it in your eyes. You know that between all the K Ts within and without +doors, it was providential that I retained sufficient combination of +ideas to effect my escape before I was quite distracted.' + +'I don't think you guess the distress you have caused,' said Robina, +gravely. + +'What, Gracie has written you a deplorable letter? Gone to the bad +entirely, am I? My mother weeping, my father wailing, my sister +sobbing, our K T wringing her hands--' Then, as she moved decidedly +away, with a gesture expressive of deep displeasure, 'Nay--I declare +they are re-assured. Even if you haven't--I have written to my father; +and they know by this time that the vortex I have rushed into is +nothing worse than a conglomeration of antiquarian old fogies.' + +'Oh! if you have written--' she began, feeling that Felix had been +right, and she herself more or less of a goose. + +'Yes. I have written to explain that my brain won't stand being +beset within doors and without, and to propose joining Harewood's +reading-party.' + +Robina fairly started. 'Do you know if he will have you?' + +'I hope he can. He is a crack coach, you know, little as he looks it. +Wonderfully able man when he makes the most of himself.' + +'I think he has as many pupils as he has room for,' said Robina, highly +gratified, but hoping to avert what might drive Will beyond all bounds. + +'I hope not. Your sister seemed to think it might be managed.' + +'What, Angela?' + +'No; Miss Underwood--is she not? The one who was in the room first. +What a delightful countenance she has, by-the-by, it strikes me more +than Mrs. Harewood's. It is a rare thing to meet so much beauty afloat +in one family.' + +However complimentary, he must not be allowed to run on in this way; +and his monitor returned abruptly to the charge. 'I allow that it is +hard to read at the Towers; but before you make any other arrangements, +I think you ought to go home this very evening and explain things. +There is a train at 4.11, at Church Ewe.' + +'Have you got a policeman outside to give me in charge to?' + +'No,' she answered, with some anger; 'but Lady Caergwent is going away +to-morrow!' + +His first impulse was a little whistle of dismay; but he caught it up, +and coolly said, 'Joy go with her, a K T clasm! You have not let Grace +cram you with all _that?_' + +By this time Robina was thoroughly sensible of the false position +she had got herself into, and had only to get herself out of it as +fast as she could, so she took the path between the espaliers and +scarlet-runners which would soonest lead back to public haunts, saying +decidedly, 'I do not want to hear anything about it.' + +'It seems to me,' said her companion, with more of the man than he +had yet assumed, 'that having entered on this, you should allow me to +remind you that this _is_ a free country, and these are not the days of +family compacts. I will not go home, to be badgered whatever I say or +do. I will strike out my own line, and work for myself.' + +'But your father--!' + +'If I know my father, he will like me the better for it. The Colonel +has a way of making him see things in his point of view, and it was a +tidy little plan; but there are not so many men in this world born for +prince-consorts, and they have not got hold of one of the sort. There, +now, you have discharged your duty! You may tell Grace what I say--the +whole houseful, if you like.' + +'Very well,' said Robina coldly, glad to have nearly reached a door +opening upon a laurel path. 'It is of no use to say any more. You have +written, and I have no more to do with it.' + +'I didn't think you were on the enemy's side!' he proceeded, as if +pleading with her displeasure. 'I know you are one to like a fellow the +more for having a spark of independence. Come, you may as well say so; +it is in your nature, I've seen it, and you owe me compensation for all +that you have rehearsed to me in the spirit of the K Ts.' + +This was in a tone between warmth and raillery, that made it very +difficult to know how to reply; and all she could think of was, 'You +can be the only judge of what is right and manly.' + +'There then!' as if he had done with the subject. 'Oh! don't open the +door. Let us have another turn. I want to tell you about my plans. This +is almost as good as losing ourselves.' + +'I can't,' said Robina, with much repressive displeasure, 'I am wanted. +I only came to show you your mother's letter;' and she plunged into the +laurel-walk. + +'Then I am much obliged to my mother's letter,' was the reply, in a +tone that conveyed more than the words. + +Therewith, at the other end of the path, were seen Mrs. Fulbert +Underwood, Miss Martha Hepburn, and Mr. Harry Shaw. They met; Robina +shook hands; Lord Ernest moved his hat; but though 'Jane' made a low +curtsey, her observation was marked--'Oh! so you have lost yourself +again, Rosina!' + +'My name is Robina, if you please,' she exclaimed, glad to have +something to contradict. + +'Ah! I never can remember! It is so peculiar!' + +'Peculiarly pretty,' said Lord Ernest. 'It puts one in mind of all +sorts of pleasant associations.' + +'It is Scottish, after Miss Hepburn,' said Robina, severely turning +from him. + +'Yes,' said Miss Martha. 'It is a very old name with us, but we never +called my sister by it; we call her by her name of Elizabeth, it is +less romantic but more sensible.' And Miss Martha, frightened at +speaking so like Isabella, laughed a little to diminish the stern +effects. + +Robina hoped to shake off Lord Ernest by joining them, and said +politely, 'I did not know you were here.' + +'Harry and I thought we would just come over to see what the learned +men think of the poor old place; but after all, it is only Mr. +Milwright, and one can hear him any day, so we came round just to have +a look at the old conservatories, which I used to dote on.' + +'You have had some luncheon?' + +'Yes, thank you, we got some cold pigeon pie. My dear, what a pity your +sister did not apply to me! I could have recommended her to Patakake, +who always did things for us. Whom could you have had?' + +'Kerenhappuch,' said Robina solemnly, for, in spite of all her trouble, +she was awake to the fun of the thing, and she greatly tickled Lord +Ernest by the tone and the name. + +'Well, so Miss Martha said, but I could not believe it. Done entirely +at home?' + +'Yes.' + +'Excuse me, my dear Ros--Robina, but it was a mistake in a position +like yours.' + +'I am sorry if anything was not good.' + +'Oh! that's not it. It is style that is the _thing_, especially in your +position. It will not do to fall short of it!--You agree with me, my +Lord, air is everything.' + +'I much prefer good food,' he answered; at which Harry Shaw broke into +a hearty laugh, and Robina could not help joining. Perceiving, perhaps, +that his dictum would go for something, Lord Ernest gravely added, 'If +good food and good taste combined are the right thing, I am sure we had +it to-day. I never saw a more thoroughly pretty or graceful set out--so +well appointed too.' + +And though the two ladies agreed that the poor young man was very +far gone, and that there was something artful about that girl, yet +it silenced the lamentations for Patakake. Mrs. Fulbert declared it +wonderful how those girls had managed it--but, of course, they had been +brought up to such things; and Miss Martha--more good-naturedly--made +it known that 'that young nobleman had never seen anything equal to it +for style and good taste!' + +'Of course, simplicity was a relief after the jaded life of a man of +fashion,' added Miss Isabella. + +'What, the Earl was there! What a pity those young people should get +into such a set!' + +By the time the lawn was reached, the discourse was ended, and people +were scattered about on the garden-chairs, partaking of further +refreshments handed by Krishnu, who had assumed his white and scarlet, +and had an imposing effect, leading forth sundry footmen in diverse +liveries as his assistants. Lord de Vigny had detected Geraldine's +studio, and insisted on seeing her portfolio. She had somewhat flagged +since her object had been attained, and among the excitements of +the last year; and the old gentleman gave her a real scolding for +wasting such powers in little desultory half-finished memorial kind of +sketches. It was impossible not to laugh at the exaggerated feeling +of the kind old courteous amateur; but after all, the stimulus was +good for her. She did not exactly accept the assurance that it was +the first duty of her life to produce something every season for the +Exhibition; but the fresh eye, and the criticism, which had reality +in it, though it was complimentary, stirred her up; and she felt that +it was not doing justice to the gift of which she was a steward, +to shrink, as she had done of late, from the train of attention and +detail which the maturing an original subject cost her, besides that +contributions to the housekeeping were really felt by all that could +work for themselves to be almost due to him who toiled so freely for +them and for his conscience. As to the neighbours, they only then and +there discovered that the little lame Miss Underwood was an exhibitor +at the Royal Academy, and that the queer old nobleman, with the loose +grey hair, raved about her drawings. They regarded her the more or the +less according as they most esteemed genius or gentility; and as Miss +Martha Hepburn said, 'No one would ever have found it out.' 'As if they +expected me to go about in a white turban and a palette on my thumb, +like the pictures of Angelica Kaufman!' said Cherry, laughing, as +Angela reported this speech while the home party stood under the porch, +after seeing off their last guests. + +There was plenty of indulgence in self-gratulations, and a universal +contribution of the observations each had received, almost all +resulting in declaring their house-warming a great success. In the +midst, some correspondence of eye between Robina and her eldest +brother, brought the colour into her cheek as she drew nearer to him. +He held out his hand to her, and when the others dispersed to their +rooms, they began to walk together under the wall. + +'You spoke to him?' + +'Yes. Oh! I wish I hadn't. You were right. He had written to his +father, after all!' + +'Then it is off your mind?' + +'Yes. No--it would be--' She fell into a terrible tangle of hesitation +and broken words, out of which he thus interpreted, + +'You found the situation awkward?' + +'Oh! I ought not to complain, for it was my own doing when you warned +me, and I don't believe he meant it; but--but--it just amounts to this, +that I can never freely say again that he never said, or tried to say, +a word like flirting--to me. And I suppose it is my duty to tell, +and--give them all up--' + +'I suppose you had rather not tell me what he really said?' + +'It was not words so much as manner--assuming that I was on his side at +heart, and half laughing at me all the time. Then, when he had told +me quite seriously that the family compact was all nonsense, he grew a +little more like that--wanted me to hear his plans, and stay away from +the rest--said it was as good as our being lost.' + +'Is that all?' + +'Yes; except that, when I said why I began, he answered, "Then I am +much obliged to my mother's letter."' + +'Then, if there is no more, you had much better let things alone. If he +has written to his father, a post or two will decide his recall; and in +the meantime, such a confession, though quite conscientious, would only +make you ridiculous.' + +'Yes, I see that. I had much rather not. Wilmet thinks I am always +fancying such things--but you don't, Felix! I only wish it were--' + +'I don't think you so silly, my dear,' said Felix. 'No one can judge of +manner without seeing it; but so little as you have to tell seems to me +nothing to cry out about, and your confession might be misunderstood.' + +'Of course I don't want to do it; but to keep it back when I write +seems treacherous.' + +'Don't write!' + +'Not to Grace?' + +'She knows you are much occupied; and even if she do think you a little +remiss, really even such a dreadful idea seems to me preferable to any +fresh reports coming between this young man and his family, at what may +be the turning-point of his life.' + +'I should not send a false report!' + +'You could not help sending an excited one; and if it were the actual +short-hand notes of what passed, word for word, what could it do but +give all the ladies something more to talk about? If Lord de la Poer +be the same man in private life as in public, he and his son will +understand one another much better without the interposition of any +women's tongues, or pens, however kindly-intentioned.' + +'So he said--that his father would understand, and like him the better +for being independent.' + +'For my part, I could not understand what you told me!' + +'He is so fond of Colonel Umfraville, and would be glad to see one of +his children like a son to him. I can't help hoping it will come right, +for poor dear Lady Caergwent's sake.' + +'Then, once more, let it alone!' + +She obeyed, with a sigh. It was a quiet evening, Felix and the +Harewoods went to the soirée; and the next day was that of the +excursion to Stoneborough, for which Robina had not much heart, but +that dreadful imputation of being apt to make a fuss about nothing +prevented her from backing out. She did not understand William, who +had dropped his surly petulant manner, and was only exceedingly grave +and quiet, keeping out of the way, and looking dejected and subdued. +She longed to speak to him, but he specially avoided her, and this +time Felix made her his special charge, transferring Cherry to John +Harewood's guidance. Both understood, almost without even a glance, +that he wished to be free; and Cherry could not have had a more devoted +cavalier than her brother-in-law, who never left her, except when the +ascent of the Tower made Gertrude May hang back, declare she had had +enough of that, and beg to take Miss Underwood under her protection, to +rest in her sister's drawing-room. + +And there Gertrude, in one of those curious accesses of confidence that +congeniality sometimes produces, poured out a great deal of what was +most individual to herself. Daisy had never set up a friend before, +and had always been rather contemptuous of intimacies; but this was a +case of love at first sight. Geraldine was about six years her elder, +and not in the category of 'tiresome girls,' and while her sister's +beauty was talked of, no one said much about her; so Daisy fancied this +a discovery of her own, and became devoted to her, especially when +she began to touch on Felix, and found that for hero-worship nothing +could rival the sister. Geraldine had her reserves, but to find such a +listener to the achievements of Felix was enough to open all her heart. +And when the interruption came at last, all Gertrude thought of was +when and how to meet again. + +Nothing worth note befell Robina; and on the Saturday the only event +was Mr. Harewood's departure, and his son's disappearance immediately +after. It turned out that he was walking to Penbeacon to make his final +arrangements; and when regrets were expressed that he had not borrowed +a horse, John warned the proprietors against trusting a beast in +Will's hands; and Wilmet declared that, in mercy to his pupils, she +should drive over next week and see whether the rooms were fit for +anybody. Clement spoke well of them, but she had little faith in him. + +On Sunday, just as the church bells were calling, and the Priory ladies +were proceeding to the bench they had placed in the south transept, +when leaving the chancel to the choir, there appeared the not very +welcome outline of an aquiline young profile, with loose shining brown +hair, peering about over the big oaken boxes that fenced up the central +aisle; and it was Angela who popped up her head to guide him to a local +habitation. + +If it were true that Vale Leston rejoiced in the best choir in the +neighbourhood, Ewshire could not be well off, thought those who were +used to the Bexley organ and choir under Lance's presidency. Clement +had done a good deal in the past year with his boys, and had a good +schoolmaster as organist; but the best voices did not appertain to the +best men, and those best men, being the most imbued with Hepburnism, +viewed the gallery as a much more honourable place than the chancel, +and would infinitely rather have sung in a dissenting chapel than in +a surplice; but though they were little cultivated, and were still in +what their vicar called motley, his voice, with the Squire's practised +one, and Will's with its old chorister training, told enough to make +the general effect far above the country average, and to merit the +admiration with which Lord Ernest replied to Angela's exaggerated +despair at the dissonances. + +On the way through the Cloister he contrived to say to Robina, 'I've +heard from Papa--it is all right.' She could only reply, 'That is +well!' with a real look of congratulation, though she felt that the use +of the strictly domestic appellation was another dangerous implication +of familiarity. After dinner she crept up to her own room, resolved to +give neither encouragement to him nor offence to William, thinking it +hard that the latter's last Sunday should be spoilt. The school would, +she knew, keep Angela out of mischief, and Cherry would look after the +guest if he deserved to be entertained. What had become of poor Lady +Caergwent? + +Perhaps the sun was too hot in her southern room, for Robina grew +restless over her books, and wandered into Cherry's painting room, +gazing listlessly from the windows. Then she saw a sight that surprised +her--Will and Lord Ernest under the cedar, in a conference that lasted +till the smallest bell began to ring. + +Felix was still more surprised by Will's address to him some hours +later. + +'I just want to know one thing. Do you want that young fellow licked +into shape--that young De la Poer?' he added, meeting Felix's look of +blank amazement. 'He wants me to take him in hand at Penbeacon. I told +him I did not know if there was room--I really don't; but the real +question is--' and there he came to a dead stop. + +'The real question is--' repeated Felix. + +'Whether you think it a good thing?' continued Will, his head bent over +a cat's-cradle of string in which he had tied up his fingers. + +'A very good thing for him, and pecuniarily not a bad one for you.' + +'Botheration! that has nothing to do with it. Can't you see what I +mean? Is it good for--her?' and the poor little monosyllable came out +with a sort of groan. + +Felix pitied him enough to help him forward with, 'For Robina, do +you mean? You are under a misapprehension, if you think it makes any +difference to her!' + +'Then you don't approve of it? You don't want to put a stop to it?' + +'There is nothing to put a stop to, that I know of!' + +'Ah! then you don't know!' said Will, lapsing into deep dejection. + +'I know she would consider what you imply as dishonourable and +treacherous!' + +'No, no!' cried Will, vehemently; 'no such thing! Your sister in your +house--as well-born a lady as any in England--a match for any man in +the realm!' + +'There are other reasons, besides her position in the family, which +would make her think it treason to encourage what, I believe, has no +existence.' + +'Ah, then--you don't know what--' and again he stopped short between +dismay and oppression. + +'What do you mean?' + +'No, no; you shall not have it from me. I'm only sorry I said a word.' +And the poor fellow was going away. + +'Hold, Bill! Tell me what you mean? I believe I can explain it!' + +'There's only one expla--No; what am I saying? She has every right. +You'll hear it soon enough!' + +He was turning the handle of the door, when Felix said, 'If you mean +that Robina spoke to him in the kitchen-garden on Thursday, I know all +about that!' + +'Indeed!' His face altered instantly. + +'She had a letter from his mother that she thought he ought to see. She +told me what she intended.' + +'Queer people, to find such a channel of communication,' said Bill, +gruffly. 'And that was all?' + +'The whole.' + +'Well! I never meant to act the spy; but I'll tell you how it was, +Felix. I had heard all Milwright's prose, and was sick of all the +humbug; so I went into your study for a little peace, and there I heard +Theodore fretting awfully in the next room--' + +'I know. You were so kind as to take him out.' + +'He wanted you, and he wanted to be out; and he was plagued and +bothered at so many strangers about, and Sibby was nearly demented +with having to keep him quiet and wash up the thingumbobs. So this +watch--it belongs to John, came from his aunt's; but I've got it while +mine is refitting--and it plays all manner of tunes. Theodore will come +anywhere after it; so I got him into the kitchen-garden, thinking there +would be peace there, and into the old root-house, and there what does +he do but go to sleep on my knee!' + +'Yes; he had had a bad night. I was writing later than was good for +him, and he was excited by the preparations.' + +'So while I was pinned down, I saw--from the little window--those two +walking up and down at the further end of the garden,' and he made a +gesture of utter despair. 'It was no good showing myself--I was out of +hearing; but--And so,' he added, 'I thought if I could anyway conduce +to making him fit for her, it was all I could do for her.' + +'Very kind! but you might have trusted her!' + +'Trust! If I had any right!' + +'She thinks you have!' + +'She!' and the face lighted up. 'You don't mean that she holds to +_that?_ Of course you know nothing about it, though? Some childish +nonsense passed years ago, but I never durst believe she remembered it.' + +'She knows it ought not to bind you, but--' + +'Bind! What should bind but the love of my whole heart, ever since I +knew I had one? I durst not speak again of it. When I came to perceive +what I had done, I thought it not fair towards her to renew it, till I +had the means to keep her as she ought to be kept; for you know I've +not got a preserve of old aunts, like Jack!' + +'Quite right, Will!' + +'And when she had been among all those swells, how did I know what she +might not be wanting to take up with--never being much of a fellow to +look at, any time?' he added wistfully. + +'I think you might have known her better!' + +'You see,' he broke out, 'I don't want her to be held to me only by +what took place long ago, when she was a child of thirteen. That would +be a downright shame, and I never meant to remind her till I had a home +to offer her. There have been times when I made sure we understood +one another; but to this hour I don't know whether she likes me a bit +better than John, and if she--likes--this young man better--she has +a perfect right!' concluded poor Will, with a great sob from his big +honest chest. + +'That you had better ascertain!' + +'Do you tell me so?' he exclaimed. + +'I am not exactly the person to tell you to do so; but though I honour +your conduct with all my heart, I think the mutual uncertainty is +causing you both much unnecessary unhappiness and anxiety.' + +'I can answer for one! But she? People always preach that long +engagements wear out a girl's life.' + +'If you were sixteen and thirteen over again, I should say, "Don't!" +very decidedly; but having gone so far, I think you had best go on. I +really believe that not only would an understanding be a great present +relief, but that an avowed engagement would be a great comfort and +protection to her.' + +'I'll never let her go back to that drudgery!' cried Will. + +'That you must settle with her,' + +'Then I have your sanction?' + +'Yes; but I'm not your father!' + +'Oh! he'll be jolly and glad! He never interferes with anything in +reason! I wonder how Wilmet will look!' + +'That must be ascertained by experiment. We must shut up now, Will, or +poor Tedo will have another restless night. Good-night!' + +'Pah! I should like to go out and halloo!' + +'Write a poem instead, and work off the steam!' said Felix, turning +down the lamp to get rid of that most unpoetical-looking poet. + +Will had announced an intention of walking to Penbeacon in early +morning, and when rallied by Angela on having overslept himself, the +great audacious slap-dash fellow proved to have turned as shy as +a girl. He kept on blushing up to the ears, looking sheepish, and +losing opportunities from sheer awkwardness. If the space had been +as small, or Felix as punctilious as at John's courtship, the crisis +could hardly have come on; but Felix had put off going to Bexley, to +see the affair through, and was resolved that the mutual infliction +of misery should last no longer. So finding matters in _statu quo_ at +dinner-time, he ordered the waggonet, and declaring suddenly that he +would protect Cherry through the visits she had to return, he packed +in three sisters, declaring, with a twinkle in his eye, that he knew +Bobbie wanted to finish her sketch of the church. Clement was gone to +the far end of the village, and Bernard was fishing, so that the coast +was clear. + +But the drawing went on in solitude under the cedar for a quarter of an +hour; and when at last a sort of irresolute saunter resulted in a big +loosely-built personage reclining on the grass at the sketcher's feet, +a good many more minutes were spent in pulling up tufts, while she was +too glad to have him there to suggest that he was doing the work of +a dozen chaffer-grubs. Indeed, she soon saw that he was ill at ease, +and her painting felt the influence of his restlessness, which began +to alarm her, though she durst not disturb it. He might mean to have +it out with her--he might be composing a poem--to which last opinion +she inclined when he at length lay prone on his back, his straw hat +entirely over his face; and she expected either a heroic utterance, or +a hasty demand for a pencil and a page of her sketch-book. Instead of +which, after a deep sigh, came the portentous words--'Double-distilled +donkey!' + +'Indeed, I don't think he's quite that!' justice compelled her to say. + +'There! I knew how it would be! Nothing but an unmitigated idiot could +have thought otherwise for a moment!' + +'Thought what?' said Robina--not exactly liking to consider the +'unmitigated idiot' meant to apply to herself, the most obvious +antecedent. + +'Why, I was ten thousand asses for coming out here!' + +'Indeed!' + +Something in the tone of that 'indeed' raised him to a sitting posture, +with his arms embracing his knees, a resolute and deplorable attitude. +'I say, Robina, tell me at once, and put an end to it, whether you care +for that sprig of nobility!' + +'I!' she cried, her eyes flashing. 'How can you suspect me!' and +indignation made it sound like--'insult me!' + +'Don't be in such a fury with a poor fellow that has been driven nearly +to desperation!' said William, putting an elbow on the chair where her +apparatus stood. + +'It was your own fault!' said Robina; she meant it to be sternly, but +it was softly. 'I wanted to explain to you, but you never would let me!' + +'I did not know that you--I mean, that I felt that I had no right to +ask!' + +'O Willie!' + +'Robina! Robin--dearest! Are you thinking of that evening?--Bah! what's +this?' as his start forward upset the chair against him. + +'The water I was painting with! Let me wipe it. It is making a green +stream over your face!' at which they both laughed hysterically; and +what Will tried to do to the hands that were drying his face may be +inferred from--'Now, don't! Let me do it properly! Be quiet, let me +look!' And as he half sat, half knelt, she turned up his great freckled +face with her hand under his chin. 'There's a green drop still in the +corner of your left eye! Let me take it out.' + +'The last drop of the green-eyed monster, I promise you, Robina. Now, +don't you know what they always do to good little boys, who have had +their faces washed nice and clean?' + +'But you haven't been a good little boy! You were very naughty, making +me ever so unhappy!' and, smiling as she was, there was a tear not +green in her eye. + +'Ah! You could never have been so wretched as I was; not knowing +whether what was my deepest earnest was child's play to you, and not +daring to ask.' + +'Just like me!' she whispered. + +'And now, is it not like waking out of a horrible dream, or getting out +of a mist of darkness, to find that we have had one another's heart +ever--ever since? my Robin--mine own--mine own!' + +'Oh! indeed it is! I don't think we quite knew what we were doing then, +but it has only grown as we have grown older.' + +'And will grow for ever, Robina!' + +'I trust so!' + +'Isn't this rest?' he said presently. + +'After all those worries! Oh! I must tell you about Lord Ernest!' + +'I don't want to hear a word about Lord Ernest, or Lord Anybody! Bless +me, I forgot! I was to let the fellow knew if I could have him up at +the farm; and in fact I was waiting to know whether you wanted him made +a man of for you!' and Will laughed merrily. 'I'd have done my best, +Robin!' + +'I do want him made a man of, but not for me,' said Robina, stroking +his face, by way of reward for a generosity she could not speak of. +'You'll do it, Willie?' + +'He'll be off with it, now!' + +'Nonsense! that had nothing at all to do with it. He had been trying to +read at home, and it did not answer.' + +'Never does!' + +'He got bothered, and came to Eweford in a fit of temper. The family +did not know where he was, and I thought I ought to show him their +letters, and let him see how vexed they were. Felix said I had better +let it alone, and I found after all that Lord Ernest had written to his +father.' + +'Felix knows about us. How is that?' + +'I was uncomfortable at his not knowing. I once tried to tell Wilmet, +when I was afraid I ought not to keep the _nid d'avis;_ but she said I +was a silly child, and would not listen.' + +'How lucky! What a delicious time we had at Barèges! It is like a +stream of sunshine in my mind. Won't we go there again some day! That +would have settled my business, even if there had been no summer +evening at home. I've got your sketches up in my rooms, and this one +will follow them.' + +'If you haven't gone and spoilt it! Look! There's a great dab of blue, +that you made me make, half way up the church tower.' + +'Make it Clement, in a sky-blue scarlet vestment, pronouncing a +benediction!' + +'For shame, Willie! that's as bad as Angela. Besides, he isn't gone up +as high as _that_ yet!' + +'Make it a forget-me-not, then!' + +'Up there! and as big as the window?' + +'Make it something! I won't have it washed out. It marks the prime +moment of my life--when I came from darkness into sunshine. You must +come some day and do our Cathedral from the meads, and I'll show you +where I cut out our initials and 1861.' + +'No! did you?' + +'Of course; and all the more because you would not break a sixpence. +You will now?' + +'With all my heart!' + +'I declare I haven't got one now! Only a three-penny bit, again.' + +'Here's one!' said Robina. 'Give me the three-penny, and then it will +be half from each.' + +'That's not the right arrangement,' said Will, as he frowned horribly +over the difficulty of dividing the coin. 'I say, I'll get you a ring +to-morrow, though it won't be such a one as Jack's.' + +'No, it will be much better!' said Robina, taking the scissors at her +chatelaine, (from a Repworth Christmas-tree,) and snipping a lock from +his head, while he was still struggling with the sixpence. 'There, I +shall make that into a ring! Yes it is the only one I will have--the +only gold I care for.' + +'If you call that gold, it is decisive,' said Will, laughing, as she +twined the ruddy thing in her fingers. 'You must have something to set +it in?' + +'Yes; I must wait till the chestnut horse comes home, for a few hairs +of his mane for a foundation--black would show through.' + +Bill protested in favour of 'a real one,' but without much effect. +Was not the sixpence yielding at last? and had she not that precious +bird's-nest, which she had not dared to wear during his displeasure, +unwitting that this grieved him the more? They were very earnest over +the old-fashioned ceremony of the sixpence; they scratched a W and an +R on each moiety, and made a hole, and Robina undertook the finding a +cord for each. It was playfully done, but with great depth beneath. + +'It has been the homely token of a great deal of simple trust!' said +Will. + +'And I am sure we are poor enough!' added Robina. + +'But you will never go back to that abominable harness?' + +'Indeed I must! No, Will! Cannot you see how wrong and foolish it would +be to be living on Felix, with nothing to do, and no one wanting me?' + +'No one?' + +'Cherry is all the world to Felix, and teaches Stella. Angela takes the +parish work; and it would be a sin and shame to waste my education in +dawdling here. Even dear old Lancey is too much taken up with his music +to want me to keep house for him. I should only be in his way; and I do +not want to enter on all the questions about society there!' + +'No; Bexley would not do for you!' + +'And when I am getting one hundred pounds now, and am to have one +hundred and fifty after Christmas, when Miss Oswald goes, would it not +be sheer waste and laziness to come and prey on Felix, when I might be +earning a nice little nest-egg to furnish our house with?' + +'That's to coax me; but I can't stand your working for me!' + +'I might as well say I can't stand your working for me, you silly +fellow! You don't see me crying at your keeping pupils at Penbeacon.' + +'Yes, but I'm the right one!' + +'I declare you've been learning of my godmothers, who say it is +unworthy of a man to let his womankind work. A regular Mahometan +notion, isn't it? And I shall get my holidays whenever you are +available. Don't you see?' + +'I see it exactly in Miss Hepburn's light. Men must work!' + +'And women weep! Eh? I've no intention of weeping! I much prefer +working, and I do no more than is wholesome for any person's +well-being. I believe it is Green-eyes again?' + +'No; I'm not afraid of you, my own, own steady-hearted Bird! I never +would have been, had I known whether you viewed that evening walk as +play or earnest. I've done with that sort of trouble; but I should like +to lift you out of all the drudgery of work-a-day life, and give you +all that heart could wish!' + +'The heart of a bird of paradise!' said she, looking into his face; +'the heart of a robin red-breast gets much nearer what it wishes when +it is working--working for you, you know! Ay! that's so sweet, that you +want to get it all for yourself!' + +'My sweetest Bird! before you have talked me quite out of my senses, +with your poetical way of putting it, let me say that you and I don't +work on equal terms. There's the rub!' + +'Oh! You're ashamed of the governess?' + +'No indeed, dearest; but that you--you--equal to any in birth--should +be in an inferior position!' + +'Lord Earnestlypoor!' announced Amelia, in one single word, as she +advanced on them from the house, with the gentleman following. 'He +asked for Mr. Harewood.' + +Up they sprung, holding out their hands. + +'I thought I might walk over for my answer,' he said, with a sense of +interrupting something. + +William gave a conscious laugh. 'I'm afraid I've not been up to +Penbeacon yet.' + +'I think,' said Robina, rallying her powers, 'we had better make our +avowal at once. Lord Ernest, we want your congratulations. We have +been engaged this long time, and my eldest brother has just given us +leave to make it known.' + +Good breeding and self-command might perhaps be what prevented all sign +of aught but frank friendliness. 'Indeed! I wish you joy with all my +heart. Does Grace know?' + +'I am going to write to Grace.' + +'She will be very unselfish if she rejoices.' + +'I don't think it will make any difference for some time to come,' said +Robina. + +'You see,' said Will, 'we neither of us have anything; and she will +have it that she is so happy among your sisters, that it is no hardship +to go on as she is.' + +'My mother will say that it is as great a compliment as ever she +received.--Well, Harewood! when you can think of such sublunary matters +as pupils, will you let me know? I wouldn't have interrupted you, but I +had no notion anything so interesting was going on!' + +He was so genuinely simple and hearty, that Will was impelled to try +whether he still wished to be his pupil, by asking whether he would +object to sleeping at a cottage. 'Not in the least!' he said, 'it would +be rather jolly! All I want is for you to work me up. I feel more bound +than ever not to come to grief, now they have let me take my way,' he +added, with frankness satisfactory to both. + +Will entered into particulars of the accommodations, and Robina +interposed warnings against his statements till verified by her +sister's inspection. These two were really lovers of too long standing +to be overwhelmingly engrossed, but were rather like beings lightened +of a heavy load of suspense; and when the question between the two +gentlemen began as to the books he should write for from home, he +diversified it by saying to Robina--'I brought my father's letter. +Would you like to see it?' + +Probably he had meant to read selections, and gave it to her only +because this was impossible, and he really wanted to justify his recent +words. + +Lord de la Poer fulfilled the assertion that he would not be displeased +with his son's independence, provided he should persevere in exertion. +There was a kindly expressed but not the less real warning, that the +examination at Oxford would be the test whether this were a manly +spirit or mere restive impatience. Full permission to read with +Mr. Harewood, or any one he preferred, was given. Mr. Crichton had +perceived that the system of study at home did not answer. 'When the +class-list comes out,' wrote the Marquess, 'it will be time to consider +of the future; but I promise that you shall not find yourself withheld +from any suitable course, by any wishes that may have been prematurely +expressed. That whole subject may be considered as closed. If your +present plans are inspired by any other views, I trust to your treating +me with confidence.' + +That was the only sentence in which any suspicion could be detected. +How Robina rejoiced that Felix had prevented the confession that would +have been so ridiculous now! Of Lady Caergwent there was not a word. If +Lord de la Poer knew of any grief at the defection, he regarded himself +as in honour bound not to betray her. + +Robina was waiting to restore the letter for a pause in the discussion +of Greek plays and moral philosophy, which was the prelude to the +licking into shape, though in externals the tutor looked by far the +most in need of the process, when Amelia made another incursion, +and this time announced, 'Miss Hepburn'--who proved to be two of +the sisters--Bridget and Isabella; but introductions not being the +prevailing custom at Repworth Towers, Robina did not feel called on +to make any, and indeed William had been at Vale Leston as long as +she had. But they had never met face to face before, and the ladies +resented the omission, returned the bows stiffly, and when she said, +'My sisters are gone out to make morning visits,' the answer was, 'Yes, +my sister Martha saw them, and we thought you would be alone.' + +'Thank you. Will you come into the drawing-room, or do you like sitting +out-of-doors?--Willie, please ring, and ask for some tea.' + +'No, thank you! We will not disturb you. We did not know you were +engaged!' + +Will took the word technically, and started; Lord Ernest kept his +countenance with difficulty; but Robina had sense enough to understand, +and say, 'I only stayed at home to finish a sketch. These afternoon +lights and shades are particularly becoming to the church.' And Lord +Ernest, bringing some chairs to the rescue, applied himself with ready +courtesy to make talk, though praise of the choir was hardly a happy +subject to start. He did his best with Miss Isabella, while Robina +faltered through ten minutes of cold commonplace with Miss Bridget. + +About a quarter of an hour later, Major Harewood, who was working out +the problem whether prudence would allow him to exchange military +engineering for high farming as the Squire's agent, looked up at the +sight of his wife in hat and parasol. + +'Are you going out, my dear? Is it not too hot?' + +'Only to the Priory.' + +'There's nobody at home. Kit saw "Uncle Fee" and all the aunties going +out in the carriage.' + +'Not Robina. Miss Isabella Hepburn has just been here, to warn me that +she found her sitting on the lawn, alone with two young men!' + +'Bernard and Theodore?' + +'No, no; of course she knows them by sight. I shall go down. I expect +it is that young De la Poer; and either Robin does not know how to get +rid of him, and will be glad to see me, or else she ought to be!' + +'Those are the ladies that are said to have but one tooth,' said John, +taking up hat and stick. + +'There's no need to disturb you. Only I feel it the more expedient to +be near. I am much vexed at this beginning. I never expected it from +Robina. She is worse than Angel!' + +'Poor Robin! There's been something amiss with her all the week, as +well as with Bill. I wonder if there is anything in the Bailey joke +about them?' + +'Most certainly not,' said Wilmet; 'I am much more afraid of the other +thing. I always thought her choosing to stay at Repworth suspicious!' + +'I don't believe it! I saw them come up after she had been lost at +Ewmouth, as innocent as lambs! Her manner was perfectly simple and +natural.' + +'I don't understand Robina's manner,' said Wilmet. + +Walking down the hilly slope of the path, they presently were aware of +a pair with arms and hands doubly interlaced, in the fashion peculiar +to the circumstances. + +'John!' + +'Wilmet! Was there never a blackberry lane in our lives?' + +'Not without--Robina!' + +They turned, but without confusion, without loosing of arms, or if +Robina had attempted it, it was checked. + +'Oh! there you are, John!' exclaimed Will 'So you see we have settled +it at last!' + +'I do not know what you mean,' said Wilmet, gravely. + +'O Wilmet!' said Robina. 'I told you all about it, long ago, at +Barèges.' + +'If you consider that as any intimation--' she began; but her husband +interrupted her. 'I suppose Felix has yet to hear this?' + +'Oh no!' both cried; Will adding, 'Felix created this vast solitude on +our behalf!' + +'Your father?' added Wilmet. + +'He went away a day too soon; but there's no fear of him, is there, +Jack?' + +'You all seem to me demented!' said Wilmet aghast. + +'Nay, Mettie, if you knew it at Barèges, you can't say a word!' said +John, much amused. + +'Always sending us up the mountains together!' added Will. 'No one ever +gave me such a happy time of it!' + +'Giving me leave to keep the brooch!' continued Robina, chiming in with +their humour. + +'Why, 'tis your doing,' summed up the Major; 'and I trust it is a good +work for both!' he gravely proceeded. 'I wish you joy, with all my +heart, though I fear I must wish you patience too!' + +'And prudence!' put in Wilmet, but softening into sweetness. 'Dear +Robin--dear Willie--don't think I don't care!' as she gave a sisterly +kiss to each. 'It is because I do care so very much for both that I am +anxious!' + +'Anxiety was your meat and drink so early in life that you can't shake +it off now!' said John, affectionately; 'and Harewood as I am, I should +share it with you, if I didn't know that Bill's choice much resembles +her elder sister!' + +'You may say that!' observed Will. 'Why, she wants to go on in harness +at Repworth!' + +'That is wise!' responded Wilmet. + +'But, halloo!' cried John, 'did your friend see double, Mettie?--or +what have you done with your other young man, Robina?' + +'Walked him to the little gate! He came to settle about reading with +Willie.' + +'I say!' cried William, laughing, 'did the Graiæ go and send Wilmet to +put on her Gorgon's head, and charge down on us? I thought they were +looking as sour as verjuice!' + +'You see,' proceeded Wilmet, 'we must all be careful! It won't do to +fancy one can do anything in the country. These old ladies don't do it +out of ill-nature, like Lady Price, but they are almost worse!' + +'However, Mettie, as these poor things have been subjected already to +one Oxonian and two hags, I think you and I had better relieve them of +our presence, and let them finish their walk in peace.' + +Putting things together, Robina thought she had not wholly escaped +doubt at Repworth, for she received no letter between the inquiry into +the K T case, and the answers to her own communication, and these so +overflowed with affection and cordiality, as to suggest that they were +a reaction. Lady de la Poer wrote warm congratulations, and spoke of +her eldest son's high opinion of Mr. Harewood; she was rejoiced at Miss +Underwood's decision to return to her post, and she gave a few words +of thanks for the explanation about the children's chatter: 'Susie has +been well lectured on Russian scandal!' was her conclusion. + +Lady Grace was rapturous enough to think she had seen the future +dawning at the station. Poor Grace! she certainly was rather gushing, +and probably it was the contrast that made her so devoted to the +staid Robina. She let out that she was 'so glad to write again. Mamma +had advised her not, for fear of more misunderstandings, till it was +settled about Ernest; and now he must bring Mr. Harewood to Repworth +for her to see. As to Kate, she was still at the Towers; the Wardours +had the small-pox in their parish, and could not have her.' Grace had +evidently been put under some reserve as to the Countess; but there +was a note from herself--quaint and hearty, like all she did, and with +a little sadness in it. There was no such intimacy as to render it +necessary, and Robina interpreted the writing of it to mean that there +had once been bitter feelings towards her, and that this was their +recall. + + MY DEAR MISS UNDERWOOD, + + Gracie tells me you have been well employed. I heartily wish + you joy. A university tutor seems to me as mighty a power of + influence as any in existence, but I suppose it is your mission + to spoil him for that. Lucky girl that you are, to have work + and brothers and all! You don't know how much it saves you + from. One brother is all I would have asked, if only to prevent + me from signing myself, + + Yours affectionately, + CAERGWENT. + + +The secret history must evidently wait for Robina's return, and before +that there was a great deal of conscientious hard work at Penbeacon, +the tutor resolutely refraining from walks to Vale Leston, except +when, on Sunday, he and his whole party marched down to what he called +'prayers and provender,' at Vale Leston. Also there was one, only +one, picnic given by the Penbeaconites to the Vale Lestonites, during +the week when the Squire inexorably went to Bexley, and sent Lance +to be the merriest of the merry on the last of August, and to make +acquaintance with the hares and partridges on the 1st of September. + +At the end of that week, in the early charms of September, with the +sheaves glorifying the fields, the fruit glowing on the trees, the +pears drooping in russet drops, the apples piled in red and golden +heaps, the geraniums and verbenas flaming on the lawn, Felix brought +Mr. and Mrs. Froggatt, for what was probably as happy and exultant +a visit as ever they paid in their joint lives. To see Felix in his +glory was almost as much to them as if he had been their own child, +and they were intimate enough to make it possible to provide for their +entertainment perfectly to their satisfaction. The home-farm, which was +to be let to Major Harewood, with a tariff for the articles needed for +family consumption, afforded Mrs. Froggatt great amusement in studying +chickens and ducks; and the agent's house, a pretty cottage on the +opposite bank, was being improved at John's expense, so as to be ready +for occupation as soon as he could effect his retirement and break up +from Woolwich; and every one knows the resource house-building is to +the leisurely holiday-maker. Indeed, Mr. Froggatt wanted nothing but +his book and newspaper, and a little talk and garden fancying; and +the petting Cherry and Stella gave him. The tender reverent affection +all the young people showed to both, as to their true friends and +benefactors, warmed their hearts. + +One state-dinner--in spite of his disavowal of dinner visiting--Felix +had always resolved to give, chiefly for the sake of the satisfaction +he knew Mrs. Froggatt would for ever feel in it. He had to pick the +other guests, but he secured a sufficiency. Dr. May had promised +himself and his two daughters. Of Mrs. Staples Cherry was afraid, but +Mr. Staples came, and Mr. and Mrs. Welsh, which was the more amiable +in him because there had been a time in his life when Mr. and Mrs. +Froggatt would have been far above him. Lord Ernest came down from +Penbeacon, and thus, with the Harewoods and the large home-party, the +numbers were quite imposing; especially with the display of all the +plate, champagne, ices, Krishnu, and even Cherry's abomination, a hired +waiter in white gloves! + +It was not thrown away. Mrs. Froggatt was indeed a little awed in the +Bismarck brocade and blonde cap she would have been so sorry not to +have aired; but Dr. May found the way to her heart, even before dinner, +by admiring the testimonial inkstand which adorned the drawing-room +writing-table, and its story and all it led to lasted more than half +through dinner, and Gertrude caught echoes even while fraternizing +with Major Harewood over her brother in the engineers. After dinner, +good-natured little Mrs. Welsh, to the manner trained, took to +entertaining the old lady, and though the style was too electioneering +for Cherry's taste, it suited the purpose exactly, and made Mrs. +Froggatt pronounce her a very pretty and affable young lady. + +Even if there had been less enjoyment at the time, that dinner-party +would have been one of the chief events of Mrs. Froggatt's life. She +never wearied of dilating on it to all the friends who called on her, +on her return. 'She should have thought it a privilege only to see that +dear young gentleman in his proper sphere; but for him to treat the old +people as he might any lord in the land, and show himself as attentive, +as filial, she might say, as if he still had his bread to earn!' and +there she always began to cry. + +'One effect your dinner-party has had,' wrote Lance to Cherry, 'it has +wholly destroyed the small remains of Madame Tanneguy's peace of mind. +What she does not believe of the glories of the Priory it would be hard +to say. She angled full two half-hours for an invitation last time the +Squire was here, between her affection for you--and then poor little +Achille's health. And the effect upon that stony-hearted old Giant +was, that he sent two ten-pound notes to Miss Pearson, with a request +to take lodgings for her and the children at Dearport for a month. +Wherewith Miss Pearson trotted confidentially to me, to assure me that +she could not use them, since nothing on earth ailed Achille. I advised +her to keep and apply them; for not only do I know he would not take +them back, but it is no bad form of intimating that she may change to +any air save Vale Leston. And the absurd part of it is, that the more +she aspires, the more poor Lamb casts his hopeless sheep's-eyes at her!' + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +FOUR YEARS. + + 'Yet there are some resting-places, + Life's untroubled interludes; + Times when neither past nor future + On the soul's deep calm intrudes.' + _Jean Ingelow._ + + +That Penbeacon pic-nic became an institution, and was one of the +pleasantest annual events in what were on the whole very happy years. + +Care, exertion, and self-denial, were indeed still needful; but the two +latter were perhaps ingredients of happiness, and care would not have +been avoided if the Underwood view of duty had been the world's views +of what became Vale Leston Priory. A strenuous endeavour to keep up +appearances, and compete with grand neighbours on an uncertain three +thousand a year, would probably have been more wearing than living +on twelve hundred--partly earned by honest labour--and improving the +cottages, planting a school-chapel at Blackstone Gulley, hiring a house +for the purpose at East Ewmouth, and restoring the church by degrees. + +As for exertion, to be an Underwood of the late type would have been +harder work to Felix than his hours of Pursuivant or days at the +office, though in truth the labour was sometimes considerable. It was +not immediately that the two young men at Bexley could get on without +constant aid and superintendence in the business: he was always the +working editor; besides which, he was already important at Bexley, +and soon was found too good a man of business not to have a good deal +of county administration devolved upon him. Trade and public affairs +did so far clash as to be a strain, but not more than was compensated +by sense of usefulness and consideration, and giving zest to the +delightful snatches of leisure in his lovely and cheerful home. + +Self-denial? Felix and Geraldine would have disputed that. They +had grown up to a style that made simple plenty and moderate ease +luxurious, and superfluities never even suggested themselves as needs. +Perhaps the lack they were most concerned about was inability to 'keep +up the place' in the trim and dainty order it seemed to call for. The +smoothness of the grass in the park was dependent on the convenience +of John Harewood's dairy farm; and though the garden between the house +and river was always in beautiful order, in the shrubberies there was +a fine struggle of natural selection; the kitchen-gardens were made to +pay their way, and the ranges of conservatories were cold and empty, +except one necessary refuge for tenderer plants, and one maintained +at Clement's expense for Church-decorating flowers. Golightly was +greatly distressed at having no underlings but one old woman, one +small boy, and half the man who looked after the horse and pony, or +sometimes--what was worse than none--some subject to whom the Vicar was +applying the labour-test. The worthy gardener truly represented that +three men was the minimum for such grounds, and gave warning when he +found that justice could not be done them; but after Felix had found +him a much superior place, he declined; he could not find it in his +heart to leave the place to an untrained labourer, who would not even +know how to help devastating it. This sense of what was the garden's +due caused him to bestow an immense amount of personal toil on it; for +indeed it was observable that whoever worked for Felix always did so +with a will, stimulated no doubt by the master's example, as well as +by his hearty appreciation and acknowledgment of good service. In this +there was much real economy. + +The farm did well in the hands of Major Harewood, who had adapted the +agent's house to his own needs. It was just on the other side of the +river and road; and a boat, commonly called 'Lord Ullin's Daughter,' +brought it within five minutes' reach, going round by the bridge taking +about three times that interval. The land was chiefly rich pasture; and +John was growing learned in short-horns, and Wilmet upon butter and +cheese, while Clement's wish was realized by a parish cow. + +The calculations as to the scale of living were justified by the +result. Lighter household tasks were natural to the young ladies. They +kept their own rooms in order, dusted the books and ornaments, took +care of the household linen, and performed delicate cookeries, so as to +keep down the number of needful servants; and the occasions were few +and far between when their hospitality extended beyond the addition +of a few guests at their ordinary meals, or a garden-party, with its +pretty and inexpensive refections. + +People who restored their church and built schools, without begging +for subscriptions either directly or through a bazaar, but continued +in trade, and cut off superfluous luxuries--servants, horses, and +dinner-parties--were a fertile subject for wonder and gossip in the +neighbourhood. Society growled, contemned, and remonstrated, by the +mouth of Mrs. Fulbert Underwood, and the defence of her misguided +family was a heavy charge to Wilmet for the first year; but no one +worth caring about really took umbrage, and after a time people +accepted them on their own terms. A beautiful lawn, full of sprightly +youth, of looks, spirits, and talents, above the average, could not +fail to be popular, and an old county name went for something. + +Cherry was proof against dinner-parties. Health was no longer an +objection, for either Vale Leston had the virtues of native air, or the +Bexley potteries had merited Alda's vituperation, for Cherry's ailments +were more rare, and she had much advanced in strength and vigour. Felix +declared she was growing quite handsome; and he, though not exactly the +ideal squire, had acquired much more of the robustness of manhood, and +had lost the appearance of fragility he had shown in earlier years, +though he retained the fair youthful complexion which sometimes made +people hardly credit that his tens were three. He sometimes dined out +alone; but Cherry considered dress and reciprocity to settle the +question of abstinence for her. Angela was, however, so wild about +Ewmouth balls, that John victimized himself and his wife rather than +create a grievance, but even his tolerance was sorely taxed. + +Was the blame to be laid on prosperity for the difficulty of dealing +with the two standing anxieties--Angela and Bernard? They had not +been the most docile subjects in the days of comparative poverty, and +their heads were certainly turned now. Bernard could not be convinced +that expensiveness was not the proof of being a gentleman, and in +three years at Harrow cost his brother more than Clement, Fulbert, +and Lancelot, all put together, in their whole nonage, had ever done, +besides the scrapes that Lance helped him out of. He had no sympathy +with Felix's purpose in economy; not that he had reflection enough for +a sceptical habit of mind like Edgar's, but he considered it a hardship +that the whole family should be stinted and impoverished for what he +was pleased to term Tina's maggots; nor could anything persuade him +that he himself was no richer than before, and equally dependent on his +brother's bounty. There was no positive harm in him, but as genius and +taste alike lay in the line of cricket, he cared not for distinction +of other kinds, but was content to scrape through the school without +disgrace. His farther destiny was a moot point, while he scorned cheap +colleges and halls, and Felix insisted that a distinguished one was +only to be attained through a scholarship. + +Angela was a greater puzzle. She was still much what she had been in +childhood, alternating between the fast and the devotional. She was +Clement's right hand in the parish, in the schools, Sunday, day, or +night, and with even more than Wilmet's nursing instinct, the prime +doctress of the village, and enjoying the cure of a broken chilblain as +much as a waltz. To take a medical degree had become her ambition in +turns with the dukedom, the opera, and the Sisterhood. Therewith she +was the most saucy and idle of creatures. With less regular good looks +than most of the family, she was more sought after. Figure did much, +the hop-pole had become lithe and graceful, and her dress was always +becoming, as well it might be, for her bills were never within bounds. +She said she could not help it, and certainly her adventurous nature +and rapid movements occasioned numerous catastrophes to her wardrobe, +though not enough to account for the discrepancy between her accounts +and her sisters'. Her charm lay in droll dash and audacity, and the +irresistible glance of her eyes. Even Christopher and his little +brother Edward preferred her to all their other aunts--the night-school +was gathered by her as to a magnet, and better than all the Vicar's +arguments and the Squire's influence had her coaxing prevailed to get +the choir into surplices. She was by far the most formidable as well as +the most unscrupulous adversary of the poor Miss Hepburns, who viewed +her with pious pity and horror as the natural outcome of the system +they deprecated. Indeed, whether she were Clement's greatest help or +hindrance was doubtful. He could not have a friend to stay with him, or +obtain the assistance of a curate, without furnishing prey for Angela. +Fred Somers, after a six weeks' visit, went back to St Matthew's with +his peace upset, and an understanding that the two friends must never +meet again in the haunts of that dangerous siren. A few more such +experiments convinced the Vicar that unless he wished the village girls +to remark that 'Miss Angel was carrying on with another young man,' +he must do all the work himself; and his present amount of services, +Sunday and weekly, at the parish church, and Blackstone Gulley, were +quite up to the mark of any one man's powers, besides his attempts at +East Ewmouth. Here Felix had no property, and therefore could not check +the eruption of small tenements, which broke forth on some fresh field +every spring, containing independent, often surly inhabitants, always +changing, and rapidly outrunning the powers of the undaunted young +Vicar. The two parishes were so entangled that the difficulties as to +territory were endless, and the endeavour at a week-day service was +not encouraged or assisted by the incumbent of the nearest district, +who feared Clement's 'views,' and had been staggered by Angela's +ostentation of them. + +Angela was the greater heartache to Clement, because she had been +trained in the same system with himself, and was inclined to carry it +to lengths that even he thought extravagant. There might have been +some disadvantage in his inexperience when she came into his hands +for direction only at the end of his first year of priesthood, and he +would fain have kept her in Mr. Fulmort's keeping; but difficulties +had prevented his insistence, and this he increasingly regretted. For +in spite of all his efforts, his relations with her were lapsing into +what he had always scouted as the popular notion of confession. It +was technical, as far as he could see devoid of repentance. Angela +contrived to separate the brother and the priest; she would go through +any formula, accept any discipline, but mechanically; but she would not +endure exhortation, and if he ever attempted to check her boisterous +spirits, she scouted him as Tina. Sometimes he wondered whether she +sought him only because the practice belonged to what she called an +'out-and-outer,' and Felix retained doubts of its universal expediency. + +Did Angela suppress Stella? Never were sisters less alike. Princess +Fair Star, as the brothers called her, was still very small, with a +lovely little face, tinted like fine porcelain, and hair and eyes more +deeply coloured than those of most of the family; hair still snooded +and in shining curls, and pensive eyes shining with a lustre of their +own. She was the help and handmaid of the whole house, especially of +Geraldine, with whom she still did regular lessons; and she was very +diligent in all her doings, turning out her handiwork with delicate +finish; but she was not enterprising, the very pains she took rendering +her slow to undertake, though she spent much time in finishing Angela's +odds and ends. She still continued the family lexicon, for even if +she could not answer a query off-hand, she could always hunt it down, +and the reply was generally ready in the soft low musical voice. Her +laugh was noiseless and not frequent, for though never fretful nor +depressed, she was only gently merry, pensively gay; and though now +and then a quaint remark would drop into the whirl of family fun--and +she was no inconsiderable element in games--she was always as happy, +if not happier, in the garden or the woods with Theodore, their pets +and flowers. She was devoted to the garden, its trimness was in great +part owing to her; and as Golightly said, 'The bookets for the 'ouse +was Miss Stella's province, and them for the church Miss Hangela's;' +and of live-stock the twins tended a curious variety--rabbits, doves, +cats, dogs, canaries, dormice, and owls, besides wounded creatures, +rescued, cured, and released. Stella's quietness was a great ingredient +in taming them; John Harewood called her the only feminine creature +devoid of propensity for making a noise, and Felix, their silent Star + + 'Up above the world so high, + Like a diamond in the sky.' + +Sometimes she would talk freely to Geraldine on any unusual excitement, +but if she conversed with any one else, it was with Theodore. No +one who watched the pair could doubt that they had more mutual +understanding than the boy had with any other person--even Felix, for +whom his love was like a dog's devotion to his master. The out-of-door +life and country air had been beneficial both to mind and body, and +Theodore was much healthier and stronger, made progress in the little +that he could be taught; could utter a few words, comprehended more +than he could pronounce, and improved in self-control. His conscience +was developing in some degree, and his delight in the Church services +and music less unintelligent. + +Perhaps Stella was content to be the longer a child because each +advance into life was further away from Theodore; and she had never +yet shed such sorrowful tears as when Clement decided against +presenting him for Confirmation, in the inability to trace whether the +comprehension that Stella maintained, and Felix believed, were not an +illusion of their loving imagination. + +Yet strangely enough, Theodore was confirmed after all. He was as usual +among the choir-boys, walking in procession with them, and materially +aiding them by his perfectly true though wordless chant. His nearest +companions were candidates, and he moved instinctively with them to +the step; nor had either brother the heart to interfere as they saw +him kneeling--for though he could not renew the vow, why might he not +receive the Seal? The tickets had been previously taken, so there was +no obstacle; and when explanation and apology were afterwards made, +they were met with encouragement not to debar the innocent from his +Christian privileges because of his lack of power of expression. + +Indeed, the Bishop, who had been dismayed at the institution to the +family living of another Underwood, and he such a young one, was not +a little gratified and surprised at the changes he found going on in +Vale Leston--no longer one of the dark hopeless spots of his diocese, +though of course the work, both moral and material, was gradual. Felix +had done nothing in advance of the means that the great tithes brought +into his hands, and had begun with the needful repairs of the cottages +on the Rectory property, and the crying needs of Blackstone Gulley; but +the Church restoration was gradually going on--the Vicar, Marilda, and +John Harewood, all claimed a right to assist, and another year or two +of the great tithes would accomplish the full detail of the plan of +restoration he had set out with. + +Meantime he had made many real friends. The one whom he had reckoned +had, however, been disappointing. Captain Audley had exerted himself to +leave his cards, but when he had reason to believe no one at home. He +was friendly when he encountered Felix, and sometimes on the spur of +the moment asked him to dinner; but the ladies he ignored, except that +once when Cherry and Angel were driving past his house in a shower, he +rushed out and offered an umbrella. + +His son, however, soon haunted the Priory, as affording all that home +lacked. He was a nice lively lad, dark and brisk, and not the less +welcome because there was much to recall the Charles Audley who was +striving to bring light to the 'black fellows' of Carrigaboola. He was +avowedly Bernard's friend, but he was regularly tame about the house, +walking in at all times during his vacations, in a way that could not +be grudged to one whose home was so dull. Certainly it was a pleasant +house to young men; Wilmet sometimes murmured a little when all Will +Harewood's pupils appeared there at luncheon every Sunday of the stay +at Penbeacon; and the old ones invariably turned up again, especially +Lord Ernest, who had taken a second class and got into a government +office, and yet always managed to appear at each Penbeacon pic-nic. + +The first shadow which came upon Vale Leston was good Mr. Froggatt's +death, a grief really deep to those who owed so much to his kindness. +It was a touching thing to see the four fine young men, who looked on +him like a kinsman, gathered round his grave. Felix and Lance were +far more to the widow than her own nephews; and when married nieces +wanted to take her home, and single ones to live with her, she--not +without misgivings as to the nature of the attraction--declined all, +preferring to face her solitude at Marshlands, in the security that +dear Mr. Lancelot would walk out to see her once or twice a week, and +that still dearer Mr. Underwood would come out whenever he could. + +It ended in Lance doing more than this. He had been a partner ever +since he had come to years of discretion, and now found himself the +legatee of all Mr. Froggatt's remaining interest in Pursuivant or +business. Ernest Lamb had lately lost his father, and having come into +possession of a slender capital, was in condition to become one of +the house, as indeed he was excellent in whatever regarded the trade, +though incapable of more than the most mechanical newspaper work. + +The new arrangement of Underwood and Co. had hardly been made than the +world was electrified by the announcement of Mr. Lamb's engagement. +That Madame Tanneguy had been adored by him ever since her arrival +was known to all; but hitherto she had only vouchsafed a distracting +smile at long intervals, and had laughed at him with her intimates. +Her opportunities were not extensive, but she was as pretty as ever; +and she turned the heads of one or two brothers of her pupils, had +at one time a promising little flirtation with a sentimental young +partner of Mr. Rugg's, and never ceased to dream of an invitation to +Vale Leston, which she was quite sure Geraldine alone withheld poor Mr. +Underwood from giving. But Gustavus and Achilles were growing rather +big for inmates of a young ladies' school, Madame Tanneguy was weary of +the drudgery, and no such positive release as Ernest Lamb offered had +come in her way. His mother's opposition could be set aside, between +coaxing and unwillingness to quarrel; and though he was some years +the younger, he did not look it, nor could there be any doubt that he +would be the best of husbands, and a kind and conscientious father to +the boys; and the aunts, though drawing up their necks a little when +they spoke of it in private, could not deny that it was a subject of +thankfulness--making their future retirement come within the bounds of +possibility. + +'Guess the proposal I have had,' quoth Felix, when next he returned +from Bexley, and Cherry drove to meet him at the station with the +pony she had named Master Ratton, in that sort of tender defiance of +painful association found in those who own an exile. + +'Eh! You don't look humbly cock-a-hoop, so I gather it was _not_ to +stand for the borough.' + +'Why don't you say the county at once? No, it was of a less public +nature.' + +'Oh, then, I know! To give up the house to the happy pair. What? You +don't mean that it really was? That beats everything!' + +'Well--it is undeniable that those are large quarters for Lance, his +cat, and his fiddle.' + +'I do believe you have been and gone and consented! Well?' with a sigh, +as if she did not know what might come next. + +'As it was purely out of consideration for Lance, I referred it to him.' + +'Oh! it was all for Lance's sake--was it?' + +'Entirely!' + +There was a dryness in the last two replies, that pacified Cherry a +little. + +'How Serious Mutton must be translated, to have the face--' + +'He hadn't!' + +'What? Alice did?' + +'Yes. I believe that he had refused; but, you see, when Lance's comfort +was at stake, she was not to be withholden by a scruple or two.' + +'Come--tell me how she managed it. Did she write?' + +'No; she chose her time. Lance was gone to that Minsterham affair, +reporting--Lamb out of the way--when I heard a playful sort of little +tap at the office door, and there she stood, smiling and blushing.' + +'Blushing!!!' + +'I'll not insist, but so it appeared to me. I assure you she did the +thing to perfection--smiled and hesitated, and said she thought it was +a pity to let _mauvaise honte_ stand in the way of what would be so +much better for Lance and all of us.' + +'What, she wanted to have the house and _do_ for him?' + +'As one of the family!' then, taking no notice of Cherry's 'Faugh!' +he went on, 'It was curious to look at her as she sat there, and +think of the difference she was able to make; yet in many ways she is +superior to what she was then, and certainly prettier; but I own that +my feelings for her _then_ seem an unaccountable infatuation.' + +'Accountable only because you never spoke to anyone else, and did not +rave about the customers, like Lance. I am glad you were in triple +brass, though--and I can't help enjoying her having come to sue for the +shop that she used to despise.' + +'Fie, Cherry!' + +'I declare! I believe you have gone and consented, after all that +bravado!' + +'I left it to Lance. Don't be furious, Cherry; the boy has had more +loneliness than is good for him since Dick Graeme has been in London, +and as he has his own notions about companionship, I was not sure that +he might not catch at it.' + +'I have a better opinion of Lance.' + +'And justly. But what he wants to do is to leave the old house +to Madame, and betake himself to Mrs. Froggatt. He says--truly +enough--that every evening he has free of his choir-practice, penny +readings, and all the rest of it, he should go out to look her up, and +that this would simplify the matter, and nothing would do the poor old +lady so much good as seeing him.' + +'That's true; but to be going out there at all times, and in all +weathers!' + +'That is nuts to him! Don't you know he has got a velocipede fever? He +has set up a thing that he calls Plato.' + +'Un play toe, I should have thought.' + +'It is Plato, because Mrs. Harewood announced that he and Bill had come +all the way to Minsterham, each upon his own philosopher.' + +'I declare they make up things for that poor woman.' + +'Or she makes them on purpose for their diversion; but at any rate, +Plato is lord of the ascendant just now, and demands exercise as if he +were flesh and blood. I own I was glad to see the boy in a craze again.' + +'And letting Pur alone. It was very droll that the passion for making +that diurnal instead of weekly, set in with him just at the same age +that it did with you.' + +'Yes. I am much obliged to Alda for nipping my plans in the bud.' + +'The dignified weekly purr is not to change into a little petulant +daily mew!' + +'No. It was a manifestation of restlessness, like his wanting new +stops for his organ, or being annoyed when there is a murmur against +over-elaborate music. I am afraid the fact is that he has outgrown the +whole concern, Cherry!' + +'You never did!' + +'That's nothing to the purpose. He has done all he can do with his +present means, and no doubt he is thrown away down there.' + +'He never says so. And it is quite hard to get him here.' + +'I wish I had not consented to leaving him there. That boyish coolness +and audacity that used to rush into all kinds of society are quite +gone, and there is no persuading him that he is not in a false position +among our neighbours.' + +'He gets more into society at Bexley than ever you did.' + +'Oh yes, he has quite made his place there; but there's no denying +that he has been left behind; and though he says not a word, there's +no doubt that since he went up to Oxford he has felt it a good deal +more. Well, in a couple of years at latest, the Rectory affair will be +settled; and if I can get Blackstone Gulley into my own hands, I may be +able to set him free.' + +Lance had been to take a musical degree, and had spent a week with +William Harewood at Christ Church; and it might be true that the +vague spirit of enterprise for which Bexley afforded so little scope +had become remarkable since that time. However, no more was heard +of it during the preparations for installing the bride in the new +home. Robina came for the first fortnight of her holidays to take her +leave of the old rooms, and help in the removal of his belongings to +Marshlands, where the arrangement was as great a pleasure as poor Mrs. +Froggatt was capable of receiving. Moreover, Robina assisted in another +great change. Miss Pearson had--by Felix's management in conjunction +with some others interested in middle-class education--been enabled to +retire; the house and good-will of the establishment being made over to +the governing body of Miss Fulmort's school. Two ladies were provided +from thence, who undertook to make a home both for young teachers and +daily governesses, and were likely to raise the standard in Bexley. +They were old friends of Robina, and she did much to settle them in, +and pave their way. After this Robina went to Minsterham for one of the +brief visits that were never satisfactory, for Grace Harewood had made +a foolish marriage in the town, and Lucy did not improve, but became +louder and more daring, her native cleverness only making her more +unrefined and less simple than her mother. The Librarian never wondered +that his son soon escaped to his pupils at Penbeacon, and the Vale +Leston neighbourhood. + +Before Robina had been many days at home, one Saturday forenoon when +she was undergoing Cherry's third attempt to satisfy unreasonable Will +with her portrait, while assisting Stella's German, Angela rushed +in--'One to make ready, two to prepare--one, two, three, if not four +swells--not away, but here--Hammonds, et cetera.' + +'Here? Not imminent? Lady Hammond always sends notice.' + +'Imminent? They are prancing up the drive! Only I cut across in "Miss +Ullin" to give warning. Shall I administer any orders to the dinner, +Cherry, before I make myself scarce?' + +'No, thank you, there is quite enough. Just take my painting-apron, +that's all,' said Cherry, as coolly as Lady de la Poer would have heard +tidings of such an inroad; but when Amelia announced, 'Sir Vesey and +Lady Hammond in the drawing-room--and two more ladies, Ma'am--shall +I lay the table for them?' she quietly answered, 'Yes, I suppose +so.--Stella my dear, will you see if there is fruit enough in?' And +Stella stayed behind, while Cherry descended, aided by Robina's arm. + +Felix was already in presence, and the moment the two sisters appeared, +a slight, brown, hazel-eyed girl in mourning exclaimed, 'O Miss +Underwood, this is just what I hoped!' and eagerly kissed her, while +Lady Hammond introduced 'Lady Caergwent' and 'Mrs. Umfraville,' the +latter a peculiarly sweet-looking elderly lady in widow's dress. There +were apologies for this sudden descent, telling that, on hearing how +near Vale Leston was, Lady Caergwent had been so eager to see the +Priory, that she had wrought with Sir Vesey, and prevailed. + +Yet she did not seem to be profiting by the opportunity, for she +merely sat by Robina, looking, thought Cherry, neither like a +Countess nor a woman of twenty-three, but much more like a girl of +eighteen--petrified, all save her great eyes, by shyness; and Felix +regarded her precedence as not only unnatural but unlucky, with so +unconversible a subject, when he had to give her his arm, and seat her +at his right hand for the mid-day meal. Be it observed, that the veal +stewed with asparagus, and the pie that was to be cold for the morrow, +as fully justified Cherry's calmness, as did the pile of strawberries +and glasses of preserves her trust in Stella's handiwork. + +Clement came in late and astonished, and with a very hazy idea who the +strangers were, just as Sir Vesey was saying, 'Now, Lady Caergwent, Mr. +Underwood will be able to answer your question.' + +She coloured a little, and rather hastily asked whether there were any +tradition of French architects having been employed in the church, for +she had been struck with the foreign air of the tracery of the south +window. Not a little surprised, Felix soon found himself in the midst +of an architectural discussion, which taxed all his knowledge on the +matter, and stirred Clement on the other side into the ecclesiastical +aspect of the question; and all three fell into an eager talk, when +suddenly there was a general lull, and the young lady's voice was heard +saying, 'There is no heart or beauty in what is not symboli--' and +there she came to a full stop, and looked at Mrs. Umfraville with a +start of embarrassment, requited. + +Appreciation of their church was no slight merit with any of the +Underwoods; and in the lionizing that ensued, the guest had eyes and +tongue full of architecture, romance, and history, even spying and +identifying a heraldic badge that supplied a missing link in the +history of the building. Angela thought it flagrant pedantry; but +Clement was so struck with her keen interest in all his arrangements, +and her real reverence, that he unlocked the grille of the chancel, +offered her to try the tone of his organ, and in spite of her total +ignorance on that head, he asked if 'Miss Umfraville' would not +like to see the choice needlework from St. Faith's in the chest in +his vestry. There she had no lack of ideas; she examined and asked +questions evidently with practical views, and could be hardly got +away to continue the tour, when she again satisfied him (and more) by +indignation on behalf of the monks--not sentimental, but evidently +straight out of Dean Hook's version of the dissolution of the abbeys; +and yet there was a quaintness and originality in the way she put it, +that amused Felix greatly. + +In the painting-room an entreaty was preferred to see Miss Underwood's +drawings, which were indeed more worth looking at than when Lord de +Vigny had stirred her up. She always had at least one real work in +hand, and a good many studies. She was finishing a water-colour of the +scene in The Lord of the Isles, when Ronald's betrothal ring falls at +the feet of Isabel Bruce in the convent. + +Lady Caergwent stood before this as if it touched some responsive +chord; but her aunt was busy with the portraits. Geraldine's emulation +had been fired by the cluster of miniatures in the drawing-room, and +she had undertaken to commemorate the present family in the same +style. She had produced very fair likenesses of Felix and of Wilmet, +besides her half-finished crayon of Robina, and a still better one of +Mr. Froggatt, which she was copying for his widow. Mrs. Umfraville was +delighted with these, and wished she could get anything as good of her +Kate, whom photography always represented as a fury, and portraiture as +a doll; but by this time Lady Caergwent had got Robina in the recess of +a window, asking, 'Are you still at Repworth?' + +'Oh yes.' + +'And how are they all?' + +'Quite well, except that Lady Susan does not get over the remains of +measles.' + +'Poor little Susie! What a monkey she was! but oh, I want to hear about +Gracie, and if she is more eager than ever.' + +'She is very much sobered and subdued by reality.' + +'And what's he? I always thought Grace would marry a great block, and +ripple and splash round him.' + +'No, he is a little brisk satirical man, who laughs at her when she +gushes.' + +'What chance is there for them?' + +'Not till he gets preferment.' + +'How tiresome! Ah! I forgot! Is not Mr. Harewood here?' + +'At Penbeacon, but he comes here every Sunday. He knows Mr. Pemberton +very well.' + +'Poor Gracie! Lady de la Poer wrote to Aunt Emily that she thought it +well that her steadiness should be tested; but it must have been hard +to see Addie go off with flying colours. How does Addie get on as a +chieftainess?' + +'I had a letter from Gracie this morning. Do you like to see it?' + +'Is she there? Do tell me how to say the name. I see there must be a +hideous roll in the bottom of one's throat.' + +Robina gurgled. 'That was allowed to pass for it when we had a lesson +in pronunciation on pain of not being allowed to be bridesmaids.' + +'Not a creature have I seen to tell me about the wedding.' + +'Kate, my dear,' said Lady Hammond. 'No, you need not look so blank; +that is, if Robina will kindly let us take her home with us. Her +brother and sister are so good as to come to dine and sleep on Monday.' + +For so it had been settled during the colloquy in the window, Sir Vesey +and his lady being no doubt very glad to find a play-fellow for his +younger visitor. + +Colonel Umfraville had died after a long illness, rather more than +a year previously, and this was the first time his widow and niece +had come from home. The Hammonds were very old friends, but Mrs. +Umfraville still shrank from general society; so that when Felix and +Cherry arrived they found themselves the only other guests besides the +Harewoods, who had come earlier in the day. + +No sooner had Cherry been conducted to the room, which, as usual, she +shared with her sister, than Robina said, 'You are going to be asked to +take Lady Caergwent's likeness.' + +'My dear, I am not the sun, to do it in a minute!' + +'And make a Brigand's Bride of her. No, you are to have her at the +Priory.' + +'Are you gone crazy, Bobbie?' + +'Be conformable, and you shall hear.' + +'I'll hear, but I don't promise conformity.' + +'Now listen. Nobody can do her fit to be seen; and Mrs. Umfraville +wants a nice water-colour like Mrs. Welsh's, which was exhibited. I +said I did not see how it could be managed; and then she asked if she +might not come to us for it; and Mrs. Umfraville let me know that she +would be very glad, for she has to go on into Wales to some old maids, +who would be horribly fussed if she brought Kate.' + +'Well, we are old maids and old bachelors to boot. Why should not we be +horribly fussed by a live Countess running about the house?' + +'Because she would be tame; and because you have common sense.' + +'Oh, I thought you would say, because you were used to act keeper to +the species! In herself she may be inoffensive; but what sort of a tail +does she bring after her?' + +'Six running footmen, eh?' + +'Don't be saucy, Cock-robin. One grand maid would be bad enough, +scaring Theodore, and upsetting Sibby. No, no, Rob! leave countesses to +those who can live as sich.' + +'You need alter nothing. You may do as Bear says you do--eat boiled +pork and greens every day at one o'clock--and she'll like it! She and +her aunt always do dine early; and as to her maid, she is a little +Repworth thing, just promoted from waiting on us in the school-room. +I'll answer for her. The very attraction is, that you'll leave her in +peace, and not beset her with dinner-parties.' + +'She doesn't keep a duenna, then?' + +'Duenna!' + +'Well, heiresses in books always do. And in this case it seems to me +that the article would be desirable.' + +'Oh, we settled all that! Wilmet is equal to as many duennas as you +like. She will come and do all the chaperoning.' + +'Do you mean that she has undertaken it? Then I can only submit, +provided the Squire does.' + +The Squire made a few wry faces, but consented, with all a man's +superior philosophy towards domestic disorganizations of which he +does not feel the brunt. Besides, both he and Wilmet were proud of +Cherry's talent, and the esteem in which Robina was held; and Mrs. +Umfraville had been confidential with Wilmet, saying how glad she was +to see her child willing to go among youth and brightness. The girl +had, she said, never made young friends except the De la Poers, and her +Wardour cousins, who had married, and gone out of reach. She had no +suitable neighbours, and 'circumstances' had hindered her being much in +London; and loss of her father-like uncle had not so much taken away +her spirits--for she was always bright--as given her a distaste to +society. She hated entertaining people or seeing strangers; cared for +nothing but her aunt, her books, her walks, and her poor; was oppressed +with the business of her property, and was altogether so studious and +indefatigable at three-and-twenty, and so averse to gaieties, that her +aunt feared she would never act up to her position, unless her habits +of seclusion were broken, and had therefore forced herself to come +on this journey with her. But there had been no real thaw till she +heard of Vale Leston and met Robina. Wilmet was not a little gratified +by hearing, at second-hand, Lady de la Poer's praise of the young +governess as a valued friend; and it was plainly to her charge that the +precious niece was committed. + +When the visit took place, the Countess was soon forgotten in the +companion. At first, Felix was a little ceremonious, and she a little +shy, watching the family party as if they were acting a play; but as +the strangeness wore off, she began by being diverted, though silent +from long disuse of family chatter, and soon plunged in, with as droll +and eager a tongue as ever wagged. + +Then Cherry found her face quite unlike her first reading of it, and +had to begin all over again. It was altogether, as Bernard said, a +jolly time. That young gentleman was, for the first time, smitten. +His devotion to himself and cricket had never before been disturbed; +and he had reached his eighteenth year without regarding woman as +intended for any purpose but to wait upon him. But bright eyes, merry +smiles, genuine fun, and mayhap the rank that gratified his vanity, +began to avenge the wrongs of the sex; and Bernard was enslaved enough +to amuse and edify his brothers and sisters--all the more, that the +simple-hearted Countess was perfectly unconscious, thought herself +immeasurably older than the great, handsome, idle fellow--half an inch +taller than the Vicar, by-the-by--stood on no conventionalities with +him, and when released by her task-mistress, would run down-stairs +to call him, nothing loth, to give her a row on the river, to blow +away the fumes of the painting-room. Quite unawares, she effected a +victory for Felix; for when she assumed that since he was going to +Oxford it must be to Keble College, and he found that she regarded it +as very stupid to do anything else, he entirely forgot all his former +objections, and was only too happy to gratify her. + +Even Clement expanded more than usual, for he had never met a more +congenial spirit. Lady Caergwent's enthusiasm went much deeper than +externals, for she was well read in Church history, and a practical +worker in the present, being at Caergwent, that teacher, register +office, manager, letter-writer, &c., which the lady-of-all-work to a +parish must become, whether clerical or otherwise. 'There's Tina boring +her with shop!' would Bernard mutter, in a paroxysm of jealousy. + +'Quite the reverse,' said Angela. 'She is the most thorough Goody I +ever came across, not excepting Clan Hepburn!' + +It was not with any design of captivating sympathy, but because Lady +Caergwent had an unusual number of interests, and was intensely eager +about each in turn. Landlord cares were discussed with Felix, as Church +matters were with his brother. She was too headlong and unguarded not +often to say ridiculous things, but nobody more enjoyed having them +caught up and laughed at; and when Felix had made gentle fun of some +of her impetuous political economy, she looked up to him like an elder +brother. With the sisters she was soon as much at ease as in the De +la Poer schoolroom, making Robina her friend _par excellence_, but +apparently observing Angela, who, having no one to flirt with, was at +her best, and was drawn out by the 'Goody' sympathies. + +'Robina,' said Lady Caergwent, entering her friend's room at that +confidential moment, near 11.0 p.m., 'you know all about everything!' + +To which monstrous assertion Robina assented. + +The next question was equally abrupt. 'Do you know that Angela wants to +go into a Sisterhood?' + +'Oh! I thought that had gone off.' + +'No, indeed! It is to be a very strict nursing one;' and as Robina +smiled a little, 'I cannot but believe I know the cause.' + +'It always used to come on when she was going to be particularly +naughty.' + +'Robina, I can't understand it in you; you do not seem like an elder +sister to pooh-pooh all higher aspirations in a younger one, or to have +no sympathy with deeper feelings.' + +'You will only think the worse of me for not believing in the deeper +feelings,' said Robina; 'but indeed, I think I know Angela.' + +'How odd it is! Then it is true that elder sisters never can do younger +ones justice!' said Lady Caergwent, looking at Robin in a meditative +kind of philosophical way, which made her laugh, and say, 'There, it is +no use to say anything!' + +'I would not, but that I am going away; and I want you to promise that +if--if you see that any scruples hinder her happiness, you would tell +her how entire all _that_ is at an end.' + +'If I do,' said Robina, much pitying, but much diverted at the romance +that could ascribe either forbearance or self-sacrifice to Angela. + +'_He_ comes here, doesn't he?' + +'He came down last summer, but I saw no symptoms of anything--to +signify,' added her conscience; 'in fact, I think he prefers Cherry.' + +'I hope,' said poor Lady Caergwent musingly, 'that some day or other, +when we are all old women; Gracie, Addie, and I, may meet and smile at +all that is gone and past. I can laugh now, even while I am sorry, to +recollect my absurd presumption. I had the influence, delusion on my +brain, and believed mine the only right way, and dragooned every one +about wasting time. I am glad he asserted himself! What he has done +since showed how nonsensical I was. Does he like his work? no one tells +me.' + +'You know what his chief said.' + +'Oh! what?' + +'To Mr. Welsh, the member for Ewmouth, so it is quite impartial--that +he never had a better fellow to stick to his work, or more +clear-headed. Yes! and we all think--here, I mean, as well as at +Repworth--that he is so much more of a man. Felix really talks in +earnest to him now, and so does his father. His nonsense is gone.' + +'Oh, that's a pity.' + +'I don't mean sensible nonsense, but you know his old absurd way.' + +'Yes, of course that unlucky state of things was as bad as possible +for him. He would have been the poorest stick in creation not to have +broken loose. I have had a life-long lesson, and I hope it will save +me from getting hard and narrowly resolute, as authority makes single +women.' + +'You could hardly do that with Mrs. Umfraville before you.' + +'Hardly! dear Aunt Emily!' cheered and cheering all the while; 'as long +as I have her, nothing can go _very_ wrong with me. I never thought I +could have enjoyed myself again away from her, as I have done here.' + +'I am so glad, dear Kate!' + +'If I could get any of you to Caergwent! But people are always going to +be married.' + +On the Sunday, William Harewood, now a deacon, descended from +Penbeacon to church and dinner, with a train of five pupils, bringing +intelligence that the senior, who had been at the original pic-nic, and +was at Penbeacon for the last time, must leave it at the end of the +week, and entreated that he might not miss the entertainment. + +There was a general acclamation. Lady Caergwent was wound up to +enterprise pitch, and, as an ardent botanist, was delighted with the +flora she was told to expect there; and Cherry only bargained for time +to make the pies and send for Lance. It was the only home-gaiety he +would willingly partake, because they always kept it to themselves +instead of making it serve as civility to the neighbourhood. + +Lady Caergwent, after having much appreciated the Sunday-school in the +loose boxes, looked on, rather bewildered, at Angela's 'carrying on' +with four pupils at once, chattering, laughing, defying, and being +defied, in a manner, which, if it dissembled grief, was wonderfully +successful. To these was added young Charles Audley, coming up the +river in his skiff, for Evensong. + +'Ha, Charlie, you're in luck! Hurrah for Penbeacon!' + +'Are you going? Then the Kittiwake sha'n't sail! I've missed your +spread every time through that everlasting tub, and the Skipper shall +hear reason!' + +'Oh, I thought nobody asked you!' + +'As if your sighs had not been wafted on the breeze!' + +'Puffs to swell the sails and transport bad rubbish!' + +'What day is it to be?' + +'Wednesday; but you've got no ticket. We are desperately select.' + +'By-the-by, you've got a regular tip-topper, haven't you? Old Patakake +invited me under his breath to gaze at the Countess of Caergwent in Mr. +Underwood's carriage.' + +'Ay! but we are bound by awful pledges not to regale the country +bumpkins with the sight of a real countess at feeding-time.' + +'Then I shall repair to Harewood for an invite. Isn't this the girl +that was booked for young De la Poer?' + +'Most ineffable bosh! It went the round of the papers, and my brother +sent it to Robin, who contradicted it flat. She'll never marry anybody, +and he'll never marry her!' + +'Indeed! Why so?' + +'He was wanted to. Isn't that enough?' + +'He _was_ wanted to?' + +'Yes, poor wretch! till he cut and ran for dear life, and never thought +himself safe till he had got to the top of Penbeacon. That's the way +you swells _doos_ it.' + +'I'm no swell, thank goodness!' said Charlie, chucking a stone into the +river. + +'No swell! A swell_ing_ at least! I always regarded you as a sacred +personage, condemned to _noblesse oblige_, and all that!' + +'Catch it obliging me to what I don't choose!' + +Such was the conversation, whose sounds would have amazed Lady +Caergwent, even more than did the sight: not that there was intentional +hypocrisy in Angela--she never acted a part, but showed herself exactly +as she felt at the moment, 'only more so,' and the moments were so +little in harmony. + +Another person who was scandalized was Wilmet, who, in her capacity of +chaperon, was spending the evening at the Priory; and when she found +that this addition to the party was viewed as a matter of course, +sought Felix out, and declared that she would have nothing to do with +the affair unless it were made quite clear that Captain Audley was +aware of the extent of the intimacy. + +Felix himself had once or twice doubted whether some steps ought not to +be taken, for the eldest brother having died and left only daughters, +Charlie was heir to the baronetcy, and old Sir Robert and his wife +had a reputation for haughtiness and exclusiveness. Their grandson +never went near them if he could help it, only enduring a duty-visit +by the help of shooting; and their son was even more slack, having, +in fact, never entirely forgiven their coldness to his young and +passionately-loved wife. If there should be anything more than fun +and froth in all the quips and cranks, jokes and pranks, among the +young people, there would assuredly be an explosion, and silence on +his part might justly be deemed unfair encouragement. Maybe, his was +an over-scrupulous mind, for he was already uneasy enough to make the +strength of Wilmet's remonstrance unnecessary. The fact of another eye +than his own having remarked it, was enough for him; and although he +gave Mrs. Harewood little satisfaction at the moment, the next forenoon +he jumped off his horse at her door, interrupting her unprosperous +attempts at making her eldest son remember six times four-- + +'Five minutes, Mettie!--Yes, Kester, you shall ride round to the +stables if you be off now.--I've asked Captain Audley to Penbeacon.' + +'You don't mean that he will come?' + +'Far from it; but it was the easiest way of suggesting that I wished +him to see for himself.' + +'With what effect?' + +'That of being civilly shown that I was a fool for my pains.' + +'Do you mean that he does not care?' + +'Not a straw. I can't make out whether he thinks the Somerville-Audley +blood beyond precaution, or whether it is all indolence, and dislike to +hinder the boy's amusement.' + +'Did you speak plain enough for him to understand?' + +'Oh yes, he understood--very nearly laughed at me, and changed the +subject. So now I must leave it; I can't forbid the young fellow the +house, and a warning to Angel would only precipitate it.' + +'It is hard that one's sisters should be sacrificed.' + +'My dear, everybody is not as much _au grand sérieux_ at that age as +we used to be. The Skipper, as Charlie respectfully calls him, may be +right, and there may be nothing in it; or if there should be, that +Angel of ours has quite strength and spirit enough for a struggle, +and maybe a disappointment. The truth is,' coming nearer, and looking +mysterious, 'we know nothing at all about it, and had best let it +alone.' + +Wilmet's face of expectation melted into pardon for being teased; but +Kester, shouting, 'Uncle Felix, come!' put an end to the conference, +rather an odd one to be taking place at the moment when the Countess +was beguiling the constraint of sitting, by dreaming over Isabel Bruce, +and the magnanimity of rescuing the intended recluse by--Alas! she had +never had a ring to throw at her feet--only that whisper which Robina +seemed unwilling to convey. + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +A K T STROPHE. + + 'When shall we three meet again, + In thunder, lightning, or in rain?' + _Shakespeare._ + + +Lance did not appear on the evening before the picnic, and announced by +letter, the next morning, that he could not get away. Felix regretted +not having as usual changed places with him, but could hardly have +absented himself from such a guest as the present without discourtesy; +and Cherry, looking at the blunt brevity of the postal-card, feared +that the high-sounding title of their new friend was adding to +Lance's almost morbid sense of being in a different sphere from their +surroundings. However, she had little time to think; for their only +other guest, Gertrude May, had come by long promise to sleep at the +Priory the night before; and the party were collecting in the hall, +while the waggonet, a farm companion being allotted to the chestnut for +the nonce, the Harewood phaeton, and Master Ratton with his basket, +were marshalled at the door. + +'The Vicar says there is going to be a thunder-storm,' said Lady +Caergwent, in rather a solemn voice. + +'The Vicar always has a thunder-storm coming whenever it isn't a fall +of snow,' returned Bernard. + +'Hush, Bear! Kate won't have the Vicar's name taken in vain,' laughed +Angela. + +'Angela! Is not that expression a rebuke to itself?' whispered Cherry. + +'There's not a symptom of a cloud,' added Gertrude, 'but the heat is +overpowering.' + +'Yes!' said Cherry. 'Lance could hardly have gone in such scorching as +this.' + +'We shall find mountain-air at the top,' said Robina, 'when once we can +get there.' + +'And the storms there are magnificent,' added the deep voice of +Clement, as he strode out in broad hat and alpaca coat, pausing to put +his despatches into the letter-box, and inspect the barometer. + +'Let that poor thing alone, Clem,' called out his eldest brother. 'We +mean to enjoy ourselves.' + +'Are you affected by thunder?' the Vicar asked, seeing that Lady +Caergwent did not look very happy. + +'Not affected really, but I don't like it at night, or out of doors,' +she answered; 'but I don't think there can be a storm to-day.' + +'Never saw weather less like it,' added Bernard decisively, gazing up +at the sky, as if to dare it to thunder. 'Hollo, Charlie! what have you +annexed!' + +For Charles Audley appeared walking up from the river, very hot, +and holding upon its back, like a baby, a huge blue lobster, which +impotently flapped its fringed tail, brandished its claws, and waved +its whiskers. + +'What do you propose to do with that marine monster?' asked Cherry. + +'Eat him, to be sure! He's my contribution. I bought him of old Jenny +as I came up. Take care, Kester! he'll grab you as tight as the Mayor +of Plymouth. Have you a basket, or anything to put him in?' + +'He's alive,' said Cherry, recoiling. + +'Of course. In civilian costume, you see. Of course the natives up +there have some sort of kettle. I've done dozens of lobsters in the +yacht.' + +'What fun!' cried Angela. 'He shall go on the driving-box, to +be made lobster-salad of. Get a basket; Kester, let his whiskers +alone--ridiculous creature!' + +'Oh!' + +It was a soft little breath, but Charles turned round. 'You're not +afraid of him, Stella! See! his claw is tied. Don't you like it?' + +'I'm not afraid; but I don't like it.' + +'Like Kate's thunder-storm,' laughed Angela; 'not afraid, but she +doesn't like it.' + +Stella stood her ground: 'I don't like keeping the poor thing in +misery.' + +'Nay!' said Angela. 'Why don't you send that cruel boy to restore it to +its native element?' + +'That would be nonsense,' steadily said Stella; 'but I think it would +be kinder to have it killed at once, than to jolt it all the way up +there.' + +'Now, Charlie, it is absurd to yield to that child's +tender-heartedness. She is a perfect Brahmin, and can't believe that +those cold-blooded fishy things don't feel.' + +'I believe the sentiment is general,' said Lady Caergwent, eagerly but +nervously: 'though I had not the resolution of Princess Fair-Star,' she +added, aside to Cherry; who rejoined, 'Not being sure whether it might +not be the native custom to consume raw lobsters. Oh! here come Wilmet +and Eddy; so let us pack. Lady Caergwent, do you prefer dignity or +landscape? for that perch by my brother is the best for the latter.' + +'Landskip, to be sure. You delightful person!' cried her Ladyship, +springing to the driving-seat. + +'May I invite you, not to our skip, but our springs, Cherry?' asked the +Major. + +'No, thank you,' said Cherry, who had seen a pair of wistful eyes lose +one spark at the Countess's ascent, and another at this invitation. 'My +springs rival yours; and Gertrude and I mean to be snug behind Master +Ratton.' + +Gertrude's face beamed delight as she took the other place; and the +Vicar ingeniously coiled his length into the out-rigger at the back +ready to spring out on any emergency of gate or hill, in spite of his +apparent absorption in the newest and most strongly-flavoured of Church +journals. + +In consideration of Ratton's small capacities, he had the start, Cherry +leaving the rest to pack as they chose; and when, on the first long +ascent, she was overtaken, it was first by the Harewoods, the Major +leading his horse, and Wilmet and her youngest son in front, Stella +and Kester behind; and the foremost of the waggonet-load was walking +beside, with his hand upon the back-seat. + +The larger vehicle was empty, all but the driving-seat, where Lady +Caergwent and Felix were talking so eagerly, that Cherry laughed, and +said, 'I wonder what nut they are cracking?' + +'Is she not dreadfully clever?' + +'Most curiously simple. Whatever is in her head, out it all comes.' + +'Your brother likes it!' + +'There's a great deal of it, to be sure, but it is so original, and +genuine, and funny; and besides, she is easily daunted. Robin says her +uncle kept her in great order, but she was devotedly fond of him; and +whenever she catches herself going too fast, she starts and stops, as +if he were looking at her.' + +'In order? Not a spoilt child and heiress--a Lady Clara Vere de Vere?' + +'No, indeed! Lady Clara took Tennyson's advice, and began teaching the +orphan boy to read, and the orphan girl to sew--operations she much +prefers to entangling simple yeomen. Eh, Daisy! did you think she had a +simple yeoman there?' said Geraldine, in an amused but rather indignant +voice, as she perceived symptoms of confusion. + +'Oh no, never really! but when one's brother has a sister-in-law who +assimilates all the gossip of the place, one can't help hearing. If +mouths could but be stopped!' + +'Which they can't; but they can be confuted.' + +'How, by her marrying?' + +'Certainly not,' said Clement, from behind, much disconcerting Gertrude. + +'I thought him lost in his ecclesiastical organ,' said Cherry, +laughing. 'I believe nothing would have roused him but such an enormity +with regard to his live Countess Marilda.' + +'I merely think,' he protested, 'that Lady Caergwent perceives how much +more she can do for the Church as a single woman.' + +'I agree,' said Cherry, 'to the unlikelihood of her marrying--most +especially, I know whom it won't be, let them have their heads together +as much as they will. See them now--not a bit of the view will they +see! That's right! prod them with your parasols! Make them look round, +or they will miss the great view of the castle and the estuary.' + +'Felix will never do that,' said Clement, 'He seems to me to value +people according as they appreciate the scenery of the Ewe.' + +'He never got over Marilda's knitting all the way up the river.' + +'Or Mr. Bruce's saying, "You've a snug little box here, Mr. Underwood, +if it wasn't so close to the river." Felix's face was a sight--just as +he had got to the turn down the hill, which he says comes as a fresh +delight to him whenever he comes home.' + +'No wonder, there's nothing like it!' said Gertrude. 'Ah! they have +stopped to look.' + +'Click, click! gee-up, Ratton! we'll pass them again.' + +So they did, Lady Caergwent calling out, 'Ah! I pity you. You are too +low to see this glorious sight.' + +'All very well talking,' called back Cherry; 'but who had to be poked +to make them look at all?' + +'Ay! What do you think they were doing!' shouted Angela. 'Sounds +reached us about Casuistry and Jeremy Taylor.' + +'You could hear nothing in the din that came up to us,' retorted Felix, +looking round. + +Indeed, Lady Caergwent was in her element. She liked nothing so well as +a kind of discussion on character, a sort of fitful Friends in Council, +plentifully interlarded with historical or fictitious allusions; but +she did not often get the opportunity, for her historical tastes were +so much more vivid than most of her contemporaries, that she always +had to guard against seeming pedantic; but, thanks to Felix's habit of +keeping a solid book in hand, and always thoroughly getting up whatever +he had to write about, he was a man of great range of information, and +could reply to her bright crude fancies with depth or sportiveness as +occasion served, enjoying the tête-à-tête as much as she did. + +Meantime, the horses climbed higher still and higher, rougher still +and rougher, till the final gate was opened; the wheels emitted only +an occasional creak on the soft bent-grass, and the breeze refreshed +the travellers, who were soon hailed by all the pupils and all the +dogs, and conducted to the Penbeacon saloon. This was a deserted +slate-quarry, where the mounds of rubbish were old enough to be covered +with hawthorn, mountain-ash, travellers-joy, and exquisite wreaths of +bramble, so as to afford shade at any period of the day; and around was +a delicious carpet of soft grass, thyme, eye-bright, ladies'-fingers, +and rock-rose. Beneath lay the whole panorama of the Ewe valley and +the estuary, the bridge spanning it, and the Castle jutting out into +the sparkling sea, where here and there a sail, white or umber, or +puff of steam, glided along the blue. The intense clearness of the air +rendered the scene a fresh joy to those who knew it best, and entranced +the new-comers, though they were told they would see it still better +when they had climbed to the top of Penbeacon, which, with tracking the +source of the Leston, was a regular part of the programme. + +Operations could, however, only begin with preparations for the meal; +and while Felix, Clement, and Major Harewood drove on to deposit horses +and carriages at the farm, there was a general unpacking of hampers, +Cherry securing that which was to be untouched till dinner-time, by +sitting upon it. + +'I say,' observed Will to Robina, as he opened one of the letters that +they had brought up to this unpostal region, 'here's a go! He may +be coming to-day!' and he signed towards Lady Caergwent, who, with +Bernard, was compounding a salad. + +'Impossible! To-day?' + +'That depends.' + +'Knowingly?' + +'Not unless it be through you.' + +'I have not written since she came.' + +'So the daily fire has slackened.' + +'Mr. Pemberton enjoys that.' + +'And once a week is deemed enough for me!' + +'Old stagers such as we are! But, seriously, Willie, what can bring +him?' + +'The scent of Penbeacon!' + +'I thought he was in Scotland.' + +'Yes, but his two months' holiday was up on Monday; and when he came +to London, his office was painting, or white-washing, or something, so +he got a week's grace; and London being a desert, he said he should +look in at Lady Mary's, and then run on here; but when he left, +doubtful.' + +'Then it depends on how he likes it at Lady Mary's? Have you mentioned +it?' + +'No, I knew I should catch it from you if I did.' + +'Discreet boy! I have hopes of you. In the uncertainty we had better +keep it to ourselves. It would only put her into a tremor, and spoil +her day.' + +'Poor girl! I hoped it had gone off, for I see small prospect for +her. He is getting on well, likes his work, and will hardly run into +thraldom again, since he broke loose in time to make a man of himself.' + +'Don't you envy him?' + +'Yes, when you fiddle for an hour over every knot in that string! Let +me cut it and have done with it.' + +'Remember holy poverty, Sire, as the Lady Abbess said to Louis XV. over +the jam-pot; or rather, remember that this has to be packed up again in +six hours' time.' + +'Don't make me remember six hours hence. This is my prime day of all +the year, and I can't recollect any end to it.' + +'There then, can you carry that pile of plates without a catastrophe?' + +'A K T strophe is what is apprehended.' + +'Come, you two,' called Angela, 'affection is misplaced over the +crockery. Here are plates wanted to weigh down the table-cloth; there's +a ruffling gusty wind that gets under it.' + +'Illustrating the earthquake theory,' said pupil No. 1, who was keeping +it down with his knee. + +'Or thunder-storm practice,' responded Pupil No. 2. + +'Not a word more about thunder!' cried Angela. 'Lady Caergwent hates +it; and as she views our Vicar as a mild embodiment of all the General +Councils, the regular Clementine prediction has upset her already. I +say! what are you doing? Apricot-tart at first course!' + +'Apricot-tart, you don't say so! Three cheers for Miss Underwood!' + +'Don't let blind enthusiasm put its foot into it.' + +'Or you'll have to eat it all.' + +'What a temptation!' + +'Wasn't he already a greedy beggar, who stuck at no trifles! Don't +you remember his tucking in the apples at the fair that the elephant +wouldn't have?' + +'And swallowing nineteen fresh eggs to clear his voice for the concert!' + +'I say, Miss Underwood, what songs have you brought?' + +'And what's to become of the Der Freischütz song without your brother +Lance?' + +'Can't the Squire take his part? His voice is a capital one.' + +'Oh yes--he is thrush to Lance's nightingale--not so high--fuller in +the lower notes--and he can't play such tricks with it,' said Angela; +'but whether you'll get him is another thing. That Countess of ours has +no more music in her than an owl!' + +'Can't she be suppressed? Whoever heard of a Penbeacon picnic without a +song?' + +The feast took place with all the merriment produced by the combined +forces of seventeen people, not one of whom had reached the middle +point of life; but when it was over, the sun was still so powerful, and +the air so sultry, as to bring to mind that this festival had taken +place earlier in the year than usual. No one was willing to quit the +luxurious nests in the bracken, and the ceremony of mountain-scaling +was deferred till after the songs for which the pupils clamoured, and +Lady Caergwent heartily said how unlike fine old songs in the open +air would be from the tiresome drawing-room performances, that seemed +to her an invention for interrupting interesting conversation. In the +pause of preparation, she made, however, some inquiries whether the +arrow-head she had been told about grew on the intended path, and if +not, how it could be reached. + +'I'll show you the way,' cried Bernard eagerly. 'It is only down +there,' when he heard the place. + +'_Only!_--my dear Kate! I don't let him inveigle you--it is nearer two +miles than a mile and a half,' said Robina; 'and all through stony +thickets and bogs--and in this heat! We will try to drive you there, or +send for it.' + +'I'll go; I'll be back long before they've done singing,' said Bernard. +'What is it like?' + +Lady Caergwent hesitated; but he would take no refusal, and having been +told it was white, had three roundish sort of petals, and arrow leaves, +and grew in the water, the lazy youth, who would seldom move an inch +in a sister's service, went striding down the hill side, with his coat +over his shoulder, and his pugaree streaming behind him. Cherry was +afraid he would incur Lance's fate; but Felix laughed, and said he was +glad to see he could do anything for anybody; and besides, the sun was +becoming less fierce. + +So Cherry hastily sketched his retreating figure as a feature in the +drawing she annually made of the group at the quarry during the music. +Gertrude May had a fair ear, and good though not much trained voice, +and she was exceedingly happy, for even without Lance the Underwoods' +singing was a remarkable and beautiful thing. To make William into +Polyphemus, and hear him thunder out 'Ruddier than the cherry,' while +Felix and Angela served as his Acis and Galatea, was always a part +of the programme, and it was all Wilmet enjoyed, for were not her +boys--even though they were hers--boys of the period? Had not her son +Edward come, against her better judgment, because his papa wished it? +and had not his combined fatigue and restlessness come to a pitch where +there was nothing for it but to take him away to the farm-house, and +let him have the sleep he had missed in the forenoon? + +Then, even in her first outline, Cherry missed three figures; and +when, after completing her general sketch, she returned to touch up +the individuals, Kester, who had been portrayed running up and down +a mound with the dogs, was asleep against his father; nothing was to +be seen of Will but a pair of black knees peeping out of the bracken, +and the head of Scamp's brother Chaff, who was sitting on his breast; +and Lady Caergwent had vanished altogether. She was further becoming +sensible that the shadows were less sharp, the light less clear, the +heat heavier, and presently that a great black cloud had mounted far +into the sky behind the quarry and the hill; and beginning to think +that Clement's prognostications might be justified she was waiting for +the end of Lance's setting of 'Mont Blanc is the King of Mountains,' +to call attention to the fact that Penbeacon was borrowing his vest of +cloud, when the announcement was made by a vivid flash of lightning, +followed with appalling rapidity by a peal of thunder. No one stirred +till the thunder had rolled itself away. Then everybody said, 'There!' +and started up, just as a few big rain-drops splashed down. Kester woke +with a scream of fright; and his father, throwing a plaid round him, +ran off with him towards the farm. Felix and Clement had both sprung to +Geraldine, and were helping her up. There was a mile of open hill and +stony road to the farm--a long walk for her under any circumstances; +and no one had any protection bigger than a sun-shade. There was +another terrific flash and burst of thunder, and the hail-stones came +rattling down, so large as to give sharp blows. + +'She can never walk it,' said both brothers at once. 'Cherry, you must +ride!' + +'Oh!' gasping, 'you can't.' + +'Can't we? Haven't we often? There!' and in a moment the hands were +clasped, queen's-cushion fashion, beneath her, the necks were bent for +the arms to be thrown round them, even as had been done many a time in +childhood before, only then Edgar had generally been one supporter. +She hardly felt the beating of the pitiless storm; and when the wind, +hail and roar of the tempest came with a terrific deafening whirl, +she felt a strange sense of security; and even when the most fearful +of all the flashes seemed to burst into the ground close before them +simultaneously with the discharge like a thousand cannon overhead, and +she heard Clement's whispered ejaculation, her first feeling was, 'All +together--together!' + +The others all darted past them in the general _sauve qui peut._ +Wilmet, watching in anxiety at the farm-house porch, received first, +half laughing, half panting 'Oh! isn't it jolly?' Angela and the +longest-legged pupil; secondly, her husband, with their little son in +his arms. 'This is like an Indian storm,' he said, and sat down, a good +deal spent, and breathing hard. + +Then came, dashing in together, the main body--Gertrude May, four +pupils, Stella with Charles Audley; and they had no sooner recovered +breath, than in came William and Robina, who had been delayed by +Robina's attempt to secure the table-cloth, which had been blown so +entirely over her, that Will had had some difficulty in releasing her +from the flappings. They satisfied Wilmet that Cherry and her bearers +were quite safe, and at the entrance of the lane; and John thereupon +started up, and declared he should go and relieve them, but at that +moment they were seen at the gate, Cherry on her own legs, and Felix +and Clement, all in a glow, on each side of her. 'It was so nice,' she +said, as her sister anxiously met her. 'Only think of having two such +brothers! Oh no, I'm not frightened--no, nor in the least wet!' + +Nobody was wet, for the hail-stones had rebounded, and one or two +that had been captured were wonders worth preserving, had that been +possible, looking like nitre-balls. Felix was drawing a pencil line +round one on a piece of paper, when Robina exclaimed, 'Where's Lady +Caergwent?' + +'Didn't she come first?' + +'I thought she was up-stairs.' + +'No--no one came in before Angela,' testified Wilmet. 'Is every one +else here?--Bernard?' + +'He must be sheltering down by Lang's pool. Never mind him! But she! So +afraid of thunder too!' + +'Unpardonable!' burst out Felix, in dismayed self-condemnation, as he +again pushed his head as deep as it would go into his hat, and hurried +out again, Clement and William after him; John was going too, but +his wife caught him--'No, no, there are quite enough! Remember the +neuralgia. See, it has turned to pouring rain!' + +And John submitted, for three strong men could do all that could avail +one young girl, even under possibilities terrible to think, not only +from the lightning, but among those dangerous places, steep slopes, +and sharp precipices, where a stranger, blinded by hail and lightning, +might so easily stumble. The farmer was at market, and his wife could +only offer her 'odd man' when he should have done milking; but Mr. +Harewood knew the place thoroughly by this time. + +It rained in torrents as they set out, the thunder-cloud blotting +out all but the path under their feet, though the lightning was more +distant. They searched the quarry, and shouted, 'Any one here? Lady +Caergwent!' But the mocking echoes only answered, 'Here!' and 'Gwent!' +while they searched in vain--till 'Holloa.' Was it a response? Felix +shouted. Another 'Holloa!' but hardly from feminine lungs--certainly +not from any one suffering any damage. No--there was something tall +struggling up the hill through the rain. 'Bear! you've not seen her?' + +'Who? Why in the name of wonder are you getting a shower-bath +gratis out here?' said he, panting up to them, his arms full of +something shiny, and battered, and green; and, as a word or two +explained--'Looking for Lady Caergwent! Every one missed her'--the +boy's eyes flashed so that Felix really thought he was going to knock +him down. 'Left her out here? Why, savages wouldn't have done it! If I +had but been there! Dear, sweet girl!' + +Just then, something dark was seen lying under a rock, and slightly +moving; Clement silently pointed in horror, Bernard gave a sort of +howl, waved them all back as unworthy to touch her, and leapt forward. +He soon came to a stand-still. It was one of the rugs on which they had +been sitting, which had drifted there, rolled up by the wind. + +'I begin to hope she may be in the cart-shed,' said Will. 'Let us go on +there.' + +Bernard strode with a certain tragic authority in advance, as they +proceeded, scrambling over a low stone wall into a steep sloping field, +scattered with stones and sheep, not easily discernible from one +another in the downpour, save for some getting up and running away, +while the others remained motionless. At length appeared a fabric of +rough stones, rougher piles, and roughest slates, a kind of shelter +thrown over the angle of the wall. Through all the rush and roar came a +murmur of voices, and through the drifting streams of rain, two figures +were discernible, one heather-coloured, the other grey. So much the +others had seen, when Bernard, with a sort of tiger-bound forward, +shouted, 'You rascal!--Never mind, Lady Caergwent, I am here!' + +'Holloa, Bernard!' said a cool voice. + +'De la Poer!' and Bernard stood transfixed, not even joining at first +in the general clamour of, 'So shocked!' 'You here!' 'How could we miss +you?' 'I never was so sorry!' 'It was all my own fault!' 'Oh, never +mind,' &c.; but when his voice was heard again, 'Lady Caergwent, if I +had been there, this should never have been! These brothers of mine!' + +'Not a word more till she is safely housed,' interposed Felix. 'Don't +you see how drenched she is?--Will you trust yourself to me after this +inexcusable neglect, Lady Caergwent?' + +'I told you it was I who lost myself,' she said, with a most forgiving +radiance in her eyes, glancing through the dark hair that flew about +her hatless head. + +They wrapped her in the cloak they had brought, and tied the hood +down over her hair with a handkerchief; but when Bernard would have +proffered his arm on the side unengrossed by Felix, he found himself +forestalled, and could only fume in the rear--such of his denunciations +of the general barbarous carelessness as were not blown down his throat +again by the wind being received by Will Harewood, with comical little +sounds that nettled him exceedingly. + +The contention with wind, rain, stones, and torrents, was far too +severe for any one else to attempt speaking, while the blast swept +round the hill side as if trying to whirl them off their feet; and +even when the lee side of the barn was reached, Lady Caergwent was too +breathless to do anything but gasp out that Mr. Underwood must not +blame himself--it was her own fault, and all right. + +A whole cluster of anxious faces crowded the deep porch, to receive the +dripping figures that came in, looking, as the delighted Kester said, +like the cats that became pools in Strewelpeter. Some used their first +breath for laughter, others for the long pent-up apologies, which were +cut short by Wilmet and Robina bearing the young lady up-stairs to be +dried. + +The room was homely, for their hostess was not of the advanced order, +and had no fine daughters. She appealed to Mrs. Harewood on the +expediency of bed, warm water, and something hot; but the Countess, her +eyes dancing through her plastered elf-locks, laughed all to scorn, +only begging for the loan of some clothes. However--will she, nill +she--while struggling with the soaked adhesive sleeves of her jacket, +a foot-bath and big ewer, and a tray of various beverages, made their +appearance, putting her into fresh fits of mirth, as Robina tugged at +the refractory garment, and Mrs. Hodnet endeavoured to add lumps of +sugar at every polite refusal of the negus. + +'Lady Caergwent, the bed or the negus?' said Wilmet, at last, with full +authority. + +'The dagger or the bowl? The bowl then, if you please, when my hand +comes out. I'm like Agamemnon now. Oh!--there!--thanks, Copsey. I hope +the rest of the coats of the onion will come off easier. Thank you! oh, +so much, Mrs. Hodnet! That will be beautiful!' + +Herself of the squarest proportions, Mrs. Hodnet was bustling about to +find something wearable by the tall slim girl. At last, after her best +violet silk had been found impracticable, a linsey skirt and a soft +silk shawl seemed possible materials; and she withdrew to superintend +the preparations for tea; and Wilmet departed likewise, from the +mixed motives of believing that the two girls wanted to be left to +a _tête-à-tête_, of uneasiness as to the whereabouts of her sons, +and desire to secure the swallowing of the like portion by Felix and +Clement. + +The moment the door was shut, Lady Caergwent threw both arms round +Robin, and hugged her tight, with a long sob-like sound of 'O Copsey, +Copsey!' + +'Then it was--' + +'Yes--yes--yes! Did you know?' + +'Willie told me he might possibly come; but it was too uncertain to +mention. We thought Lady Mary would be sure to keep him.' + +'Mary was from home.' + +Robina longed to ask more, but did not quite know how, and applied +herself to make the best of Mrs. Hodnet's toilette apparatus, in +dealing with the hair, which the tempest had deprived of every fragment +of head-gear. 'Shall I twist it, or do it up in long plaits?' + +'Any way for me to get down again! Oh, how little I thought it!' + +'Felix was in despair when he found you were missing; but you see the +first thought of all my brothers has always been Cherry.' + +'Quite right--and you see I wasn't there at all. You know my ears +are stupid, and though there's more sense in your music than in most +people's, it did not put out of my head some marsh-cinquefoil I thought +I had spied as we went by; and I fancied, while you were singing, +I could creep off after it, without all the fuss of the gentlemen +wanting to get it for me. No one saw me, and I did find some delicious +things, only I'm afraid I lost them. On I went, from one to another, +like the bad folks in an allegory, away from the rocks and the singing, +lured by the flowers in the bog--till, sure enough, I lost my way, and +the sharp wall of rock above me, which I thought part of the quarry, +turned out to be no such a thing. There, to bring in the demoniacal +element, a horrid little black cow came up and stared at me. You know +what a goose I am about horned monsters; and I thought the whole herd +would be coming home to be milked, so I didn't stare the beast out of +countenance, as I am aware is the correct thing; but as there was a +high ledge, a sort of shelf in the precipice, I scrambled up out of +the way. I suppose the animal had never seen a young woman in such a +position, for not only did it stand in contemplation, but two or three +of its congeners came up and stood gazing at me, out of their spiteful, +curly, shaggy faces, with white pointed horns, like the imps of the +piece. Then it struck me that these were not quiet christianable kine +going home to be milked, but horrid Scottish cattle at pasture, keeping +no hours at all, but free to stand staring till I dropped on their +horns. So I put whatever dignity I had in my pocket, and squalled, +fancying you were all round the corner, but the only effect was to make +the brutes toss their heads and stare the harder.' + +'Did you see the storm gathering? Behind the hill, as we were, we +neither saw nor thought of it till that first grand peal; I was so +sorry for you.' + +'Somehow, I minded it less than I should have thought. The grandeur +and the solitude took some of the nonsense out of me; but the hail +was very bad; it knocked me about so; and the wind tore at me like +a human fury. After my hat was carried off, those hail-stones would +have been quite dangerous, but that there was a good thick bower of +traveller's joy (well-named) up above; and one comfort was, the demons +didn't like it, stuck up their tails, and galloped off. I thought none +of them could have the face to run at me in a thunder-storm, and I +tried to come down, but I found it was a Martinswand on a small scale; +and I could get neither up nor down. So I remained, the butt of the +elements, waiting to make another effort till the wind would let me +alone. At last, I saw a human being in the distance, battling with +the wind. I thought it was Bernard coming back, or if not, I was past +caring; so I called, and it came. I only thought of Bernard, and it +must have thought itself in for an adventure with an escaped lunatic, +or wild woman of the woods. "Trust yourself to me," he said; and then +I knew the voice. But it was like a dream, for I didn't seem surprised +at first. At least, I don't know; I think I must have made a fool of +myself somehow, for he was coaxing and comforting me, till somehow he +got me to the shed, and I came to my senses a little, and thought he +was only pacifying me; so I asked whether I had really been in such +a dreadful state, and said I was all right, and that he need not go +on. "Why should I not go on?" he said. Oh, I dare say it was very +nonsensical--but don't you and Mr. Harewood talk nonsense sometimes?' + +'Egregious!' said Robin, laughing, and kissing her. 'Oh, I am so very +very glad, dearest!' + +'He said, the longer he went on, the more he found he really did care +for me in spite of it all, horrid and disgusting as I had been.' + +'Was that the nonsense?' + +'No, you thorny Copse, but his pretending I was all right!' + +'Ah, he has thought so this long time! I have been sure it wanted very +little to come right.' + +'Oh, tell me! for while they were dragging me through the storm, it +came over me that maybe he was just surprised into it, and that I +ought--I ought not--' + +'Who is talking nonsense now, Kate? No--if you had been at Repworth you +would have seen how altered he has been--ill at ease, as if something +had gone out of his life--only able to bear his restlessness by hard +work.' + +'Ah! is it not a pity to spoil him for his work?' + +'You will find him work enough.' + +'Make him a land-agent!' + +'A good deal more. You will give him power that he is much fitter to +use now.' + +'Well, there's plenty to come before that. Dear Aunt Emily! I say, +Robina, nobody ought to be told before them all, you know. There, +thank you! what a deliciously queer figure,' as she looked in the +glass, 'and what a pair of cheeks! The farm-house port has flown into +them! Am I to put on these stockings? That dear woman's legs must be as +big as her bed-posts! I wish people wore peasant costumes here! A pair +of horse-hair butterfly's-wings now on my head, a striped petticoat, +and orange stockings! At least it is better than when I jumped into a +pond out of the way of the thunder, and Lady de la Poer put me to bed! +Dear people! I could jump, but for these elephant-slippers, to think of +getting back to them.' + +'Oh, please--let me get that skirt straight.' + +'Very well! Do I fidget horribly? I beg your pardon, Robin; but how can +one stand still when one is all fizzing with gladness! When I think of +the old ache, when he came here--and when I found it was not you, I +thought it must be Angel--I really came, hoping to find out, and--' + +'Throw the ring at her feet!' + +'You witch! only I never had the ring to throw! Oh, this is much better +than being magnanimous! Is that your ring? His hair? How charming! +Ernest shall give me nothing else!' + +'Ah, there will not be time for yours to wear out! Mine has had two +renewals, though I always keep part of the old foundation.' + +'Dear Robina! I wish--no, it's not right to wish that; besides, it's a +horrid place. I suppose Mr. Pemberton must have the first living that +is going at Repworth.' + +'Yes. We think of a grammar-school, or a mastership, somewhere, when +Willie's five years at Christchurch are up, and we have made up enough +for a nest-egg.' + +'That's what I should like! Ah! am I talking of what I know nothing +about?' and she gave an earnest kiss. 'There, I'm presentable now! May +Ernest only be in the farmer's leathern gaiters!' + +'No chance of that, with so many gentlemen to equip him. But for your +feet, you would do very well.' + +For the fault of Kate Caergwent's face was want of glow, and this was +fully supplied. The two plaits were picturesque, and Mrs. Hodnet's +shawl of crimson silk, and the dark skirt, made a becoming garb; but +walking was not easy, and the descent of the stair was a series of +flaps, as she came into a sort of vestibule, containing staircase and +big clock. + +'Hermione descends to the sound of soft music!' exclaimed Lord Ernest, +springing up to meet her; and they both stood still to laugh. + +'Hail, hail, all hail! was the music,' she said. + +'Yes, Miss Underwood,' grasping her hand mightily. 'I give you infinite +credit for the _mise en scene_.' + +'Undeserved!' + +'Nay, stage-effect could not have been exceeded, though perhaps things +went rather to the verge of sensation.--Katie, you are flushed still! +Ought she not to be put between blankets, and dosed with water-gruel?' + +'Then we ought "all to have a little water-gruel!"' + +'There's a sumptuous tea-fight preparing in there. They've fetched the +hamper, and Mrs. Hodnet is producing all the delicacies of the season!' + +'Is Lady Caergwent there?' and Bernard came forward to meet her; while +Lord Ernest paused to answer Robina's congratulating eyes. 'Yes, when I +found that it was her own self, there was no helping it. I forgot all +about earning her better opinion. I could only ask her forgiveness. I +shall tell my father I owe it all to you.' + +'Nonsense!' + +'I do, though. If you hadn't all been what you are, I should have made +an irrevocable ass of myself.' + +'As--oh dear!--some one else is doing,' said Robina to herself, as she +caught the words Bernard was addressing to the Countess, standing in +the door-way of the great farm kitchen. 'I am only sorry for what you +were exposed to in my absence.--My brothers are dreadfully cut up about +it, but I know you'll overlook it. They are excellent fellows, but you +see they have never had any advantages.' + +An ineffably funny glance passed between Lord Ernest and Robina, who +had a strong desire to take Mr. Bear by the shoulders and shake him, +only unluckily her head was only on a level with those same broad +shoulders. + +'I never could have overlooked it, if they had left Geraldine to look +after any one else,' said Lady Caergwent, with some of the hauteur she +could assume, and very decidedly moving forward, but with the flowers +in her hand that Bernard had brought her. + +The party far exceeded the capacities of Mrs. Hodnet's parlour, where +the lodgers usually sat, and were much more happily disposed of in +the great kitchen, one of those still flourishing in old farm-houses, +spacious though low, with a stone floor, a long oak table, and benches +and a dresser glittering with metal and fine old earthenware, a great +hearth with a lively fire, and a deep latticed window making quite a +little chamber, where stood the small round table and two chairs, the +leisure resort of Mr. and Mrs. Hodnet, the one with pipe and paper, the +other with work-basket of socks. A door opening into the serviceable +kitchen revealed a vista of garments hung up, a red glow behind them, +a girl of the farm-servant type scuttling about, and the more active +spirits of the party darting to and fro. In the room the long table was +laid for tea; Cherry and Will were chatting on either side of the fire, +Major and Mrs. Harewood were enjoying the delight of their offspring +in an oft-renewed fiction of being shut into the hamper, lost, and +discovered; and Felix was amusing Gertrude May with the mysteries of +Moore's Almanac on the wall, and the account of his own fruitless +endeavours to promote a taste for something less oracular. + +He came up as the Countess scurried in, and said, with a frankness not +quite answering to Bernard's description of his despair, 'I am very +sorry for our neglect, Lady Caergwent, I am afraid it caused you to be +in a very unpleasant predicament; but my sister is so far from strong, +that she is apt to be our first care.' + +'It would be a horrid shame if she were not,' said Lady Caergwent +brightly. 'I should not have been and gone and lost myself!--You've not +caught cold, Geraldine!' + +'Oh no, I was best off of all, riding home in state. It comes, you see, +of taking such poor shiftless beings up to the top of mountains.' + +'It was a grand adventure,' said Lady Caergwent, rather hastily; 'I'd +not have missed it for the world!' And then suddenly conscious of what +that might convey, her colour deepened still more, and she made her +way to the Darby and Joan nook by the window, sat down, looking out, +and murmuring something undeveloped about the weather. Lord Ernest +came to help her study it; Felix thought it expedient to continue his +elucidations of Francis Moore; Robina came up to the fire, and slid +her hand into Will's, and a look and smile passed between them that +Cherry comprehended as well as they did. Only Bernard came forward with +a footstool he had routed out from under the dresser. 'Won't you have +this, Lady Caergwent? the floor is cold.' + +'Thank you very much.--Yes; and Addie finds her hands full?' + +'She's the jolliest little lady of the house!' and Lord Ernest found +himself a perch on the round table, with one foot on the other chair. + +Bernard returned to the charge. 'Here's one other flower not beaten to +pieces,' he said, after applying to the green things he had left in the +porch. + +'Thank you,' but hardly turning her head from Lord Ernest, who was +describing some one as 'Yards high, of course; three inches beyond what +any one need be in reason,' meaning of course the Scottish chief; but +Bernard was not quite sure whether this was not personal, for conceit +in a state of irritation can make strange appropriations. + +While he was standing just so far away as his sense of good breeding +required, grim and discomforted, Angela darted in, crying, 'Mrs. Hodnet +is teaching us to make furmenty. Come and see.' + +'Too many cooks may spoil furmenty as well as broth, Angel,' said John, +as no one seemed disposed to move. + +'How stupid you all are!' she exclaimed. 'Come, Kate, don't you want to +study furmenty?' + +'I can't study anything but sitting still till I get my boots,' said +the Countess, with languid decision. + +'Bootless toil,' murmured her cavalier. + +'You'd better come, Lord Ernest,' persisted Angela, 'Enlarge your mind! +'Tis a classical dish, always made on wake days.' + +'Thank you, I never presume to enter those penetralia,' he answered, +likewise with unconscious distance in his tone--excited, perhaps, by +the familiar abbreviation of the young lady's name. + +'If you are so curious about it, Angela,' said Felix gravely, 'I wonder +you do not attend to it!' + +'Oh, it is stirring! I left Charlie at it, to console him for the loss +of his lobster. I only came out of pure and unrequited philanthropy.' + +And she sprang back to the outer kitchen, philosophizing, 'What a queer +thing it is that when two swells get together they must be on their +dignity, and act as if they came out of some other planet.' + +'Better be a swell than a cinder,' said Charlie. 'Mrs. Hodnet, is this +stuff stirred enough? I've been at it like a galley-slave till my arms +are ready to drop.' + +'I'll stir the infirmary!' loudly declared Kester, intercepted on his +way by his uncle Will, who hoisted him up, in an ecstasy of amusement, +as a 'true grandson of his grandmother, which he wasn't.' The two rooms +resounded with merriment, and Felix regaled Gertrude with a few of Mrs. +Harewood's proverbial malapropisms; but the pair in the window remained +utterly unconscious of all that was passing. + +'The odd thing is,' said Angela confidentially to Charles Audley, 'that +I know those two regularly hate each other.' + +'It looks very like it!' + +'Oh, that is to keep up appearances before the outer barbarians. I know +what each thinks of the other. You clumsy boy! those plates will all be +down, then what will you say to Cherry?' + +'That I am overcome by appearances. What hollowness do you not reveal +to me! I say, Bear must be overcome too! What makes him stand there +like a grisly monument?' + +Kester and Edward were, at that moment, permitted to summon the company +by a performance with the bright warming-pan, as if they were hiving +bees; and as Lord Ernest jumped off the table, with a look of fury and +dismay Bernard pounced on Stella, who happened to be near him, and +almost dragged her out into the porch. 'I can't stand it any longer, +Stel. Say I'm gone home.' + +'Are you ill, Bear?' + +'Ill? no; but that confounded puppy--' + +'He isn't lost, Bear, he is fast asleep under Cherry's chair. You need +not go after him!' + +'Hang it! Didn't you see? That brute of a fellow has been and squashed +all the flowers! I'm sure he did it out of spite, and be hanged to him!' + +'Hush, Bernard, don't!' + +'A man can't mince his words when he's driven distracted! When I +went through fire and water to get them for her, and it was all his +jealousy, because he saw her pleased.' + +'But I don't think those were your flowers.' + +'Weren't they, though!' + +'I thought you went to get arrow-head?' + +'Well--' + +'And that is great water-plantain on the table. There are quantities of +it by the churchyard.' + +'She never said it was not right.' + +'Perhaps she would not vex you.' + +'Bosh! You don't know anything about it, Stella; I'll soon find out.' + +So Bernard stalked back, followed by his little sister, just as seats +were being taken, with no further exclusiveness, but with the Countess +on one side of Felix, and Gertrude on the other, and Lord Ernest by +Geraldine's side. They had tried to get Mrs. Hodnet's company, but she +would not consent to do anything but fry rashers for them. + +'Lady Caergwent,' said Bernard's voice, 'were those the wrong flowers?' + +A silence. 'You were very kind to get them for me.' + +'Then they weren't arrowhead?' + +A still more awful silence. 'Oh! let me see, where are they? Perhaps--' + +'Lord Ernest de la Poer sat down upon them,' returned Bernard, in +such a tragic voice, that convulsions of suppressed laughter began to +prevail; 'but here are the remains, such as they are.' + +'I am very sorry,' said the Countess, more than half choked as the +faded, squeezed, limp water-plant was extended to her; 'but I can't +flatter you that it is--no--it is not arrowhead.' + +'Arrowing, isn't it?' of course muttered the witty pupil. + +'But it was just as kind in you,' proceeded Lady Caergwent, conquering +her paroxysm, and looking up with great sweetness in her hazel eyes. +'You went all the way for it, and were caught in the storm, and I am +just as grateful to you.' + +'You shall have some before I sleep!' and he was off like a shot. + +'Oh! he isn't really gone!--Stop him, Mr. Underwood!--Stop him, +Ernest!--How can you all sit there laughing!' + +'It will do him a great deal of good.' + +'Felix!' cried Cherry reproachfully from the other end of the table; +'when the poor boy has had nothing to eat!' + +'And he's got my new boots on,' ejaculated Pupil Number 2. 'They'll +punish him.' + +'It's a great deal too bad,' said Lady Caergwent, flushing up. 'Cherry, +what can I do? Indeed, it wasn't on purpose.' + +'Don't you think he could be stopped, Felix!' entreated Cherry, tender +over her boy. 'Is not there some short way to the garden?--Willie!' + +'Impossible, Cherry,' said Will. 'No doubt he will go home instead of +coming back here.' And to his neighbour--'Don't distress yourself. +It is the first time I ever saw Bernard stirred out of the grand +simplicity of his _self_-devotion.' + +'Where's the Vicar?' broke in Lord Ernest, while Lady Caergwent looked +far from consoled. 'You've not sent him after any water-weeds, have +you?' + +'No, a vicar never gets a clear holiday in his own precincts.' said +Will. 'I've rigged him out to go to some cottagers up here--and if they +know him for their shepherd, it's a pity.' + +For besides being a shorter and more loosely-built man, the Oxford +tutor, though not unclerical, had not the peculiar ecclesiastical look +of the Vicar of Vale Leston. + +'What have you done to Bernard?' said the voice of Clement himself, as +he came in, certainly a good deal transformed. 'I met him galloping +down the lane, and saying he should walk home, and you were not to wait +for him.' + +'You didn't turn him back? O Clement!' + +'He hasn't quarrelled with any one?' said Clement, anxiously surveying +the ranks; 'he wouldn't tell me.' + +'Only with humanity in general,' said Felix. 'He brought Lady +Caergwent the wrong plant, and has rushed headlong to repair the +mistake, without knowing a bit better what the right one was. It is +his first essay in chivalry, and he is having it strong,' he added, +smiling, as he turned to the lady. + +'Never mind, Kate,' added Angela, with her usual questionable taste, +'it's only a bog and not a whirlpool that you've made him plunge into; +besides, it isn't the Ewe, so he isn't due to it!' + +'Will you take his place in the waggonette, Lord Ernest?' asked Cherry. +'Where's your bag?' + +'My bag--I declare it must be at the bottom of the Lady's Rock! We'll +charter a boy to go and look for it.' + +'We will stop as we go by. There are plenty of relics to pick up.' + +'For hospitality's sake,' said Will, 'I might mention that the room +next the Apple-chamber is at your service.' + +'Thank you, since you are so kind, Miss Underwood, I'll come. I want to +see your picture. What are you doing now?' + +'A little portrait work,' said Cherry, smiling and blushing, and +looking towards her subject. + +'There,' quoth Lord Ernest, to Robina. 'Did not I tell you it was a +Kit-Cat-astrophe!' + +'Oh!' said Gertrude, little aware of the by-play, 'I forgot to ask if +you had been going on with Edith of Lorn?' + +'The maiden all for-lorn,' was another aspiration of the witty pupil. + +'That's just the usual aspect of the Maid of Lorn,' said John, 'only +Geraldine hasn't done her at all, only the last flutter of her cloak.' + +'Quite right,' said Lord Ernest; 'that young person always struck me as +taking the oddest way of reclaiming her young man, by charging down the +hill at the head of all the stable-boys, grooms, and helpers.' + +'I confess,' said Felix, 'I should have been harder to seek after that +exploit than when all the bridesmaids were singing.' + +'No doubt,' said Will, 'he knew best. How often had she scratched his +face in Artornish Hall?!' + +In the midst of the laughter a low silvery voice was heard saying to +her neighbour, 'Please read it. You really ought.' + +'Only one does get it so thrust down one's throat in the Hebrides,' +returned Charles; 'but I'll try.' + +'I agree with you, Stella, it is almost profane of them,' said Lady +Caergwent; 'only one plays with what one loves best.' + +'The maiden all forlorn got the best of it at last,' said Angela. + +Which made some of them blush, and others make a move to recover the +remnants of the feast. Wilmet wanted to take her boys home to bed, +since the rain had ceased, and the carriages were brought out. + +'Shall I offer Master Ratton to those two?' asked Felix of Robina, 'or +is it too barefaced?' + +'As yet, till the elders know.' + +'Then you must come with me in the basket, Bob. I shall make Clem drive +the waggonette home; he knows the ground better than I do.' + +There was a good deal of summer lightning all the way home: but Lady +Caergwent, tightly packed into the waggonette, never started at the +shimmering sheets of pale light. Nay, she loved them all the rest of +her life. + +And the arrowhead, which she found in a jug outside her door in the +morning, received full justice, and was in fact the last botanical +specimen ever added to her collection. + +The proverbial 'dull elf' alone could fail to figure the ensuing days, +with the semi-concealment of what everybody knew, but no one was +supposed to know before the authorities. How Lady Caergwent sat up at +untimely hours, pouring her heart out to Robina; how Bernard became +melancholy and misanthropical, when cruelly snubbed by Lord Ernest--'I +could have had some pity on him,' was the reply to a remonstrance, +'but for that speech about his brothers.' Angela, on the other hand, +made such endeavours to rescue poor Lord Ernest from being bored, that +Cherry, in constant fear of her exposing herself, told her how matters +stood, when she became furious and scornful at his supposed weariness +of toil, and the succumbing of his resolution. Clement endured it much +better, being quite willing that any one but the clergy should marry, +and knowing Lord Ernest well enough to believe that he would only make +the lady a stronger pillar of the Church. + +After a few fresh touches had given a new and different reading to the +portrait, and after a Sunday of bliss that cost Will and Robina some +gulps of envious philosophy, there was a return to the Hammonds, and a +tremendous croquet party to kill off all the neighbourhood before Mrs. +Umfraville's return. + +That lady's thankful comfort was only alloyed by sorrow that her +Colonel could not see the fulfilment of his chief wish, while she felt +that the four years' estrangement had improved both in manliness and +womanliness, in forbearance and humility, and the matrimonial balance +would be far easier of adjustment. + +Of course invitations and promises to attend the wedding were made in +the heat of the moment, and these were kept in October by Felix and +Geraldine as well as Robina, who a second time dazzled Lady Vanderkist +by her appearance in the list of bridesmaids. It was the last thing +before she, with the whole De la Poer party, went abroad for the winter +for the sake of her little delicate pupil, Susan, who had been ordered +to spend the winter in the Riviera; and ever considerate, when Lord De +la Poer asked his daughter Grace's Mr. Pemberton to join the travellers +at Christmas, he also asked William Harewood; and Robina was the best +off, for the curate could not come when the tutor could. + +Mrs. Umfraville made a great deal of Mr. and Miss Underwood at +Caergwent, and they much enjoyed their visit; but it was always a +subject of regret that these outer interests seemed to make Lance feel +at a greater distance from them. Something was amiss, though it was +not easy to make out what it was, and he never allowed that he was +uncomfortable, nor weary of his bicycle or of Mrs. Froggatt. + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +CHESTS AND HEARTS. + + 'Waketh a vision, and a voice within her + Sweeter than dreams and dearer than complaint-- + Is it a man thou lovest, and a sinner? + No; but a soul, O woman! and a saint.' + _Frederick W.H. Myers._ + + +One snowy November night Lancelot caught cold, and aggravated the +ailment during his organist's duties on Sunday so much, that though +he resigned himself to Mrs. Froggatt's attentions on Monday, she soon +found herself obliged to supplement them by Mr. Rugg's; and her letter +on the Wednesday caused Felix to bring Angela to nurse him through a +sharp attack of pleurisy, complicated with bronchitis. + +All went well, and by the week before Christmas he was fit to be taken +home, uniting in persuading Mrs. Froggatt that her care was necessary +to him _en route_, chiefly because he and his brother could not bear +to leave her to her widowed Christmas. She came, but nothing would +induce her to stay beyond Christmas Day; nor would she even wait till +Felix returned with the New Year to Bexley, to busy himself with the +accounts, about which Lance was concerning himself too much for his +good, writing such characteristic notes that when, half way through +January, Felix came home, he was disappointed to find so little +progress made towards recovery. The great musical brow, big blue eyes, +straight nose, and brown hairiness, seemed to have lost the cheeks +from among them: there was a weary yearning look in the eyes, and the +whole demeanour was languid and dejected. Lance just crept into the +painting-room at noon, and spent the afternoon by the drawing-room +fire, talking a little at times, or amused by Wilmet's baby; but her +boys were too much for him; and though he liked Stella's music, he was +fretted by Angela's careless notes, and had not energy to play for +himself. His voice indeed was scarcely serviceable even for speaking, +and its absence always made him unhappy. A reader only in the way of +business, books and newspapers were distasteful; and though he could +not be ill-humoured, he was evidently a heavy burden to himself; sad +and listless; he neither ate nor slept, and yet the actual symptoms +were not unfavourable. + +'He does not get on,' said Felix, as he and Clement stood consulting in +the library. + +'He sleeps so badly, and has two hours or so of bad cough in the early +morning, and that seems to exhaust him for the day.' + +'So you wrote, and I told Rugg, who said that would wear off gradually; +but I cannot see that he is mending.' + +'Nor does he think so,' said Clement. + +'Rugg declares that there is no reason he should not entirely get over +this, and he never gives any encouragement he can help. I shall not +rest till May has seen him.' + +'I should have sent if you had not been coming.' + +'So he is low about himself, dear fellow! Have you had it out with him?' + +'Nay, he seemed to me quite willing it should be so. If he is not, I +don't know who should be! He never seems to have been from under the +shadow of his cathedral. I believe he rather puzzled Miss Isabella the +other day!' + +'You don't mean that she has been at him? + +'Yes, she affected an entrance when no one was on guard but poor little +Stella, who was dreadfully upset, and told Cherry all about it. It +seems the good lady is shocked at our all deceiving him.' + +'And took it on herself to warn him?' + +'And to inquire if he were a Christian, and into the foundation of his +hope--all which he seems to have received as a kindness. Stella says +he answered that he was quite aware of his condition, but he did not +think there was much need to grieve himself or others over it. Indeed, +she--Miss Isabella--told me herself that he is a heavenly-minded young +man.' + +'Yes, they met in the inmost heart of things, without battling on the +outworks. When I look back at that boy's life, I do not feel as if I +deserved him; I ought not to have let him sacrifice himself to that +life at Bexley.' + +'It was his own doing, poor fellow! and he sees his mistake.' + +'None of us could realize at the time the force of contrast,' said +Felix; 'indeed, I should have thought him the last person to have been +affected by it.' + +'I did not mean that only. I meant the higher service,' said Clement, +making Felix suspect that his consolations had been so applied as to +deepen the depression, and resolve the more to write to Dr. May. + +So two days later, with a certain passiveness, as though the +physician's visits were a matter of course, Lance, who had just +finished his tardy toilette, obeyed the summons into the library, and +submitted to the examination, which ended in an assurance that there +was no tendency to pulmonary disease, and that care and patience would +soon subdue the remains of his illness. + +'Thank you, Sir,' in a perplexed half-incredulous tone, as he leant +back, not troubling himself to ask a question as to the treatment. + +Dr. May waited a little, then looked steadily into his face. 'Now, +Lance, we doctors ask startling questions. You've not fallen in love?' + +'Not particularly,' said Lance, without a particle of blush, even if he +had had cheeks to blush with. + +'What does that mean? Generally?' + +'I never let myself go in for it. It was of no use.' + +'Without letting yourself, then?' + +'No, indeed!' returned Lance, almost petulantly; 'I never had the +chance. How should I? It would have been something to care about.' + +'This fellow does not half believe in me,' muttered the Doctor. + +'Lance, do you remember consulting me before, when you thought your +brains were addled by the sun-stroke?' + +'They might as well have been, for any good I have done with them.' + +'I thought you were one of the lights of Bexley.' + +'A nice sort of light, and place too,' muttered he, with scant +courtesy; but the Doctor caught an idea from the dull weary tone. + +'It must be a dullish sort of life,' he threw out. + +'Can't be helped,' in the same tone, almost conveying that it was +merely his own affair. 'It was my own doing; and I've been like this +before, and come round.' + +'Your chest has been as sound as a bell before!' said the Doctor, with +a little wilful misunderstanding. + +'My chest,' with a sound of contempt. + +'If not your chest, what?' + +'My--myself. The Everlasting Everything,' said Lance, with a sort of +impatience, covering his face with his hands, as though--had twenty +years been subtracted from his age--he would have begun to cry. + +'My dear boy,' said the Doctor, 'never mind me. Have it out. You don't +like to complain to your brother, and you can't stand the life you are +leading?' + +'No use to say _can't_,' said Lance, looking up, with his brow +contracted; 'I must and I will, if I am to get well. I got over it +before, and I shall again, I suppose, when my strength comes back. I +made my bed, and must lie on it.' + +'You mean that you chose your present business?' said the Doctor, +trying another leading question. + +'Ay. My brothers, as soon as they could, both offered me to go to the +University and take Holy Orders! but, as Clem said, my hurdy-gurdy was +a new toy, and I was as proud as Punch of it, and thought life offered +nothing better; besides, I was always a dolt at classics, and thought +they would split my head.' + +'Are you ever reminded of that sun-stroke?' + +'Less every year; but summer sunshine still makes me sick and giddy, +and now and then extra work brings on a racking headache.' + +'Take my word, your instinct was right. You could not have stood +college work.' + +'So I thought; but if I had scraped through, it would all have been +over now.' + +'Very likely,' was the dry answer. + +'Well, it would have been worth dying for. I did not know what I was +giving up.' + +'In position?' + +'Partly. I was a mere boy, and did not see the difference as I do now +I have been with Will Harewood at Oxford, or when I come here. I keep +out of it as much as I can, for it's just a mockery to go and mix with +their friends here, and talk to a pretty girl, when I know she would +not touch me with a pair of tongs at home.' + +'More shame for her, then. Have you no society at home? + +'Oh yes, plenty of nice fellows--professionals, I mean, and a dinner +with the upper-crust now and then,' said Lance, laughing; 'not much in +itself, but making me cock of the walk in our own line--trade, I mean. +Nice girls there are, too--if one had seen nothing else--but then, they +keep out of the way, and the others make themselves such fools. It was +good fun once; but one gets sick of it, as one does of everything else.' + +The vein of confidence had been found at last, and a mere demonstration +of sympathy was enough to draw him on. 'I seem to have got to the end +of my tether with everything--Pursuivant and all. Even the organ, I +can do no more with it as it is; and it is no good crying out for more +stops, for nobody cares. I have worked at the science as far as Miles +or my own study can take me with my present means; and as it is, I know +more than there is any power to use in my squirrel's cage, yet I can't +go on into what there is beyond without giving my whole self to that +and nothing else.' + +'Is that out of the question?' + +'It would bring in no return; and I am not a gentleman at large, nor +am I sure of the right and expedience of it after all, nor whether the +craving is to praise God or please myself. What I have seen behind the +scenes at musical festivals--ay, and before them too--has made me doubt +whether the most perfect music gets put to its full use.' + +'Or ever can be here.' + +'Ay. Practically, the anthem, chant, and hymn, have the direct +devotional use; and that they may serve it, they must not too much go +beyond the average musical capacity of your congregation.' + +'Quite true. You have thought it all out,' said Dr. May. 'I wish more +organists saw it so.' + +'That's just what the St. Oswald's people say I don't! Well, you see +what it is. My poor brother Edgar told me how it would be when I would +not be a regular professional.' + +'How what would be?' + +'Why, that it would all get intolerably slow and flat, and that I +should not be able to bear it. It is true enough, but I got over it +once.' + +'And as you say, you will do so again. The life you embraced upon +principle may for a time be distasteful, but the restlessness under it +can only be a trail. If I understand you right, Lance, your motto has +been + + "If I forget thee, O Jerusalem, + Let my right hand forget her cunning."' + +'Stay, stay, Dr. May. I don't regret that first decision--not at +all--but the other--when they offered me to study for Holy Orders. I +find I was like a soldier, who thought playing in the band was fighting +in the ranks!' And Lance lay back in his chair, and shaded his face +with his thin hand. + +'And that has been preying on you all this time?' + +'Perhaps. I am for ever coming on facts about crime, misery, +ignorance--here, there, everywhere; and I know that with a little +perseverance and resolution I might have been a priest, doing the only +work worth doing--and behold, all I have done--has been--to gratify my +passion--for music--and call it--dedicating--' He had begun to cough +distressingly, and could not go on. + +'If I had not known it was more spirits than lungs, I would not have +let you go on,' said Dr. May, when Lance could hear again. 'Your +present life is irksome, and you think you may have done wrong in not +making an effort for the higher service?' Lance nodded assent. 'But +remember, non-commissioned officers are as much needed as commissioned +ones, and your Pursuivant is no mean weapon. It is really easier to +find clergy than thorough-going lay-men in a position like yours; +and from all I can gather, if you had tried to fight your way to +Ordination, you would only have broken down, and done nothing. So be +content, my boy. You have honestly put the higher duty foremost, and it +will come right somehow.' + +'Only--' + +'Hush! If the thermometer gets above 50 degrees, take a turn in the +cloister. Fresh air will do sleep and spirits the most good; only +lay up entirely, and blister on any symptom of return of pain. But +go about the house, and get back to family habits as you feel up to +them, not troubling yourself as to what is to come after. I'm wrong! +You are _never_ to ride outside a velocipede in the rain again. That +pleasure is for ever forbidden! Somewhere about the end of the east +winds you may go into questions of the future, though to me it seems +that your post is one of rare value and influence. While--as for +the "not impossible she," for whom it is worth while to go in in +particular--depend upon it, she is waiting for you, and will fall in +your way yet, even if, as Captain M'Intyre felicitously expresses it, +your veins were filled with printers' ink! I should be ashamed to think +it could be otherwise. Now rest. Don't speak.' + +'Only one thing. My voice--will it come again?' + +'Your voice? Of course. You spoke very well before I let you wear it +out.' + +'For speaking--oh yes--but singing?' + +'Singing? Your throat was a good deal affected. Your voice--what kind? +High tenor, did you say? Ah! those are very soon damaged; but one can't +tell; don't go trying experiments on it too soon. Happily, it is not a +vital question with you.' And as he saw the lip tremble, and a tear in +the eye, 'Don't fancy I meant to prepare you for its loss; I dare say +you would rather lose a good deal besides.' + +'I believe I had.' + +'Let it alone then, and guard your throat.' And with a few more +counsels as to the treatment, Dr. May left him, and much consoled +Felix and Cherry by assurances that the lungs were fast recovering, +and that the spirits would probably follow them. And he then proceeded +to give a message that he was to deliver contingently upon his +patient's state--namely, the offer of a visit from Gertrude. His little +granddaughter, Margaret Rivers, was at Dawlish, in so sad a state of +suffering, that he and Ethel were to go and be with the parents; but +Gertrude was not wanted, and would gladly bestow herself upon Geraldine. + +'You'll take care of her,' he said, with the solicitude that fathers +never lose for their youngest daughter. 'You have no young lords nor +precipices to put in her way, I trust.' + +'Lords, precipices, and thunder-storms, are equally improbable just +now,' said Cherry; 'the tithe-dinner and school-treat are the most +brilliant entertainments in prospect.' + +'I shall tell her to mind you like an Ethel the second. By-the-by, +Ethel says she never saw any one so good for the child. She was our +spoilt one--at least, so Ethel says; though I'm an old fool of a +father, and never saw it, and you are said to have put the womanliness +into her.' + +'I'm afraid I don't deserve the compliment. "I speks it growed."' + +'To tell the truth, so do I,' laughed the Doctor. + +Geraldine in her secret soul thought the development in maidenliness +due to something besides age, for she knew what was the great bond +between herself and Gertrude May; and bethinking herself of the entire +extinction of all remaining sentiment for Alice Knevett, she could +not but speculate on the possible results of the coming visit, and +recollect that to shrink from them would have no such excuse as in the +former case. + +The announcement was not received with acclamation. Angela did not +like Gertrude May. Both were high-spirited free-spoken unconventional +girls, in whom something of womanly grace was as yet slow in coming; +but Gertrude was more essentially a lady, though louder voiced and less +naturally graceful; nor had she a particle of flirtation, but disliked +young men, and was unpopular from irony and exclusiveness; whereas +Angela was thoroughly the girl of the period in a highly stimulated +state. + +'Bother!' she exclaimed. 'She is nearly as bad as Miss May herself.' + +'Indeed!' said Felix, in a much offended voice. + +'As good then, and that's as bad!' + +'Stuck-up, like all the Mays,' put in Bernard. + +'They have been very good-natured to you,' said Felix again, in a tone +of reproof. + +'Soup tickets,' muttered Bernard. + +'Take care, Bear,' said Cherry. 'Small minds repudiate gratitude.' + +'Then Bernard's bound to entertain her,' said Lance. + +'Catch me,' quoth Bernard. + +'Perhaps she may alleviate his pangs for the faithless Countess,' +suggested Angela. + +'She!' The unutterable contempt of that monosyllable set all laughing, +and he indignantly reiterated, 'She is stuck-up enough for ten +countesses and duchesses to boot.' + +'The monotony of Bear's ideas was always striking,' said Felix. + +'He's got but one pole to run up, poor Bruin!' said Angela. 'Now, I +could have found ever so many objections.' + +'Only that it would be a queer way to welcome Cherry's guest,' said +Clement, in reprobation. + +'As if you liked her yourself, Clem!' exclaimed Angela, 'when +Stoneborough is altogether in the rear, and not one of the whole crew +belongs to the E.C.U.' + +'Is it impossible to be courteous to any one out of the E.C.U.?' said +Clement so gravely, that the laughter was renewed; but Cherry had the +uncomfortable certainty that if there had been a show of hands it would +have been on Bernard's side. Clement and the Mays had never harmonized; +and Lance, who was always reluctant to face his sister's young-lady +associates, now had no escape, and was ready to feel everything an +oppression, so that his silence was an act of forbearance. + +It was a good sign, that when Clement came in unobserved from Evensong, +he found Lance at the piano, making twilight beautiful with something +wonderfully yearning and mournful, but with a deep underkey of +resolution ever waxing stronger and stronger. Clement leant on the +settee, listening till his eyes grew moist; and when the cough forced +the musician to desist, and come back exhausted to the sofa, he asked, +'Where did that come from?' + +'It is a Largo of Beethoven's in C Major. I fell in love with it when +we had C---- at Minsterham.' + +'Dr. May has done you good.' + +'I don't know. I see he thinks my voice done for.' + +'I would sooner have your fingers than your voice, Lance,' said +Clement, appreciating the grief as Dr. May could not, never having +heard those notes. + +Lance shook his head. The trouble was too deep and real for speech. + +'Sooner or later we shall have our voices in perfection,' said Clement. +'Meantime, who knows how good it may be for you to be parted from that +beautiful thing!' + +'My golden idol!' Lance broke out in a sort of laughing coughing sob. + +'At least, you have the comfort of knowing you never prostituted it +to any ungodly purpose,' said Clement. 'You always treated it as His +goodly gift.' + +Lance made no answer. Perhaps he felt at that moment that his voice +had been the chief thing that made his dull life pleasant to him, and +that to be either dumb or an offence to his own delicate ear was a lot +to which he could hardly resign himself. Clement went to the piano, and +softly sung 'Angels brightly shine forth.' + +Angela came into the room with a light as he ended; Lance started up, +and hastened out of the room. + +He was rather worse than better for the next day or two, and shuddered +with annoyance when Gertrude May's wheels approached. He would not, +however, vex Cherry by shirking the early dinner, where Gertrude, a +bright mixture of blue merino and swans' down, was making fun of her +precise brother Tom's inclination to escort her on this her first +solitary journey, when she knew it was only 'because of his friend at +Ewmouth, who is equally crazy about microscopes and such unpleasant +things.' + +'As microscopes?' said Felix. + +'That depends on what you look at. Now Tom is making perquisitions into +the germs of all kinds of diseases and infections, and is never so +happy as when he gets an excuse for driving over to Ewmouth.' + +'Is there anything so scientific there?' + +'Mr. Elsted, the chemist. He was a fellow-student of Tom's, but he +hasn't nerve enough to practise; so he is a kind of stickit doctor, +though he has science at his fingers' ends--the right place for a +chemist, you'll say--so very sensibly he took to that line.' + +'We must make friends with him,' said Felix. + +'Do! It would be a great kindness. He is really very much of a +gentle--' where she awkwardly stopped, and caught herself up, colouring +to the ears. + +'Which cannot be said of all medical students,' said Felix, greatly +helping her out. + +'No! And as Tom could not come himself, he has given me a precious +little box to carry, which the post would squash. Don't be afraid; it +isn't the plague, or the small-pox, or anything--' + +'I thought of going to Ewmouth this afternoon if you like the drive,' +said Cherry. + +'You don't trust me! You want to be rid of Pandora's box.' + +Of course there was more fun about it, resulting in the timid being +only half certified that it contained only some slides of glass; but +Lance took his part in the teasing, nor did he forget--what Cherry +took care to tell him on her return--that Gertrude had shaken hands +cordially with the chemist under the very shadow of his purple jars. + +Gertrude's spirits were not much affected by her niece's illness; and +she had been so seldom from home, that this was a new experience, from +which she derived as much freshness as she brought. The Squire was +always her hero, and with him she was always on her best behaviour, +as if trying to redeem her performance on the Kitten's Tail; while he +treated her--like all his sisters' friends--with the gentle playful +courtesy that had first begun with Alice Knevett. A musical evening +seemed to have thoroughly fitted her in among the inhabitants, and in +the forenoon she repaired quite naturally to Cherry's painting-room. + +'That's right, I have designs on you.' + +'Me, myself me, or in character?' + +'In character. I catch every one. One gets so tame and unreal without +fact.' + +'But you'll let me write to Ethel. It feels so queer without the old +thing. I'm not sure that my head is on the right way.' + +'Pray write. You ought to be doing something.' + +Just then a pair of slippered feet came noiselessly to the door, and +with 'Good morning, Miss May,' Lance came in, his sister exclaiming, +'How early! You have not had your sleep after breakfast.' + +'No, but I slept a good deal later this morning, which is a better +thing,' he said, advancing to a big arm-chair. Gertrude had hoped for +a snug morning with Cherry; but he looked so wan, pinched, and shadowy +in the morning light, that there was no grudging him the content with +which he sank into his place, nor the anxiety with which Stella was +sent down to hasten his beef-tea. + +'Have you made your capture, Cherry?' he asked. + +'I was beginning when you came.' + +'Then Miss May has not seen your contribution to the "Rights of Woman."' + +'I have only escaped from the subject at home. Mrs. Harvey Anderson has +been getting up a meeting for the Ladies' Suffrage, and wanted Ethel to +come to it.' + +'O for her likeness!' + +'What can you want of it?' + +In answer, Cherry produced two cartoons. One was a kind of parody of +Raphael's School of Athens, all the figures female, not caricatures, +but with a vein of satire throughout. The demonstration on the floor +was an endeavour to square the circle; some of the elder ladies were +squabbling, some of the younger furtively peeping at themselves in +pocket-mirrors, or comparing ornaments; some in postures of weariness, +one gazing eagerly as if responding to some signal, another mimicking +her teacher, a third frowning at her rival's success. There was no air +of union or harmony, but something of vanity and vexation of spirit +pervaded all. + +The companion was arranged on the same lines, but the portico was +a cloister, and the aisle of a church was dimly indicated through +a door-way. The figures and occupations were the same, but all was +in harmony. The maidens, though mostly in secular garb, wore the +cross; the central figure, in matronly beauty, was portioning out the +household tasks, while in the place of the harsh or sour or tyrannizing +disputatious ladies were women, some in hood and veil, but others +in ordinary dress, all dignified and sweet, while the damsels were +smiling happily over their employments, for the most part the same +as before, but in a different spirit. The demonstration on the floor +was no longer impossible. It was the circle of eternity spanned by +the Cross; the quizzing and teasing had ceased, the loiterers were at +their needlework; the rivals were united; the girl, whose glance down +the grove had been furtive, was now standing in the door-way, openly +watching for the little male figure in the distance. Both were in rough +bold outline, almost scrawled, and here and there dashed with pen or +Indian ink; but Geraldine's masterly hand showed wonderfully in the +grace and expression. + +'I don't know whether I shall make anything of it,' she said. 'I +sketched it in a kind of frenzy; and Felix is bent on my going on with +it.' + +'It would do for Punch, if for nothing else,' said Lance. + +'For shame!' exclaimed Gertrude. + +'No, it is a great compliment,' said Cherry; 'but what the Squire wants +is to have them in the Exhibition. Now I mean No. 1 to bring out--' + +'The lesson of Tennyson's Princess,' interrupted Gertrude. + +'In part, but going further into life. I mean that while woman works +merely for the sake of self-cultivation, the clever grow conceited +and emulous, the practical harsh and rigid, the light or dull, vain, +frivolous, deceitful, by way of escape, and it all gets absurd. But the +being handmaids of the Church brings all right; and the School of St. +Sophia develops even the intellect.' + +'You'll have to write a key,' said Lance. + +'I leave that to you gentlemen of the press. I don't expect that many +will enter into it, but if only a few do it will answer its purpose, +and be worth doing. I want to know whether it conveys its meaning to a +fresh eye.' + +'Let me see,' said Gertrude. 'Woman working every one for her own hand, +is all nohow, either grim or silly, the laughing-stock of gods and men; +while working for the Church makes all harmonious, and sets each in her +place.' + +'It might as well be man as woman,' said Lance. + +'More so, I believe,' said Cherry; 'because marriage gives woman a +head; so I think the married ones at least do not suffer so much in +character from misbelief. Family life affords a sort of religion +to those who do not know the truth; and so while man kept them in +subjection, they did not need to think it out, as the single ones must +do now.' + +'The Church provides ties and object for them,' said Gertrude. 'Ethel +would like that.' + +'Clan Hepburn would more than ever warn one against making an idol of +an abstraction,' said Lance. 'I couldn't help asking them what they +thought of the Bride in the Revelation, and they warned me against +taking the figurative literally; but they are deeply good old girls, +though your St. Sophia has not had the training of them.' + +'Not consciously,' said Cherry. 'They did her work, though, in the dark +times; and if she had thorough hold of them, they would not be meddling +with the clergyman's province.' + +So saying, she produced two more finished copies, the building +elaborately put in, and some of the faces and figures worked up +evidently from the life. Wilmet was the lovely matronly presiding +spirit; Stella, the damsel in the place of one of the beautiful boys +in the foreground of the School of Athens, though it had been hard to +make her look naughty enough for the first. Gertrude, to her great +amusement, recognised Lady Caergwent: 'So that's the use you make of +your countesses?' + +'It arose a good deal out of a talk with her about the dedication of +our powers; and she sent me a horrible photograph to do her bad self +by.' + +'I declare you must have got Ethel's nut-cracker photograph for the +original of that forbidding astronomical female with the compasses. +Why! her improved state is Ethel herself, only not quite sweetly odd +enough. Did you mean it?' + +'No; I only found it coming like Dr. May.' + +'She shall sit! And I'll be one of the wicked ones, whenever you +please.' + +'Then you must be a good one too.' + +'Oh! I don't promise that. It is much flatter. Let me be the one who is +taking off Urania Ethel's gestures. I declare you are too clever; the +constellation you've turned up on the globe is _vulpecula et anser_.' + +'No, you fancied that, Gertrude.' + +'No such thing! See the stars really make a little W just like it in +the sky, and observe the moral. Instead of a he-fox running off with +the goose, the vixen will thus run away with the gander.' + +Cherry had not laughed so much for weeks, Lance not for a year. +Stella's shoulders shook over her German exercise, and her voice +suggested: 'It ought to have been in the Southern Hemisphere, for the +world turned topsy-turvy.' + +'The Southern Hemisphere is stupid, where it got out of sight of the +dear old funny folks that named the stars. What shall we have in the +world set right?' + +'Andromeda on the rock,' said Stella, 'and Perseus coming to let her +out!' + +'There's Perseus then coming down the walk,' said Gertrude. + +'I hope that's me!' said Lance. + +'Then you must be _Anser!_' + +'_Anser!_' said Cherry. 'If he appears at all, it must be as Athene's +Owl.--What great eyes you have, my dear!' + +In a moment she dashed into her first draught an owl, comically +resembling Lance; 'the twinkling blink in its eyes looking out of that +indefinite bushiness,' as Gertrude said. + +'Against the beard movement, Miss May?' + +'There's only one moustache in the family!' + +'Diplomatic,' laughed Cherry. + +'Not wholly,' said Gertrude. 'One does go by one's brothers; and I like +to see people's expression.' + +'But,' said Lance, 'I trust at least I'm the owl of the church tower, +though I can't hoot any longer.' + +'Athene's ought to be prying down with superior contempt upon the +ladies in the Academy.' + +'Inspecting them!' said Cherry. 'Hearing them pronounce _vicissim +we-kiss-im_ in turns, and making a note.' + +'I declare,' cried Gertrude, 'I've got the very man for the bad owl. +How lucky I brought my photograph book!' She flew back to her room, and +returned in a moment with her album. 'I brought it to show Geraldine +our New Zealand children, and Leonard's pupils,' she said; 'but just +look here. Transplant him, Cherry!' + +The photograph represented a handsome, complacent looking, +gentleman-like man, with certainly large eyes and an aquiline nose, and +bushy beard, but nothing else owl-like about him. + +'Who is he? What has he done?' asked Cherry. + +'Done! He's a school inspector! Don't you have inspections here? Not +under Government? O thrice happy people! If ever you _do_ wish to +see my dearly beloved sister Ethel in the position of a toad under a +harrow!' + +'But why, you have got her harrow in your book?' + +'He isn't our proper district harrow,' said Gertrude. 'He's badderer +and wusserer nor that! He's my sister Mary's brother-in-law, and Tom's +bosom friend!' + +'Worse and worse!' said Cherry, laughing. + +'Exactly, for he comes down for Sundays! He is the youngest of the +Cheviots by a good many years, born after they had got prosperous, and +cockered up beyond all measure--went and got everything a man could go +in for at Oxford--horrid fellow--and then turned school inspector, and +writes smart articles in Harvey Anderson's Magazine.' + +'Rupert Cheviot; I know the fellow's style,' said Lance; 'but may I ask +why he is in your book?' + +'Because Mary gave me the book, and stuck him in so fast there's no +eradicating him; but I shall paste him over before long. Luckily, he +generally talks to Ethel. They are always fighting, and I believe she +likes him; and he doesn't know what to make of such a clever woman +being so narrow, you see.--Now, an' you love me, Cherry, put him up +there--an owl, inspecting the Academy!' + +Just then, Angela burst in to say that Major Harewood wanted Felix to +come and see about the new barn, and Felix had sent to ask if Miss May +would come out before the warmth of the short day was past. + +'That's hard,' said Lance, as she went; 'you'll lose the light.' + +'Never mind, there will be plenty of time. The pensive face is what I +want. It can be rather fine.' + +'Rather!' in an indignant tone. + +Lance slept in the third room in the corridor, opening into Clement's, +as Clement's did into Felix's--an arrangement convenient in the earlier +stage of his convalescence, and enabling Clement still to take care +that his fire never was let out. + +'I say, Clem,' he said, from his bed, the next morning, 'you haven't +such a thing as a spare razor--mine were left at Marshlands.' + +'No, I haven't.' + +'I wish you would see if Felix has.' + +'Are you mad, to want to begin shaving now?' + +'Not at all. It had better be done before it gets thicker, and I have +to go out.' + +The application brought Felix in, demanding, 'Are you gone crazy, +Lance?' + +'I thought I might as well titivate myself for the tithe dinner this +evening.' + +'You need not trouble yourself about that. You'll not dine with us; and +if you did, the farmers would excuse you. I thought you were only too +glad of an apology for cultivating that furze brake.' + +'One may as well be fit to be seen.' + +'Exactly my sentiments,' said Felix; 'but you must submit for the +present. If you say any more, I shall lock up all my razors from the +raving lunatic.' + +'Yes,' added Clement. 'Would you like an axe at the same time, to cut +off your head?' + +Lance subsided; and Felix walked back to his room, and smiled to the +risk of his own cheeks over his shaving, as he muttered, 'Tithe dinner, +quotha?' + +The tithe and rent dinner were always combined soon after Christmas, +and the Squire and Vicar had agreed that it was best not to make it +a wholesale entertainment at the Rood, but to have a civilized party +in the Priory, bringing the guests into the drawing-room afterwards. +The numbers of superior tenants were not sufficient to make this +unmanageable, and the compliment was appreciated. One or two elderly +men might have preferred devouring the value of their tithe at the inn, +and enjoying subsequent tobacco and spirits, but most liked the being +treated as gentlemen; and the evening was always an odd mixture of +boredom, amusement, and gratification. + +The audit occupied most of the day, and the dinner was at the primitive +hour of six, the ladies of the house appearing thereat. Gertrude, who +was worked up to think it capital fun, was warned to deck herself in +her best; and she rejoiced that Ethel had enforced preparations for +possible gaieties, so that she could appear in a pink silk, presented +to her for Mrs. Rivers's last public occasion, and a wreath of clematis. + +Her splendours were not thrown away, for the Squire met her on the +stairs, and exclaimed, 'That's right, I'm grateful to you;' and next +moment she saw Mrs. Harewood uncloaking, and revealing the black velvet +her husband always urged on her, and a set of pearls that had not seen +the light since the last old aunt retired into old-maidenhood. The Vale +Leston opinion was that Mrs. Harewood was the finest woman to look at +who had existed since her great-grandmother, Lady Geraldine. + +Lance was in the drawing-room when the ladies came in after dinner, +shaking out their plumes and relating their experiences. Angela had +talked hunting with a young farmer whom she wanted to allure into the +choir, though Cherry doubted whether Clement would like to have him +there. Cherry had given Mr. Hodnet an account of the Caergwent wedding, +in which Penbeacon had had so much share, and had received a lament +over Mr. Harewood's absence that winter. 'He was a gentleman that was +strong in the pulpit.' + +'That's his tincture of Irish eloquence, and the _go_ that he has in +him!' said Angela. + +'I believe the poor people do prefer his preaching to Clement's,' said +Wilmet. + +'On the variety principle, I believe,' said Cherry. + +'Of which they never get enough,' said Angela. + +'After all,' said Cherry, 'inherent poetry does tell more than one +guesses upon an audience.' + +'Ah, ha!' said Lance; 'I've got a novelty in that line for you.' + +'From Will? You don't mean that you've been revelling in the second +post?' + +'Ay! Some one fetched it from Ewmouth, just as your knives and forks +began to clatter. I was just thinking what notes predominated, when in +came this budget from San Remo. It is satisfactory to hear that while +my Lord and my Lady think it the dullest place in the world, our two +lovers find it simply delicious.' + +'Is that the subject of the poem?' + +'It might be,' said Gertrude. + +'Only it would be hard on my Lord and my Lady,' said Angel. + +'The question would be,' said Cherry, 'how long it takes to be so used +to one another that localities cease to be indifferent.' + +'How long does it take, Wilmet?' saucily asked Angela. + +Wilmet did not choose to answer; and Stella's voice quietly mentioned +how Lizzie Bruce and her lover broke off their engagement after being +shut up together for a whole wet Sunday. + +'How very lucky for them!' said Gertrude. + +'They agreed it would be impossible to spend life together,' said +Cherry. 'But what is the poem, Lance?' + +'The Song of the Electric Wires.' + +'Nonsense!' + +'They do sing,' said Gertrude. 'I have often wished one could make +something of those Æolian-harp sounds.' + +'Have you?' said Lance. 'I've tried ever so often to get them on the +violin. I'll show you.' + +It was the first time he had spoken of touching his instrument; but +Wilmet intercepted Stella, who was going as a matter of course to +fetch it, by saying the sound would make the farmers expect a dance. + +'So much the better,' said Angela. 'One waltz with Harry Palting, and +my victory would be complete.' + +'It seems,' proceeded Lance, 'that poor Bobbie held herself ready to +start off with Bill in case I had been worse; and when the telegraph +relieved their minds, the reaction showed itself in these verses.' + +'Which Bobbie was there to secure,' added Cherry. 'I wonder how many +of his get lost for want of her to copy them out, and make him polish +them.' + +'When a man hasn't a spark of vanity he misses a very good working +machine,' said Lance. + +'Spurring machine, you mean,' said Gertrude. + +'Let me have them, Lance; you can't read them,' interposed Cherry. + +Strange as was the subject, there was a wild airy grace about the +lines, by turns joyous and pathetic, and really going well to the +fitful music of the winds upon the wires. Lance went up to the piano, +and struck a note or two; and that wonderful power he possessed over +the instrument brought the very expression, if not the sound, and made +Gertrude exclaim with delight, 'Oh! do make a song of it with a piano +accompaniment; I am sure you can.' + +'If _you_ tell me I can,' said Lance, flushing and smiling, though +perhaps aware of more technical difficulty than she knew; but the +opening of the dining-room door, and the warm greeting of his brother's +tenants, broke off his promise. + +He worked so hard and so merrily the next day in preparing the +Christmas-tree for the schools, in spite--foolish fellow!--of warnings, +chills, and catches of breath, that at the moment of projection, he +was quite overcome by the throng, noise and glare, and forced to beat +a hasty retreat to the drawing-room, whither Miss Bridget Hepburn soon +pursued him. + +Finding him for the first time on the sofa, looking worn out she viewed +his assurances that he was really much better as a melancholy delusion, +and warned him against being beguiled by false hopes out of that +blessed frame of mind. John Harewood, divining what she was about, +presently came in to the rescue; not that he could remove her, for she +was burning to communicate a semi-confidential piece of information, +namely, the intended marriage of Mrs. Fulbert Underwood to Mr. Smiles, +whose sickly wife had been dead about a year. The other two sisters +were communicating the same intelligence to any one they could catch in +anything like privacy all the evening. It was not at all unsatisfactory +intelligence, for on the strength of Clement's appointment having +caused his resignation, Mr. Smiles had expected him to supply all his +most pressing needs, from educating his son to paying for his wife's +funeral. The worst of it was that it was hardly credible that Mrs. +Fulbert would be so foolish as to bestow her handsome jointure upon him +and his seven children; but as he had just taken a curacy in a popular +watering-place, there might be attractions; and at any rate, Clement +would be exempted from finding funds for his move. + +Lance could not help feeling that if to be weary of everything and +indifferent to the future were a blessed frame, he had certainly lost +it, and it made the subsequent night of pain and distress all the +less endurable, as well as the captivity to bed and blisters that +ensued; nor was it till Sunday evening that he could return to the +painting-room, where all the family collected as they dropped in one +by one from Evensong and the subsequent choir-practice, and stood and +lounged about in the Sunday gossip, deaf to all to the manner born. + +Felix came in last, having been looking at his letters, for he never +had time to do more than glance at a few of the more interesting in the +morning. + +'It is true,' he said quietly. + +'What, about Mrs. Fulbert? Has she written?' + +'Yes; a great deal about the love she always had for Mr. Smiles's dear +little family, and an entreaty to me not to deprive her of the three +hundred a year that she was to forfeit by remarriage.' + +'Was she? cried Bernard. 'How jolly!' + +'So it seems, though I had forgotten it. She keeps all the settlement, +of course.' + +'I remember about it,' said Clement. 'Her husband begged his father to +do something for her; and he detested her so, poor woman, that it went +very much against the grain with him, and by way of some solace, he +must have made this charge on the estate contingent on her remaining a +widow.' + +'You'll never go on with it, Felix!' exclaimed Angela. + +'I hope it will not break off the match,' added Cherry. 'There are some +people whom one would willingly bribe to keep out of one's way.' + +'They do it knowingly?' said Gertrude. + +'I imagine so; Smiles managed to know most things.' + +'Ay!' said Angela. 'But you see he went on precedents. He knew what +Alice Lamb had effected, and had some personal experience of this +Vicar!' + +'Felix! you are not going to be so absurd!' expostulated Bernard. 'Why, +it would keep a hunter!' + +'Or a curate,' said Angela. + +'Still more amusing to you, Angel,' retorted Bernard. + +'But, Felix, _do_ promise me you'll do nothing foolish. For my personal +satisfaction,' pleaded Angela. + +'That is a promise no one can be warranted in giving, Angela.' + +'He's afraid of himself!' cried Angela. 'She has only to get him into a +corner--like Alice.' + +'Then it is well I am going away to-morrow.' + +'Very unreasonable,' muttered Lance. + +'What, to be so soft--I think it is indeed! I don't care for the money, +but how those critters will triumph!' + +'He never said they would have it,' said Cherry. + +'Oh! if he is only teasing.--What are you going to do, Felix?' + +'I do not know. I must look at the terms of the will.' + +Gertrude looked triumphantly at Angela, as much as to say, 'Could you +not trust his common sense and justice?' + +But Felix put a stop to the conversation by asking Lance whether the +usual Sunday evening hymns would be too much for him. + +'Not at all,' he said, 'provided Angela would sing nothing she had +not studied;' and then finding Gertrude took this as a hint, he was +dreadfully distressed, and nearly implied that dissonance from her was +better than harmony from any one else. She, on the other hand, was +as ever, greatly impressed with the sweetness of Felix's voice, and +refused, as they went down to supper, to believe that Lance's could be +better. + +'I do not know that it is in what you heard to-night,' said Cherry; +'but Lance had some notes that none of them could come near, except--' +and there she paused, thinking of the voice that still at times she +longed for with inexpressible longing. + +Gertrude was full of pity, though disappointed to find that Mr. +Underwood was going away so early that he bade her good-bye as well as +good-night, in spite of her protestation that she should be up to see +him off, and binding over Stella, who was always the morning star of +early travellers, to wake her in time for his 6.30 breakfast. + +It was not far from that time when Felix, coming into Lance's room, was +struck with his refreshed and brightened look even at this his worst +time, a sort of indefinable look of hope and recovery. + +'You have had a good night?' + +'Yes; I slept till just now. I believe this last bout of mustard has +done me a power of good. The tightness is gone as it never went before.' + +'That's the best news I've heard yet.' + +'Better than Mrs. Fulbert?' + +'Oh, I was coming to that. I have looked at the abstract of the will +this morning, and I don't feel myself in the least bound to continue +the annuity. Then I have been going over things this week; and what +with the falling in of the Blackstone lease, and the winding up of the +Rectory business, I shall be likely to get into smooth waters sooner +than I expected. So if you can hold on to the end of the year, I will +then, if all goes right, do whichever you please--give up the concern +at Bexley to you, or let you have an allowance to enable you to go on +with your music.' + +'Have I been grumbling?' said Lance. + +'Can't one see a thing without its being grumbled at one? It is a hard +life, yours, Lancey. I did not understand how hard till I took this +taste of it, and I am heartily grieved at having let you go on under it +till you broke down. I must try some other plan for you when you can go +back.' + +'No, no; don't upset Mrs. Frog. Summer will be coming, and I prefer her +to Mrs. Lamb any day. Give her my love, and tell her I'm mending. Not +that I see any sense in your going,' he added, but somehow a little +less freely than usual. + +'You want to see Lamb's report of the speeches at the sessions? Any +commands?' + +'Yes; I want some music-paper, and my portfolio of violin music. If you +are sending any books, it might come at once. And tell Ellis he had +better not attempt that anthem from the Creation next Sunday, unless +Speers is come home to take the tenor.' + +'I might do that.' + +'You don't mean to stay over Sunday?' + +'It is of no use to be always running backwards and forwards; I like a +Sunday at the old place now and then,' said Felix. 'Good-bye, Lancey; +let me find you twice yourself when I come back!' + +'I could not thank the old Giant,' said Lance, when Cherry looked in on +him; 'but will you tell him, I feel as if he had taken out the stopper +that bunged me up from everything. Only it is absurd of him to go into +banishment just when this place is so uncommonly pleasant?' + +Cherry thought she could guess, and that it was not so entirely +distrust of Mr. Lamb's capacity as it was convenient for the family +to suppose. And after all, Lance was protesting from dutiful habit of +unselfishness, but it may be doubted whether he _really_ was quite as +sorry as usual to part with his brother. + +The early rising to see him off had been effected; but his absence +did not disturb the good spirits of the party. Lance was gaining +ground quickly, and resumed more of the ordinary family habits every +day--sustaining his spirits the better when left behind on their all +going out, because Gertrude May did not unite with Angela in abusing +the weather for not bringing a skateable frost, and far less in running +wild after a sight of the hunt. Nay, she decidedly snubbed that great +handsome idle fellow Bernard for abusing Felix and the Fates for not +mounting him, and sat soberly at home at her music lesson, when he +and Angela went off upon the chestnut and Ratton, to see the meet and +bemoan themselves. Gertrude had been slow to exhibit her music before +the Underwoods, and had good-humouredly justified Angela's exaggerated +excruciation, owning that she had never had any teaching worthy of +the name. Lance had diffidently offered a few hints, and they were +not accepted as Angela was wont to receive his criticisms; so they +developed into instruction, delightful to both, even though much of it +consisted in unlearning! + +And when the little niece had rallied, and Dr. May fetched his daughter +home, Lance did not flag, but was once more the bright Lance of former +days, and spent his time between Pursuivant work and labour over some +musical achievement, dividing himself between a blotted score, his +violin, and piano, using by preference Theodore as a critic, with +Stella to interpret his gestures. + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +A HALCYON DAY. + + 'They had been much together; and one for ever bears + A name upon the loyal heart, and in the daily prayers; + The other but remembers, when the pleasant hours are past, + That something has been sending them so sweetly and so fast.' + _S.M._ + + +On Whit-Monday forenoon 'Mr. Underwood' was announced in the +drawing-room at Stoneborough, and Gertrude May's face, which had +at first clouded at the pre-prandial intrusion of any visitor, +brightened at the name, but lost a little eagerness when the entering +visitor proved himself to be only Lancelot, shaven now all but his +moustache, and with an air of entirely recovered health, justifying his +declaration that he had no desire to see the Doctor professionally, +and had been quite well ever since his return to Bexley at Easter. +He was now on his way to keep his holiday at home, but had made a +deviation 'to show that I have tried to obey you,' he said, proffering +to Gertrude a roll of music, the stiff paper cover beautifully and +delicately adorned with a daisy border, with pen-and-ink etchings in +the corners illustrating the receipt of telegrams for weal or woe, and +the first bars were made to resemble the wires and posts, the notes, +the birds perched thereon, the whole being of course William Harewood's +poem set to music. So beautiful and elaborate was the finish, that +Gertrude was startled and confused; the meaning flashed on her, and the +sudden recoil roused the contradictoriness of her nature. The earnest +look abashed and frightened her, and with a sort of anger she coldly +said, 'Very pretty, very nicely got up.' + +'I think it may suit your voice,' said Lance wistfully. + +'Thank you' (more nervously, and therefore more coldly), 'we will order +some copies.' + +Lance, after a moment's pleading gaze, dropped his eyes, coloured, and +stammered, 'Not that.' + +Ethel came to the rescue with praise of the etching, but this availed +little; Gertrude spoke not a word, and Lance, though making some kind +of reply, clearly did not know what he was saying, and presently took +leave, in spite of Ethel's entreaties that he would stay to the early +dinner, and to see her father. He made answer in a bewildered voice +about not meaning--and getting home; shook hands, and was gone. + +'That was not gracious, Daisy,' said Ethel. + +'I'm sure I didn't want it,' said the spoilt child. + +'You need not have hurt him.' + +No answer but scarlet colouring. + +About half-past three he was at the Priory, just as the whole party +and Charles Audley besides were standing on the lawn, with rugs and +cloaks betokening boating intentions. His first impulse was to shrink +away like some wounded animal, but he had been spied, and was eagerly +hailed--'O Lance! just in time! Here's the four-oar coming out! Clem +and Angel want to go up the river to Tranquillity Bridge, and we are +taking them.' + +Lance would have done anything rather than betray his wound, so he took +his place in the boat, and tried to shake himself into the present; +but Felix thought he looked tired, and would not let him take an oar +against the stream. Then it occurred to Cherry to ask whether he had +had anything to eat. No, he believed not; but he was resolute that he +wanted nothing, not even a draught of cider, which Angela mischievously +recommended as they passed the 'Hook and Line,' a little tea-garden +public-house, a favourite Sunday resort of Ewmouth idlers, and a great +scandal and grievance to the Vicar, but secured, like other abuses, by +a lease. A boat, belonging no doubt to some holiday-makers, was moored +at the steps; but as it was the day of a great Maying at East Ewmouth, +most observers of 'tide time' were likely to be there absorbed. + +Angela amused herself with wild proposals to Charlie Audley to repair +thither in disguise together, talking nonsense that greatly annoyed +Clement, and was far from pleasing Felix or Cherry; but she was in so +reckless and defiant a mood, that they could only hope that she might +work it off at the oar. Her arms were strong as well as long, and +rowing was a pastime she loved, having been franked as an A B S ever +since she had taken lessons at a swimming-bath. The day was delicious, +with clouds chasing one another so as to make fleeting lights and +shadows on Penbeacon and the hills beyond; the clear brown water +sparkling in ripples or lying in deep pools, shadowed by the woods that +came down to the bank in the early green of spring, flowering may, +mountain ash, and wreaths of blushing eglantine overhanging the margin, +or where the space was open, revealing meadows all one golden sheet of +buttercups, while the fringe of the stream was the feathery bogbean and +the golden broom, mixed with tall sword leaves of the flag and the reed. + +Shaded at length by a picturesque high-backed one-arched bridge, the +boat waited while Clement and Angela went on their cottage visiting. + +Charlie did not, as Cherry expected, invite Lance to promenade the +bank with a cigar, but applied himself to helping Stella in collecting +a grand nosegay of every sort of flower and grass within reach. +The others remained in the boat: Lance leaning over the gunwale +dreamily watching the ripples, apparently half asleep, lulled by the +monotonously sweet humming of Theodore, and the songs of the birds in +the woods; Cherry was sketching, and Felix rested musingly. + +'Tranquillity Bridge,' he said. 'I always fancy it must have been named +by some pious builder imbued with the spirit of the Pilgrim's Progress.' + +'An unconscious poet,' said Cherry. + +'Yes. Such a tranquil rest, amid such perfect peace and loveliness, +without one discordant element, is one of the choicest boons of life.' + +Lance swallowed a sigh; and Cherry answered, 'The very movements and +sounds are all peace, though full of life.' + +For a gold-billed moorhen was swimming among its little ones at the +margin of the reeds at the bend of the river, and a sapphire kingfisher +darted across the arch. + +'Halcyon days,' said Felix. + +'Oh no! Halcyon days precede storms.' + +'Maybe they give strength for them. Times like these are surely +foretastes of perfect bliss.' + +'How does that prepare for storms?' + +'Not only by calming nerves and spirits, but by giving some experience +of the joy beyond--ay, and sense of love and confidence in Him who has +made all so exquisite for our delight.' + +It seemed to come from his heart, drawn forth by the grateful enjoyment +of that sweet Whitsun hour. + +Cherry held up her finger as a ring-dove began to coo from the thicket, +making fit answer to one thus resting in the Feast of the Comforter; +Theodore cooed in return, and the bird seemed to be replying. Even the +tumult of pain and grief in Lance's breast was soothed by the spirit of +the words and scene, while he felt the contrast, like an abyss, between +himself and the others. + +But when the rest of the party came gaily back with talk and laughter, +inaction had become intolerable to him. He wanted to take Angela's oar, +but she would not hear of giving it up, and Felix resigned his, while +Cherry owned that she preferred having him at the helm when going down +the river. + +Theodore, with a shout, held out his hands for Stella's flowers, +and she gave the whole into his hands, Charlie for a moment looking +disappointed; but as the twins sat together, and the little fellow drew +out the flowers singly and dropped them into his sister's lap, while +she whispered their names, it was evidently perfect joy to both. Some, +such as the bright spires of broom, he greeted with a snatch of nursery +song, though otherwise the pair were scarcely audible as long as the +nosegay lasted, and that was for a long time; but when Stella had made +it up again, only leaving the broom to him, he returned to his usual +hum, and this time with the tune of 'The strain upraise,' which had +been practised that morning for Trinity Sunday, and which met the sound +of the bells ringing for Evensong. + +'That's rather too much!' exclaimed Angela. 'We shall be taken for some +of the pious, a singing of hymns.--Come, Tedo.' + +'No, no,' said Felix, 'I'll not have him interfered with.' And he +hummed the tune. + +'That's always the way when Baby goes out with us,' muttered Angela, +audaciously singing out at the top of her clear soprano-- + + 'Six o'clock is striking, + Mother, may I go out? + My young man is waiting, + To take me all about. + + First he gives me apples, + Then he gives me pears; + Then he gives me sixpence, + To take me round the fairs;' + +thus effectually silencing both the others, the one from sense of +discord, the other from serious displeasure. At that moment, shooting +from behind the bend of the river where stood the Hook and Line, +came the other boat. Excited probably by the song, the young men in +it shouted 'Come on! Who'll be first! We'll take a couple of your +sweethearts aboard, to make fair play! We'll have your nightingale!' + + 'Next he gives me bacon + And eggs to fry in the pan, + And no one there to eat them + But me and my young man.' + +sung they lustily, as on they came, as fast as the current, assisted by +twelve vigorous arms, could carry them. + +A few strokes would have gained the garden landing-place, but the +pursuers' velocity was reckless. One moment as they passed the eddy of +the junction of the Leston, and the end of the four-oar swung round +into the middle of the river, there was a shock, a shriek of many +voices; and just as John and Wilmet Harewood were crossing the lawn to +return to their own cottage, they beheld both boats upset, and fifteen +persons struggling in the midstream. + +Even as the collision took place, Felix had seized Theodore, and after +both had been drawn down for a second, rose again, making vigorous +strokes with one arm for the bank, reaching that of the churchyard, +where it was built up high and steep; but with one of the violent +efforts of a supreme moment, he grasped a branch of the overhanging +willow tree, swung himself up by one arm till his feet had a hold, and +he could launch himself partly over the iron rail, and deposit his +burthen on the grass, when climbing over, he reached down and dragged +up Geraldine from the arm of Clement, who had closely followed him. + +By that time both the other sisters were safe; Charles Audley, +thoroughly at home in the water, had directed himself more skilfully, +holding Stella by her shoulder, to the garden landing-place, further +off, but of easier access. Indeed, she had not lost the power of +helping herself, when Wilmet's arms clasped her on the steps; and only +a few moments later, Angela, who had kept herself afloat, was likewise +landed, with very little aid from Charles. + +Lance's rescue was harder. He could not swim at all, sank twice, and +rose the second time a little way down the stream, where John Harewood +grappled him and brought him to the steps, helpless and at first +unconscious. Of the other boat's crew, two reached the bank alone, +another had saved his fellow, a fifth clung to his oar, and was guided +ashore by Clement, a sixth was drawn out insensible by young Audley; +the last was still missing, and John, Charles, one of the other lads, +and old Tripp, were all striving to find and rescue him. Four figures +lay insensible, three more were struggling back to life--the servants +rushing down; Wilmet, supporting Lance in his gasping efforts, took +the command. 'Angel, Stella--don't wait, back to the house. Change +instantly.--Amelia, go with them, give them something hot, never mind +what, and put Miss Underwood to bed.--Yes, Clement, carry her to her +room; and you--don't do anything else till you have changed--Felix, +we'll take Tedo to the laundry; it is hot, and flannels can be warmed +sooner.--Golightly, you and Martha take this one.--You two the +other.--Follow Mr. Underwood--Yes, dear Lancey, you are better. They +are all safe. Shall I help you up? That's right. Lean on, my dear, more +than that; don't be afraid, I'm strong enough; there, you get on very +well.' + +Before they had made many steps, a shout proclaimed that the last +sufferer had been found; and while he was carried between his friend +and Tripp, Wilmet hastily insisted that her husband should hurry home +and change his clothes before doing anything else, and relinquishing +Lance to Charlie to be helped up-stairs, hastened to the scene of +action in the laundry, where the four lifeless figures were stretched +on the ironing tables. The other three young men were sent to be +between blankets till their clothes could be dried; and Felix, after +having laid down his unconscious burthen, lingered for a moment, till +Wilmet ordered him off to change his dripping clothes, when he obeyed +without a word. + +Clement, half-dressed, was finding garments for Charlie, and insisting +that bed was the place for Lance, when there was a sudden call at +his door, and as he opened it Angela stood before him, exclaiming, +'Come this instant!' and as he followed her flying steps, he beheld +Felix on the stairs, sitting propped against the balusters, holding a +handkerchief to his mouth covered with blood. He had been standing, +supporting himself against the post at the bottom, when Angela had +first found him, and had so far helped him up; but the effort had +evidently been agonizing, and increased the bleeding so much, that she +had tried to place him safely, and hurried for aid. He could do nothing +for himself, but Charles Audley coming to their assistance, they +brought him to his room door, where Angela, crying, 'Ice! ice is the +thing!' dashed away to the offices, where she heard voices. + +'Miss Angela, you mus'n't come here.' + +'Quick, Martha, the key of the ice-house.' + +'Hice-ouse! bless you, Miss Hangela, 'tis 'ot as is wanted.' + +'It is ice for the bleeding. It's a blood-vessel! It is Felix. I must +have the key.' + +But Martha, always despising Angela, and now all the more with her hair +streaming below her waist, simply did not hear, and hurried away with +her flannels. Angela rushed after her, but only heard, 'You can't come +here.' + +As she was raising her voice for a more peremptory cry, she saw John +Harewood returning. He understood in a moment, made entrance, obtained +the key, and while she fetched the ice, he hurried to the scene of the +most pressing and grievous need. + +By the time she brought the ice, the drenched clothes had been removed, +and Felix was in bed, and the remedy she had obtained did at last check +the flow of blood, but there was not only exhaustion but evidently very +severe pain. 'Where?' He put his hand to his right side; and at that +moment, to their infinite relief, they found among them Dr. Thomas +May, the professor, who--on his way home from a visit to his friend +the chemist--had been met in the village and brought to their aid even +before Page, who was out on his rounds. + +The verdict of the first moment was that the hæmorrhage was not from +the lungs, and indeed the patient showed no difficulty in speaking +after the first faintness. Had he felt the hurt on throwing himself +over the rail? He thought so, but could not recollect; it only +became disabling when he tried to go up-stairs, and that brought the +bleeding--'but Theodore! Pray go to Theodore!' + +There was no withstanding his anxiety, only the Professor directed +the unsuccessful endeavour to make the posture easier, and ordered +fomentations as the only present alleviation, except perfect stillness. +No judgment could be formed as yet, and he therefore gratified the +ardent desire faintly breathed forth, while the great drops of pain +stood on the brow. 'Please, see Geraldine! And when Theodore comes +round, bring him here! Clem, see it is so; he will be pacified in sight +of me.' + +Clement promised, and made it plain that it would be better for both; +and then he took the young doctor first to Geraldine, who, once in +bed, could not leave it without assistance, and was chained there +in terrible anxiety, with Stella as her messenger; but her agony of +suspense was her chief ailment, and after saying all he conscientiously +could to soothe her, Dr. Tom was guided to the laundry, where he +vanished. + +Long, long was news watched for from thence. Even those who went in +quest of hot water learnt nothing, till at last Charlie heard that one +of the young men was reviving, and presently he was carried up to the +spare room. + +Another quarter, another half-hour dragged by. Felix renewed his +entreaty for Theodore's presence, but messenger after messenger +returned not. First John went and came back no more, then Clement was +called for and never returned, and Felix became so restless under the +impression that Wilmet would choose to put the child to bed unhappy +in Sibby's room, that Lance could only carry down his mandate to the +contrary. Then when the next access of watching and anxiety was visibly +increasing the suffering and danger, Angela left Stella in charge, +and went herself to represent that the dire suspense must be relieved +before it did further harm. + +The ear was in a state of agonized tension, and caught a sound. 'Open +the door, Stella. Hark!' + +She obeyed. There were voices; Wilmet's--Clement's. 'You go!'--'He will +bear it best from you!' they said. + +She heard no more, for Felix had started up on his elbow, and the blood +had again rushed to his lips. She called for help. All were about +him, there was no checking it, for seconds--for minutes. His face was +deathly, his hands cold. Clement, holding him on his breast, whispering +prayers, felt him more prone and feeble every instant; all believed +that a life was ebbing away far more precious than the little feeble +spark so easily quenched. + +When a respite came, it was with a hand on the pulse, and with an +anxious face, that the doctor durst signify to them that this was +relief--not the end as yet; but as Clement laid the head back the +furrows of pain had cleared, the brow had smoothed, the breath came +without the stifled groans, the position was less constrained, and when +Angela ventured to say, 'He looks more comfortable,' there was an air +of assent and rest, the worst of the pain was evidently relieved for +the time. + +Stella stole away with the tidings to poor Geraldine, whom she found +sitting up in bed, trembling so that the whole framework shook, +and totally unable to move from it, without the appliances that +assisted her lameness. Before long, Wilmet was able to attend to a +representation of her condition, and could bring her wonted remedies, +and what was even better, her strong soft arms to enfold the little +frail quivering frame, and her sweet, steady, full voice to assure her +that Felix was undoubtedly better, and not suffering near so much. + +And when Cherry was quieted, and Wilmet would have returned, the +little handmaid said, in an imploring voice, 'Where is dear Tedo? +mayn't I go to him now?' + +'My dear child!' exclaimed Wilmet, in pitying consternation, 'then you +don't know?' + +Cherry saw what was implied! How else could the helpless darling have +been left by all! + +'It is so?' she said. + +Wilmet bent her head. + +Stella gave a kind of moan. + +'Yes,' Wilmet said, 'It is nearly three hours since. The Professor +said there might be hope for two. One young man is getting better at +last, Page is with him. We went on trying--John says for two hours and +a quarter, and Sibby is going on still; but there is no hope now; and +when I heard about Felix--Stella, dear child, where are you going?' + +'Mayn't I help Sibby?' The voice was so plaintively imploring, the eyes +looked so mournfully earnest out of the loose damp mass of dark brown +hair, that it seemed cruel to answer, 'Stella, dear dear little one, +indeed you must not, you can't go there.' + +Instinctive obedience recalled her; but still she pleaded, 'He must get +better! He was such a little moment under water! I think he is afraid +to open his eyes because I am not there, nor Brother. Do let me try! +I'm sure he would know me.' + +'Stella, sweet, indeed I would let you if I could; but you can't go to +the laundry, there are strange men about, and they are making up a bed +for young Light; he can't be moved. The hope is quite gone, my dear, it +was such a feeble little tender life.' + +'And there could have been no pain or fright,' said Cherry. + +But she broke off, as poor little Stella collapsed with her face +between her hands, sitting on the floor, lost in her hair, not +speaking, only a great stifling smothering sob heaving up, as if the +oppression of her first grief were crushing, nay strangling her. + +Wilmet knelt down to gather her into her motherly arms, and whisper +comfort, but this was not what she wanted; she somehow slid away, stood +up, and said, 'Please, may I go into my own room? I want to be by +myself.' + +'To your room and your bed, my dear,' said Wilmet. 'I am going to send +you both some tea.' + +Cherry only had visits from the maids, with tea that refreshed her, but +from which Stella in the inner room turned away. The summer twilight +had passed into night before a long black figure looked in. 'Asleep, +Cherry?' + +'Oh no, Clem! I knew you would come.' + +'I am sorry not to have come before, but there has been so much to do.' + +'And he?' + +'Tom May thinks his pulse stronger, and was struck by the look of rally +about his face when we came back after supper.' + +'Who is there now?' + +'Wilmet and the Professor. May will let no one sit up who has been in +the water. I care the less because with my door open it is almost like +being in the same room.' + +'But he is better?' + +'Not in pain,' said Clement; 'and May thinks that there are no ribs +broken, though there is a great bruise. Much may be only violent +sprain, and it may be only some unimportant vessel that has given +way; but he is too weak and tender yet for anything like examination. +However, as long as the bleeding does not return, he is gaining every +hour.' + +'It was that dreadful scramble up the bank!' + +'That quite accounts for it; and he must have twisted himself as he +threw himself over the rail. No one could have done it in cold blood, +even without dear Baby's weight.' + +'And after that he pulled me up! Clem, it was you that saved me, +and yet I could not thank you if--O Clem!' She laid her head on his +shoulder, struggling with horror at the bare notion of life without +Felix. + +He was very sorry for her. He had always loved her the best of his +sisters, yet he felt himself so inadequate to fill to her the place of +their eldest, or even of the lost Edgar. + +'My poor Cherry!' he said, stroking her damp hair; 'but thus far God +has been very gracious to us, and we will take hope, and trust Him. +Think how much worse it might have been. So many in danger, and the +only one taken so surely gone home!' + +'Ah! I can only think how happy we were so short a moment before. He +said halcyon weather came to bear us through storms; but oh! it makes +it worse.' + +'You will not think so when you see our little one's countenance, +sealed with his Alleluia! The vacancy is gone, and there is a wonderful +depth in his face, as if his Ephphatha had come to the guileless lips. +Sibby and I have been dressing him in his surplice, and laying him +under the Cross in the Oratory with his broom blossoms in his hand. +Sibby says he was still clutching them when Felix gave him to her. Poor +Sibby, she says her heart stood still then; but she would not cease +from trying to restore him till long after we all knew it was vain; +and when I made her desist, for the sake of young Light, who must be +kept quiet, I thought she would have broken her heart; but at last she +seemed to feel the soothing awe of the dear little face; and she has +got her beads, and means to keep her vigil over him all night.' + +'Does _he_ know?' + +'Wilmet fancies not, and is on the watch for his asking; but I am sure +he understood, when I thought he was fast going, and told him Theodore +was "safe home." I am sure it made it easier;' and as Cherry winced and +shuddered, he added, 'This calmness after the suspense was over was +really what did him most good. He is better every hour, and no one else +of ourselves at all the worse except Lance. When the alarm was over, we +found him shivering violently, and hardly able to hold up his head. I +believe that his danger was the greatest of all, and that he could not +have been saved but for John; the stream was carrying him down against +the bridge.' + +'O Clem! help me to be thankful! But is not one poor fellow really +taken?' + +'Yes, a fine young lad about Bernard's age. He had been under water so +long, that we never had much hope; but the whole frame seemed so made +for vigour, that Page thought there might be a return, and went on with +Krishnu's help for four hours--nor did Sibby leave off till after that. +They were a party of clerks and shopmen from Spiers and Hart's. The +four who are gone home are very subdued and grateful. The father of one +came out in a fly and took them all back, though I thought it rather a +risk for the lad who had been so long insensible.' + +'Then there is one in the red-room.' + +'He had had some blow, and was too much done up to move; but Page says +he will be all right to-morrow. I am more afraid for the one in the +laundry, and have got Kerenhappuch to sit up with him. The poor boy who +is lying by our dear child was a clerk of Hart's; Audley was going to +see about sending to his people. He went off in his skiff a couple of +hours ago.' + +'There's eleven o'clock! O Clem, I ought not to keep you from resting.' + +'This is rest, Cherry.' + +'Only leave me something to rest on.' + +'What shall I say to you?' + +'What you like. There are matches.' + +'I need not read.' + +And he murmured over her Psalm, Collect, thanksgiving, and prayer, +half quoted, half from his own heart, and then stood to give her his +blessing of peace, and his kiss, which left her hushed, softened, +comforted, attuned to meet whatever might be coming. + +Again he was at her door in early morning, with tidings of reassurance. +Felix had spent a quiet night, without recurrence of bleeding, and +though too feeble almost for speech, and unable to make the least +movement without pain, he had so far surmounted the first danger, that +Professor May meant to go away on the return of the carriage he had +sent home at night, and, unless telegraphed for, would not come again +till Thursday, only enforcing absolute quiescence though not forbidding +speech. Clement had seen a great improvement in looks, and Wilmet had +consented to lie down on her husband's coming to take charge of the +patient. + +'And Lance?' + +'He is getting up to come to Church, though he has had a bad night, and +he looks anything but fit for it. He says he must come even if he has +to go back to his bed.' + +'Surely it is too great a risk.' + +'So I told him, but he declares he has caught no cold, and that it is +all headache and feverishness, which fresh air will relieve. I don't +know, but I can't withhold him.' + +'Whit-Tuesday! I had forgotten. Sunday seems to have been ages ago!' + +'And how are you, Cherry? Did you sleep?' + +'In a sort of way; I am quite well, if only any one would come and help +me to get up! I can't bear lying here any longer. Do try to send me one +of the maids. I can't disturb that poor little dear; she is asleep at +last. Take my heart with you, Clement! After all, it is a sacrifice of +thanksgiving this morning.' + +Clement was wont to gather his small daily congregation in the Lady +Chapel, where never since the family migration had the early Holy-day +Celebration been so scantily attended. It was in unison with the many +beyond that he made his Commemoration, his oblation, his intense +intercession, in the dewy light of the early summer morning, his +apparently low yet really powerful deep-pitched voice sounding far down +the aisles and among the pillars in the nave. + +The blessing echoed beyond the enclosing screen, and presently Lance +rose from his knees and moved slowly westwards. If for a space he had +felt some of the joy of holy comfort on the renewal of the sacrifice of +self, soul and body, love and hope, before the Lord of life and death, +yet he was more conscious of the oppression of the sickly odour of the +drooping greenery and faded flowers that hung trailing on column and +poppy-head, and which compelled him to leave the Church, though every +step down the nave seemed to increase the load of sorrow, anxiety, and +wounded affection, beneath which head and heart had burnt and throbbed +the long night through. If he had reinforced patience and resolution, +he could not yet feel the benefit. + +A slight sound made him raise his eyes. Whom did he see catching at +a bench for support, with white cheek and dilated eye? Whose voice +exclaimed, 'You! you safe then!' Whose hand, so strangely cold, grasped +his with convulsive eagerness, as her lips formed but did not utter the +inquiry, 'Who?' + +'Our poor little Theodore,' he said. 'My brother is better this +morning.' + +'Theodore! I never thought of him!' she gasped. 'Two lives--one in +great danger--the note said--Tom's man could not tell which--I could +not bear it--I had behaved so ill to--' + +And she was cut short by a violent though hushed fit of weeping, while +he exclaimed incoherently, 'No! no! don't think--I was a fool--oh! +don't cry--don't--it is all over now--and this is so good and precious! +Oh! please don't cry! Come in to Cherry! Take my arm.' + +'Oh!' between her sobs, in a panting whisper. 'I never meant that. But +I should have died if I had not come with the carriage to find out. I +went in here to wait. I meant no one to know.' + +'You must come in now. Cherry is well, and up.' + +'I can't! I ought not! Don't let any one know.' + +'Indeed you must come in! Think of the comfort to Cherry. Besides, you +will hear of them all. Come.' + +The tone was most persuasive, and Gertrude felt that she must yield; +indeed, she trembled so much as to need the support of his arm as he +took her along the cloister into the darkened house, up the stairs to +the Prior's room, where he was glad to find preparations for breakfast; +and placing Gertrude on the sofa, he was knocking at Cherry's door, +when he heard the tap of her stick as she came along the gallery from a +visit to Felix. + +She had only been allowed to give him ocular demonstration that she +was well and afoot, and exchange a kiss and five fond words; but the +welcoming smile of gladness had so enlightened his face, that she was +cheerful enough to be able to meet Lance's eager face and gesture as he +threw his arm round her, whispering, 'She's here, Cherry. She's come in +May's carriage. That most dearest--!' + +And before she had fairly recollected who was most dearest to Lance, +she was borne away into the room, to see tearful eyes, and crimson +face, find them hidden against her, and be almost stifled in Gertrude +May's embrace. + +The explanation was made in more detail than in the church. Tom May, +on finding that he must stay, had scribbled a pencil-line to his +wife--'Terrible boat accident; two lives gone, fears for two more. Send +the other horse for me to-morrow morning.' + +The groom was only sure that it was the Squire of whom scarcely a hope +was given, and another brother drowned, which he could not say, except +that it was not the clergyman. Dr. May and Ethel were spending the +night at Abbotstoke; and Gertrude, after hours of tossing under remorse +for her discourtesy, and misery of suspense, found waiting unendurable, +and obeyed the impulse to rise and go with the carriage. + +'Indeed,' she said, looking up to Lance, 'it was very wrong. I could +not believe anything so exquisite had been done for me.' + +'As if anything--' + +'But haven't I been punished!' she went on, not pausing. 'Oh! to think +I never--never could unsay it, nor ask your pardon!' + +'Pardon!' he gasped, turning as red as before he had been pale, and +holding a chair for support; and before he could say another word, the +impulsive girl cried, 'And oh! it is all my selfishness, bothering him +when he looks so dreadfully ill.' + +'No, no,' broke out Lance, afraid he was frightening her away, and +still almost beside himself. 'This is perfect healing.' + +'Don't talk nonsense,' broke in Cherry, half comprehending, but +a good deal alarmed, and therefore assuming authority with some +peremptoriness; 'the truth is, you are both famished, and must have +some breakfast this instant.' She poured out coffee, and then moved to +provide eatables. Lance's instinct was of course to help her, but his +hand shook so much that he had to relinquish the bread-knife. 'Yes,' +said Cherry, as she took it from him; 'no wonder! When did you eat +last?' + +'I--can't tell. Somebody made me swallow something hot and abominable +when I came in, and my head has never stopped going round ever since; +but I don't care now.' + +'No doubt it saved you from something worse.--You know he was longer in +the water than any of us.' + +'I don't know anything,' said Gertrude. 'I thought Mr. Underwood--' + +Then it had to be explained--that is, as much as Cherry and Lance knew. +'Some tipsy fellows racing us--the shock--the helpless plunge;' then +Cherry had felt the instant security of Clement's arm, and was drawn up +the bank. + +'How beautiful it was!' said Gertrude softly, 'that care for poor +little Theodore first, and then you!'--and softer tears came into her +eyes. 'It is just like all his life.' + +'Just,' they both said, gratefully. + +'And how does he look?' + +'Perfectly white, dear fellow--lips and all,' said Cherry; 'and he +speaks so slowly, and only just above his breath; but his eyes watch +one about with all their grave brightness.' + +'Grave brightness,' whispered Gertrude to herself, while a sweet +satisfied look passed over her face. 'Did he know how it was with the +poor little one before he--was ill?' + +'No,' said Lance; but he could now add that when Felix had seen +Clement about to go to church, he had said, 'Remember me, and give +thanks--above all for dear Baby.' + +Never perhaps had Gertrude shown such soft shy tenderness; and Lance +confirmed the trust that Theodore could scarcely have felt a pang, for +he said that in his own case the drowning had been far preferable to +the coming back to life, when Wilmet had seemed a cruel tormentor. + +'Who was it that brought you out?' + +'Who, Cherry? I never asked!' + +'Oh!' emphatically exclaimed Gertrude; then in a murmur under her +breath, 'or what would it not have been to me?' + +'It was John Harewood,' said Cherry. + +There was a knock. Professor May, at his principal patient's entreaty, +had come to inspect Miss Underwood. His amazement at the spectacle of +her companions was unbounded, and did not make him merciful to Lance, +whom he meant to have next visited in bed, and whose throbbing pulses, +varying complexion, heavy eyes, aching limbs, palpitating breath, +and untasted meal, all indicated that he ought to have been there. +The reproof was not like the rough uncompromising scolding Rugg was +wont to bestow; but with quiet irony Dr. Tom impressed on Lance that +getting up had been a recklessly foolish pastime, in which he might +have been permitted to indulge so far as his own insignificant welfare +was concerned, but that he could not be permitted to inflict another +serious illness on his family. The only thing that was proper by them +was immediately to repair to his bed, and there await the upshot of his +imprudence, so as to mitigate the effect as much as possible. + +And then summarily carrying off his sister, Tom began as soon as +they were outside the gate, 'This is simply the most extraordinary +proceeding I ever heard of.' + +Gertrude held her tongue. + +'May I ask whether my father is in the habit of permitting these freaks +when he is visiting his patients?' + +'I beg your pardon,' she answered. 'I forget the unapproachableness of +your patients when they are my dearest friends.' + +'Oh, indeed!' Then presently, and as if for fear the groom should +hear--'_Les demoiselles font beaucoup de choses mal à propos à l'heure +qu'il est, mais je vous conseille de ne pas avouer votre préférence à +si haute voix_.' + +'I don't care,' she said, scorning the veil, 'who knows that I glory in +appreciating heroism.' + +'The heroism of getting upset in a boat!' + +She deigned no reply; and he waited, trusting to her feminine nature to +make her begin again, but silence was her only refuge from angry tears +or words, and she kept it till the Church Ewe station was in sight. + +'Thank you,' she said. 'I'll go home by train.' + +He had visits to make, and was glad to be quit of her, but with +elaborate cold care came to the station, found that a train was nearly +due, and waited with her. He must have done so for the purpose of +saying, 'Mind! these are estimable persons, but that is no reason for +dropping self-restraint.' Then, as her pout nettled him, 'Nothing is +more disgusting or unmaidenly than pursuit of one in a lower walk of +life.' + +'Walks of life are what men make them.' And they treated each other +with dignified silence till the train came. + +'Well,' said Dr. May, on hearing his son's story, 'the Press is king +now-a-days, and one daughter is his tribute.' The Doctor still liked to +tease Tom. + +Meantime, Lance, in no condition to resist, had betaken himself to +his own chamber, but only to find the housemaid had left the bed in +the most approved sanitary state--so long as it was not to be lain +on. Not sorry for a dispensation from captivity, he extracted his +private horse-hair pillow from the pile of bed-clothes, and came +back to the painting-room, where Cherry cleared her large sofa, and +covered him up with her Indian silk quilt, he smiling blissfully, and +observing, 'Isn't she the dearest girl in the world?' Cherry might +have heard a great deal, had it been possible to her to sit and talk +when innumerable messages were coming for her. When she had answered +the first, he began again with 'So sweet and generous.' Then came the +second which involved a note. When she looked at him again, he only +smiled. She next had to go down to the kitchen; and on her cautious +return she found him asleep, breathing like a child, and a colour--not +fever--coming into his cheek. + +'Poor fellow!' she sighed to herself. 'I wonder if there is any hope +for him; but if the notion only bears him through to-day, it is a +blessing!' + +Poor Cherry! Such as this was all the nursing she was good for. Her +nerves made her not to be trusted alone in a sick-room, not to do equal +damage to herself and the patient; and she could only sit with the door +ajar, writing notes, and acting as referee to countless questions, all +in an undertone out of respect to Lance's slumbers. + +And there meanwhile sat Angela, trusted to fan Felix, refresh him +with a strawberry or spoonful of iced lemonade, bathe his face with +eau-de-cologne, or catch his slightest wish, cares so congenial, +that she liked them for a stranger, how much more delightful for 'my +brother;' and though she knew more clearly than anyone save John +and Clement how precarious his state was, youthful buoyancy viewed +the danger as the cause of future triumph. To be a lady-doctor was +surely her vocation! What a pity Charlie was heir to a baronetcy! And +he had finally saved her--though she had kept herself afloat--_he_ +might be allowed the honour of her rescue; and if it made him her +fate, Lady Audley, M.D., should obtain a magnificent triumph over +conventionality, far beyond all her former conceptions. + +When Clement came into the room at noon, she would not give up her +place. Felix looked up to him, and said, 'You are seeing to things!' + +'Yes--' interrogatively. + +'Try how near that willow it can be.' + +'I will.' + +'How about the inquest?' + +'At the Rood this afternoon. Never mind about that.' + +'Only see there is no injustice to those poor lads! It was our own +doing;' and as Clement looked amazed, 'if our boat had not swung +round;' but the earnestness with which the words were spoken brought +a thrill of pain that cut him short; and they wiped his brow, and +sprinkled him with scent, and watched anxiously till the lines about +the eyes and mouth began to relax, and he smiled thanks back, then +closed his eyes. + +Clement left the room unheard, for the heat of the day compelled the +opening of window and doors. He had only just became conscious that +from the moment of the accident he had never had leisure to consider +the cause; and he went across to the painting-room, where he did not +find Cherry; but Lance awoke at his entrance, sat up, and in answer to +his apology and inquiry pronounced, 'There's wonderful virtue in sleep. +I don't think any of the ills Tom May threatened me with are coming to +pass.' + +'Your head?' + +'No worse than I'm well used to, thank you. How is it in there?' + +Clement told him what had just passed, adding, 'What do you remember?' + +'My notion,' said Lance, 'was simply that we were overtaken by a lot of +scamps too excited to perceive what they were about, and egged on by +Angel's unlucky song.' + +'I doubt the "excitement" being of the technical kind, unless the water +had a very sudden sobering effect.' + +'Indeed! Well, considering that you were in your shirt-sleeves, their +not perceiving that we weren't in their style was not so wonderful. +So Felix says we ought to have cleared them. Ay, I do remember the +swinging round now.' + +'An oar must have missed the stroke, and brought her stern foul of the +other.' + +'He must have seen who it was,' said Lance. + +'Yes, but as the point is to exonerate these fellows, there seems no +need to drive it close home among ourselves.' + +'No, _she_ need never know exactly what she has done,' said Lance. + +'I did not say she never should,' returned Clement; 'but the public +need not. In fact, we have nothing to say. Felix, in the stern, may +have seen, but I did not.' + +'And Charlie Audley?' + +'If he knows no more positively than we do, you may be sure he will +not draw inferences. I wonder he has not been here yet, by-the-by.' + +'You don't mean to forewarn him?' + +'Certainly not.' + +'No, it would not be right. All we determine is that it shall not be +known through us, if we can keep truth and justice without,' said +Lance; 'and if appearances are to be trusted, he is likely to be as +ready--or more so--to shield her as any one of us.' + +'I believe that is as great an absurdity as any of the rest,' said +Clement, gloomily. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +PRINCESS FAIR-STAR. + + 'But the little Stars we found (out) + Down amongst the Underwood.' + _Jean Ingelow._ + + +Even while Lance and Clement were in discussion, Charles Audley +had paddled up the river, and mooring his little craft at the +landing-place, had taken the path to the garden. + +There, beyond the cedar, so as to be hidden from any one upon the +river, sat Stella, decking a cross with lilies-of-the-valley and white +lilacs. Scamp was lying by her, and her doves parading and cooing +on the grass and cedar boughs beside her; but the utter droop and +dejection of her young figure were altogether out of keeping with the +summer surroundings; the shining head was bowed, and the heavy eyelids +with broad red rings around them showed that she had wept and wept on +for hours. She did not hear the step on the soft grass, for her low sad +voice was murmuring, 'My Tedo, my darling, my baby, is this the last +thing I shall ever do for him?' + +Then Scamp wagged his tail and crested his ears in greeting, and the +doves circled about, and perched higher upon the cedar tree, while +Charles, holding one of the flat sweeping boughs back, stood looking +down at her, as hardly knowing how to greet her, and with a tear +gathering in his eyes. She stood up, and looked up to him meekly and +sweetly, with a touching sort of welcome, as she held out her hand, +saying simply, 'You saved me, and I never thanked you yesterday.' + +Instead of speaking, Charles lifted the little hand in both his to his +lips and cheek for a moment, as if nothing else could express how he +prized that chance; but if Stella thought at all, it was that it was a +kind action of comforting. + +'Your brother is better,' he said, having inquired at Page's door. + +'Yes, he is better. I saw him, and he just spoke; but he does look so +bad!' + +'He will soon mend now,' said Charles, with the confidence of one who +knew nothing about it. 'And you are all alone?' + +'They are all busy or resting or something, and I want to do it all for +Theodore myself--my own own darling!' The last words were a moan to +herself, as she sat down in her low chair and resumed the little cross. + +'May not I help a _little?_' softly entreated Charles, sitting down +on the grass and quietly handing her the flowers, ready arranged in +bunches, with a leaf. She did not speak, but seemed to like it. There +was a loneliness about her that again struck him, so that he could not +help half blaming those who had left her to herself; and to account for +their absence asked after Lance. + +'He is up, but he seems very poorly still,' she said; 'he is lying down +in the Prior's room.' + +'And they have left you all to yourself?' + +'I like to be alone. Nobody did care for him like me. They were all +very kind to him. I don't think he knew the sound of a rough word, my +dear little gentle Tedo! but nobody understood him like me, nobody +could make him understand--' and she rocked herself backwards and +forwards under the load of her first real grief. It was very sad to the +young man to watch, and he hardly knew what to say, as again he took +her hand. 'Well, now he can't have any troubles, you know, Stella, he's +a great deal happier than ever you could make him.' + +'Oh yes, I know that. Only it is foolish. I can't think how he gets on +all alone! I know it is very wrong, but if Felix or I had gone with +him it would not seem so strange for him. Yes, it is very silly,' she +added, half laughing, but crying again, 'but it _will_ seem hard to +fancy he does not want me.' + +'He is not the only one to want you,' muttered Charles. + +'Oh no! There are plenty of them. I want to be thankful, indeed I +do, but no one ever can be so dear! Never mind,' she added in her +unselfishness, perceiving that her exceeding sorrow was causing grief +and perplexity, 'it can't be helped; I do know he is happy, and I'll +learn to bear the being left alone.' + +'Never! if dearest love can make up to you--dearest, sweetest little +one!' cried Charles. 'There!' as he took both her hands, and her +wistful wondering eyes were raised, 'don't you see some one who wants +you every moment, and that all your brothers put together can't love +you a quarter as much as I do? There! there! Only do just promise, +Stella, never to talk again of being left all alone while you have +Charlie.' + +'I don't think I can,' said Stella, in a dreamy wondering voice, 'for +you are so kind.' + +'And you'll let me try to comfort you?'--a dangerous proposal, for he +did not in the least know how he should have set about it if she had +not answered, 'I think you do,' as if it rather surprised her, bringing +such an approach to caressing as would have startled her at any moment +when her heart was not so yearning for tenderness and sympathy. And +there was a reaction the next moment, as finding herself guilty of +forgetting Theodore and his cross, she gave a moan of pain--'Oh, my +Tedo!' and went on with her work; but she let him wait on her with the +flowers, and now and then a little squeeze of the hand, and he knew he +must be content with that much. Presently she said that she ought to +make something for 'that other poor one, or it would look so unkind +when his mother came.' In this task she could brook more help, and she +spoke more over it, with a sweet soft languor that had an infinite +pathos, as if somehow the acute anguish of her loss had been softened, +and she were resting in the strange new peace which she did not yet +know for joy, but which had filled her heart. She was so very young, +so very pure, so very unconscious, that Charlie, almost as young and +not much less simple and innocent, was as tender and reverent of her +and her grief, and the state of her guardian brother, as though she had +been one of her own white flowers--those last sprays she let him take +from her hand when all was done, and they went together to carry the +wreaths and crosses to the Oratory. + +The large heavy curtains that separated the hall from the long room +were let down, and the screen, a tall wooden one, as usual cut off the +Oratory. Here the chairs had been removed to make room; and close under +the Cross, to the eastward, were the two tables that had been covered +with white to receive the two who had so lately gone forth full of life. + +On one of the chairs sat Cherry, endeavouring to obtain some record of +that unearthly loveliness of expression, chiefly for Felix's sake. She +had just done all she durst, and produced a drawing that would not look +like such an utter failure away from the original, when these two came +in, Stella leading the way in gentle awe, very sad indeed, but still +not with that utterly drooping downcast look of leaden grief which had +in the morning shrunk from all comforters who could only believe, not +enter into, the intensity of her mourning for her twin. + +Cherry, in the corner, almost hidden by the chairs, could not tell +whether her presence were perceived; but in truth the child was so +simple, that she would probably have done exactly the same whether +her sister was present or not, and Charles had no eyes for aught save +her. She knelt down for a moment, with her face in her hands; then she +kissed the white brow set in fair hair, and seemed to expect Charles to +do the same, as a great favour to him, after which she let him help her +to lay her cross with the wreath round it on the breast, and change the +now closed Star of Bethlehem that lay under the waxen fingers, as well +as that withered spray of broom. Once more she knelt, and whispered +the Lord's Prayer: and he did the same, imitating her in everything, a +grave kind of light on his young brow. It was very solemn and beautiful +to see them, and Cherry watched them almost with awe. + +When they rose, Stella placed her decorations on the longer broader +form on the other table, but whispered that Clement had bidden her not +to look at that face. + +They went away hand in hand, and parted upon the lawn, for precious as +each other's presence was, they, in their reverence and inexperience, +felt as if his coming in to the family meal might be an intrusion, +which neither could propose. So he bade her tell her brothers that he +should meet them at the Rood. + +'I shall hardly see you just yet,' he said, 'though I shall come to +the door every day, but never--never think yourself alone, dearest, +dearest, dearest one!' And after holding both the little hands for some +moments in his, he drew her up to him for one second, then was gone. + +No one saw Angela standing at the garden door, with contracted brows +and bitten lip. As she crossed the hall, there was an entrance at the +front door; but she darted up-stairs, and it was Stella who first +greeted Bernard, who had been telegraphed for by Charlie, and came +home awed, subdued, and terribly alarmed by the report he had heard at +Church Ewe. 'But I see it was all clack, after all, and no harm done,' +he said, as he looked at his little sister's face. 'Only why do you +frighten a fellow by having all the blinds down?' + +And Stella, horrified at her own disloyalty, could hardly find +utterance to explain that it was but too true; and when she led Bernard +to the Oratory, somehow it was all the happy and glorious side of her +twin's removal that dwelt with her, while he, who had been in a rough +way very fond of the little helpless one, and had never faced death +before, broke entirely down with 'Poor little chap! I wish I'd been +better to him! I meant to have got him a new thingumijig last half--but +I spent--I wish I hadn't now. It seems so odd not to hear him humming.' +And he yielded at last to a fit of crying; and when Stella spoke softly +of the present joyful songs, he said, 'Ay! ay! that's all very well for +you that were always good to him, and never kicked him about; but if +I'd only known--' + +And yet it had always been the most hopeful part of Bernard's character +that he had never been really unkind to Theodore, and very rarely even +impatient, even when teased by a fit of imitation. + +The mid-day meal was the first family assembly since the same hour the +previous day, and it did not collect all the members at the same time. +Angela was only sent down after every one else had done, constrained +by Wilmet's command, enforced by a word from Felix. Cherry had lain in +wait for her, to ask necessary questions about her mourning, for no +circumstances were likely to make Angela brook the having orders for +her dress given without consulting her. + +'There's a box of hats and bonnets in Sibby's room, if you would look +at them. The bonnets are all one worse than another; but if you would +see if you would like one like mine or like Stella's--' + +Angela jumped as if she had been stung. 'Stella's! certainly not.' + +'I have not chosen a very childish one for her. This will make her more +of a woman.' + +'Don't go chattering on!' broke out Angela. 'Don't you think _I've_ not +got enough upon me without your worrying me out of my life with that +little humbug!' + +'I don't think you know what you are saying.' + +'_You_ don't, Cherry. That's the way people are always taken in by a +little sham softness and simplicity. I hate such snakes.' + +It struck Cherry that Angela must have drawn the same conclusion as had +occurred to her for one moment as she saw the hands clasped. The bitter +word applied to their darling Fair-Star offended her not a little, but +she made a great effort to ask kindly, 'Has anything vexed you, Angel?' + +'Vexed!' as if the word were utterly inadequate. 'No, not one thing +more than another! Have done, Cherry! You mean it well, but I can't +stand it!--No more! I've had enough to keep me going;' and she threw +down her knife and fork, and gulped down a tumbler of beer. + +'You need not hurry. Wilmet is with Felix.' + +'As if I didn't know that!' + +There was a look and tone about her as if she were brimming over with +inconceivable misery, to which every word added; and Cherry felt quite +powerless to deal with her as she darted up-stairs. + +And just then came the feet of many men, treading as gently as they +could. John Harewood regretted for a moment that Stella and Clement had +not delayed their arrangements till after this inspection, yet it might +be well that these rougher spirits should see how little gloomy they +had made the sleep of the innocent. The young men too were evidently +struck by seeing that their comrade had not been neglected any more +than the child of the house, and Stella's cares were thus not thrown +away. + +Clement, Bernard, and John Harewood had just crossed the churchyard, +and were turning up the road to the village inn, when Clement +perceived that Angela had joined them, and turning back to her, he +said, 'My dear, you are not thinking of coming?' + +'I am.' + +'There is no need. Here are quite witnesses enough.' + +'No. No one knows what I do,' she said, with face as hard set as marble. + +'Has Felix spoken to you?' he said, understanding better. + +'Only what you heard. That was enough.' + +'It is a right purpose, Angela,' he said, kindly: 'but really you need +not expose yourself to this. We can quite exonerate the others by +showing that our boat swung round at the last moment, and that is all +that signifies. We neither saw nor knew why.' + +'And I did,' said Angela. + +To check her was plainly impossible. There was the sort of seared look +of misery about her face which had before struck Cherry, as if she were +perfectly indifferent what might happen to her, and hardly heard what +was said; and Clement could only make a gesture indicating that he had +no choice, when he met the astonished glances of the others. + +The Rood was almost as old as the Priory itself, and the inquest was +held in a curious old pannelled room. The other boat's crew had brought +an attorney to watch the proceedings, evidently anticipating that undue +blame would be imputed to them, to the damage of their character even +if nothing more came of it. + +The first to tell his story was the Reverend Edward Clement Underwood, +who merely explained the manner in which they were seated, the sudden +challenge from the six-oar, and how just as he had thought the boat +clear, he had felt whirled round in the eddy, the boat was struck in +the stern, and went down. His brother Theodore was instantly taken out; +Francis Yates, the other sufferer, not till the last, he could not say +how long. + +Charles Audley then spoke of the shouts and violence of the +pursuit--admitting, however, that it would have been harmless had not +the boat turned so as to expose her stern in the midst of the two +streams. An oar must have missed the stroke, but whose it was he could +not say; and he finally mentioned having brought out poor Yates, who +had been sucked down by the eddy, and carried to the opposite bank. The +Coroner asked in a complimentary voice whether he had not been more +successful in other cases; and Charlie, colouring, allowed that he had +brought two more out of the river. + +There Angela started up. Clement had tried to keep her till she +was called for, but the Coroner, seeing her agitation, courteously +expressed himself willing to take her evidence. Her cheeks were +crimson, and she spoke breathlessly. 'I only want to say it was +nobody's fault but mine. They would not have raced with us if I had +not begun singing. And then they would have cleared us, but I got +frightened when we came to the meeting of the currents, and my stroke +failed. That made the stern swing round. And I am ready to take the +consequences.' + +'No consequences need be apprehended, Miss Underwood,' said the +Coroner, a kind old man. 'No one can impute blame to a young lady for a +very natural alarm; and every one must feel this voluntary explanation +extremely honourable to you.' + +He was making a cruel cut if he had only known it, but he was full +of consideration for her; and the young men themselves gave their +evidence in a very different style from the defensive and offensive one +intended; nor was the question of their sobriety, on which they had +brought up the landlord of the Hook and Line, even alluded to, before +the verdict of accidental death was returned. + +Clement had the feeling that this was the most generous action of +Angela's life, and yet she had carried it out in so defiant a manner +that it was not easy to give her full credit; and before he could +address her, she had sped away, between skimming and striding, and was +across the churchyard before he had reached the door. + +Bernard relieved himself by a low whistle. + +'Well,' said Charlie, 'I thought her pluck indomitable. I never +supposed that she capsized us.' + +'Why, whom did you think it could be?' + +'Well, if you must know, I thought Lance just the spoon to do it--a +musician, and he'd been looking moon-struck all day.' + +'Much you know about Lance! Why, I'd have taken my oath beforehand it +was nobody's doing but Angel's. It's just the way with that sort of +girl that runs into what she's no call to--' + +Lance meantime was having a brief transaction with the reporter of the +Ewmouth paper, and then was detained by warm expressions from the other +boat's crew, who had been quite disarmed, and were eager to tell of +their sorrow and their sense of the kindness and 'handsomeness' of the +treatment they had received--speaking to him, indeed, a great deal more +freely than they could have done to his brother the Vicar, as a being +far less removed from their own sphere, and giving him valuable data +for dealing with their comrade, young Light, who still lay very ill. +Clement had visited him in the morning, and had found him gruff and +reserved, and showing decided objections to clerical visits as such. + +These lads seemed more careless than free-thinking, as they allowed +that Light certainly was; and they were now much impressed, and eager +to speak of poor Yates's steadiness and goodness. Indeed, he had +not even meant to go to the Maying, and they had been in the act of +chaffing him for the abstinence which they now longed to have shared. +It was the greater comfort, because his poor mother had just been +brought over by her son's master, who would take charge of her till the +funeral. She was in the strange mixture of fuss and grief that never +shows to advantage, and when taken to see her boy was divided between +gratitude at the honours paid to him and dread of their novelty, and +the ground where it was easiest to meet her was his real dutifulness +and affection. + +Attention to the poor woman and other calls hindered Clement from any +interview with Angela, whom indeed he hardly saw till the night vigil +which he was to share with her. The day had not been unfavourable, +except from the exhaustion produced by the afternoon heat; and +Bernard's brief visit had exceedingly dismayed him. He declared that +he had never seen any one look like _that_ but a fellow who had +been really killed by a disastrous blow at foot-ball, and put all +his auditors in the lowest spirits by a series of tragic anecdotes; +until Mr. Page, at his evening visit, declared that he saw more real +improvement than he had dared to expect. + +Felix could not bear to see two watchers losing their whole night's +rest; and as Angela was unpersuadable, Clement, to content him, lay +down dressed on the bed in the next room, and being thoroughly tired, +was fast asleep, when in the middle of the night an access of pain +returned, probably from some inadvertent movement in slumber. Felix +forbade Angela to summon his brother; but ere long the agony increased +so much, that, with a lip stiff and straightened by the struggle to +suppress a cry, he said, 'Help me!' and as thinking he wanted to change +his posture, she offered her arm and neck, he released another sob of +anguish, and answered, 'No! no! Say--prayers--what I can't recollect.' + +Her lips quivered, but no sound came. However, Clement, with true +nursing instinct, had been roused, and stood over him, uttering at +intervals the supplications after which he had been feeling in the +distraction of acute pain, and the look of having lost something passed +away. The fomentations were renewed; and at last, just as Lance was +dressing to go for Mr. Page, a faint but free voice said, 'Don't go, it +is getting better;' and in ten minutes more, the paroxysm had passed +into a sweet sleep, which lasted till long after morning had risen. + +Clement would not leave him again, but Angela refused every sign of +dismissal, and sat cold, hard, stiff as a statue, with open fixed +eyes, and cheeks so wan as to be almost green in the light of dawn. He +watched her with almost as much anxiety as the sleeper; and when at +four o'clock their watch was relieved by John and Wilmet, he followed +her to her own door, and said, 'Angel, my dear child, I am afraid you +are very unhappy.' + +'Well, why not? Good-night, or morning.' + +'Should we not both be better able to rest if you would let me do what +I can for you?' + +She laughed--a horrid painful scornful laugh it was. 'Much good that +would do. Such a trouble as this!' + +'Yet, Angel, would you but try! There is no grief or penitence too +vast--' + +The laugh again. 'So one says till one tries, and then one finds +that one hates it all! all! all! No, I tell you, Clement, I won't be +bothered now! I can't stand it.' + +And she locked her door. + +Even Felix, who in spite of that one attack was evidently stronger, +must have remarked her manner, for he asked Wilmet whether there were +anything amiss with Angel. 'She is grieving over her share in the +accident,' said Wilmet. 'I hope it may be a turning-point with her.' + +No doubt he thought over this; for later in the day, when Angela was +sponging his face and hands with warm water, and exclaimed at sight +of a red mark on his arm, 'Did you hurt yourself there, Felix?' he +answered, 'No, it is the old scald. Do you remember our talk then?' + +'You can't go on as you did then,' she hurriedly said. + +'Then don't look as you did then,' he said. 'Remember, visible results +are often merciful aids to correction.' + +She perpetrated a hard stiff smile; and from that time shunned being +left alone with him, and sometimes when the exterior family thought her +in the sick-room was really shut up in her own, for she avoided the +presence of the others as much as possible, and when among them showed +an irritability and unkindness to Stella that Cherry could hardly bear +to see. She could hardly answer an inquiry after Felix from her with +common courtesy, and roughly took things out of her hands to prevent +her bringing them into the room, when a moment's sight of her sweet +face would have been no harm but rather good to her patient. + +By Thursday much of the pain, tenderness, and disability to move were +gone; and Tom May was well satisfied, not only thinking the first +danger over, and ascribing the chief remaining damage to a sprain, +but wishing that Felix should be lifted to a couch, where he could +be a good deal cooler than in his bed. It was lucky that Wilmet and +Cherry had resisted Clement's desire to present all the old Squire's +invalid machinery to the hospital, for there was great comfort in the +easy-going wheeled couch with angles of every inclination on which he +was brought to the window. Bernard longed to draw up the blind, instead +of his 'seeing nothing but that black cross and the old trumpeting +angel under it,' as he said. + +'My trumpeting angel is a dear friend,' said Felix. 'He says a great +deal.' + +Felix was obedient to the order to be moved, and showed that he +was less prostrate in strength than had been anticipated; but his +passiveness struck those who knew him best as not so much the langour +of weakness as of sorrow. What Clement had rightly deemed no ill news +in what seemed his own last struggle, was a sore grief in his recovery. +Little Theodore's loving dependence was greatly missed, and saddened +the thought of returning to the family. + +Nor was he the only mourner. The first practice of the choir-boys +without him ended in a positive howl; one of them was reported to have +said Master Theodore was a little angel among them; and the intimation +of Stella's desire for broom blossom brought in such an accumulation of +golden flowers as might have covered the whole family. + +Sibby added to Clement's perplexities by announcing her intention of +not going to mass any more barring at Church. She would cast in her lot +with her own children, the darlin' above all that was the Lord's own +lamb; and she hadn't need go further, when here was Master Clem, as +good a praste as any of her own clergy that was. + +Though this was precisely Master Clem's own view, he could not tell +whether he were encouraging an act of schism or an act of Catholicity; +and he had not much choice, for praste as she owned him, he knew that +the least opposition would make him in his old nurse's eyes no more +than the long white boy she had victimized and allowed to be victimized +by all his brothers. He wondered whether to write to the Priest at +Ewmouth, who had certainly never attended to Sibby like his brother +at Bexley, nor exerted himself to encourage her weekly tramp to mass. +Altogether, though touched and warmed, he was by no means so elated +about his convert as Clan Hepburn would have thought proper. + +Those good ladies, in spite of their belief that there was a regular +_chapelle ardente_ round poor Theodore, and that the Vicar and the +Papist woman spent their time there in telling beads and sprinkling +holy-water, were too kind-hearted not to come daily to inquire, and +some one always went down to them. On Friday, when they were shown into +the drawing-room, they found Angela kneeling by the hearth, burning +some papers in the fire-place. + +'Felix was better,' she said; 'he was being dressed, and was to be +taken into the painting-room, it was so much cooler;' but even as she +spoke, the hard silent misery of her face went to their hearts. + +'You look sadly worn, my dear,' said Miss Bridget kindly. 'I hear you +are the best of nurses, but you must not be overtired.' + +'Oh! nothing hurts me!' with her horrid little laugh. + +'Fatigue of body is a rest to pain of mind,' said Miss Isabella; 'but +there is even a better rest, if you only knew your way to it, my poor +child.' + +'And I fear it is studiously overlaid and concealed,' sighed Miss +Bridget. + +Angela looked from one to the other; then exclaimed, 'There's not +a bit of help or comfort in anything! It is of no use talking. +Nothing--nothing will ever touch it.' + +The vast grief she meant, and Miss Isabella understood her. 'Yes, truly +there are times when all we have trusted in falls--falls away and +leaves us alone.' + +'And hating the humbug!' cried Angela, though even as she spoke she was +startled at her words; but the hard wretchedness of the past days, when +all she had been wont to hear of as comfort seemed but child's play +to the intensity of her grief, had exacerbated her against the whole +system in which she had been bred, so that the very sight of Clement +brought an angry sense of mockery. + +Miss Bridget was shocked at the language; but her sister understood +better. 'Yes, Bridget, the dear child is feeling the desolation that +sooner or later comes to all who have been content with unrealities! +Most cruel, but better than the delusion.' + +Bridget quoted, 'He feedeth on ashes; a deceived heart hath turned him +aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in +my right hand?' + +'Ashes! ashes indeed!' cried Angela passionately, as she looked at +the black paper with grey crumbling edges that had once been a song, +where she thought she met Charlie's heart. 'The more one cares the more +hateful it all grows!' and she crushed the fragments into tinder with +the paper as she spoke. + +'Dear, dear girl!' cried Isabella Hepburn; 'even as you crush that +paper, throw aside all these vain shows that cannot profit, and simply +cast yourself where Help is to be found!' + +The real tender kindness, the promise of help, attracted the heart +weary of its misery, and yet spurning all the love and help that had +longed to aid all these days. She could in some strange way open to a +fresh person when the heart was closed to her own kindred; besides, +it was better to have the circumstances blamed than herself, and the +effect of the good lady's appeal was to make her groan, with tightly +compressed hands, 'Oh! no one can tell--no one can reach near the depth +of this unhappiness. Think what I have done! and what it has cost me! +And then it all seems--words--words--words--' + +'Words--yes, till you find Him only in whom is Power to comfort. Is he +not rousing your heart by this utter destitution and powerlessness to +comfort, so as to bring you at once to lay the load on Him?' + +The fervour of her voice carried force; and Angela said, 'If I +could--Not to find it all words again--' + +'Poor child! Did He ever turn from such as come to Him? Take your Bible +in your hand, and at the foot of the Cross--not the material cross, +of which you have been taught to make a plaything, but the spiritual +Cross--cast your sorrows and your sins; believe, and be healed.' + +'Believe! believe!' broke forth the girl. 'I suppose I do believe! I +very nearly didn't when I found it all sounded so inadequate and empty!' + +'He only can be her Teacher,' whispered Miss Bridget; but her sister, +with true warmth of love and hope, said, 'He is teaching her;--but, +dear Angela, we will do our best by praying for or with you, or +pointing the way to the best of our power.' + +At that moment Stella came in, and after quietly giving her hand to the +visitors, she said, 'Please, Angel, Clement wants to know if you have +the key of the walnut-press.' + +'No! I don't know,' she crossly said, after feeling in her pocket in +vain. + +'Most likely it is in the pocket of your blue skirt,' said Stella. 'May +I go and look?' + +'No! I won't have my things pulled about! I don't believe it's there. +What does he want?' + +Stella reluctantly answered, 'We are getting the Church ready; he wants +the pulpit-banner with the triangles.' + +To the visitors this sounded like profane play at such a time. 'Poor +child!' they said; 'are these the devices that fritter away the deep +lessons of grief?' + +'Stella has devices enough,' muttered Angela under her breath; but the +little maiden answered, 'We don't want to be sad;' but, spite of the +pensive gentle tone, it seemed to the Hepburn sisters mere levity and +desire to escape sorrow. + +However, they rose to take leave, telling Angela they would always be +at her service; and as she accompanied them through the hall, came +Clement on the wake of his messenger, in distress for the key. She +dashed impetuously up-stairs--found it where Stella had suggested, and +flew down again with it. + +'There! I've done with it! I'm sick of it all!' + +'What?' asked the astonished Clement. + +'I loathe it all,' she repeated. 'It is all of a piece--all ashes +instead of bread.' + +'You are not mimicking the Hepburns,' said her brother. 'I beg your +pardon,' he instantly added. + +'Mimicking! No, but like them I have learnt to rate all this frippery +at its worth! If you had any depth of feeling, you would loathe it as I +do. But that's the way you palter with truth and reality--deceiving and +deceived.' + +The voice and flash in her eyes directed these last words on Stella; +but cutting short the reply that Clement was beginning, she again flew +up-stairs, leaving the other two aghast. + +'This is a new phase!' said Clement. + +'I wonder if grief drives people into a sort of distraction,' said +Stella, in a tone of excuse. + +'Had the Hepburns been talking to her?' + +'Yes; I thought she looked, when I came in, as if they had been some +comfort to her.' + +'Ah!' + +She had never heard such a sigh from him. In amaze she said, 'They +are so good. I thought great troubles made little differences be +forgotten.' + +'True! It is their genuine goodness that makes me fear.' + +'If that made her quite--in earnest?' asked Stella. + +'I wish Mr. Fulmort could have come before Monday!' ejaculated Clement. +'She's past me!' + +Then it struck him that he was talking to little Stella as to a woman, +and looking to see whether she had become one, he saw new depths in +her eyes. 'Well, Stella, if she deserts I must trust to you,' he said. +'Have you seen much of her state of mind?' + +'Not much,' said Stella. 'I think,' and her eyes filled with tears, +'that it is so much worse for her than for any of us--that she is like +one bruised all over, who can't bear the least touch, and it comes +on her all the more to-day, because she has been occupied by Felix +hitherto, and now he wants her less.' + +'But is not she specially unkind to you, Stella?' + +'Oh! don't call it that. I believe she can't bear to see me, because I +put her so in mind of dear Baby.' And the bright tears dropped. + +The simple-hearted child had no idea of any deeper and more personal +cause of irritation; nor was it possible to pursue the subject, for +whereas the innocent's entrance to Paradise was not to cost the central +feast of the Christian year one wreath, Angela's defection threw much +toil upon her. The funeral was to be late on the Saturday afternoon, +for the convenience of poor Yates's friends; and all must be finished +before, with the help of Bernard, Lance, and Will Harewood, who had +come down, like the brother he was, and was a welcome assistant to +Clement, just as Angela's secession seemed like the last straw that +would break the camel's back! + +The best exhilaration was perhaps an occasional visit to the +painting-room, where Felix and Geraldine were so peacefully thankful +to be together again, that they hardly breathed a word to one another. +And there was comfort too in finding how much the tone of young Light +was softening from its hard defiance. Lance, who had a good deal of +experience, and was to the young tradesmen at Bexley much what he had +been to the choristers at Minsterham, had devoted himself to the sick +lad, and had certainly produced an effect upon him. + +Felix was recovering strength quickly. As there was an awkward step +into the painting-room, he begged the next day to perform the journey +on his own feet; and though he needed both the balustrade and Clement's +arm, and was still sharply pained by any sidelong movement, this was +wonderful progress in so few days. Here he meant to be during the +funeral, and to hear the service through the window opening into the +transept. There were many dissuasions, but he was for the first time +resolute on his own will, both to listen and to be alone. 'It is not +nearly so likely to overcome me,' he said, 'as if any one were with me. +I shall lie quietly back, and listen as to a most soothing strain!' + +'Yes,' argued Cherry; 'but why risk it?' + +'I cannot do the last thing for my boy, but it is the nearest I can +come to it! The son of my right hand, as Father said! So he has been; +I only know now what an incentive his dependence was, and how this +loosens me from the world.' + +'Please don't say that! We have been too much frightened, and you are +getting well so fast.' + +'I think so!' he acquiesced, but without much elasticity. 'Yet it was a +great element of thankfulness that night, and is so still, though the +air seems empty without his constant music.' + +Many a note of praise was to come to his ears that day, as the choir +preceded their little member across the lawn to the Church gate. Their +voices predominated in the Psalms; and the Lesson, read by Mr. Colman, +the vicar of poor Yates's parish at Ewmouth, was almost inaudible +through the window; but the Lord's Prayer at the graves came to his ear +like 'the voice of many waters;' and the final hymn, the same which had +been last on Theodore's lips, was sung by the tones of a multitude, and +thrilled mightily through the summer air. + +Felix was not the worse, though afterwards three doctors came up +and tormented him, ending by allowing him to do whatever suited his +own feelings and discretion, only bidding him not persevere in what +pained him, and to rest thoroughly between every exertion. He asked no +questions, and seemed quite satisfied; but Clement was more explicit in +his inquiries in private, and was told that where there was so little +power of examination, it was impossible to certify whether any harm was +done beyond the undoubted sprain, and that this might make itself felt +for months, even years, without anything but muscles being in fault; +nor could either of the May physicians detect any cause for alarm, +except a vague impression that the countenance was more changed than +was accounted for by the pain or loss of blood. There had been from +the first an indescribable stricken look, less evident now as the face +varied with animation, but recurring in repose, and taking away that +youthfulness that had endured so long. + +Nothing of all this was said beyond Clement's study; the others +remained happy in the verdict of remarkable improvement. Dr. May had +brought a note from his daughter. + + DEAREST CHERRY, + + I long to come, and dare to think I should be welcome, but Tom + will not let Papa bring me. At least I know it is all right. + I knew it would be. Lives with so many bound up in them are + not so lightly wrenched away. The world cannot grow dark by + losing the selfless. All my soul is with you. Your dear little + Theodore has not lived in vain. Your ways--all of you--to him + have been bitter reproof to me. Write to me all I cannot pick + out of Papa. I hope Lancelot is looking better. Tell him I + shall try his 'Lightning Messages,' as soon as I can play them + without my eyes swimming or my voice getting upon the howl. + + With my dear love, + Your affectionate + G.M. MAY. + + +Cherry gave the note to Lance to read, expecting to hear no more of +it; but he brought it out in the late evening as she was settling some +Pursuivant business with him, in preparation for his departure by the +early train on the Monday. 'Do you want this?' he asked. + +'You may keep it if you like.' + +He sighed, holding it close. 'I say--does he know--the Squire?' + +'Of her coming over? No; I don't think any one saw her.' + +'He ought. I had begun to think so before, but this note convinces me +on whose account she came.' + +'I don't imagine she knew she came on any one's account in particular.' + +'All the nicer of her, but so much the worse for me. Look here, Cherry. +Did you know I had been at Stoneborough on Monday? Well, she showed +plain enough how it was. Every hope seemed gone--crushed--done for. I +was so dazed, that if you said it was I who upset the boat, I shouldn't +wonder. I had lived upon the thought ever since Christmas. O Cherry, I +do love her so!' cried the poor lad, quite beyond his usual reserved +self-control. + +'Yes; she is very bright and sweet,' said Cherry, by way of sympathy. + +'The Daisy! the light of every place she goes to!' he went on. 'How +different she made it all last winter! and I was fool enough to +think--Well, it is no good to talk of Monday morning, but it was +just falling from Paradise to the abyss; and all the night after I +was savage with them all for having dragged me back--nearly mad more +than once, I believe. Then in the morning, when I had just stumbled +out into church, not able to put two thoughts together, but with only +sense enough to know that if I laid my love and my life on the Altar +as best I could, God would take them and make the right thing of them +somehow--I looked up, and saw her in the morning sunshine clinging to +me--the dear thing--then I did believe God had given her to me.' + +'Dear Lance! still--' + +'No; I understand now. The fancy bore me up from I don't know what, +till I had got myself in hand again; but when I look at it reasonably, +I see she was glad to find me alive, out of common humanity, and +because she thought she had vexed me; but as to the real feeling, this +note shows plainly enough where that goes.' + +'If it were so, there would hardly be such openness of expression.' + +'Do you think so?' (eagerly, then catching himself up). 'No; it is only +that the consciousness has never been brought out.' + +'I don't believe _he_ will ever voluntarily bring out anybody's +consciousness.' + +'Then he ought! Why is he to debar himself from happiness, and +disregard other people's feelings? I tell you, it is positively wrong +to keep hanging about him and hampering him. You would do much better +to leave him to be happy, and come and let us get on together as we can +at home. You might make it just tolerable!' + +'My poor Lancey,' said Cherry, smiling, 'things are hardly so far +advanced; but if they were, you would be my best dependence.' + +'But you'll tell him? And let no fancy stand in the way of his--of +their happiness.' + +'Tell? You mean of her coming over? Very well, if you think it right. +Nay, indeed, it is not the wish to keep him to myself, but the +assurance of his resolution--and, dear old Lancey, I don't like your +going back to the old mill without the bird in your bosom.' + +He hid his face in both his arms as he sat over the table, but +recovering himself, said, 'Never mind! Hoping for him is _some_ hope, +and there's too much on hand for being down in the mouth. It will all +come right somehow,' he repeated, secure in that faith, even under his +sense of disappointment; but after all, is not a generous consent the +best balm in disappointment? + +After this conversation, Cherry and Lance were struck, amid a somewhat +astonished congregation, when the next day, the Vicar in his pulpit +gave out in his clear ringing voice, like a trumpet proclamation, his +text, 'And His Banner over me is Love.' + +The church was quite full. The beauty of its musical services had +of late rendered it a resort from Ewmouth, and the present occasion +had attracted every one connected with the persons concerned in the +accident, as well as many of the curious. Mr. Colman, whose despair +was the young clerkhood of Ewmouth, had protested against having to +preach; and indeed Clement felt that he had a word to say, for had not +the week been one of intensified feeling, and deepened experience? +Yet even his brothers and sisters were not only sorry when they found +this task unexpectedly lapsing on him, but feared that he was hardly +adequate to the occasion. In general he was a careful preacher, very +exact, and rather tediously accurate in citing arguments, much given to +similitude and mystical interpretation, and instructive and interesting +in a certain degree; but without much fire or individuality, and, as +the Hepburn clique asserted, deficient in the root of the matter. + +But his voice made Cherry look at him, and his countenance not only +glowed with unusual colour, but had a dignity and impressiveness that +assured her that she should hear something different from usual, after +a text so unlikely for a funeral discourse. + +After twice proclaiming that Banner under which he served, he slowly +and distinctly spoke those other words, '"One shall be taken and +another left. They say unto Him, Where, Lord?" Yes! Strange, startling, +arbitrary, as seem often the calls to the soldiers in Christ's army, +each is at its true time, for the choice is made in Love.' Then came +the description of the mighty host, of their Leader and their conflict, +steadfast in the Name that the day's Feast glorified, going forth +conquering and to conquer, but, strange contradiction! under the Banner +of Love. Love, by which their Captain had won, the work to which all +were enlisted, the weapon wherewith each was to fight. Love had been +their Captain's weapon, but they needed another, namely, Faith--for +who could fight for a vision--who, without reliance on his general? +Cause and Captain, and His power to save to the uttermost, were dwelt +on in a few ardent words; and then came the picture of the serried +ranks, standing fast in one army, warring as one band against darkness, +foulness, cruelty, and all other evils, each fighting his individual +battle in private, yet even thus striking as much for the cause as for +himself. So they stood, soldiers in a campaign, aware that any moment +might snatch them out of the ranks, yet also aware that not one would +be taken save at the right moment when his warfare had come to the +crisis. Our forefathers of old believed in glorious maidens who floated +over the battle-field as choosers of the slain, and bore hero-spirits +away to the Home of Triumph in chariots of light, to dwell among the +brave. Like them we believe in the Triumphant Home, where dwell the +brave who have stood steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, rooted +in charity, bright in purity, dashing down the arrows of temptation +that glint against their armour. Like them, we believe in a Chooser of +the slain, bearing us, one by one, from our several posts, with longer +or shorter warning, exactly when our warfare is accomplished, our +individual battle is, or ought to be, won. + +'Is or ought to be! That is the point. That is it on which depends +the awful question, "Where, Lord?" which He who has seen beyond the +grave, left unanswered. Where? Less than a week ago, on one of the +days especially given to us for joy and gladness, in the very height +of our mirth, came the moment of danger to fifteen of us. For thirteen +of us, thanks have been today returned. "Where, Lord?" has not been +said of us, but has not its echo been with us? Where? When I look back +on duties neglected, on self-complacencies, on purposes fulfilled +on the surface but not in the spirit, on cold-hearted devotions, on +a thousand treasons against the Banner of Love, I can only cry out, +"Where Lord?" and bless Him that it is the Lord my Redeemer, Who looks +mercifully on His unprofitable servants, of whom the question is asked, +and Who has spared me for a little space. He calls in due season. But +whether the summons be welcome or the reverse, does not depend on its +finding us in sunshine summer pleasure, or upon a bed of pain. No--it +depends on whether we are really in our camp, our face to the foe, +our ensign above us, no treason or desertion at heart. Then, spite of +short-comings and failures, with the Banner over us that is Love, we +shall know that death is victory; and "Where, Lord?" will be answered +for ever by "Him Who liveth and was dead, and is alive for evermore."' + +Felix, from his window, caught the texts, and noted the breathless +hush. The Vicar of Ewmouth said, as he took leave, 'Thank you. You have +touched hearts I could not reach.' + +And Lance followed Clement to the library, and begged for the sermon +for the Pursuivant. 'I know they would read it at Bexley, and if they +care for it as I do, it ought to tell. I never heard you go on like +that!' + +'Here are my notes, but they will do you little good; I could not write +last night.' + +'You came up late enough, though!' + +'I had to make it up in thought and prayer.' + +'A better thing, it seems,' said Lance. 'It is a sermon to set one +going, however things look!' + +He was nearly at Bexley the next morning by the time Felix had +fulfilled his intention of coming down-stairs, and had taken his seat +in the Squire's chair before the writing-table, but with his back +to the door whence the musical hum would never more issue. Cherry +wanted to have put it off; and Clement had proposed an exchange of +sitting-rooms; but he had said such things were best faced at once, +while no association made much difference. + +Cherry was with him, looking over the letters of inquiry and +condolence, and sorting out those which she would answer at once, or he +undertake by degrees--looking too at the first Pursuivant in which for +at least twelve years he had had no share, and which, he said, told him +more about the accident than he had yet known. + +'Lance has fared better than could have been hoped,' he said. 'I feared +for both chest and head.' + +'I believe he was very ill the first night,' said Cherry. + +'Then--was it my fancy, or did not I hear Gertrude May's voice?' + +'How could you hear it?' + +'Through the open window, at the hall-door, as Tom May was going. Did +she come over with the carriage, good girl?' + +'Yes; but we never guessed that you knew it.' + +'Many things were borne in on me in a passive sort of way,' said Felix, +'and among them the trust that she was as good an elixir to the boy as +in the winter.' + +'Quite true! I believe the glow she excited saved him from an illness; +but he has come to another conclusion since.' + +'Well--what?' + +'I should not tell you, but for his entreaty. He thinks she cares less +for him than for you.' + +'Nonsense! He may put that out of his head, poor boy.' + +The colour mounted in his bloodless cheek, but the decision of the tone +satisfied Geraldine. + +At that moment, however, the door was gently opened, and Stella, her +cheeks more deeply tinted than their wont, quietly said, 'Brother, +Captain Audley is here. He wants to know whether you are well enough to +see him.' + +Cherry divined what was coming; but Felix exclaimed, 'Captain Audley! +How kind! Tell him I am quite ready.--But you had better make yourself +scarce, Cherry; the poor man has met one lady already, and I can't +answer for the consequences of his falling in with another.' + +There he was interrupted by her contention with his instinctive impulse +to rise and give her his arm--a token of improvement; for whereas +yesterday he had apologised whenever she crossed the room without him, +to-day he began getting up, but was checked by the twinge betrayed by +lips and brow, and as Lord Gerald had been fortunately left ashore, +Cherry professed to have her most constant supporter. + +Another moment, and Captain Audley crossed her, and bowed to her, as +she repaired to the drawing-room, from the window of which she saw +the two young things, not idling--Stella never dawdled--but cutting +flowers, and filling the whole stock of vases which she had brought +out, to renew the cheerfulness of the house for its convalescent master. + +The sight was pretty, but Cherry wondered whether she ought to go out +and protect her little sister's peace, deciding however, that whatever +harm there was must have been done already, and that accessibility was +her best condition for the present; and so she sat down to begin some +of the numerous letters, though their subject was most incongruous with +that of her anticipations, and she wrote with divided attention, till +Felix came into the room. + +'Cherry,' said he, deliberately placing himself on the settee, 'Had you +any notion of this?' + +'Only the last day or two, very dimly. Has it come to anything?' + +'That I want to ascertain. Which did you think it was?' + +'The poor little star, I'm afraid.' + +'Why afraid?' + +'Because there must be breakers ahead, and that poor little dear need +not have been molested for years to come.' + +'Is she molested?' + +'Look! Ah, no! you can't turn; but if you could see them on the lawn!' + +'She is such a child. She might be with him as simply as with Will.' + +'I'm afraid that is over. Is not the Captain dead against it?' + +'No; that's the odd thing. She seems to have vanquished him on the spot +by one glint of her bonnie blue een, and he has not the heart to say +No; but the worst of it is, he has no power.' + +'He should not have let his son loose here.' + +'So he allows, and that I saw clearer than he--which I did not, for my +suspicions were in another direction, and I fear not without cause, on +one side at least.' + +'That's the horrid part of it!' + +'So persuaded was I, that I went on at cross-purposes at first, and had +to ask point-blank which of my sisters he meant, but I don't think I +betrayed Angela. What is to be done about her?' + +'Oh! tiresome love! Why could they not let you alone a little while? I +think Angela has some notion, and that it must be what has made her so +very queer.' + +'Perhaps! I thought it was her share in the disaster, poor girl!' + +'That would not have made her almost spiteful to poor little Stella.' + +'Where is she now?' + +'Gone to the penny-club business as usual.' + +'I hope this will be over before she comes back. I must speak to my +little one, only first let me hear what you think about it. The Captain +has been most straightforward with me. He explained that he never was a +favourite at home, and his marriage was a case of extorted consent. His +wife was never cordially treated, and he could not forget the slights +she received. Neither party wanted the other, and he had got into his +lonely yachting existence, when, unluckily for him, his elder brother's +death has rendered him and his boy important. The widow lives with the +old people, and he thinks they want Charlie to marry the daughter. They +want him to spend his vacations with them, and he is always shirking.' + +'I have heard him bemoan himself.' + +'The worst of it is, that if the old people take offence, they are +likely to leave the bulk of the property to the grand-daughter. The +Captain says he hates it all, and would freely let it go; but at +Charlie's age, it would not be right to let him incur such a forfeit +blindly.' + +'They are both too young for anything.' + +'Precisely so; but the thing must be either suffered or not, and it +is a mere subterfuge to call it nothing, and let him be always about +here. If the child knows nothing, the boy's mouth could be stopped, at +least till he has taken his degree. I came to see whether that be still +possible. You think not? Well, I have some hope of her simplicity. If +not, what think you of this? We tell them they are a couple of babies, +and bind the fellow to keep away somewhere till he has taken his +degree, when it will either have blown over, or he can judge whether to +take to a profession and endanger his prospects, and there will be some +test whether he really cares for the poor little dear.' + +'I'm afraid there is trial for her any way!' + +'The difficulty I foresee, is in keeping the Captain up to anything. +If he were set against it, our part would be much easier; but he seems +to have surrendered at first sight of our Fair-Star, and he is weaker, +more impulsive, and undecided than I could have conceived.' + +'He has been indulging his feelings all his life. I should not wonder +if Charlie were the more sensible.' + +'Our other baby! So! I must see how far it has gone.' + +'No! I'll call her. Don't move.' + +'A shocking reversal,' resigning himself, 'but I believe you had +rather. I don't mind walking; it is getting up and sitting down that +beats me. Don't startle the child. There's still hope that he has not +stirred the waters.' + +Cherry had no such hope, as she stood at the conservatory door, calling +Stella. Both came up to her; and as she sent the girl to her brother, +Charlie looked at her with an anxious 'Well?' as the colour deepened in +his honest face. + +'I think your father is in the study,' she evasively said. + +'Come, now, Miss Underwood, I am sure you know all about it. What sort +of a chance have I?' + +'I don't think you ought to have any chance at your age. Indeed, +Charlie, I do wish you had let it alone for the present.' + +'I assure you, I didn't know I wasn't going to let it alone; but what +could I do when I found the dear little darling crying enough to +overset a mill-stone? One couldn't but do one's best to comfort her; +and when I found I had really got over the line, and been making sheer +love, I could not but have it out and go on with it.' + +'Then was it only that moment?' + +'No! no! no! I'd known her for my Star, my light, my darling, ever +since I can't tell when; but of course I knew what a shindy there would +be, and as long as I could come here and look at her, I could have gone +on quietly till I was of age, and could fight it out. Only when it came +to her being lonely--' + +'Do you think she knew it for what you say?' + +Charlie shrugged his shoulders, laughed, and coloured. + +'And your father?' + +'That _is_ comical,' he said confidentially. 'He was dead against it! +hummed and hawed, called me no end of fools, said I should be cut off +with a shilling, and told me how my grandmother bullied my poor mother. +I'd hard work to haul him here, and he said it was only to beg the +Squire's pardon, cram full of objections. Well, there was the darling +girl gathering forget-me-nots in the garden, with Scamp and the doves +round her. "That's she, bless her!" says I. "Is it she?" says he; and +with that, he whips out of the skiff, leaving me to moor it, you see, +looks her full in the face--I believe he hadn't seen a young lady to +look at since my mother died--"Are you Charlie's little Stella?" says +he; and behold, there he is, giving her a regular paternal kiss, before +I could get quit of the boat. And when one's own father is all right, +who is to make objections?' + +Stella's examination had been short. Felix held out his hands, took +hers, and gazing into her blushing face, said, 'Look at me, my child, +and tell me if you know what Captain Audley is come for.' + +She hung her flower-like head, and answered, 'I think I do.' + +'And what do you think of it?' + +'O Brother,' the eyes overflowed, 'I didn't know it was _that_, when +he came and was so good to me, or I would not have been so unkind in +all the trouble. I only thought how nice he was. Indeed it was not +forgetting Tedo.' + +'No, indeed, my sweet; that was the last thing I meant. Only, since you +do know the meaning of it, tell me--whether you like it.' + +'Like! O Brother! It did just seem to take away all the unhappiness. I +couldn't help it, you know!' + +'Ah! No, no, my dear, you didn't hurt me. Now will you be patient, so +as not to get Charlie into trouble, and trust me?' + +'Trust you, Brother?' in a tone of wonder, as if it would have been +impious to do otherwise; and then she faltered, 'I thought Captain +Audley didn't mind it _much_--for, Brother, he kissed me.' + +'He is ready to like you with all his heart; but he has a father too, +and can't do all he pleases. So you may have to be kept waiting to grow +older.' + +'Oh yes,' said Stella; 'I know I'm too young, and I could not go away +from everybody for a long long time.' + +So the edict was given in form, with more assumption of authority on +Felix's part than had been his wont towards his sisters' lovers; but +he saw it was the best way to spare the little maid from what might +prove trifling and end in disappointment, and the young lover from +unfair usage of his grandparents, and its punishment. Someone must be +resolute, and the father would not; so the brother had to depict the +impossibility of fostering an attachment between an undergraduate and a +child, under the certainty of displeasing the head of the family. + +Charlie argued that it was hard his father's consent should not +suffice--that he cared not for the property--he would go to his uncle +in Australia, become printer's-devil at Bexley--anything to be free +to win his Cynosure, while his father seemed far more disposed to +applaud him than to say, Nonsense; and it fell to Felix to explain that +whatever course Charlie might decide on, it must not be till his Oxford +career was ended, and that till then there must be neither engagement +nor correspondence, and the vacation must be spent elsewhere, since +daily meetings in present circumstances would be a wrong towards all +parties concerned. + +Captain Audley could not gainsay that this was both reasonable and +honourable, and even reminded Charlie of an invitation from Lord +Liddesdale, to pay a visit at his foreign embassy in the long vacation. +Meantime there was to be nothing to bind either party; but as Charlie +had to return to Oxford that night, a parting interview was allowed in +the drawing-room, in which he raved a good deal, and she was very quiet +and rational. + +Then Felix was left to repose, which he so sorely needed as to have to +give up both coming in to dinner, and driving to meet Mr. Fulmort. + +'Sisters' lovers are tough customers,' he said. 'Thank you, Cherry,' +as she elevated the front and lowered the back of his chair, so as to +render it a couch; 'it is well for me that you would have nothing to +say to the sculptor.' + +She kissed him silently; and as she looked at the pallid sunken +face, with the eyes closed, she recollected her declaration that he +must be more to her dead than any other man alive, and though far +from retracting the sentiment, she wished she had uttered nothing so +ill-omened. + +The effect on Angela was the present anxiety; and it was impossible +not to feel it staved off by the announcement, through a school-child, +that she was staying to dine and spend the rest of the day at Miss +Hepburn's. Whatever this might portend, it was a present relief to +Cherry, though Clement looked very gloomy upon it; and the Vicar of St +Matthew's had not been many hours in the house before Cherry, rather +to her own surprise, found herself invited into Clement's library, to +assist at a council over the perplexing girl. + +Neither brother nor sister could say more than that, up to the moment +of the accident, she had been in her usual state of ultra-observance +and ultra-gaiety, alike wilful and exaggerated, and that on finding +herself the real delinquent in the fatal catastrophe, she had petrified +into hard fierce reserve. On Sunday alone had she been at Church, and +then had been absent from the Feast where all the family had met; she +had thrown over all the little ecclesiastical offices that had been her +pride and pleasure, and repelled all sympathy, except perhaps that of +the ladies to whom she had been most opposed, and whom she had derided +and contemned for years. Indeed, she might be said to have hoisted +their flag, for the cross round her neck had been discarded, and her +hair had descended from the stupendous fabric which no asseveration +would avail to persuade the Miss Hepburns to be of native growth, and +was now coiled about her head--with an effect, certainly, preferable in +itself, save for the signification. Things were come to a droll pass, +that the absence of Angel's lofty coiffure should be complained of by +one vicar to the other; but Mr. Fulmort had been Angela's first guide, +who had prepared her for Confirmation and Communion, and Clement had +from the first looked to him to deal with her; but Mr. Fulmort was +scarcely encouraging. 'Nothing will be gained by forcing me on her,' he +said. 'If I cannot draw, driving will be of no avail.' + +'If Miss Isabella has got hold of her,' said Cherry, 'she is likely to +imitate the people in books whose first act of virtue is shunning their +priest; and when Angel's conscience gets on the side of perverseness, +there is no saying what she will not do.' + +'One is so in the dark!' said Clement. + +'I think I can guess the process,' said the elder clergyman. 'Only +actual experience teaches that no system is infallible.' + +'Of all plans of education, I should have chosen hers!' said Clement. + +'So we trusted to the framework!' + +'And how admirably it has answered with Robina, and many more.' + +'As far as we see; but this is what I imagine this poor child's +history. She has more vehemence and energy than depth, and her +musical taste found ritual so congenial, that excitability passed for +devotion, in spite of the lack of trustworthy fruit of submission or +self-discipline.' + +'I believe it did.' + +'So she is in a manner justified in complaining that she was allowed to +trust to the shell alone. She has been content with the outward form +all this time; and when real sorrow makes her find its failure, she +is naturally distrustful of the whole teaching that was to her mere +surface work.' + +'Nothing could be more ungrateful, or improper, than to charge it on +you, Sir,' cried the younger vicar. + +'Less unjust than you think, though there may be some human nature in +it too. When my sister collected those girls, we thought, like most who +try experiments, that we had a set of puppets, on whom certain wires +must produce certain results--and if we saw untoward specimens, charged +it on the want of our system.' + +'The system is not ours, but Divine.' + +'There was a Divine system in the Wilderness, but with how many did it +succeed?' + +'According to that,' said Clement, 'nothing would be anybody's fault.' + +'And,' said Geraldine, 'did it not succeed with all the mighty men who +overlived Joshua?' + +'True; but even of that generation, who had never seen Egypt, there +were many who lacked faith to drive out the Canaanites. It is the same +story over and over again. People who have been led out of something +like Egypt, are apt to think those secure who have never been from +under the shadow of the Cloud, and have known no bread but manna. We +forget how much depends on being "mixed with faith in the hearers."' + +'Faith cannot be given from without,' said Clement. + +'Certainly not; but looking back at our dealing with our earlier +pupils, I suspect that we worked away with the peculiarities we had +newly discovered, rather than with the great universal foundations. +I am sure we did so with you, Underwood: though happily there was +stuff enough beneath to prevent us from doing more than make you +unnecessarily priggish.' + +'Geraldine can testify that that was done to your hand, Sir,' said +Clement, laughing. 'I believe I should have made any place I cared for +odious in the ears of my family.' + +'We did not know how much party spirit we infused, fancying that +once in our groove all must go right. Now, I believe Angela ought +to have been held back. She would have done better in a commonplace +well-principled school.' + +'I don't think her teachers were deceived in her,' said Cherry. + +'No; but the observances which she genuinely enjoyed deceived herself. +Probably at a dull bare service she would have been naughty and +uninterested, but then she would have known her religion for what it +was worth. I don't say that I see what ought to have been done, if +we could begin over again; but I do see that she has found out her +unreality in the time of distress, and concludes that the fault is in +what we taught her. To use another metaphor, she thinks that because +the Cross has been decked with flowers, it has been no Cross at all; +but I trust she is learning the way thither.' + +'By casting aside the means?' said Clement. + +'Because to her they had not been means, but mirages. If I understand +rightly, this is her first true awakening.' + +'But is it to be a regular case of conversion?' + +'I hope so. I pray so.' + +'Is she to be left to these women, to learn contempt for the Sacraments +and the Church?' + +'Are they Churchwomen?' + +'After a fashion! I don't believe they hold a single Catholic doctrine.' + +'They never say the Creed--eh?' + +Clement looked abashed. + +'If she were likely to be led into an act of schism, it might be +needful to interfere; but if they seem to be bringing her to the sense +of repentance and individual spiritual contact, which is the essential +need, resistance would do more harm than good.' + +'Why should she not come the right way?' + +'Do you remember Ezekiel's pure springs, which the evil shepherds had +fouled with their feet, so that the flock could not drink thereof? +Without classing you among evil shepherds, whatever I may do with +myself, is it not natural to turn from what has been without benefit?' + +'By her own fault. And is she to follow their ways, without check or +warning?' + +'They are communicants?' + +'Four times a year. Frequent Celebrations seem to them superstitious +and formal.' + +'And irreverent,' added Cherry. + +'Is it not doubtful whether our poor girl have been reverent? Should +not we perhaps be keeping her back for a time?' + +'Not for their reasons.' + +'No; but if she be in the way to what she needs and we have failed to +afford her, it seems to me that while it is within the Church, we had +better abstain from distracting her attention by trying to make her do +things in our own way.' + +'_Our_ way, Sir?' said Clement, whose mind was never rapid; 'it is the +right way. I cannot understand sitting still to see my sister carried +off into ultra Low Church.' + +'Better that than incur the risk of taking party spirit for zeal and +diverting her attention from vital religion to the excitement of +persecution.' + +'There's nothing that would gratify her more,' said Cherry. + +'It is exceedingly mortifying,' added Mr. Fulmort, 'to see one's own +child going over to a rival battalion, which disesteems our ensigns and +war-cries; but by your own account it is no worse--the army is all one. +And for ourselves, nothing can be more wholesome. I wish it all fell on +me, since the mismanagement began with me; but unluckily it comes most +heavily on you, both as brother and parish-priest.' + +Clement was of course disarmed and humbled. 'No doubt you are right, +Sir: I will try to accept the personal vexation as my due; I did not +know how much it biassed me. Shall you take no notice?' + +'I shall express the interest I feel as old friend and guide, but I +shall not insist on confidence.' + +He could afford to bide this time, for he contrived to give a parson's +week, on finding how heavily this sad Whitsuntide had told upon +Clement, coming at the end of a clergyman's hardest half-year. Change +could not be had, for Felix was not fit for a journey, and was still +so much disabled as to be unable to put on his clothes unaided; but +nothing could be better for both brothers than the presence of this +friend, bringing them fresh interests from the great arena of conflict +between good and evil, and giving warm sympathy and satisfaction to +their efforts in their own field. One of his scholars, at least, he +confessed to have far surpassed his expectations. He had never expected +to see his tall, docile, self-complacent chorister all the man that the +Vicar of Vale Leston Abbas had become; but on the other hand, Angela, +once almost his devotee, eluded him by every means in her power, and +never willingly opened her lips in his presence. When at last he +succeeded in catching her, and expressing surprise that she was rushing +away when the church-bell was ringing, her reply was, 'I've done with +those things!' + +'With prayers?' + +'With heartless forms.' + +'So I should hope.' + +'Let me go, Mr. Fulmort; I don't want to be ungrateful, but it is all +one great mistake.' + +'I am afraid you have found it so.' + +His tone was sad, and made her exclaim, 'You feel it too, then? Oh, +come and learn as I have learnt--see as I have seen!' Some men would +have laughed at this sudden reversal of the order of things; but Mr. +Fulmort felt the matter far too seriously, and the sound of inquiry +he emitted encouraged her to go on. 'Oh; the hollowness of my old +life--the utter lack of all aid or light when the hour of darkness +came--the misery, the agony, that racked me all day and all night, when +all you told me to trust to proved broken reeds. Would that I could +proclaim to all what it was to see at last in Whom--in what assurance +lies peace!' + +'Yes, my child,' he said. 'There truly lies the only hope. May you be +able to grasp it firmly, and for ever, and render the fruits of faith +and repentance apparent in your life.' + +'I shall never put my trust in my own works again. I hate them--I +loathe them.' + +'You cannot do better than repent, and bring them for forgiveness.' + +'To the foot of the Cross?' + +'Certainly.' + +'Then you really see the hollowness and emptiness of the system of +thinking them pardoned by a man's voice?' + +'Did I ever tell you they were?' + +She was a little conscience-stricken, but rallied enough to say, 'It +is the whole principle of auricular confession, to which nothing shall +ever bring me back. Not the utmost persecution!' and as he smiled a +little, she added, 'It was all form and human intervention.' + +'If you can say so from personal experience, Angela,' he replied, +'it proves how lamentably I have failed to express my doctrine and +intention, and how vain it is for me to try to converse with you. +Indeed, I only attempted it because I knew you had had a great shock, +and were unhappy.' + +'Unhappy till I turned my back on the world and its vanities, and +beheld the true and simple way of salvation! Would you but let me show +it to you!' + +'My dear child, do you think I have feebly tried to follow my Master +all these years, and never seen it? If I have so totally failed in +guiding you to it, my words alone were in fault, and it is well that +the one Truth has been brought to bear upon you. I thank Him for it, +and pray that some day you may be led to _full_ truth.' + +There he quitted her; and she could report that Mr. Fulmort had tried +to get her under his direction again, and that she had almost brought +him to own the emptiness of the system that he inculcated. That he did +not was, Miss Martha decided, wholly owing to the Old Adam. + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +THE FIDDLER'S RANCH. + + 'The _Vater Unser_ that I said + Before I went to school, + The prayers come ringing in my head + Like ripples in a pool.' + _Veritas._ + + +Angela's conversion, as her friends did not scruple to term it, had +this happy effect at least of extinguishing her passion (if so it might +be called) for Charles Audley. It was swallowed up in the general +excitement; and once or twice Cherry had reason to think she had +persuaded herself that she had voluntarily renounced him among other +earthly vanities, such as her chignon, her church decorations, and her +balls. + +If she still felt any jealousy of Stella, it only showed itself in a +pitiful contempt of the poor little unawakened creature, so contentedly +deluded by ceremonies, and drifting into the jaws of this wicked world; +but it was memorable that though she always opposed Stella's opinion, +were it only on the weather, she never attacked her direct, nor +reproached her, probably out of a certain discomfort which the little +maid's simple answers always gave her. + +Stella was Clement's mainstay this summer in the thousand and one +inconveniences caused him by Angela's conscience in the thousand and +one parish affairs in which she used to be his prime helper, but where +she now disentangled the material and the spiritual, after the example +of her advisers, though with a sauciness and vexatiousness of which +they were incapable. Luckily no idea of pining after Charlie seemed to +occur to Stella, and she devoted the time once spent on poor little +Theodore to the many tasks that Angela had left on her hands and +considered just fit for such a foolish little thing. + +Any secrecy as to the possible relations with Charlie had proved +unachievable, at least within the family. Charlie might be banished, +but his father carried on the courtship with unblushing assiduity, +viewing Stella as his special property, and being never happy without +seeing her two or three times in a week. In truth, after so many years +of morbid seclusion, the society of a family home--such as he had never +known--was so delightful to him, that he could not stay away, and +almost exposed himself to suspicion of being in search more of a wife +for himself than his son. + +The Kittiwake, where never woman had set foot, and where Charlie, +in spite of Angela's bantering solicitations, had never ventured to +invite her, was urgently pressed on the whole party for any excursion +imaginable; and when it became evident that both the Captain and Stella +greatly wished it, the seniors consented to a day's sail along the +coast, it being decided in council between Wilmet and Cherry that sea +air might bring freshness back to Felix's looks. + +The morning was all that could be wished, but the post brought an +appointment from a man of business to see the Squire respecting some +land which was to be secured in East Ewmouth, for the foundation of +buildings that might serve to Christianize the straggling population +there, making a fresh district from both parishes. For it was to this +purpose they had decided to devote the tithes cut off from Vale Leston, +since the new tenements actually stood in that parish, and the work at +home was now forward enough to enable the extension to be made. + +Great was the lamentation at this inopportune arrival; but Felix owned +himself glad of it, and did not look equal to a long day's fatigue. +Clement also remained to assist at the consultation, and after the +conference, walked to the spot with the agent. + +Returning soon after the hour for the second post, Clement went +to the study, where, as he entered, Felix, who was seated at his +writing-table, lifted up his face from his supporting hand, very pale, +and with eyes swimming in tears, but with a look of rest and relief +that reminded the Vicar of that which had responded to the tidings +that their little Theodore was beyond the reach of harm. He held up +something, saying, 'Look!' + +'The photograph of my father.' + +'See there,' pointing to the corner. + +'T.E.U. Edgar's copy! Is he found?' + +'Thank God! There is hope that the lost is found!' He rested his +head against Clement, heaving a mighty irrepressible sob, physically +painful, but full of relief. Those two had become inexpressibly much +to one another during these four years, and far more during the last +six weeks. + +'From Travis?' asked Clement presently, observing the handwriting of +the letter on the table. + +'Yes, good faithful fellow! Would you read it to me, Clem? I cannot get +on;' and he cleared his eyes of the blinding tears. 'I could only see +that there was hope at the last.' + +'Of finding him?' + +'Not here. No. He begins by telling us the dear fellow is dead. I think +it was something violent, and that he tried in vain to save him. Let me +hear, that we may see whether there be anything we can spare Cherry.' + +Clement thought Felix even less fit for any shock or agitation than his +sister, but he could only make him lie back on his couch, whence he +watched with earnest eyes for every word. + +The narrative is, however, here given more fully than it could be +written, especially as one portion of the history was reserved for +Marilda alone. + +Ferdinand Travis had inherited a considerable claim to mining property +in the south-eastern portion of California. He had gone to America, +intending to dispose of it, but had ended by settling down there, +naming it Underwood, and doing his best to exert an influence for good +on the lawless races he found around him. He had enough in common with +them to obtain a partial success where another would have failed; his +little township was thriving, and to some degree civilized, and he +had even been able to obtain the building of a church and residence +of a clergyman with a kind of mission to the Indians. All around him +was safe and peaceable; but between him and the nearest cities on the +Pacific lay a tract subject to the forays of a tribe in the tiger stage +that precedes the abject decline of the unhappy red-skins. The district +was gradually becoming settled, but neither village nor traveller +was secure from horrible raids and savage massacres, and save by +letter-carriers, who trusted to speed, the region was seldom traversed +except by parties numerous enough to protect themselves. + +Such a surveying party Ferdinand had joined, intending to transact +some affairs at San Francisco; and on the third day of his journey, +when descending a steep hill-side, the war-shouts of the Indians were +heard, and presently about thirty beplumed and painted savages were +seen evidently triumphing after a victory. + +The travellers scarcely uttered a word, but settled themselves in +their saddles, and drew their revolvers, then charged the foe with the +full impetus of a down-hill gallop. It was the affair of a moment; +the Indians threw themselves on their horses and scoured away like +the wind, while the new comers found that they had been exulting over +the slaughter of only two men and one little child, whom they had +been proceeding to mangle after the custom of their tribe. One victim +was quite dead, and already scalped and scored; the other, though +senseless, stripped, and gashed in many places, was still breathing, as +was the child--a boy of six or seven, though shot through the breast, +and the mark of the scalping-knife already begun on his head. + +The keen wiry dauntless fellow, who acted as guide, driving two of +the party in a much enduring waggon, opined that they came from +Fiddler's Ranch, about two miles off, and recognized the living one +as the Fiddler himself--the best company, he guessed, between this +and the Atlantic. It was a service of danger to lift the bodies into +the vehicle, for the Indians might be hovering about in ambush to +fall on the rescuers in great numbers; but the transit was safely +performed; up to the stockade and ditch protecting the township called +Fiddler's Ranch, whence issued a population of the rudest description, +vituperating the Indians, and bewailing 'poor Tom the Fiddler and +little Jerry, the smartest, cutest little critter that side of the +mountains.' 'Pretty nigh gone, stranger; bring him in, lay him by the +side of his father; those brutes of Injuns fix their work off too +handsome--best if neither opens his eyes again.' + +A low frame-house, the outer half-store, also post-office, newspaper +office, photographic studio--such was the place into which the father +was carried, Ferdinand following with the child into an inner room, +where were some appliances of comfort, a neatly ordered bed, a few +chairs, a table, and some drawings fastened to the wall--among them a +photograph that arrested Ferdinand's attention. Had he not gazed at +the likeness from his bed in Mr. Audley's room? did he not know it in +the family parlour, and in Clement's cell at St Matthew's? It was the +likeness of Edward Underwood! + +He turned hastily to the bed. Yes, the face, weather-stained yet +ghastly, overgrown with neglected beard, stained with blood and dust, +still showed the delicate chiselling of eyebrow and nose, the Underwood +characteristic! + +Such remedies as the Ranch afforded produced tokens of reviving power, +and Ferdinand could not believe the wounds necessarily mortal. The rest +of the party were about to pursue their journey, and through them he +sent the most urgent entreaties and liberal promises that could induce +a surgeon to take his life in his hand, and cross that dreadful waste. +The signature of F.A. Travis was well known in the West. + +While Ferdinand was washing away the soil from the face once so +fair and brilliant, bringing out more of the familiar features, +consciousness returned in groans; and when at last the lids were +raised, and showed the well remembered deep blue eyes, the first word +that struggled articulately from the lips was, 'Jerry! Baby!' + +'Here!' Ferdinand laid the nerveless hand on the little flaxen head, +still motionless. + +That was enough at first, but as the tide of life began to flow more +freely, Edgar called the child again; and as no answer came, used his +hand to feel, writhed his head to look. 'Jerry!--what--asleep? They've +not hurt him!' The last words in a tone of full sense and anguish. + +'He does not seem to suffer,' said Ferdinand. 'I have sent for a +doctor, and I trust to keep you both up till he comes.' + +'A doctor! Here?' with a contemptuous groan. 'Help me, I must see him!' +with a vain effort for a fuller view of the child, who was on a sort +of crib by his side, lying with closed eyes, and a beautiful waxen +death-like face. 'Lift me!' + +It cost sobs of agony, though that seemed lost in the intense gaze. 'Is +his wound there?' he asked, looking at the bandaged head. + +'That was the scalp-knife, but it has done little harm. _The_ wound is +here, but the ball passed out at the back.' + +'And is _here_,' said Edgar, laying his hand on his body. 'I had him +before me on my horse, as we always went, my brave boy! One week more, +and we should have been beyond the miscreants' reach!' and he sank back +with a piteous wailing moan, too weak and shattered for demonstrative +grief, though utterly crushed. 'Put him by me,' he added presently; 'if +there be any life left in him, he will like it.' + +'I am afraid of hurting you.' + +'Nothing will make much odds now. We are both done for, and I am glad +it is both, if it was to be. My poor little chap, we couldn't do +without each other!' + +Then, as Ferdinand placed the child where his restless hand could +stroke the cheek, tender parental pride revived. 'A jolly little face, +isn't it? if you saw it like itself. Oh, if I could see those eyes open +for once!' + +There seemed a revival of strength; but with the knowledge of the +bullet-wound and the six frightful gashes of the Indian knives, +Ferdinand felt that a few questions must be risked, lest this should be +a delusive rally, and speech suddenly fail. 'You know me, Edgar?' + +'Fernan Travis! Ay. You're not much altered! But how did you know me? +I'm not much like the swell I used to be! Ah! I see!' as Ferdinand +signed towards the photograph. 'How are _they_ all?' + +'All well, when last I heard. Longing only to hear of you.' + +'Better not.' + +'And this is your boy. His mother?' he added, with more hesitation; and +it brought a fierce look. + +'Never had one in any real sense. She left him at ten months +old--always hated him. But he's all right. You'll find the certificate +in that old green case.' + +'Of his baptism?' + +'No. Such matters don't come handy here, and she wasn't one to concern +herself about them. I don't know that she was the better for that! No: +it's my marriage lines! I kept them for his sake, though I gnashed my +teeth at them often enough.' + +'Pray let me baptize him!' entreated Ferdinand, with an imploring +accent, contrasting so curiously with his bronzed face and black beard, +that Edgar again smiled, saying, 'You've not turned parson?' + +'No, but this is a case of necessity.' + +'Oh! all's one to me,' interrupted Edgar, with a sort of instinctive +sneer to cut short a Clementine discourse; 'since this business must +come to their ears at home, they may as well be at peace about one of +us.' + +'And his name?' + +'His eyes--you'll never see them--but they have so much little Cherry's +wistful look, that I've called him Gerald; you may tack Felix to it. +No mockery! He's been the happiest little soul that ever was born, +happiest maybe if he goes on as he is, knowing nothing about it.' + +As Fernan repeated the Lord's Prayer, first learnt from Lance, the +tears gathered and softened Edgar's eyes, and made a mist as he saw the +pale brow sprinkled, and heard the Holy Name. + +'You said that once for him. Let me hear the old echo again. I wanted +to teach him, but it never came right.' + +Ferdinand was so thankful that the doxology came from his heart, though +at the moment he saw that the poor child had been almost baptized in +blood, for Edgar's caresses had displaced the bandage and some bright +red drops had started, and mingled with the water, and he could not +help silently tracing the cross with his finger before kissing and +wiping it away, and re-adjusting the handkerchief. 'He is warmer,' he +said. 'See, his lips are less deathly.' + +'The death flush,' said the father. + +'It need not be. I will try the brandy again. I thought we got a little +down before.' + +'I tell you he shall not be tortured! Why should he wake to an hour's +conscious misery? I could not bear it! I say I will not have it done!' +and he stretched out his hand as in protection. + +'Nay, why should not he live? There can hardly be any vital part here, +and it has just missed the spine. Let me try!' + +'To make him a wretched orphan. Another burthen to Felix.' + +'That need not be a scruple now.' + +'He has not married Marilda after all!' + +'No; but he has come into the property.' + +He was surprised at the effect of his words, 'What! what! Felix! Vale +Leston?' + +'Yes, he has been living there these four years.' + +'Not married?' + +'No.' + +'Then that child is heir to all! Bless me! Felix at Vale Leston! It +makes one believe in a Providence at last.' + +He anxiously watched Ferdinand's endeavours to restore his little son, +as though divided between the wish for his life and the apprehension +of his visible suffering; but though the stimulant was certainly +swallowed, and produced a slight revival of pulse, the lethargy +continued. + +Edgar's own wounds, except the rifle-shot in the body, were the +lacerations with which the Indians mark their victims, not mortal in +themselves; but he never admitted any hope for himself, and though for +one day and night his recovery seemed possible, after that the wounds +assumed an appearance which the experienced inhabitants, many of them +fugitive Secessionists, pronounced to be fatal. + +He talked a good deal at times, and was eager to hear all Fernan could +tell him about home; and though he gave no connected history, it was +possible to piece together the sad story of his life from his rambling +talk. + +The sight of Spooner, the manager, in a cab, had convinced him that his +forgery had been detected, and he could hardly credit the assurance +that it was known to no creature save Marilda and Ferdinand himself, +whom she had instantly despatched to assure him of pardon and secresy. + +'No! did Polly do that? A golden girl I knew she was; but that's +sublime! Yet I might have known she had held her tongue, since Felix +and Cherry are alive and well! Good old girl. I say, Travis, you must +have her after all. She deserves it!' + +His relief was intense, when he thought of his son, in finding no brand +affixed to the name he had never dared own again, except at the two +most unhappy events of his life, his duel and his wedding. + +'Ourselves, our souls, and bodies, to be a reasonable, holy, and lively +sacrifice,' he said. 'Those were little Lance's words--the chief reason +he assigned for burying himself at Bexley. A fanatic craze of course, +but I never got the words out of my head, and I'm sure I've been +the sacrifice, soul and body, though not what you'd call a holy or a +reasonable one! Well, whatever hindered him, it was well for him!' + +He explained that Allen had been a feeble speculator, but plausible, of +personal good faith, and perniciously sanguine. His schemes had chiefly +devoured Thomas Underwood's legacy, while as to the other debts, Edgar +treated them lightly, and though he was much moved at Geraldine's +exertions to pay them, he called it an infatuation in Felix to have +allowed it. + +After his flight to Ostend, Edgar had joined Allen's company at +Strasburg. Failure had disgusted him with painting, and the free +wandering life had long fascinated him, while with the Zoraya he had +a standing game at coquetry. Though her name was Hungarian, she was +almost stage-born, and her nationality was harder to analyze than +Ferdinand's. She had sung ever since she could speak, and been bred +to the boards, but as, in spite of her splendid beauty, she lacked +dramatic talent, and her voice had been too early strained, she was +never more than a third-rate prima-donna, with airs and graces that +were Edgar's sport and titillation, while to her he was the handsomest +and most gentlemanly man in the company, with wit and breeding of which +she was half afraid. + +When Edgar found that the unhappy occurrence at Pau was known, he +asked eagerly after Alice, blessing the kindness that had brought her +home; but he lived where life was held too cheap to make him greatly +heed blood-guiltiness; nor had he deemed the wound more than the just +penalty of forcing the duel on him, viewing the fatal result chiefly +as an accident. But Zoraya had seen Alice shriek and faint, and Edgar +falter and blush, and knew that this pretty English doll had been the +cause of his killing his man. Thenceforth passion and jealousy awoke in +her, and made her whole being centre in the determination to turn his +trifling into earnest. Her beauty became more striking, her songs more +effective in the absorption of her soul, and her eager pursuit became +as often oppressive as amusing. When he had remained in Egypt with the +apparently dying Major Harewood, nothing could persuade her that the +Englishman was not connected with Alice; and when he joined the troop +again, she hailed him like a truant slave returned to his bondage. + +Why had he not broken from it? Had the telegram announced Felix, he +could not have helped lingering for a sight of his face in spite of +everything; but Wilmet, in her cold severity, and her grief too, he +could not encounter, especially as Zoraya had threatened to descend +upon him and 'imagine the meeting.' + +So he drifted back to the 'company,' which had by force of custom +become a sort of home, and was his sole resource. 'Rattle-snake and +frog,' he said; 'of course the frog succumbs at last.' + +But that had not been till the retirement of the Allens had left him +to the mercy of the Prebels, and when the absence of Mrs. Allen's +unimpeachable respectability left the company at the mercy of scandal; +and a little exaggeration of evil report, with a few tears and heroics, +brought him passively to surrender his hand to his pursuer, and they +were married in New Zealand before proceeding to America to 'star it' +in the Southern States. + +Even then his affectionate nature would have opened to family love; but +with the attainment of her object, Zoraya's passion ceased, and she +viewed him as a master to be resisted. His ideal of a wife had been +formed on very different women, and incensed her imperious temper; and +when her violence was met by cool sarcasm, she was lashed to frenzy. +Her repugnance to motherhood completed his disgust. He deliberately +told Fernan that first and last he had never seen a spark of even +animal yearning towards the infant, only angry impatience of the +discomfort and inconvenience, and contempt of the pleasure it gave him. +She was enough among the advocates of advanced women's rights to learn +to admire her own scorn of maternity, and but for an old negress, whom +he had hired on the poor little thing's unwelcome entrance into the +world, its chances of life would have been few. + +So they had rubbed on, till at Chicago Edgar had fallen ill with +inflammation on the chest and throat, and was left voiceless, hovering +on the verge of decline. He was still confined to his room when he +received a note from Zoraya to inform him that she could not be +burthened with the support of an invalid, and had therefore made other +arrangements, in pursuance of which she enclosed a deed of divorce. +To him it was liberty, and satisfaction that she had not heart enough +to rob him of his child, but it was also destitution. However, there +was compassion enough for the sick and deserted vocalist to render +landlord and doctor merciful, and he was allowed to liquidate his debt +by taking portraits as soon as he could reach the drawing-room of the +boarding-house and wield his crayons. + +'I don't know whether the divorce would hold water at home,' he said; +'but keep it, to guard the boy. If he is heir to anything she will +scent it, like a vulture, carrion. Stay, while I can sign it, you draw +up a form, giving the custody of him to my brothers, and forbidding her +having anything to do with him.' + +He was uneasy till this was done. His success at Chicago had given +him hopes of gaining a livelihood with his brush, but he soon found +photography too strong for him, and could meet with no employment as a +violinist. His health was too much shattered for settled exertion, and +though he said little of his struggles and sufferings, they must have +been frightful, as he dropped from one failure to another, striving as +he had never striven before, till he actually became a teamster to a +party prospecting far West. 'I can't think how they came to take such a +screw!' he said; 'but I believe they forgave me my child for the sake +of my fiddle. Such a child as it was too, not eighteen months old, but +never fretting for a moment. Most of the way I carried him strapped on +my back, and always felt his little hand in my beard, and heard his +voice in my ear as blithe as a katydid, and he was always ready to +play, till he was a regular pet-kitten among them. Ah, well, Jerry, you +and I have had good times together. How will he ever stand the high +polite at home? Pah! You must have him out now and then, and let him +breathe the prairies, and gallop after the buffaloes.' + +It had ended in Edgar's settling down on this spot, having found the +Editor of the 'Soaring Eagle of the Far West' closing with a favourable +offer at the other end of the Continent. 'Tell Felix I took to his +trade,' he said. 'Take home a sheet or two to be preserved alongside +of the Pursuivant in the family archives. It is dated Violinia, a +free translation of Fiddler's Ranch. Before I came, it used to be +Broken-head Ranch; but it got the other name when I took to playing to +hinder my boy from hearing more foul tongues than I could help. Take +Lance my violin. He may some day make it over to Jerry, if he has a +turn that way, though maybe he had best not.' + +Perhaps nothing he said was sadder than this, considering what music +could have been to him. + +It appeared that though the wonderful spring of health in that +salubrious air had made his first years there enjoyable, he had begun +to feel the lack of all good influences as his child grew older. +What he heard with indifference from his comrades, was shocking when +echoed from the tender lips that brought back the thought of home; and +when Gerald began to ask those deep questions of why and wherefore, +life and death, that we only cease to wonder over as we grow used to +them, Edgar, who had never reflected before, only undergone a few +intellectual impressions and influences, answered as one bewildered; +and when the fair head nestled to him, longed to see it bent over the +clasped hands, like the heads so like it at home. He tried to teach; +but prayers, cast off half a life-time ago, came not at his beck, and +the very framework of the religion he had never attended to, and then +thrown aside, had almost passed from him. Fragments floated before +him, and his perplexity became longing to clear his mind; and when +the foul habits and language of the Ranch came prominently before the +child's growing perception, he had resolved to remove to where order +and decency prevailed. He had answered an advertisement offering +employment as an editor in a more advanced settlement, and was in the +act of riding to an isolated station to collect his debts before his +departure, when the attack had been made. + +It was as if he had been just turning back from the husks which the +swine did eat, and making his first step from the far country; and +perhaps he thought so himself, for when Fernan's kindness as well as +his own suffering had demolished his proud irony, he said, 'A fellow +like you carries his Bible as a charm. Read me the old story of the +younger son. It is not an original idea to ask for it, but the cadences +have rung in my head ever since that "Pater noster" of yours.' + +It was as if the old irreverence must still tinge whatever he said. +Very perplexing it was. Was it repentance, that self-condemnation for +wasted kindness? Was it faith, that increasing craving for Gospel +messages? Was it prayer, the entreaty for the forms whose words, all +broken, haunted the memory of the clergyman's son? He showed neither +fear nor regret; he knew he had his death-warrant, he had made a bad +business of life, and was weary of it--he, his thirty-second year not +yet complete--he, the most gifted of the brothers. He sent no direct +message, either to ask pardon for himself, or protection for his +child--perhaps he was too secure of both to feel the need, for he spoke +more and more of Felix and Cherry--nay, seemed to be talking to them +when fever obscured his mind. Over and over recurred Lance's answer, 'a +reasonable, holy, and lively sacrifice,' as if it had been the riddle +of his life--or again the opening words of the Lord's Prayer, running +into 'I will arise and go to my Father.' + +The loving hearts must trust to the Father, Who can meet the son even +while yet a great way off. And it was well for them that kind Ferdinand +dropped the veil over the day when the doctor came too late for +alleviation, though in time to save the child, as the lethargic trance +gave way, and the moan of 'Daddy, daddy!' began. The last conscious +light of the father's eyes met those of the boy; his last word replied +to the feeble call. So Edgar Underwood passed away, and Ferdinand +buried him beneath a pine-tree, amid many evidences that he had +endeared himself to the rude spirits around, who mourned him in their +rough sort, with many an anecdote of his ready wit and good-nature, and +many another of little Jerry's drollery, simplicity, or courage. + +The doctor recommended transporting the child to Sacramento before +recovery of his senses should aggravate the danger of the journey. The +spine, though not actually touched, had received a shock, and would +require most careful treatment, beyond his own skill. So a bark cradle +like that of a papoose, had been constructed, and slung to Ferdinand's +shoulders so that he could raise it in his arms and break the jolting +of the waggon over the roadless waste. When clasped in a pair of kind +arms, with a beard to put his hand into, and a soothing voice to hush +his moan, he did not waken to miss his father, though more than once he +asked how soon they should arrive, and many times begged to go to bed. + +The best surgeons of Sacramento and San Francisco had consulted over +the little fellow, and pronounced that the spine had escaped by so +little that the nerves would long feel the shock, though it might be +outgrown in time. They thought he might be removed as soon as the +external wounds were healed and the constitution had somewhat rallied. +A nurse had been obtained, but at present the boy would endure no +attendance but Ferdinand's, and seemed satisfied and lulled into a +half-conscious doze by his English voice and accent. + +All that Edgar had said about his son being Felix's next heir was +omitted in the letter; but Ferdinand said he supposed that Felix would +wish the boy to be brought home as soon as he could safely travel, but +if not, he should be sure of a loving home at 'Underwood.' If he were +not to be received, a telegram should be sent to Sacramento, but there +would probably be time for a letter, since weeks might pass before a +move would be prudent. Of course, too, all respecting the forgery was +suppressed, and only written to Marilda, who was attending her mother +on her yearly visit to Spa. + +Clement read the letter through without pause or remark, though his +voice shook and thickened when he read of Edgar feeling about for +the Lord's Prayer, and Fernan helping him. Truly, the last had been +first, and the first last. He was disappointed too, not to find more to +justify the hope that his brother had evidently gathered. + +Felix lay back all the time, his eyes fixed with a kind of unseeing +steadiness on his own photograph of his father, hanging against the +wall. His hands were clasped over his breast, sometimes trembling +slightly, but never unlocking. 'Thank you,' he said; 'there seems +nothing to keep from Cherry.' + +'She might imagine much worse things if she did not see the letter.' + +'If we prepare her, and give it to her to read, it will be almost a +comfort. Call her in when they come home. No, I will, or she will take +alarm for me.' + +Care for Cherry seemed his first thought; and Clement said, 'It is well +we never told her what we thought about the Australian report. How much +it has spared her!' + +'Ay; mark the time, Clem! It was spring, five years ago, just when you +and I began those prayers, that he was left with a little child to lead +him. How often that is brought about!' + +'I am glad he named the child after Cherry,' said Clement, willing to +blink the full reply, for never having been able to love Edgar as +did his elder brother, he could not as entirely 'believe all things +and hope all things.' He felt the terrible deficiency, knowing that +Ferdinand would have put foremost whatever truth would allow him to say. + +The indirect reply made Felix shrink from that heart's core of the +subject, unwilling to hear the faint qualified hope that conscience +would suffer his brother to utter, dashing the comfort that he had +embraced. + +With a heavy sigh he began to lament the great unhappiness that had +come upon one so formed for light and sunshine. Edgar and Lance had +always been of the same temperament and tastes, and yet they had been +the two arrows, shot by the same hand, but of such different course. + +'A very sinister blast came on one!' said Clement. + +'Yet, change their places,' said Felix. 'Lance would at fifteen have +stood the foreign college, and I doubt if the Minsterham choir would +have been good for Edgar!' + +'The real key lies in those words that haunted poor Edgar. The +sacrifice must be to One or to the other--the Rood, or the heavier +weight,' said Clement. + +'Heavy indeed!' sighed Felix, as if the severity cut him, giving way +to a sobbing groan. 'Such a life, and such a death! Our father's +pride--the flower of us all! O Edgar, our nursery king, that it should +have come to this! What would not I give to have been where Travis was, +if only to cry, Alas! my brother!' + +And as the beautiful features, gallant bearing, and winning speech, so +affectionate when most blameworthy, came over him, his enfeebled state +broke down his ordinary reserve, and sorrow had its course. + +Then came a long stillness while Clement wrote to Lance; but when the +bell rang, Felix rose to accompany his brother; and when Clement, +perceiving how painfully he moved, would have dissuaded him, he made +his usual answer, that 'After a time, there is no use in favouring a +strain.' + +His management of himself was right, for after the quiet little +service, almost a duet between the brothers, in which both could afford +to falter or choke when the _De Profundis_ came among the Psalms, +Clement found him standing under the willow-tree, quite himself again, +as he looked at Theodore's little green bed, with Stella's wreath +of white roses. No doubt his thoughts were on the lone unhallowed +grave parted from them by half the world; but he would not risk his +self-control again, and took Clement's arm without speaking. + +The twilight of the July evening was falling when the waggonette came +to the door with rippling laughter and merry voices, calling to the two +brothers who stood in the porch. + +Clement went forward and lifted Cherry out, then left her to Felix. It +was too dark to see faces; but silence was already taking effect, and +when she found herself beckoned into the study, she knew her brother +was strongly moved, and was too sure of the cause by intuition to utter +her former cry, 'Is it Edgar?' only she trembled as Felix made her sit +down on the sofa, and placing himself beside her, said, 'My Cherry, our +long waiting is over;' and then while her fingers closed on the hand +that held them, he calmly told her the facts. + +She bore it better than he had expected, unknowing how he himself +absorbed her chief anxiety. Indeed, the hours which had intervened had +brought him to so resigned and thankful a tone, that it almost hid from +her the full force of his tidings. She asked for the letter, and then +rose in search of light. + +'You would like to go to your room,' he said, and gave her his arm, +both too much absorbed to remember that he had not helped her upstairs +since the accident. When he had kissed her, and shut her into her room, +he leant for some seconds on the rail, and his face was contracted by +suffering, more physical than mental. + +He was at the evening meal, and so was Cherry. She would not have her +supper sent up, she wanted to be in his presence, and be supported by +it. She was so far stunned, that the horrors that would yet haunt her +for many a night had not dawned on her imagination; but when he said, +'It is well,' she felt it so, but she needed to look at his face to be +soothed and comforted--yes, though it was terribly pale. The colour, +save in chance flushes, had never come back, and to-night the whiteness +was like marble, but the quiet strength and peace seemed to hush, bear +her up, and quell the wailings of her heart. + +And when John Harewood came full of anxious inquiry, he really thought +the tidings had overcome them less than his own wife, who had never +quite recovered the effect of her exertions at the accident, and coming +home over-tired, had been quite crushed by the intelligence--the more +because, like those whose judgment was stronger than their yearning +over Edgar, she did not trust much to those few tokens of penitence. +And Angela was not withheld from loudly blaming Fernan for not having, +as she assumed, insisted on proclaiming the sinner's Hope, and when +assured, that no doubt he must have done so, though he did not set down +his own words, she shook her head, and said, 'How could he, when he did +not know it himself?' There she was silenced by Felix, and went to the +Hepburns for sympathy. + +For the rest, the family spoke little of the new loss. Felix quietly +busied himself in the arrangements that the discovery of of his new +heir made him think desirable. Mrs. Fulbert's remarriage, and the +lapse of her annuity, made him better able to carry out his plans at +once; and if his heir were not Clement, it was necessary to make the +arrangements more definitively. + +Of course the little Gerald was telegraphed and written for. He must be +welcomed and loved, but he was on the whole dreaded as much as hoped +for. The Mays spoke of the self-reliance of the best-trained colonial +children; and what could this poor boy be--the deserted son of the +singing-woman--but at best a sort of 'Luck of Roaring Camp.' Wilmet +infinitely pitied Geraldine, and rejoiced that the river lay between, +to keep Kester and Edward out of the way of corruption. + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +THE MYRTLE SPRAY. + + 'He smiled, "Shall I complain if joy go by + With summer days and winter follow it? + If He who gave the gladness I have known, + Shall take it from me, shall I make my moan? + Nay, for it all is His, the joy, the pain, + The weeping and the mirth, the buoyant breath + Of happy toil; the mist on weary brain; + The turmoil of our life, the hush of death: + And neither life nor death--things near nor far, + Shall sever us from Him whose own we are."' + _Autumn._ + + +The Vale Leston waggonette was waiting at the Ewmouth Station to meet +the express on an August afternoon, and in it sat Geraldine, her heart +in her eager eyes. + +Felix was coming out of the station with--oh! what a robust, brown, +bronzed Ferdinand, and between them, a little fragile, shrinking +figure, dragging his feet with a certain stiffness and effort. That +was all she saw till he was lifted in Fernan's arms to her kiss, and +passively endured it. + +'Will you come by me, Travis?' asked Felix, ascending to the driving +seat. + +'Will you stay with your aunt, Gerald?' + +'Oh, come! don't leave me!' in a plaintive voice, were the first words +Cherry heard from her nephew. + +'I believe I had better. He feels the jar less,' said Ferdinand, +seating himself within, and lifting the child on his knee. 'Geraldine, +I say,'--bending forward and indicating Felix--'is he all right?' + +'O yes! quite! he only feels the strain a little now and then,' she +asseverated. + +'I did not know him till he spoke,' said Ferdinand. 'He is grown so +much stouter and so pale.' + +'We are all getting middle aged, you know,' faintly laughed Cherry. + +'Not you, Geraldine, I never saw you looking so well.' + +'That's the place. It has done us all good--only strains are endless +worries, and he can't take as much exercise as usual. He has thought so +much of your coming too--he will be much better now it is over. Little +Gerald! little Gerald, our dear little boy!' said she, trying to take +the small thin hand that lay on the little black knee, and to look +beneath the broad grass hat. + +'Take off your hat, my man,' said Ferdinand; 'let your aunt see your +face.' + +The child obeyed, and sat leaning against his friend, holding his hat +in both hands, and gazing full at Geraldine, out of a pair of eyes, +which, after what she had heard, rather disappointed her by not being +of the family blue, but soft liquid brown; but the skin was delicately +fair, and the features of the true Underwood cast, strangely startling +her by recalling Theodore, not the mindless Tedo of daily life, but +such as he had lain in the Oratory only with those great mournful +eyes and a soul intensely looking out of them. The hair too was very +light, of the same silkworm fineness as Theodore's, and falling in +the selfsame masses of glossy waves. Ferdinand parted these aside +caressingly, and showed a curved red scar that made her shudder and ask +'Is it well?' + +'Quite. It did not go deep, and even the other is entirely healed now,' +said Ferdinand, 'though its effects are more lasting. However, he found +his legs on board ship.' + +'Are you tired, my dear?' she asked, feeling as if another moment of +the gaze of the big sad eyes would make her cry. + +'I'm used up,' he said, piteously, but though the phrase was Yankee, +the weary tone was English, and gentlemanlike. + +'Poor dear little man! We shall be at home presently, and then you +shall rest, and have tea.' + +A smile broke out on the little face--a smile approving him truly as +Edgar's son, as, glancing up through those long black eye-lashes, he +asked, 'Are you Chérie?'--(not Cherry, but Edgar's own exclusive title +for her). + +'Chérie! To be sure I am, my own dear, dear little boy,' and the tears +started while she smiled. + +'Then will you tell me the rest of the stories?' + +'What stories?' + +'The story about the poor man that had the burthen and went the long +journey, between the lions and up the hill Difficulty. When Daddy +couldn't remember, he says you know it all.' + +She withstood the impulse to call out to Felix, knowing that a turn to +look back always hurt him, and only said, 'Yes, my dear, I'll tell you +all my stories. What a traveller you are! how did you like the sea?' + +'All but the womanfolk,' said the boy gravely. + +'Oh! Gerald!' + +'You're not womanfolk,' he answered. + +'Eh! what then?' she asked, endeavouring to look into the brown eyes, +but their black fringes were down now, and he nestled to his protector, +into whose ear he whispered what was repeated to her in a sort of aside: + +'She's just Daddy's Chérie, the darling.' + +How well she knew them for Edgar's words! She longed to have him in +her arms, but she saw by the manner in which Fernan held him that the +strong support was needed to break the vibration of the carriage. 'Did +you carry him so all across America?' she asked. + +'Nearly. Even Pulleman's cars shook him, and he could bear it less then +than now. The voyage did him a world of good, and every one was kind to +him, but he's as bad a misogynist as ever Lance's Miles. There were but +five women at Fiddler's Ranch, and only one white, and they called them +all aunts. You'll have to drop that distinction! And may I keep him in +my room till he has had time to get used to the strange house?' + +'And the strange beings,' said Cherry. 'It will be a great blow to +Sibby, who had begun to cheer up at thought of him; but as she never +had Theodore at night, she may bear it better.' + +'Ah! that loss must have been much felt, though no one could wish it +otherwise.' + +'No one has felt it so much as he,' said Cherry, glancing up to her +brother. 'He had really the mother's love for the weakest. I wonder if +he will see the likeness I do! I feel as if Tedo were come back, with +what was lacking.' + +'And Stella?' + +'Oh! Stella--' she suppressed with difficulty, 'has another interest,' +and changed to--'Stella has turned into a woman, and is the most +helpful person about the house.' + +'Whom shall I find at home?' + +'The regular domestic establishment, including Bernard, but Lance comes +on Saturday, and Robin--she has not been at home since September, but +the De la Poers have all settled down at the baths at Töplitz, and his +Lordship is coming back on business, and escorts her to London, where +Lance meets her. You'll find Will Harewood too--good fellow, I know he +thought Clement overtasked, so he has taken no pupils this year, except +that he is coaching Bernard for Keble College, and says he is come +to learn parish work, and you would never believe what an excellent +clergyman old Bill makes.' + +Here they reached that spot where ten years previously the charms of +Vale Leston had first broken on Felix, and this time he could not help +looking back to call out 'Look, Fernan! Hold Gerald up to see the +place.' + +Ferdinand lifted the boy to look over the empty side of the driving +seat, exclaiming himself 'How lovely! There's nothing like an English +village!' + +'It's a ranch and not a city,' said the boy. + +'It is home, Gerald, your home,' said Felix, trying to get a view of +his face, which expressed more wonder than admiration. + +He looked puzzled as they drove over the bridge, and when they came +among the grass and trees of the park where John Harewood's fine +short-horns were grazing, he asked 'Where's the store?' + +'He has only heard of Bexley!' cried Cherry. 'Not here, my dear; uncle +Lance takes care of that.' + +'And the paper?' asked Gerald, much to her amusement, but just then +they drew up at the door, where all the rest were assembled to meet +them, including Wilmet and her boys, who were both dancing about, +shouting at the top of their voices for a drive round to the stables. +It was too much for the new-comer, he clung to Fernan with a scream, +burying his face in his breast, and trembling all over, and Fernan, +saying he was always frightened at any sudden outcry, asked leave to +lay him at once on his bed, and let him sleep before there were any +more introductions. + +Felix showed the spare room, and after an interval Ferdinand rejoined +them, saying the little fellow was asleep. Cherry asked if she should +sit by him. + +'No, thank you, he does not mind being alone, and as long as he sees my +portmanteau he will know it is all right. It is numbers and noise that +frighten him, I sometimes think he has never got the Indian war-whoop +out of his ears. They talked of his bravery at the ranch, but that is +all gone now.' + +'From helplessness, very possibly,' said Felix. + +'That is fast improving, but his nerves have had a shock that does not +pass off. Besides, I find the poor little fellow somehow fancied he +should meet his father here. I had no notion till now that he supposed +he was going back to Fiddler's Ranch and the old life when he heard of +_home_.' + +'It must have been all like a long horrible dream,' said Cherry. + +'I don't understand it,' said Ferdinand; 'he was scarcely sensible when +I took him away, and he called me Daddy till his mind grew clearer. He +seems always watching for some one. I did explain it all, and then I +thought he understood, and he knows what death means, but somehow he +does not realize it with regard to his father.' + +'Very likely,' said Wilmet, 'his impression varies according to whether +he is well, or tired and feverish.' + +'I never thought of that!' said Fernan, 'I believe it is so--for when +he is pretty well, he is the smartest little thing I ever saw, always +asking questions, and reading! I believe he read every book on board! +And he was very funny there, ready to talk to any one, provided it was +not woman.' + +'Has he any religious feeling?' asked Clement. + +'Yes. He said his little prayers--poor Edgar had taught him that--and, +and I thought you would like me to tell him what I could.' + +'No one has so much right,' said Felix. 'Fernan, I have been +remembering the time when I was angry with Mr. Audley for taking you +into our house--as I thought to corrupt Lance.' + +'Well, I did my best, or worst, to corrupt Fulbert,' he said smiling; +'and if you and Lance had not been what you were, you would have seen +me in much truer colours. I had no training like what Edgar gave his +boy. You will find him a wonderfully good little fellow, marvellously +shielded from evil.' + +'You think he may safely play with our boys?' asked Wilmet. + +Fernan smiled sadly. 'Play, poor little fellow, he is a long way from +their play as yet! But he is a far safer companion for them than I was +for your brothers. He has hardly ever spoken to a child of his own age; +I believe there was one black baby and one half-caste papoose in the +Ranch, but childhood was not otherwise represented, and he was afraid +of the few we had in the steamer.' + +'He must have been a most incessant charge,' said Felix. + +'But I don't think I ever enjoyed anything so much,' said Fernan. 'I +wish you didn't want him!' + +'You see how little Cherry could spare him,' said Felix. 'But you will +make us a long visit, till he is quite at home.' + +'I thank you; I _couldn't_ go till he has grown happy with +you--happier, I hope, than he has been with me, poor little man; but as +soon as I can, I shall run up to London, and there's a matter I must go +to Spain about before I return far West.' + +'At any rate this is your home in England, Fernan. You know we can't +thank you, but you are more than ever one of ourselves.' And Felix held +out his hand for a tremulous grasp of Ferdinand's. + +Gerald did seem in great need of his friend when he awoke. He recoiled +in dismay at the stairs. 'Oh! those dreadful things are here too!' + +For he had never seen a staircase till he was carried down that of +the hotel at Sacramento, and his limbs had so far been affected by +the spinal damage that he could only as yet move with difficulty on a +level surface, and needed to be carried down with his eyes shut, that +he might not see the giddy height. He consented to sit by Chérie at +the evening meal, and was not ungracious to the other members of the +family, comporting himself discreetly, gazing out of those enormous +eyes at the novel scene, and fraternising with Scamp, who adopted him +at once as an Underwood. + +He had made up his mind as to his eldest uncle, and when they rose, +crept up to him and, putting his frail little lizard's hand into his, +said tentatively, 'Blunderbore!' and as Felix started, hardly knowing +whether to laugh or cry, he added, 'I want to see the Pursuivant,' +uttering all the syllables with great clearness and deliberation. + +Much delighted, Felix took him into his study, when he examined the +last roll of proof with profound sagacity, and said eagerly, 'I can fix +off a sheet for you,' accepting his uncle much more as editor than as +squire. + +The introduction to Sibby was tolerably successful, he detected that +she talked like 'Kerry Micksey,' his chief playmate at the Ranch, and +she was the only person he accepted as an aunt. Felix was too glad to +be dubbed Blunderbore again to object to the familiarity; they taught +him to term Clement the Vicar, and the others went by their unadorned +names. It was remarkable that Bernard, though growing up into a fine +manly beauty much resembling Edgar's, did not seem to recall any +association; but on the Saturday afternoon, when Cherry was sitting +with him under the cedar-tree, a low sweet whistle made him start, +scramble to his feet, and as Lance came forward, he threw himself upon +him with an ecstatic shout of 'Daddy, daddy.' And as Lance stooped down +and gathered him into his arms tenderly, saying 'Poor little chap,' +no doubt the tone and gesture kept up the delusion, for he clung in a +rapture that it seemed cruel to disturb. 'What shall I do, Cherry?' +said Lance, much distressed. 'Oh! my poor little fellow, if I could but +change myself!' + +By that time doubt had wakened, the arms were unwound from his neck, +and Gerald, after a moment's contemplation, gave a sad low cry, +struggled down, and hid his face on Cherry's lap, then lay passively +against her while she fondled him with her hand, taking no notice in +word, except by distinctly letting him hear his uncle's name. 'Lance! +how came you so early, and where's Robina? Felix is gone to Ewmouth, +thinking to meet you by the express.' + +'We got off from town earlier than we expected; and walked from Church +Ewe, and meeting Bill in the village, of course I stepped out and left +them to their bliss.' + +Lance looked well, and spoke as if he had attained to steady if +not high spirits. In fact, though asking anxiously after Felix, he +was plainly gratified by the entire trust and satisfaction shown +in himself as a substitute; some of his articles in the Pursuivant +had been a success in the circle that cared for them, and one on an +important subject had actually been copied into a London paper, a +distinction that had not so often befallen even Felix as not to make +it exhilarating. What made far more difference to him, Mr. Bevan had +finally resigned, and the new rector had a bright young wife, who had +been a school friend of Robina's, and both had accepted Lance on terms +of equality, so that he had more access to society than had ever been +his lot before, and found himself treated as an important ally in all +matters for the benefit of the parish. His life was evidently far +more cheerful than in the previous year, and he had done what he had +declared he should do--'got over' his fit of depression, i.e. resigned +himself, and therefore recovered a certain power of enjoyment as well +as interest in his work. Cherry reproached him with never having come +home since Whitsuntide. + +'No possibility of getting away,' he said. + +'Not with Mutton as a _pièce de resistance._' + +'Mutton's Madame requires recruiting at Dearport and the frequent +solace of her cosset.' + +'O Lance! what a boy you are for being put upon.' + +'Don't row me, Cherry, I get enough of that from Mrs. Frog. By-the-by, +she's going to let Marshlands for a year to the squire while he is +enlarging his house, and we are to have Prothero's rooms. The dear +old Croak says she'll not have me catching my death on that nasty +velocipede another winter.' + +'Ah! if you had but brought her back to our old quarters! You should +never have allowed the Giant to let Madame in! But tell me, Lance,' she +added in a different tone, 'has she shown any feeling?' + +'Lamb was in a state of mind about telling her, and wanted me to do it, +which I declined, so he fetched Miss Pearson, and came down quite proud +to tell me she had had hysterics. What a sheep it is, to be sure! He +adores whatever she does! And then her spirits and health required the +parade at Dearport.' + +'You don't believe in it?' + +'I only know that whenever I had to go to Dearport I always saw her +best bonnets bobbing about among the ladies, or met her on the parade +with Gussy and Killy looking like princes. I called to see Sister +Constance one day, I thought she would like to hear about you all. +And, Cherry, did you know that Angel had sent back her medal as an +associate, and without a word?' + +'Just what I should have expected.' + +'They did not like to write about it till they knew more. Now I believe +the chaplain has.' + +'She has said nothing about it. In fact, she is much more with the +Hepburns than at home, and they have really done her some good. She was +quite meek when we fell in with all the Walshes' guests the other day. +I wonder whether she will thaw to Robina! Ah! here they come!' + +William and Robina were walking arm-in-arm, deeply content to be +together, but grave and subdued. + +'How still it all sounds!' was Robina's exclamation, and though the +others smiled, it was with a sigh at the thought of the low humming +that they all missed. + +The hush over the house struck her more than anything. When last +she had been at home the whole place seemed vocal with unrestrained +life and mirth, all the brothers and some of the sisters went about +whistling or singing, every one was always shouting to every one, +Stella's doves cooing, the clock chiming, Theodore a continual +musical-box, but now, though chimes and doves had not ceased, the soft +undercurrent was gone, and so was the gay ring of mirth. + +'It is as if there were something quelled,' she said, pausing for the +word, when she went out for a turn with Will in the light of the broad +harvest moon, rising red over the woods. + +'So we are,' said he. 'There is something about the place that reminds +me of going into the garden when everything is lying broken and weighed +down by a storm, the sunshine making diamonds of the drops, but +rain-drops still.' + +'Angel is so different,' said Robin, 'and Felix's looks appal me: and +yet Cherry seems easy about him.' + +'So would you be if you had seen him two months ago,' said Will. 'I +don't think any one is really anxious about him but Clement.' + +'Oh! if it is only Clement, I don't care.' + +'Working under Clement gives a very different notion of him,' said +Will; 'you can't think how much I find I have to learn now I come to +the real practical thing, among simple folk. It humbles me as much as +it refreshes me, after the forcing-house at Oxford. I say, Robin, how +long is this to go on? + +'How long?' echoed Robina sadly. + +'Nay, listen: Clement is going to set up a curate in the new house, as +is to be, and £200 a year. I am sure of pupils.' + +'Please don't ask me, Will. It is so very hard, and my better sense +won't let me.' + +'Then put away that better sense, as you call it, I don't.' + +'I can't put away the recollection of my father dying of toil and +privation. I should feel it killing you to consent.' + +He felt rather than saw she was crying as she leant against him, but he +tried to laugh and say, 'I am a tougher subject, Bobbie; we've neither +of us been tenderly reared. Besides, here it would be different.' + +'Yes, because we should prey on our families. No, Willie, I made a +solemn resolution never to drag you down, and I will keep it.' + +'You're far too wise for me,' he began, displeased. + +'Don't be foolish, and break my heart over it! Oh! Willie, if you get +angry, I can't bear it now, it is all so sad.' + +The mute caress answered, but each was a little relieved to say 'Hark,' +as the silence was broken by the sharp wail of Edgar's violin, which +Lance was handling to ascertain in what condition it had arrived. + +'Is your voice all right, Lancey?' asked Felix, as he spoke of the +choral meetings. + +'Just what I want to know. I've not sung to any one I could trust to +tell me the sound of it. Miss Grey likes it well enough, but then she +never heard it before, and I don't know whether the best high notes +have not thickened.' + +'What will you try? said Clement 'I'm not sure that "Chloe's disdain" +did not show you off as well as any.' + +'Then Angel--where is she?' + +'Angel anathematises light and profane songs on the eve of the +honourable sabbath,' said Bernard; 'I wish she was here to have her +ears pulled.' + +'No, it is not so much that,' said Cherry, 'as that she cannot bear +secular music since that unlucky song. But here's Stella, the universal +stop-gap, to be Chloe.' + +It was a fine old seventeenth-century dialogue song, a sort of +heir-loom in the family--the lady's part full of the pert coy disdain +that passed for maidenliness, the swain's of a pathetic steadfast +constancy, and there was a variety in the expression that had always +given scope for the peculiar beauties of Lance's voice. But as he sang +it now, it was not only as a musical exercise or 'crack song,' the +manly melancholy stirred the depths of a sad but resolute heart that +could hardly have otherwise poured itself out. So two of the hearers +understood it, and Cherry, clasping Felix's hand, found the pressure +returned. + +It was only Clement who, as the last sweet quiver died away, was +disengaged enough to say, 'You seem to me to have gained instead of +lost.' + +He muttered something about a German air left upstairs, and ran away. + +'I'm afraid it is Philomel against the thorn,' murmured Felix in his +sister's ear. + +And Clement, in an undertone, uttered the two words 'whosoever hath,' +and Stella, of course mentally supplying the continuation, perceived +that he was thinking how the voice treated as a means of praising +divine glory had survived in its purity and freshness under the same +danger that had been fatal to the gift that had been the temptation +and ruin of its owner--a thought better suited to Clement's stern sad +nature than to his little sister; and instead of answering, she began +to play Mozart's requiem. + +It was long before Lance returned. 'It was that poor little Gerald,' he +said. 'I wish I had thought of it--when he heard the violin, he thought +his Daddy was really come at last. I nearly tumbled over the little +white bundle in the gallery. Poor morsel, I suppose he was almost +asleep, for when I picked him up, feeling like just nothing at all +without his clothes, he firmly believed I was Edgar masquerading; and +the more I coaxed him in the dark, the more he implored me, "Oh! Daddy, +don't go on, be Daddy, I know you, I do! 'Tisn't play," till he almost +broke one's heart--I thought I should have to call Fernan.' + +'And how did you manage him, poor darling?' + +'It was curious. One of those shouts that they give in the harvest when +they clear the last sheaf in a field came in, and made him shudder in +horror. "The Indians," he said, and then, after I had told him what +it was, I said, "Yes, you heard the Indians once, didn't you?" and he +answered, "Oh! yes, Daddy told me, 'Never mind, my brave boy, it can't +last long. Shut your eyes, and say your prayers!' and he held me +tight, tight."' + +'Then that is the last recollection he has of his father! A noble one!' +said Felix, with a sound of thankfulness. + +'So I told him,' pursued Lance, 'that Daddy was right, and it hadn't +lasted long. I just told him the real story, and how his father gave +him to Mr. Travis to bring to us. I told him how poor Edgar used to +teach me to play on his fiddle, and I think he really was relieved to +lose the confusion about identity, and he knew me at last for the Lance +who used to sing "Jim Crow." I told him all I could, and looked at the +marks on his poor little back and breast. How did he live, Fernan?' + +'I can hardly tell; I suppose life is very strong in a healthy child, +and that torpor of benumbed nerves saved him much pain.' + +'I fancy poor Edgar had told him a good many stories about us, for +he asked me all manner of odd questions about home, and I am to take +him there when he is well. Meantime I had to sing him to sleep--"like +that," he said, poor little fellow; and he started Sibby's old croon +that used to be Baby's name for her.' + +'The child has adopted you, Lance,' said Felix, when he saw Gerald +riding down to breakfast in the new uncle's arms, with an arm round his +neck and his head on his shoulder. 'Should you not like him to be your +godfather, Gerald?' + +'No, Gerald, that can only belong to Mr. Travis, and your uncle Felix.' + +'Travis, of course,' said Felix; 'but for me, it would be too like a +parent, and--' he paused, but went on: 'You ought to have that tie--you +who brought out that final saying from his father. Never let him forget +it. It is so perfectly the spirit in which to meet the unavoidable.' + +He certainly had a power of transmuting into comfort all he heard +of this beloved brother. It had been decided that the boy should be +admitted into the church on this, his first Sunday. Ferdinand was +anxious that it should be, like his own baptism, his first sight of the +interior of a church, and had been preparing him for it all the way +home, so that he knew a good deal more than had yet been made to adhere +to his cousin Kester, and his replies had a flavour of St. Matthew's +that delighted Clement. It did not seem right that the thing should +be done in a corner, and in the first strangeness numbers would make +less difference than after he had learnt to know the faces round him; +so they resolved to face the full congregation at once, large as it +was apt to be in the afternoon; for there had of late arisen among the +young men of Ewmouth a fashion of walking out to church at Vale Leston, +attracted partly by the choir and partly by the preaching. + +It was too long for Gerald's feeble limbs to be kept standing, and +though he was tall for his age, Ferdinand Travis took him in his arms +where the questions and replies startled the unprepared. 'Who baptized +this child?' when the answer, 'I did,' came from the jet-black beard +of the great American merchant, more like a Spanish grandee than ever; +and 'With what matter was this child baptized?' was responded to +'With water'--there was a thought of the blood that had oozed forth +and mingled with the 'lucid flood,' and Clement's voice trembled with +emotion as he certified that all was _well_ done, and as he signed the +cross, it was where, in anticipation, Ferdinand had marked the rood, +and as Geraldine's eye traced the little coronal that the cruel knife +had scored, her whole heart went into the thought. + + 'Thus outwardly and visibly + We seal thee for His own; + And may the brow that bears the cross + Hereafter bear the crown.' + +Strange was the entry in the parish register regarding the child whom +his uncle treated as heir of his house and name, but at whom every one +looked with compassionate misgiving, so weird were his great pensive +dark eyes, so thin his cheeks, so feeble his movements, so complete the +contrast to his sturdy cousin Christopher, the one all mind and the +other all body. + +Felix wished for London advice for him, and, as there was to be a +clerical meeting on Tuesday at Richard May's, proposed to drive with +Clement as far as Stoneborough to ask the two physicians what they +would recommend. Lancelot only discovered this intention just as he +was stepping into the boat in which Bernard was going to take him +to Ewmouth to meet the train--probably he fancied his face quite +impassive, but it was far too transparent for him, and there was a +curious gust of expression passing over it when Felix asked whether he +had any commands for Stoneborough. 'N-not--at least, my--my--remember +me to them. That's all! good-bye.' + +Then he expended his energies on the oars, and snubbed Bernard into +silent smoking, meanwhile he was calculating the increase of means that +had accrued to Felix, and would surely render marriage possible. + +Felix found his call happily timed, for Dr. May received him with, +'That's right. Just as the last patient has made his exit. Nay--not the +last. I fear your side does not seem to have mended.' + +'Not much, thank you.' + +'So I see, but wait a bit. You are Tom's concern, and I shall get into +disgrace if I go into it without him. You can stay?' + +'Yes, I ventured to think you would house me while Clement is sitting +in council.' + +'That is well. I need not go out till after dinner. Gertrude is at +home, but Ethel is gone to Cocksmoor to see after feeding the divines. +Don't you find that an uncommon excitement to the clergywomen? Well, +have you got the poor little boy?' + +'Yes, a sweet little fellow, but in an anxious state. The spine seems +affected still, and I want to know to whom you would advise me to show +him--I must get some one while Travis is with us to tell what the +American surgeons said.' + +'That's another matter for Tom. He knows the present leading men better +than I do. I'll send up word to him to look in when he gets back from +the hospital.' + +'There is a third matter,' said Felix, with a blushing smile, when the +message had been despatched, 'not so professional.' + +'Eh?' said the doctor with arrested attention. + +'It is this,' said Felix in the deliberate manner of one who had long +conned his part. 'Should you regard it as intolerable presumption in my +brother Lancelot to raise his eyes to your daughter Gertrude?' + +'Your brother!!!' + +'Yes, sir. Lancelot. I could release him from the retail business and +make over the Pursuivant to him. He would have rather more than £500 a +year, and if--' + +'Lance!' again exclaimed the doctor. 'So it is Lance! I beg your +pardon, I had been hoping it was yourself.' + +'You will hardly hope that long, sir.' + +'What do you mean? That hurt? What has been----' + +'That will wait. Do not let me lose this opportunity,' said Felix, +rather breathlessly. 'It is not only my health. For all essentials, +whatever you are kind enough to think of me, Lance is _that_ and a +great deal more, and he is deeply smitten, poor fellow, and needs +affection and happiness so much,' he continued, a little hurt at the +smile that played on the doctor's features, and broadened into a laugh. + +'Well, I've no right to complain after setting the lad on.' + +'You, sir?' + +'Ay. When he was brooding and moping in the winter, fancying no girl +would look at him, I told him, by way of shaking him up, that I should +be ashamed of one who stuck at his occupation. It is like giving a +boy a gun, and wondering when he brings down your tame jackdaw. One +ought to have experience by the time it comes to one's youngest, but +I suppose I should never get it if I were the father of the fifty +Danaides.' + +'May I gather that you would not think the disadvantages +insurmountable? I know it does not sound well, but Lance is in a better +position than mine was. He is a good deal thought of in the town; is +intimate at the Rectory; and if he lived in the country, and dropped +the retail, I can answer for it that there would be plenty of society +such as your daughter would care to have. If I foresaw mortification, +it would not be right to expose her to it.' + +'Somehow my girls care rather too little than too much about society,' +said the doctor. 'I shall be the sufferer. How I shall catch it from +Tom and the rest!' + +'Thank you, sir.' + +'Not so fast. Stay a bit. How far has it gone? The boy has not spoken +to her?' + +'Not in so many words. He does not dare, and I could not venture to +encourage him till I knew what you thought. Indeed he has been chained +to Bexley ever since I have been laid up.' + +'He is a thoroughly nice fellow,' allowed the doctor; 'he let out a +good deal of his inner self to me last winter. If worth were to have +it----' + +'He would stand first,' said Felix eagerly. 'To tell you what he has +been to all of us these----' + +'Hush, here comes our professor. He was fuming like quicklime at +Daisy's escapade the morning after your accident. A wholesome +preparation.' + +About an hour later the dinner bell brought down Gertrude and her +nephew Dickie. She started, and a thrill of colour passed over her +face as she met Mr. Underwood at the table, and, laughing rather +nervously, begged him to excuse deficiencies, as Ethel, the cook, the +parlour-maid, and all the best knives and forks were gone to Cocksmoor. + +It struck her that her father was grave and silent, but her heart +was, as usual, full of Vale Leston and Cherry, and she catechised +him next on all the ins and outs with which her visit had made her +familiar, he replying in detail with his natural quiet humour, though +whenever Lance's name came up, he could not help colouring a little. +He delighted and excited Dickie with Bernard's cricketing feats, and +the doctor waked into interest from his abstraction. He had to go +out directly after, taking with him Dickie, who now held the holiday +privilege of being his charioteer. + +'You had better take a rest after your drive,' said the doctor to +Felix. 'Nobody will disturb you in the drawing-room.' + +Felix willingly reclined in the great easy chair, only begging Gertrude +not to think it necessary to leave him, and as she wished nothing +better than to stay, she took her work and sat down. At first all was +still; he had put his head back, with closed eyes, in the relaxation +of complete lassitude, but his countenance did not give the impression +of sleep. It was weary and exhausted, though placid, and gradually +an expression of reflection came over it, deepening into anxiety and +perplexity, until after about twenty minutes he opened his eyes, and +looked at her with a pleasant smile. + +'I hope you are rested,' she said. + +'A good deal, thank you;' then, after a pause, 'Did I tell you that +Lance has quite recovered his voice?' + +'I am glad; I have never heard him.' + +'You must, then. Cherry shall manage it next time he comes home. He +has been kept much too close this summer, but we must make a different +arrangement.' + +'Not your changing places!' cried Gertrude, 'you don't look fit!' + +'I am afraid not,' he answered with weary acquiescence. 'Your father +and brother have been overhauling me, and I believe my effective days +are over for some time.' + +'Oh!' she started, and said in an imploring tone, 'Cherry said the +sprain was almost gone.' + +'The sprain is,' said Felix, 'but there's something beyond. It may go +on for some time, but the result is very doubtful.' + +She rested her chin on her hand, her eyes dilated by the shock. + +'So, you see,' he proceeded, 'I am anxious to lose no time in getting +matters into order, both as regards Vale Leston and Bexley.' + +'Oh!' she burst out with a cry; 'don't, don't, don't go on like +that--just as if it were somebody else.' + +The sound of misery convinced him that he was acting for the best in +killing at once any embryo aspiration directed towards himself; more +especially as he felt her more capable than any one he had met since +Alice Knevett of stirring what he was resolved never to allow to be +stirred. Never would he have risked this _tête-à-tête_ but for his +recent interview with the two physicians; and her sorrow touched and +warmed the inmost recesses of his heart. He leant forward, saying, +'There is so little actual suffering that perhaps I feel as if it were +somebody else. I have been expecting this, and there have been a weight +and weariness about me which make the thought of rest not unwelcome.' + +'Oh, no, no! You are quite young. Papa and Tom couldn't have said it +was so bad. There can't be no hope.' + +'No, there is just a chance of things taking a different turn.' + +'Oh! they will! I know they will! Please don't give yourself up. That's +the worst thing for any one.' + +'I don't do that;' and as she came and stood by him he looked up in her +face, saying, 'there is so much kindness in the world that one would +gladly not leave it, if only not to grieve one's friends.' + +'I wish,' with a half-angry sob, 'you wouldn't talk in that horrid +resigned way.' + +'This will not do, indeed, my dear.' Her weeping made the word slip out +as in reasoning with one of his sisters, but it brought her colour, +and the tint was reflected in his own as he said, 'I beg your pardon.' + +'Oh! please, I do like it so.' + +He found himself on perilous ground, for he was exceedingly drawn +towards the girl, whose warmth gave him a greater sense of sweetness +than ever had Alice's most gracious moments; and it was with strong +effort that he preserved a sort of fatherly tone. + +'Sit down again; there is a great deal I should like to tell you, if +you have patience to listen.' + +Patience! She would fain have listened for ever. He told her the more +slowly, in order to give time to rally, the history of the family +struggles, dwelling at each turn on Lance's manful part in them, and +resolute sacrifice of taste and ambition, and coming down to his own +inheritance at Vale Leston, with all that it had involved. The fact +was that it was needful to let her perceive that he had never had it +in his power to marry, and never intended it; that the only mode in +which he could both do his duty by his brothers and sisters, and make +restitution of the church property, was by continuing his business, +being economical, and raising up no fresh claims on the estate. + +Probably she did not at the moment take in the idea of this affecting +any relations with her, for she exclaimed, with that hot petulance +which in her was never unbecoming, 'I see, it's too late; you've spent +everything on everybody else, and lived for everyone but yourself.' + +'I wish I had.' + +'I don't think it fair!' she passionately exclaimed. 'Why should +everything come on you?' + +'Perhaps, when one's forefathers have done a great wrong--ignorantly, +may be--it must come on some one. I have been struck by seeing how +seldom the lay rectory has gone in the direct line, and I am glad to +prevent it from being bound about that poor child's unconscious neck.' + +'I was wrong,' she whispered under her breath, in a sudden change of +mood, as the simple-heartedness of his manner impressed her. 'You are +as devoted as any of those old people.' + +'Not I,' he answered. 'I have had a particularly prosaic, prosperous, +comfortable life of it;' and then, thinking the scene had lasted long +enough, he said, 'I should like to call on Mrs. Thomas May. Is it +permissible to go through the garden?' + +'How can you?' she exclaimed. + +'Thank you, I am quite rested' (he might have said, as much as he ever +was). + +'I meant, how can you go and make trumpery trivial calls.' + +'It did not answer in the year one thousand to sow no corn, in +expectation of the end of the world,' he answered. 'Spiritually, as +little as materially.' + +He tried for his dry gentle manner, but was too much moved by her grief +to make it natural. + +'I'll come with you,' said Gertrude, leaping up. + +He took his hat, and she a parasol, and they crossed the garden in +silence till, almost at Tom's door, she exclaimed, with a choking gasp: + +'Oh dear! oh dear! if there were anything I could do for you!' + +'Thank you,' he answered affectionately, with a smiling trembling lip. +'One wish is very strong with me. Things may not be prepared for its +fulfilment while I am here--but when it comes before you--you will +remember what you say, and I think it will be granted.' + +She turned, half petulantly, and plucked off the myrtle leaves. + +'Are you going to give me a piece of that?' he said, smiling. + +She broke off a spray in full flower. + +'Thank you,' as he put it in his buttonhole. 'Perhaps some day you will +see this again. Then remember.' + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +SOUR GRAPES. + + 'Hast thou forgot the day + When my father found thee first in places far away? + Many flocks were on the hills, but thou wast owned by none.' + _Wordsworth's 'Pet Lamb.'_ + + +The London surgeon met Tom May and Page, and gave every hope of little +Gerald's ultimate recovery, though for the present there was not much +to be done except watching him, and encouraging such exertion as did +not excite or fatigue. Cherry was so anxious about the examination, its +result and the directions she received, that she never perceived that +the doctor spent a much longer time in the study with her brothers than +was needed on the little boy's account. + +This, her preoccupation and bliss of ignorance, was a relief to both +Felix and Clement. They believed there would be ample preparation, and +not only were willing to defer paining her, but would have missed her +cheerfulness, and wished to spare her the protracted suspense that +might undermine her health and power of meeting a crisis that might be +deferred for weeks, months, nay years, or possibly might never come at +all; for there was a chance that treatment might disperse the evil. The +suffering did not increase, and was not constant, but only brought on +by sudden movements or in certain attitudes, and any token of it was +always laid to the credit of the strain. No one could fail to perceive +that Felix was more inert, more grave, and, if possible, more gentle, +but the acknowledged injury, as well as the loss of his two brothers, +might account both for this and his disinclination to the ordinary +summer gaieties. No one indeed, wished for them, now that Angela +professed to have broken with the world, and Geraldine's whole mind was +absorbed in the anxious tendance of the little nephew, who preferred +her to all others, and was continually needing to be soothed or amused, +with a precocious intellect stimulated by all he had undergone, and +at the same time with spirits and nerves too much shattered to bear +the least strain on mind or body. Edgar's child she must have loved, +but this little tender, fitful, dependent creature, used to be the +half-comprehending recipient of his sad memories and confidences, was +inexpressibly dear to her. + +There was hardly any visiting that summer, except the calls of a few +friends, and in September Felix decided on asking the two Lambs to +the Priory. He had business affairs to arrange with his partner, and +thought it would be unforgiving to mortify the wife by excluding her +from the invitation, so he braved Cherry's absolute indignation. Poor +Cherry! had she known all, she would not have exploded as she had +hardly done since her girlish contentions with Alda. 'It is really weak +to give that woman her wish, and at such a time.' + +'I am sorry for the infliction on you, Cherry.' + +'You know very well that is not what I care for. It is the insult to +dear Edgar's memory to have her here pranking herself off.' + +'I cannot quite see it in that light.' + +'No, you always had some infatuation about her: you sacrificed Lance to +her when you let her into the house at Bexley, and now you are letting +her fulfil her aim of coming gossiping here.' + +'One can only try to do what one feels to be right, Cherry. I am very +sorry, but I cannot be guilty of a marked slight.' + +'The more marked the better, I should say.' + +'Hush, Geraldine,' sternly interposed Clement; 'you forget yourself.' + +She was greatly startled, for she had thought him entirely on her side. + +'I understand her,' said Felix, as usual unable to bear reproof to his +sister. 'No one can be more fully aware than myself of poor Mrs. Lamb's +undeserts, but Cherry will one day perceive that this is the very +reason I do not choose to treat her with mortifying neglect. If it be a +foolish fancy of mine, my dear, please bear with it.' + +She was entirely disarmed, burst into tears, undertook to do whatever +he wished, and apologised for her crossness, but in private with +Clement, she could not help expressing her wonder and annoyance. + +'You had better say no more about it,' he answered, 'or you will be +sorry.' + +'I shall say no more, but it is impossible that you should not think +this a great pity and mistake.' + +'No, I don't.' + +'I know I was wrong in flying out in my old way,' said Cherry, humbly. +'Perhaps there was more female spite in it than I know, and I am +thankful to you for catching me up. Of course this is Felix's house; +he invites whom he pleases, and I shall make them welcome; but still I +think this is a very unnecessary attention, and if you had seen as much +of her as we have, I think you would have enforced my opinion.' + +He smiled a little sadly, and let it pass, and Cherry inferred that +even a cassock could not guard the male sex from weak toleration of +a pretty woman. Yet her loyalty was so strong that, when Wilmet's +surprise and aversion were expressed with equal plainness, she +maintained her brother's right to practise romantic generosity in his +own house, especially since his prudence had abstained as long as any +speculations could be thereby encouraged. + +The visit was to last from Saturday to Monday, and in due time Mrs. +Lamb made her appearance, pretty, youthful, and charmingly dressed, +with her husband looking so proud of her as almost to overpower his +bashfulness. + +They were a great contrast, he so honestly simple and affectionate, +adoring every word she uttered, however alien to his nature, and she +with the claws full grown that poor Edgar had detected in the kitten. +Indeed she was not unlike a handsome sleek cat or managing wife, an +excellent and tender mother, dainty and demure, but not by any means +indisposed to give a sharp scratch with her velvet paw. + +When she exclaimed with playful surprise, 'Oh! what a queer old place. +So different from what I expected!' or, 'Looking into the churchyard! +It would give me the horrors in a week! Such a melancholy noise from +the river!' Cherry might conclude that the grapes were sour, but the +admirable Lamb was solaced by his wife's sweet preference for her +humble home. Such scratches as would have been patent to that good +man were reserved for his absence, as when she bewailed the low tastes +of such a promising young man as Lance--Cherry made some effort to +discover what she could possibly mean, and found that the low tastes +signified his preference for Mrs. Froggatt's company, and his assiduity +at the Shakespeare Club and Penny Readings. + +Of course she commiserated Wilmet for her children's red +hair--predicted that Gerald would be a cripple for life, and lamented +Angela's being 'sadly gone off.' Angela did in fact avoid the lady as +much as possible, and on the Sunday afternoon went off to what she had +in her unconverted days been wont to term the Hepburn Methody Meeting, +i.e., a Bible class with exposition and prayer held by the good ladies +in their own dining-room, an institution dating from the darkest ages +of the parish. + +Their green-shuttered house looked out upon a space shaped like a +triangle, grassy, and formed by the divergence of the Blackstone lane, +the nearest approach to a village-green possessed by Vale Leston. +Angela was lingering after the dismissal of the class, discussing Will +Harewood's sermon, which by-the-by, the clever Miss Isabella much +preferred to the Vicar's, probably because Will, a far larger-minded +and more intellectual man, was a great deal the most metaphysical, and +had more points of contact with her, when the sound of a bawling voice, +interspersed with the singing of a hymn, became audible through the +open window, and a procession consisting of a pale-faced young man, +one old one, three able-bodied women, and four little girls came from +the Ewmouth road, and having arrived at the triangle, the young man +mounted a log of timber and began to preach. Sounds ensued which made +the invalid Miss Hepburn exclaim: 'Oh! there are those people again! +There will be an uproar! Oh! my dear, shut the window, and come into +the other room!' + +'What for?' demanded Angela, who was trying to hear. + +'My dear, you can't think how dreadful it was. Such a noise, and that +terrible Timins set his big dog at the preacher, and the poor old +Squire said it served him right, and would not commit him.' + +'Such a thing might be stopped in a moment,' cried Angela. 'Couldn't +you, Miss Isabel?' + +'My dear, I did not feel free when it was the message of the Gospel.' + +'I didn't mean the preacher, but the persecutors. You could stop them +directly.' + +'Go out there! A lady, my dear Angela!' cried Miss Bridget + +'One does not stick at trifles in such cases!' cried Angela. + +'Trifles!' was echoed round her. + +At that moment a coarse derisive laugh made Miss Hepburn scream and +Miss Martha fly to shut the window, while Angela caught up her bonnet +saying, 'I'll soon put an end to it.' + +'My dearest Angela, you are not going out; your brother would not like +it.' + +'Lydia never asked what her brother liked by the river-side,' said +Angela, hastily fastening her head gear. + +'Oh! don't let her go. Isa--Bridget--they'll hurt her. My dear! Stop +her,' entreated the sick sister. + +'Miss Underwood going out to a Ranter!' cried Miss Bridget. + +'Your brothers will never forgive us,' sobbed Miss Martha. And Miss +Isabella laid hands on her. 'It is not proper, Angela, I cannot suffer +it.' + +'I cannot suffer violence to be done to one who is preaching that Name +for petty scruples of worldly propriety.' + +'They'll throw stones--She'll be hurt,' sobbed Miss Hepburn. + +'You know better, dear Miss Hepburn,' said Angela, turning with a smile. + +In another moment she was gone, out into the road. + +There was a hush at once. The boys all turned round, and the nearest, +a lively mischievous fellow, accosted her with a touch of his hat, and +evident sense of high desert. 'Us aint a bin listening to that there +chap, ma'am. Us be going to send he off faster than he came. Us don't +want none of his sort.' + +'How do you know that, George?' responded Angela, to his great +amazement. 'How do you know he has not the very message you have been +wanting so long.' + +The boy opened the roundest eyes. If any opinion was strongly +established, it was the ill savour of ranters in the nostrils of the +gentry. + +'Squire'd be against it, ma'am,' said an older man, 'and Mr. Eddard! +Us knows our dooty better than to hearken to such like trash.' + +'For shame, Brand,' returned the young lady. 'How dare you speak so of +a man who comes in that Name. Now! Here I mean you to stand and listen. +Who can tell what good he may do us?' + +'Miss Angela' was the universal favorite with the village youth, having +fascinated them from the first; and if they had of late remarked any +change in her, it was set down to 'taking on' about her brothers, +and her defence was undisputed quite as much from attachment as from +sheer amazement. The preacher had, on the apparition of the tall lady +in black with the lightly waving crape streamers and mantle, expected +a rescue from insult and violence, but a warning to depart; and his +amazement was great when she took a position in advance of the rabble +rout, and signed to him to go on. + +He was a man above the average of his class, and his discourse was +considerably affecting Angela, when down the lane from Blackstone +Gulley came Robina, Stella, Bernard, and Will Harewood, showing Mr. and +Mrs. Lamb the beauties of the country. + +'Holloa, what's the row? A fellow jawing away somewhere!' quoth Bernard. + +'I thought you had no dissenters here, Robina,' said Mrs. Lamb. + +'No more we have,' stoutly affirmed Robina, in spite of the strange +voices on the blast. + +'What's that?' + +'An obliging mission from our neighbour.' + +'Soon to be refuted by our boys,' added Bernard, 'most likely a cricket +ball is flying at his bumptious head by this time! Hollo there!' + +For he turned the corner and stood in blank amaze. + +Alice tittered. + +Robina and Stella were prepared for anything from Angela. + +Even Will only perpetrated a long whistle, and the observation 'This is +coming it strong.' + +Bernard's measures were more decisive. After the first shock he marched +forward with the peremptory admonition, 'Come, my man, be off with you, +we allow none of this here.' + +The young man stood his ground. 'By what authority Sir?' + +'I'll soon show you--I say--You here, little Pryde, run down and tell +the policeman to step up.' + +'Stay Bernard,' exclaimed Will, 'this is nothing the police can +interfere with.' + +'Don't tell me that, canting and ranting here on our ground,' cried +Bernard, with a fine development of the insolence of the lord of the +soil. 'Pity you're a parson, Bill (and Lamb a sheep),' he added under +his breath, 'or we'd have a jolly good shindy. All you're good for is +to walk off the ladies. Here, Angel, you mad party, go with him, I say, +the joke has lasted long enough.' + +'I shall not move, Bernard, I am here to protect this good man from +insult.' + +'I tell you 'tis the very way to make me insult the impudent scoundrel +to see you standing there among the rabble, making a spectacle of +yourself.' + +'Neither you nor any one else will touch him while I am here,' said +Angela, heroically moving nearer the preacher, and further from her +brother. 'He is giving us the message that is too much obscured, and I +will not have him silenced. I only wish you would listen! Go on, if you +please.' + +But the unwonted style of this interruption had disconcerted the ardent +missionary more than unlimited rotten eggs could have done. The young +lady's presence, though embarrassing, had been stimulating; but when +three gentlemen, including a clergyman, were added to the audience, all +his confidence in his mission could not bring back his eloquence, and, +addressing himself to Angela, his only attentive hearer, he said, 'The +tenor of our discourse has been interrupted; thank you, Miss, we will +resume on a more favourable occasion.' + +'When I'll bring down the garden engine,' muttered Bernard, clutching +in vain at his sister as she stepped forward to shake hands with the +preacher and say, 'We are greatly obliged to you, and I am sorry you +should have been so interfered with.' + +William, premising that he was not the parish priest, turned to +walk with the amateur in his own profession, as much because he was +curious about this phase of life as to see him courteously off the +ground--while Bernard was scolding and deriding Angela on what he +deemed her most monstrous aberration of all, and Angela marching on, +impervious alike to displeasure and ridicule. Mrs. Lamb was trying to +condole with Robina, and Robina was coolly stating that Angela was +quite justified in using her influence to prevent the man from being +assaulted. + +The fame of Mr. Froggatt's state-dinner party and of another on behalf +of Mr. Bruce had reached Mrs. Lamb, and, on the strength of it, she +had freshly trimmed her wedding dress, and was greatly aggrieved to +find her labour lost; disregarding her husband's representations of the +recent bereavements and Mr. Underwood's state of health, and insisting +on attributing the slight by turns to Geraldine's spite, and to the +meanness that hindered the family from enjoying their fortune when they +had got it. + +Though Geraldine had withheld this indulgence, aware that a long late +dinner would be a great fatigue to Felix, she believed in dilution, and +had arranged to gratify her guest so far as to take this opportunity of +inviting one or two Ewmouth families who hardly ever had a day in the +country except what they spent at Vale Leston, and whom it would have +been almost unkind to deprive of their summer treat. + +So on Monday afternoon there was a gathering on the lawn large +enough to be a formidable spectacle to at least one pair of eyes in +the Kittiwake's gig as she came up the river, and to evoke a strong +expletive from a mouth whose fringes were grizzled enough for it to +have learnt to be less impulsive. + +'Can't be helped, skipper. Come on,' laughed the joyous youth at the +prow in the ease of summer attire. 'What, hasn't your domestication +proceeded further? One would think you were the one newly caught from +the bush.' + +'I shall set you ashore and come back at dark when the bear fight is +over.' + +'Not a bit of it! See here she comes, the little darling Star, bless +her,' as over the wire netting, that guarded the croquet balls from the +river, sprang the little figure attracted by the well-known boat. + +'Oh! I'm so sorry,' was her apologetic cry to the captain, then +stopping short, the bright colour flew to her cheeks. + +'Well you may, to have such a mob to receive what I've brought you, +my pretty. Yes, yes, no mistake about him,' as Charlie bounded to her +side; 'but what's this? who's this big fellow in the yellow beard? Did +you ever see anybody like him? He looks as much astounded as you.' + +'You didn't say it was Stella!' ejaculated the tall, powerful personage +designated. 'She was just toddling when I went out.' + +'You're Fulbert then!' she said, looking up as she was folded in a big +brotherly embrace. + +'Yes, to be sure, you pretty little thing. I declare you are a beauty +after all! And who's this?' + +'I can't expect to be remembered,' said the white-whiskered sunburnt +clergyman in a broad shady hat and green shade over his eyes. + +'But I think I remember your voice,' said Stella, 'Oh how glad my +brother will be!' + +'And Lance, is he here?' cried Fulbert, eagerly. + +'No, but every one else is at home.' + +'At home! I believe so,' grumbled Captain Audley. 'I thought myself +secure from launchings out this year.' + +'It is only the Colmans and Strachans and Parkers, just to amuse Mrs. +Lamb. I did not warn you, for I thought you were yachting to-day.' + +'I was on board, going to sail this morning, when I got a telegram from +Charlie, and just as I expected him to turn up, who should drop in but +these two, fresh from Liverpool. Charles, this one, I mean, not _ours_, +thought it best not to startle my mother, and came here first, so I +brought them over as soon as they had eaten a mouthful, and now I'll +take a cruise up the river till it is all quiet.' + +'O no, please don't be so unkind,' pleaded Stella. 'I'll take you to my +brother in his study without coming across anybody. He went in as soon +as we began to play at croquet. Here, through the laburnum path.' + +She led him by the hand in a passive condition, highly amusing to his +son and brother, and Fulbert followed in a state of bewilderment. + +'What an exquisite place!' exclaimed the elder Charles, catching sight +of the cloister through the trees. 'What a treat to see old walls! It +is like Oxford.' + +'Pretty?' said Fulbert, 'I can't think how any one can stand being +cramped up by all these walks and enclosures!' and indeed his great +robust swinging step seemed to spurn them. 'All well?' he asked. + +'Doesn't he know?' said Stella, pausing and touching her crape. + +'Yes, yes, my dear,' said Captain Audley, 'they understand all that.' + +'But Fulbert is more than half lost,' said the uncle, 'and for my own +part I can't realise this as your home.' + +'I shall be glad to get to Bexley,' sighed Fulbert. 'However the elder +ones can't be so altered! I should know old Fee anywhere!' + +They had reached the house, and Stella left them in the hall, saying +she would find Felix. Fulbert would have followed her, but was detained +by the captain, with the words, 'She knows best. I told you he had +never been quite the thing since.' + +Fulbert stood still gazing in amaze at the lofty dark oak hall and +broad staircase so utterly unlike the narrow entry that had been +home to him, but the study door opened and forth came a figure with +outstretched hands, bright face, and glad welcome. 'Ful! Dear old boy, +come at last!' and the boyish handclasp of departure was an eager kiss +of greeting between the men. 'Mr. Audley! My great wish! Do the others +know? Have you seen Cherry?' + +'I'll send her in,' quoth the captain, and rushing off in his +excitement and hatred of scenes, he marched into the thick of the fray, +where Cherry, amid mammas and Hepburns under the cedar, was astonished +by a voice in her ear, 'Your brother and mine are in the study, go to +them. I'll take the teapot.' + +'Your brother?' + +'Charles. Eyes brought him home--Fulbert with him. Good morning; you'll +excuse Miss Underwood: her brother from Australia.' + +Cherry could only gasp something about pardon, relinquish her teapot +to the valiant skipper, snatch up Lord Gerald and hurry off at her +swiftest pace, finding, under the appropriate shade of the orange-tree +at the conservatory door, Charlie and Stella. 'Oh! it was not you he +meant,' was her inhospitable greeting. + +'No, no. The Charles worth having _is_ here, and Fulbert. We are gone +to look up the rest.' + +This did not look much like it, but Cherry stumped on, and came in +sight of the three in the hall, still silent in the first wonder, Felix +with one hand on the table, gazing at the new comers in silent extasy, +while they looked as if scarcely able to speak under the shock of his +appearance--those wasted enlarged features, that transparent pallor +with the grey shades round mouth, eyes and temples, the figure that +lost elastic slenderness without gaining strength, and the hair thinned +though still shining. Cherry was used to it, but she saw how it had +startled them, and that all three were like men in a dream, which she +broke by her cry of--'Fulbert, Fulbert! Mr. Audley! Oh! Felix, is not +this joy?' + +Fulbert started round, relieved at his first real recognition, and his +big arms were round her, his great beard sweeping her cheeks. 'Cherry! +you at last! Little Cherry! But you've not got a proper crutch.' + +'So much the better,' said Mr. Audley, amused at the complaint, 'she is +a stronger little body than when you left her.' + +'And where did you drop from?' Felix was the first to ask. + +All was quickly explained, Fulbert keeping hold of his sister all the +time. Mr. Audley's eyes had suddenly failed him, and the doctor had +urged his going home at once if he hoped to save them. Fulbert, who +had long been meditating a run home, resolved to see him safe through +the voyage, and thus they had set forth suddenly, preceding their own +letters. The inflammation of the eyes had subsided, and they were +somewhat better. 'Though,' said the owner, 'I hope it is their fault +that you look so altered, Felix.' + +'He will soon get back his looks,' said Cherry. 'He is ever so much +better. You heard.' + +'Yes,' said Fulbert, 'Captain Audley told us. Poor little Theodore. The +only wonder is that he lived so long--Who comes there?' + +'You know me, Fulbert.' + +'Wilmet? Yes, only grown grander than ever. But bless me! I thought +they told me. No--Lance isn't here, and couldn't have got like that. +Who is it, I say?' + +'Have you forgotten little Bear?' + +'Great Bear, rather,' said Mr. Audley. 'You've made good use of your +time, Bernard!' + +'Oh! here's _the_ long lad,' said Felix. 'You'll not mistake him.' + +'Aye! I should know Tina,' said Fulbert. 'He always did look the +parson. Who's missing now--Robina?' + +'Robin is here! Oh Ful, Ful, you're very big, but your face is just +like the old times when you used to clamber up the timbers in the yard!' + +'That's right, Bob! Now I begin to believe I'm come home. You're as +jolly as ever.' + +Just then a shout of 'Mother!' and a vigorous patter of boots ended +in the bouncing in of two red curly mops of hair, whose owners were +pursuing a squabble of 'I will' and 'I won't,' and pulling at the +opposite ends of a string as they charged against Wilmet, in loud +appeal and protest. 'Softly, softly, Kester, Eddy, look at your uncle!' +was the motherly unperturbed rebuke, a hand on each shoulder, 'There's +your uncle Fulbert. Oh Kester, right hands.' + +'Never mind,' said Fulbert, not more eager for the greeting than the +two nephews, who began again, 'Mother, make Eddy'--'Mother, Kester +won't'--and reeled out of the room still twisted up in the string, +Wilmet after them. 'Like a pair of puppies in leash,' said Felix. + +'How many are there?' + +'These two, and a little girl.' + +Then came a sound, not without sweetness, though still a +whine--'Chérie! I want Chérie, O Chérie, they've got my lasso,' and +tottering and shuffling in came the little black figure with the white +face and clung to her. Both travellers started. 'I thought they said +Theodore--No, he'd be bigger,' exclaimed Fulbert. + +'It is Gerald, poor Edgar's boy,' said Felix. 'Here, Gerald, here is +another brother of your father--and here's a dear old friend.' + +The delicate hand held out by Gerald was as unlike as possible to the +brown puggy paws of his cousins, but he entreated still 'Don't let them +have my lasso, Chérie. It's grass, and Fernan gave it me!' + +'I'll come, Gerald dear, I'll get them some whipcord--I must go back to +the people; I hope they'll soon be merciful and go--Oh! the heart's +joy of having seen those two!--Yes, dear boy, I'm coming, I'll take +care they don't take it away.' + +'Cherry and her master!' said Bernard. + +'Blissful bondage,' said Felix. 'Have you seen them all yet, Fulbert? +No--where's Angel?' + +'Little Pryde has chopped his finger with a reap-hook, and she's gone +off with Miss Bridget to see about it,' returned Clement. 'Suppose we +walk and meet them, Ful--Felix will have his talk with Mr. Audley.' + +And Robina and Bernard departed to the game, while Felix led his friend +into the study, saying in exultation, 'Our Cherry looks a heartier +woman than ever we expected, does she not?' + +'Wonderfully improved. I only wish I could say the same of you! Is this +the effect of the accident?' as Felix, having placed an arm-chair for +Mr. Audley, subsided into his manifestly invalid resting place. + +'I believe so. But how about your eyes?' + +'That is what I cannot tell. They have mended since I have given up +reading or writing, but I durst not accept the Bishopric till I knew +whether they would be serviceable.' + +'Albertstown?' + +'Yes, I've been offered it. Any way, I should have had to come home; +and it was very good in Fulbert to come and take care of me.' + +'An unspeakable delight and gift to have you both!' said Felix, 'Most +thankworthy!' he added almost to himself, 'how good in you to have come +to us!' + +'More pleasure than goodness. My mother hates surprises and shocks, +so I had the day to spare, and I longed to see your domains. What a +delicious place! Not even Cherry's sketches made me understand the +charm.' + +'We have so much to show you! You will think me absurd about it, but I +own I never see anything comparable to it.' + +'I shan't think you absurd! Imagine what this room, with its air of age +and quaintness of carving, is to a man who has seen nothing venerable +these thirteen years.' + +'And our church. But that you must not see without our Vicar.' + +'I hope to give thanks for our return there. Robert said he would give +us all the evening here. How much good you have done him. I think his +adoration of little Stella is quite equal to Charlie's.' + +Felix smiled faintly. 'Ah! you seem to have come to help us anent that +affair! I am very glad to be able to put it into your hands.' + +'I'm afraid they are not very influential.' + +'At least they belong to a head that can be trusted,' said Felix, +smiling. 'I'm not sure the poor lad ought to be here to-day.' + +'I fancy he gathered hopes from Lady Liddesdale which he thinks justify +him,' said the uncle. 'Should you consent if he got a secretaryship at +the Embassy?' + +'I should feel as if one of my greatest cares was relieved! I have +tried to do right in the matter, but it is a hard one. I should be +thankful indeed to see my little one cleared from this perplexity, +and I begin to trust I shall. Everything seems to be so remarkably +smoothing itself, as it were winding itself up.' + +'Felix, I don't understand your tone. I can't see you distinctly, but I +am sure more is amiss with you than Robert told me.' + +'I was on the verge of bleeding to death after the accident,' said +Felix, 'and I fancy the treatment I am going through keeps me low.' + +'Treatment, what for?' + +In a few technical words he repeated what he had told Gertrude. + +'You speak with certainty!' exclaimed his friend. + +'No, it is too much out of reach. They are trying to disperse it, +and if that cannot be done, there would be a fight of strength of +constitution. It seems to me hardly to get better or worse since the +mere muscular strain passed off, only paining me on provocation, and +telling chiefly in weakness and lassitude. It is curious how everything +in my life seems drawing to a point, so that somehow I feel as if I +were permitted to bind up my sheaves. Here is poor Edgar's fate certain +so as to enable me to make arrangements about the property, and his +child to be Cherry's object, making me far happier about her. And here +you are; I have longed to pray for your being here to help us both when +the crisis comes. You will?' + +'I will! I will. So far as I dare to promise!' + +'Remember. She knows nothing of this, only Clement. I could not get +along without him. Poor Clem! Do you remember how we used to laugh at +him? You will marvel at the strength and wisdom that have grown up +in him. I rejoice to have come to such dependence on the brother I +understood and perhaps liked least, and it is the same with Cherry. She +has learnt to lean on him.' + +'More than on Lance?' + +'Lance, our lark and our sunshine! Dear Lance, I think he may have +a home of his own, but his affairs are not yet susceptible of +discussion,' said Felix, smiling. 'Altogether, I have been strangely +blessed in these brothers and sisters of mine. The love and affection +I have had from them, the willing loyalty that has been the spirit of +them all, strike me as wonderful.' + +'Wonderful, because those who do most are generally the worst requited.' + +'And now, the dear little fellow is taken whom I could least have borne +to leave,' added Felix. 'The missing him was very sore to me at first, +but I am glad now. All were good to him, but it was effort to all but +Stella and myself, and even with Stella it could not have gone on. +There are only two for whom I have real anxieties, and there is good +stuff in both.' + +'Alda?' + +'I was not thinking of her. She never seemed my charge like the rest. +No, Angela and Bernard, but so much has righted itself that I have +the more faith. I believe Bear may be all the better for losing his +dependence on me. He wants to be forced into manhood.' + +'Felix, I wonder whether you are right in thus giving yourself up. It +makes me doubt if I ought to have left you alone to the charge. It must +have gone very hard with you.' + +'Not at all. I have had my full share of happiness. A most happy, +peaceful family, and latterly in this delightful place! my first, +dearest home, the spot I must always have loved best! and Cherry! +Truly, too, both here and at Bexley, I have had that blessing of +Joseph, whatever I have done, the Lord hath made it to prosper. You +left me Mr. Froggatt's assistant, I think, and each step since has been +no small enjoyment in itself.' + +'Yet you are content that all this should end! Your father was, but +his had been a sadder, more laborious, unsuccessful life, and I own +I marvel at you, so fresh in this position, with life before you--You +are--?' + +'Thirty-four this last July.' + +'That is early youth to most men.' + +'No doubt something is due to the perpetual weariness and "do +nothingness" that belong to the complaint, and make me feel getting +done with it all. Soon I shall free myself of being rector here, +the endowment of East Ewmouth is settled, the building begins in +the spring. A long minority will right the estate, and work off its +burthens, and I have had unexpected opportunities of putting things in +train; but if I go on, the task of making both ends meet must continue +hard. I suppose recovery would bring back zest and vigour, but as I +am now, it is like a lame horse at grass, shrinking from a return to +the load, the mire and the ruts, and the assurances of rest acquire a +sweetness they never had before. If I had only done my part fully, and +could say to my father, 'Behold me and the children thou hast given +me!' but when I count my hundred thousand errors, and remember what +makes up for them, it seems little if the last passage should be a hard +one, as I suppose it will. Oh!' breaking off short, 'I should not have +run on like this. It must be the worst thing for your eyes.' + +'This is an odd way of helping you,' said Mr Audley, struggling for +composure. 'I ought to be thankful to see you like this, but I am +selfishly disappointed. I had reckoned on seeing you in the prime of +your usefulness and honors, and happiness.' + +'Here's plenty of happiness,' returned Felix, with his brightest smile; +'and I've not yet given up the uses nor the honors of Squire Underwood. +In fact, I hear the carriages coming, and must go and see the people +off. Will that serve for honors? it would have seemed like them twelve +years ago.' + +Uneasy about the eyes that had been swimming in perilous tears, he +continued, changing his tone from the thoughtful to the lively: 'It is +our only entertainment this year, of course, but I was forced to have +Lamb here on business, and we thought it would please his wife.' + +'Is she?' + +'Yes, Alice Knevett. Prettier than ever,' he answered. 'Will you come +out, or shall I leave you for these few minutes?' + +The longing to watch him prompted Mr. Audley to follow him, though with +little mind to face any one, and in a few moments it hardly seemed +credible that the man who had been speaking of carrying the sentence +of death within himself was the same who was so cheerfully and easily +going through the friendly courtesies of a host--pausing with a face +full of quiet humour to point out Captain Audley acting beneficent +rover, though it was his first time of touching a mallet since he had +been a guardsman, and croquet a novelty of high life. + +Here too came the introduction to Major Harewood, never seen before, +and the Reverend William, last seen as Lance's shock-headed friend, +a terror to Wilmet and Cherry, and frightening the babies with his +mesmerism. + +It was still light enough for the grand tour, and Felix, though leaning +and resting at every pause, would not be denied the going through the +whole, showing it off with a kind of affectionate exultation rather +increased than diminished since the day of taking possession. The +character of the place had altered a good deal since that day when he +had first seen it. It must be owned that some of the perfect trimness +of turf and shrubbery had gone, and that some stable windows were +broken, and their yard grass-grown, and the Vicarage Sunday school +had an aspect which thirteen colonial years could not prevent the +baronet's son from feeling at first sight a little disreputable. The +half-finished Rectory of the future, where the Curate for whom Clement +was advertising was to live, was on the glebe land on the other side of +the church. Altogether, the house and grounds might be in less dainty +order; but there was a look of life about every window, and the lawn +was glowing with the bright tints of geraniums and verbenas, while +dog, cat, kittens, and doves, to say nothing of the human creatures, +imparted an air of gladness and animation, and the Virginian creeper on +the cloister hung like a magnificent purple curtain over the scene. The +dreary deserted aspect of church and churchyard which had at first so +disheartened Clement was entirely gone, and the last September lights +and shades showed themselves on tower and pinnacle, and gleamed on +stained glass as somehow sunshine _does_ seem to fall on what is loved +and prized, as if inanimate things responded to affection. + +In the part of the cloister wall that lay within the churchyard +precincts were two or three memorials of Underwoods who did not lie +buried there, and to these Felix had added a brass cross with an +inscription bearing the names of Edward Underwood and Mary Wilmet his +wife. Mr. Audley looked at these earnestly, marvelling all the more at +his friend's resolute content in his exclusion from this lovely spot, +and from thence he was led to the little grave, now marked with a white +marble cross, bearing on the foot the word 'Ephphatha.' What better +could have been wished for that little helpless being? Fulbert was of +course more interested in the willow tree. He swung himself over the +bank and calculated the height with wonder, demanding of Felix how +the feat had been possible to him. 'I can't tell,' answered he, 'I +have wondered since. It was very foolish of me not to have done like +Charlie. He was the hero.' + +'Ah! Charlie is a regular fish, at home in the water or out,' said his +father, well pleased. + +And they looked at the 'fish,' who was standing a little way off, +with Stella beside him, with down-cast eyes. He had made two attempts +already to pour out his plans on Felix, who had cruelly answered that +he could listen to nothing till the examination was over, and consent +gained, and ruthlessly cut him off from all private interviews, not +choosing to give anything that could be construed into the most tacit +encouragement--but not able to find it in his heart to interfere with +the present enjoyment, though it was not in the bond. + +As to the church, now brought to all the glory that reverent hands, +careful taste, and well-judged expenditure could give it, the contrast +was not small from the dreary bepewed building, and all its native +beauties were unobscured or renovated. Very happy were Clement and +Cherry in pointing them out one by one, and telling the story of the +fragments whose forms had guided the restoration, and Felix sat by on +a bench, enjoying the evening mystery of soft darkness as it fell on +the archings and vaultings, and putting in his word now and then in the +pleasant history of the four years' work. + +'Yes, Felix, I do congratulate you! Nay, more! I shall give thanks for +what I have seen to-day,' said Mr. Audley in a low voice, as they went +to robe for even-song. + +And Felix added, 'Thank you. But pray for me, too.' + +It was well he had an appreciative admirer for his dear Vale Leston in +Mr. Audley, for Fulbert, untrained in antiquities, and with colonial +'_nil admirari_' ways, did not enter into the charms of grey walls, +nor understand ecstasies over the proportions of arches, while even +in the house, he agreed with Mrs. Lamb that oak wainscot was dismally +dark, and that the furniture was worn and old-fashioned. He could not +feel at home. 'It was all very fine perhaps,' he said, 'but it didn't +seem natural,' and he eagerly accepted the Lambs' invitation to return +with them to Bexley. 'I can't help it,' he apologized, 'I'll soon come +back, but I shall not know I'm at home till I've seen Lance and the old +house. It's all different here, and you are all grown such swells, and +the little ones are so big, and Blunderbore looks as if he had been +lost for a month in the bush, and I sha'n't get my bearings till I've +been down to the old place, and seen Lance and the fellows there.' + +So almost as suddenly as they had come, the Australian visitors +vanished, leaving behind them only the security that they were within +reach. Captain Audley went with his son and brother, and quiet was +left to prevail at Vale Leston. The first break was a message brought +in the forenoon to the study, where Felix saw to letters and attended +to business more slowly and with more pauses and effort, but not less +effectively than heretofore. 'Miss Hepburn would be glad to speak to +you, sir.' + +'Which Miss Hepburn, Amelia?' + +'Miss Isabella, sir.' + +'She has found _this_ out, and is going to exhort me as she tried to do +to Lance,' thought Felix, as he desired that she should be admitted, +and with some masculine perverseness, not only rose to greet her, but +placed himself in a common upright chair to listen to her. He found +himself mistaken, she had not come to speak to him on his own account. + +'You are aware, Mr. Underwood, that from one cause and another, we have +had some influence with dear Angela, more I fear than has been quite +palatable.' + +'In some ways you have done her a great deal of good,' said Felix, +wondering what was coming. + +'Nay, not pot-sherds like ourselves, but the way we have been +privileged to point to her, dear child, but I am glad you think so. I +fancied that you were all in opposition.' + +'I think,' said Felix, 'that the poor child had got into a state of +unreality and self-deceit, and that after the shock of last spring +your kindness helped her to the true foundations which she had somehow +missed.' + +It must have been a temptation to Miss Isabella to enlarge on the +danger of concealing that true Foundation, but she had a point and +purpose, and besides, the Squire looked as little in need of being +taught where to find that Verity as any one she had ever met in a +biography, so she went on, 'It was, I am thankful to believe, true +conversion, and the dear child is indeed a sincere Christian, but young +people are so enthusiastic.' + +'She is excitable, and sure to go to the utmost length in whatever she +does,' said Felix, beginning to expect to hear of the ranting. + +He was right. Miss Isabella wished him to be aware that she and her +sisters had done their utmost to withhold Angela from rushing out. He +replied that he was not afraid it would occur again. William Harewood +had talked to the man, and thought him disconcerted, and likely to +carry his ministrations where there was more neglect. However, Miss +Hepburn explained that this was an offshoot of a great revival which +the Plymouth brethren were organizing at Ewmouth. One of their great +lights, a merchant captain who had given up everything for religion, +was about to preach, and Angela had set her heart on hearing him. His +tracts had been widely diffused among the Miss Hepburn's friends, and +the warfare about disseminating them in the village was still recent. +Angela, who had once made holocausts of as many as she could capture, +was now their ardent admirer, and had insisted on making part of the +audience of their author. Now the Miss Hepburns would as soon, no +sooner, have gone to the opera as to a dissenting chapel, and there +had been a vehement argument, resulting in their pupil declaring her +intention of going with a farmer's widow who liberally hovered between +Vale Leston Church one half of the day and Ewmouth chapel the other. + +It was shocking to Clan Hepburn to think of forsaking the +Establishment, and even more so to imagine an Underwood, a lady, a +clergyman's daughter and sister, at a revivalist tea-meeting in a +dissenting chapel, and in full council they had decided that it would +be unjustifiable not to warn the head of the family, and absolutely +conniving at the monstrous proceeding. + +'Thank you sincerely,' said Felix: 'it shall be put a stop to.' + +'I sincerely hope that may be possible,' said the lady, 'but where the +dear child thinks her conscience is at stake, she is far too regardless +of remonstrance.' + +Felix smiled, having found this the case whether her conscience were at +stake or not. + +The encounter must be fought out, not on Miss Isabella's grounds but +on his own. He knew it must have come some day. He had not spoken a +serious word to her since she had rejected his consolation two days +after the accident, and knowing that she was under other guidance, he +had not interfered, feeling less equal than ever to a war of words with +the perverse and perplexing girl. + +How near the conflict was he did not know till at dinner, when on +Bernard's asking her to pull up the river with him, Angela replied that +she was going to drink tea with Mrs. Lake. + +This was one of the gracious acts performed from time to time, but +it sounded enough like a subterfuge to make Felix feel grieved and +indignant, but he held his peace, and so did Clement, while Robina +exclaimed, 'Almost my last evening, Angel!' And Cherry laughingly +accused her of devotion to Mrs. Lake's elderberry-wine. Colouring deep +crimson, Angela burst forth in a combative tone, 'Well, I suppose I may +go where I like.' + +'O, yes, my dear,' said Bernard, 'to meet that nice young man, who was +holding forth on Sunday. Only, when it is a fixed affair let me know, +and I'll have a suit of tar and feathers in readiness.' + +Angela's neck was burning by this time, and she crumbled her bread +savagely. + +'Is the party in his house?' whispered Will to Robina. + +But no one took up Bernard's remark, all feeling that the matter +could not be made game of, and when they rose, Felix said, 'Angela, I +want you in the study.' She could not choose but obey, and before she +was fairly in the room, or the door closed, made another outburst, +'Brother, I have no intention of deceiving you; I only did not choose +to have it out before Bernard and all in the middle of dinner.' + +Felix, in his slow careful manner, deposited himself in the Squire's +chair, and said, 'Sit down, Angela.' + +'No, thank you, I have not time. I only came that you may see I am not +deceiving you. I am going with Mrs. Lake to hear Captain Gudgeon,' she +replied, with a glow in her cheeks and a gesture as of noble defiance, +somewhat disturbed by his extreme gentleness. + +'You had better sit down, my dear,' he said. + +This actually put an end to her war-dance. She seated herself, but +tried to resume her challenge by saying, 'I shall be at home long +before ten.' + +'Certainly,' said Felix, quietly, 'you will.' + +'You understand that I really mean it?' + +'No doubt you do at this moment, but I forbid you to do any such thing.' + +'I acknowledge no commands superior to conscience,' she said. 'I have +made my appointment.' + +'That I will arrange for you.' + +'You can't.' + +'The pony-carriage is coming round at three, and I shall go and explain +to Mrs. Lake that you remain at home by my desire.' + +Mrs. Lake's farm was at the end of a lane all stones and ruts, and it +was well known in the family that nothing hurt Felix so much as a jolt. + +'No! no! You can't think of it,' cried Angela. + +'I shall walk over the worst places,' he said. + +'And that's the whole! Felix, pray don't!' + +'I must, unless you will submit otherwise.' + +'That's taking an unfair advantage,' she said, with tears of anger in +her eyes. 'You know it is leaving me no choice.' + +'Thank you. That is very kind. You had better take that pen and paper +and write to Mrs. Lake.' + +'You know your power,' she said, petulantly. 'If you were well, I would +try it to the uttermost!' + +With a fraction of a smile he said, 'We will talk it over when your +note is written, but it is hard to let poor Mrs. Lake butter her +muffins all the afternoon in vain.' + +This view of preparations for a tea-party made Angela smile a little +also, and that did her good. She sat down at the table, and hastily +wrote-- + + DEAR MRS. LAKE, + + I am sorry to say I am prevented from joining you to-night. + + Yours, with great regret, + A.M. UNDERWOOD. + + +She showed the billet to Felix, who made no objection, but rang, and +gave orders for its despatch. + +'Thank you, Angel,' he said. 'I do not scruple to avail myself of your +consideration for my side, because, as long as my authority over you +lasts, I am resolved to prevent you by any means in my power from doing +wrong.' + +'You know I have ceased to think with you on that point,' said Angela, +not without hopes of extorting permission after all. + +'I know you have, but you are young enough to be prevented from +committing an open act of schism before you have grown wiser.' + +'You speak as if I wanted to become an out-and-out dissenter, when I +only wish to hear a man whose writings have done so much for my soul, +which was starving--yes, starving before.' + +'Perhaps sleeping would be the fitter word.' + +'Sleeping or starving, it comes to the same. Forms, routine, and +ordinances assumed to be everything, and did me no good--how could +they? And in the awakening! Oh, brother, would that I could make you +understand the joy--the ecstasy of looking straight up to my Saviour, +and the incomparableness of what brightens and quickens that gaze. Then +you could never try to keep me back for mere forms and distinctions!' + +'Nay,' said Felix, gravely but fervently, 'it is because I _do_--I +hope--love and look up to my most blessed Lord and Master, that I can +permit nothing that rends and breaks the Unity of His Body, which He +gave us to guard and cherish here.' + +'Unity is not external--it is only in the spiritual Church of the +faithful, in their hearts. It is I who want to keep it.' + +'By going to those who have parted asunder from us?' + +'I never said I was going over--only to hold out a hand of +fellowship--to hear and learn.' + +'I'm afraid your hand of fellowship is hardly strong enough to unite +the two bodies, Angela. Don't you think it might end in your being led +captive, like certain silly women we have heard of--ever learning and +never coming to a knowledge of the truth. That is what I want to save +my sister from.' + +'Then it is Wilmet's old "what it may lead to!"' + +'Exactly, her old wisdom. See, Angela, I cannot tell how long I may +have any authority; at any rate you will be of age in a few weeks, +and then I do not know what you may do, for there is something very +dangerous in your passion for excitement. I have thought a great deal +about you, my poor Angel, for yours is the disposition that has always +made me the most anxious of all, especially since the shock that has +cast you loose from your old bearings; but all I can do, while I am +still responsible for you, is to restrain you as far as possible, both +because I think going among schismatics wrong in itself, and because I +hope the delay may give you time to be steadied, and to perceive that +the Divine appointments of the Church are not darkenings, but lamps of +faith.' + +'I think you are in earnest, Felix,' said Angela. 'Miss Isa says you +and Lance _are_ true Christians in spite of it all! Tell me honestly +now. Your objection is not because it is unladylike, not fit for Squire +Underwood's sister.' + +He laughed, 'Really that never occurred to me.' + +'Then I don't mind. I say, did Miss Isa put you up to this? Yes? I +can't understand. It was she who first opened my eyes to the light, and +taught me what true Christianity is, showing me the hollowness of all +I had lived in, and bringing me from darkness to light. It was she who +gave me Captain Gudgeon's books. They are beautiful. Will you look at +them?' + +'Very well.' + +'She does not think, like you, of what you call schism, only of its +not being proper for ladies. She says we can read at home, as if that +were like living words, and that we ought not to mix with "that kind of +people," as she calls them. I can't understand such worldly nonsense in +a person like her.' + +'Many people let the world get a curious grip of their conscience,' +said Felix. 'Perhaps we who have lived so long beneath the line don't +estimate the strength of scruple, but in this case it may be well that +even inferior motives should prevent the breaking their Communion with +the Church.' + +'You think that outward Communion preferable to an enlightened spirit. +There we differ.' + +'No, Angela. The soul must have life and enlightenment, or else it is +like one asleep in the midst of a feast, under a lamp, but there is no +sure way of keeping up that life and light except by the means and in +the union our Blessed Lord appointed.' + +'Then comes the question, how do you know that these means, precisely +in your own way, are what He meant?' + +'By unbroken historical evidence of the Church universal--by the Saints +that have been formed through them. Nay, shall I say it, Angela, by +personal experience ever since I can remember. I can no more doubt of +the grace, comfort, and strength imparted through them than I do of the +refreshment of food or of air.' + +'Tell me, if you don't mind, a little more precisely what you mean.' + +'I mean so far this, that a perplexing question, when taken there, +is apt afterwards to clear itself. One sees the way to what seemed +impossible, and I am also sure that one's first impulses in unexpected +trials become much safer and more trustworthy under the influence one +then imbibes. How should they not?' + +'That's not the heart, it's all outward,' said Angela, impatiently. + +'Nay, is not the outward action connected with the abundance of the +heart? As to the rest, my dear Angel, I don't think anything that I can +say will express the blessing except "O _taste_ and see how gracious +the Lord is!" What would life or death be worth without it?' And his +face spoke more than his words. + +'Well,' said Angela. 'No good came to me till I banished those things +away, and knew my load of sin, and Who has taken it. I can't bear +anything between Him and me.' + +'Nor I,' said Felix. 'Angela, my dear, are you sure your discovery is +not exactly what our old way was meant to teach you?' + +She hung her head. He had enough experience of her to know that +pressing her was useless, so he leant back giving way to his fatigue, +and she sat on playing with a paper-knife, till at last she said, +'Brother, do you remember my scalding you?' + +'Certainly.' + +'When I would not let you pardon me, and you didn't want to.' + +'Rather oddly put, but I remember.' + +'Well!' coming and kneeling by him, 'I terribly crave for pardon now.' + +'My poor Angel,' as he tenderly kissed her brow, and as she rested it +on the arm of his chair, stroked her fair hair. Presently there came up +a sort of choked whisper, 'for isn't it worse than we thought?' + +'May be so, Angel, but you know that came of my own stupid choice of a +landing-place, so that is my private affair.' + +Her instinct had gathered more than she had been told, and her eager +wilful chase of excitement and defiance of Clement had been the vain +resource of a sadly foreboding, half-broken heart, dwelling vehemently +on the whole mass of past sins, as if putting them in one vague heap +dulled the unbearably acute sense of the one act of vain flightiness +that had produced such consequences, and now, though she guessed enough +to be unwilling to agitate him, the comfort of the avowal and of his +caress was infinite. + +He partly perceived how it was, and waited a little before saying, 'I +look to you as my great help if this comes to anything. You are the +family nurse.' + +'Oh!' she came still closer, and presently said, 'please tell me just +what it is; it can't be worse than guessing.' + +He told her. + +'I thought so,' she said, and still knelt with her head against his +chair for a long, long time, till the door was opened and Clement came +in, not seeing her, as she sat on the ground on the further side. + +'The pony-carriage is come round; but here's a pretty business. It is +all over the parish that Angela is going with Mrs. Lake to Gudgeon's +conventicle. Halloa!' + +'How can you come and upset Felix?' was Angela's cry as she sprang to +her feet. + +'Gently, Angel,' said Felix, laughing; 'don't be so like Tabby guarding +her kitten from Scamp: Clem is tolerably aware by this time of what +does me harm. She has been very good to me, Clem; she has given it up +to please me.' + +'Because I should have been a brute if I had not,' said Angela. 'Mind, +Clement, I'm not convinced! I should like to have fought it out, +but----' her dignity quite gave way, 'I don't care. I can't vex him, +there--I nev-er, never will!' And she dashed away, struggling with sobs. + +'A dangerous undertaking, if it were likely to last longer,' said +Felix; 'but even while it does, the restraint may be wholesome.' + +'Then you have stopped this?' + +'Miss Isabella warned me. One good thing is that the good ladies' +opposition was on motives that rather sap her faith in them.' + +'Does she know about you?' + +'She had nearly found out already. Nature designed her for a nursing +sister. I rather hope she may yet turn that way, but the load of a sore +heart is very heavy on her, poor child.' + +'If she is getting into confidence with you, I have hope,' said +Clement, sighing as if his heart were sore enough as he looked at his +brother. + +'If I can only be allowed to tide her through this searching time of +trouble and put her into better hands,' said Felix, 'I should be glad +indeed; otherwise I should fear her becoming one of the ladies who +drift through every variety of exciting religion.' + +From that time he submitted to be watched and waited on by Angela, with +an exclusive vehemence that was almost fierce. She attended to his very +eye, and for the present so entirely centered her fervent nature upon +the 'not vexing him,' that he had to think twice before expressing the +most casual and careless wish, lest she should turn everything upside +down to gratify him. + +To only one other person did Felix speak of his own state, namely, +Bernard, who, as Will Harewood foretold, egregiously failed in +obtaining admission to Keble College, and took his rejection with the +utmost coolness, seeming to think he had made a great concession to +family prejudice, and that now something must be found to enable him +to pass through the university with the same gentleman-like ease as +through Harrow. + +Not in the least crestfallen, he stood warming his back at the study +fire, and mentioning one or two colleges whose requirements he thought +not unreasonable. That Felix should haggle about expense, and have +delusions that the university was meant for work, he could endure as +the innocuous thunder with which governors must be allowed to solace +themselves, while youth listened good humouredly to the growl. + +The thunder, however, took an unwonted form in the quiet reply. 'Either +you must get a scholarship, or you cannot go to Oxford. You had better +study harder than you have ever done, or else turn your mind to some +other maintenance. Hitherto, you have depended on me, but Gerald's +guardians will not have the same power.' + +'Gerald's guardians!' he exclaimed, as the import flashed on him. +'You're all right, except the old sprain!' + +'I am afraid not, Bear. There is serious damage, and though I do not +wish to distress any one, especially Cherry, it is right you should be +prepared to get on without me, as you know I have absolutely nothing to +leave you.' + +'I say, is this fancy, or have you had the doctor?' + +'Four.' + +'Four doctors! That's enough to account for anybody thinking anything +the matter with him. Cheer up, Squire,' and he assumed a superior air +of wisdom and encouragement that made Felix look amused enough to +persuade the boy of the effect of his words--'don't be croaked out of +spirits. Sprains are nasty things, and go on no one knows how long; but +I'll bet anything you like that nothing else is the matter with you but +the doctors, and poking over that desk. It's a splendid day, I thought +of going up the river. Will you come?' + +To which Felix consented, and Bernard, when repairing to Geraldine to +propose her joining the party, said, 'It will be good for the Squire. I +say, what makes him so down in the mouth?' + +'Of course, he is disappointed about you.' + +'Pish! I didn't mean that, but about himself and the sprain.' + +'I don't wonder, dear Felix!' said Cherry. 'It is very wearing to feel +it at every movement, and it is depressing to be so set aside from +active life. I only wonder at his patience.' + +So Bernard continued to repose in his consoling fiction of low spirits, +but he was so far amenable as to think himself 'grinding frightfully +hard' with a tutor at Ewmouth, and dislike of the said grist impelled +him to propose going out to Carrigaboola; but after a day's shooting +with him, Fulbert declined the proposal in no measured terms, when +he had seen Master Bernard's daintiness of equipment, disgust at +difficulties, dependence on luncheon, and distaste at loading himself +with anything that could be carried by another. + +And Cherry? How did the quickest witted of all avoid the shadow of the +cloud visible to so many? + +Partly there was the resistance of a sensitive mind, after hosts of +imaginary panics, to a real fear--partly her brother was on his guard +against distressing her, and often commanded his countenance, when if +alone with Clement, it would have betrayed the pang, and besides, her +charm of manner often beguiled his weariness; but above all, her want +of perception was due to her absorption in little Gerald. + +The child needed careful attention, varying from day to day under +a succession of petty ailments, only to be dealt with by assiduous +tenderness. To train his vivid intelligence, to amuse and occupy him, +to guard him from the aggressions of his cousins, and to soothe him +under pain or nervous restlessness was quite one person's work, and +engrossed Cherry, whom the little fellow preferred with exclusiveness +that increased to petulance whenever he was suffering. She was seldom +to be seen without him, and was always occupied with him, and her +unselfish brother was content that she should thus be weaned from him, +and wind her affections round another object. Yes, even though she +could no longer be entirely reckoned for Pursuivant work that _must_ be +done, and now more than ever no one could do like her; though Gerald's +call would break off her writing for him, and either she came not, or +he enjoyed only her divided attention in his walks and drives. + +'It was better so,' he said, when Clement was vexed and indignant. And +truly he was anxious enough about the frail little child to have none +of the jealousy of invalid number one towards invalid number two. + +Marilda's eager, almost peremptory claim had little chance. Cherry was +almost furious at the tone in which the warm-hearted heiress wrote +demanding the boy, as if his father had been her brother and not +theirs, and nobody could care for him save herself. If Felix had not +had more coolness, there might almost have been a breach. As it was, +his grateful but decided reply that Edgar had entrusted his son to +his brothers and sisters in a manner that would not justify them in +resigning the charge, so offended her that a marked silence followed. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +THE TASK OVER. + + 'If you might, would you now + Retrace your way, + Wander through stormy wilds, + Faint and astray? + Night's gloomy watches fled, + Morning all beaming red, + Hopes smiles around us shed, + Heavenward away!' + _Lady Nairne._ + + +Felix, Cherry, and Gerald were taking one of their slow drives with +Master Ratton, when a tall horse passed them, and with the shout 'As +right as a trivet,' Charles Audley the younger waved his hat and rode +on, leaving them to meditate on his announcement. 'A three legged +article,' as Cherry said, 'hardly suited the felicity he seemed to +intend.' + +Charlie had not gone in for honors, but had obtained the flattering +assurance that he would have had them if he had tried. The +announcement, backed perhaps by some mediation of his uncle, had +brought an offer of a private secretaryship from Lord Liddesdale, and +therewith armed, he had made the awful plunge at the Hall--his father +and uncle both waiting to defend his independence. + +Behold! Sir Robert and Lady Margaret had comported themselves like +lambs. Either the scheme for Charlie's union with his cousin had been +a figment, or they were glad to get the sole hope of their house +married at all, or they were gratified by Lord Liddesdale's estimate +of him, and had learnt wisdom by the ill effects of former opposition. +Anyway their consent had been startlingly facile. They heeded birth +more than wealth: Stella, with her own legacy and Theodore's, was +not unportioned, and an Underwood of Vale Leston had such undeniable +county blood that they never connected the younger Charles's ravings +with the alarms that had elicited their consent to the elder Charles's +expatriation fourteen years ago. Moreover Lady Liddesdale, who had +been the young man's confidante, had promised to be a mother to his +bride. She had just married off her last daughter, and wanted a young +companion, and she offered rooms at the Embassy, and whatever Charlie +could wish for his wife in the way of help and kindness. + +So here was the young gentleman in tempestuous ecstasy, announcing that +there could be no delay, for he was wanted at the Embassy by the middle +of February. + +The elder brothers and sisters expected to see their nestling +distracted by the summons to a distant home in a strange land, but her +equanimity amazed them all. She was Charlie's property, and it was only +natural to be claimed. 'Every one did,' she said, and she would have +been quite as contented to go with him to a City lodging or to the +Australian bush as to the splendours of the Embassy. + +Wilmet thought her too young to realize what it all meant, and held +that she ought to wait a year or two; but Felix would hear of this as +little as the captain, having no doubt that the calm, self-contained, +thoughtful nature would be equal to whatever it might be called on +to meet; and though Charlie was the younger in character, he was a +thoroughly good, trustworthy fellow, nor would they begin with an +independent home. Besides, was not Lady Liddesdale own sister to +'Sister Constance'? + +The announcement of this splendid engagement mollified Marilda, who +wrote heartily, and offered services either of hospitality or of +choice of wedding clothes. Stella could not bear to leave home, but +she was overruled. It was due to the Ambassadress that her outfit +should neither be countrified nor left to Marilda's taste; so Wilmet +took her to London for a week, and by Felix's desire expended the +child's own original inheritance from her father in garments that might +not disgrace the suite; the chief difficulty being that Stella had +made Charlie consent to her completing her year of mourning for her +brothers--a terrible grievance to Mrs. Underwood. Wilmet was meantime +the recipient of all Marilda's views as to the folly of Felix's +rejection of her offer to Gerald, over whom she absolutely seemed to +yearn--and she caught at the invitation to the wedding as at least +affording her a chance of seeing him, if not of bringing his uncle to +hear reason. + +The marriage was to take place on New Year's Day, and as soon as the +bustle was over, 'Sister Constance' was actually coming to Vale Leston +to arrange for the branch of the St Faith's Sisterhood which was to be +established in connection with the future Church of the Comforter at +East Ewmouth. She was to choose among houses to let the temporary abode +of the sisters, but in the first place was to have a few days for the +young friends, who now ranked as old, and on Charles Audley the elder. + +The oculist's verdict had not been hopeless, but it had obliged him +to give up all prospect of a return to a climate so noxious to the +eyes as that of Western Australia. His visit to his home had made it +evident that his place was no longer there. His parents were old and +self-occupied, and had little in common with him, chiefly depending on +their daughter-in-law, a complete woman of the world, thoroughly alien +to the clergyman who had spent his strength on wild 'black fellows' +and rude convicts. He was more trouble than pleasure to any of the +party, and deemed it inadvisable to endure the penance of idleness and +uncongeniality in their stately halls, since they gave him no opening +for being of use to them; and his brother, who would not leave him, +was always miserable there. Once the pet at home, 'poor Charles' was +mourned over for his peculiarities, and coughed down if he endeavoured +to explain them. + +So as Clement was in the usual case of country Vicars, curate-hunting +in vain, Mr. Audley proffered himself as a 'demi-semi-assistant,' +able to do a good deal without book, and thankful for a refuge from +total inefficiency. Clement was rather shocked at finding himself in +such relations towards his old Guardian, almost a Bishop elect, but +rejoiced in the counsel and support of his experience even more than +in the actual aid, which indeed he greatly needed. And to Felix, the +intercourse with his first friend was the greatest delight, while there +was a rally in his health in the autumn that made even those who knew +the worst hope the evil was averted, and every one else viewed him as +recovering. + +Perhaps he ventured a little too much in the greater sense of strength, +for Lady Hammond being unable to go out, and warmly anxious to see +the young couple, he took the long drive thither with them, and a few +days later went to a public meeting. There was an attack upon Church +influence in the Ewmouth hospital, and he went late, expecting only to +have to give his vote, but he found a storm raging such as he did not +expect, and his side of the question so inefficiently defended by its +few lay representatives, that he stood up and spoke for nearly an hour +with all his remarkable force and facility. + +'I don't agree with you, Underwood,' said Mr. Walsh, as Felix, flushed +and panting, waited till the rush to the door was over to get to his +carriage, 'but you ought to be in the House; and that's much for a man +to say when you've just been the means of beating him. You are one of +the few who can make any life or sense out of the old cause.' + +Clement was far from knowing whether to be glad or sorry, as Felix +made answer with very little more than a languid smile. The speech +certainly had, as the saying is, 'taken a great deal out of him,' and +was Cherry's '_cheval de bataille_' whenever any of the wedding guests +found fault with his appearance. + +There was a grand family gathering, bringing together all the surviving +brothers and sisters, for the unexceptionable baronet connection had +even induced Sir Adrian Vanderkist to bring his wife and two eldest +children, who were to act bridesmaids, together with Robina and Angela, +Gertrude May and Miss Audley. Geraldine and Marilda had paired off +on the score of age, and little Mary Harewood was to wear a modified +edition of the bridesmaid's white cashmere and stars of Bethlehem, +whose green leaves gave the only colour the little bride would permit. +The calmly decided manner in which she obtained her own way against +fashion and conventionality amused everybody. Felix had hoped to have +brought Ferdinand Travis and Marilda together on this occasion, but +as soon as he found that Alda was coming, he had thought it better to +abstain, and was rather relieved when the clerk at Peter Brown's sent +information that Mr. Travis had left Barcelona, it was not known for +what place, and so that his letter could not yet be forwarded. + +The Vanderkists arrived late on the Monday, and the next morning +Bernard conducted Sir Adrian to the covers he had been nursing up for +this great occasion, Fulbert stalking along with him, thinking how +hardly pressed stay-at-home people must be for something to do, if +_this_ were a sort of duty. + +That last day of the old year was that on which Felix attained +his object of signing away the lay rectory. The action was so +unprecedented, and involved so many complications, that his strenuous +efforts had only succeeded in getting the needful documents brought +down from London with the marriage-settlements. + +'Let me witness that,' said Mr. Audley: 'I am glad to have eyes enough +at least for such a sight.' + +Felix's face was calmly happy as he wrote the 'Felix Chester +Underwood,' laid his finger on the seal, and spoke the 'I deliver +this as my act and deed,' by which the Rectory returned to be Church +property. + +'It is a great load off my mind,' he said, handing the pen to Mr. +Audley and William Harewood, who said nothing to him, but merrily shook +hands with the new Rector, joking him on the additional substance and +consequence the title called for, jests the readier because they all +knew them to be empty, since East Ewmouth carried off the surplus +tithe, and he only obtained the title and the power over his Chancel. +Then Felix required their witness and the lawyer's to the will which +the numerous recent changes had necessitated, and they afterwards +carried the lawyer off to see the buildings, while Felix might rest +till the arrival of the other parties to the marriage-settlements. + +However, they had not been gone long before a gentle knock came to the +door. 'Alda, my dear, are you come to pay me a visit?' and Felix met +her affectionately, and drew a chair for her close to his own. + +'I thought I might come when your business was over,' she said. 'I have +scarcely seen you.' + +'Have you been over the house? You remembered it! You have seen your +little girls in our own cribs at last.' + +'Yes, I have so often wished to come, ever since you have been here. +You quite understand that I should have been so glad, only journeys are +so expensive, and we are so many.' + +'I see.' + +'That is one of the few ways in which I can save,' she said. 'It is +such an anxiety to have so many daughters.' + +'Seven now?' + +'Seven! Adrian says it makes us ridiculous. Poor children! That's what +I came to speak to you about, Felix. I want you to talk to Adrian.' + +'About what?' asked Felix, not sanguine of either talking the daughters +into sons, or their father into preference of the sex. + +'About some provision for them,' said the mother; and there ensued +an explanation that nothing was secured to the children but her own +portion from uncle Tom, while as to the estate, so long as there was +no male heir, Sir Adrian could do as he pleased with it, and at the +rate of his present expenditure there would be little left for his +successors; and Alda, with some vague idea of Felix's helpfulness, had +come to beg him to persuade her husband to insure his life, contract +his expenses, or do something that might secure her children from +dire poverty. She began with a wife's natural reticence and a guarded +voice, but gradually, as the home sense of being with the brotherly +protector of earlier days wrought upon her, she dropped her caution, +and disclosed the harass of her life. Her husband, it seemed, was more +and more devoted to the turf, and the display he thought needful to +his position, but while he grudged his wife every outlay needful to +maintain that ostentation, he was still more unwilling to allow her the +requisites for the health, comfort, and education of the children. + +'He thinks anything will do for them,' said Alda, with a dismal +sharpness in her voice; 'he can't bear spending on anything but +himself.' + +'No, no, Alda, it is hardly well to put such things into words.' + +'I would not except to you, Felix; but indeed it does me good to have +it out. I get so disheartened, I would let everything take its chance, +but for my poor little girls. There is a wrangle over every cheque! If +I try to save in the housekeeping, he is angry about the dinners, and I +can't ask for money to pay bills without being blamed for extravagance. +Indeed, whether I get it or not, he is always cross with me all the +rest of the day. I'm ashamed to see all here in black, but he would not +let me do more than just wear a little slight mourning myself, and that +for a short time. He would not hear of it for the children. Felix, when +I see your peaceful faces and unruffled ways, I feel as if this were a +world of peace.' + +'You must contribute gentleness yourself, my poor Alda.' + +She had never answered him so humbly. 'Indeed I am obliged to try, but +you know I never was the good-tempered one at home, and it is very, +very hard when one is never very well, and always harassed and anxious. +I don't think, in the worst of times, Wilmet had to spend more thought +on pinching here and there to make both ends meet than I have, and at +least she had the comfort of keeping out of debt, and was thanked and +not despised! Will you speak to Adrian, Felix; of course not letting +him guess I told you, but beginning as if of yourself about the +children?' + +'My dear, I can hardly promise, but whatever I can do for you I will. +Your little maidens seem to be sweet little, well-trained children, and +if they grow up united and affectionate they may be happier on small +means than you suppose.' + +'The dinner of herbs and stalled ox,' said Alda; 'I have thought of +Mettie's rice stews many a time when I have sat quaking because there +were no truffles in the soup. Dear children, I am so glad they seem +nice to you. I do believe they have the good tempers of our family; +there are never any quarrels, and their grandmamma is so fond of them. +I do try to keep them good, and'--there were tears in her eyes--'it +does make one think more about _things_ to have those little ones round +one.' + +'That is the blessing little Gerald brought to poor Edgar,' said Felix, +pressing the hand she had laid upon his knees. 'The greatest of all.' + +'When I see you I know it is,' said poor Alda; 'but sometimes I think +if I had not been brought up religiously I should be happier, I should +not think things so bad; and then Adrian is never so cross as if he +thinks me wanting to be serious, or to make the children so. It makes +him dislike our being with his mother, though nothing is such a comfort +to me.' + +'My dear, comfort will grow if you go on striving to submit meekly; do +your best with your children, and look beyond.' + +He was really more hopeful about Alda than he had ever been. Just then +she said: 'One thing more. Mary and Sophy are old enough to need a +governess. I have managed so far with a _bonne_, but I have neither +time, spirits, nor ability to teach, and Adrian would be furious if I +asked him for a proper salary. Do you think Robina would come to us--to +live of course as my sister, on an equality? The delight and comfort it +would be----' + +To poor Alda, thought Felix, but Robina ought not to be sacrificed. 'It +would not be right to ask her, remembering her engagement.' + +'What engagement?' + +'To Will Harewood.' + +'My dear Felix, you don't mean that you have consented to anything so +foolish! How are they to live?' + +'They have been for the last four years endeavouring to save. He makes +a good deal by his pupils, and by his writings, besides his fellowship, +and she adds something from her salary. They mean to get £5000 together +between them--her salary, and his fellowship, pupils and books--and +then take either a parish or a mastership at a school.' + +'It seems to me sheer imprudence,' said the old Alda, half peevish +at the opposition; 'I did think she might have been glad to leave +strangers for the sake of her sister, and her natural position.' + +'You forget the difference the salary makes to her prospects. She +has £150 a year, and it would not be right to ask her to give it up, +considering----' + +'I can't see why my children should be sacrificed to William Harewood!' + +'Perhaps not, but Robina might. No, Alda, it will not do. The De la +Poers have made her so happy that she feels Repworth another home, and +I should not like to ask her to leave it till she marries.' + +'It is hard,' sighed Alda, in a tone not unlike those heard over the +shop of Bexley; but then followed another question: 'I want to know +what you think about Marilda?' + +'About Marilda? You know she is coming this evening.' + +'Yes, but about her intentions.' + +'I did not know she had any intentions.' + +'You see it is plain she will never marry now, and I used to be nearer +to her than any one. Don't look so amazed, Felix! I know she is only of +my age, and of course it is not so much with any immediate expectations +as for the sake of the influence there might be on Adrian. We used to +see a good deal of her at one time, but I believe he tried to borrow +money of her, and she spoke out in her rough way, so that he grew +angry, and made me hold aloof; but now I am sure he wants to make it up +with her again, he was so much put out about that little boy.' + +'Little Gerald? How or why?' + +'For fear she should want to adopt him, or make him her heir. Oh! +Felix, you will do nothing to promote that. Remember, my poor little +girls are just as near to you.' + +'There's no fear of my promoting anything of the kind,' said Felix, +coldly; 'Gerald is provided for. No one here will scheme for him.' + +'Don't be displeased with me, Felix,' she said, more meekly. 'Only if +Marilda should say anything----' + +'The child whom dear Edgar expressly left to us we should not give up +to any one.' + +'I thought not; only if anything should pass, do turn her mind to us. +It is not, of course, for the sake of the property, but if she just +showed that sort of interest, it would give her weight with Adrian, and +then if she suggests anything about the children he would be sure to +attend. I can't say it, but you might.' + +The motive was, after all, not so blameworthy; but before any answer +could be given to this strange mixture of tokens of the long-dormant +good seed, and the choking weeds of worldly care, the door was softly +opened, a pretty glowing face peeped in, and was retreating with 'Oh! +I didn't know,' but the morrow's bride might interrupt anything, and +she was called back. 'Stella, my sweet Fair-Star, come in! Why, what +have you got there? How it sparkles! What is it?' + +'Eh!' exclaimed Alda, 'I declare it is a bouquet of diamond flowers and +emerald leaves! I never saw anything more splendid. Where did it come +from?' + +'Out of Aladdin's cave? or is it dewdrops fixed by star-light?' said +Felix, as the sparkles flashed on him. 'Stella, how did you come by it? +It is not Audley family jewels, eh?' + +'The Audleys never had--' but Alda checked what would have been spite, +though Stella would not have minded it. + +'Oh no,' she said. 'Cherry said you would guess.' + +'Ferdinand Travis?' said Felix. 'Did he send it?' + +'Charlie rowed him up in the skiff an hour ago, and ever since he has +been showing us how to put it together, for it was all in separate +velvet cases. It is all brooches and bracelets and necklaces, and a +thing for one's head--a complete set really, you see,' said Stella, +'but it is just like a puzzle putting it up like this, and it is much +prettier so.' + +'Are you going to carry it as your bouquet to-morrow?' + +'Oh no, that would never do!' interposed Alda. + +'Oh no, I should not like that,' said Stella. 'Charlie has got me my +bouquet, and that's best.' + +'Much better taste,' said Alda; 'but this is truly magnificent. You +will be prepared for the occasion, little Stella, even if you end as an +ambassadress. The cost must have been enormous.' And she sighed. + +'I am afraid so,' said Stella, a little oppressed; 'but Charlie is so +pleased.' + +'Yes, and Fernan can not only afford it, but must have thoroughly +enjoyed doing it, my Star; so you need not scruple; he has robbed +nothing he ought to benefit, you may be sure; so you may take lawful +pleasure in it, little one, and "rejoice in your jewels as a bride +doth."' + +She smiled, but gravely. 'It is too beautiful,' she said. 'Isn't +it a pomp?' she whispered into her brother's ear, as he turned the +glittering thing about, enjoying the magic flashes of many-coloured +rays. + +'It might be,' he said, 'but it is not yet. It is the gift of a true +and grateful spirit, and for itself--I never knew how beauteous these +things were. Nay, Stella,' speaking low, as he laid a hand on her arm, +and looked up into the sweet, thoughtful face, 'recollect that such are +in the walls of the City above, and yet they are but the same stuff as +earthly clay after all, showing us how dust can be sublimated. Look, +the mysterious glory of those diamond lights may help us to dwell on +the glories that eye hath not seen nor ear heard, and you know the +rainbow round about the Throne is in sight like unto an emerald.' + +'You've consecrated them, brother,' she said, with a sweet smile on her +pensive face. 'When I think of that, it will keep them from being a +temptation.' + +He played silently with the flashing gleams a little longer, as if +continuing the strain of thought, then said, 'Did you say he was here?' + +'Yes; he only came back from Spain yesterday, and came down to bring +this, though he did not know _it_ was to be so soon.' + +'Take your fairy bouquet, Princess Fair-Star, I'll come to him in a +minute.' + +'O yes, brother! There's the carriage coming down the drive!' and the +voice was rather awe-struck. + +'We will come too and help you through the introduction, little one,' +said Felix, 'though I think you have self-possession to meet it.' + +The little bride sprang away, and while Felix was slowly lifting +himself up, he heard Alda murmur, 'Ferdinand Travis gave that! I wonder +how many hundreds it cost.' + +Certainly it was a contrast to the pinching and anxiety she had +described. If she had but known, as Mrs. Underwood had said! Felix +paused in the doubt whether to take any notice of the predicament, +and said, 'He had gone to Barcelona, and I did not expect him to have +returned by this time.' + +'He has purchased a welcome,' said Alda, but her face glowed, and at +the same moment the carriage crashed up to the door, containing the +Audley party, who had all arrived at the Captain's the day before, +except old Lady Margaret, who never left home. + +'Thank you, Felix,' said Lady Vanderkist, as they repaired to the +drawing-room in readiness for the reception. 'You have done me good.' + +He could not quite see how, but no doubt there had been much in his +look and manner of listening. + +Sir Robert Audley was a pompous, formal old gentleman, tremendously +condescending and courtly, and his first bow, his first tone showed +Geraldine what a trial he must be to his sons--indeed the elder looked +more bored than she had ever seen him. + +'And where is the sweet young lady I am so soon to hail as my +granddaughter?' + +'Here she is, sir,' said Charlie, about to pull her forward, but she, +by some intuition, advanced with a beautiful courtesy, perfect in grace +but full of modesty and respect. Sir Robert was delighted, met her with +a gracious gesture and kiss, and presented her to his daughter-in-law, +Mrs. Somerville Audley--a dame stiff and fashionable-looking, and to +Miss Audley, small, dark, and reminding Cherry of the old word 'modish.' + +Alda was a great help, and so were the wedding presents. Ferdinand +Travis had fled to Major Harewood's, but his bouquet evoked raptures +from the ladies, though Cherry doubted whether the baronet were equally +delighted that the Audley jewels he had produced for the bride of +the heir presumptive should be eclipsed, for he kept on impressing +on the young couple that these last were family relics, and must not +be exposed to any risk, until Stella was ready to suggest that it +would be wiser not to take them abroad, and was only withheld by the +fear of seeming to slight them. Her habitual silence and observation +had fostered a remarkable amount of simple tact, and this, together +with her unusual loveliness, rendered her a great success; but the +ceremonious speeches and grand politeness rendered the visit very +fatiguing, and when the settlements had been duly signed, and the other +high contracting power had bowed himself off, Felix looked so worn out +that every one acquiesced in his shutting himself into his study. No +one saw him again till the late dinner with which Sir Adrian must be +regaled. + +It was strictly a family party, and only the Harewoods, Vanderkists, +and Mr. Travis, besides the whole eleven who still bore the name of +Underwood, were assembled in the drawing-room. Marilda was there, +hearty and good-natured as ever, but better looking at two-and-thirty +than at two-and-twenty, for she had somewhat fined down, and actual +work in business and charity had given meaning to her countenance, and +energy instead of temper to her manner. She was assiduously courting +little Gerald, and he backing out of her way into the more congenial +society of Mary and Sophy Vanderkist. Cherry could not help thinking it +an odd turn of the wheel of fortune that Alda should have so much nicer +and better-regulated children than Wilmet. To be sure, Christopher and +Edward were perfectly satisfactory to their parents, and obeyed them at +a word, but the licence they enjoyed was a continual contrast to the +strict rule Wilmet had maintained over her former charge, and did not +render them agreeable company to their uncles and aunts. Moreover, the +ruddy locks and freckles of the Harewoods had mastered the Underwood +blonde complexion, while the two Vanderkists reproduced the elder twins +at the same age, and were exemplary little maids, taught meekness by +difficulties and yielding by seniority, grateful for notice from their +uncles, and enchanted to find a boy so unlike their notions of the +species. On the other hand, Gerald watched them like fairies, laid +himself at their feet with precocious devotion, and mourned that he +could not marry them both on the spot. + +The grown-up party looked each other over rather as they had done on +meeting fifteen years before at their mother's funeral--the years that +had made their baby the fair little bride who was nestling as close as +she could to her eldest brother that she might feel his hand on her +shoulder. Those years had brought the 'little ones' of those days to +be 'the tall ones' of the present, Bernard exceeding all the rest in +stature, even Fulbert and Clement, with regular features, brilliant +complexion, and glossy light-brown hair and moustache, but without +as yet any particular expression except good-humoured complacency in +his own appearance and deportment, being persuaded that Charlie would +have to-morrow a true _best_ man, unrivalled in looks and equipments; +and without a regret, save that Felix was courteously deaf to all Sir +Adrian's strictures on the scandalous state of his covers. Whatever +those years had done for Bernard's outer man, his mind, or perhaps more +properly his will, had not grown much older. + +This could not be said of Angela, who sat so still and meek that Alda +was meditating on transferring the governess proposal to her, but +with a latent energy in the corner of the down-cast eye and firmly +closed mouth, and the most anxious watchfulness of Felix's slightest +movement. The change was comparatively small in sober Robina, whose +steady equable nature had been early moulded, and who sat at the window +curtain, with Will hovering over her, both trying not to contrast +other people's love affairs with their own. The three brothers whose +bickerings had then been so troublesome were now the most inseparable. +If their paths had severed them, they liked each other better now, as +they stood all in a row, with their backs against the mantel-piece, the +big, bearded, sunburnt Australian, the close-shaven, alert clergyman, +and the little bright-eyed, thin-faced, moustached tradesman, all +eagerly talking in under tones of old Bexley pranks and comrades, +laughing as they never did but in such a trio, and yet each bearing +tokens of toil with the full might of vigorous manhood, unlike as was +their work. + +Geraldine's little bending figure had chiefly altered for the better. +The mixture of arch lively grace and pathetic depth which gave her +peculiar charm had increased rather than lessened, and though she had +gained in dignity and confidence, anxieties and perplexities made her +cheeks glow and her eyes wander restlessly as she tried to make talk +for Sir Adrian. + +The twin sisters were together on the sofa, both in black velvet. +Wilmet had a bad cold, and indeed had never looked her best since the +shock at Whitsuntide, so that Alda had regained the palm of beauty; +but it was matronly content that had plumped the chiselled contour of +feature, and if the colouring showed less clear and flower-like, it was +by contrast with Alda's defined, over-transparent white and carnation, +and the wasted look that threw out the perfection of the delicate +moulding. One gave the notion of comfortable, peaceful motherliness, +the other of constant anxious wear and tear; and the blue eye, so much +larger and more hollow than the soft, calm one, rather weighed down by +the cold, no doubt were rendered additionally restless by the presence +of the man she had not seen since she had cast him off like a worn-out +glove. + +It was she who had married, but upon which had the impression lasted +most painfully? There was a nervous quiver of her nostril, and a +sullen scowl in her husband's eye, when, after the casual greeting, +Ferdinand sat down among the children, took Gerald on his knee, and +made friends with the little girls. He was indisputably the wealthiest +man present, and the handsomest, except perhaps Bernard, whose good +looks were merely the fair, scarcely developed graces of early youth, +while his was the matured nobleness of countenance stamped on naturally +fine outlines by a life of brave, unselfish activity and dutifulness. +It was a calm, serious, dignified face, less melancholy than in his +younger days, for the liquid wistfulness of the dark eyes had given +place to vigilance and authority, and though there was still a want of +susceptibility and animation, the dark colouring and statuesque outline +did not need them. + +'And he the chieftain of them all,' as Cherry liked to call her +Squire--he was leaning back in the easy-chair by the fire, with a +weary, placid smile on his face, and his fingers clasped lightly into +one another, as his elbows rested on the arms of his chair. There was a +strange monumental fixity of repose about him as if he were only half +attending to the talk that passed by him, and cared more to gaze than +to speak. However, on the announcement of dinner, he roused himself, +gave his arm to Lady Vanderkist, and talked cheerily to her through the +soup and fish, but while carving the turkey, he paused, a flush and +then a whiteness came over his face, and saying to Alda, 'I'm afraid I +must go, this is too much for me,' he rose, while Clement pushed back +his chair and hastily followed. + +Startled looks went round, and--'A tiring day'--'He has not done +so much for a long time'--'That stuck-up old bore might _do_ for +anybody'--but in a few moments Clement came back, and said, while +taking the seat at the bottom of the table, 'He is better now,' then +tried to divert Alda's anxious inquiries whether using the arm had +renewed the strain. Geraldine put on a defiant brightness, appealing +to John whether Sir Robert were not enough to account for any fatigue, +and with questionable taste in her excitement, giving Sir Adrian a +sarcastic account of his compliments. Luckily, Stella was out of +hearing, but John detected the ring of anxiety in every ironical word. + +Knowing that a crowd coming after him was always oppressive to Felix, +no one followed Wilmet when on leaving the drawing-room she went at +once to the study door. She found Felix on the Squire's chair in its +most couch-like form, looking even in the firelight exceedingly pale, +but greeting her with a smile of welcome. + +'Yes, I am better,' he said, in answer to her enquiry. 'I'll come into +the drawing-room presently.' + +'You had better not, you are overtired.' + +'I like to look at them all,' was the answer. + +They both sat silent awhile; there was something in the stillness that +forbade Wilmet even to feel in her pocket for her tatting; but at last +Felix surprised her by saying: + +'I have been thinking about Jacob.' + +'Jacob Lightfoot?' + +'No, Israel. I think I enter a little into his surprise and gratitude. +I look back--don't you, Wilmet?--to a shivering sense of loneliness and +responsibility when we first realized the task before us.' + +'I don't think I ever did,' said Wilmet; 'I never thought of mamma's +not getting well, till I had grown quite used to it. It never occurred +to me that our position was unusual till I heard people talking of it.' + +'So much the better; but I recollect one cold winter day, soon after my +father's death, reading Jacob's vow at Bethel to devote his best, if +God would only give him bread to eat and raiment to wear, and longing +for some assurance that we should have it--I felt so helpless, and the +future so vague--and when I see how richly blessings and prosperity +have flowed in on us, and look at those fine, happy, strong creatures, +it seems to me like his return across the Jordan, or as if I could say, +as he did at last, "The God that led me all my life through, the Angel +that redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads."' And as the firelight +shone upon his face, Wilmet recollected another saying about Jacob, and +how the 'Angels of God met him,' but her answer sounded flat. 'Yes, it +is a great comfort to see so many launched and doing well.' + +'And, Wilmet, how much was owing to you! If you had not been the girl +you were, we must have broken up; it could not have been done at all. +Do you remember our councils over that spotted account book on Saturday +nights, and our misery when Fulbert spoilt a new pair of boots in the +river?' + +'And your new coats! They used to weigh on my mind for months. I used +to look at your elbows every evening, and reckon whether they would +hold out till I had saved enough for the next.' + +'Ah!' added Felix, laughing a little, 'do you remember my worst offence +of all? No? My having my hair cut at Slater's--instead of letting you +do it. I believe you had designs on the shilling, and that you thought +me corrupted by the vanities of this world!' + +'Yes, I was very hard and narrow then. John has shown it to me.' + +'It could not be otherwise--you had to live in a continual state of +resistance.' + +'But how many mistakes we made!' + +'It is those very mistakes that make me so thankful; that they should +have been so many, and yet for the most part remedied, and that those +boys and girls should have come out so sound-hearted, right-minded, +and affectionate as all of them are, is to me as wonderful as it is +merciful.' + +'They could not well help it. John says it shows the force of +example--that not one for whom you were responsible has gone wrong.' + +'Of prayer--of being the children of the righteous, more likely,' said +Felix; 'and there _is_ a coming home, you know; I see the dawnings in +Alda, poor child, though there is much to smother it. I am happier +about her than ever before.' + +'Poor Alda,' said Wilmet, 'I hope she will be happy in her children, +though I should not like mine to be so stiff and prim, poor little +dears!' + +One by one Felix dwelt lovingly on the good points of each of the +brothers and sisters on whom he had been gazing--speaking with an +enjoyment that made Wilmet loth to leave him even for the sake of +making the most of her brief time with her twin sister. When at last +he recollected Alda and bade Wilmet return, blaming himself for +having detained her so long, he said as she rose, 'Give me one kiss +first, my Wilmet, for the sake of the old times when we worked and +struggled together, and I think we tasted of the special promise to the +fatherless.' + +Wilmet, somewhat surprised, bent over him and gave the kiss. He held +her a moment, saying, 'May God bless you, and return it into your bosom +in your children.' The solemnity startled her, but the blessing was a +joy to her for the rest of her life. + +The sound of music drew him back to the drawing-room ere long. Alda had +never heard Lance since his chorister's alto had passed from him, and +everyone, even Fulbert, called for some old echo of the old times over +the cracked piano. Sir Adrian had musical taste enough to be tamed and +kept amiable by the domestic concert; and even Angela did her part, +controlled by the resolution not to vex Felix. He indeed could take +no share, except that of evident delight, and now and then his low +voice chimed into one or other of his best loved choruses, but he told +Alda when she regretted the lack of his tones, 'Lance was better worth +hearing.' + +'Let us have "Lead, kindly Light" again to-night, Clem,' said Felix, as +they moved towards the Oratory. 'Little Stella will not think it a sad +farewell.' + +'No, indeed,' she said, holding his hand. 'I am sure we want the kindly +Light; going so far away, and so young!' + +The hymn sounded even more sweetly than on the first arrival, so sweet +that Sir Adrian said to his wife, 'If all family prayers were like +that, they would not be such a bore.' + +Wilmet went home by the bridge in the carriage, taking Marilda with +her, but Will and Ferdinand returned by boat. It was a splendid frosty +night, and Felix came out with them as far as the terrace. Lance, who +had gone down to the river, on returning found him still gazing at the +glories of the stars--Sirius flashing with most dazzling brightness, +and the Pleiades twinkling with their silvery mystery, and Aldebaran +gazing down like a great eye. + +'Still out, Fee; don't get a chill.' + +'Everything is so goodly--so good--without and within doors,' he +answered, 'that one hardly knows how to leave it. I wonder whether we +shall recognise what our foretastes have been!' + +Lance recollected how strangely that word 'foretaste' had fallen on +his ear by Tranquillity Bridge as he sat in the solitude of his heavy +trance of disappointment; and as his brother's face came again into the +lights of the hall, something in it struck him with a sense that even +then he had been far from knowing what sorrow could be. + +Of course the wedding morning was a scramble, though no one beyond the +family was invited, except that Dr. May brought his daughter Gertrude +to act as bridesmaid. Felix, who had since the hospital meeting ceased +to leave his room before breakfast, sent word that he should keep quiet +till Stella was dressed, and then that she would find him in the study. + +How lovely the little white Star looked may be imagined. She was quite +calm and self-possessed, softly tender and loving, but too gravely +serious to be excited or agitated as she went, in deep, trustful love, +to meet the great unknown life, carrying about with her a certain hush +of sweet gentle awe. + +So in her snowy robe and veil and wreathed brow, with her modest head +still bearing the long shining curls, she floated down the dark oak +stair, and crossed the hall, without casting a look on those who were +watching her, and knocked at the study door. + +'Come in.' Felix rose to greet her, taking both her hands and kissing +her through her veil. 'My Star of the East, my happy gift!' he said. +'Stella, eighteen years ago father put you two freshly christened +babies into my arms. I gave dear little Theodore in his innocence back +to him last Whitsuntide. I am thankful to be allowed to give you in +your bridal white to the home that is to cherish you for the better +Home.' + +She looked up in his face, which a flush of rosy colour was restoring +to something of its old self. 'Oh! brother,' she said, 'I am so glad +you spoke of dear Theodore. Charlie says we may take him my flowers as +soon as it is over. I wonder if he knows.' + +'It may be, better than if he were here,' said Felix. 'Then it would +have been a sad day for him.' + +'I could not have done it,' said Stella, and lowering her voice, 'I +don't know how I can have done it now. Oh, brother, nothing ever can be +like you!' + +'It is one of my great comforts that you have done it, my Star, my own +especial child. I am glad you are the one I give away. Are they all +ready?' + +'I think so.' And just then Geraldine knocked to intimate that the +Audley party were known to be arrived at the church, and that the +clergy and choir were ready. So Stella took the arm, not clinging, lest +she should hurt him, but lightly resting her fingers on it, and they +came forth, he with that youthful flush of colour on his cheek, with +all his scrupulous grace of attire, and with a white camellia in his +coat, but with that far-away look in his eyes; and she with bent head, +and deep concentrated spirit, never lifting her eyes from the ground. +The bridesmaids fell in behind, first the three small nieces, Mary +Harewood trotting between the other two, then the two sisters--Robina +in her sedate reserve, and Angela, flushing, quivering and trembling, +and never taking her eyes from Felix; and next the ill-matched pair +Gertrude May and Margaret Audley, the former thrilling at the smile +and clasp of the hand she had exchanged with Felix, the latter's +little black eyes taking note of everything not accordant with Audley +conventionalities. + +Then came the rest in due order, Geraldine upon Ferdinand's arm, glad +it was so strong and friendly; for this, the first home wedding, made +her shiver with nervous excitement. + +The elder Charles Audley, who had assisted in the twins' baptism by +their dying father, and had stood as their sponsor, was standing robed +at the inner archway of the tower, with Clement and William on either +side, while behind were the choir, Lance leading them. + +Of course the whole parish was in the seats, Miss Isabella herself, +unable to help feeling that the marriage was infinitely more solemn, +and full of real praise and prayer, than those whose 'simplicity' she +had been wont to uphold. + +No one ever forgot the quietly loving gesture with which the fatherly +brother put his fair young sister into the hands of the Church to be +'given to this man,' and the movement after the trothplight up to the +festally decked chancel was an exceedingly beautiful sight in itself. +Mr. Audley took the licence of giving a short but beautiful address of +his own on the significance and glory of holy wedlock, and then the +union was crowned and sealed by the hallowed Feast; for it had not been +thought fit to hurry it over out of sight beforehand, out of deference +to the two baronets, who, like the children and idler gazers, left the +church, and loitered outside, observing that 'this was too strong.' + +After this, the signatures were to be made in the north transept that +served as vestry, and it was while the movement in consequence was +going on that Bernard felt a convulsive grasp on his arm, and the +whispered words, 'Help me home,' were so full of suffering that he +was not surprised to see his eldest brother's face deadly pale, and +contracted by pain. + +Ere they had moved five steps, Fulbert too was supporting Felix, and +not without need, and Dr. May and Wilmet were following. + +Consternation communicated itself to those around the little table. +'Felix ill!' The last Underwood that Stella Eudora ever signed herself +showed her start of dismay, and Clement, who was presiding over the +register book, turned pale, and gave a groan. + +'God in His mercy help us! It is come!' + +'I knew! I knew,' cried Angela--darting away. + +'You apprehended'--began the amazed bridegroom. + +'He was in some pain in the early part of the night, but slept towards +morning, and was resolved to go through with it. Stay--you must write +here while we know what we are about; this can't be left half done.' + +The blow was known to all that sad wedding party as, instead of making +a joyous procession to the great door, they found their way through +the cloister to the house. The crisis that Felix had been led to +expect would steal on him by slow degrees, and with full warning, had +come suddenly on, accompanied with acute inflammation, producing pain +so terrible to witness that the great strong Fulbert came downstairs +sobbing like a child at the sight, and Geraldine was taken by both +hands by Bernard and dragged away to the painting-room, with almost +angry orders not to come near that door. The poor boy held her tight +by her wrists, as if he feared she would disobey, reiterating, 'He +said--he said you mustn't come.' Fain would John Harewood have used +equally decisive measures with his wife; but neither he nor Dr. May +could prevail on her to relinquish her place as foremost in the +attempts at alleviation. + +No one could be allowed to come even to the door who had not nerve to +endure the sight of severer anguish than most of them had ever deemed +possible. Clement and Angela were doing their utmost under Dr. May's +directions, but Mr. Audley found himself less needed there than by +poor Cherry, whom he let loose from Bernard's grip, and after sending +the boy for a cordial for her, gave them both a clearer explanation of +the state of the case than they had yet understood. At first she felt +it hard to have been in ignorance all this time, but when Mr. Audley +had helped them both to pray, she fastened upon the hope that the very +suddenness and violence of the attack proved that the evil would the +sooner be over and leave no ill effect. + +A report was circulated that Dr. May had given some such hope, and +therewith that there was some respite in the paroxysms of suffering. +There was a little movement among the crushed and dismayed party who +had at first straggled up to the hall and drawing-room, and sat, or +stood about, as if a thunderbolt had descended among them. + +Alda was the first to make any sort of move, impelled by the fear of +her husband's impatience, and recollecting the guests. Sir Robert +and his daughter-in-law were stiff and uncomfortable, wondering that +things should have been allowed to go so far, and wishing themselves +away. Alda looked about for her sisters, but could only find Robina, +who assisted in proposing that the strangers should come and eat. Sir +Robert, on this, uttered polite condolences, begging that his carriage +might be sent for, but consenting to come into the dining-room. + +Where were the bridal pair? Poor young things, they were found in one +of the hall window seats, where they could catch sounds from the sick +room, all crushed up together, his arms round her, and her head, with +wreath and veil pushed aside, on his shoulder, as if she were passively +submitting to such support as he strove to afford. + +'My dear children,' began Sir Robert, as they stood up startled, 'it +is indeed a mournful turn that this festive occasion has taken, but +I am relieved to hear that the patient is somewhat relieved, and you +will, as Lady Vanderkist suggests, assume your places at the table. Or +perhaps our bride will first change her dress, as it may be better to +hasten your departure.' + +'I can't go away.' + +But Sir Robert with his conventionalities, Mrs. Audley with her +proprieties, nay the Captain with his morbid horror of everything +painful, all came round, declaring that Charlie was bound to take +his bride away; they need not go far; they might wait where their +rooms were engaged, but go they must; and appeals were made to both +Vanderkists on the necessity. + +There however quiet, gentle Stella became wild, nay almost frantic. She +broke away from her husband, whose 'You shall do exactly as you please' +was drowned in the authoritative commands of his grandfather. 'No! +No!' she cried,' I will not go! No one can take me, while my brother +is so ill,' and she burst into an irrepressible passion of weeping, +leaning against the tall post of balusters, and pushing Charlie away +when he would have taken her hand. 'No, no, don't, I don't want any +one. I won't go away from my brother,' and she flung her arm round the +post as if she fancied she would be forcibly dragged away, and not so +much as hearing, 'This is very amiable feeling,' from Sir Robert, or +if she did, it distracted her the more, while Charlie stood in utter +perplexity, for it was of no use to protest that he did not mean to +take her away, when it only on the one side made his grandfather order +him the more decidedly, and Stella cling the more desperately whenever +he tried to approach, scarcely restraining her screams as her agitation +became uncontrollable. 'No, no, let me alone, trouble only comes with +me--I want no one but my brother!' + +A step on the stairs startled her into breathless silence. It was +Clement. 'Hush, Stella,' he said, sternly and shortly. 'Felix wants you +and Charlie.' + +'He heard,' some one said reproachfully. + +'Yes. Don't detain her,' he added, as Alda would have modified her +dishevelment by removing the wreath and veil. 'I don't know how long +this interval may last.' + +Stella, instantly controlled by the home voice, and ashamed and grieved +at having disturbed her brother, made no resistance to Charlie's taking +her trembling hand as Clement preceded them to the room, all silent +now save for the constrained breathing which showed the interval to be +far from painless. The ashy face of suppressed suffering recalled to +Stella her watch by that same spot during the suspense about Theodore, +and she dropped on her knees, trying to hide her tears and stifle her +sobs in the bed-clothes. Felix after laying his hand on the poor little +head held it out to Charlie, and evidently commanding his voice with +great difficulty said, 'I did not think _this_ would have come till you +had her safe away, Charlie.' + +'I am very sorry,' was all the poor bridegroom could say. + +'I am very sorry,' repeated Felix, his hand resting on her hair again, +'but as it can't be helped, I think it will come harder to her if she +is taken away just now. This can't go on long as it is now. Ask Dr. +May. And when you see--' + +He paused from inability to achieve a steady tone, and Charlie +answered, 'I never meant to go. I'll stay till you are better, as long +as ever she likes, indeed I will, my sweet--' but again she seemed to +shiver away from him with a sort of repugnance, which Felix perceived. +More faintly he said, 'You'll be his happy gift, my child, I'm so glad +to leave you to--Oh! go now!' + +The fingers grew rigid and seemed to push her away. Wilmet half lifted, +half thrust her into Charlie's arms. He almost carried her, pressing +her face against him that she might not catch a glimpse of those +spasms and uncontrollable writhings of anguish that were returning. +The door was shut, and the young creatures cowered in the gallery in +one another's arms, catching the sad sounds that neither patience nor +resolute will could prevent. Stella slid down on her knees, and Charlie +was fain to do the same, thankful that she let him hold her in his arm +instead of repelling him. + +'There! it is all quiet. He must be better again,' he whispered +after a time, and this was confirmed by Angela coming to send out +a prescription of the doctor's. The chill look of her white dress +suggested to Charlie to say, 'You will be as cold as ice in that +whiteness, my Star. Suppose you took it off, while I go and tell Sir +Robert that nothing shall move us till he is all right again. You +couldn't think me such a brute.' + +Poor little Stella held up her tear-stained face for a kiss with a +vague sense of having been naughty and wanting forgiveness. + +'You'll come back to me when you have dressed! I'll come and wait up +here again.' + +'Do. I'll be quick. They can't send us away, can they?' + +'I'll see them shot first,' then repenting the schoolboy defiance of +the words: 'No, Stella, I'm your husband, you know, and can guard you. +I had no intention of going, not a bit. Only they can't see when one is +a man, and they frightened you with the noise, poor little thing! If I +tell them _he_ wishes it, no one can say a word. Don't be long.' + +He nearly walked over a pair sitting on the stairs, too dejected to +heed anything, namely, Lance and Gertrude, drawn together by the fellow +feeling of being both too unhappy to speak or be spoken to, yet finding +a sort of companionship in wretchedness as they listened and caught +fragmentary tidings from above. + +Charlie showed his manhood in quiet self-assertion. He told his +grandfather that it would not be right to take his wife away, and that +her brother wished them to stay; and though this was viewed as very +ill-judged, there was no gainsaying it, especially as his uncle had +come down decidedly of the same opinion. + +Geraldine had likewise descended. The sanguine view she had contrived +to take up had given her strength to take up her necessary part as +mistress of the house making farewells and excuses. Marilda had, she +found, swept off all the children to the Harewoods' house, including +Gerald, who had allowed Ferdinand to carry him away, and in the present +state of things she could only be thankful he was beyond hearing and +questioning. + +As the hours passed, and winter twilight gave way to early night, there +was something of a lull. The alleviations had not been entirely without +effect, and Dr. May felt obliged to go home, promising that he or his +son, or both, would come early on the morrow. When Felix understood +this, he asked whether Gertrude were still in the house, and hearing +that she was, begged for her presence for a moment. + +'Most certainly,' said her father. 'Where is she?' + +'She has been sitting on the stairs all day with Lance,' Angela +answered. + +'With Lance?' Felix nearly smiled. + +Dark as were the stairs, there they still were. Lance had executed +numerous errands, and had made Gertrude swallow some tea, but they had +not spoken ten words to one another. There Dr. May found his daughter, +and, with a word or two of warning and preparation, led her in. She +could not see much, for the light was shielded from the face, and only +threw up the shadow of the cross and the angel's hovering wings on the +ceiling above. The hand that lay on the sheet, curved, but not with +repose, closed on hers with a '_krampfhaft_' pressure. 'You have been +comforting Lance,' said Felix. 'Thank you.' + +'I couldn't,' she faltered, more overcome by voice than look, it was so +thin and weak. + +'You prayed! You will pray! "Each on his cross still let us hang +awhile." Pray that I may not let go. "Suffer us not at our last hour,"' +his lips moved on--'Pray that for me.' + +'Indeed! indeed I will!' + +'Thank you; it will be your greatest kindness. And one day remember +that wish--that one wish. I wanted to wish you good-bye. God bless you. +Kiss me once, my _sister_ Gertrude.' + +She could not have staid a moment longer than to give and receive that +kiss. She almost fled into the room where her wraps were, and there +cried as if her heart would break, feeling scarcely able to bear it +when Robina came to see whether she had warm things enough. + +But Gertrude had a twelve miles' drive with her father, and in it +she experienced as never before, the depths of his tenderness and +delicacy of his sympathy, and he found what were his once wilful petted +child's yearnings towards that lofty noble character just out of +reach, yearnings by his own forbearance just not stirred into active +conscious love, such as would have left her heart entirely widowed. For +in reply to the questions she scarce durst utter, the Doctor declared +plainly that his own hope was small, though there still remained the +possibility of a turn for the better, and Tom's more modern science +might have further resources. + +This was what he had left with the family, and most of them turned 'not +hopeless' into hopeful, more especially as the most distressing form of +suffering had not recurred, though even now Felix begged that Cherry +might not see him, and feebly tried to send Wilmet home, but nothing +would induce her to leave him. Her whole self seemed bound up in the +single thought of ministering to him, and she was almost incapable of +attending to remonstrance from husband or doctor on the special risks +in her case, as if her strong will had mastered her very understanding, +and they feared that to insist might do her more harm than to let her +have her way. Clement kept equally close at hand, resolved that she +should never be alone with the patient to bear the first brunt of those +appalling attacks of suffering, and Angela was never further off than +the next room, with the door open. + +Those downstairs achieved a conventional cheerfulness. Stella was there +in her ordinary black dress, and it was not easy to realize that she +was Mrs. Audley, while Charley hung over her, petting her, though very +anxious to be useful. + +The chief use to which Geraldine wanted to put him or any one else, +was to entertain Adrian, who looked as if he thought the illness of +the master of the house a special injury and act of inhospitality to +himself, and was, besides, much disposed to be rude to Ferdinand. + +'Can't you take him into the long room and play billiards?' she asked +Bernard. + +'You'd hear the balls up in Felix's room. I never saw such a selfish +brute.' + +Bernard had found his Helot at last. 'Best way would be to get Fulbert +to take him somewhere to smoke. I don't suppose he'll go for me.' + +The somewhere was Sibby's sitting-room, and when Sir Adrian was carried +off, Alda, Geraldine, Ferdinand, and Marilda had rather a comfortable +talk over old St Oswald's Buildings days, in which Mr. Audley presently +joined them. + +The calm lasted, so that every one except the three actual nurses +went to bed peacefully; but before the morning broke there was worse +distress than ever. The worst attacks there had been at all set in, +lasting longer, and with far less power of mitigation from the remedial +measures, which seemed to be losing more effect every time, till the +watchers scarcely durst wish to see the sufferer begin to revive only +to undergo fresh torture. + +That terrible morning broke Wilmet down. She had gone through all with +unremitting energy and unflinching courage, but when Professor May had +arrived, and brought some new anæsthetic, so that there was some relief +and the strain slackened, she just crept into the next room with +Angela and fainted away, only reviving to swoon again as soon as she +tried to move. + +The doctors were unanimous in sending her away, even while scarcely +yet conscious, to her own house, and she was too faint to make any +resistance or remonstrance. About an hour later, Ferdinand and Marilda, +who were waiting in the billiard-room for the report of Professor May's +opinion, were auditors of the following conversation, evidently the end +of something that had been going on all the way from Major Harewood's +house: + +'Adrian! it is absolute cruelty! Why cannot you go alone, and send home +the children?' + +'Oh I daresay, and leave you to sentiment with that nigger fellow.' + +'You need not have insulted me;' and her silk rustled upstairs, his +steps following. + +Marilda's eyes flashed and gave utterance to a fierce whisper. 'The +cowardly ruffian! Can't you horsewhip him?' clenching her fist as she +spoke. + +But Ferdinand's dark face had indeed reddened, and his nostrils +quivered, though not at the personal offence, as he muttered under his +breath: 'To shoot him were the only cure for her! God forgive me for +the thought, but to think of any woman in such hands, and to be the +person most entirely unable to defend her!' + +'I forgot! Of course you could only make it worse, but poor dear +Alda!--It drives one out of one's senses;' and tears of anger were in +her eyes. + +'It stirs the devil within, and makes me wish I had never forgiven +him,' said Ferdinand between his teeth. + +'You need not forgive him this! _I_ don't.' + +After a few moments' pause Fernan said, 'The only service I can do her +is to go away. Would that make him consent to her remaining?' + +'Oh! we can't spare you. What shall I do with Gerald without you or +Mary Vanderkist? He is always whining for Cherry!' + +'Of course I can't bear to be away, but if I excite this idiotical +jealousy, what can I do but take myself off? I'll go to London, and you +can telegraph every hour. Go up and tell Alda--Lady Vanderkist, I mean. +Casually ask what I can do for her.' + +'That would stir him up again. And I don't think it would be of any +use. He doesn't want to stay here, and means spite.' + +'Then she could insist on staying.' + +'She would be afraid. You see when people have used one another as they +used you, it can't help rankling.' + +'I ought not to have come here, but of course I thought the whole thing +as utterly gone by with them as with myself.' + +Marilda looked up with a curious expression of blushing gladness that +made him exclaim,' How like you are to what you were when first I saw +you!' + +She blushed still more. + +'That time!' he said, musing. 'Did you ever think I used you wrongly?' +he suddenly added. + +'_I_ never did. I knew the difference between myself and Alda.' + +'Nay, let me tell you, I never should have seen how beautiful she was, +unless--I suppose it wasn't true, now--' + +'What wasn't true?' + +'That you and Felix--' + +'Felix! No indeed! He is far too independent and disinterested. Who +could have told you? You won't say? Not Edgar?' + +'No. It was that poor lady herself.' + +'Well,' said Marilda, infinitely shocked, 'I do call that wicked!' and +as her mind glanced back to all the pain of those two years, she added, +'What did she say? Don't mind telling me. I'm old enough now.' + +'Are you?' he said, with a quick glance of his dark eyes that made her +glow again, and he continued: 'She gave me to understand that there was +an old inclination between you and him, and that your father had such +a regard for him as to be likely to yield if nothing more advantageous +came in his way.' + +'If you had only asked poor Edgar! Well! perhaps she flattered herself +it was so! Yet, what could have put it into her head.' + +'You know the rest, and how I was dazzled both by her beauty and the +charm of her connection, but for years past the sense of my huge +mistake has been upon me; yet till Felix came into possession here, I +still thought it was his punctilious feeling alone that kept you apart.' + +'As if he had ever cared for me except in a cousinly, brotherly sort of +way! Did you think that was what made me hush up poor Edgar's affair, +though indeed I never felt so thankful to any one as to you for having +saved that secret.' + +'Do you know what your generosity made me wish, though I never durst +speak it before? That you would forget all these mistakes and forgive +me, and come back to what things were before that misunderstanding.' + +'Oh!' cried Marilda, with a long breath, 'you can't really mean it.' + +'What else should I mean? If you will only forgive and overlook.' + +'Don't talk in that way,' cried Marilda. 'Why I never cared for anyone +else, and always have--but'--breaking off in the midst--'hark, there +are wheels. That poor thing will be gone.' + +'You had better go up and tell her.' + +'Not _this_--I can't. It would only make him more savage; besides at +such a time.' + +'True. No--only let them know I'll go. I'm gone. No, I can't leave the +place till I've heard his opinion--but I'll go over to Ewmouth. I'll +see you again and settle--only don't let her be dragged away.' + +Marilda was obliged to go up, with the vaguest ideas as to what to +say, in a case that even she felt to be delicate, but on coming to the +scene of action, she found that the words she had overheard amounted +to no more than an ebullition of temper. Sir Adrian did not wish to +leave behind him a character for brutality, and since he could plead +an appointment and escape from the house of mourning, he could endure +leaving his wife to it; and an excuse for yielding was afforded by the +maid who, coming up with the two little girls, brought word that Mrs. +Harewood was asking for my Lady. + +So Mary and Sophy were sent back to Ironbeam, their father went to meet +his pheasants, and their mother hurried back to her twin, all that +old tenderness reviving instinctively so as to render the sisterly +contact the greatest comfort then possible to either. Ferdinand had +taken care to inform the departing Sir Adrian that he was about to +leave Vale Leston, and was in fact only waiting for the opinion of the +London doctor who had seen Felix before, and for whom, with Tom May's +sanction, he had telegraphed. + +Gratitude to him for having devised this, and trust to further advice +buoyed Cherry up, as she watched in the painting-room, giving orders, +answering inquiries, and never swerving from hope and that intense +prayer for her brother's restoration, which no one could discourage, +nor even qualify in vehemence. Why should not a life so valuable be +given back to her entreaties and those of many another suppliant? Yet +Mr. Audley, going backwards and forwards between her and the patient, +could not but be struck by observing that Felix himself rather allowed +than demanded the supplications for recovery, and though extremity of +pain often wrung from him cries for relief and sobs for mercy, yet +in the calmer periods these became sighs for the power of enduring +his cross better, and of not loosening his hold on his Saviour, and +sometimes even the moan had more of praise than of plaint. He was still +quite sensible, but the intervals between the paroxysms were so far +from painless that he never showed any wish to see or speak to any but +those immediately about him, namely, Clement and Angela, with Lance and +Robina as supplementary helpers, and Mr. Audley, when he could bear it. + +Tom May waited all day, doing his best till his London friend came, and +could do nothing but confirm his treatment, and agree that the shadow +of hope was not yet absolutely impossible, though human means were +unavailing. However, between exhaustion and a fresh form of anodyne, a +sort of stupor was induced towards the evening, and this was again a +relief, at least to those who durst call it sleep. + +Ferdinand profited by it to tear himself away according to his promise, +and Marilda betook herself and her much aggrieved maid to the Rood, +carrying the children with her, to spend the day, though there was +no room to lodge them at night; poor Gerald submitting passively, as +the fresh misfortune of losing both Fernan and Mary Vanderkist fell +on him. Marilda's quarters were left to Sister Constance, who arrived +at the appointed time, to find herself less needed at the Priory than +the cottage, where the greeting she received from the sorrowful and +anxious Lady Vanderkist was no small contrast to the manner in which +Alda Underwood had requited her services. + +The beneficent torpor lasted far into the night, and in some way or +other all, save Clement and Angela, consented to take a certain amount +of rest. Even Angela, though refusing to lie down, must have dozed in +her chair by the fire, for as her perception gradually returned to her, +she heard broken tones from Felix, and saw Clement standing over him. +The first words that fully met her ear were the conclusion of what had +gone before. 'There! stained, weak, failing, erring, more than I can +say--more than I can recollect--I can only trust all to the washing in +my Saviour's precious blood. Let me hear His message.' + +The deep, thankful intensity of the gaze, looking far beyond Clement +standing over him and pronouncing the Absolution, impressed Angela with +strange awe. + + Full of the past, all shuddering twilight, + Man waits his hour with upward eye, + The golden keys in love are brought, + That he may hold by them and die. + +It was a face of love, eagerness, absorption, that no one could ever +forget, as the voice of pardon was listened to with folded hands. + +She dared not move till there was again need of her assistance. When +she could utter a word to Clement, it was: 'Is not he better?' but +Clement shook his head. Still the last doctor's advice had enabled the +worst part of the suffering to be so far kept in abeyance, that before +that morning's dawn the Feast could be held in the sick chamber, among +those whom Clement ventured to call together for it. The greater calm +much encouraged Cherry, and she went away cheered by the face that +could still give her a smile, declaring that Felix did not look worse +than when he was bloodless after the accident. + +Both she and Bernard hugged their hope. Even when, before the day was +out, all the family knew of Tom May's verdict that those symptoms had +set in which extinguished all chance of recovery without a miracle; +still those two upheld one another in shutting their eyes to the +inference, and continued to rejoice in the comparative relief from the +heartrending spasms of the previous days, while others knew but too +well that this was only the token that the struggle of the constitution +was over. + +Other forms of suffering had set in, but attention was sometimes +free. Ferdinand and Marilda, though ashamed of having fallen into +their engagement at such a time, could not help believing that to him +at least it would give pleasure, and it had been breathed into Mr. +Audley's ear. In one of these pauses of tranquillity Felix was told of +it, and said with a smile, 'That is well. God is giving me every wish +of my heart--"Grant thee thy heart's desire--"' + +For his words had a tendency to flow into psalms and prayers, which +the others took up and finished; but he was generally quite sensible, +though sometimes restless and sometimes torpid. He asked for Wilmet, +and hearing she had gone home, and that Alda was with her, seemed +satisfied. He murmured something about Sir Adrian, and on learning +his departure, said, 'I meant to have spoken to him--I don't suppose +I could--some one tell him--he must be kind to Alda and the little +ones--poor Alda!' + +The day passed in this manner, and when at its close the familiar +sounds indicated shutting up for the night, he showed an expectation of +good nights. Geraldine came, and was charmed with the calmed, soothed +countenance; she kissed him and told him he was better, and would +sleep. He answered, 'Thank God, yes; thank God for you, my Chérie.' + +Clement was afraid to let her agitate herself or him, and led her away +to her own door, appealing to him all the way whether the worst were +not over. He trusted that it was. + +To Stella Felix gave only a blessing and good-night, but he thanked +Charlie again for letting her remain, and to Bernard he said what the +lad at the moment thought wandering, 'You'll swim for yourself now your +plank is gone.' + +There were no such positive farewells to those immediately about him. +He depended most for aid both bodily and spiritual on Clement, but he +took the most notice of Angela, often thanking her, with some tender +name, even while he seemed continually drifting further and further out +of reach. + +Life is strongly bound into a frame scarcely at the midway of age, +and the change came so slowly that Cherry had begun to say that when +the Epiphany was past, the day of his father's death, she was sure +the corner would be turned. He was very weak, but he had been as weak +before. + +Weak? Yes. The mind was failing now, not the soul. The ears still +opened to prayer, the lips joined in it, the speech was of another +world. "The hours of the cross--when will it be over?" Or the +wedding might guide the thought to "the Bride prepared." "The white +array"--"the diamonds--the jewels He will make up--the emerald rainbow +round about the Throne." + +Falterings very feeble ensued, as if he were talking to his father: +'Indeed I tried. I think they are all coming. Father, may I come now? +Isn't it done?' + +That was the last word they caught distinctly, except fragments of +prayer, before the long hour when he lay on Clement's breast, each +long labouring breath heaving up as though the last. Lance had fetched +Cherry, telling her Felix was going. He had had to change the word to +dying, actually dying, before she could understand its force. Then she +stood, gripping his arm, at the foot of the bed, while nothing was +heard but those gasps, and the continued prayer of Mr. Audley, until +the moment came when he bade the Christian soul depart into the hands +of the Father of Spirits. + +That was just as the winter night was darkening on the Saturday +evening. + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +SHATTERED PILLARS. + + 'The heart which like a staff was one, + For mine to lean and rest upon, + The strongest on the longest day, + With steadfast love, is caught away, + And yet my days go on, go on.' + _E. Barrett Browning._ + + +In the darkness before the winter dawn, William slowly put the little +skiff across the river, and went up to the Priory, where only one +or two upper windows showed a pale light behind the blinds. All was +intensely still, as the garden-door yielded to his hand, and he crossed +the dark hall, then mounted the stairs, which creaked under his tread, +and, pausing in the gallery, seemed drawn irresistibly to the door of +the room which had been the centre of all their thoughts and cares. + +His cautious touch of the lock was responded to from within. There was +enough light in the room to show the carved Angel, and beneath it the +silent face that seemed to be watching in hope for the trumpet. + +Not much less white and set was Clement's face as, laying a cold set +of fingers on William's arm, he drew him into his own room where they +stood for some minutes, neither knowing how to speak, till the church +clock striking broke the silence, and Will said: + +'Clement, I have taken upon me to silence the knell--on Wilmet's +account. John would not let you hear how alarmed we were last night, +thinking you had gone through enough, but they say such a shock as +that bell would be, might do all the harm imaginable. Sister Constance +thinks she will pull through, but she has been fancying Felix was +calling her, and poor John was quite overpowered.' + +'Our other pillar!' said Clement, dreamily. + +'She is better,' repeated Will. 'Sister Constance would not let her +give way--told her not to fancy. She only wanted to prevent that sound.' + +'Right,' murmured Clement in the same tone. + +'And I will take the service.' + +'Thank you, I am coming, but I don't know whether I have voice.' + +'You ought to be in bed. Have you had any sleep?' For Clement had never +attempted to rest from that Wednesday morning to Saturday night. + +'I don't know,' he answered, passing his hand over his face. 'I've +been a great many hours in bed, but there's no getting away from the +sense for a moment,' said he, thawing under Will's sympathy, shown +more in gesture than word. 'I don't seem able to care at this moment +even for poor Wilmet and John. Everything seems swallowed up in this +one. I've known these six months it was coming, and discussed it with +himself, yet it comes to me as stupendous and appalling as if I had +never thought of it before. The one that there was no doing, no living +without! There seems no standing up against it.' + +'You have stood more bravely than any, and you will.' + +'I _must_,' said Clement. 'Of course it is faithless selfishness, and +one cannot but rejoice that all that torture is over, and rest begun, +but consternation and helplessness will come foremost, without him, +brother, father, everything for all these eighteen years. Poor Cherry! +what is to become of her!' + +'How is she?' + +'There it is! I don't know. I staid to help Sibby, and by that time I +was so done up, that it seems a perfect blank. I must have frightened +Sibby, for I remember her scared eyes, and then I fancy Fulbert and +Lance were dosing me with soup, or wine, or something, and I went to +bed; but what they said about any one, I can't recollect. I'll ask +Lance.' + +Lance sat up in bed, after a sleep he had fallen into towards the +morning. Poor Cherry! he said, he had led her back to her room +perfectly passive, and put her in her chair, but she seemed turned to +stone. Mr. Audley had come and taken her hand, but it lay passively; +she did not seem to hear his words, and her eyes had a stony mechanical +glare like paralysis. The suddenness was practically as great to her as +if Felix had been drowned at once. Mr. Audley had advised them to give +her time to recover from her stunned condition, and she had been left +to Stella, who had last reported that her stupefaction had passed into +heavy slumber as soon as her head was on the pillow. + +Robina had been entirely taken up with Angela, whose fatigue was almost +as great as Clement's, and who had besides caught a bad cold and +toothache on the wedding-day. Her prostration had taken the form of +violent weeping, which Lance had heard half the night, and now, though +all was quiet, the brothers durst not run the risk of waking her. + +Indeed, when Mr. Page looked in with a somewhat more cheery account of +Mrs. Harewood, he advised that no attempt should be made to disturb +either sister, but that, in especial, Geraldine's room should be +darkened, and she should be allowed to lie and doze, without being +roused, under peril of mischief to brain or nerves. + +As to Angela, she awoke soon enough, and then nothing would keep her +from getting up and wandering about in restless misery and much bodily +discomfort, almost engrossing Robina, while Stella guarded Cherry. +Very thankful were all for the presence and aid of that little bride, +whose names, the gift of her dying father, had never fitted her better, +for she was the household star, the happy gift through those mournful +hours. The loss to her was as of a parent, and no father could have +been more beloved than her "Brother," but the change in her life had +made it just not the utter desolation it was to the home sisters, and +the strength of the new bond, and the soothing bliss of her husband's +caresses, lifted her up enough to make her sympathy a support. She had +never been a childish girl, and the last remnant of childishness seemed +to have passed away in that struggle on the stairs. Her brightness had +always been pensive and subdued, and in the time of distress there was +a kind of lamp-light lustre in her looks, words, and ways that relieved +dejection wherever she went, while either her powers were greatly +developed or only had full scope when she and Robina had to share all +the feminine cares of the stricken family. + +That leaden state of Geraldine's continued the next morning, though +she rang her bell mechanically for Sibby at her usual hour, came down, +poured out breakfast, and ordered dinner as usual, then returned to +her painting-room. If addressed, she gave a vacant look and a brief +matter-of-fact reply, and volunteered nothing, nor attempted any +employment. She seemed neither to care nor comprehend when told that +Wilmet had had a quiet night, sat mazed and unhearing when Clement +read, Angela roamed in and out like an unquiet spirit, as her brothers +and sisters consulted in her presence, all feeling what it was to see +her for the first time devoid of her own peculiar comforter. + +Stella watched over her incessantly, and sat writing letters in the +painting-room. Poor little bride--what letters they were to bear the +date of her eighteenth birthday and her first Stella Eudora Audley's! +About one o'clock, however, there was a shuffling sound of feet, a +rattling of the lock, and little Gerald came breathlessly stumbling +into the room, and in a moment was clasping his arms round Geraldine, +'Chérie, Chérie! you aren't gone too. Keep me, keep me!' + +'My Gerald, my boy, my own!' He was on her lap, in her arms, and they +were kissing each other with passionate fervour. 'Oh! Chérie, my back +does ache so. I came all the way and up the stairs. Oh! my back.' + +'My dear little man! There,' and Stella helped to place him on his +couch, where she hung over him, the dumb spell broken by force of the +little hands that clutched her fast. + +'Don't let them have me again.' + +'No, no, never, never,' cried Cherry, 'you are mine! my own all that is +dearest, my boy, his boy.' + +'Oh! please don't cry, Chérie, please,' and he stroked her face, while +Stella was only too glad to see the tears. 'My back is better now, and +I don't care, if you won't go away like my Daddy.' + +'Not now, my child, don't be afraid.' + +Then in an undertone 'Is _he?_' and at her look and gesture, he again +clung to her, burying his face on her neck, 'O Chérie, Chérie, why do +people die? I wish it had been Kester.' + +'O hush, Gerry,' and just then manly steps came along the gallery, +causing the child almost to choke her in his grasp, as trembling all +over, he implored her not to let him be taken away. + +'Is Gerald here?' asked Clement, opening the door, 'ah! yes, John, here +he is!' + +'No, no one is going to take you! Oh! Clem! John, is this a fit! my +darling! Speak to him.' + +'My dear,' said John, 'no one wants to take you away, I am only +thankful you are here! Don't be afraid.' + +The grasp, which had for a moment had something convulsive in it, +slackened, but the poor child panted out 'Hold me! hold me, don't let +me go.' + +'No indeed, Gerald,' said Clement in his sweet voice, as he smoothed +the tumbled hair, and as the boy did not recoil, took him on his strong +arm and knee, 'no one can take you from us. You are our child, Chérie's +and mine, the treasure trusted to us.' + +Cherry looked up to her brother with an exquisite pathos of gratitude, +and the child lay back, long shudderings still heaving up through his +little frame, and drawing deep sobbing breaths, but his brown eyes +showing his exceeding repose and confidence in his tall uncle's arms, +and with Chérie's hand in his. + +'I am most glad to have found him here,' said Major Harewood. 'Gerald, +dear boy, I fear you have been very miserable. Marilda undertook the +care of the children at the Rood, but she could not get on with them. +Was that why you came home, Gerald?' + +'It was all so horrible when Mary and Sophy were gone,' said Gerald. + +'I am afraid Kester and Edward have been very naughty,' said John. +'Gerald, what have they been doing to you?' + +The child hid his face on his uncle's breast. Timid and nervous as +he was, he was precocious enough to be too honourable for personal +accusations, and Major Harewood respected him. 'No, my dear, I will not +vex you with questions. I am exceedingly grieved at the treatment you +have had in my house. I must go, for there is much alarm.' + +'Not Wilmet?' + +'O no, poor dear, she takes their voices for those of her own little +brothers, and asks them not to wake your father. Alda seems to have +carried her back to her old days, but she is really better this morning +and quite calm. I must hasten back.' + +He was very pale and worn, but had a look of relief, as he wrung +Cherry's hand without trusting himself to another word. Clement +followed him to exchange a few more sentences on the blessing the +child's return had been in rousing Cherry, but he was thoroughly +angered and vexed at the usage his sons had evidently inflicted on +their guest. + +Poor child, he would have been far better off taking his chance amid +all the home distress than dragged off to the tender mercies of his +natural enemies. Marilda had received him as a sort of prey of her +own, and resolved to win his heart while doing a real service by +undertaking the care of the children, but the three boys were all of +genera new to her. Kester openly defied her and led his little brother, +and she grated on Gerald just as she had once grated on his aunt. As +she had seized him officiously without asking counsel, she had not +been cautioned on the peculiar treatment he required, and Ferdinand +never thought of her not understanding it by sympathy like the aunts. +However, as long as the kind almost motherly Mary Vanderkist was there, +the child was tolerably happy, but when she was gone, and Fernan in his +voluntary exile, he had no protector, and matters became far worse when +Marilda had removed to the Rood, intending the children to spend the +days there with her. + +The first day had disgusted Kester and Edward with her parlour and her +babyish games, and they refused to go thither again, or else rushed +home as soon as her bonbons failed. Gerald could not walk so far, and +no one remembered to take him, while Marilda, hurt at her ill success +with the ungrateful boys, absorbed in tidings from the Priory, and in +sending them on to her mother and Fernan, and provided with a very +different object of life from the adoption of Edgar's boy, was more +relieved than disappointed at their non-appearance. The cottage and +nursery were disorganized by the mother's illness, and the two boys +exercised unlimited tyranny over their victim. Kester, two years +older than Gerald, and with twice his strength, could inflict all the +cruelties by which the young male animal delights to test his power. +The little wretch had Harewood wit enough for the invention of horrid +bugbears, frightful to the nervous temperament he deemed cowardice. +Between these, and the torment of being pushed, pinched, drummed, and +hunted with ruthless violence, together with a mind confused as to +whether all he loved, Felix, Chérie, Lance and all, had not vanished +like his father, poor Gerald had come to such misery that, on being +told that cousin Marilda had sent for a great new Locomotive, named +Fiery Dragon, to carry him away right in the boiler, he could bear it +no longer. He had certified himself from the window that the Priory +at least still existed, had struggled down that giddy horror the +stairs (where indeed Kester had once already goaded him down with a +broomstick), and when once alone, awakening to his prairie resources, +had made his way to the road, on seeing no means of passing the river +to the garden, and had crept along, sitting down to rest, till seeing +a carter boy with his sleek horses on the road, he had coaxed him to +give him a ride on the broad back of one, and thus had arrived at the +garden gate, made his way in, again achieved the staircase, and found +his refuge at last in his Chérie's arms, not, however, till his system +had received shocks enough to throw him sadly back. He was stiff in +every limb, and wearied to excess, but slightly fevered, and haunted +with terrors none the less miserable because imaginary. Nothing soothed +him, but to have his aunt hanging over him caressing, talking, reading, +nay even playing with him with a lump like lead in her heart, but her +child's necessities preventing it from rising up to crush her. + +Major Harewood might permit licence, but he was thoroughly master, and +presently he brought up his culprits, shame-faced and tear-stained +after their first castigation, and dictated their sobbing but sullen +apology. The benefit to them, and to all whom they might have bullied +in the future, might be great, but the scene was dreadful to the +sufferer, who shook from head to foot, and when bidden to shake hands, +held out his little white fingers with tremor that grieved more than +it surprised the Major after the confession he had extorted, of hair +pulled to make the scar bleed, of ambushes in dark corners, of the +stimulus of the gig whip to quicken the steps. + +He sent Mr. Page to inspect the victim, who was pronounced to be on the +verge of nervous fever, so that Cherry and Lance had to devote their +whole selves to him for the next few days, watching even when he dozed, +since he would sometimes scream himself awake in a renewal of the real +or imaginary horrors. + +Was it a burthen? It might seem one, but such anxiety was the best +distraction, the child's improvement the best earthly solace of which +the sick and laden heart was susceptible. + +The unmarried woman seldom escapes a widowhood of the spirit There is +sure to be some one, parent, brother, sister, friend, more comfortable +to her than the day, with whom her life is so entwined that the wrench +of parting leaves a torn void never entirely healed or filled, and +this is above all the case when the separation is untimely, and the +desolation is where lifelong hopes and dependence have been gathered up. + +Thus it was with Geraldine. Her brother had been the medium through +which earth had love, joy, or interest for her. He was gone, and after +her first annihilation, she mourned less externally than some of the +others, because she knew she should mourn for life. + +She did not weep nor bewail herself, but when not engrossed by her +boy, she sat silent, inert, crushed. However she responded to all +kindness, sadly but gratefully, and Mr. Audley soon found that the +fittest way to cheer her was to lead her to the dear reminiscences of +her brother's past life, of which happily Gerald was pleased to hear. +He might not enter into all, but he would lie gazing with his soft dark +eyes, and sleepily listening, soothed by the low calm voices in which +the dear old days were called up, and Mr. Audley was told the details +of Felix's doings and sayings in the years of his absence. And out of +such memories seemed to rise upon the sister strength, serenity, and a +sense of unbroken love, as though Felix were still her chief comforter, +even as when he used to rock his baby. The sorrow was unappeasable, and +external words even of the highest comfort fell cold on her ear, though +she tried to accept them, but to recall the thoughts and promises +through her brother's value for them gave them life, and quickened her +into the endeavour to attend to all he would have wished to be done for +the others. + +Angela, unwell with a heavy feverish cold and pain in the face, could +by no means be kept still, wandering about like a perturbed spirit, +trying all sorts of occupations, but never pursuing them for five +minutes together. When her Hepburn friends came to see her, she sent +down for answer a fierce impatient 'I can't,' which Robina of course +translated more civilly. The good ladies were greatly moved and full of +sympathy, eager to tell of the exceeding sorrow of the whole parish, +and in the midst, Angela, in her aimless changes of purpose, came into +the room. Miss Isabella's kind arms were held out, but she backed out +of them, and when after some more kind expressions the visitor added, +'certainly, whatever differences existed, we all feel that your dear +brother was truly one of the elect,' Angela startled her with a sort of +shriek--'Miss Isa, don't go on! I won't have it! You don't know what a +ten thousand times better Christian than any of us you are patronizing. +You and your--your--your (Robina was afraid she said cant) have gone +and set up a barrier between me and the very dearest of brothers. Oh! +my brother. Oh!' + +She fled in a passion of tears, Miss Isabella looked inexpressibly +shocked, and Robina tried to plead ungovernable grief that knew not +what it uttered. The kind ladies excused readily, only begging to be +sent for in case her mind should turn towards them, a contingency +just now most unlikely; for of all names poor Angela seemed to loathe +none so much as Hepburn, and she absolutely gave way to a fretful fit +of scolding when Clement gratefully mentioned their consideration in +undertaking some of the parish Christmas business. + +For several days Sister Constance had never ventured to leave Wilmet, +but on the last evening when it was possible to look on Felix's face, +Major Harewood released her from the bedside, and bade his brother +ferry her over to spend an hour at the Priory. + +After a solemn interval spent in the infinite peace of the Oratory, +William conducted her to the painting-room. It was twilight, Geraldine +was sitting by the fire with little Gerald on her lap, murmuring some +story to him, and Robina was stamping a pile of black-edged letters, +while notes of the organ, Lance's chief solace, came ever and anon in +from the church. As the Sister advanced something long and black reared +itself out of a dark corner, and clasped her round the waist, crying +out, 'Sister Constance! Sister, take me! Why was not I always with you! +Oh! I must come.' + +It was enough to startle any timid person, sobbed out as the words +were. 'Gently, Angel, gently,' said Cherry, and Robina was prepared +to unfasten her like a wild creature, but Sister Constance, tenderly +kissing the hot forehead, said, 'Softly, my poor child, we will see +about it.' + +'Don't see about it!' cried Angela, in the childish phrase of +impatience. 'It is my only refuge! I'm not fit to be in the world.' + +'Let go, Angela,' said Robina, 'you don't know what you are doing!' + +'Promise! promise!' repeated Angela, only the more passionately. + +'I have no power to promise,' said the voice, so soothing in its +authority. 'You know you have given up your claim.' + +'Oh! I was misled! I was blind! I did not know! I was mad; but you'll +forgive--you will let me come.' + +'Only our Mother Superior and the chaplain can judge whether you can +be taken back. Nothing can be done in this sudden way. We will talk it +over quietly by-and-by. Now, my dear, let me speak to your sisters.' + +Subdued by her tone, Angela stood aside, and after the greeting, Robina +collected her letters and went away to her Willie. + +Sister Constance was little changed since she had come in among the +desolate children eighteen years ago. That which had taken away her +youth and sunshine had been long previous, and there was little +noticeable alteration except that each year which carried her further +from the agitation of grief confirmed her habits, strengthened her +hope, and added to her serenity and sweetness. As she sat down, Angela +dropped on the floor, leaning against her black serge dress, while +her gentle stroking hand on the coils of hair must have been almost +magnetic, for it was long since the girl had spent so many minutes in +tranquillity, as while the Sister and Cherry talked over her head. + +First as to Wilmet, who was rallying the forces of her sound health and +constitution. Throughout, Sister Constance said the presence of her +twin sister had done more good than anything else. When nothing was so +needed as quiet and sleep, Alda had lain down by her side and stroked +and fondled her, and she had forgotten all that had passed since the +two fair heads had last rested beside one another, laid the invincible +weight of sorrow on her, to the account of the earliest sorrow of +her life, and when disturbed by her boys' voices, called them by the +names of her brothers, and yet she had never failed in recognition of +her husband. She was now quite herself, only so weak that she shrank +from thought or speech, and merely rested in Alda's presence. Cherry +had hardly hitherto comprehended how nearly both their pillars of +the house had gone together, and she could now feel thankful, though +more for John's sake than with the sense that any loss could make +much difference to herself, and much more did she care to hear Sister +Constance express her admiration of the calm victorious beauty of the +brow she had first seen on that dark confused winter evening when the +task was just beginning which was at last laid down. She had been +struck by the identity of the countenance. The man of four-and-thirty +had lost none of the candour and purity of the boy; the lad of sixteen +had already much of the grave steadfast sweetness of the man. She +thought they would know him in the Resurrection by that look. + +The talk came only too soon to an end. With the precision of a woman +living under discipline, the Sister watched the clock, and rose up five +minutes before it struck, saying that her time would be up by the time +she was put across the river. Geraldine kissed her in acquiescence, but +Angela pursued her into the gallery, and tried to drag her to her own +room, 'I must talk to you, I want to tell you how I came to send back +my medal!' + +'My dear, I cannot stay. Major Harewood must be set free to go to his +dinner.' + +'Only five seconds, to beg you to manage! I must confess to Father +Willoughby.' + +'Angela, you know enough of us to know that it is not allowable to +linger over an appointed time.' + +'Oh! I know I am undisciplined.' + +'Submit to discipline, then.' + +'I wanted to explain,' following her downstairs. + +'Hush!' said the Sister, gravely signing towards the curtains that hung +over the archway leading to the long room and the oratory beyond. Awed +by this ruthless silencing, she could only follow spaniel-like to the +drawing-room, where William had told Sister Constance she would find +him, and he was standing over the fire talking to Robina. + +Allowing them a moment for their farewells, Sister Constance put her +arm round Angela. 'Poor child,' she said, 'when I can, we will talk. +Meantime this is the best I can say to you: "Commune with your own +heart, and in your chamber, and be still."' + +Poor Angel! The religion that had consisted partly in music, flowers, +and excitement, and the rest in mechanical party-spirit, had been +totally unreal and unpractical, though with a sound theology and +fitful aspirations for better things when she should have had her swing. + +When religion _such as she had made it_ proved wholly inadequate to +her need, her friend's influence led her to the central Verity where +alone rest could be found. Then having brought herself to the sense +of individual pardon through faith, she discarded all besides, hotly +revenging herself on what she took for impediments, and striving to +stir up that assurance of forgiveness which was all feeling by all +external means. The discovery of the inconsistency of her guides, +and the knowledge of Felix's condition had come upon her at the same +time, and the latter had blotted out everything else. During the +ensuing weeks everything was lost in the sight of her brother's fatal +suffering, all through her own ungovernable levity. The sting she had +smothered in the vague _en masse_ repentance which made an unsorted +heap of her sins, and lavished hard names on it, now came forth with a +barb of poisoned acuteness. For those two months devoted attendance on +her brother had been her whole religion, but there was that about him +which always made the endeavour to please him no small training, how +much more when he was on the verge of the River. + +He did not preach or argue, he was simply himself, and the constant +endeavour to ascertain his doings and understand his expression +revealed to her much of his mind, all the more perhaps because she +never spoke, she hardly thought, she only received impressions. +And above all, that upward look with which he met that last full +absolution, that expression of intense acceptance and gratitude +of sight rather than faith, had dwelt on her ever since, not +merely casting out the memory of the pain-wrung features, but even +overmastering the image of the grand monumental placidity which had +settled down on the countenance at rest from its labours. + +That absolution! She had heard it before, perhaps too early, certainly +too much as a matter of course, for actions whose faultiness was +visible enough, but which involved no true contrition. So little had +it touched her innermost soul, or so little innermost was there to +be touched, that its familiarity had made her spurn it as an empty +insufficient delusion in her despair in the summer, and catch at +the notion which condemned its utterance by a mere man as vain and +presumptuous. Her careless touch had turned the Golden Key to lead, and +only when she saw it held to the faithful did the gold shine out once +more. + +There was no pause to think till the mortal struggle was over, but then +came the revulsion, and the peace she had seen so real in her brother +brought her back to the wildest longing to experience the same, through +the same means, and yet the reluctance to turn to the ordinary helps +before her still made her hang back from her brother Clement, or Mr. +Fulmort. They would look, if not say, 'So here you are at last.' If +their principles were right, as Felix's acceptance proved, of course +it was their own fault that she had not been more good. They shared in +her intolerable loathing for whatever was around her, her madness to +be out of sight of everything and everybody, and wretched feeling of +impatience. The sight of Sister Constance suddenly gave this longing +an object. Her old love of St Faith's revived, and therewith the +desire to find a spiritual healer in Mr. Willoughby, the chaplain, +who was comparatively a stranger to her, though Mr. Audley had left +Cherry under his care, and he had of late become a good deal noted +as a director. This was what she wanted to say! Could she but have +talked to Sister Constance, and shown the peculiarity of her case, the +insufficiency of her guides, the really tragic nature of her troubles, +she _must_ have obtained the object she had become set upon in these +few minutes, namely, leaving the dreariness of home by hurrying to St +Faith's and Mr. Willoughby, when Lance should return to his business on +Monday. + +Cruel Sister, to have postponed such misery to John Harewood's dinner! +'Commune with your own heart.' A fine way of refusing confidence! Yet +Angela was nurse enough to know the need of punctuality in relieving +guard, and Sister Constance could not have been spared much longer. +Wilmet knew it was Alda's last evening, and must not be allowed to +dwell on the thought. For poor Alda durst not ask for a respite. She +must go away with her husband as soon as the funeral was over, for she +believed Ferdinand Travis was still at hand, and durst not inquire. She +was still conscious. Nay, most poignant grief of all was the sense that +the dark noble countenance was dearer to her than when she had raved +about its beauty, and that it could still make her heart throb wildly. +It was a humiliating, involuntary sin, the outcome of the voluntary sin +of past years, of those blind heartless manoeuvres to which she looked +back in amazement as she contrasted her actual life with that which she +had thrown away, while watching unconscious manifestations of devoted +conjugal affection, such as she had never before missed because she +had never conceived them. Avoidance was all that was possible to her. +Her little girls must be her refuge! Was not the man still single, and +could she help feeling a certain satisfaction in the thought? + +Poor Alda! She was up in her sister's room that afternoon when Marilda +and Miss Martha Hepburn encountered one another on their daily visit of +inquiry in the cottage drawing-room, and Miss Martha had ventured on +congratulating Miss Underwood. + +'Who told you?' bluntly exclaimed Marilda. + +'I beg your pardon! Indeed--I thought--We heard it on good +authority--Shall we contradict it?' + +'Say nothing about it! We particularly wish it not to be mentioned,' +almost growled the heiress, 'I would have given anything that it should +not have been known at such a time.' + +Miss Martha was dismayed, and retreated amid showers of promises of +secrecy, but with the elation of having confirmed the fact. + +Marilda exclaimed, 'How horrid! Who can have gossiped? Now, John, do me +a kindness! You tell Alda! I can't!' + +'I am afraid I must ask the other half----' + +'Can't you tell? No wonder. He is so much too good for me.' + +'That's uncle Bill,' broke out the unsuspected Eddie, with his mouth +full of her chocolate creams. 'He's worth ever so much more than you.' + +'I have a better guess,' said his father, unable to help laughing, +'Travis? I heartily congratulate you. Never was there a nobler fellow!' + +'It ought not to have been _now_,' said Marilda, 'but we could not +help it. It had all been one long, long misunderstanding, and it came +right of itself as soon as we began to talk to one another. Fernan says +poor Edgar wished it, and dear Felix knew it, and sent us a blessing +through Mr. Audley, but we meant no one to know for a month, or till I +had gone home. It seems so unfeeling.' + +'I do not think it will seem so here,' said John. 'You know Charlie's +proposal rose almost out of Stella's grief for Theodore,' and as +Marilda was trying to guess who had spread the report, he added, 'Never +mind. Of course we know such things are in the very air.' + +'It is Alda that concerns me,' said she, her face on fire, 'I would not +have her hear it indirectly.' + +So John, who had first known Alda and Fernan as the senior lovers, +while he was still in suspense, undertook the communication and made it +when Alda was pouring out his tea that evening. Her hand was steady, +but her lips drew together as she said, 'Riches to riches.' + +'True, but hardly just.' + +'No. _She_ likes him,' and the emphasis was bitter. 'Can a woman be +fair towards the man who once loved her?' thought John, but restrained +his speech. + +'How long has this been?' asked Alda, presently. + +'I cannot tell. Quite recently, no doubt, but long enough to give +pleasure to your dear brother.' + +'Felix knew?' + +'So she says.' + +He did not understand her look of pain as she thought of Felix's cry +of indignation on her light avowal of the insinuation which had parted +those two, securing the one for herself and casting the other over to +him, but her womanly instinct strove to hide the pang or excuse it with +a half truth. + +'I can't help thinking of my husband's disappointment. He reckoned on +her as the benevolent genius of our family.' + +'I have little faith in benevolent genii.' + +'Not equal to three per cents, as he would say. You are wealthy enough +to be shocked at the worldliness of those who have to live up to a +position. However, there is no reason to regret it! They have more in +common than appears at first sight.' + +And she soon escaped. Three lines of truly kind congratulation lay on +Marilda's toilette table the next morning. Alda attempted no more--hers +was a grief that would not brook the light. + +So morning dawned on the day when the Church was to give the brothers +and sisters voice for their farewells to that beloved and honoured head +of their orphaned home. + +So far as depended on them, and by Felix's own express written desire, +all was far plainer than in the case of their parents, when he had been +in bondage to Thomas Underwood's views of propriety. Now--so far from +the seventy-five yards of black cloth bedecking the church, it had not +lost one holly wreath, one ivy streamer: the scarlet and white flowers +were fresh, the star of Bethlehem in pale bright everlasting flowers +still stood prominent, and in letters of golden straw the Epiphany +promise: + + 'The sun shall no more be thy light by day, + Neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee, + But the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting light, + And thy God thy glory.' + +No pauper funeral there was simpler, for the same purple velvet pall +with the red cross stretching its arms over the coffin in protection +was used for the poorest; the plain oak only bore the name and date, +and the brothers and friends bedizened themselves with no foolish +gloomy streamers or scarfs, as they drew together to follow the +farm-labourers who bore what remained of Felix from the steps of the +hall door where, four years and a half before, he had spoken forth his +purpose to live there to the glory of God and the good of his neighbour. + +So he passed from the home he had never coveted, though he had loved it +better than aught save the home beyond. + +The Bishop of the diocese had desired to testify his esteem by +welcoming him to the Rest of those who die in the Lord, and Clement +was thus one of the eight brothers and sisters who followed first. The +nearest of all was tacitly allowed to be Geraldine, upon his arm, while +he led Gerald. Not only was the child his uncle's heir and head of the +name, but Cherry and Lance found that to see and know all was best for +him. Poor Edgar's wish that people could be sublimated away had been +in a measure fulfilled in his case as regarded his little son, and the +consequence had been a vague horror and mystery that had haunted him +till he was led to gaze at and kiss his uncle's calm white face, and +then, after long dreamy thought, he had said in a voice of comfort, +'Then Daddy was like that.' Kester was there, too, in his father's +hand, awed but sharply observant. And besides these, and the nearest +connections and friends, there was all the parish, farmers, tenants, +labourers and all! Scarcely a cottage but rang with the lament, 'We, +shall never have such another Squire;' almost every woman was sobbing +with the infectious agitation of that class; the big lads, whom he had +taught on many a Sunday and winter evening, were even more unrestrained +in their grief, and many a rugged old labourer echoed the elegy, 'Well +now I did reckon never to have seen the last of he, but the likes of +him was too good for we. I never had a beast out of the ordinar but it +was sure to go the first!' + +Not only Vale Leston was there but almost all the gentry and +fellow-magistrates, Sir Vesey Hammond's white head conspicuously, also +a whole company of familiar Bexley faces. They had given no notice lest +the family should put themselves to inconvenience, but there they all +were, the Mayor, Mr. Bruce, Mr. Jones, Mr. Prothero, and many another +also come with old Mr. Harewood and Ernest Lamb, who, poor fellow, +looked as if the foundations of the earth had given way with him. The +late Rector had written his excuses on the score of health, but Doctor +Ryder was present, and Mr. Audley had been called out to speak to his +old colleague Mowbray Smith, who had come many miles to testify his +gratitude to 'the best friend and truest I ever met, though I was +such a fool as not to know it at the time.' Of course the Vicar of +St Matthew's had come early enough to join the family in the morning +Sacrifice of thanksgiving, and as Robina moved on in the confused maze +of sorrowful faces, she recognised the familiar head of Lord Ernest. It +was as if Felix had left such a mark on all who came in contact with +him, that none could abstain from testifying honour and gratitude, and +yet it had been a very simple life. As he had said himself, he had done +nothing but what he felt obliged to do. There was nothing however to +which he had set his hand that was not in a better state than when he +had taken it up. + +So 'his works did follow him,' so had he 'served God in his +generation'--as happy a fate as man can have, and those who were older +than the bereaved brothers and sisters had learnt that however sad it +seems to be cut off in the prime of life, with schemes of good all +unfulfilled, yet it is like a general dying in the moment of victory, +with the cup of tedium, failure, disappointment, and decadence all +untasted. + +It was a long procession that was met by the Bishop and his clergy, +with the present Rector of Bexley and Mr. Colman of Ewmouth, and not +only the Vale Leston choir, but many of those from St Oswald's. Well +might Felix thus be greeted. Very few were the Sundays, since his +father first had robed him in his little surplice and told him of +Samuel, that he had not sung his part, he had not even had any long +interval of broken voice, and had been retained during that time for +the sake of his influence. Like everything else, his musical talent had +been used primarily for the glory of his Maker. + +What with the sweet sounds, the evergreen wreaths, the festal +colouring, and the flowery crosses and wreaths carried by so many, +there was more of grave joy than of grief and wailing apparent after +the service once began. Sorrow without hope it could not be, solemn as +it was when, as Felix himself had bidden, looking up to his Angel with +the trumpet, it was the awful _Dies Irae_ that heralded his way to the +open grave beside his little Theodore, under the leafless willow-tree, +which recalled the effort that had cost them all so dear. + +Yes, Felix had laid down his charge, and gone to rest from his labours, +and as 'Safe home' finally closed the service, did not Geraldine think +of her fleet of boats and long for safety in the haven, whither her +flag-ship had now attained? Yearningly she bent forward, aided by +Clement, for her last sight of the coffin and the dear name 'Felix +Chester Underwood,' never again to be a household call. She hung so +long over it that Clement would fain have drawn her back, and as she +resisted, was trying to find voice to bid her remember that 'he is not +here,' when little Gerald, struck perhaps by the words of the hymn, and +connecting it with the earth he had seen and heard dropping in, reached +out of Lance's arms, where he had been lifted, touched her and said, +'Was not that baptizing him again for the Resurrection of the dead?' + +She heard, and her boy was her best comforter again, bringing back the +trust to see 'that countenance pure again,' and to look up instead of +down. + +So her brothers led her away, but there was no quiet time yet The +Bishop had considerately refused to come to the house, but Clement must +of course go and speak to him, thank him, and bear the expression of +his warm feeling for the family and reverence and gratitude to the man +who had so changed his parish. + +Geraldine had to go to the drawing-room with her sisters, Marilda, and +Gertrude May, whose right to be present all had felt. Her eyes were +dim, her colouring paled, she looked as if she had been weeping ever +since they had last met, and she only tried to avoid obtruding her +presence or her grief. Her father soon came for her. He took Cherry's +hand, saying, 'My dear, trust an old man. You can't feel it now, but +our jewels become dearer in the diadem, and when our hearts go after +them, there is rest.' + +Cherry tried to smile thanks but was too sad to take home the comfort. +She wanted her jewel now! + +Food must be eaten, for Marilda and the two married sisters were going +away, but before the move to depart, Clement said, 'There are so many +of us that we think all should hear about the property together before +there is any break-up.' + +So Major Harewood, with a draft of the will in his hand, explained. +Land, house, furniture, everything at Vale Leston of course, descended +to Gerald Felix Underwood under the trusteeship of Clement, John +Harewood, and Ferdinand Travis. The personal guardianship was reserved +to Geraldine with £500 a year until the heir should be of age. If he +should die without children, the succession would of course go to +Clement, and after him it was entailed on the brothers, or their heirs +in due order. Besides this the estate was charged with £500 a year, +as an income for each of the sisters who might remain single. On her +marriage each would have £500 down, the annuity of the others remaining +untouched, unless one entered a sisterhood, when £50 per annum should +be paid for her. To Lancelot was left unreservedly the whole of the +acquisitions at Bexley, house, shares in the business, stock, and +Pursuivant. There was an annuity of £30 to Sybilla Macnamara, a legacy +to Martha, and to the old foreman, and that was all. John and Lancelot +were executors. + +The first feeling was of surprise that Bernard was only mentioned as +last in the entail. Cherry and Lance both turned to him. 'It shall be +all the same, Bernard; he means us to do it.' + +'No, he doesn't,' gruffly answered Bernard. + +'Of course we can manage for you,' added Clement; 'as long as you work, +there can be no difficulty.' + +No thanks, no reply, indeed, followed, and Sir Adrian bade Alda hasten +if she wished to take leave of her sister. Major Harewood would take +her across at once, and she would be called for at the cottage on +the way to the station. Wilmet was reported to have lain very still, +shedding a good many soft tears, but not seeming the worse. + +Alda held Geraldine closer than she had ever done before, and +entreated, 'Write often, and let me know about you all. I wish we had +been more together.' + +Marilda was going to London with her, Sir Adrian was still in ignorance +of the coming blow, and there was nothing in the farewell to Ferdinand +to make him expect it, so his scowl at his wife's hand-shake was on the +old score. Poor Alda, at least she had her children. + +Their sweet Princess Fair Star! Yes, she must go! Captain Audley was +waiting to drive the young couple to meet the express. They were to +take a fortnight's quiet in the Isle of Wight, and then enter on their +new world. It was time Charlie should have his wife to himself after +all the patience, unselfishness, consideration, and helpfulness that +had sealed him as a true brother, and endeared him the more from the +contrast not only to Alda's husband but to his own father. + +Clement had to be the parental brother to lead the bride to the +carriage. He kissed and blessed her in the porch, saying, 'Little one, +you have had a sad beginning, but I am glad you were still one with us. +We know you all the more.' + +'We are glad,' said Stella. 'This is worth more than weeks of +happiness.' + +'She is right,' said Charlie. 'We would not but have staid for worlds! +We ought always to be the better for it. It has made the world look so +different to us!' + +'But that difference is not gloom,' said his uncle; and the 'Oh no' on +his lips, and the bright crystal tears in Stella's eyes were no more +gloomy than her diamonds when Felix was musing over them. + +So the others turned back into the house that felt so large and +empty, and they so few. Clement tendered an arm to help Geraldine +upstairs. Somehow, long as it was since she had leant on Felix, this +action brought a great sense of change. Clement's aid was the careful +bending tenderness of a very tall man towards a small woman; Felix +had been more nearly on her level; and merry old boasts on this score +came piteously to the minds of both. The brother, who had borne up so +strongly through all these days of sorrow and suffering, and months of +pain and suspense, found his effort at cheering turn to a sob as he +said, 'Ah, Cherry, you must make the best of me. I will try to be all I +can, but never, never----' + +'You are not your own self?' said Cherry, just then the braver. 'Have +not we two always hung together, Clem?' + +'You are very good to say so,' he faltered. + +'Good! when I just feel it,' and she pulled his arm round her. 'Dear +Clem, don't you remember the time when our pillars were away before, +and all you did for me then, when I was cross and ill? He is only gone +for a little time, you know, and he never did tell you and me to take +care of each other, because he knew it would come naturally. Dear, dear +Clem, if you weren't Clem already, should not I love you for having +been so much the nearest and most helpful to him all this time?' + +'The joy of my life!' murmured Clement in a choked voice, most unlike +joy, as he leant against the door-post quite overcome. + +'You'll tell me all in our long evenings. We will live with him a great +deal still, and keep him before the eyes of our dear little boy--our +charge.' + +'Charge! Everything is a charge!' said Clement, wearily. 'How to act +or decide without that clear, cool, wise head! To fill his place is +impossible!' Then rousing himself, 'I beg your pardon, Cherry, I +thought I was going to do something to comfort you, instead of making a +fool of myself.' + +'Making a fool of yourself makes you a great deal dearer and nicer than +if you set up for comforting,' said Cherry. 'You know as well as I do +that nobody can ever do that. Poor, dear old Clem, you are quite worn +out, and no wonder, everything has come harder on you than on any one +else. Sit down and rest;' and as she seated herself she tried to pull +him down on the sofa beside her, but he resisted. 'I wish I could, +Cherry,' he said wistfully, 'but I ought to go up to the Rood to thank +the mayor and all the rest.' + +'Kind friends!' said Cherry; 'but can't Lance do it, when he goes back?' + +'Less gracious; and I sent word by Lamb I was coming. There's no good +in shrinking!' said Clement, resolutely rearing himself up, but coming +back to kneel on one knee, take another embrace, and say, 'O Cherry, I +am so sorry for you, and you are so good to me!' + +The humility touched her deeply. 'Not good,' she said; 'I want you, you +are my own home brother,' and he allowed his wearied head to repose for +a few moments on her shoulder as she threw her arm round him. 'Just +tell me,' she said, as he stirred again, 'does Mr. Fulmort stay?' + +'Yes, over Sunday.' + +'That is well. I thought so,' + +'Why?' + +'Because you never dare to give way but when he is at hand. Dear Clem, +I did not mean to vex you. Where should we have been if you had not +been brave and strong?' + +'I can't say much for that now, Cherry,' he said, 'I must not stay. I +shall not be fit for what has still to be done.' + +She heard him walk across to that untenanted room, and her love for +him was quickened. Trust in his highly principled kindness she had +always had, but to find him crushed, oppressed, overwhelmed, gave her a +fellow-feeling for him as she felt him leaning on her; and this was not +indeed consolation, but something not entirely removed from it. + +His resolute, evenly-balanced manner, guarding jealously against +whatever could unnerve him, had however been kept up all along to all +the rest, as perhaps was needed by the exigencies of his situation, and +perhaps it helped to actuate Robina in the conversation she was holding +as she paced the cloister with William. + +'Should you very much mind my not earning that last two hundred?' + +'I? You speak as if I had ever asked you to earn anything.' + +'For don't you think it seems my duty to stay and look after poor +Cherry? If Stella were left I should not mind, but no one can tell +whether Angel may not be worse than nobody; or she might yet go to St. +Faith's.' + +'The best place for her.' + +'So I cannot bear to leave Cherry alone with Clement and the child. +There will be Wilmet when she gets about again; but as long as her boys +are such little ruffians----' + +'Not worse than we used to be to the little trebles.' + +'The little trebles were not like Gerald, I should hope, and Cherry +must not have everything thrust on her at once--she who has been always +petted and made _his_ darling. Clement will be substantially kind, but +he has no petting in him, and no mercy on his tools for parish work. +He will be attentive, but all in a grand grave way, not spontaneously, +because he can't help it, and she will pine. That she will do any way, +poor dear, but it ought not to be without a sister.' + +'Precisely. I am very glad.' Which he sincerely was to see affection +triumph over prudence. + +'So I think of writing to Lady de la Poer and telling her not to wait +for me. Indeed, I know who would suit her. I can go and wish them all +good-bye when Wilmet is better, but I must give notice; so of course I +told you first, and I suppose I must speak to Clement.' + +'He will be very thankful. He is very anxious and unhappy about Cherry.' + +'And the unhappier he is, the sterner.' + +'You hardly do Clement justice,' said William, gravely. 'Think of the +knowledge he has silently borne these six months. Both as brother and +as priest, he has gone further down with Felix into the valley of the +shadow of death than any one else could do, and if the chill of it has +stiffened him, it may be that only so could he serve as a support. I +assure you, Robina, I watched and wondered all last long vacation. I +saw he was unhappy and uneasy about your brother, but only now that +I understand it all do I fully appreciate his self-control and energy +through it all.' + +'Self-control and energy,' said Robina. 'Yes that's just what I mean. +Don't look at me so, Willie. He is a model clergyman, I know, but I +fancy that very perfection hinders him from being the brother poor +Cherry needs. There! we are not going, of all things in the world, to +quarrel about Clement.' + +'Certainly not,' said Will, smiling, 'especially as this conviction of +yours leads you in the very direction I wish, and will cure itself.' + +'I know him so little,' added Robina, in excuse for herself, as she +saw how she had wounded Will's enthusiastic admiration of the very +qualities in which he felt himself the most deficient. 'You know I have +never spent three months together at home since I was seven years old, +so it is full time I learnt home-life.' + +'To be domesticated,' said Will; 'but look here--why should not I go in +for the curacy, and then----' + +'That's the way I am to devote myself to Cherry, eh? No, Bill, we +must be all the more staunch. Mind, the question is not whether you +and I can be content in poverty, but whether we will be a drag on our +brothers, and you a less efficient clergyman. Recollect my father.' + +'I only recollect worn-out Dons.' + +'Dons minus brains! You always wanted to do it all, and now you have +your way. Two years more, and I really think we shall do!' (For Robina +kept the account of the investments.) + +'You miser! At least I shall know you are safe here, and of that I am +heartily glad. I never could forgive the Repworth folk for being your +masters.' + +'Very ungrateful!' said Robina. 'I don't know how to think of not going +back to my dear little girls, and their mother!'--and tears came to her +eyes, for she could not but feel that home had lost all its brightness +and much of its sweetness. + +'I think,' said Bill, musingly, 'it is wonderful how, with such a set +of strong wills as you Underwoods have, you should have all preserved +such perfect union.' + +'Have we such strong wills?' + +'Do you ask a poor victim like me, whose only chance is in some slight +confusion on your part which your own Will may be? Look at Clement, +like a piece of iron when his mind is made up; look at Wilmet; look +at Angel; look at Lance. Why, his power of resistance had changed the +whole tone of us choir boys before he was thirteen. In fact, I believe +it is that strength of character that keeps you harmonious. You don't +worry about straws, or clash, or pother, but know when and to whom to +give way with a good grace.' + +'We did,' sighed Robina. 'We could not help it then. Ah! here comes +Clement. I had better have it out with him at once.' + +She was touched, perceiving the tokens of tears, and still more by his +gratitude when he learnt her intention. 'Thank you,' he warmly said. 'I +durst not ask it of you, but it is an immense relief to me on our dear +Cherry's account.' + +'Have you been with her? How is she?' + +'Braver and sweeter than I dared hope,' he said, his eyes filling +again. 'Surely the Communion of saints is beginning to bring her +refreshment and strength! She put me so much in mind of _him_--' + +He passed on, for he was on his way to the Rood, but meant to calm +himself by a few moments in the Church. There, however, he was +surprised by a low sound of voices, and noiselessly following it up, he +beheld, unseen himself, Mr. Fulmort and Angela in the Lady Chapel, and +went on his way with a heart disburthened of one of its loads. + +Yes. This had been the effect of Sister Constance's words: 'Commune +with your own heart.' In the hope, nay, purpose, of at least going +to Bexley with Lance on the Monday, and laying her case before Mr. +Willoughby, Angela had gone to her room to prepare her confession, +using the methods of self-examination taught her in old times, and in +a mood to enhance rather than slur over anything she detected. Behold, +as she tried herself by the questions so long laid aside, they assumed +new force and meaning! The once blunted probes had acquired a sharpness +they had never had before, and among her many discoveries was that her +extreme dislike to having recourse to the Vicar of St Matthew's was, +first, because it was Clement's desire, secondly, because, instead of +an interesting penitent with a tragic crime on her hands, she should +only come as the naughty girl he had known all her life; and thirdly, +not because of his mismanagement, but because he understood her all too +well, and had warned her of the very errors that had eaten into her +life. It was only pride and love of excitement that impelled her to +seek a fresh director; and it was the turning point of her life that +when the conviction dawned on her she did not turn her back on it, but +it so wrought with her as to take her to the Lady Chapel with her first +and most parental spiritual guide on that winter afternoon of mourning. + +At the end of the long interview, as the young moon shone into the +twilight church, while Angela knelt on, humbled, softened, the turbid +waters of her spirit quelled, and a more peaceful sorrow than she had +ever known resting on her, there stole along the aisles the notes of-- + + 'Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. + Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and say unto her, + That her warfare is accomplished, + That her iniquity is pardoned.' + +It was like a welcome from the heavenly choir to the one sinner that +repenteth. + +Of course it was Lance, after his duty by his fellow-mourners had been +done, and he had seen them off to Bexley. He had no one to pace the +cloister with, and the organ had been the chief solace and exponent of +his sorrows and his yearnings. Poor Lance, who must henceforth work for +himself instead of his brother, and turn out Pursuivants, for which +at present he only cared because any deterioration therein would be +treason to that Editor who had worked at them with loving conscientious +might. The whole bequest, so justly earned as all felt it to be, was +heartless and distasteful; he was disgusted to find himself a man of +substance, and not only his fellow-citizens, but Fulbert had distressed +him by congratulations. Fulbert had employed his time at Bexley in +falling in love with Lizzie Bruce, and had therefore kept close to her +father all this time, and finally driven him to the station in the +dog-cart; and it was rather an effort to Lance to listen amiably to +the raptures of prosperous love; above all, when he had just missed +the glance, hand-pressure and farewell, which however mournful and +indifferent this would have probably been, his heart and soul hungered +and thirsted after. He had fancied Dr. May and his daughter would stay +for luncheon, and had missed their departure by exhibiting little +Gerald to some of Edgar's old friends, and the loss of the one moment +he had anticipated with a throb of pleasure depressed him more than was +reasonable. And yet!--There was nothing for it but to try to soothe his +spirit with the harmonies that often seemed to him all he cared to live +for, and fortunately there was a musical pupil teacher always looking +about in the hope that Mr. Lancelot would want his services to blow for +him. + +He played till the bell began for even-song, and, one after another, +an unusually full congregation began to drop in, including even two +of the Miss Hepburns. The service was shared between old Mr. Harewood +and Mr. Fulmort, only glad to relieve the three overwrought clergy +who had borne the brunt of this Epiphany tide. Clement's paleness and +depression were evident enough now, though still against his will. + +'Angela, my dear,' he said, overtaking her in the hall, as she was +going upstairs, 'Wilmet has asked for you to come and help Sister +Constance in Alda's place. If you can fetch what you want at once, I +will put you over.' + +'O, thank you!' she cried, flushing with colour at the unexpected +boon, as well as at the soft gentleness of his tone, which had of late +in their hours of nursing been apt to be quick, stern, and decisive +towards her, partly from his own repressed grief, partly from her habit +of repelling his advances. + +'You had better let me,' said Lance, as she ran upstairs. 'You are +pretty well what Gerald calls used up.' + +'Thank you, I wish to do this,' said Clement. 'O Lance, Dr. May and +his daughter asked especially after you, and told me to give you their +good-byes. And here,' lowering his voice, 'here is something I was +bidden to give you.' + +Lance looked at the address, and carried it quickly upstairs. It was +one of Felix's neat envelopes with the crest and motto, and the address +to L.O. Underwood Esq., in the familiar writing, just such as those +which he had been wont to receive by hundreds. Within was a note with a +still fragrant spray of dried myrtle. The contents were: + + August 20th, 1872. + + MY DEAREST LANCEY BOY, + + I do not want to make the business a burthen and a tie to you. + You have slaved enough at uncongenial and solitary drudgery for + my sake. I would not ask you to go on with it on any account. + I only beg you to wait one half year, and if by that time you + see no prospect of what would sweeten your labours, then do as + you judge best about disposing of it, and using the proceeds as + you please. I know you will provide against my poor Pur falling + into hands that might sully or pervert such testimony as it + is able to bear. For the rest, let it be as your judgment and + wishes guide you. But be patient and not discouraged. I have + ascertained that there will be no opposition from the father, + and I am mistaken if you do not succeed at last. I dare not + pray for any earthly boon, the sense of ignorance in asking + becomes so much deepened, but if I prayed for anything definite + it would be for that reward for you. As it is, I venture only + to ask that joys and blessings the highest and the sweetest + may be showered on you, my very dear brother; you who came to + help me in the time of greatest need, and whose whole life has + been a continual sacrifice of taste, enterprise, and ambition + for my sake. If Clement is my chief aid in this present pass, + it is you to whom I have owed the most through life, and I + cannot believe I shall ever become insensible to it. Perhaps + there will be no leave-taking. If not, take this as mine, and + believe, as I do, that we shall still join our voices with + Angels and Archangels, and all the company of Heaven; and look + on to the day when for the sake of the Lamb who was slain our + praise may be perfected. God bless you, my dear Lance, and + bring us both to meet in that everlasting Home where there is + no parting. + + My love to dear old Mrs. Froggatt. + + Give your Daisy this myrtle spray when she is yours, and with + it a brother's love from me. + + Believe me ever + Your grateful and loving brother, + F.C. UNDERWOOD. + + +And while Lance stood in his room, drinking in with his eyes these +words of affection, Angela upon the moonlit river was craving Clement's +pardon for all her manifold transgressions against him. + +'My dear,' he answered in a deep, sad, but sweet voice, 'I have quite +as many errors against you for which to reproach myself.' + +Then as they landed on the narrow sward, he put his arm round her and +kissed her, and she found his tears raining on her face. + +'My child, I have not done well by you,' he said, 'but I believe our +dear brother has turned your face right again, and I am thankful for +it. I think we shall begin a new life towards one another now. Good +night, and may His blessing be with you.' + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +THE RIVAL OWLS. + + 'Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tower + The moping owl doth to the moon complain + Of such as, wandering near her haunted tower, + Molest her ancient solitary reign.' + _Gray._ + + +'Poor caterpillars, with our web broken, trying to gather it close +round us,' said Geraldine, with a sort of playful melancholy, when old +Squire Underwood's little table was produced, that so vast and sad a +tract of table-cloth might not divide the four who met at meals. + +For Sister Constance and Mr. Fulmort had won back for Angela permission +to make a visit at St Faith's, certainly during Lent, and probably for +a longer time, that she might be regularly instructed in nursing. The +wild spirit craved for discipline as by a sort of instinct, and this +the orphaned family had never been able to supply, and her affections +had really been wounded enough to render nothing so welcome as shelter +and protection against herself. Fulbert's English visit soon came to +an end. Australia was his element, he was weary of the old country; +declared there was no room to move, and having been refused by Lizzie +Bruce, only wanted to get back as soon as he could. He looked Bernard +all over, and pronounced that there were too many of his sort out there +already, and he had rather help him to the University. + +Bernard might in fact have been sent thither by subscription from the +family, but he surprised them all by showing Cherry his letter to +accept an under-clerkship in the house of Kedge and Underwood. It was +the consequence of a consultation with Mr. Travis on means of living, +though the lad had kept his own counsel till all was settled, and, he +added, 'I know I've been an idle dog, but I do mean to work now;' the +hitherto obstinately childish face showed manhood and self-reliance. +Felix had done quite right to knock all his supports away, and that +he knew it was shown by his acting at once instead of grumbling. The +fate of many a comrade had taught him to rejoice that his post was +not the prize of a competitive examination, and if his features and +bearing perilously reminded Spooner of his brother Edgar, the absence +of Edgar's tastes and talents exempted him from some of the same +temptations; nor did Miss Underwood show any symptoms of spoiling +him, only settling him in respectable lodgings, and making her house +no more than a friendly cousinly resort. His public school-life had +likewise given him a less dangerous set of acquaintance than Edgar's +had been, and there were wholesome opportunities of gratifying his +love of athletics. Lady Caergwent, too, on coming to town for the +Session, did not forget the solitary Vale Lestonite, but requited his +botanical exertions with friendly invitations for gay evenings and for +quiet Sundays, both of which did much to keep up what was good, both +outwardly and inwardly, in the youth. + +'Kedge and Underwood' in all its branches was intensely elated at +its approaching union with the great Mr. Travis of Peter Brown and +Co., who was to take the style and arms of Underwood, well pleased to +appropriate the rood, and bear the name of those whom he had always +regarded with a true family love. The wedding was to be soon after +Easter, and the pair were then to go out and make arrangements for the +future welfare of the American property. Ferdinand had in jest asked +Gerald if he would go back, and the child had drawn back into his +aunt's arms, and answered, 'Not without Chérie.' + +Wilmet had soon come downstairs again, but with the first visible signs +of departing youth, the first dimming of the freshness of complexion, +the first marring of the perfect oval contour of face, and with a +heart heavy as much for the living sister as for the dead brother, and +with the sad grieving which only mothers know for the babe whom she +had never seen. John was anxious to take her from home. The last old +Miss Oglandby had died suddenly during her recovery, and as all three +had left him half their portions, he was now a man of considerable +means, rather disproportioned to his cottage at Vale Leston. There +however he meant to remain, for the sake of attending to the estate, +but he hastened the preliminary business in order to proceed to that in +Buckinghamshire, so soon as Wilmet should be capable of the journey. +And he found the less to do, that never man had set his house in order +more thoroughly than Felix. Every paper and letter was sorted, and +so marked that there was not an instant's doubt whether it concerned +the estate or the business; every account was clearly brought down to +Christmas, and nothing left that could complicate or perplex: in many +cases, especially with regard to the farms and Blackstone Gulley, there +were notes of conversations, promises, or intentions. The executors had +little but formal work to do. + +Wilmet was only once able to come to the Priory before she left home, +and she could hardly bear it, breaking down with showers of tears, as +if the grief were fresh; while Geraldine went about, calm, dry-eyed, +occupied, attending to Gerald, receiving callers, writing letters, +and consulting with her brothers, or even helping Lance with work for +the Pursuivant, but all as if the taste and flavour had gone out of +her life, and nothing could interest her, except Gerald and one other +employment. + +She had copied her miniature of Felix for Stella, and the wistful +admiration of some of the others had made her volunteer to give one to +each of the family, and she spent many hours over the square open brow, +clear, fearless, stedfast, well-opened grey eyes and firm sweet mouth. +Wilmet, discovering what she was about, thought it so bad for her as to +call for a scolding to Clement and Robina for having permitted her to +undertake what must injure her eyes and feed her sorrow. + +'No, don't stop me, Mettie,' said Cherry, 'I _can_ do them now, perhaps +I could not later.' + +'You need not do them. Photographs would do quite as well, and save +you.' + +'I don't want to be saved. It is my great pleasure.' + +'A morbid pleasure, I fear, my dear. At any rate I will not be the +cause of your hurting yourself. I _will_ have a photograph.' + +'Don't take it now at least,' implored Cherry as the white resolute +fingers closed on the original. 'Please! I cannot quite bear to let him +go. Besides,' with a smile of entreaty, 'I don't think you perceive. +It is not morbid. It does me good. It is like getting Clement to talk +in the evening. I go over those dear lines and curves, and every touch +brings back some look or word, so that it is living with him, and +learning him over again, and I get to giving thanks for him best that +way.' + +'Well! I couldn't,' said Wilmet, not even able to look at the picture, +and cautioning Robina to interfere at the first symptom of damage to +eyes or spirits. + +No one could be more tenderly cherished and watched over than +Geraldine. Clement's devotion was more genuine and less dutiful, more +loving and less compassionate than Robina had expected, for it had +that essential though involuntary quality of dependence. Never before +had his life given him the personal experience of affliction, and it +had softened him into gentleness. He had almost erected Cherry into +the place of Felix as well as her own, and leant on her for advice and +sympathy. Whatever approaches to relaxation or amusement he allowed +himself were to lure her to be pleased, and if she tried to be lured, +it was only because she thought he needed the relief. + +Robina meantime was highly effective. She took Gerald's lessons, made +herself acceptable in cottages, worked hard at the schools, and got on +well with Clan Hepburn, who were unusually conformable, and thoroughly +considerate. Moreover, if Robin could not be the idol of the lads, +she took in hand the farmers' daughters. She allured them with a +German class, got up some Mission working parties--and great victory +of all--persuaded a selection not only to teach in the Sunday School +but to meet beforehand to have instruction for this purpose from the +Rector, without imputing to them the full extent of their ignorance. +Clement might well own that Lent that there were some things Robina did +better than anyone else. + +He had a very youthful Curate at last, lodged at the farm, and he was +also assisted by Mr. Audley, who was still living with his brother, +frequently going up to his oculist, but devoting himself chiefly to the +care of his future district at East Ewmouth. He had accepted the offer +of the incumbency willingly, for between his private income and the +endowment he would be able to keep up such a staff of Curates as would +compensate for his defect of eyesight, and the Mission work of the +little post needed an experienced head more than good eyes. + +After a few weeks it became known that on his refusal of the Bishopric +of Albertstown, the offer had been transferred to the Vicar of St. +Matthew's, Whittingtonia, probably at his suggestion, for he was very +anxious for its acceptance, and Clement listened to him with a divided +mind, for St Matthew's was still the young Rector's first love, and +he loved it a good deal more than either settlers or black fellows at +the antipodes. As he mournfully observed to Cherry, they would go and +get some married man who would not live at the clergy-house, and would +spoil the whole spirit of the place. It scarcely consoled him to be +reminded that Mr. Fulmort having founded and endowed the living, had +the patronage, and that being elected by the Synod in Australia, would +not have to leave the appointment to the Crown. + +'Ah! the Vicar!' he proclaimed as he unlocked the post-bag, and +distributed the letters at the breakfast-table in the austere sunshine +of March. + +Next came a sort of gasping grunt. + +'Well?' said Cherry. + +No answer, but to lay down the letter and begin cutting bread, but +in an absent way, going on as if instead of four he had the original +number to cut for. + +The sisters saw that no more questions were to be asked in the +publicity of the breakfast-table, limited as it was. Self-contained +man! Any one of his brothers would have had it out in that gasp. +Robina, aware that the world consisted of herself and Gerald, would +have removed it quickly, but that Gerald prolonged the consumption of +his egg so unreasonably that his uncle had time to eat, drink, and look +over the letter again, open the others, and even grow impatient enough +to say, 'We can't wait for you all the morning, Gerald.' Then he said +Grace, gave an arm to Cherry, with 'Can you spare me a few minutes?' +and took her into the library. + +'Does he go?' + +'He says he hardly can, unless I will take St Matthew's.' + +'You!' + +'I can't understand it; but he says none of our old set are available. +Don't be frightened, Cherry, I am not going to do anything to overthrow +such comfort as is left you.' + +'You can't mean that!' + +'I do. This is not the kind of call that should disturb the claims of +what is closest to me on earth. Nor have you been forgotten, as you +will see,' as he gave her the letter. + +The first thing she remarked was how differently the six years' priest +was rated from the deacon who had been hunted down to the country +parish. Mr. Fulmort reviewed the difficulty of finding a successor, +for his most trustworthy _élèves_ were all either engaged elsewhere, +or else ineligible on account of health, voice, or families. Fred +Somers was admirable as senior curate, but could not take the lead +where both familiarity with the place was needed and experience of +parsonic authority. Thus Clement Underwood, loving Whittingtonia and +beloved there, full of ardour and devotion, gifted with a fine voice, +facility of preaching, and musical talent, as well as a growing dignity +of presence and address, together with a strong and resolute temper, +powers of judgment trained under his brother, and a constitution +matured in pure country air to a considerable capacity and aptitude +for work, seemed to combine most of the requisites for a City parish. +'More especially,' wrote the Vicar, 'if your sister could be induced to +come with you. Her quickness, ready judgment, and especially her sense +of the absurd, are just what would be valuable. Mind, I don't think of +her as a worker, only as an Egeria to the clergy-house, and I can even +provide her with a grove, where my dear old friend Miss Charlecote, as +you may remember, did the like for us.' + +He explained that Miss Charlecote now entirely resided at Hiltonbury +with his sister and her husband, and had made over her beautiful old +house to his disposal, not to be sold or broken up, but used as a +residence for some of the clergy or Church helpers. Was it possible +that Miss Underwood would come and live there with her brother, while +Fred Somers would act as prior to the clergy-house? Mr. Fulmort however +was most guarded in not pressing his plan, and aware of the possibility +of strong objections, marking his desire that Clement should not feel +himself bound by what must only be considered as a feeler, since his +work at Vale Leston was thoroughly valuable. Mr. Fulmort added that the +endowment of St. Matthew's, with four curates and sixteen choir boys +always in the clergy-house, was £600,[1] whereas the Rectory of Vale +Leston, needing only one assistant at the utmost, was now reckoned as +above £800. + +'What do you wish, Clement?' + +'Don't talk of what I wish.' + +'Then what do you think right?' + +'What is best for you and Gerald?' he answered, with the hardness of +tone that was only pain; 'you are my trust.' + +'Never so as to fetter a priest from higher duties,' said Cherry. +'Suppose this was Albertstown.' + +Somehow her odd tone of consternation was a pleasure to Clement; he +smiled and said, 'Never mind, that's not the question; though I suppose +this is a more perplexing one, as it leaves a choice, or the semblance +of one,' and he sighed. + +'You know Dr. May said Gerald ought to have constant attention from a +London surgeon. Would the house be healthy for him? Do you know it?' + +'O yes! We choir boys used often to be entertained there. We could play +at cricket in the garden, and thought it paradise. It is an island +of the old London before the fire, in a quiet street all warehouses; +nothing newer than Queen Anne's time; delightful to us, but I don't +know how it would seem to you after this place.' + +'This place! I liked it when _he_ was here, but now it is only a vast +desolation. Everything is that indeed; but you see, I never had roots +here, like him. What should you do with it?' + +'I don't see why Bill Harewood should not take the living. He is +older than I was when first I came here; he makes good way with the +people--better than I do with many--and he ought to have a parish that +would leave him a margin of leisure--besides Robina.' + +Cherry clapped her hands. 'Well done, Bobbie! She has actually earned +her promotion. Even you, reluctantly as it came out, allow that she is +cut out for a clergyman's wife.' + +He smiled. 'Well, I allow that she is worth the most to the parish of +all of you, and that it would be a cruel pity to take her away.' + +'And Bill will be twice the man, and half the March hare, with her, +instead of without her.' + +'Yes. Granting married clergy, they are the very people for it.' + +'That's right! Dear Bob! Good old Will! It is enough to decide us at +once after all their patience! They would have the Rectory, but how +about this house?' + +'Probably John would rent it. What?' + +'Only naughtiness! A little jealousy of Kester running rampant over +poor Gerald's house as if he were master and more.' + +'Gerald will find out who is master only too soon.' + +'Ah! he sometimes asks who this and that belongs to, poor boy, and why +they call him the young Squire. It may be well for him not to hear too +much of that, or to begin to lord it.' + +'Besides, you would bring him down in summer, and if he spends his +holidays here, he would see as much of the place as boys ever do of +home.' + +'Ah!' cried Cherry eagerly. 'We can have poor Bear to live with us. How +delightful!' + +'A great consideration,' said Clement 'You really think you can stand +the City?' + +'As well as any place! Oh, Clem! as long as you don't want to leave us +behind I am glad.' + +'I was so much afraid of your sending me away alone that I begin to +fear you are making home too dear.' + +'Nay,' with a sobbing laugh, 'if your Vicar told you to bring me, you +need not mind. I do believe those dingy streets are more to you than +all that cloister and river.' + +'I can't help it, Cherry. I came here solely because my brother +wanted me, and am heartily thankful for it; but, as you say, I have +not rooted. We could not have his love from old association, and +comparatively only cared for it through him. No doubt there is much +that I love and prize, and any cure of souls must be most important; +but now that East Ewmouth is to be separated and Blackstone Gulley is +in a manner tamed, I can't get rid of the sense that it is too highly +paid and too easy a life for a strong man of thirty, good for nothing +but sheer work. Nor would _he_ think it desertion. He told me on that +last day, when the Rectory was transferred, that the purpose was +fulfilled, and I need not be hindered.' + +'Too little work! Yet you are often on the point of being overdone.' + +'I have been, but that was from East Ewmouth and other things that are +over now. A curate there must be, because one can't be in two places +at once, but except at special times of pressure, the work is hardly +enough for two. It is just the thing for a man who has a brain and a +pen like Will's. I never saw anything more telling than his pamphlet on +godless education.' + +'So we leave it to them.' + +'Not so fast. I must be sure this consent is not the restlessness +of grief, Cherry. Besides, we must ascertain that John approves on +Gerald's account, and in the meantime, we had better say nothing to +Robina.' + +The proposal was too advantageous to his family for John not to look +at it on all sides, indeed he would scarcely hear of it till he had +met Clement and Mr. Fulmort in Whittingtonia, and looked over the +house; but the inspection made him listen more favourably, and so did +an interview with Gerald's doctor, and a correspondence with Cherry. +Taking into account the child's incapacity for out-door sports, and +Cherry's artistic and literary tastes, he saw advantages in the +scheme. The Priory was too large for the reduced numbers, and all its +interests and enjoyments had hinged on its loving master; but Cherry's +London associations were disconnected from him, and the inducements +to cultivate her art would save it from being dropped for want of the +stimulus he had given; nor was the benefit of the family home for +Bernard to be by any means forgotten. To be sure, Wilmet believed that +Cherry could never be well or happy there, but then her rooms should +be kept intact for her return when Clement might betake himself to his +congeners in the clergy-house, and Wilmet was secular woman enough to +think £800 a year wasted on him and his subscriptions, when it might be +making Will and Robina happy. + +So one spring afternoon, as Robina was trudging homewards, basket in +hand, from a distant hamlet, pausing on the topmost point of the bridge +to look at the swelling of the river, and the swirling eddies that +rushed out of sight, she heard herself hailed, and on the Ewmouth road +beheld a broad clerical undress hat, surmounting a black figure, with a +bag over his shoulder. To run down the bridge and meet in the middle of +a miry pool was the work of a very few seconds. + +'Willie! How delightful! You're come for Easter?' + +'I thought you were looking out for me.' + +'Do you think I always am? for I didn't expect you. You said you were +going home first.' + +'So I thought till yesterday evening, but I thought--here, give me +that.' + +'You haven't a hand, unless you prefer it to me,' said Robina. 'No, you +can't sling it up with your bag. You aren't to be trusted. There's a +basin in it.' + +'A regular goody basket. Eh, Bobbie, ain't you a born parson's wife? +You've never asked what brought me.' + +'You've not heard of a school.' + +'No. What do you think of a living?' + +'Oh, Willie! And is it enough?' + +'That's as people may think.' + +'How much is it?' + +'Nearly £800.' + +'Bill! You don't mean it. There must be some drawback. Who offers it?' + +'Oh! just a friend.' + +'A Christchurch friend? A pupil?' + +'The reverse. He's a Cambridge man, and has rather been my master.' + +'Your master? Not the Dean of Minsterham. Didn't I hear something about +a chapter living?' + +'Nothing that concerns us.' + +'Do tell me, Will. You've got me on the tenterhooks. I'm sure there's +something against it. It's not St Matthew's.' + +'St. Matthew's! They would about as soon give it to the Walrus and the +Carpenter.' + +'I'm glad it is not that. What sort of a place is it? In the country?' + +'Beautiful country, splendid church, freshly done up, tip-top schools +and all the rest of it, that a lazy dog like me might never have +hatched, but he may just manage to keep stirring.' + +'Nonsense! you know better than that. What population?' + +'Six hundred, or thereabouts.' + +'Just the same as this. It is too good to be true. There must be some +great drawback to come. Let me hear it.' + +'Well, if you will have it,' said William, with appalling gravity, +'it is much the same drawback as exists in the Russian Church, where +preferment goes by the petticoat. The fellow offers it to me on an +understanding you mayn't approve.' + +'What?' + +'That I should marry his sister.' + +'Oh!' with equal gravity, 'did he really make that stipulation?' + +'Not in so many words, but there's such a thing as an honourable +understanding.' + +'And pray, what does the sister say?' + +'That remains to be proved. What does she say? Come, darling Bird, had +you really no notion?' + +'I knew Mr. Fulmort wanted Clement to take St Matthew's, but I did not +think he would.' + +'He said he left me to tell you, but I did not think he could have kept +it so entirely back.' + +'But what is to become of Cherry?' + +Will told her the designs as far as they had been unfolded to him, and +her eyes glistened with tears. + +'Dear Willie,' she said, 'it is not that I am not thankful and glad, +but it comes so suddenly after all these long years, and it is so like +turning them out.' + +'Not if we set up in the Vicarage--Rectory--I beg its pardon. Besides, +they'll be down here pretty often, and I shall never feel like anything +but Clement's curate. It is the most wholesome thing for me, that his +mode of coming up to breathe will be running down here to take note of +my shortcomings.' + +'As if you meant to short come.' + +'I don't mean, but I shall--if ever man needed whipper-in. So you see +I've taken care to provide myself. Seriously, I don't think I should +ever have worked up this place as Clement has done, but having worked +under him, and with you all about me, I trust not to let it down. It is +too good for me, that's a fact; but then it is not too good for you.' + +Robina was forced to hear, though she viewed her Will as far superior +to Clement, as indeed he was in intellect and largeness of mind, though +not in energy and power of work. + +Earnestness and devotion were, as she well knew, deep and true in him, +though native indolence and carelessness were at continual strife with +them, and he was a man fitter for a small parish than a large one, +since study was his happiness, and he could make the results beneficial +to a wide circle, while Clement had no natural turn for books, or for +anything but downright practical ministerial labour. + +The change could not be made quickly, William could not resign his +tutorship till the long vacation and Clement was to retain the +incumbency till the new church at East Ewmouth was consecrated and the +district separate, while an answer from Albertstown to Mr. Fulmort's +acceptance of the diocese must precede his resignation of St Matthew's. +So if restlessness had prompted Cherry's assent, she had time to find +it out. The outlook however seemed to lessen her sense of dreariness, +since it made her go through each sweet spring pleasure as if storing +up precious memories of him who had prized them all, and as if this +restored the power of feeling all things new. She talked freely and +affectionately of Robina's prospects, encouraging the girl who felt her +happiness rising out of the family sorrow, and grew quite shame-faced +about taking the measurements of the Rectory, which she was to have the +pleasure of furnishing out of her own savings. Little had been heard of +Lance since he had seen Fulbert off on his second voyage. Postal cards +and hurried notes kept up intercourse with Cherry and the Harewoods, +but chiefly on the Pursuivant's behoof, and when he had met John in +London, about the executorship, he was reported looking thin but well, +and intensely busy. + +In effect, he had set himself to master and estimate his business, +sadly enough, but there had been hope in his brother's farewell letter, +and to patient Lance a very small spark sufficed for a long time. + +He found himself fully capable of maintaining the level of the +Pursuivant. Not only did both Harewoods supply him with able writings, +but payment and circulation were such as to attract and secure other +contributors, and he, though he might not write fully up to the mark +of his more scholarly and better-read brother, had all the requisites +of an excellent editor, in trained facility, sagacity, common sense, +humour and power of arrangement. The paper showed no tokens of +declension, and the business flourished, Lance still spending part of +the day in the shop, and enjoying the intercourse with his friendly +customers all the more for the strong feeling they had shown for his +brother. His place as gentleman had long been established, and he could +always have had more society than he had time for. He was invited to +fill his brother's place in almost all his capacities as citizen of +Bexley, but to what could bind him permanently, he showed some doubt +about immediately pledging himself. Moreover, Mrs. Froggatt was anxious +to give up Marshlands to him 'whenever he should settle.' + +By Lady-day he was able to make an estimate of his situation and +prospects, and having done this, he wrote to Dr. May, laying the +statement before him, and begging to be told whether there were any +insuperable objection to his presuming to declare his attachment to +Miss Gertrude May. The letter was just in the formal style for which +Felix used to laugh at himself, but as the Doctor said, when showing +it to Ethel, it was thoroughly manly and straightforward, without the +least palaver about his position. + +'No, I think he feels that his brother has ennobled it, so that he +would be ashamed to apologize for it.' + +'What will the child say? She has been drooping ever since poor Felix's +death.' + +'Long before! She flags the moment you are out of sight. I hate to see +her without her little spirts of naughtiness, and my heart aches to +think I ever wished to see her softened.' + +'Poor Daisy-bud! It says much for her that her heart should have gone +out to such a man as that. Heigh-ho! those were good old times, when +one disposed of one's daughters without so much as saying, "by your +leave, miss."' + +'Should you ever have done it?' + +'Well,' said the Doctor, not choosing to answer the question, 'you may +tell him to come for Easter. I suppose that is his only time. He would +have been wiser to wait a bit longer--may be till this foreign trip is +over--that is if the child goes, and I don't believe she will.' + +The Mays themselves had had a winter of sorrow. That living death--for +it had long hardly been life--of poor little Margaret Rivers had come +to an end in February. It was scarcely to be mourned. The poor girl +had, since her conscience had awakened, grieved so bitterly over +every outbreak of her own unhappy temper, and had suffered so sadly +from depression of spirits, that the peace of her final decay had been +an untold blessing. Even her mother, when she thought of the dreary +lot of a sickly, suffering, almost deformed heiress, could not but +resign herself to feel that 'it was well with the child.' Her father, +however, who had been spared much realisation of the distress of body +and mind, was restlessly unhappy at the loss, and fancied he should +cure his wife's sore heart by taking her to Switzerland and the Tyrol; +and Flora, in the desire to make the journey a pleasure to somebody, +and noticing Gertrude's pale cheeks, proposed to take her. That whole +last year, ever since her Christmas at Vale Leston, Gertrude's whole +treatment of her poor little niece had been reversed; and she had +changed from the somewhat hard deportment to which young aunts are +prone, to a kindness which, being a late and unexpected boon, had been +valued by poor capricious Margaret beyond all the steady tenderness of +her grandfather and elder aunt. It had endeared Gertrude greatly to +Flora, and the benefit to the girl's spirits influenced her quite as +much as the advantage it would be to George to have some one to conduct +to the sights, which for his own part he did not care for. + +Daisy herself gave no consent. 'To be lionised by George! Rather worse +than an excursion of Cook's,' she said; 'and fancy the evenings!' + +'It would be a kindness to George and Flora,' said Ethel. + +'You horrid creature! That's to set my conscience worrying.' + +'At least, there would be the coming home again.' + +'That's the way you look on travelling!' said Gertrude, laughing a +little, but returning to her weary attitude, and Ethel abstained from +persuasion. She had not sufficient experience of change of scene to +believe greatly in its advantages, and though she was in favour of the +project, it was rather with a view to the fresh start it would make +for her sister at home than with the belief that either pictures or +mountains could be enjoyed under George Rivers's lumbering escort. She +expected that poor Lancelot Underwood's attempt would precipitate the +decision, when, in answer to her brief note of invitation, he replied +that he would arrive on Easter Eve. + +'That's all right,' quoth the Doctor. 'He knows better than to come +a-courting on Good Friday.' + +The day was not, however, exempt from a visitor; Dr. and Mrs. Cheviot +were away for the holidays, and the Mays were the more surprised to +see Mr. Rupert Cheviot, with his dapper little umbrella, issue from +the professor's door to join them on their way to church. Except that +they would have preferred not to talk at all on such a day, there +was no fault to find with him; he was subdued and proper behaved, +and had a good deal to say about Ammergau. He had not been so much +at Stoneborough within the last few months, and Ethel suspected +that he had been warned by Tom to give his sister time to recover +from her winter's grief. To her, he was amusing, he was a candid, +lively, pleasant person, and rated her more highly than she was used +to from her sister's lovers, and seldom came in her way without +holding a lively tournament in the language of jest, but with a good +deal of earnest in it, and she saw enough stuff in him to make his +self-complacency not so obnoxious to her as it was to her juniors. +She was not sorry that Gertrude's aversion to him was so strong, but +she thought it rather instinctive than reasonable. He was a man whose +opinions and disposition would right themselves in process of time, +but the having Daisy bound to him during the process was quite another +thing. + +So when Gertrude proposed walking to Abbotstoke Church in the afternoon +she readily agreed, perceiving that it was far more because Cocksmoor +was too obvious a resort than for the sake either of Flora, flowers for +decoration, or even of Dickie, who could not be refused to his uncle +for this sorrowful holiday. + +And when George Rivers returned to the charge, and again promised +to show the Alps through the Mont Cenis tunnel, Gertrude +accepted--accepted definitively! Yes, she would go, and she talked fast +and eagerly of the pleasures she anticipated. + +But when walking home with Ethel, she did not utter one voluntary word. + +'What time did you say young Underwood was coming?' asked the Doctor at +breakfast next morning. + +'He did not say the time,' said Ethel. + +'Which?' asked Gertrude. + +'Lancelot,' said Ethel, who had put off the announcement in hopes of +doing it naturally till she had grown absolutely nervous about it. + +'Not for advice?' in a startled voice. + +'Can no one come here but for advice?' + +'He was ill last year.' + +'Aye,' muttered the Doctor, 'and got advice that he has taken pretty +effectually.' + +Whereupon Ethel, feeling horribly and ridiculously conscious, jumped up +and talked of Cocksmoor decorations. Gertrude had insisted on making +them up at Cocksmoor instead of at home. It would be a little further +out of reach of 'the enemy,' and in the parsonage the sisters and +Richard worked unmolested all the morning, but in the afternoon, while +they were putting up their wreaths, there drove up to the lych-gate +Mrs. Thomas May in her donkey chair, bringing her choice manufacture +of crosses and devices, escorted by her sister Ella Ward and Rupert +Cheviot. It was too cold and damp for her to venture into church, but +Richard hastened out to beguile her into his parlour, and refresh her +with tea, while Mr. Cheviot helped to carry in her contributions, the +very crown and glory of the whole, looking about with the critical +suggestive patronage of a man who had seen the world, and making +recommendations which Ella eagerly seconded, and Ethel did not +disapprove, but Gertrude combatted vehemently: 'It had never been so! +Richard would not like it!' and out she hurried to appeal to him and +call him to the rescue. + +Rupert Cheviot moved to the door, perhaps in hopes of mitigating her, +but as she reached the lych-gate, a young man in deep black came up on +the other side, and their hands met with something in the manner that +made Mr. Cheviot turn to Ella Ward and ask, 'Who is that fellow?' + +'That? Oh! one of the Underwoods. The one in the business.' + +'What business?' + +'Oh! he's a printer, a bookseller rather. Those Underwoods pretend to +be county people, but they are nothing _really_ but tradesmen.' + +'Mr. Cheviot is not so behindhand with the world as to think that a +reproach,' said Ethel, as she caught the words, while coming forward, +and over her spectacles she gave Ella one of the repressive glances +which the young lady felt in her backbone. She was not at all a bad +sort of girl, but the ingrain likeness to her brother Henry grew with +her growth, and she had just come to the age when to get any sort of +notice from any young gentleman was the prime object of her desires. +Rupert Cheviot, of course, at Ethel's words went forward, and on being +introduced to Mr. Lancelot Underwood, shook hands with him with rather +unnecessary _empressement_. + +Gertrude at once appealed to Lance's taste, 'Was it not _the thing_ to +have the festoons hanging loose and natural, not in stiff lines?' + +'It is our way at St. Oswald's,' said Lance, 'but at Vale Leston +Clement holds to following the architectural lines.' + +'Ah! Vale Leston. Is not that a remarkable specimen of the later Early +Pointed? I must run over some day and see it.' + +'It is a very fine tower. Aren't there plenty of owls' nests in it?' +said Gertrude, with a perfectly grave voice, but which brought an odd +thrill of mingled amusement, pleasure, and pain, as the conviction +crossed him that this was the rival owl of the academy, and he +recognised the likeness to the photograph. Perhaps Gertrude was only +too strongly reminded of Cherry's sketch of himself, for between grief, +hard work, and anxiety, he was very thin-cheeked and large eyed, and +she was by no means clear that he had not come to consult her father +professionally, and that the odd answer she had received in the morning +had not been an evasion. + +Richard came in with a casting vote in favour of the architectural +style, at which Gertrude shrugged her shoulders but submitted. Ere long +a messenger appeared with the candlesticks adorned by Mrs. May, and a +message that she could not stay later; and Richard, going to see after +her, brought back her urgent desire that Gertrude would return at the +same time. Tom said she had not been strong, and must not be out after +sunset. + +'O, I dare say,' said Gertrude. + +'There's no more than I can easily finish alone,' said Richard. + +'Indeed! Look at the font!' + +'The wreaths are all ready. She really ought not to stay,' he added +to Ethel; 'you know there is always a sudden chill when you come down +the hill late, and as Ave says, the child is not in health to take +liberties.' + +Ethel went up to Gertrude and whispered, 'We must give in, Daisy, we +shall have a fuss if we don't.' + +She had almost said she did not care, but it was in church, and she +abstained, only adding, 'You'll come too.' + +Ethel assented, though it was the ruin of the quiet Easter Eventide +walk her father must have meant them to have when he sent Lance to +meet them there. All that could be done was to keep together. In +general Rupert Cheviot was content to get up a discussion with the +elder sister, but he must have scented a rival, for whether Gertrude +walked fast or slow, she still found him by her side, preventing all +the inquiries she was burning to make about Geraldine, and the reported +changes, things that could not brook discussion before a stranger. She +did manage, while Rupert was tucking in a loosened fold of Averil's +cloak, to say, 'I suppose Geraldine has no picture for the exhibition +this year. She has not finished her Academies.' + +'No. They are nearly done, but she has not touched them for a long +time now. There is a very pretty little group of some of the village +children that she did last summer, but I don't think she will send it +up.' + +'What became of the Maid of Lorn?' + +'Of course, Lady Caergwent bought it.' + +There Rupert Cheviot swooped down. 'Are you any relation of Miss +Underwood who painted that capital likeness of Lady Caergwent? Then +I congratulate you. But is it not a great pity she does not paint in +oils? There is so much more satisfaction in them.' + +And no more was possible than walking five abreast, close in the rear +of the donkey chair; a desultory, almost mechanical skirmish going on +between Ethel and Rupert Cheviot, interspersed with occasional pert +remarks from Ella and tart ones from Gertrude. + +When presently Rupert began to talk of some lectures which were to be +given in May, she made quick answer, 'I shan't be here. I am going +abroad with the Riverses.' + +This of course started the experienced vacation tourist, an Alpine +clubbist, into all kinds of counsels and inquiries, evidently with a +view to meeting the party on their route; but though Gertrude took care +to assure him that she should be at home long before his free time, the +tidings of her intended journey were, as Ethel could hear, in his very +footsteps, reducing Lance to the brink of despair. + +He had not recovered it when they came home, and was besides in the +embarrassed state of a man who had made his purpose only too well known +to the spectators; but that quality which had been audacity in his +boyish days, enabled him to revive and return free and grateful answers +to Dr. May's inquiries into the family plans and welfare. + +But when the evening meals in the two houses were over there was +nothing to prevent Tom May and his friend from strolling up the garden +to the elder house, whence sounds of music were audible. + +It was from the 'Messiah,' for Dr. May had asked for 'He was despised +and rejected of men,' unwitting that a Sunday evening a year and a +quarter ago it had rung on Gertrude's ears in a voice that, in such a +passage as this, Lance's reproduced with startling, thrilling exactness. + +Gertrude sat in a dark corner, with streaming eyes and heaving sobs. +It was almost more than she could bear, till her tears were dried by +vexation at hearing a connoisseur kind of compliment, while Dr. May +observed, 'I did not know what an instrument it was you thought you +were losing when you asked me about it, Lance.' + +'I have seldom heard it surpassed, except by first professionals!' said +Mr. Cheviot. 'May I ask what teaching you had?' + +'I was a choir boy at Minsterham,' said Lance, in his straightforward +way. + +'Oh! I did not know cathedrals gave such advantages. Ah! I see you have +"My Queen" here, Gertrude. May we not have it?' + +It would have been an utter impossibility even if it had not been as +the Doctor said, speaking up for her. 'We do not have that style of +thing this week.' + +'Quite right, sir; one forgets.' + +What! was he going to patronise Dr. May? And then he began to talk of +the choruses at Ammergau. + +'I do believe,' exclaimed Gertrude, as she parted with her sister at +night, 'that he has primed himself with it on purpose.' + +'I think he was really impressed there, and that it has done him good.' + +'I believe you have a turn for him! I should not mind if he would only +not come here bothering poor Lance. How worn he looks! Mind, Ethel, +you tell me if Papa says anything about him. I could not bear for poor +Geraldine to have any more troubles.' + +'Very well,' said Ethel, 'but I do not think there is anything amiss +with his health.' + +'He has with his spirits though, and spirits tell on health; his +especially. Now, Ethel, I know Rupert Cheviot always was a hero of +yours.' + +'A most unjustifiable interpretation of my not hating the poor man as +much as you do,' said Ethel, much amused. + +'I will say for him you are the one person he never patronizes. +But I want you to look at the contrast, Ethel, between the two +owls--simplicity and self-complacency; and when _one_ really has such a +splendid talent.' + +'Yes, a double first class man,' said Ethel, in wilful mischief, +exceedingly tickled at Lance's unconscious auxiliary, though sorry for +him. + +'Who cares for a first class?' exclaimed contemptuous Daisy. 'It only +makes people intolerable.' + +Nevertheless Lance did not spend by any means the happy Easter Sunday +he had figured to himself, and many times felt that he would have done +better to have deferred the crisis of his hopes and anxieties till +the great feast day was at an end. For the May family were beset by +Rupert Cheviot from morning till night, and Lance was tormented at +moments when he most desired to free himself from the whole subject, by +instinctive perception of his rivalry, and sense of the small chance +that he, the half-educated tradesman, could have beside the brilliant, +successful scholar, in a gentleman's position, and rising fast. + +That Gertrude was cross was plain enough, and much more so to the Owl +of the Academy than to the Owl of the Church tower; but Lance was +sufficiently aware of the wayward nature of the damsel to ascribe +her contradictoriness to the rampant coyness of inclination, and her +civility to himself to kindness to her father's guest, Felix's brother +and a manifest inferior, like the chemist at Ewmouth. Then her foreign +tour was so often mentioned that it seemed to him that her father +must have intended it as a diversion after all the agitations she had +undergone, and that his coming had only been encouraged in order to put +an end to the whole affair, and dispose of him and his presumption as +soon as possible. So that all the kindness he received from the Doctor +and Ethel only went for compassion, and he tossed about all night--true +owl as he was for sleeplessness--meditating on the coming death-blow +to his hopes, and whether it would be better to resign them in a +conference with her father, or to put his fate to the touch in person, +since he had gone so far that he could not hang back and do nothing. + +The wan heavy-eyed countenance that came down in the morning moved +the Doctor to the observation to his elder daughter, 'Daisy has got a +fellow there more finely strung than most men. I hope she will comport +herself accordingly. Tantrums won't do with that sort of organization.' + +Ethel most decidedly put herself out of the way that morning, resolved +not to make the holiday serve as a plea from absenting herself from the +Monday care she bestowed on sundry charities, and declining the aid +Gertrude offered, as a refuge from possible inroads from the Cheviot. + +'You had better not waste your opportunities,' said Ethel; 'I dare say +Mr. Underwood would show you the way through that thing of Mozart's +that you have been despairing over.' + +'O no, Ethel,' with a glance at the pale face, but it suddenly grew +vividly bright as Lance said, 'If you are so kind as to be thinking of +my headache, I do assure you it is nothing at all--just what this would +be the best cure for.' + +'Are you sure?' asked Gertrude solicitously. + +'Quite,' he said, smiling. 'I should make no difference at all at home. +It is the sort that is defeated by taking no notice of them; and music, +and with you----' + +'Would drive such ears as yours distracted, I should think,' said +Gertrude, nevertheless consenting. 'You see I have tried to follow +your advice, but what I have never heard, and have no one to interpret, +becomes a mere wilderness to me.' + +Lance knew that in his native language of melody he should, birdlike, +win courage, but hardly was his finger on the keys before Daisy leapt +up in a kind of fury. 'There's that eternal Owl coming down the garden! +Come this way,' and she rushed away, beckoning him to follow her into +the schoolroom. 'There, the windows look out the other way! It is too +intolerable to be taken in the rear! I'll not stand it any longer! The +Moss troopers in the morning indeed!' + +Both were full of that odd sort of exhilaration always inspired by +hide and seek with a visitor, and Lance looked about and recognised +the room. 'I have been here before,' he said, 'when you showed me your +aquarium.' + +'Ah! the Daisiana. You were the hero of that watery adventure, though +we little thought that small boy Charlie was to come forth in such +colours! What an age ago it seems! I should like to see the Kitten's +tail again.' + +'Should you? I am sure Cherry would manage it! It would be----' + +'Only too full of recollections,' said Gertrude, with a little shudder. +'It was the first time I ever saw----' + +Instead of answering, Lance took a miniature from his breast and put +it into her hand. She drew in her breath with a gasp. 'How beautiful!' +she said, and gazed on through one of the tear mists that can almost +convert a portrait into a presence. It was a long time before she said, +'This is better than the first.' + +'Each that Cherry has finished has brought out some fresh expression. +You like it?' + +'O, so much!' + +'Will you keep it?' + +'She was only to do one for each of you.' + +'Don't you remember what _he_ called you?' + +Gertrude held the picture to her lips for a moment, wiped a tear from +the glass and said, 'That dear Cherry hasn't been doing it for me.' + +'N-no, not exactly.' + +'Then it is yours! Oh! that is not right. Only let me have a +photograph.' + +'I had rather you kept this.' + +'I could not! I must not! I ought not,' putting it from her like a +temptation. + +'Nay, it is yours by every right. By that which makes it unspeakably +precious to me to give you my very best and dearest, and by a better +right of your own, of affection,' he said, eagerly. + +She gave a little cry. + +'Don't start,' he said. 'Perhaps I ought not to have said so, but when +one watches with feelings such as mine, one sees----.' + +She leant back, hiding her face, and crying quietly but unreservedly. + +'If he had been like most men,' said Lance, 'if he had not made his +whole life a sacrifice and had ever let himself out, I fully believe he +would have given you the right. I felt and knew he had never been so +near caring for any one.' + +She looked up with glowing face, and moist eyes, and tried to say +something, but could only utter 'No! It would be too--too much to dare +to think so.' + +And as she thought of that interview, she wept more than before, though +they were scarcely sad tears. Lance longed for the right to soothe her, +but only durst lay his hand on the back of her chair. 'If anything +could make you more dear to me,' he said, bending over her, 'it would +be this! Nobody else so revered that great heart. I thought I knew him +best, but every day at Bexley brings up so many tokens of what he was +that I seem to have only known him by half.' + +'Tell me.' + +And Lance told many an instance of the doings of Felix's right hand +unknown to his left, and she listened with all her soul. It was more +than half an hour before she said, 'Then are you all alone?' + +'With Mrs. Froggatt for the present, but I have decided on nothing +permanently. My dear brother told me I need not hold on, nor do I think +I can without a ray of hope.' + +'What would you do?' she said, a thrill or two having half but +indefinitely revealed to her his drift. + +'I don't know yet! Nor care! Most likely, try what music in Germany or +Italy would do for me.' + +'O, don't go!' cried Gertrude, 'don't!' + +'Do you tell me not?' + +'I don't know, but oh! my heart has ached, ached, ached, all this time, +and somehow it aches rather less when you are here!' + +'Dearest!' he exclaimed. + +'Stay,' she said, pushing back her hair, and looking scared. 'I don't +think it fair. You know I never could, if--if-----.' + +'Of course not; I understand that,' said Lance; 'but is not that what I +love you ten thousand times more for?' + +'But I shall always care most for him!' + +'Yes, yes, I know you must; but now I know that some day you may care a +little for me, I can wait patiently, any time you please.' + +'And not hate it all, nor go away?' + +'Never, while you bid me stay.' + +He broke off as steps came along the passage, and a maid's knock, and +'Mr. Rupert Cheviot is in the drawing-room, ma'am.' + +'Miss May is _out_,' said Gertrude emphatically. + +The maid had sentiment enough to abstain from saying he had asked for +both sisters, but the next moment she returned to say he had asked for +Miss Gertrude. + +'Tell him I am particularly engaged,' she said, leaping up indignantly. +'Aye!' she exclaimed, 'I will be delivered from that prig of Tom's. He +shall never pester me more.' + +'There is an effectual way of preventing that,' said Lance, with a +lurking smile. + +'Well, I suppose it must come to that sooner or later, and I do trust +you not to tease and bother.' + +'I will strive to make your feeling the rule, not of mine, but of my +demonstration of it,' said Lance, tingling all over with suppressed +ecstasy; 'that is, as far as I can help.' + +'I can't understand your liking it! An old, dry, used-up heart!' + +'But on whom? I am but too content with----' + +A rapid booted tread was at the door; it was hastily opened. 'Gertrude, +what's the meaning?' said the professor. 'Oh! I beg your pardon, Mr. +Underwood.' This with withering politeness, and the door was shut +again. + +'He is going to Papa,' Gertrude laughed, with her natural mischievous +triumph; then, laying her hand on Lance's arm, she exclaimed, 'Now, +whatever you do, promise me not to be bullied into giving up the shop;' +then, lowering her tone to its former tenderness, 'What he could do is +good enough for any one.' + +'So I feel,' said Lance, 'though I could drop it, if you wished. +My personal share in the retail trade I mean, of course, not the +editorship, for that is my sheet-anchor.' + +'The Pursuivant! I thought I never could touch it again.' + +'His poor Pur,' repeated Lance. 'I must show you this note, though I +am ashamed. And he bade me give you this;' as from the depths of a +business-like pocket-book he extracted an envelope, and from it the +note and dried piece of myrtle. She greeted it with a little cry, and +fresh tears. 'Ah! he said you would remember,' said Lance. + +'Remember! I should think I did! Didn't he tell you?' + +'I know nothing but what he wrote here. He left this for me to have, +after it was all over.' + +'I see! I see! O, I am glad you did not give it me at first. Dear, dear +thing! Now I know! That day when he came here he made me gather it for +him, and told me he had one great wish, and I was to remember it when I +saw this.' + +'And that great wish?' It was an odd sort of wet-eyed smile of Lance's, +but then she had rested her head against him. 'Did you know it?' + +'I don't know. It was the day I was half wild with misery and a strange +sort of gladness together, only one could not break out with his calm +eye on one--the day he came here, and Papa told him what was the matter +with him. Then he sat with me, and he said things to me that made me +feel as I had never done before. He didn't mean it, I know, for it was +all telling me how it was with him, and how, if he were well, he never +could have thought in that way of any one. It just made me feel that +his saying it to me showed----' + +'Showed what might have been,' said Lance. 'Yes, it was more than +direct words would have been from any one else.' + +'And he kept on mixing in things about you, and what you had been to +him, but I wouldn't see what he was driving at; for, Lance, I must +tell you now it did make me feel to love--love him really--and not be +ashamed; if he thought me worth telling _all that_--and it was so nice +to be able, however it was to end, that I did not want to do anything +else, and I couldn't bear the sound of your name then, though when I +remember that look, and that wish, and see the spray of myrtle, Lance, +I must have had you if you had been--as bad as Rupert Cheviot himself.' + +But she actually did lift up her face with a look that allowed him +to bend down and kiss it, as he said, 'See, he only told me to give +it you, _when_--not on those terms. Though you are doubly precious, +because I shall ever feel you to be his gift.' + +She had certainly accepted infinitely more than he could have dared to +anticipate from her outset, and now she was perhaps glad of the respite +afforded by reading the letter that he had put into her hand, and which +lasted till again came steps. + +'Papa this time,' she whispered, as he opened the door, calling, +'Ethel, here's Tom in a--Hollo, I thought you were in the drawing-room.' + +'Don't go,' they cried with one voice, and Gertrude, saying, 'May I? I +must!' put Felix's letter into his hand. + +He pushed up his spectacles to read it, but he could not do so +dry-eyed, and Lance turned aside blushing and embarrassed. + +'Dear fellow!' he exclaimed. 'Well--that's a pretty good testimonial to +bring in your hand, Lance.' + +'You must not believe half of that, sir,' said Lance huskily. + +'Eh, Daisy, mus'n't I? And pray what am I to say to Tom about your +shocking behaviour in denying yourself to Mary's brother-in-law? Music +lessons have been dangerous things ever since the gamut of Hortensio.' + +'May I? He knows!' was Lance's eager question to Gertrude, as he took +her hand and looked up mutely, but with lustrous eyes, to the Doctor. + +'So you have made it right, children. There, then, Lancelot Underwood, +you have got my youngest darling, and I can tell you I never made one +of them over with greater confidence and comfort. If we have spoilt our +most motherless one, you know what that is, and there's good stuff in +her too. Indeed, I never thought so well of the chit before.' + +'I'm sure I didn't,' said the chit herself dreamily, causing them both +to smile, and Lance to mutter something inarticulately foolish and +happy, but the clang of the dinner-bell startled them, and they sprang +away to their rooms during the five minutes' law; while Ethel, coming +in from the street, met her father in the hall, smiling unutterable +things. 'No!' she exclaimed. 'You don't mean it! I didn't think she +could so soon!' + +'I fancy Lance may thank Tom and his great Rupert for that.' + +'He did worry her intolerably! Oh! papa, I trust it is no mistake.' + +'I think not, Ethel. Once accepted, the warm living outcome of +affection cannot fail to be infinitely better than the dream she has +been brooding over so long, and as saint-worship it will hurt neither +of them. Ah well! I should have liked the other to be one of us, but +it was not to be. He was the making of our Daisy, and this one is his +equal in all but what age only can give.' + +'Ah! I always wished to see Daisy in love,' said Ethel, rather as if +the wish had recoiled upon her. + +'What's to be done now? There's the Grange carriage,' exclaimed the +Doctor. + +Yes, Flora, George, and Dickie, all had driven in to lunch at the +early dinner, and to face those cheeks whose glow no cold water could +moderate, those eyes that shone strangely under downcast lids. + +In fact, Mr. Rivers had been so much pleased by Gertrude's consent to +the Swiss expedition that he had given his wife no peace till she had +come to arrange it. Gertrude was taken aback. 'Oh dear!' she exclaimed, +'I had forgotten all about it.' + +'Forgotten!' Poor Mr. Rivers looked at her with all the amazement and +reproach his lustreless black eyes could express. + +'I remember now, George,' she faltered, colouring unreasonably; 'it was +very kind.' + +'But you promised, Daisy,' + +'We will talk it over, George,' said her father, coming to her rescue, +as in her increasing softness she looked down convicted. 'You see, _I_ +have not been consulted.' + +George took this in earnest, and lumbered into an apology, while Dickie +rather unrestrainedly laughed, and said, 'Grandpapa, when does Aunt +Daisy consult you?' + +'When she has made up her mind,' said the Doctor, with a glance at her. + +But Daisy would at that moment have been thankful enough to consult +him. True, the sentiment she had felt before had scarcely been love, +so repressed and undeveloped had it been; and the flood of bliss, the +wonderful sense of affection that had mastered her, was something +entirely unlike the slow, measured way in which, even at the first +moment of her half-consent, she had fancied yielding to Lance. In this +one half-hour he had acquired a place with her so entirely independent +of his being Felix's brother, nay, so substantially dearer than Felix +himself, that she was half ashamed of her present self, half shocked at +having called her former feelings by the name of love, and wholly and +foolishly in despair at the notion of a six weeks' tour away from Lance. + +Thus Ethel found her, when, on the break up of the dinner, she stole a +few moments of consultation with the two young lovers before following +her father and the Riverses to the drawing-room. + +'Oh! Ethel, what shall I do?' Daisy was saying with tears in her eyes. +'Isn't it a judgment on me for ever saying I would go! I only did it +because that Rupert baited me so, and I was so miserable I was ready to +go anywhere out of his way.' + +'But is it not a pity you should not go?' said Lance. + +'What, you?' + +'You know I cannot be much away from Bexley, so it would not make much +difference that way,' he said, blushing; 'and I am afraid you will have +to lead a very humdrum life; so had you not better see a little of the +world?' + +'I shall hate it all. Oh! Ethel, get me off! Things like this are acts +of oblivion, you know.' + +'I certainly would if it were for your pleasure,' said Ethel, +thoughtfully; 'but you see this is the first thing that has seemed to +do poor George Rivers any good.' + +'And,' said Lance, affectionately, 'surely, dearest, it can do our +happiness no harm to try to lend a little of it to others.' + +'Ethel!' she cried out, 'I do believe he is going to make me good. +There! I give in; I'll go, and not be more a victim than I can help.' + +'Lance,' said Ethel, 'by-the-by, I've never congratulated you. Just +tell me--suppose you were asked to go too, could you?' + +He considered a moment, shutting his eyes as the brightened face looked +up to him. 'I don't like to say no,' he answered; 'it is an immense +temptation, but there is nobody to take my place on the spur of the +moment, and at this time of year too. Indeed, if I went now, besides +upsetting everything, it might hinder me from getting a holiday later, +when we might want it more,' he added, crimsoning. + +'I see,' said Ethel. 'Do you know, Daisy, I've a great mind to go +instead of you.' + +'O you old darling duck of an Ethel! I should as soon have thought of +asking the gate-post. But if you would! Oh! wouldn't I take good care +of Papa.' + +'Yes, I think you would, Daisy, and it is my last chance, you see. I +believe I shall do as well for George to lionize.' + +'And be a dozen times better for Flora--and write such letters!' + +'So here goes.' + +'Now, Lancelot, if you don't delight in that Ethel of mine beyond +every other creature--I suppose, for human nature's sake, I must let +Cherry come first, but if I thought you would snub her like Charles, +or patronise her like George, or even be hail fellow well met with her +like Hector, I'd never let you into the family! Now--' as signs of +clearing the dinner became evident--'I'll get my hat: there's no place +to sit in in the house.' + +Ethel's proposition was received with rapture. + +George and Flora had just been informed by the Doctor how the case +stood. They had been far too much absorbed in their own sorrows to mark +the course of Daisy's feelings, but Flora had seen enough at luncheon +to be prepared for the disclosure. Nobody could like his position, +and she did not pretend to do so; but she saw it was of no use to +expostulate, and abstained from letting her husband perceive, as she +did, how entirely that of a tradesman it was. + +'I am sorry it was not Rupert Cheviot,' was all she said, 'and very +sorry not to take Daisy with us; but it is no use to coerce her, even +if one could. She would be no good now.' + +So Ethel was the more warmly accepted. Even the Doctor was happier +that Flora should have her sister with her, and liked the notion of a +_tête-à-tête_ with his Daisy ere she was transplanted; and as to Flora, +her gratitude on her own and her husband's account knew no bounds. + +'Dear, dear old Ethel!' she said; 'such a life-long sister as you, +bearing with one, and forgiving one through all, is as sweet and +precious a relationship as almost any the world has to give!' + + +[Footnote 1: To this it had been raised from the original 250_l._ +partly by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, and partly by Mr. Fulmort's +brother and Miss Charlecote. (_author_)] + + + + +CONCLUSION. + + +'Now for the double wedding!' said Mother Constance, as one September +evening the Reverend Charles Audley entered the Superior's room in the +temporary daughter-house at East Ewmouth. + +'What should an old blind Australian know of gay weddings?' + +'Don't you know that to hear of mundane festivities is the delight of +convents?' + +'The festivities were to no great extent.' + +'Of course not, but you must begin at the beginning, for I lost all +knowledge of everybody and thing that had not got small-pox.' + +For the malady had been raging in a town at the other end of England, +and the special hospital where she and her staff had done service had +only just closed, and quarantine was over, so that she could return. + +'Which is the beginning?' + +'Mine are only confused lights since Lance brought his Daisy to see me +on their way to the sands by St. Kitt's Head. What a fresh pleasant +face it is! and with a spice of originality in it, too.' + +'Commend me to the elder sister's. Leonard Ward had prepared me for it, +when I met him circulating among the unhappy deported Melanesians in +Queensland. I believe she was the making of him, and a noble work he +is.' + +'Come, I can't let you go back to the Antipodes. Miss May was abroad +at that time, and plans were not in the least fixed, only that Lance +should not give up the retail business.' + +'No, he said very justly, that if he did so, Mrs. Lamb would never +be contented without her husband doing the same, and that would be +destruction. When I went down to the S.P.G. meeting at Bexley, I saw +a good deal how the land lay, and found that all the neighbours were +quite ready to visit Lance's wife, and she will live at Marshlands in a +very different style from the old times we remember. I am afraid Mrs. +Lamb will be a trial, but she is prepared for that.' + +'It was an excellent plan to have the weddings together at +Stoneborough. They could hardly have borne another here.' + +'No. There was a proposal that Will and Robina should be married at +Minsterham, but they rather shrank from that, and the De la Poers wrote +urgently to persuade her to have the wedding at Repworth, but she saw +he disliked it, and then Miss May came forward and undertook to manage +it all, "being inured to such affairs," as she put it; but there was +an old promise in an unguarded moment that all their young Ladyships +should be bridesmaids, and they held to it: so Lord and Lady De la Poer +brought a bevy of daughters to the Swan at Stoneborough, and you had +better be prepared, for they are coming to see Vale Leston to-morrow, +and probably will come on here. Nice people, exceedingly fond of +Robina. I never saw such loads of wedding presents. Lady Caergwent +gives a great Russian samovar, labelled for "school feasts."' + +'I suppose Fernan--I beg his pardon, Mr. Travis Underwood--did not give +another diamond bouquet.' + +'No. The common sense keeping he has got into showed itself in the +choice of all the household plate, just the same, for each of the +couples.' + +'And Angela was not there, I know. Our Mother wrote to me that the poor +child was so distressed at the notion of going that as they did not +make a point of it, she thought it better not to send her. I think she +will soon be allowed to become a postulant. It seems evidently the life +she needs. But who were Miss May's bridesmaids?' + +'She set her face against any but her sister and Geraldine--would hear +of no one else, though Cherry had always avoided it before. They called +themselves the elderly bridesmaids. What! does the conventual mind +require to know what they wore? Not the same as Robina's, who had white +and blue ribbons; but they were in--what do you call it?--a Frenchified +name for some kind of purple.' + +'Mauve?' + +'Yes, mauve with white fixings; very becoming to Cherry.' + +'Who married them?' + +'It was a joint performance of Mr. Wilmot, Richard May, and myself, but +we had a characteristic hitch. They gave my couple the first turn, and +when I held out the book for the ring, my bridegroom began fumbling in +his pocket and reddening up to the roots of his red hair, while poor +Robina's eyes grew rounder and rounder under her veil, and Clement rose +taller and taller behind her, looking as if just cause or impediment +had arisen, and he only wished he had not been commanded to hold his +peace.' + +'Did you marry them with the key of the door?' + +'Not exactly--Lance's long hand came in between with the ring in his +palm.' + +'Only one between the two couples?' + +'No, Bill had asked Lance to get both together, and had never claimed +his own. It was a fine incident to tease him about, but he says he has +his memory made fast to him now for ever. After all, Lance gave him the +wrong one, and the brides had to change afterwards.' + +'So they were married with each other's rings?' + +'Yes, and I don't think they much regret it.' + +'Where are they gone?' + +'To see little Stella in her glory, and the other two are bound to a +great Rhenish musical festival, and to hear the Freiburg and Lucerne +organs. They went off together in the same railway carriage, and were +only to part in London. The whole affair was as quiet as possible. I +am glad it was at Stoneborough. Dr. May filled the place that neither +Clement nor Harewood could have borne to take.' + +'And you have not told me of Cherry or Clement.' + +'You will see them to-morrow, and I think you will be satisfied about +Cherry. The wrench last July was dreadful; both she and Clement say +that they could never have made up their minds to it if they had known +the grief it would cause in the village, and the partings they would +undergo, but it has certainly been good for her. She looks well, and +she says that though a little while ago she felt as if she had nothing +to hope or fear, a month of Whittingtonia has shown her enough to +engross a hundred lifetimes.' + +'And little Gerald?' + +'He walks better, and he is exceedingly happy at Stoneborough. Dickie +May, the Archdeacon's son, you know, a fine fellow of fourteen, is so +kind to him, teaches him to make models, and I fancy has secured that +admiration little boys pay to big ones. They say the poor little fellow +will probably outgrow his weakness and do well in the end, but that he +must be kept at home for a good many years.' + +'At which I suppose Cherry cannot repine.' + +'No; he is her delight; and with Bernard to give the element of manhood +and spirit, I don't think he will be spoilt, for Clement is sure to +be strict enough. I never saw any one more improved than Bernard, +by-the-by; he is grown into a reasonable being, and as devoted and +attentive to Cherry as they all are. I am sure she is happier even now +than she ever thought to be again! There was as much smile as tear when +she told me that she was coming to see Felix and Theodore to-morrow, +and to admire Wilmet in the Priory. She is carrying on a gleam from the +past sunshine of her life.' + +'She is learning to _pleurer son Albert gaîment_,' said Mother +Constance. 'So we must when the pillars of our joy are taken from us +here. And sooner or later we can do so, if we can believe of them that +they have become pillars that shall never be removed, with the new Name +written upon them, in the House of the Lord above.' + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE PILLARS OF THE HOUSE, VOL. 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