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diff --git a/5700.txt b/5700.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1e7f200 --- /dev/null +++ b/5700.txt @@ -0,0 +1,12085 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Love and Life, 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: Love and Life + +Author: Charlotte M. Yonge + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5700] +Posting Date: April 15, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LOVE AND LIFE *** + + + + +Produced by Doug Levy + + + + + +LOVE AND LIFE + +An Old Story in Eighteenth Century Costume + + +By Charlotte M. Yonge + + + +Transcriber's note: There are numerous examples throughout this text +of words appearing in alternate spellings: madame/madam, practise/ +practice, Ladyship/ladyship, &c. We can only wonder what the publisher +had in mind. I have left them unchanged.--D.L. + + + + +PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION. + + +The first edition of this tale was put forth without explaining the +old fable on which it was founded--a fable recurring again and again in +fairy myths, though not traceable in the classic world till a very late +period, when it appeared among the tales of Apuleius, of the province +of Africa, sometimes called the earliest novelist. There are, however, +fragments of the same story in the popular tales of all countries, so +that it is probable that Apuleius availed himself of an early form of +one of these. They are to be found from India to Scandinavia, adapted to +the manners and fancy of every country in turn, _Beauty and the Beast_ +and the _Black Bull of Norroway_ are the most familiar forms of the +tale, and it seemed to me one of those legends of such universal +property that it was quite fair to put it into 18th century English +costume. + +Some have seen in it a remnant of the custom of some barbarous tribes, +that the wife should not behold her husband for a year after marriage, +and to this the Indian versions lend themselves; but Apuleius himself +either found it, or adapted it to the idea of the Soul (the Life) +awakened by Love, grasping too soon and impatiently, then losing it, +and, unable to rest, struggling on through severe toils and labours till +her hopes are crowned even at the gates of death. Psyche, the soul or +life, whose emblem is the butterfly, thus even in heathen philosophy +strained towards the higher Love, just glimpsed at for a while. + +Christians gave a higher meaning to the fable, and saw in it the Soul, +or the Church, to whom her Bridegroom has been for a while made known, +striving after Him through many trials, to be made one with Him after +passing through Death. The Spanish poet Calderon made it the theme of +two sacred dramas, in which the lesson of Faith, not Sight, was taught, +with special reference to the Holy Eucharist. + +English poetry has, however, only taken up its simple classical aspect. +In the early part of the century, Mrs. Tighe wrote a poem in Spenserian +stanza, called _Psyche_, which was much admired at the time; and Mr. +Morris has more lately sung the story in his _Earthly Paradise_. This +must be my excuse for supposing the outline of the tale to be familiar +to most readers. + +The fable is briefly thus:-- + +Venus was jealous of the beauty of a maiden named Psyche, the youngest +of three daughters of a king. She sent misery on the land and family, +and caused an oracle to declare that the only remedy was to deck his +youngest daughter as a bride, and leave her in a lonely place to become +the prey of a monster. Cupid was commissioned by his mother to destroy +her. He is here represented not as a child, but as a youth, who on +seeing Psyche's charms, became enamoured of her, and resolved to save +her from his mother and make her his own. He therefore caused Zephyr to +transport her to a palace where everything delightful and valuable was +at her service, feasts spread, music playing, all her wishes fulfilled, +but all by invisible hands. At night in the dark, she was conscious of +a presence who called himself her husband, showed the fondest affection +for her, and promised her all sorts of glory and bliss, if she would be +patient and obedient for a time. + +This lasted till yearnings awoke to see her family. She obtained consent +with much difficulty and many warnings. Then the splendour in which she +lived excited the jealousy of her sisters, and they persuaded her that +her visitor was really the monster who would deceive her and devour her. +They thus induced her to accept a lamp with which to gaze on him when +asleep. She obeyed them, then beholding the exquisite beauty of the +sleeping god of love, she hung over him in rapture till a drop of the +hot oil fell on his shoulder and awoke him. He sprang up, sorrowfully +reproached her with having ruined herself and him, and flew away, +letting her fall as she clung to him. + +The palace was broken up, the wrath of Venus pursued her; Ceres and all +the other deities chased her from their temples; even when she would +have drowned herself, the river god took her in his arms, and laid her +on the bank. Only Pan had pity on her, and counselled her to submit to +Venus, and do her bidding implicitly as the only hope of regaining her +lost husband. + +Venus spurned her at first, and then made her a slave, setting her first +to sort a huge heap of every kind of grain in a single day. The ants, +secretly commanded by Cupid, did this for her. Next, she was to get +a lock of golden wool from a ram feeding in a valley closed in by +inaccessible rocks; but this was procured for her by an eagle; and +lastly, Venus, declaring that her own beauty had been impaired by +attendance on her injured son, commanded Psyche to visit the Infernal +Regions and obtain from Proserpine a closed box of cosmetic which was on +no account to be opened. Psyche thought death alone could bring her to +these realms, and was about to throw herself from a tower, when a voice +instructed her how to enter a cavern, and propitiate Cerberus with cakes +after the approved fashion. + +She thus reached Proserpine's throne, and obtained the casket, but when +she had again reached the earth, she reflected that if Venus's beauty +were impaired by anxiety, her own must have suffered far more; and +the prohibition having of course been only intended to stimulate her +curiosity, she opened the casket, out of which came the baneful fumes of +Death! Just, however, as she fell down overpowered, her husband, who had +been shut up by Venus, came to the rescue, and finding himself unable +to restore her, cried aloud to Jupiter, who heard his prayer, reanimated +Psyche, and gave her a place among the gods. + + +CHAPTERS. + + + I. A SYLLABUB PARTY. + II. THE HOUSE OF DELAVIE. + III. AMONG THE COWSLIPS. + IV. MY LADY'S MISSIVE. + V. THE SUMMONS. + VI. DISAPPOINTED LOVE. + VII. ALL ALONE. + VIII. THE ENCHANTED CASTLE. + IX. THE TRIAD. + X. THE DARK CHAMBER. + XI. A VOICE FROM THE GRAVE. + XII. THE SHAFTS OF PHOEBE. + XIII. THE FLUTTER OF HIS WINGS. + XIV. THE CANON OF WINDSOR. + XV. THE QUEEN OF BEAUTY. + XVI. AUGURIES. + XVII. THE VICTIM DEMANDED. + XVIII. THE PROPOSAL. + XIX. WOOING IN THE DARK. + XX. THE MUFFLED BRIDEGROOM. + XXI. THE SISTER'S MEETING + XXII. A FATAL SPARK. + XXIII. WRATH AND DESOLATION. + XXIV. THE WANDERER. + XXV. VANISHED. + XXVI. THE TRACES. + XXVII. CYTHEREA'S BOWER. + XXVIII. THE ROUT. + XXIX. A BLACK BLONDEL. + XXX. THE FIRST TASK. + XXXI. THE SECOND TASK. + XXXII. LIONS. + XXXIII. THE COSMETIC. + XXXIV. DOWN THE RIVER. + XXXV. THE RETURN. + XXXVI. WAKING. + XXXVII. MAKING THE BEST OF IT. + + + + +LOVE AND LIFE. + + + +CHAPTER I. A SYLLABUB PARTY. + + + Oft had I shadowed such a group + Of beauties that were born + In teacup times of hood and hoop, + And when the patch was worn; + And legs and arms with love-knots gay. + About me leaped and laughed + The modish Cupid of the day, + And shrilled his tinselled shaft.--Tennyson. + + +If times differ, human nature and national character vary but little; +and thus, in looking back on former times, we are by turns startled +by what is curiously like, and curiously unlike, our own sayings and +doings. + +The feelings of a retired officer of the nineteenth century expecting +the return of his daughters from the first gaiety of the youngest +darling, are probably not dissimilar to those of Major Delavie, in the +earlier half of the seventeen hundreds, as he sat in the deep bay window +of his bed-room; though he wore a green velvet nightcap; and his whole +provision of mental food consisted of half a dozen worn numbers of the +_Tatler_, and a _Gazette_ a fortnight old. The chair on which he sat was +elbowed, and made easy with cushions and pillows, but that on which +his lame foot rested was stiff and angular. The cushion was exquisitely +worked in chain-stich, as were the quilt and curtains of the great +four-post bed, and the only carpeting consisted of three or four narrow +strips of wool-work. The walls were plain plaster, white-washed, and +wholly undecorated, except that the mantelpiece was carved with the +hideous caryatides of the early Stewart days, and over it were suspended +a long cavalry sabre, and the accompanying spurs and pistols; above them +the miniature of an exquisitely lovely woman, with a white rose in her +hair and a white favour on her breast. + +The window was a deep one projecting far into the narrow garden below, +for in truth the place was one of those old manor houses which their +wealthy owners were fast deserting in favour of new specimens of +classical architecture as understood by Louis XIV., and the room in +which the Major sat was one of the few kept in habitable repair. The +garden was rich with white pinks, peonies, lilies of the valley, and +early roses, and there was a flagged path down the centre, between the +front door and a wicket-gate into a long lane bordered with hawthorn +hedges, the blossoms beginning to blush with the advance of the season. +Beyond, rose dimly the spires and towers of a cathedral town, one of +those county capitals to which the provincial magnates were wont to +resort during the winter, keeping a mansion there for the purpose, and +providing entertainment for the gentry of the place and neighbourhood. + +Twilight was setting in when the Major began to catch glimpses of the +laced hats of coachman and footmen over the hedges, a lumbering made +itself heard, and by and by the vehicle halted at the gate. Such +a coach! It was only the second best, and the glories of its +landscape--painted sides were somewhat dimmed, the green and silver of +the fittings a little tarnished to a critical eye; yet it was a splendid +article, commodious and capacious, though ill-provided with air and +light. However, nobody cared for stuffiness, certainly not the three +young ladies, who, fan in hand, came tripping down the steps that +were unrolled for them. The eldest paused to administer a fee to their +entertainer's servants who had brought them home, and the coach rolled +on to dispose of the remainder of the freight. + +The father waved greetings from one window, a rosy little audacious +figure in a night-dress peeped out furtively from another, and the +house-door was opened by a tall old soldier-servant, stiff as a ramrod, +with hair tightly tied and plastered up into a queue, and a blue and +brown livery which sat like a uniform. + +"Well, young ladies," he said, "I hope you enjoyed yourselves." + +"Vastly, thank you, Corporal Palmer. And how has it been with my father +in our absence?" + +"Purely, Miss Harriet. He relished the Friar's chicken that Miss Delavie +left for him, and he amused himself for an hour with Master Eugene, +after which he did me the honour to play two plays at backgammon." + +"I hope," said the eldest sister, coming up, "that the little rogue whom +I saw peeping from the window has not been troublesome." + +"He has been as good as gold, madam. He played in master's room till +Nannerl called him to his bed, when he went at once, 'true to his +orders,' says the master. 'A fine soldier he will make,' says I to my +master." + +Therewith the sisters mounted the uncarpeted but well-polished oak +stair, knocked at the father's door, and entered one by one, each +dropping her curtsey, and, though the eldest was five-and-twenty, +neither speaking nor sitting till they were greeted with a hearty, +"Come, my young maids, sit you down and tell your old father your gay +doings." + +The eldest took the only unoccupied chair, while the other two placed +themselves on the window-seat, all bolt upright, with both little high +heels on the floor, in none of the easy attitudes of damsels of later +date, talking over a party. All three were complete gentlewomen in air +and manners, though Betty had high cheek-bones, a large nose, rough +complexion, and red hair, and her countenance was more loveable and +trustworthy than symmetrical. The dainty decorations of youth looked +grotesque upon her, and she was so well aware of the fact as to put on +no more than was absolutely essential to a lady of birth and breeding. +Harriet (pronounced Hawyot), the next in age, had a small well-set head, +a pretty neck, and fine dark eyes, but the small-pox had made havoc +of her bloom, and left its traces on cheek and brow. The wreck of her +beauty had given her a discontented, fretful expression, which rendered +her far less pleasing than honest, homely Betty, though she employed +all the devices of the toilette to conceal the ravages of the malady and +enhance her remaining advantages of shape and carriage. + +There was an air of vexation about her as her father asked, "Well, how +many conquests has my little Aurelia made?" She could not but recollect +how triumphantly she had listened to the same inquiry after her own +first appearance, scarcely three short years ago. Yet she grudged +nothing to Aurelia, her junior by five years, who was for the first +time arrayed as a full-grown belle, in a pale blue, tight-sleeved, +long-waisted silk, open and looped up over a primrose skirt, embroidered +by her own hands with tiny blue butterflies hovering over harebells. +There were blue silk shoes, likewise home-made, with silver buckles, and +the long mittens and deep lace ruffles were of Betty's fabrication. +Even the dress itself had been cut by Harriet from old wedding hoards +of their mother's, and made up after the last mode imported by Madam +Churchill at the Deanery. + +The only part of the equipment not of domestic handiwork was the +structure on the head. The Carminster hairdresser had been making his +rounds since daylight, taking his most distinguished customers last; and +as the Misses Delavie were not high on the roll, Harriet and Aurelia had +been under his hands at nine A.M. From that time till three, when the +coach called for them, they had sat captive on low stools under a tent +of table-cloth over tall chair-backs to keep the dust out of the frosted +edifice constructed out of their rich dark hair, of the peculiar tint +then called mouse-colour. Betty had refused to submit to this durance. +"What sort of dinner would be on my father's table-cloth if I were to +sit under one all day?" said she in answer to Harriet's representation +of the fitness of things. "La, my dear, what matters it what an old +scarecrow like me puts on?" + +Old maidenhood set in much earlier in those days than at present; the +sisters acquiesced, and Betty had run about as usual all the morning in +her mob-cap, and chintz gown tucked through her pocket-holes, and only +at the last submitted her head to the manipulations of Corporal Palmer, +who daily powdered his master's wig. + +Strange and unnatural as was the whitening of the hair, it was effective +in enhancing the beauty of Aurelia's dark arched brows, the soft +brilliance of her large velvety brown eyes, and the exquisite carnation +and white of her colouring. Her features were delicately chiselled, and +her face had that peculiar fresh, innocent, soft, untouched bloom and +undisturbed repose which form the special charm and glory of the first +dawn of womanhood. Her little head was well poised on a slender neck, +just now curving a little to one side with the fatigue of the hours +during which it had sustained her headgear. This consisted of a +tiny flat hat, fastened on by long pins, and adorned by a cluster of +campanulas like those on her dress, with a similar blue butterfly on an +invisible wire above them, the dainty handiwork of Harriet. + +The inquiry about conquests was a matter of course after a young lady's +first party, but Aurelia looked too childish for it, and Betty made +haste to reply. + +"Aurelia was a very good girl. No one could have curtsied or bridled +more prettily when we paid our respects to my Lady Herries and Mrs. +Churchill, and the Dean highly commended her dancing." + +"You danced? Fine doings! I thought you were merely invited to look on +at the game at bowls. Who had the best of the match?" + +"The first game was won by Canon Boltby, the second by the Dean," said +Betty; "but when they would have played the conqueror, Lady Herries +interfered and said the gentlemen had kept the field long enough, and +now it was our turn. So a cow was driven on the bowling-green, with a +bell round her neck and pink ribbons on her horns." + +"A cow! What will they have next?" + +"They say 'tis all the mode in London," interposed Harriet. + +"Pray was the cow to instruct you in dancing?" continued the Major. + +"No, sir," said Aurelia, whom he had addressed; "she was to be milked +into the bowl of syllabub." + +This was received with a great "Ho! ho!" and a demand who was to act as +milker. + +"That was the best of it," said Aurelia. "Soon came Miss Herries in +a straw hat, and the prettiest green petticoat under a white gown and +apron, as a dairy-maid, but the cow would not stand still, for all the +man who led her kept scolding her and saying 'Coop! coop!' No sooner had +Miss Herries seated herself on the stool than Moolly swerved away, and +it was a mercy that the fine china bowl escaped. Every one was laughing, +and poor Miss Herries was ready to cry, when forth steps my sister, +coaxes the cow, bids the man lend his apron, sits down on the stool, and +has the bowl frothing in a moment." + +"I would not have done so for worlds," said Harriet; "I dreaded every +moment to be asked where Miss Delavie learnt to be a milk-maid." + +"You were welcome to reply, in her own yard," said Betty. "You may thank +me for your syllabub." + +"Which, after all, you forbade poor Aura to taste!" + +"Assuredly. I was not going to have her turn sick on my hands. She may +think herself beholden to me for her dance with that fine young beau. +Who was he, Aura?" + +"How now!" said the Major, in a tone of banter, while Harriet indulged +in a suppressed giggle. "You let Aura dance with a stranger! Where was +your circumspection, Mrs. Betty?" Aurelia coloured to the roots of her +hair and faltered, "It was Lady Herries who presented him." + +"Yes, the child is not to blame," said Betty; "I left her in charge +of Mrs. Churchill while I went to wash my hands after milking the cow, +which these fine folk seemed to suppose could be done without soiling a +finger." + +"That's the way with Chloe and Phyllida in Arcadia," said her father. + +"But not here," said Betty. "In the house, I was detained a little +while, for the housekeeper wanted me to explain my recipe for taking out +the grease spots." + +"A little while, sister?" said Harriet. "It was through the dancing of +three minuets, and the country dance had long been begun." + +"I was too busy to heed the time," said Betty, "for I obtained the +recipe for those delicious almond-cakes, and showed Mrs. Waldron the +Vienna mode of clearing coffee. When I came back the fiddles were +playing, and Aurelia going down the middle with a young gentleman in a +scarlet coat. Poor little Robert Rowe was too bashful to find a partner, +though he longed to dance; so I made another couple with him, and thus +missed further speech, save that as we took our leave, both Sir George +and the Dean complimented me, and said what there is no occasion to +repeat just now, sir, when I ought to be fetching your supper." + +"Ha! Is it too flattering for little Aura?" asked her father. "Come, +never spare. She will hear worse than that in her day, I'll warrant." + +"It was merely," said Betty, reluctantly, "that the Dean called her the +star of the evening, and declared that her dancing equalled her face." + +"Well said of his reverence! And his honour the baronet, what said he?" + +"He said, sir, that so comely and debonnaire a couple had not been seen +in these parts since you came home from Flanders and led off the assize +ball with Mistress Urania Delavie." + +"There, Aura, 'tis my turn to blush!" cried the Major, comically hiding +his face behind Betty's fan. "But all this time you have never told me +who was this young spark." + +"That I cannot tell, sir," returned Betty. "We were sent home in +the coach with Mistress Duckworth and her daughters, who talked so +incessantly that we could not open our lips. Who was he, Aura?" + +"My Lady Herries only presented him as Sir Amyas, sister," replied +Aurelia. + +"Sir Amyas!" cried her auditors, all together. + +"Nothing more," said Aurelia. "Indeed she made as though he and I must +be acquainted, and I suppose that she took me for Harriet, but I knew +not how to explain." + +"No doubt," said Harriet. "I was sick of the music and folly, and had +retired to the summerhouse with Peggy Duckworth, who had brought a sweet +sonnet of Mr. Ambrose Phillips, 'Defying Cupid.'" + +Her father burst into a chuckling laugh, much to her mortification, +though she would not seem to understand it, and Betty took up the moral. + +"Sir Amyas! Are you positive that you caught the name, child?" + +"I thought so, sister," said Aurelia, with the insecurity produced by +such cross-questioning; "but I may have been mistaken, since, of course, +the true Sir Amyas Belamour would never be here without my father's +knowledge." + +"Nor is there any other of the name," said her father, "except that +melancholic uncle of his who never leaves his dark chamber." + +"Depend upon it," said Harriet, "Lady Herries said Sir Ambrose. No doubt +it was Sir Ambrose Watford." + +"Nay, Harriet, I demur to that," said her father drolly. "I flatter +myself I was a more personable youth than to be likened to Watford with +his swollen nose. What like was your cavalier, Aura?" + +"Indeed, sir, I cannot describe him. I was so much terrified lest he +should speak to me that I had much ado to mind my steps. I know he had +white gloves and diamond shoe-buckles, and that his feet moved by no +means like those of Sir Ambrose." + +"Aura is a modest child, and does credit to her breeding," said Betty. +"Thus much I saw, that the young gentleman was tall and personable +enough to bear comparison even to you, sir, not more than nineteen or +twenty years of age, in a laced scarlet uniform, as I think, of the +Dragoon Guards, and with a little powder, but not enough to disguise +that his hair was entire gold." + +"That all points to his being indeed young Belamour," said her father; +"age, military appearance, and all--I wonder what this portends!" + +"What a disaster!" exclaimed Harriet, "that my sister and I should have +been out of the way, and only a chit like Aura be there to be presented +to him." + +"If young ladies _will_ defy Cupid," began her father;--but at that +moment Corporal Palmer knocked at the door, bringing a basin of soup for +his master, and announcing "Supper is served, young ladies." + +Each of the three bent her knee to receive her father's blessing and +kiss, then curtseying at the door, departed, Betty lingering behind her +two juniors to see her father taste his soup and to make sure that he +relished it. + + + + +CHAPTER II. THE HOUSE OF DELAVIE. + + + All his Paphian mother fear; + Empress! all thy sway revere! + EURIPEDES (Anstice). + + +The parlour where the supper was laid was oak panelled, but painted +white. Like a little island in the vast polished slippery floor lay a +square much-worn carpet, just big enough to accommodate a moderate-sized +table and the surrounding high-backed chairs. There was a tent-stitch +rug before the Dutch-tiled fireplace, and on the walls hung two framed +prints,--one representing the stately and graceful Duke of Marlborough; +the other, the small, dark, pinched, but fiery Prince Eugene. On the +spotless white cloth was spread a frugal meal of bread, butter, cheese, +and lettuce; a jug of milk, another of water, and a bottle of cowslip +wine; for the habits of the family were more than usually frugal and +abstemious. + +Frugality and health alike obliged Major Delavie to observe a careful +regimen. He had served in all Marlborough's campaigns, and had +afterwards entered the Austrian army, and fought in the Turkish war, +until he had been disabled before Belgrade by a terrible wound, of which +he still felt the effects. Returning home with his wife, the daughter of +a Jacobite exile, he had become a kind of agent in managing the family +estate for his cousin the heiress, Lady Belamour, who allowed him +to live rent-free in this ruinous old Manor-house, the cradle of the +family. + +This was all that Harriet and Aurelia knew. The latter had been born +at the Manor, and young girls, if not brought extremely forward, were +treated like children; but Elizabeth, the eldest of the family, who +could remember Vienna, was so much the companion and confidante of her +father, that she was more on the level of a mother than a sister to her +juniors. + +"Then you think Aurelia's beau was really Sir Amyas Belamour," said +Harriet, as they sat down to supper. + +"So it appears," said Betty, gravely. + +"Do you think he will come hither, sister? I would give the world to see +him," continued Harriet. + +"He said something of hoping for better acquaintance," softly put in +Aurelia. + +"Oh, did he so?" cried Harriet. "For demure as you are, Miss Aura, I +fancy you looked a little above the diamond shoe-buckles!" + +"Fie, Harriet!" exclaimed Betty; "I will not have the child tormented. +He ought to come and pay his respects to my father." + +"Have you ever seen my Lady?" asked Aurelia. + +"That have I, Miss Aurelia," interposed Corporal Palmer, "and a rare +piece of beauty she would be, if one could forget the saying 'handsome +is as handsome does.'" + +"I never knew what she has done," said Aurelia. + +"'Tis a long story," hastily said Betty, "too long to tell at table. I +must make haste to prepare the poultice for my father." + +She quickly broke up the supper party, and the two younger sisters +repaired to their chamber, both conscious of having been repressed; the +one feeling injured, the other rebuked for forwardness and curiosity. +The three sisters shared one long low room with a large light closet +at each end. One of these was sacred to powder, the other was Betty's +private property. Harriet had a little white bed to herself, Betty and +Aurelia nightly climbed into a lofty and solemn structure curtained with +ancient figured damask. Each had her own toilette-table and a press for +her clothes, where she contrived to stow them in a wonderfully small +space. + +Harriet and Aurelia had divested themselves of their finery before +Betty came in, and they assisted her operations, Harriet preferring a +complaint that she never would tell them anything. + +"I have no objection to tell you at fitting times," said Betty, "but not +with Palmer putting in his word. You should have discretion, Harriet." + +"The Dean's servants never speak when they are waiting at table," said +Harriet with a pout. + +"But I'll warrant them to hear!" retorted Betty. + +"And I had rather have our dear old honest corporal than a dozen of +those fine lackeys," said Aurelia. "But you will tell us the story like +a good sister, while we brush the powder out of our hair." + +They put on powdering gowns, after releasing themselves from the armour +of their stays, and were at last at ease, each seated on a wooden chair +in the powdering closet, brush in hand, with a cloud of white dust +flying round, and the true colour of the hair beginning to appear. + +"Then it is indeed true that My Lady is one of the greatest beauties of +Queen Caroline's Court, if not the greatest?" said Harriet. + +"Truly she is," said Betty, "and though in full maturity, she preserves +the splendour of her prime." + +"Tell us more particularly," said Aurelia; "can she be more lovely than +our dear mamma?" + +"No, indeed! lovely was never the word for her, to my mind," said +Betty; "her face always seemed to me more like that of one of the marble +statues I remember at Vienna; perfect, but clear, cold, and hard. But +I am no judge, for I did not love her, and in a child, admiration +accompanies affection." + +"What did Palmer mean by 'handsome is that handsome does'? Surely my +father never was ill-treated by Lady Belamour?" + +"Let me explain," said the elder sister. "The ancient custom and +precedent of our family have always transmitted the estates to the male +heir. But when Charles II. granted the patent of nobility to the first +Baron Delavie, the barony was limited to the heirs male of his body, and +out grandfather was only his brother. The last Lord had three sons, and +one daughter, Urania, who alone survived him." + +"I know all that from the monument," said Aurelia; "one was drowned +while bathing, one died of spotted fever, and one was killed at the +battle of Ramillies. How dreadful for the poor old father!" + +"And there is no Lord Delavie now," said Harriet. "Why, since my Lady +could not have the title, did it not come to our papa?" + +"Because his father was not in the patent," said Betty. "However, it +was thought that if he were married to Mistress Urania, there would be +a fresh creation in their favour. So as soon as the last campaign was +over, our father, who had always been a favourite at the great house, +was sent for from the army, and given to understand that he was to +conduct his courtship, with the cousin he had petted as a little child, +as speedily as was decorous. However, in winter quarters at Tournai he +had already pledged his faith to the daughter of a Scottish gentleman +in the Austrian service. This engagement was viewed by the old Lord as +a trifling folly, which might be set aside by the head of the family. +He hinted that the proposed match was by no means disagreeable to his +daughter, and scarcely credited his ears when his young kinsman declared +his honour forbade him to break with Miss Murray." + +"Dear father," ejaculated Aurelia, "so he gave up everything for her +sake?" + +"And never repented it!" said Betty. + +"Now," said Harriet, "I understand why he entered the army." + +"It was all he had to depend on," said Betty, "and he had been +favourably noticed by Prince Eugene at the siege of Lisle, so that he +easily obtained a commission. He believed that though it was in the +power of the old Lord to dispose of part of his estates by will, yet +that some of the land was entailed in the male line, so that there need +not be many years of campaigning or poverty for his bride, even if her +father never were restored to his Scottish property. As you know, our +grandfather, Sir Archibald Murray, died for his loyalty in the rising of +'15, and two years later our father received at Belgrade that terrible +wound which closed his military career. Meantime, Urania had married Sir +Jovian Belamour, and Lord Delavie seemed to have forgotten my father's +offence, and gave him the management of the estate, with this old house +to live in, showing himself glad of the neighbourhood of a kinsman whom +he could thoroughly trust. All went well till my Lady came to visit her +father. Then all old offences were renewed. Lady Belamour treated my +mother as a poor dependant. She, daughter to a noble line of pedigree +far higher than that of the Delavies, might well return her haughty +looks, and would not yield an inch, nor join in the general adulation. +There were disputes about us children. Poor Archie was a most beautiful +boy, and though you might not suppose it, I was a very pretty little +girl, this nose of mine being then much more shapely than the little +buttons which grow to fair proportions. On the other hand, the little +Belamours were puny and sickly; indeed, as you know, this young Sir +Amyas, who was not then born, is the only one of the whole family who +has been reared. Then we had been carefully bred, could chatter French, +recite poetry, make our bow and curtsey, bridle, and said Sir and Madam, +while the poor little cousins who had been put out to nurse had no more +manners than the calves and pigs. People were the more flattering to us +because they expected soon to see my father in his Lordship's place; and +on the other hand, officious tongues were not wanting to tell my Lady +how Mrs. Delavie contrasted the two sets of children. Very bitter +offence was taken; nor has my Lady ever truly forgiven, whatever our +dear good father may believe. When the old Lord died, a will was found, +bequeathing all his unentailed estates to his daughter, and this was of +course strong presumption that he believed in the existence of a deed of +entail; but none could ever be found, and the precedents were not held +to establish the right." + +"Did he leave my father nothing?" asked Harriet. + +"He left him three hundred pounds and made him joint executor with Sir +Jovian. There was no mention of this house, which was the original house +of the family, the first Lord having built the Great House; and both my +father and Sir Jovian were sure the Lord Delavie believed it would come +to him; but no proofs were extant, and my Lady would only consent to his +occupying it, as before, as her agent." + +"I always knew we were victims to an injustice," said Harriet, "though I +never understood the matter exactly." + +"You were a mere child, and my father does not love to talk of it. He +ceased to care much about the loss after our dear Archie died." + +"Not for Eugene's sake?" + +"Eugene was not born for two years after Archie's death. My dear mother +had drooped from the time of the disappointment, blaming herself for +having ruined my father, and scarce accepting comfort when he vowed that +all was well lost for her sake. She reproached herself with having +been proud and unconciliatory, though I doubt whether it made much +difference. Then her spirit was altogether crushed by the loss of +Archie, she never had another day's health. Eugene came to her like +Ichabod to Phinehas' wife, and she was soon gone from us," said Betty, +wiping away a tear. + +"Leaving us a dear sister to be a mother to us," said Aurelia, raising +her sweet face for a kiss. + +Harriet pondered a little, and said, "My Lady is not at enmity with us, +since my father keeps the house and agency." + +"We should be reduced to poverty indeed without them," said Betty; "and +Sir Jovian, an upright honourable man, the only person whom my Lady +truly respected, insisted on his continuance. As long as my Lady regards +his memory we are safe, but no one can trust to her caprice." + +"She never comes here, nor disturbs my father." + +"No, but she makes heavy calls on the estate, and is displeased if he +refuses to overpress the tenants or hesitates to cut the timber." + +"I have heard say," added Harriet, "that her debts in town and her +losses at play drove her to accept her present husband, Mr. Wayland, a +hideous old fellow, who had become vastly rich through some discovery +about cannon." + +"He is an honourable and upright man," said Betty. "I should have +fewer anxieties if he had not been sent out to Gibraltar and Minorca to +superintend the fortifications." + +"Meantime my Lady makes the money fly, by the help of the gallant +Colonel Mar," said Harriet lightly. + +"Fie! Harriet!" returned the elder sister; "I have allowed you too far. +My father calls Lady Belamour his commanding officer, and permits no +scandal to be spoken of her." + +"Any more than of Prince Eugene?" said Harriet, laughing. + +"But oh! sister!" cried Aurelia, "let us stay a little longer. I have +not half braided my hair, and I long to hear who is the gentleman of +whom my father spoke as living in the dark." + +"Mr. Amyas Belamour! Sir Jovian's brother! Ah! that is a sad story," +replied Betty, "though I am not certain that I have it correctly, +having only heard it discussed between my father and mother when I was a +growing girl, sitting at my sampler. I think he was a barrister; I know +he was a very fine gentleman and a man of parts, who had made the Grand +Tour; for when he was staying at the Great House, he said my mother was +the only person he met who could converse with him on the Old Masters, +or any other subject of _virtu_, and that, being reported to my Lady, +increased her bitterness all the more because Mr. Belamour was a friend +of Mr. Addison and Sir Richard Steele, and had contributed some papers +to the _Spectator_. He was making a good fortune in his profession, and +had formed an engagement with a young lady in Hertfordshire, of a good +old family, but one which had always been disliked by Lady Belamour. It +is said, too, that Miss Sedhurst had been thought to have attracted one +of my Lady's many admirers, and that the latter was determined not +to see her rival become her sister-in-law, and probably with the same +title, since Mr. Belamour was on the verge of obtaining knighthood. So, +if she be not greatly belied, Lady Belamour plied all parties with her +confidences, till she contrived to breed suspicion and jealousy on all +sides, until finally Miss Sedhurst's brother, a crack-brained youth, +offered such an insult to Mr. Belamour, that honour required a +challenge. It was thought that as Mr. Belamour was the superior in age +and position, the matter might have been composed, but the young man was +fiery and hot tempered, and would neither retract nor apologise; and +Mr. Belamour had been stung in his tenderest feeling. They fought with +pistols, an innovation that, as you know, my father hates, as far more +deadly and unskilful than the noble practice of fencing; and the result +was that Mr. Sedhurst was shot dead, and Mr. Belamour received a severe +wound in the head. The poor young lady, being always of a delicate +constitution, fell into fits on hearing the news, an died in a few +weeks. The unfortunate Mr. Belamour survives, but whether from injury to +the brain, or from grief and remorse, he has never been able to endure +either light or company, but has remained ever since in utter darkness +and seclusion." + +"Utter darkness! How dreadful!" cried Aurelia, shuddering. + +"How long has this been, sister?" inquired Harriet. + +"About nine years," said Betty. "The lamentable affair took place just +before Sir Jovian's death, and the shock may have hastened it, for he +had long been in a languishing state. It was the more unfortunate, since +he had made Mr. Belamour sole personal guardian to his only surviving +son, and appointed him, together with my father and another gentleman, +trustee for the Belamour property; and there has been much difficulty +in consequence of his being unable to act, or to do more than give his +signature." + +"Ah! sister, I wish you had not told me," said Aurelia. "I shall dream +of the unfortunate gentleman all night. Nine years of utter darkness!" + +"We know who is still child enough to hate darkness," said Harriet. + +"Take care," said Betty. "You must make haste, or I shall leave you to +it." + + + + +CHAPTER III. AMONG THE COWSLIPS. + + + The insect youth are on the wing, + Eager to taste the honeyed spring, + And float amid the liquid noon, + Some lightly on the torrent skim, + Some show their gaily gilded trim, + Quick glancing to the sun.--GRAY + + +Though hours were early, the morning meal was not served till so late as +really to deserve the title of breakfast. + +When the three sisters sat down at nine-o'clock, in mob caps, and +the two younger in white dresses, all had been up at least two hours. +Aurelia led forward little Eugene in a tailed red coat, long-breasted +buff waistcoat, buff tights and knitted stockings, with a deep frilled +collar under the flowing locks on his shoulders, in curls which +emulated a wig. She had been helping him to prepare "his tasks" from +the well-thumbed but strongly-bound books which had served poor Archie +before him. They were deposited on the window-seat to wait till the +bowls of bread and milk were discussed, since tea and coffee were only +a special afternoon treat not considered as wholesome for children; so +that Aurelia had only just been promoted to them, along with powder and +fan. + +Harriet wore her favourite pistachio ribbon round her cap and as a +breast-knot, and her cheeks bore token of one of the various washes +with which she was always striving to regain the smoothness of her +complexion. Knowing what this betokened, an elder-sisterly instinct of +caution actuated Betty to remind her juniors of an engagement made with +Dame Jewel of the upland farm for the exchange of a setting of white +duck's eggs for one of five-toed fowls, and to request them to carry the +basket. + +Eugene danced on his chair and begged to be of the party; but Harriet +pouted, and asked why the "odd boy" could not be sent. + +"Because, as you very well know, if he did not break, he would addle, +every egg in the basket. + +"There can be no need to go to-day." + +"The speckled hen is clocking to brood, and she is the best mother in +the yard. Besides, it is time that the cowslip wine were made, and I +will give you some bread and cheese and gingerbread for noonchin, so +that you may fill your baskets in the meadows before they are laid up +for grass. Mrs. Jewel will give you a drink of milk." + +"O let me go, sister!" pleaded Eugene. "She gives us bread and honey! +And I want to hear the lapwings in the meadows cry pee-wit." + +"We shall have you falling into the river," said Harriet, rather +fretfully. + +"No, indeed! If you fall in, I will pull you out. Young maids should not +run about the country without a gentleman to take care of them. Should +they, sister?" cried the doughty seven years' old champion. + +"Who taught you that, sir?" asked Betty, trying to keep her countenance. + +"I heard Mrs. Churchill say so to my papa," returned the boy. "So now, +there's a good sister. Do pray let me go!" + +"If you say your tasks well, and will promise to be obedient to Harriet +and to keep away from the river, and not touch the basket of eggs." + +Eugene was ready for any number of promises; and Harriet, seeing there +was no escape for her, went off with Aurelia to put on their little +three-cornered muslin handkerchiefs and broad-brimmed straw hats, while +Eugene repeated his tasks, namely, a fragment of the catechism, half +a column of spelling from the _Universal Spelling-Book_, and (Betty's +special pride) his portion of the _Orbis Sensualium Pictus_ of Johannes +Amos Comenius, the wonderful vocabulary, with still more wonderful +"cuts," that was then the small boys path to Latinity. + +The Eagle, _Aquila_, the King of Birds, _Rex Avium_, looketh at the Sun, +_intuetur Solem_, as indeed he could hardly avoid doing, since in the +"cut" the sun was within a hairsbreath of his beak, while his claws were +almost touching a crow (_Corvus_) perched on a dead horse, to exemplify +how _Aves Raptores_ fed on carrion. + +Thanks to Aurelia's private assistance, Eugene knew his lessons well +enough for his excitement not to make him stumble so often as to prevent +Betty's pronouncing him a good boy, and dispensing with his copy, +sum, piece, and reading, until the evening. These last were very tough +affairs, the recitation being from Shakespeare, and the reading from the +_Spectator_. There were no children's books, properly so called, +except the ballads, chap-books brought round by pedlers, often far from +edifying, and the plunge from the horn-book into general literature was, +to say the least of it, bracing. + +The Delavie family was cultivated for the time. French had been brought +home as a familiar tongue, though _Telemaque_, Racine, and _Le Grand +Cyrus_ were the whole library in that language; and there was not +another within thirty miles. On two days in the week the sisters became +Mesdemoiselles Elisabeth, Henriette, and Aurelie, and conversed in +French over their spinning, seams, lace, or embroidery; nor was Aurelia +yet emancipated from reciting Racine on alternate days with Milton and +Shakespeare. + +Betty could likewise talk German with the old Austrian maid, Nannerl, +who had followed the family from Vienna; but the accomplishment was not +esteemed, and the dialect was barbarous. From the time of her mother's +death, Betty had been a strict and careful, though kind, ruler to her +sisters; and the long walk was a greater holiday to Aurelia than to +Eugene, releasing her from her book and work, whereas he would soon +have been trundling his hoop, and haunting the steps of Palmer, who was +gardener as well as valet, butler, and a good deal besides, and moreover +drilled his young master. Thus Eugene carried his head as erect as +any Grenadier in the service, and was a thorough little gentleman in +miniature; a perfect little beau, as his sisters loved to call the +darling of their hearts and hopes. + +Even Harriet could not be cross to him, though she made Aurelia carry +the eggs, and indulged in sundry petulant whisks of the fan which she +carried by way of parasol. "Now, why does Betty do this?" she exclaimed, +as soon as they were out of hearing. "Is it to secure to herself the +whole enjoyment of your beau?" + +"You forget," said Aurelia. "You promised to fetch the eggs, when we met +Mrs. Jewel jogging home from market on her old blind white horse last +Saturday, because you said no eggs so shaken could ever be hatched." + +"You demure chit!" exclaimed Harriet; "would you make me believe that +you have no regrets for so charming a young gentleman, my Lady's son and +our kinsman." + +"If he spoke to me I should not know how to answer. And then you would +blame my rudeness. Besides," she added, with childish sagacity, "he can +be nothing but a fine London macaroni. Only think of the cowslips! A +whole morning to make cowslip balls," she added with a little frisk. "I +would not give one for all the macaronies in England, with their powder +and their snuff-boxes. Faugh!" + +"Ah, child, you will sing another note perhaps when it is too late," +said her sister, with a sigh between envy and compassion. + +It floated past Aurelia unheeded, as she danced up one side of a stile, +and sprang clear down into a green park, jumped Eugene down after her by +both hands, and exclaimed, "Harriet is in her vapours; come, let us have +a race!" + +She was instantly careering along like a white butterfly in the +sunshine, flitting on as the child tried to catch her, among the snowy +hawthorn bushes, or sinking down for very joy and delight among the bank +of wild hyacinths. Life and free motion were joy and delight enough for +that happy being with her childish heart, and the serious business of +the day was all delight. There lay the rich meadows basking in the sun, +and covered with short grass just beginning its summer growth, but with +the cowslips standing high above it; hanging down their rich clusters of +soft, pure, delicately-scented bells, from their pinky stems over their +pale crinkled leaves, interspersed here and there with the deep purple +of the fool's orchis, and the pale brown quiver-grass shaking out its +trembling awns on their invisible stems. No flower is more delightful +to gather than the cowslip, fragrant as the breath of a cow. And +Aurelia darted about, piling the golden heap in her basket with untiring +enjoyment; then, producing a tape, called on Harriet, who had been +working in a more leisurely fashion, to join her in making a cowslip +ball, and charged Eugene not to nip off the heads too short. + +The sweet, soft, golden globe was made, and even Harriet felt the +delicious intoxication. The young things tossed it aloft, flung from +one to the other, caught it, caressed it, buried their faces in it, and +threw it back with shrieks of glee. + +Suddenly Harriet checked her sister with a peremptory sign. She heard +horse-hoofs in the lane, divided from the field by a hedge of pollard +willows, so high that she had never thought of being overlooked, till +the cessation of the trotting sound struck her; and looking round she +saw that a horseman had halted at the gate, and was gazing at their +sports. It was from the distance of a field, but this was enough to +fill Harriet with dismay. She drew herself up in a moment, signing +peremptorily to Aurelia, who was flying about, her hat off, her one long +curl streaming behind as she darted hither and thither, evading Eugene +who was pursuing her. + +As she paused, and Eugene clutched her dress with a shout of ecstasy, +Harriet came up, glancing severely toward the gate, and saying, as she +handed her sister the hat, "This comes of childishness! That we should +be seen thus! What a hoyden he will think you!" as the hoofs went on and +the red coat vanished. + +"He! Who? Not the farmer?" said Aurelia. "This is not laid up for hay." + +"No indeed. I believe it is he," said Harriet, mysteriously. + +"He?" repeated Aurelia. "Not Mr. Arden, for he would be in black," and +at Harriet's disgusted gesture, "I beg your pardon, but I did not +know you had a new _he_. Oh! surely you are not thinking of the young +baronet?" + +"I am sure it was his figure." + +"You did not see him yesterday?" + +"No, but his air had too much distinction for any one from these parts." + +"Could you see what his air was from this distance? I should never have +guessed it, but you have more experience, being older. Come, Eugene, +another race!" + +"No, I will have no more folly. I was too good-natured to allow it. I am +vexed beyond measure that he should have seen such rusticity." + +"Never mind, dear Harriet. Most likely it was no such person, for it +was not well-bred to sit staring at us; and if it were he, you were not +known to him." + +"You were." + +"Then he must have eyes as sharp as yours are for an air of distinction. +Having only seen me in my blue and primrose suit, how should he know me +in my present trim? Besides, I believe it was only young Dick Jewel in a +cast coat of Squire Humphrey's." + +The charm of the cowslip gathering was broken. Eugene found himself +very hungry, and the noonchin was produced, after which the walk was +continued to the farm-house, where the young people were made very +welcome. + +Farmers were, as a rule, more rustic than the present labourer, but they +lived a life of far less care, if of more toil, than their successors, +having ample means for their simple needs, and enjoying jocund plenty. +The clean kitchen, with the stone floor, the beaupot of maythorn on the +empty hearth, the shining walnut-wood table, the spinning-wheel, wooden +chairs, and forms, all looked cool and inviting, and the visitors were +regaled with home-made brown bread, delicious butter and honey, and a +choice of new milk, mead, and currant wine. + +Dame Jewel, in a white frill under a black silken hood, a buff turnover +kerchief, stout stuff gown and white apron, was delighted to wait +on them; and Eugene's bliss was complete among the young kittens and +puppies in baskets on opposite sides of the window, the chickens before +their coops, the ducklings like yellow balls on the grass, and the huge +family of little spotted piglings which, to the scandal of his sisters, +he declared the most delightful of all. + +Their hostess knew nothing of the young baronet being in the +neighbourhood, and was by no means gratified by the intelligence. + +"Lack-a-day! Miss Harriet, you don't mean that the family is coming down +here! I don't want none of them. 'Tis bad times for the farmer when +any of that sort is nigh. They make nothing of galloping their horses a +hunting right through the crops, ay, and horsewhipping the farmer if he +do but say a word for the sweat of his brow." + +"O Mrs. Jewel!" cried Aurelia, in whose ear lingered the courteous +accents of her partner, "they would never behave themselves so." + +"Bless you, Miss Orreely, I'll tell you what I've seen with my own eyes. +My own good man, the master here, with the horsewhip laid about his +shoulders at that very thornbush, by one of the fine gentlefolks, +just because he had mended the gap in the hedge they was used to ride +through, and my Lady sitting by in her laced scarlet habit on her fine +horse, smiling like a painted picture, and saying, 'Thank you, sir, +the rascals need to learn not to interfere with our sport,' all in that +gentle sounding low voice of hers, enough to drive one mad." + +"I thought Sir Jovian had been a kind master," said Harriet. + +"This was not Sir Jovian. Poor gentleman, he was not often out +a-hunting. This was one of the fine young rakish fellows from Lunnun +as were always swarming about my Lady, like bees over that maybush. Sir +Thomas Donne, I think they called him. They said he got killed by a wild +boar, hunting in foreign parts, afterwards, and serve him right! But +there! They would all do her bidding, whether for bad or good, so maybe +it was less his fault than hers. She is a bitter one, is my Lady, for +all she looks so sweet. And this her young barrowknight will be his own +mother's son, and I don't want none of 'em down here. 'Tis a good job we +have your good papa, the Major, to stand between her and us; I only wish +he had his own, for a rare good landlord he would be." + +The Dame's vain wishes were cut short by shrieks from the poultry-yard, +where Eugene was discovered up to his ankles in the black ooze of the +horse-pond, waving a little stick in defiance of an angry gander, who +with white outspread wings, snake-like neck, bent and protruded, and +frightful screams and hisses, was no bad representation of his namesake +the dragon, especially to a child not much exceeding him in height. + +The monster was put to rout, the champion dragged out of the pond, +breathlessly explaining that he only wanted to look at the goslings when +the stupid geese cackled and the gander wanted to fly at his eyes. "And +I didn't see where I was going, for I had to keep him off, so I got into +the mud. Will sister be angry?" he concluded, ruefully surveying the +dainty little stockings and shoes coated with black mud. + +But before the buckled shoon had been scraped, or the hosen washed and +dried, the cheerful memory of boyhood had convinced itself that the +enemy had been put to flight by his manful resistance; and he turned a +deaf ear to Aurelia's suggestion that the affair had been retribution +for his constant oblivion of Comenius' assertion that _auser gingrit,_ +"the goose gagleth." + +They went home more soberly, having been directed by Mrs. Jewel to a +field bordered by a copse, where grew the most magnificent of Titania's +pensioners tall, wearing splendid rubies in their coats; and in due +time the trio presented themselves at home, weary, but glowing with +the innocent excitement of their adventures. Harriet was the first +to proclaim that they had seen a horseman who must be Sir Amyas. "Had +sister seen him?" + +"Only through the window of the kitchen where I was making puff paste." + +"He called then! Did my papa see him?" + +"My father was in no condition to see any one, being under the hands and +razor of Palmer." + +"La! what a sad pity. Did he leave no message?" + +"He left his compliments, and hoped his late partner was not fatigued." + +"Is he at the Great House? Will he call again?" + +"He is on his way to make a visit in Monmouthshire, together with a +brother office, who is related to my Lady Herries, and finding that +their road led them within twenty miles of our town, the decided on +making a diversion to see her. It was only from her that Sir Amyas +understood how close he was to his mother's property, for my Lady is +extremely jealous of her prerogative." + +"How did you hear all this, sister?" + +"Sir George Herries rode over this afternoon and sat an hour with my +father, delighting him by averring that the young gentleman has his +mother's charms of person, together with his father's solidity of +principle and character, and that he will do honour to his name." + +"O, I hope he will come back by this route!" cried Harriet. + +"Of that there is small likelihood," said Betty. "His mother is nearly +certain to prevent it since she is sure to take umbrage at his having +visited the Great House without her permission." + + + + +CHAPTER IV. MY LADY'S MISSIVE. + + + To the next coffee-house he speeds, + Takes up the news, some scraps he reads.--GAY. + + +Though Carminster was a cathedral city, the Special General Post only +came in once a week, and was liable to delay through storms, snows, mire +and highwaymen, so that its arrival was as great an event as is now +the coming in of a mail steamer to a colonial harbour. The "post" was +a stout countryman, with a red coat, tall jackboots and a huge hat. +He rode a strong horse, which carried, _en croupe_, an immense pack, +covered with oiled canvas, rising high enough to support his back, while +he blew a long horn to announce his arrival. + +Letters were rare and very expensive articles unless franked by a Member +of Parliament, but gazettes and newsletters formed a large portion of +his freight. No private gentleman except the Dean and Sir George Herries +went to the extravagance of taking in a newspaper on his own account, +but there was a club who subscribed for the _Daily Gazetteer_, the +_Tatler_, and one or two other infant forms of periodical literature. +These were hastily skimmed on their first arrival at the club-room at +the White Dragon, lay on the table to be more deliberately conned for +a week, and finally were divided among the members to be handed about +among the families and dependants as long as they would hold together. + +Major Delavie never willingly missed the coming of the mail, for his +foreign experiences gave him keen interest in the war between France and +Austria, and he watched the campaigns of his beloved Prince Eugene with +untiring enthusiasm, being, moreover, in the flattering position of +general interpreter and guide to his neighbours through the scanty +articles on foreign intelligence. + +It was about ten days after the syllabub party, when he had quite +recovered his ordinary health, that he mounted his stout pony in his +military undress, his cocked hat perched on his well-powdered bob-wig, +with a queue half-way down his dark green gold-laced coat, and with +his long jack-boots carefully settle by Palmer over the knee that would +never cease to give him trouble. + +Thus he slowly ambled into the town, catching on his way distant toots +of the postman's horn. In due time he made his way into the High +Street, broad and unpaved, with rows of lime or poplar trees before the +principal houses, the most modern of which were of red brick, with heavy +sash-windows, large stone quoins, and steps up to the doors. + +The White Dragon, dating from the times of the Mortimer badge, was built +of creamy stone, and had an archway conducting the traveller into a +courtyard worthy of Chaucer, with ranges of galleries running round +it, the balustrades of dark carved oak suiting with the timbers of the +latticed window and gables, and with the noble outside stair at one +angle, by which they communicated with one another. To these beauties +the good Major was entirely insensible. He only sighed at the trouble it +gave his lame knee to mount the stair to the first storey, and desired +the execution of the landlord's barbarous design of knocking down the +street front to replace it with a plain, oblong assembly room, red brick +outside, and within, blue plaster, adorned with wreaths and bullocks' +faces in stucco. + +Such were the sentiments of most of the burly squires who had ridden +in on the same errand, and throwing the reins to their grooms, likewise +climbed the stair to the club-room with its oriel looking over the +street. There too were several of the cathedral clergy, the rubicund +double-chinned face of the Canon in residence set off by a white, +cauliflower wig under a shovel hat, while the humbler minor canons (who +served likewise as curates to all the country round) only powdered their +own hair, and wore gowns and cassocks of quality very inferior to that +which adorned the portly person of their superior. His white bands were +of fine cambric, theirs of coarser linen; his stockings were of ribbed +silk, theirs of black worsted; his buckles of silver, theirs of steel; +and the line of demarcation was as strongly marked as that between the +neat, deferential tradesman, and the lawyer in his spruce snuff-coloured +coat, or the doctor, as black in hue as the clergy, though with a +secular cut, a smaller wig, and a gold-headed cane. Each had, as in duty +bound, ordered his pint of port or claret for the good of the house, and +it was well if these were not in the end greatly exceeded; and some had +lighted long clay pipes; but these were mostly of the secondary rank, +who sat at the table farthest from the window, and whose drink was a +measure of ale. + +The letters had not yet been sorted, but the newspaper had been +brought in, and the Canon Boltby had possessed himself of it, and was +proclaiming scraps of intelligence about the King, Queen, and Sir +Robert Walpole, the character of Marshal Berwick, recently slain at +Philipsburg, an account of Spanish outrages at sea, or mayhap the story +of a marvelous beast, half-tiger, half-wolf, reported to be running wild +in France. The other gentlemen, waiting till the mail-bags were opened, +listened and commented; while one or two of the squires, and a shabby, +disreputable-looking minor canon made each notable name the occasion of +a toast, whether of health to his majesty's friends or confusion to his +foes. A squabble, as to whether the gallant Berwick should be reckoned +as an honest Frenchman or as a traitor Englishman, was interrupted by +the Major's entrance, and the congratulations on his recovery. + +One of the squires inquired after his daughters, and pronounced the +little one with the outlandish name was becoming a belle, and would be +the toast of the neighbourhood, a hint of which the topers were not slow +to take advantage, while one of the guests at the recent party observed, +"Young Belamour seemed to be of that opinion." + +"May it be so," said the Canon, "that were a step to the undoing of a +great wrong." + +"Mr. Scrivener will tell you, sir, that there was no justice in the eye +of the law," said the Major. + +"_Summum jus, summa injuria_," quoted, _sotto voce_, Mr. Arden, a minor +canon who, being well born, scholarly, scientific and gentlemanly, +occupied a middle place between his colleagues and the grandees. He was +not listened to. Each knot of speakers was becoming louder in debate, +and Dr. Boltby's voice was hardly heard when he announced that a rain of +blood had fallen on the Macgillicuddy mountains in Ireland, testified to +by numerous respectable Protestant witnesses, and attributable, either +to the late comet, or to the Pretender. + +At that moment the letters were brought in by the postman, and each +recipient had--not without murmurs--to produce his purse and pay heavily +for them. There were not many. The Doctor had two, Mr. Arden one, Mr. +Scrivener no less than five, but of them two were franked, and a +franked letter was likewise handed over to Major DeLavie, with the word +"Aresfield" written in the corner. + +"From my Lady," said an unoccupied neighbour. + +"Aye, aye," said the Major, putting it into his pocket, being by no +means inclined to submit the letter to the general gaze. + +"A good omen," said Canon Boltby, looking up from his paper. And +the Major smiled in return, put a word or two into the discussion on +affairs, and then, as soon as he thought he could take leave without +betraying anxiety, he limped down stairs, and called for his horse. Lady +Belamour's letters were wont to be calls for money, not easily answered, +and were never welcome sights, and this hung heavy in the laced pocket +of his coat. + +Palmer met him at the back gate, and took his horse, but judged it +advisable to put no questions about the news, while his master made +his way in by the kitchen entrance of the rambling old manor house, +and entered a stone-paved low room, a sort of office or study, where he +received, and paid, money for my Lady, and smoked his pipe. Here he sat +down in his wooden armchair, spread forth his legs, and took out the +letter, opening it with careful avoidance of defacing the large red +seal, covered with many quarterings, and the Delavie escutcheon of +pretence reigning over all. + +It opened, as he expected, with replies to some matters about leases and +repairs; and then followed:-- + +"I am informed that you have a large Family, and Daughters growing up +whom it is desirable to put in the way of making a good Match, or else +an honourable Livelihood; I am therefore willing, for the Sake of our +Family Connection, to charge myself with your youngest Girl, whose Name +I understand to be Aurelia. I will cause her to be trained in useful +Works in my Household, expecting her, in Return, to assist in the Care +and Instruction of my young Children; and if she please me and prove +herself worthy and attentive, I will bestow her Marriage upon some +suitable Person. This is the more proper and convenient for you, because +your Age and Health are such that I may not long be able to retain you +in the Charge of my Estate--in which indeed you are continued only +out of Consideration of an extremely distant Relationship, although a +younger and more active Man, bred to the Profession, would serve me far +more profitably." + +When Betty came into the room a few minutes later to pull off her +father's boots she found him sitting like one transfixed. He held out +the letter, saying, "Read that, child." + +Betty stood by the window and read, only giving one start, and muttering +between her teeth, "Insolent woman!" but not speaking the words aloud, +for she knew her father would treat them as treason. He always had a +certain tender deference for his cousin Urania, mixed with something +akin to compunction, as if his loyalty to his betrothed had been +disloyalty to his family. Thus, he exceeded the rest of his sex in +blindness to the defects that had been so evident to his wife and +daughter; and whatever provocation might make him say of my Lady +himself, he never permitted a word against her from any one else. He +looked wistfully at Betty and said, "My little Aura! It is a kindly +thought. Her son must have writ of the child. But I had liefer she had +asked me for the sight of my old eyes." + +"The question is," said Betty, in clear, incisive tones, "whether we +surrender Aurelia or your situation?" + +"Nay, nay, Betty, you always do my cousin less than justice. She means +well by the child and by us all. Come, come say what is in your mind," +he add testily. + +"Am I at liberty to express myself, sir?" + +"Of course you are. I had rather hear the whole discharge of your +battery than see you looking constrained and satirical." + +"Then, sir, my conclusion is this. The young baronet has shown himself +smitten with out pretty Aurelia, and has spoken of tarrying on his +return to make farther acquaintance. My Lady is afraid of his going to +greater lengths, and therefore wishes to have her at her disposal." + +"She proposes to take her into her own family; that is not taking her +out of his way." + +"I am sure of that." + +"You are prejudiced, like your poor dear mother--the best of women, if +only she could ever have done justice to her Ladyship! Don't you see, +child, Aurelia would not be gone before his return, supposing he should +come this way." + +"His visit was to be for six weeks. Did you not see the postscript?" + +"No, the letter was enough for one while." + +"Here it is: 'I shall send Dove in the Space of about a Fortnight or +three Weeks to bring to Town the young Coach Horses you mentioned. His +Wife is to return with him, as I have Occasion for her in Town, and your +Daughter must be ready to come up with them.'" + +"Bless me! That is prompt! But it is thoughtful. Mrs. Dove is a good +soul. It seems to me as if my Lady, though she may not choose to say so, +wishes to see the child, and if she approve of her, breed her up in the +accomplishments needed for such an elevation." + +"If you hold that opinion, dear sir, it is well." + +"If I thought she meant other than kindness toward the dear maid, I had +rather we all pinched together than risk the little one in her hands. I +had rather-if it comes to that--live on a crust a day than part with +my sweet child; but if it were for good, Betty! It is hard for you all +three to be cooped up together here, with no means of improving your +condition; and this may be an opening that I ought not to reject. What +say you, Betty?" + +"If I were to send her out into the world, I had rather bind her +apprentice to the Misses Rigby to learn mantua-making." + +"Nay, nay, my dear; so long as I live there is no need for my children +to come to such straits." + +"As long as you retain your situation, sir; but you perceive how my Lady +concludes her letter." + +"An old song, Betty, which she sings whenever the coin does not come +in fast enough to content her. She does not mean what she says; I know +Urania of old. No; I will write back to her, thanking her for her good +offices, but telling her my little girl is too young to be launched +into the world as yet. Though if it were Harriet, she might not be +unwilling." + +"Harriet would be transported at the idea; but it is not she whom the +Lady wants. And indeed I had rather trust little Aurelia to take care of +herself than poor Harriet." + +"We shall see! We shall see! Meantime, do not broach the subject to your +sisters." + +Betty assented, and departed with a heavy heart, feeling that, whatever +her father might believe, the choice would be between the sacrifice of +Aurelia or of her father's agency, which would involve the loss of +home, of competence, and of the power of breeding up her darling Eugene +according to his birth. She did not even know what her father had +written, and could only go about her daily occupations like one under a +weight, listening to her sisters' prattle about their little plans with +a strange sense that everything was coming to an end, and constantly +weighing the comparative evils of yielding or refusing Aurelia. + +No one would have more valiantly faced poverty than Elizabeth Delavie, +had she alone been concerned. Cavalier and Jacobite blood was in her +veins, and her unselfish character had been trained by a staunch and +self-devoted mother. But her father's age and Eugene's youth made her +waver. She might work her fingers to the bone, and live on oatmeal, to +give her father the comforts he required; but to have Eugene brought +down from his natural station was more than she could endure. His +welfare must be secured at the cost not only of Aurelia's sweet +presence, but of her happiness; and Betty durst not ask herself what +more she dreaded, knowing too that she would probably be quite incapable +of altering her father's determination whatever it might be, and that he +was inclined to trust Lady Belamour. The only chance of his refusal was +that he should take alarm at the manner of requiring his daughter from +him. + + + + +CHAPTER V. THE SUMMONS. + + + But when the King knew that the thing must be, + And that no help there was in this distress, + He bade them have all things in readiness + To take the maiden out.--MORRIS. + + +The second Sunday of suspense had come. The Sundays of good young ladies +little resembled those of a century later, though they were not devoid +of a calm peacefulness, worthy of the "sweet day, so cool, so calm, so +bright." The inhabited rooms of the old house looked bright and festal; +there were fresh flowers in the pots, honey as well as butter on +the breakfast table. The Major and Palmer were both in full uniform, +wonderfully preserved. Eugene, a marvel of prettiness, with his curled +hair and little velvet coat, contrived by his sisters out of some +ancestral hoard. Betty wore thick silk brocade from the same store; +Harriet a fresh gay chintz over a crimson skirt, and Aurelia was in +spotless white, with a broad blue sash and blue ribbons in her hat, for +her father liked to see her still a child; so her hair was only tied +with blue, while that of her sisters was rolled over a cushion, and +slightly powdered. + +The church was so near that the Major could walk thither, leaning on +his stout crutch-handled stick, and aided by his daughter's arm, as +he proceeded down the hawthorn lane, sweet with the breath of May, +exchanging greetings with whole families of the poor, the fathers in +smock frocks wrought with curious needlework on the breast and back, +the mothers in high-crowned hats and stout dark blue woollen gowns, the +children, either patched or ragged, and generally barefooted, but by no +means ill-fed. + +No Sunday school had been invented. The dame who hobbled along in +spectacles, dropping a low curtsey to the "quality," taught the hornbook +and the primer to a select few of the progeny of the farmers and +artisans, and the young ladies would no more have thought of assisting +her labours than the blacksmith's. They only clubbed their pocket money +to clothe and pay the schooling of one little orphan, who acknowledged +them by a succession of the lowest bobs as she trotted past, proud as +Margery Twoshoes herself of the distinction of being substantially shod. + +The church was small, and with few pretensions to architecture at +the best. It had been nearly a ruin, when, stirred by the Major, the +church-wardens had taken it in hand, so that, owing to Richard Stokes +and John Ball, as they permanently declared in yellow letters on a blue +ground, the congregation were no longer in danger of the roof admitting +the rain or coming down on the congregation. They had further beautified +the place with a huge board of the royal arms, and with Moses and Aaron +in white cauliflower wigs presiding over the tables of the Commandments. +Four long dark, timber pews and numerous benches, ruthlessly constructed +out of old carvings, occupied the aisle, and the chancel was more than +half filled with the lofty "closet" of the Great House family. Hither +the Delavie family betook themselves, and on her way Betty was startled +by the recognition, in the seat reserved for the servants, of a broad +back and curled wig that could belong to no one but Jonah Dove. She did +her utmost to keep her mind from dwelling on what this might portend, +though she followed the universal custom by exchanging nods and curtsies +with the Duckworth family as she sailed up the aisle at the head of the +little procession. + +There was always a little doubt as to who would serve the church. One +of the Canons was the incumbent, and the curate was Mr. Arden, the +scientific minor canon, but when his services were required at the +cathedral, one of his colleagues would supply his place, usually in a +sadly perfunctory manner. However, he was there in person, as his voice, +a clear and pleasant one, showed the denizens of the "closet," for they +could not see out of it, except where Eugene had furtively enlarged +a moth-eaten hole in the curtain, through which, when standing on the +seat, he could enjoy an oblique view of the back of an iron-moulded +surplice and a very ill-powdered wig. This was a comfort to him. It +would have been more satisfactory to have been able to make out whence +came the stentorian A-men, that responded to the parson, totally +unaccompanied save by the good Major, who always read his part almost as +loud as the clerk, from a great octavo prayer-book, bearing on the lid +the Delavie arms with coronet, supporters, and motto, "_Ma Vie et ma +Mie_." It would have been thought unladylike, if not unscriptural, +to open the lips in church; yet, for all her silence, good Betty was +striving to be devout and attentive, praying earnestly for her little +sister's safety, and hailing as a kind of hopeful augury this verse from +the singers-- + + + "At home, abroad, in peace, in war + Thy God shall thee defend, + Conduct thee through life's pilgrimage + Safe to the journey's end." + + +Much cannot be said for the five voices that sang, nor for the two +fiddles that accompanied them. Eugene had scarcely outgrown his terror +at the strains, and still required Aurelia to hold his hand, under +pretext of helping him to follow the words, not an easy thing, since the +last lines were always repeated three or four times. + +Somehow the repetition brought them the more home to Betty's heart, and +they rang consolingly in her ears, all through the sermon, of which +she took in so little that she never found out that it was an elaborate +exposition of the Newtonian philosophy, including Mr. Arden's views of +the miracle at the battle Beth-horon, in the Lesson for the day. + +The red face and Belamour livery looked doubly ominous when she came +out of church, but she had to give her arm to her father till they were +overtaken by Mr. Arden, who always shared the Sunday roast beef and plum +pudding. Betty feared it was the best meal he had in the week, for he +lived in lodgings, and his landlady was not too careful of his comforts, +while he was wrapped up in his books and experiments. There was a hole +singed in the corner of his black gown, which Eugene pointed out with +great awe to Aurelia as they walked behind him. + +"See there, Aura. Don't you think he has been raising spirits, like +Friar Bacon?" + +"What do you know about Friar Bacon?" asked Harriet. + +"He is in a little book that I bought of the pedlar. He had a brazen +head that said-- + + 'Time is, + Time was, + Time will be.' + +I wonder if Mr. Arden would show me one like it." + +"You ridiculous little fellow to believe such trash!" said Harriet. + +"But, Hatty, he can really light a candle without a tinder-box," said +Eugene. "His landlady told Palmer so; and Palmer says the Devil flew +away with Friar Bacon; but my book says he burnt all his books and gave +himself to the study of divinity, and dug his grave with his own nails." + +"Little boys should not talk of such things on Sundays," said Harriet, +severely. + +"One does talk of the Devil on Sunday, for he is in the catechism," +returned Eugene. "If he carries Mr. Arden off, do you think there will +be a great smoke, and that folk will see it?" + +Aurelia's silvery peal of laughter fell sadly upon Betty's ears in +front, and her father and Mr. Arden turned to ask what made them so +merry. Aurelia blushed in embarrassment, but Harriet was ready. + +"You will think us very rude, Sir, but my little brother has been +reading the life of Friar Bacon, and he thinks you an equally great +philosopher." + +"Indeed, my little master, you do me too much honour. You will soon be a +philosopher yourself. I did not expect so much attention in so young an +auditor," said mr. Arden, thinking this the effect of his sermon on the +solar system. + +Whereupon Eugene begged to inspect the grave he was digging with his own +nails. + +They were at home by this time, and Betty was aware that they had been +followed at a respectful distance by Palmer and the coachman. Anxious as +she was, she could not bear that her father's dinner should be spoilt, +or that he, in his open-hearted way, should broach the matter with Mr. +Arden; so she repaired to the garden gate, and on being told that Mr. +Dove had a packet from my Lady for the Major, she politely invited him +to dinner with the servants, and promised that her father should see him +afterwards. + +This gave a long respite, since the servants had the reversion of the +beef, so the Mr. Arden had taken leave, and gone to see a bedridden +pauper, and the Major had time for his forty winks, while Betty, though +her heart throbbed hard beneath her tightly-laced boddice, composed +herself to hear Eugene's catechism, and the two sisters, each with a +good book, slipped out to the honeysuckle arbour in the garden behind +the house. Harriet had _Sherlock in Death_, her regular Sunday study, +though she never got any further than the apparition of Mrs. Veal, over +which she gloated in a dreamy state; Aurelia's study was a dark-covered, +pale-lettered copy of the _Ikon Basilike_, with the strange attraction +that youth has to pain and sorrow, and sat musing over the resigned +outpourings of the perplexed and persecuted king, with her bright eyes +fixed on the deep blue sky, and the honeysuckle blossoms gently waving +against it, now and then visited by bee or butterfly, while through the +silence came the throbbing notes of the nightingale, followed by its +jubilant burst of glee, and the sweet distant chime of the cathedral +bells rose and fell upon the wind. What peace and repose there was in +all the air, even in the gentle breeze, and the floating motions of the +swallows skimming past. + +The stillness was first broken by the jangle of their own little church +bell, for Mr. Arden was a more than usually diligent minister, and +always gave two services when he was not in course at the cathedral. The +young ladies always attended both, but as Harriet and Aurelia crossed +the lawn, their brother ran to meet them, saying, "We are not to wait +for sister." + +"I hope my papa is well," said Aurelia. + +"Oh yes," said Eugene, "but the man in the gold-laced hat has been +speaking with him. Palmer says it is Mrs. Dove's husband, and he is +going to take Lively Tom and Brown Bet and the two other colts to +London. He asked if I should like to ride a-cockhorse there with him. +'Dearly,' I said, and then he laughed and said it was not my turn, but +he should take Miss Aurelia instead." + +Aurelia laughed, and Harriet said, "Extremely impudent." + +Little she guessed what Betty was at that moment reading. + +"I am astonished," wrote Lady Belamour to her cousin, "that you should +decline so highly advantageous an Offer for your Daughter. I can only +understand it as a Token that you desire no further Connection with, +nor Favour from me; and I shall therefore require of you to give up the +Accounts, and vacate the House by Michaelmas next ensuing. However, as I +am willing to allow some excuse for the Weakness of parental Affection, +if you change your Mind within the next Week and send up your Daughter +with Dove and his Wife, I will overlook your first hasty and foolish +Refusal, ungrateful as it was, and will receive your Daughter and give +her all the Advantages I promised. Otherwise your Employment is at +an end, and you had better prepare your Accounts for Hargrave's +Inspection." + +"There is no help for it then," said Betty. + +"And if it be for the child's advantage, we need not make our moan," +said her father. "'Tis like losing the daylight out of our house, but we +must not stand in the way of her good." + +"If I were only sure it is for her good!" + +"Why, child, there's scarce a wench in the county who would not go down +on her knees for such a chance. See what Madam Duckworth would say to it +for Miss Peggy!" + +Betty said no more. The result of her cogitations had been that since +Aurelia must be yielded for the sake of her father and Eugene, it was +better not to disturb him with fears, which would only anger him at the +moment and disquiet him afterwards. She was likewise reassured by Mrs. +Dove's going with her, since that good woman had been nurse to the +little Belamour cousins now deceased, and was well known as an excellent +and trustworthy person, so that, if she were going to act in the same +capacity to my Lady's second family, Aurelia would have a friend at +hand. So the Major cheated his grief by greeting the church-goers with +the hilarious announcement-- + +"Here's great news! What says my little Aura to going London to my +Lady's house." + +"O Sir! are you about to take us." + +"Not I! My Lady wants pretty young maidens, not battered old soldiers." + +"Nor my sisters? O then, if you please, Sir, I would rather not go!" + +"Silly children cannot choose! No, no, Aura, you must go out and see the +world, and come back to us such a belle that your poor old father will +scarce know you." + +"I do not wish to be a belle," said the girl. "O Sir, let me stay with +you and sister." + +"Do not be so foolish, Aura," put in Harriet. "It will be the making of +you. I wish I had the offer." + +"O Harriet, could not you go instead?" + +"No, Aurelia," said Betty. "There is no choice, and you must be a good +girl and not vex my father." + +The gravity of her eldest sister convinced Aurelia that entreaties would +be vain, and there was soon a general outburst of assurances that she +would see all that was delightful in London, the lions in the Tower, the +new St. Paul's, the monuments, Ranelagh, the court ladies, may be, +the King and Queen themselves; until she began to feel exhilarated and +pleased at the prospect and the distinction. + +Then came Monday and the bustle of preparing her wardrobe. The main body +of it was to be sent in the carrier's waggon, for she was to ride on +a pillion behind Mr. Dove, and could only take a valise upon a groom's +horse. There was no small excitement in the arrangement, and in +the farewells to the neighbours, who all agreed with Harriet in +congratulating the girl on her promotion. Betty did her part with all +her might, washed lace, and trimmed sleeves, and made tuckers, giving +little toilette counsels, while her heart ached sorely all the time. + +When she could speak to Mrs. Dove alone, she earnestly besought that old +friend to look after the child, her health, her dress, and above all to +supply here lack of experience and give her kind counsel and advice. + +"I will indeed, ma'am, as though she were my own," promised Mrs. Dove. + +"O nurse, I give my sweet jewel to your care; you know what a great +house in London is better than I do. You will warn her of any danger." + +"I will do my endeavour, ma'am. We servants see and hear much, and if +any harm should come nigh the sweet young miss, I'll do my best for +her." + +"Thank you, nurse, I shall never, never see her more in her free artless +childishness," said Betty, sobbing as if her heart would break; "but oh, +nurse, I can bear the thought better since I have known that you would +be near her." + +And at night, when her darling nestled for the last time in her arms, +the elder sister whispered her warnings. Her knowledge of the great +world was limited, but she believed it to be a very wicked place, and +she profoundly distrusted her brilliant kinswoman; yet her warnings took +no shape more definite than--"My dearest sister will never forget her +prayers nor her Bible." There was a soft response and fresh embrace at +each pause. "Nor play cards of a Sunday, nor ever play high. And my Aura +must be deaf to rakish young beaux and their compliments. They never +mean well by poor pretty maids. If you believe them, they will only +mock, flout, and jeer you in the end. And if the young baronet should +seek converse with you, promise me, oh, promise me, Aurelia, to grant +him no favour, no, not so much as to hand him a flower, or stand +chatting with him unknown to his mother. Promise me again, child, for +naught save evil can come of any trifling between you. And, Aurelia, go +to Nurse Dove in all your difficulties. She can advise you where your +poor sister cannot. It will ease my heart if I know that my child will +attend to her. You will not let yourself be puffed up with flattery, +nor be offended if she be open and round with you. Think that your poor +sister Betty speaks in her. Pray our old prayers, go to church, and +read your Psalms and Lessons daily, and oh! never, never cheat your +conscience. O may God, in His mercy, keep my darling!" + +So Aurelia cried herself to sleep, while Betty lay awake till the early +hour in the morning when all had to be prepared for the start. There was +to be a ride of an hour and a half before breakfast so as to give the +horses a rest. It was a terrible separation, in many respects more +complete than if Aurelia had been going, in these days, to America; +for communication by letter was almost as slow, and infinitely more +expensive. + +No doubt the full import of what he had done had dawned even on Major +Delavie during the watches of that last sorrowful night, for he came out +a pale, haggard man, looking as if his age had doubled since he went to +bed, wrapped in his dressing gown, his head covered with his night-cap, +and leaning heavily on his staff. He came charged with one of the long +solemn discourses which parents were wont to bestow on their children +as valedictions, but when Aurelia, in her camlet riding cloak and hood, +brought her tear-stained face to crave his blessing, he could only utter +broken fragments. "Bless thee my child! Take heed to yourself and your +ways. It is a bad world, beset with temptations. Oh! heaven forgive me +for sending my innocent lamb out into it. Oh! what would your blessed +mother say?" + +"Dear sir," said Betty, who had wept out her tears, and was steadily +composed now, "this is no time to think of that. We must only cheer up +our darling, and give her good counsel. If she keep to what her Bible, +her catechism and her conscience tell her, she will be a good girl, and +God will protect her." + +"True, true, your sister is right; Aura, my little sweetheart, I had +much to say to you, but it is all driven out of my poor old head." + +"Aura! Aura! the horses are coming! Ten of them!" shouted Eugene. "Come +along! Oh! if I were but going! How silly of you to cry; _I_ don't." + +"There! there! Go my child, and God in His mercy protect you!" + +Aurelia in speechless grief passed from the arms of one sister to the +embrace of the other, hugged Eugene, was kissed by Nannerl, who forced +a great piece of cake into her little bag, and finally was lifted to her +pillion cushion by Palmer, who stole a kiss of her hand before Dove put +his horse in motion, while Betty was still commending her sister to his +wife's care, and receiving reiterated promises of care. + + + + +CHAPTER VI. DISAPPOINTED LOVE. + + + I know thee well, thy songs and sighs, + A wicked god thou art; + And yet, most pleasing to the eyes, + And witching to the heart. + W. MACKWORTH PRAED. + + +The house was dull when Aurelia was gone. Her father was ill at ease +and therefore testy, Betty too sore at heart to endure as cheerfully +as usual his unwonted ill-humour. Harriet was petulant, and Eugene +troublesome, and the two were constantly jarring against one another, +since the one missed her companion, the other his playmate; and they +were all more sensible than ever how precious and charming an element +was lost to the family circle. + +On the next ensuing Sunday, Eugene had made himself extremely obnoxious +to Harriet, by persisting in kicking up the dust, and Betty, who had +gone on before with her father, was availing herself of the shelter of +the great pew to brush with a sharp hand the dust from the little +legs, when, even in the depths of their seclusion, the whole party were +conscious of a sort of breathless sound of surprise and admiration, a +sweep of bows and curtsies, and the measured tread of boots and clank of +sword and spurs coming nearer--yes, to the very chancel. Their very door +was opened by the old clerk with the most obsequious of reverences, and +there entered a gorgeous vision of scarlet and gold, bowing gracefully +with a wave of a cocked and plumed hat! + +The Major started, and was moving out of his corner--the seat of +honour--but the stranger forbade this by another gesture, and took his +place, after standing for a moment with his face hidden in his hat. Then +he took an anxious survey, not without an almost imperceptible +elevation of eyebrow and shoulder, as if disappointed, and accepted the +Prayer-book, which the Major offered him. + +Betty kept her eyes glued to her book, and when that was not in +use, upon the mittened hands crossed before her, resolute against +distraction, and every prayer turning into a petition for her sister's +welfare; but Eugene gazed, open-eyed and open-mouthed, oblivious of his +beloved hole, and Harriet, though keeping her lids down, and her book +open, contrived to make a full inspection of the splendid apparition. + +It was tall and slight, youthfully undeveloped, yet with the grace of +personal symmetry, high breeding, and military training, upright without +stiffness, with a command and dexterity of movement which prevented the +sword and spurs from being the annoyance to his pew-mates that country +awkwardness usually made these appendages. The spurs were on cavalry +boots, guarding the knee, and met by white buckskins, both so little +dusty that there could have been no journey that morning. The bright +gold-laced scarlet coat of the Household troops entirely effaced the +Major's old Austrian uniform; and over it, the hair, of a light golden +brown, was brushed back, tied with black ribbon, and hung down far +behind in a queue, only leaving little gold rings curling on the brow +and temples. The face was modelled like a cameo, faultless in the +outlines, with a round peach-like fresh contour and bloom on the fair +cheek, which had much of the child, though with a firmness in the lip, +and strength in the brow, that promised manliness. Indeed there was +a wonderful blending of the beauty of manhood and childhood about the +youth; and his demeanour was perfectly decorous and reverent, no small +merit in a young officer and London beau. Indeed Betty could almost have +forgotten his presence, if gleams from his glittering equipments had +not kept glancing before her eyes, turn them where she would, and if Mr. +Arden's sermon had not been of Solomon's extent of natural philosophy, +and so full of Hebrew, Greek, and Latin that she could not follow it at +all. + +After the blessing, the young gentleman, with a bow, the pink of +courtesy, offered a hand to lead her out, nor could she refuse, though, +to use her own expression, she hated the absurdity of mincing down the +aisle with a fine young spark looking like her grandson; while her poor +father had to put up with Harriet's arm. Outside came the greetings, the +flourish of the hat, the "I may venture to introduce myself, and to beg +of you, sir, and of my fair cousins to excuse my sudden intrusion." + +"No apology can be needed for your appearance in your own pew, Sir +Amyas," said the Major with outstretched hand; "it did my heart good to +see you there!" + +"I would not have taken you thus by surprise," continued the youth, "but +one of my horses lost a shoe yesterday, and we were constrained to halt +at Portkiln for the night, and ride on this morning. Herries went on to +the Deanery, and I hoped to have seen you before church, but found you +had already entered." + +Portkiln was so near, that this Sabbath day's journey did not scandalise +Betty, and her father eagerly welcomed his kinsman, and insisted that he +should go no farther. Sir Amyas accepted the invitation, nothing loth, +only asking, with a little courtly diffidence, if it might not be +convenient for him to sleep at the Great House, and begging the ladies +to excuse his riding dress. + +His eyes wandered anxiously as though in search of something in the +midst of all his civility, and while the Major was sending Eugene to +bring Mr. Arden--who was hanging back at the churchyard gate, unwilling +to thrust himself forward--the faltering question was put, while the +cheeks coloured like a girl's, "I hope my fair partner, my youngest +cousin, Miss Aurelia Delavie, is in good health?" + +"We hope so, sir, thank you," returned Betty; "but she left us six days +ago." + +"Left you!" he repeated, in consternation that overpowered his +courtliness. + +"Yes, sir," said Harriet, "my Lady, your mother, has been good enough to +send for her to London." + +"My Lady!" he murmured to himself; "I never thought of that! How and +when did she go?" + +The answer was interrupted by the Major coming up "Sir Amyas Belamour, +permit me to present to you the Reverend Richard Arden, the admirable +divine to whom we are beholden for the excellent and learned +discourse of this morning. You'll not find such another scholar in all +Carminster." + +"I am highly honoured," returned the baronet, with a bow in return for +Mr. Arden's best obeisance, such as it was; and Harriet, seeing Peggy +Duckworth in the distance, plumed herself on her probable envy. + +Before dinner was served Sir Amyas had obtained the information as to +Aurelia's departure, and even as to the road she had taken, and he had +confessed that, "Of course he had write to his mother that he had danced +with the most exquisitely beautiful creature he had ever seen, and that +he longed to know his cousins better." No doubt his mother, having been +thus reminded of her connections, had taken the opportunity of summoning +Aurelia to London to give her the advantages of living in her household +and acquiring accomplishments. The lad was so much delighted at the +prospect of enjoying her society that he was almost consoled for not +finding her at the Manor House; and his elaborate courtesy became every +moment less artificial and more affectionate, as the friendly atmosphere +revealed that the frankness and simplicity of the boy had not been lost, +captain in the dragoon guards as he was, thanks to interest, though +he had scarcely yet joined his troop. He had been with a tutor in the +country, until two years ago, when his stepfather, Mr. Wayland, had +taken him, still with his tutor, on the expedition to the Mediterranean. +He had come home from Gibraltar, and joined his regiment only a few +weeks before setting out with his friend Captain Herries, to visit +Battlefield, Lady Aresfield's estate in Monmouthshire. He was quartered +in the Whitehall barracks, but could spend as much time as he pleased at +his mother's house in Hanover Square. + +Betty's mind misgave her as she saw the brightening eye with which he +said it; but she could not but like the youth himself, he was so bright, +unspoilt, and engaging that she could not think him capable of doing +wilful wrong to her darling. Yet how soon would the young soldier, +plunged into the midst of fashionable society, learn to look on the fair +girl with the dissipated eyes of his associates? There was some comfort +in finding that Mr. Wayland was expected to return in less than a year, +and that his stepson seemed to regard him with unbounded respect, as +a good, just, and wise man, capable of everything! Indeed Sir Amyas +enlightened Mr. Arden on the scientific construction of some of Mr. +Wayland's inventions so as to convince both the clergyman and the +soldier that the lad himself was no fool, and had profited by his +opportunities. + +Major Delavie produced his choice Tokay, a present from an old Hungarian +brother-officer, and looked happier than since Aurelia's departure. He +was no match-maker, and speculated on no improbable contingencies for +his daughter, but he beheld good hopes for the Delavie property and +tenants in an heir such as this, and made over his simple loyal heart +to the young man. Presently he inquired whether the unfortunate Mr. +Belamour still maintained his seclusion. + +"Yes, sir," was the reply. "He still lives in two dark rooms with +shutters and curtains excluding every ray of light. He keeps his bed for +the greater part of the day, but sometimes, on a very dark night, will +take a turn on the terrace." + +"Poor gentleman!" said Betty. "Has he no employment or occupation?" + +"Mr. Wayland contrived a raised chess and draught board, and persuaded +him to try a few games before we went abroad, but I do not know whether +he has since continued it." + +"Does he admit any visits?" + +"Oh no. He has been entirely shut up, except from the lawyer, Hargrave, +on business. Mr. Wayland, indeed, strove to rouse him from his +despondency, but without success, except that latterly he became willing +to receive him." + +"Have you ever conversed with him?" + +There was an ingenuous blush as the young man replied. "I fear I must +confess myself remiss. Mr. Wayland has sometimes carried me with him to +see my uncle, but not with my good will, and my mother objected lest it +should break my spirits. However, when I left Gibraltar, my good +father charged me to endeavour from time to time to enliven my uncle's +solitude, but there were impediments to my going to him, and I take +shame to myself for not having striven to overcome them." + +"Rightly spoken, my young kinsman," cried the Major. "There are no such +impediments as a man's own distaste." + +"And pity will remove that," said Betty. + +Soon after the removal of the cloth the ladies withdrew, and Eugene was +called to his catechism, but he was soon released, for the Tokay had +made her father sleepy, while it seemed to have emboldened Mr. Arden, +since he came forth with direct intent to engross Harriet; and Sir Amyas +wandered towards Betty, apologising for the interruption. + +"It is a rare occasion," said she as her pupil scampered away. + +"Happy child, to be taught by so good a sister," said the young baronet, +regretfully. + +"Your young half-brothers and sisters must be of about the same age," +said Betty. + +"My little brother, Archer, is somewhat younger. He is with my mother in +London, the darling of the ladies, who think him a perfect beauty, and +laugh at all his mischievous pranks. As to my little sisters, you will +be surprised to hear that I have only seen them once, when I rode with +their father to see them at the farm houses at which they are nursed." + +"No doubt they are to be fetched home, since Mrs. Dove is gone to wait +on them, and my Lady said something of intending my sister to be with +her young children." + +"Nay, she must have no such troublesome charge. My mother cannot intend +anything of the kind. I shall see that she is treated as---" + +Betty, beginning to perceive that he knew as little of his own mother as +did the rest of his sex, here interrupted him. "Excuse me, sir, I doubt +not of your kind intentions, but let me speak, for Aurelia is a very +precious child to me, and I am afraid that any such attempt on your part +might do her harm rather than good. She must be content with the lot of +a poor dependant." + +"Never!" he exclaimed. "She is a Delavie; and besides, no other ever +shall be my wife." + +"Hush, hush!" Betty had been saying before the words were out of his +"You are but a silly boy, begging your Honour's pardon, though you +speak, I know, with all your heart. What would your Lady mother say or +do to my poor little sister if she heard you?" + +"She could but send her home, and then flood and fire could not hold me +from her." + +"I wish that were the worst she could do. No, Sir Amyas Belamour, if you +have any kindness for the poor helpless girl under your mother's roof, +you will make no advance to excite alarm or anger against her. Remember +it is she who will be the sufferer and not yourself. The woman, however +guiltless, is sure to fall under suspicion and bear the whole penalty. +And oh! what would become of her, defenceless, simple, unprotected as +she is?" + +"Yet you sent her!" said he. + +"Yes," said Betty, sadly, "because there was no other choice between +breaking with my Lady altogether." + +He made an ejaculation under his breath, half sad, half violent, and +exclaimed, "Would that I were of age, or my father were returned." + +"But now you know all, you will leave my child in peace," said Betty. + +"What, you would give me no hope!" + +"Only such as you yourself have held out," said Betty. "When you are +your own master, if you keep in the same mind till then, and remain +truly worthy, I cannot tell what my father would answer." + +"I am going to speak to him this very day. I came with that intent." + +"Do no such thing, I entreat," cried Betty. "He would immediately think +it his duty to inform my Lady. Then no protestation would persuade her +that we had not entrapped your youth and innocence. His grey head would +be driven out without shelter, and what might not be the consequence to +my sister? You could not help us, and could only make it worse. No, +do nothing rash, incautious, or above all, disobedient. It would be +self-love, not true love that would risk bringing her into peril and +trouble when she is far out of reach of all protection." + +"Trust me, trust me, Cousin Betty," cried the youth. "Only let me hope, +and I'll be caution itself; but oh! what an endless eternity is two +years to wait without a sign!" + +But here appeared the Major, accompanied by Captain Herries and Dean +Churchill, who had ordered out his coach, Sunday though it were, to pay +his respects to my Lady's son, and carry him and his hosts back to sup +at the Deanery. It was an age of adulation, but Betty was thankful that +perilous conversations were staved off. + + + + +CHAPTER VII. ALL ALONE. + + + By the simplicity of Venus' doves. + _Merchant of Venice_. + + +That Sunday was spent by Aurelia at the Bear Inn, at Reading. Her +journey had been made by very short stages, one before breakfast, +another lasting till noon, when there was a long halt for dinner and +rest for horse and rider, and then another ride, never even in these +longest summer days prolonged beyond six or seven o'clock at latest, +such was the danger of highwaymen being attracted by the valuable +horses, although the grooms in charge were so well armed that they might +almost as well have been troopers. + +The roads, at that time of year, were at their best, and Aurelia and +Mrs. Dove were mounted on steady old nags, accustomed to pillions. +Aurelia could have ridden single, but this would not have been thought +fitting on a journey with no escort of her own rank, and when she +mounted she was far too miserable to care for anything but hiding her +tearful face behind Mr. Dove's broad shoulders. Mrs. Dove was perched +behind a wiry, light-weighted old groom, whom she kept in great order, +much to his disgust. + +After the first wretchedness, Aurelia's youthful spirits had begun to +revive, and the novel scenes to awaken interest. The Glastonbury thorn +was the first thing she really looked at. The Abbey was to her only an +old Gothic melancholy ruin, not worthy of a glance, but the breezy +air of the Cheddar Hills, the lovely cliffs, and the charm of the open +country, with its strange islands of hills dotted about, raised her +spirits, as she rode through the meadows where hay was being tossed, and +the scent came fragrant on the breeze. Mr. Dove would tell her over his +shoulder the names of places and their owners when they came to parks +bordering the road, and castles "bosomed high in the tufted trees." Or +he would regale her with legends of robberies and point to the frightful +gibbets, one so near to the road that she shut her eyes and crouched low +behind him to avoid seeing the terrible burthen. She had noted the +White Horse, and shuddered at the monument at Devizes commemorating the +judgment on the lying woman, and a night had been spent at Marlborough +that "Miss" might see a strolling company of actors perform in a barn; +but as the piece was the _Yorksire Tragedy_, the ghastly performance +overcame her so completely that Mrs. Dove had to take her away, +declaring that no inducement should ever take her to a theatre again. + +Mr. Dove was too experienced a traveller not to choose well his quarters +for the night, and Aurelia slept in the guest chambers shining with +cleanliness and scented with lavender, Mrs. Dove always sharing her +room. "Miss" was treated with no small regard, as a lady of the good old +blood, and though the coachman and his wife talked freely with her, +they paid her all observance, never ate at the same table, and provided +assiduously for her comfort and pleasure. Once they halted a whole +day because even Mr. Dove was not proof against the allurements of +a bull-baiting, though he carefully explained that he only made a +concession to the grooms to prevent them from getting discontented, +and went himself to the spectacle to hinder them from getting drunk, in +which, be it observed, he did not succeed. + +So much time was spent on thus creeping from stage to stage that Aurelia +had begun to feel as if the journey had been going on for ages, and as +if worlds divided her from her home, when on Sunday she timidly preceded +Mrs. Dove into Reading Abbey Church, and afterwards was shown where +rolled Father Thames. The travellers took early morning with them for +Maidenhead Thicket, and breakfasted on broiled trout at the King's Arms +at Maidenhead Bridge, while Aurelia felt her eye filled with the beauty +of the broad glassy river, and the wooded banks, and then rose onwards, +looking with loyal awe at majestic Windsor, where the flag was flying. +They slept at a poor little inn a Longford, rather than cross Hounslow +Heath in the evening, and there heard all the last achievements of the +thieves, so that Aurelia, in crossing the next day, looked to see a +masked highwayman start out of every bush; but they came safely to the +broad archway of the inn at Knightsbridge, their last stage. Mrs. +Dove took her charge up stairs at once to refresh her toilette, before +entering London and being presented to my Lady. + +But a clattering and stamping were heard in the yard, and Aurelia, +looking from the window, called Mrs. Dove to see four horses being +harnessed to a coach that was standing there. + +"Lawk-a-day?" cried the good woman, "if it be not our own old coach, as +was the best in poor Sir Jovian's time! Ay, there be our colours, you +see, blue and gold, and my Lady's quartering. Why, 'twas atop of that +very blue hammercloth that I first set eyes on my Dove! So my Lady has +sent to meet you, Missie. Well, I do take it kind of her. Now you will +not come in your riding hood, all frowsed and dusty, but can put on your +pretty striped sacque and blue hood that you wore on Sunday, and look +the sweet pretty lady you are." + +Mrs. Dove's intentions were frustrated, for the maid of the inn knocked +at the door with a message that the coach had orders not to wait, but +that Miss was to come down immediately. + +"Dear, dear!" sighed Mrs. DOve. "Tell the jackanapes not to be so +hasty. He must give the young lady time to change her dress, and eat a +mouthful." + +This brought Dove up to the door. "Never mind dressing and fallals," he +said; "this is a strange fellow that says he is hired for the job, and +his orders are precise. Miss must take a bit of cake in her hand. Come, +dame, you have not lived so long in my Lady's service as to forget what +it is to cross her will, or keep her waiting." + +Therewith he hurried Aurelia down stairs, his wife being in such a state +of _deshabille_ that she could not follow. He handed the young lady +into the carriage, gave her a parcel of slices of bread and meat, with a +piece of cake, shut the door, and said, "Be of good heart, Missie, we'll +catch you up by the time you are in the square. All right!" + +Off went Aurelia in solitude, within a large carriage, once gaily fitted +though now somewhat faded and tarnished. She was sorry to be parted from +the Doves, whom she wanted to give her courage for the introduction to +my Lady, and to explain to her the wonders of the streets of London, +which she did not _quite_ expect to see paved with gold! She ate her +extemporised meal, gazing from the window, and expecting to see houses +and churches thicken on her, and hurrying to brush away her crumbs, and +put on her gloves lest she should arrive unawares, for she had counted +half-a-dozen houses close together. No! here was another field! More +fields and houses. The signs of habitation were, so far from increasing, +growing more scanty, and looked strangely like what she had before +passed. Could this be the right road! How foolish to doubt, when this +was my Lady's own coach. But oh, that it had waited for Mrs. Dove! She +would beg her to get in when the riders overtook her. When would they? +No sign of them could be seen from the windows, and here were more +houses. Surely this was Turnham Green again, or there must be another +village green exactly like it in the heart of London. How many times did +not poor Aurelia go through all these impressions in the course of the +drive. She was absolutely certain that she was taken through Brentford +again, this time without a halt; but after this the country became +unknown to her, and the road much worse. It was in fact for the most +part a mere ditch or cart track, so rough that the four horses came to +a walk. Aurelia had read no novels but _Telemaque_ and _Le Grand Cyrus_, +so her imagination was not terrified by tales of abduction, but alarm +began to grow upon her. She much longed to ask the coachman whither +he was taking her, but the check string had been either worn out or +removed; she could not open the door from within, nor make him hear, and +indeed she was a little afraid of him. + +Twilight began to come on; it was much later than Mr. Dove had ever +ventured to be out, but here at last there was a pause, and the swing of +a gate, the road was smoother and she seemed to be in a wood, probably +private ground. On and on, for an apparently interminable time, went the +coach with the wearied and affrighted girl, through the dark thicket, +until at last she emerged, into a park, where she could again see the +pale after-glow of the sunset, and presently she found herself before a +tall house, perfectly dark, with strange fantastic gables and chimneys, +ascending far above against the sky. + +All was still as death, except the murmuring caws of the rooks in their +nests, and the chattering shriek of a startled blackbird. The servant +from behind ran up the steps and thundered at the door; it was opened, +a broad line of light shone out, some figures appeared, and a man +in livery came forward to open the carriage door, but to Aurelia's +inexpressible horror, his face was perfectly black, with negro features, +rolling eyes, and great white teeth! + +She hardly knew what she did, the dark carriage was formidable on one +side, the apparition on the other! The only ray of comfort was in the +face of a stout, comely, rosy maid-servant, who was holding the candle +on the threshold, and with one bound the poor traveller dashed past the +black hand held out to help her, and rushing up to the girl, caught hold +of her, and gasped out, "Oh! What is that? Where am I? Where have they +taken me?" + +"Lawk, ma'am," said the girl, with a broad grin, "that 'ere bees only +Mr. Jumbo. A' won't hurt'ee. See, here's Mistress Aylward." + +A tall, white-capped, black-gowned elderly woman turned on the new-comer +a pale, grave, unsmiling face, saying, "Your servant--Miss Aurelia +Delavie, as I understand." + +Bending her head, and scarcely able to steady herself, for she was +shaking from head to foot, Aurelia managed to utter the query, + +"Where am I?" + +"At Bowstead Park, madam, by order of my Lady." + +Much relieved, and knowing this was the Belamour estate, Aurelia said, +"Please let me wait till Mrs. Dove comes before I am presented to my +Lady." + +"My Lady is not here, madam," said Mrs. Aylward. "Allow me--" and she +led the way across a great empty hall, that seemed the vaster for its +obscurity, then along a matted passage, and down some steps into a room +surrounded with presses and cupboards, evidently belonging to the to the +housekeeper. She set a chair for the trembling girl, saying, "You will +excuse the having supper here to-night, madam; the south parlour will be +ready for you to-morrow." + +"Is not Mrs. Dove coming?" faintly asked Aurelia. + +"Mrs. Dove is gone to London to attend on little Master Wayland. You are +to be here with the young ladies, ma'am." + +"What young ladies?" asked the bewildered maiden. + +"My Lady's little daughters--the Misses Wayland. I thought she had sent +you her instructions; but I see you are over wearied and daunted," she +added, more kindly; "you will be better when you have taken some food. +Molly, I say, you sluggard of a wench, bring the lady's supper, and +don't stand gaping there." + +Mrs. Aylward hurried away to hasten operations, and Aurelia began +somewhat to recover her senses, though she was still so much dismayed +that she dreaded to look up lest she should see something frightful, and +started at the first approach of steps. + +A dainty little supper was placed before her, but she was too faint and +sick at heart for appetite, and would have excused herself. However, +Mrs. Aylward severely said she would have no such folly, filled a glass +of wine, and sternly administered it; then setting her down in a large +chair, helped her to a delicate cutlet. She ate for very fright, but +her cheeks and eyes were brightened, the mists of terror and exhaustion +began to clear away, and when she accepted a second help, she had felt +herself reassured that she had not fallen into unkindly hands. If she +could only have met a smile she would have been easier, but Mrs. Aylward +was a woman of sedate countenance and few words, and the straight set +line of lips encouraged no questioning, so she merely uttered thanks for +each act of hospitality. + +"There! You will take no more roll? You are better, now, but you will +not be sorry to go to your bed," said Mrs. Aylward, taking up a candle, +and guiding her along the passage up a long stair to a pretty room +wainscoted and curtained with fresh white dimity, and the window showing +the young moon pale in the light of the western sky. + +Bedrooms were little furnished, and this was more luxurious than the +dear old chamber at home, but the girl had never before slept alone, and +she felt unspeakably lonely in the dreariness, longing more than ever +for Betty's kiss--even for Betty's blame--or for a whine from Harriet; +and she positively hungered for a hug from Eugene, as she gazed timidly +at the corners beyond the influence of her candle; and instead of +unpacking the little riding mail she kissed it, and laid her cheek on +it as the only thing that came from home, and burst into a flood of +despairing tears. + +In the midst, there fell on her ears a low strain of melancholy music +rising and falling like the wailing of mournful spirits. She sprang to +her feet and stood listening with dilated eyes; then, as a louder note +reached her, in terror uncontrollable, she caught up her candle, rushed +down the stairs like a wild bird, and stood panting before Mrs. Aylward, +who had a big Bible open on the table before her. + +"Oh, ma'am," she cried, between her panting sobs, "I can't stay there! I +shall die!" + +"What means this, madam?" said Mrs. Aylward, stiffly, making the word +sound much like "foolish child." + +"The--the music!" she managed faintly to utter, falling again into the +friendly chair. + +"The music?" said Mrs. Aylward, considering; then with a shade of polite +contempt, "O! Jumbo's fiddle! I did not know it could be heard in your +room, but no doubt the windows below are open." + +"Is Jumbo that black man?" asked Aurelia, shuddering; for negro +servants, though the fashion in town, had not penetrated into the west. + +"Mr. Belamour's blackamoor. He often plays to him half the night." + +"Oh!" with another quivering sound of alarm; "is Mr. Belamour the +gentleman in the dark?" + +"Even so, madam, but you need have no fears. He keeps his room and +admits no one, though he sometimes walks out by night. You will only +have to keep the children from a noise making near his apartments. Good +night, madam." + +"Oh, pray, if I do not disturb you, would you be pleased to let me stay +till you have finished your chapter; I might not be so frightened then." + +In common humanity Mrs. Aylward could not refuse, and Aurelia sat +silently grasping the arms of her chair, and trying to derive all the +comfort she could from the presence of a Bible and a good woman. Her +nerves were, in fact, calmed by the interval, and when Mrs. Aylward +took off her spectacles and shut up her book, it had become possible to +endure the terrors of the lonely chamber. + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. THE ENCHANTED CASTLE. + + + A little she began to lose her fear.--MORRIS. + + +Aurelia slept till she was wakened by a bounce at the door, and the +rattling of the lock, but it was a little child's voice that was crying, +"I will! I will! I will go in and seem by cousin!" + +Then came Mrs. Aylward's severe voice: "No, miss, you are not to waken +your cousin. Come away. Where is that slut, Jenny?" + +Then there was a scuffle and a howl, as if the child were being forcibly +carried away. Aurelia sprang out of bed, for sunshine was flooding the +room, and she felt accountable for tardiness. She had made some progress +in dressing, when again little hands were on the lock, little feet +kicking the door, and little voices calling, "Let me in." + +She opened the door, and white nightgowns, all tumbled back one over the +other. + +"My little cousins," she said, "come and kiss me." + +One came forward and lifted up a sweet little pale face, but the other +two stood, each with a finger in the mouth, right across the threshold, +in a manner highly inconvenient to Aurelia, who was only in her stiff +stays and dimity petticoat, with a mass of hair hanging down below her +waist. She turned to them with arms out-stretched, but this put them +instantly to the rout, and they ran off as fast as their bare pink feet +could carry them, till one stumbled, and lay with her face down and her +plump legs kicking in the air. Aurelia caught her up, but the capture +produced a powerful yell, and out, all at once hurried into +the corridor, Mrs. Aylward, a tidy maid servant, a stout, buxom +countrywoman, and a rough girl, scarcely out of bed, but awake enough +to snatch the child out of the young lady's arms, and carry her off. +The housekeeper began scolding vigorously all round, and Aurelia escaped +into her room, where she completed her toilette, looking out into a +garden below, laid out in the formal Dutch fashion, with walks and beds +centring in a fountain, the grass plats as sharply defined as possible, +and stiff yews and cypresses dotted at regular intervals or forming +straight alleys. She felt strange and shy, but the sunshine, the +cheerfulness, and the sight of the children, had reassured her, and when +she had said her morning prayer, she had lost the last night's sense of +hopeless dreariness and unprotectedness. When another knock came, +she opened the door cheerfully, but there was a chill in meeting Mrs. +Aylward's grave, cold face, and stiff salutation. "If you are ready, +madam," she said, "I will show you to the south parlour, where the +children will eat with you." + +Aurelia ventured to ask about her baggage, and was told that it would be +forwarded from Brentford. Mrs. Aylward then led the way to a wide stone +staircase, with handsome carved balusters, leading down into the great +hall, with doors opening from all sides. All was perfectly empty, and so +still, that the sweep of the dresses, and the tap of the heels made an +echo; and the sunshine, streaming in at the large window, marked out +every one upon the floor, in light and shadow, and exactly repeated +the brown-shaded, yellow-framed medallions of painted glass upon the +pavement. There was something awful and oppressive in the entire absence +of all tokens of habitation, among those many closed doors. + +One, however, at the foot of the stairs was opened by Mrs. Aylward. It +led to a sort of narrow lobby, with a sashed window above a low door, +opening on stone steps down to the terrace and garden. To the right was +an open door, giving admittance to a room hung with tapestry, with a +small carpet in the centre of the floor, and a table prepared for the +morning meal. There was a certain cheerfulness about it, though it was +bare of furniture; but there was an easy chair, a settee, a long +couch, a spinnet, and an embroidery frame, so that altogether it had +capabilities of being lived in. + +"Here you will sit, madam, with the young ladies," said Mrs. Aylward. +"They have a maid-servant who will wait on you, and if you require +anything, you will be pleased to speak to me. My Lady wishes you to take +charge of them, and likewise to execute the piece of embroidery you will +find in that frame, with the materials. This will be your apartment, +and you can take the young ladies into the garden and park, wherever you +please, except that they must not make a noise before the windows of the +other wing, which you will see closed with shutters, for those are Mr. +Belamour's rooms." + +With these words Mrs. Aylward curtsied as if about to retire, Aurelia +held out her hand in entreaty. "Oh, cannot you stay with me?" + +"No, madam, my office is the housekeeper's," was the stiff response. +"Molly will call me if you require my services. I think you said you +preferred bread and milk for breakfast. Dinner will be served at one." + +Mrs. Aylward retreated, leaving a chill on the heart of the lonely girl. + +She was a clergyman's widow, though with no pretensions to gentility, +and was a plain, conscientious, godly woman, but with the narrow +self-concentrated piety of the time, which seemed to ignore all the +active part of the duty to our neighbour. She had lived many years as +a faithful retainer to the Belamour family, and avoided perplexity by +minding no one's business but her own, and that thoroughly. Naturally +reserved, and disapproving much that she saw around her, she had never +held it to be needful to do more than preserve her own integrity, and +the interests of her employers, and she made it a principle to be in +no wise concerned in family affairs, and to hold aloof from perilous +confidences. + +Thus Aurelia was left to herself, till three bowls of milk were borne in +by Molly, who was by no means loth to speak. + +"The little misses will be down directly, ma'am," she said, "that is, +two on 'em. The little one, she won't leave Jenny Bowles, but Dame +Wheatfield, she'll bring down the other two. You see, ma'am, they +be only just taken home from being out at nurse, and don't know one +another, nor the place, and a pretty handful we shall have of 'em." + +Here came a call for Molly, and the girl with a petulant exclamation, +sped away, leaving Aurelia to the society of the tapestry. It was of +that set of Gobelin work which represents the four elements personified +by their goddesses, and Aurelia's mythology, founded on Fenelon, was +just sufficient to enable her to recognise the forge of Vulcan and the +car [chariot--D.L.] of Venus. Then she looked at the work prepared for +her, a creamy piece of white satin, and a most elaborate pattern of +knots of roses, lilacs, hyacinths, and laburnums, at which her heart +sank within her. However, at that moment the stout woman she had seen in +the morning appeared at the open door with a little girl in each hand, +both in little round muslin caps, long white frocks, and blue sashes. + +One went up readily to Aurelia and allowed herself to be kissed, and +lifted to a chair; the other clung to Dame Wheatfield, in spite of +coaxing entreaties. "Speak pretty, my dear; speak to the pretty lady. +Don't ye see how good your sister is? It won't do, miss," to Aurelia; +"she's daunted, is my pretty lamb. If I might just give her her +breakwist--for it is the last time I shall do it--then she might get +used to you before my good man comes for me." + +Aurelia was only too glad to instal Dame Wheatfield in a chair with her +charge in her lap. The other child was feeding herself very tidily and +independently, and Aurelia asked her if she were the eldest. + +"Yes," she said. + +"And what shall I call you, my dear?" + +"I'm Missy." + +"No, Missy, me--me eldest," cried the other. + +"Bless the poor children!" exclaimed Mrs. Wheatfield, laughing, "they be +both of 'em eldest, as one may say." + +"They are twins, then?" said Aurelia. + +"More than that--all three of them came together! I've heard tell of +such a thing once or twice, but never of all living and thriving. Folk +said it was a judgment on my Lady that she spoke sharp and hard to a +poor beggar woman with a child on each arm. It was not a week out before +my Lady herself was down, quite unexpected, as I may say, for she was +staying here for a week, with a lot of company, when these three was +born. They do say she was nigh beside herself that the like of that +should have happened to her. Mr. Wayland, he was not so ill pleased, but +the poor little things had to be got out of the house any way, for she +could not abear to hear of them. Mrs. Rolfe, as was an old servant of +the family, took that one, and I was right glad to have you, my pretty +one, for I had just lost my babe at a fortnight old, and the third was +sent to Goody Bowles, for want of a better. They says as how my Lady +means to bring them out one by one, and to make as this here is bigger, +and the other up stairs is lesser, and never let on that they are all of +an age." + +The good gossip must have presumed greatly on the children's want of +comprehension if she did not suppose that they understood her at least +as well as the young lady to whom her dialect was strange. + +"And has she not seen them?" + +"Never till last Monday, if you'll believe me miss, when she drove down +in her coach, and the children were all brought home. I thought she +might have said something handsome, considering the poor little babe +as my Missy here was when I had her--not so long as my hand--and scarce +able to cry enough to show she was alive. The work I and my good man had +with her! He would walk up and down half the night with her. Not as we +grudged it. He is as fond of the child as myself; and Mr. Wayland, he +knew it. 'She has a good nurse, dame,' says he to me, with the water in +his eyes, before he went to foreign parts. But my Lady! When the little +one as had been with Goody Bowles--an ignorant woman, you see--cried and +clung to her, and kicked, 'Little savages all,' says my Lady. There was +thanks to them that had had more work to rear her children than ever +with one of her own! 'Perfect little rustics!' she said, even when you +made your curtsey as pretty as could be, didn't you, my little lammie?" + +"Mammy Rolfe taught me to make my curtsey like a London lady," said the +other child, the most advanced in manners. + +"Aha! little pitchers have long ears; but, bless you, they don't know +what it means," said Dame Wheatfield, too glad to talk to check herself +on any account; "Not so much as a kiss for them, poor little darlings! +Folks say she does not let even Master Wayland kiss aught but her hands +for fear of her fine colours. A plague on such colours, I say." + +"Poor little things!" whispered Aurelia. + +"You'll be good to them, won't you miss?" + +"Indeed I hope so! I am only just come from home, and they will be all I +have to care for here." + +"Ay, you must be lonesome in this big place; but I'm right glad to have +seen you, miss; I can part with the little dear with a better heart, for +Mrs. Aylward don't care for children, and Jenny Bowles is a rough wench, +wrapped up in her own child, and won't be no good to the others. Go to +the lady, my precious," she added, trying to put the little girl into +her cousin's lap, but this was met with struggles, and vehement cries +of-- + +"No; stay with mammy!" + +The little sister, who had not brought her nurse, was, however, well +contented to be lifted to Aurelia's knee, and returned her caresses. + +"And have you not a name, my dear? We can't call you all missie." + +"Fay," the child lisped; "Fayfiddly Wayland." + +"Lawk-a-daisy!" and Mrs. Wheatfield fell back laughing. "I'll tell you +how it was, ma'am. When no one thought they would live an hour, Squire +Wayland he sent for parson and had 'em half baptised Faith, Hope, and +Charity. They says his own mother's was called Faith, and the other two +came natural after it, and would do as well to be buried by as aught. So +that's what she means by Fay, and this here is Miss Charity." + +"She said something besides Faith." + +"Well, when my lady got about again, they say if she was mad at their +coming all on a heap, she was madder still at their name. Bible wasn't +grand enough for her! I did hear tell that she throwed her slipper at +her husband's head, and was like to go into fits. So to content her he +came down, and took each one to Church, and had a fine London name of my +Lady's choosing tacked on in parson's register for them to go by; but +to my mind it ain't like their christened name. Mine here got called for +her share Amoretta." + +"A little Love," cried Aurelia. "Oh, that is pretty. And what can your +name be, my dear little Fay? Will you tell me again?" + +When repeated, it was plainly Fidelia, and it appeared that Hope had +been also called Letitia. As to age, Mrs. Wheatfield knew it was five +years last Michaelmas since the child had been brought to her from whom +she was so loth to part that she knew not how to go when her husband +came for her in his cart. He was a farmer, comfortably off, though very +homely, and there were plenty of children at home, so that she had been +ill spared to remain at the Park till Aurelia's arrival. Thus she took +the opportunity of going away while the little one was asleep. + +Aurelia asked where she lived now. At Sedhurst, in the next parish, she +was told; but she would not accept a promise that her charge should soon +be brought to visit her. "Better not, ma'am, thank you all the same, +not till she's broke in. She'll pine the less if she don't see nor hear +nothing about the old place, nor Daddy and Sally and Davie. If you +bring her soon, you'll never get her away again. That's the worst of a +nurse-child. I was warned. It just breaks your heart!" + +So away went the good foster-mother sobbing; and Aurelia's charge began. +Fay claimed her instantly to explore the garden and house. The child had +been sent home alone on the sudden illness of her nurse, and had been +very forlorn, so that her cousin's attention was a great boon to her. +Hope was incited to come out; but Jenny Bowles kept a jealous watch over +her, and treated every one else as an enemy; and before Aurelia's +hat was on, came the terrible woe of Amoret's awakening. Her sobs and +wailings for her mammy were entirely beyond the reach of Aurelia's +soothings and caresses, and were only silenced by Molly's asseveration +that the black man was at the door ready to take her into the dark room. +That this was no phantom was known to the poor child, and was a lurking +horror to Aurelia herself. No wonder that the little thing clung to her +convulsively, and would not let her hand go for the rest of the day, +every now and then moaning out entreaties to go home to mammy. + +With the sad little being hanging to her hand, Aurelia was led by Fay +round their new abiding place. The house was of brick, shaped like the +letter H, Dutch, and with a tall wing, at each end of the main body, +projecting, and finishing in fantastic gables edged with stone. One +of these square wings was appropriated to Aurelia and her charges, the +other to the recluse Mr. Belamour. The space that lay between the two +wings, on the garden front, was roofed over, and paved with stone, +descending in several broad shallow steps at the centre and ends, +guarded at each angle by huge carved eagles, the crest of the builder, +of the most regular patchwork, and kept, in spite of the owner's +non-residence, in perfect order. The strange thing was that this fair +and stately place, basking in the sunshine of early June, should be left +in complete solitude save for the hermit in the opposite wing, the three +children, and the girl, who felt as though in a kind of prison. + +The sun was too hot for Aurelia to go out of doors till late in the day, +when the shadow of the house came over the steps. She was sitting on +one, with Amoret nestled in her lap, and was crooning an old German +lullaby of Nannerl's, which seemed to have a wonderful effect in calming +the child, who at last fell into a doze. Aurelia had let her voice die +away, and had begun to think over her strange situation, when she was +startled by a laugh behind her, and looking round, hardly repressed +a start or scream, at the sight of Fay enjoying a game at bo-peep, +with--yes--it actually was--the negro--over the low-sashed door. + +"I beg pardon, ma'am," said Jumbo, twitching his somewhat grizzled wool; +"I heard singing, and little missy--" + +Unfortunately Amoret here awoke, and with a shriek of horror cowered in +her arms. + +"I am so sorry," said Aurelia, anxious not to hurt his feelings. "She +knows no better." + +Jumbo grinned, bowed, and withdrew, Fay running after him, for she had +made friends with him during her days of solitude, being a fearless +child, and not having been taught to make a bugbear of him. "The soot +won't come off," she said. + +Aurelia had not a moment to herself till Fay had said the Lord's prayer +at her knee, and Amoret, with much persuasion, had been induced to lisp +out-- + + "Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, + Bless the bed I sleep upon; + Four corners to by bed, + Four angles round my head, + One to read and one to write, + And two to guard my soul at night." + +Another agony for mammy ensued, nor could Aurelia leave the child till +sleep had hushed the wailings. Then only could she take her little +writing-case to begin her letter to Betty. It would be an expensive +luxury to her family, but she knew how it would be longed for; and +though she cried a good deal over her writing, she felt as if she ought +to make the best of her position, for had not Betty said it was for her +father's sake? No, her tears must not blot the paper, to distress +those loving hearts. Yet how the drops _would_ come, gathering fast and +blinding her! Presently, through the window, came the sweet mysterious +strains of the violin, not terrifying her as before, but filling her +with an inexpressible sense of peace and calmness. She sat listening +almost as one in a dream, with her pen suspended, and when the spell was +broken by Molly's entrance with her supper, she went on in a much more +cheerful strain than she had begun. It was dull, and it was a pity that +her grand wardrobe, to say nothing of Betty's good advice, should be +wasted, but her sister would rejoice in her seclusion from the grand, +fashionable world, and her heart went out to the poor little neglected +children, whose mother could not bear the sight of them. + + + + +CHAPTER IX. THE TRIAD. + + + "I know sisters, sisters three." + + +Ere many days had passed Aurelia had drifted into what would now be +regarded as the duties of a nursery governess to her little companions. + +Fay and Amoret were always with her, and depended on her for everything. +Jenny Bowles, with a sort of animal jealousy, tried to monopolise her +charge, Letitia. The child was attracted by the sounds of her sister's +sports, and there was no keeping her from them, or from their cousin. +Then the rude untaught Jenny became cross, moped, showed spite to the +other children, and insolence to the young lady, and was fortunately +overheard by Mrs. Aylward, and dismissed. Letty did not seem to mind the +loss as Amoret had felt that of her foster-mother, for indeed Jenny had +been almost as disagreeable to her as to the others during these days of +jealousy. + +The triad were not much alike: Amoret was the largest of the three, +plump, blue-eyed, golden-haired, rosy-cheeked, a picture of the +cherub-type of child; Letitia had the delicate Delavie features and +complexion; and Fidelia, the least pretty, was pale, and rather sallow, +with deep blue eyes set under a broad forehead and dark brows, with hair +also dark. Though the smallest, she was the most advanced, and showed +signs of good training. She had some notion of good manners, and knew +as much of her hornbook [a child's primer consisting of a sheet of +parchment or paper protected by a sheet of transparent horn--D.L.] and +catechism as little girls of five were wont to know. The other two were +perfectly ignorant, but Mrs. Aylward procured hornbooks, primers, and +slates, and Aurelia began their education in a small way. + +It was a curious life. There was the great empty house, through whose +long corridors and vacant rooms the children might wander at will, +peeping at the swathed curtains of velvet pile, the rolls of carpet, and +the tapestry pictures on the walls, running and shouting in the empty +passages, or sometimes, in a fit of nameless fright, taking refuge in +Aurelia's arms. Or they might play in the stately garden, provided they +trod on no borders, and meddled with neither flower nor fruit. The old +gardener began by viewing them as his natural enemies, but soon relaxed +in amusement at their pretty sportive ways, gave them many precious +spoils, and forgave more than one naughty little inroad, which greatly +alarmed their guardian. + +Or if the little party felt enterprising, there lay beyond, the park, +its slopes covered with wild strawberries, and with woods where they +could gather flowers unchecked. Further, there was no going, except on +alternate Sundays, when there was service in the tumble-down Church at +the park gate. It was in far worse condition than the Church at home, +and was served by a poor forlorn-looking curate, who lived at Brentford, +and divided his services between four parishes, each of which was +content to put up with a fortnightly alternate morning and evening +service. The Belamour seat was a square one, without the comfortable +appliances of the Delavie closet, and thus permitting a much fuller +view, but there was nothing to be seen except a row of extremely gaudy +Belamour hatchments, displaying to the full, the saltir-wise sheafs of +arrows on the shields or lozenges, supported by grinning skulls. The +men's shields preserved their eagle crest, the women had only lozenges, +and the family motto, _Amo et Amabo_, was exchanged for the more pious +"_Resurgam_." + +Aurelia found that the family seat, whither she was marshalled by Mrs. +Aylward, was already occupied by two ladies, who rose up, and made her +stately curtsies with a decidedly disgusted air, although there was +ample space for her and Fidelia, the only one of her charges whom +she had ventured to take with her. They wore the black hoods, laced +boddices, long rolls of towering curl and open upper skirts, of Queen +Anne's day, and in the eyes of thirty years' later, looked so ridiculous +that Fay could not but stare at them the whole time, and whenever +Aurelia turned her glances from her book to see whether her little +companion was behaving herself, the big blue considering eyes were +always levelled full upon the two forms before her. + +The ladies were in keeping with their dress, thin, stiff and angular, +with worn and lined faces, highly rouged, and enormous long-handled +fans, and Aurelia was almost as much astonished as the child. + +There was a low curtseying again, and much ceremony before it was +possible to get out of the pew, and the two ladies mounted at the door +on lofty pattens which added considerably to their height, and, attended +by a loutish-looking man in livery, who carried their books, stalked of +into the village. + +Aurelia found from the communicative Molly that they were Mistress +Phoebe and Mistress Delia Treforth, kinswomen of the Belamour family, +who had in consequence a life residence rent-free in a tall thin red +square house near the churchyard, where a very gay parrot was always +to be seen in the windows. They no doubt regarded Miss Delavie and the +little Waylands as interlopers at Bowstead, and their withering glances +made Church-going a trying affair--indeed the first time that Aurelia +took little Amoret, they actually drove the sensitive child into a +sobbing fit, so that she had to be carried out, begging to know why +those ladies looked so cross at her. + +The life, on the whole, was not unhappy, except for fits of homesickness +and longing for letters. The arrival of the boxes from the carrier +was the first comfort, and then at last came a thick letter from +home, franked by Sir George Herries, and containing letters from +everybody--even a few roundhand lines from Eugene. + +Her father wrote at length all the excellent moral and religious essay +which had stuck in his throat at the parting; neither was Betty's letter +deficient in good advice, though she let it appear that the family were +much amused at Lady Belamour's affliction in her triad of daughters, the +secret having been hitherto so carefully kept that they supposed her to +have only one. + +"It will be your Charge," wrote Betty, "so far as in you lies, to render +them not merely the Graces, as my Father terms them, but the true and +faithful Guardian to these Infant Spirits. Though their Mother has shown +no Care or heed in entrusting them to you, yet remember that it is truly +the good Providence of their Heavenly Father that has put these little +Children of His in your Charge, to receive from you the first Principles +of Religion and Morals which may mould their whole Lives; and I trust +that you will do the Work faithfully and successfully. It may be dull +and tedious at Bowstead, but I had much rather hear of you thus than +exposed to the Glare of My Lady's Saloon in London. No doubt Harriet +has write to you of the Visit of young Sir Amyas, the Sunday after your +departure. We have since heard that his expedition to Monmouthshire was +with a View to his marriage to Lady Aresfield's Daughter, and this may +well be, so that if he fall in your way, you will be warned against +putting any misconstruction on any Civil Attentions he may pay to you. +Ever since your Departure Mr. Arden has redoubled his Assiduities in +a certain Quarter, and as it is thought the Dean and Chapter are not +unlikely to present him to a good Vicarage in Buckinghamshire, it is not +unlikely that ere long you may hear of a Wedding in the Family, although +Harriet would be extremely angry with me for daring to give such a +Hint." + +Certainly Aurelia would not have gathered the hint from Harriet's +letter, which was very sentimental about her own loneliness and lack of +opportunity, in contrast with Aurelia, who was seeing the world. That +elegant beau, Sir Amyas, had just given a sample to tantalise their +rusticity, and then had vanished; and here was that oddity, Mr. Arden, +more wearisome and pertinacious than ever. So tiresome! + + + + +CHAPTER X. THE DARK CHAMBER. + + + Or singst thou rather under force + Of some Divine command, + Commissioned to presage a course + Of happier days at hand? + COWPER. + + +Aurelia was coming down stairs in the twilight after singing her charges +to sleep about three weeks after her arrival, when she saw Jumbo waiting +at the bottom of the stairs. + +She had long ceased to be afraid of him. Indeed he had quite amazed her +by his good-nature in helping to lift down naughty little Letitia, who +was clambering up to the window of his master's chamber to look through +the crevices of the shutters. He had given the children a gaily dressed +rag doll, and was as delighted as they were when he played his fiddle to +them and set them dancing. + +Still, the whites of his eyes, his shining teeth, and the gold lace of +his livery had a startling effect in the darkness, and Aurelia wished he +would move away; but he was evidently waiting for her, and when she +came near he addressed her thus, "Mis'r Belamour present compliment, and +would Miss Delavie be good enough to honour him with her company for a +short visit?" + +The girl started, dismayed, alarmed, yet unwilling to be unkind to the +poor recluse, while she hoped that decorum and propriety would put the +visit out of the question. She replied that she would ask Mrs. Aylward +whether she might, and Jumbo followed her to the still-room, saying on +the way, "Mas'r heard Miss Delavie sing. He always has the window opened +to hear her. It makes him hum the air--be merry. He has not asked to +speak with lady since he heard the bad news--long, long, ago." + +Then Aurelia felt that nothing short of absolute impropriety ought to +make her gratify her shrinking reluctance. Mrs. Aylward seemed to think +her doubts uncalled for, and attributed her hesitation to fear of the +dark room. + +"Oh, no I am not so childish," said the young lady with nervous dignity; +"but would it be proper?" + +"Bless me, madam, he is as old as your father, and as civil a gentleman +as lives. I would come in with you but that I am expecting Mr. Potts +with the tallies. You need have no scruples." + +There was no excuse nor escape, and Aurelia followed the negro in +trepidation. Crossing the hall, he opened for her the door of the lobby +corresponding to her own, and saying, "Allow me, ma'am," passed before +her, and she heard another door unclosed, and a curtain withdrawn. +Beyond she only saw a gulf of darkness, but out of it came a deep manly +voice, subdued and melancholy, but gentlemanlike and deferential. + +"The young lady is so kind as to come and cheer the old hermit. A +thousand thanks, madam. Permit me." + +Aurelia's hand was taken by one soft for want of use, and she was led +forward on a deep piled carpet, and carefully placed on a chair in the +midst of the intense black darkness. There was a little movement and +then the voice said, "I am most sensible of your goodness, madam." + +"I--I am glad. You are very good, sir," murmured Aurelia, oppressed by +the gloom and the peculiar atmosphere, cool--for the windows were open +behind the shutters--but strangely fragrant. + +"How does my excellent friend, Major Delavie?" + +"I thank you, sir, he is well, though his wound troubles him from time +to time." + +"Commend me to him when you write, if you are good enough to remember +it." + +"I thank you, sir. He will be rejoiced to hear of you." + +"He does me too much honour." + +These conventionalities being exhausted, a formidable pause ensued, +first broken by Mr. Belamour, "May I ask how my fair visitor likes +Bowstead?" + +"It is a fine place, sir." + +"But somewhat lonely for so youthful a lady?" + +"I have the children, sir." + +"I often hear their cheerful voices." + +"I hope we do not disturb you, sir, I strive to restrain them, but I +fear we are all thoughtless." + +"Nay, the innocent sounds of mirth ring sweetly on my ears, like the +notes of birds. And when I have heard a charming voice singing to the +little ones, I have listened with delight. Would it be too presumptuous +to beg the air songstress to repeat her song for the old recluse?" + +"O, sir, I have only nursery ditties, caught from our old German maid," +cried Aurelia, in dismay. + +"That might not diminish the charm to me," he said. "In especial there +was one song whose notes Jumbo caught as you accompanied yourself on the +spinnet." + +And Jumbo, who seemed able to see in the dark, played a bar on his +violin, while Aurelia trembled with shyness. + +"The Nightingale Song," she said. "My dear mother learnt the tune +abroad. And I believe that she herself made the English words, when she +was asked what the nightingales say." + +"May I hear it? Nightingales can sing in the dark." Refusal was +impossible, and Jumbo's violin was a far more effective accompaniment +than her own very moderate performance on the spinnet; so in a sweet, +soft, pure, untrained and trembling voice, she sang-- + + + "O Life and Light are sweet, my dear, O life and Light are sweet; + But sweeter still the hope and cheer + When Love and Life shall meet. + Oh! then it is most sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet. + + "But Love puts on the yoke, my dear, But Love puts on the yoke; + The dart of Love calls forth the tear, + As though the heart were broke. + The very heart were broke, broke, broke, broke, broke, broke. + + "And Love can quench Life's Light, my dear, Drear, dark, and melancholy; + Seek Light and Life and jocund cheer, + And mirth and pleasing folly. + Be thine, light-hearted folly, folly, folly, folly, folly, folly. + + "'Nay, nay,' she sang. 'yoke, pain, and tear, + For Love I gladly greet; + Light, Life, and Mirth are nothing here, + Without Love's bitter sweet. + Give me Love's bitter sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet, sweet.'" + + +"Accept my fervent thanks, kind songstress. So that is the nightingale's +song, and your honoured mother's?" + +"Yes, sir. My father often makes us sing it because it reminds him of +her." + +"Philomel could not have found a better interpreter," said the grave +voice, sounding so sad that Aurelia wished she could have sung something +less affecting to his spirits. + +"I gather from what you said that you are no longer blessed with the +presence of the excellent lady, your mother," presently added Mr. +Belamour. + +"No, sir. We lost her seven years ago." + +"And her husband mourns her still. Well he may. She was a rare creature. +So she is gone! I have been so long in seclusion that no doubt time has +made no small havoc, and my friends have had many griefs to bewail." + +Aurelia knew not what answer to make, and was relieved when he collected +himself and said:-- + +"I will trespass no longer on my fair visitor's complaisance, but if she +have not found the gloom of this apartment insupportable, it would be a +charitable action to brighten it once more with her presence." + +"O sir, I will come whenever you are pleased to send for me," she +exclaimed, all her doubts, fears, and scruples vanishing at his tone of +entreaty. "My father would be so glad. I will practise my best song to +sing to you to-morrow." + +"My best thanks are yours," and her hand was taken, she was carefully +conducted to the door and dismissed with a gentle pressure of her +fingers, and a courteous: "Goodnight, madam; _Au revoir_, if I may +venture to say so." + +By contrast, the hall looked almost light, and Aurelia could see the +skip of joy with which Jumbo hurried to fetch a candle. As he gave it to +her, he made his teeth flash from ear to ear, as he exclaimed: "Pretty +missy bring new life to mas'r!" + +Thus did a new element come into Aurelia's life. She carefully prepared +Harriet's favourite song, a French _romance_, but Mr. Belamour did not +like it equally well with the Nightingale, which he made her repeat, +rewarding her by telling her of the charming looks and manners of her +mother, so that she positively enjoyed her visit. The next night he made +inquiries into her walks at Bowstead, asking after the favourite nooks +of his childhood, and directing her to the glades where grew the largest +dewberries and sweetest blackberries. This led to her recital of a +portion of _Midsummer Night's Dream_, for he drew her on with thanks at +every pause: "I have enjoyed no such treat for many years," he said. + +"There are other pieces that I can recite another time," said Aurelia +timidly. + +"You will confer a great favour on me," he answered. + +So she refreshed her memory by a mental review of _Paradise Lost_ over +her embroidery frame, and was ready with Adam's morning hymn, which was +much relished. Compliments on her elocution soon were turned by her into +the praise of "sister," and as she became more at ease, the strange man +in the dark listened with evident delight to her pretty fresh prattle +about sister and brother, and father and home. Thus it had become a +daily custom that she should spend the time between half past seven and +nine in the company of the prisoner of darkness, and she was beginning +to look forward to it as the event of the day. She scarcely expected +to be sent for on Sunday evening, but Jumbo came as usual with the +invitation, and she was far from sorry to quit a worm-eaten Baxter's +_Saints' Rest_ which she had dutifully borrowed from Mrs. Aylward. + +"Well, my fair visitor," said the voice which had acquired a tone of +pleased anticipation, "what mental repast has your goodness provided?" + +"It is Sunday, sir." + +"Ah!" as if it had not occurred to him, and with some disappointment. + +"I could say the Psalms by heart, sir, if you would like it, for it is +the 20th day of the month." + +"Thank you. Your voice can make anything sweet." + +Aurelia was shocked, and knew that Betty would be more so, but she was +too shy to do anything except to begin: "Praise thou the Lord, O my +soul." + +It was a fortunate thing that it was a Psalm of such evident beauty, for +it fell less familiarly on his ear than her passages from the poets. At +the end he said: "Yes, that is true poetry. Praise fits well with happy +young lips. You have been to church?" + +"No, sir, Mr. Greaves does not come to-day." + +"Then how did the gentle saint perform her orisons?" + +"Please do not so call me, sir! I tried to read the service, but I could +not get the children to be still, so I had to tell them about Joseph, +and I found a beautiful Bible full of pictures, like our Dutch one at +home." + +"You found the old Bible? My mother used to show it to my brother and +me--my poor mother!" + +He mentioned one or two of the engravings, which he had never forgotten, +but the evening was less of a success than usual, and Aurelia doubted +whether we would wish for her that day se'nnight. All her dread of him +was gone; she knew she had brought a ray of brightness into his solitary +broken life, and her mind was much occupied with the means of affording +him pleasure. Indeed she might have wearied of the lack of all +companionship save that of the young children; and converse with a +clever highly cultivated mind was stimulating and expanding all her +faculties. When the stores or her memory were becoming exhausted, Jumbo +was bidden to open a case of books which had lain untouched since they +were sent sown from Mr. Belamour's chambers at the Temple, and they were +placed at her disposal. Here was Mr. Alexander Pope's translation of the +_Iliad_ of Homer, which had appeared shortly before the fatal duel, +and Aurelia eagerly learnt whole pages of it by heart for the evening's +amusement, enjoying extremely the elucidations and criticisms of her +auditor, who would dwell on a passage all day, beg to have it repeated +a second time in the evening, and then tell her what his memory or +his reflection had suggested about it. Moreover, having heard some +inexplicable report, through Jumbo, of the Porteous mob, Mr. Belamour +became curious to learn the truth, and this led to his causing the +newspapers to be sent weekly to be read and reported to him by Aurelia. +It seemed incredible that a man of much ability should have been content +to spend all these years in the negro's sole society, but no doubt the +injury done to the brain had been aggravated by grief and remorse, so +that he had long lain, with suspended faculties, in a species of living +death; whence he had only gradually, and as it were unconsciously, +advanced to his present condition. Perhaps Mr. Wayland's endeavours to +rouse him had come too soon, or in a less simple and attractive +form, for they had been reluctantly received and had proved entirely +unsuccessful; while the child-like efforts of the girl, following his +lead instead of leading him, were certainly awakening him, and renewing +his spirits and interest in the world at large in an unlooked-for +manner. + + + + +CHAPTER XI. A VOICE FROM THE GRAVE. + + + He hath a word for thee to speak. + KEBLE. + + +No difference was made to Aurelia's visits to Mr. Belamour on Sunday +evenings, but he respected her scruples against indulgence in profane +literature, and encouraged her to repeat passages of Scripture, +beginning to taste the beauty of the grand cadences falling from her +soft measured voice. Thus had she come to the Sermon on the Mount, and +found herself repeating the expansion of the Sixth Commandment ending +with, "And thou be cast into prison. Verily I say unto thee, thou shalt +not come out thence until thou hast paid the uttermost farthing." + +A groan startled her. Then came the passage and the unhappy man's +history with a sudden stab. A horror of the darkness fell on her. She +felt as if he were in the prison and she reproaching him, and cried +out--"O sir, forgive me. I forgot; I did not say it on purpose." + +"No, my child, it was Mary speaking by your voice. No, Mary, I shall +never come out. It will never be paid." + +She shook with fright as Jumbo touched her, saying, "Missee, go; mas'r +bear no more;" but, as she rose to go away, a sweet impulse made her +pause and say, "It is paid, _He_ paid. You know Who did--in his own +Blood." + +Jumbo drew her away almost by force, and when outside, exclaimed, +"Missee never speak of blood or kill to mas'r--he not bear it. Head turn +again--see shapes as bad as ever." + +The poor child cried bitterly, calling herself cruel, thoughtless, +presumptuous; and for the next few days Jumbo's eyes glared at her as he +reported his master to be very ill; but, on the third day, he came +for her as usual. She thought Mr. Belamour's tones unwontedly low and +depressed, but no reference was made to the Sunday, and she was glad +enough to plunge into the council of Olympus. + +A day or two later, Dame Wheatfield sent her husband with an urgent +invitation to Miss Amoret with her sisters and cousin to be present at +her harvest home. Mrs. Aylward, with a certain tone of contempt, gave +her sanction to their going with Molly, by the help of the little pony +cart used about the gardens. Aurelia, in high glee, told Mr. Belamour, +who encouraged her to describe all her small adventures, and was her +oracle in all the difficult questions that Fidelia's childish wisdom was +wont to start. + +"To Wheatfield's farm, did you say? That is in Sedhurst. There are but +three fields between it and the church." + +Presently he added: "I am tempted to ask a great kindness, though I know +not whether it will be possible to you." + +"Indeed, sir, I will do my utmost." + +"There are two graves in Sedhurst Church, I have never dared to inquire +about them. Would it be asking too much from my gentle friend to beg of +her to visit them, and let me hear of them." + +"I will, I will, sir, with all my heart." + +By eight o'clock the next evening she was again with him, apologizing +for being late. + +"I scarcely expected this pleasure to-night. These rural festivities are +often protracted." + +"O sir, I was heartily glad to escape and to get the children away. The +people were becoming so rude and riotous that I was frightened. I never +would have gone, had I known what it would be like, but at home the +people are fond of asking us to their harvest feasts, and they always +behave well whilst we are there." + +"No doubt they hold your father in respect." + +"Yes," said Aurelia, unwilling to tell him how much alarmed and offended +she had been, though quite unintentionally. Dame Wheatfield only +intended hospitality; but in her eyes "Miss" was merely a poor +governess, and that to the little Waylands--mere interlopers in the eyes +of the Belamour tenantry. So the good woman had no idea that the rough +gallantry of the young farmer guests was inappropriate, viewing it as +the natural tribute to her guest's beauty, and mistaking genuine offence +for mere coyness, until, finding it was real earnest, considerable +affront was taken at "young madam's fine airs, and she only a poor +kinswoman of my Lady's!" Quite as ill was it received that the young +lady had remonstrated against the indigestible cakes and strange +beverages administered to all her charges, and above all to Amoret. She +had made her escape on the plea of early hours for the children, leaving +Molly behind her, just as the boisterous song was beginning in which +Jack kisses Bet, Joe kisses Sue, Tom kisses Nan, &c. down to poor +Dorothy Draggletail, who is left in the lurch. The farewell had been +huffy. "A good evening to you, madam; I am sorry our entertainment +was not more to your taste." She had felt guilty and miserable at the +accusation of pride, and she could not imagine how Mrs. Aylward could +have let her go without a warning; the truth being that Mrs. Aylward +despised her taste, but thought she knew what a harvest supper was like. + +All this was passed over in silence by Aurelia's pride and delicacy. She +only described the scene when the last waggon came in with its load, the +horses decked with flowers and ribbons, and the farmer's youngest girl +enthroned on the top of the shocks, upholding the harvest doll. This was +a little sheaf, curiously constructed and bound with straw plaits +and ribbons. The farmer, on the arrival in the yard, stood on the +horse-block, and held it high over the heads of all the harvesters, and +the chorus was raised: + + "A knack, a knack, a knack, + Well cut, well bound, + Well shocked, well saved from the ground, + Whoop! whoop! whoop!" + +After which the harvest doll displaced her last year's predecessor over +the hearth, where she was to hang till next year. + +All this Aurelia described, comparing the customs with those of her own +county, her heart beating all the time under the doubt how to venture on +describing the fulfilment of her commission. At last Mr. Belamour said, + +"In such a scene of gaiety, no doubt the recollection of sorrow had no +place." + +"O sir, you could not think I should forget." + +"I thought I might have asked more than was possible to you." + +"It was the only part of the day that I enjoyed. I took little Fay with +me, for no one seemed to care for her, while Amy was queening it with +all the Wheatfields, and Letty was equally happy with her foster mother. +I could see the church spire, so I needed not to ask the way, and we +crossed the stubble fields, while the sun sent a beautiful slanting +light through the tall elm trees that closed in the churchyard, but +let one window glitter between them like a great diamond. It looked so +peaceful after all the noise we left behind, even little Fay felt it, +and said she loved the quiet walk along the green baulks [An unplowed +strip of land--D.L.]. The churchyard has a wooden rail with steps to +cross it on either side, and close under the church wall is a tomb, a +great square simple block, surmounted by an urn." + +"Yes, let me hear," said the voice, eager, though stifled. + +"I thought it might be what you wished me to see and went up to read the +names." + +"Do not spare. Never fear. Let me hear the very words." + +"On one face of the block there was a name-- + + + 'WILLIAM SEDHURST, + _AGED_ 27, + DIED MAY 13, 1729.' + + +On the other side was this inscription:-- + + + 'MARY, + ONLY DAUGHTER OF GEORGE SEDHURST, ESQUIRE, + _AGED_ 19, + DIED AUGUST 1st, 1729. + + _Love is strong as Death. + Sorrow not as others that have no Hope_.' + + +In smaller letters down below, 'This epitaph is at her own special +request.' + +"Sir," continued Aurelia, "it was very curious. I should not have +observed those words if it had not been that a large beautiful +butterfly, with rainbow eyes on its wings, sat sunning itself on the +white marble, and Fay called me to look at it." + +"Her message! May I ask you to repeat it again?" + +"The texts? 'Love is strong as death. Sorrow not as others that have no +hope.'" + +"Did you call them Scripture texts?" + +"Yes, sir; I know the last is in one of the Epistles, and I will look +for the other." + +"It matters not. She intended them for a message to me who lay in utter +darkness and imbecility well befitting her destroyer." + +"Nay, they have come to you at last," said Aurelia gently. "You really +never knew of them before?" + +"No, I durst not ask, nor did any one dare to speak to me. My brother, +who alone would have done so, died, I scarcely know when; but ere the +very consciousness of my own wretched existence had come back to me. +Once again repeat the words, gentle messenger of mercy." + +She obeyed, but this time he mournfully murmured, "Hope! What hope for +their destroyer?" + +"They are God's words, as well as hers," the girl answered, with +diffident earnestness, but in reply she only heard tightened breaths, +which made her say, "You cannot bear more, sir. Let me call Jumbo, and +bid you good night." + +Jumbo came at the mention of his name. Somehow he was so unlike other +human beings, and so wholly devoted to his master, that it never seemed +to be a greater shock to find that he had been present than if he had +been a faithful dog. + +A few days later he told Aurelia that Mas'r was not well enough to see +her. He had set forth as soon as the moon had set, and walked with his +trusty servant to Sedhurst, where he had traced with his finger the +whole inscription, lingering so long that the sun was above the horizon +before he could get home; and he was still lying on the bed where he +had thrown himself on first coming in, having neither spoken nor eaten +since. Jumbo could not but grumble out that Mas'r was better left to +himself. + +Yet when Aurelia on the third evening was recalled, there was a ring of +refreshment in the voice. It was still melancholy, but the dejection +was lessened, and though it was only of Achilles and Patroclus that +they talked, she was convinced that the pressure of the heavy burthen of +grief and remorse was in some degree lightened. + + + + +CHAPTER XII. THE SHAFTS OF PHOEBE. + + + Her golden bow she bends, + Her deadly arrows sending forth. + _Greek Hymn_ (KEIGHTLEY). + + +On coming in from a walk, Aurelia was surprised by the tidings that +Mistress Phoebe Treforth had come to call on her, and had left a +billet. The said billet was secured with floss silk sealed down in the +antiquated fashion, and was written on full-sized quarto paper. These +were the contents:-- + + +"Madam, + + "My Sister and Myself are desirous of the Honour of your + Acquaintance, and shall be happy if you will do use the + Pleasure of coming to partake of Dinner at Three o'Clock + on Tuesday, the 13th instant. + + "I remain, + "Yours to command, + "DELIA TREFORTH." + + +Aurelia carried the invitation to her oracle. + +"My cousins are willing to make your acquaintance?" said he. "That is +well. Jumbo shall escort you home in the evening." + +"Thank you, sir, but must I accept the invitation?" + +"It could not be declined without incivility. Moreover, the Mistresses +Treforth are highly respected, and your father and sister will certainly +think it well for you to have female friends." + +"Do you think those ladies could ever be my friends, sir?" she asked, +with an intonation that made him reply, with a sound of amusement. + +"I am no judge in such matters, but they are ladies connected and +esteemed, who might befriend and counsel you in case of need, and at any +rate, it is much more suitable that you should be on terms of friendly +intercourse with them. I am heartily glad they have shown you this +attention." + +"I do not mean to be ungrateful, sir." + +"And I think you have disproved that + + Crabbed age and youth + Cannot live together." + +"If they were only like you, sir!" + +"What would they say to that?" he said with the slight laugh that had +begun to enliven his voice. "I suppose your charges are not included in +the invitation?" + +"No; but Molly can take care of them, if my Lady will not object to my +leaving them." + +"She cannot reasonably do so." + +"And, sir, shall I be permitted to come home in time for you to receive +me?" + +"I fear I must forego that pleasure. The ladies will insist on cards and +supper. Jumbo shall come for you at nine o'clock." + +Aurelia submitted, and tripped down arrayed in the dress that recalled +the fete at Carminster, except that only a little powder was sprinkled +on her temples. The little girls jumped round her in admiring ecstasy, +and, under Molly's charge, escorted her to the garden gate, and hovered +outside to see her admitted, while she knocked timidly at the door, in +the bashful alarm of making her first independent visit. + +The loutish man ushered her into a small close room, containing a cat, +a little spaniel, a green parrot, a spinning-wheel, and an embroidery +frame. There were also the two old ladies, dressed with old-fashioned +richness, a little faded, and a third, in a crimson, gold-laced joseph +[A long riding coat with a small cape, worn by women in the 18th +century.--D.L.], stout, rubicund, and hearty, to whom Aurelia was +introduced thus-- + +"Mrs. Hunter, allow me to present to you Miss Delavie, a relative of my +Lady Belamour. Miss Delavie, Mrs. Hunter of Brentford." + +"I am most happy to make your acquaintance, Miss," said the lady, in a +jovial voice, and Aurelia made her curtsey, but at that moment the +man announced that dinner was served, whereupon Mrs. Delia handed Mrs. +Hunter in, and Mrs. Phoebe took the younger guest. + +The ladies' faces both bore token of their recent attention to the +preparation of the meal, and the curious dishes would have been highly +interesting to Betty, but there was no large quantity of any, and a +single chicken was the _piece de resistance_, whence very tiny helps +were dealt out, and there was much unnecessary pressing to take a little +more, both of that and of the brace of partridges which succeeded it. As +to conversation, there was room for none, except hospitable invitations +from the hostesses to take the morsels that they cut for their guests, +praises of the viands from Mrs. Hunter, and endeavours to fish at the +recipes, which the owners guarded jealously as precious secrets. Aurelia +sat perfectly silent, as was then reckoned as proper in a young lady of +her age, except when addressed. A good deal of time was also expended in +directing John Stiggins, the ladies' own man, and George Brown, who had +ridden with Mrs. Hunter from Brentford, in the disposal of the dishes, +and the handing of the plates. George Brown was the more skilled +waiter, and as the man who was at home did not brook interference, their +disputes were rude and audible, and kept the ladies in agonies lest they +should result in ruin to the best china. + +At last, however, the cloth was removed, walnuts, apples, pears, and +biscuits were placed on the table, a glass of wine poured out for each +lady, and the quartette, with the cat and dog, drew near the sunny +window, where there was a little warmth. It was a chilly day, but no one +ever lighted a fire before the 5th of November, Old Style. + +Then began one of those catechisms which fortunately are less unpleasant +to youth and simplicity than they are to persons of an age to resent +inquiry, and who have more resources of conversation. In truth, Aurelia +was in the eyes of the Treforth sisters, descendants of a former Sir +Jovian, only my Lady's poor kinswoman sent down to act _gouvernante_ to +the Wayland brats, who had been impertinently quartered in the Belamour +household. She would have received no further notice, had it not been +reported through the servants that "young Miss" spent the evenings +with their own cousin, from whom they had been excluded ever since his +illness. + +The subject was approached through interrogations on Miss Delavie's home +and breeding, how she had travelled, and what were her accomplishments, +also whether she were quite sure that none of the triad was either +imbecile nor deformed. Mrs. Hunter seemed to have heard wonderful +rumours about the poor children. + +"Has their lady mother seen them?" + +"Yes, madam. She had been there with them shortly before my arrival." + +"Only once in their lives!" There was a groan of censure such as would +have fired the loyal Major in defence. + +"No wonder, Sister Phoebe, my Lady Belamour does not lead the life of a +tender mother." + +"She has the little boy, Archer, with her in London," Aurelia ventured +to say. + +"And a perfect puppet she makes of the poor child," said Mrs. Hunter. +"My sister Chetwynd saw him with his mother at a masquerade, my Lady +Belamour flaunting as Venus, and he, when he ought to have been in his +bed, dressed in rose-colour and silver, with a bow and arrows, and gauze +wings on his shoulders!" + +"What will that child come to?" + +"Remember, Sister Delia, he is no kin of ours. He is only a Wayland!" +returned Mrs. Phoebe, in an accent as if the Waylands were the most +contemptible of vermin. + +"I hope," added Mrs. Delia, "that these children are never permitted to +incommode our unfortunate cousin, Mr. Belamour." + +"I trust not, madam," said Aurelia. "Their rooms are at a distance from +his; they are good children, and he says he likes to hear young voices +in the gardens." + +"You have, then, seen Mr. Belamour?" + +"I cannot say that I have seen him," said Aurelia, modestly; "but I have +conversed with him." + +"Indeed! Alone with him?" + +"Jumbo was there." + +The two old ladies drew themselves up, while Mrs. Hunter chuckled and +giggled. "Indeed!" said Mrs. Phoebe; "we should never see a gentleman in +private without each other's company, or that of some female companion." + +"I consulted Mrs. Aylward," returned Aurelia, "and she said he was old +enough to be my father." + +"Mrs. Aylward may be a respectable housekeeper, though far too lavish of +butcher's meat, but I should never have recourse to her on a matter of +decorum," said Mrs. Phoebe. + +Aurelia's cheeks burnt, but she still defended herself. "I have heard +from my father and my sister," she said, "and they make no objection." + +"Hoity-toity! What means this heat, miss?" exclaimed Mrs. Phoebe; "I am +only telling you, as a kindness, what we should have thought becoming +with regard even to a blood relation of our own." + +"Thank you, ma'am," said Aurelia; "but, you see, you are so much nearer +his age, that the cases are not alike." + +She said it in all simplicity, and did not perceive, at first, why the +two sisters drew themselves up in so much offence, or why Mrs. Hunter +cried, "Oh, fie, for shame, you saucy chit! Bless me!" she continued, +more good-naturedly, "Cousin Phoebe, times are changed since we were +young, and poor Sir Jovian and his brother were the county beaux. The +child is right enough when one comes to think of it; and for my part, I +should be glad that poor Mr. Amyas had some one young and cheerful about +him. It is only a pity his nephew, the young baronet, never comes down +to see him." + +"Like mother like son," said Mrs. Phoebe; "I grieve to think what the +old place will come to." + +"Well," said Mrs. Hunter, "I do not hear the young gentleman ill spoken +of; though, more's the pity, he is in a bad school with Colonel Mar for +his commanding officer, the fine gallant who is making his mother the +talk of the town!" + +The gossip and scandal then waxed fast and furious on the authority of +Mrs. Hunter's sister, but no one paid any more attention to Aurelia, +except that when there was an adjournment to the next room, she was +treated with such double stiffness and ceremony as to make her feel that +she had given great offence, and was highly disapproved of by all but +Mrs. Hunter. And Aurelia could not like her, for her gossip had been far +broader and coarser than that of the Mistresses Treforth, who, though +more bitter were more of gentlewomen. Happily much of what passed was +perfectly unintelligible to Betty's carefully shielded pupil, who sat +all the time with the cat on her lap, listening to its purring music, +but feeling much more inclined to believe nothing against my Lady, after +her father's example, than to agree with those who were so evidently +prejudiced. Tea was brought in delicate porcelain cups, then followed +cards, which made the time pass less drearily till supper. This +consisted of dishes still tinier than those at dinner, and it was +scarcely ended when it was announced that Jumbo had come for Miss +Delavie. + +Gladly she departed, after an exchange of curtsies, happily not hearing +the words behind her:-- + +"An artful young minx." + +"And imagine the impudence of securing Jumbo's attendance, forsooth!" + +"Nay," said Mrs. Hunter, "she seemed to me a pretty modest young +gentlewoman enough." + +"Pretty! Yes, she comes of my Lady's own stock, and will be just such +another." + +"Yes; it is quite plain that it is true that my Lady sent her here +because she had been spreading the white apron for the young baronet." + +"And now she is trying her arts on poor cousin Amyas Belamour. You heard +how she would take no advice, and replied with impertinence." + +"Shall you give my Lady a hint?" + +"Not I. I have been treated with too much insolence by Lady Belamour +to interfere with her again," said Mrs. Phoebe, drawing herself up; "I +shall let things take their course unless I can remonstrate with my own +kinsman." + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. THE FLUTTER OF HIS WINGS. + + + Then is Love's hour to stray! + Oh, how he flies away!--T. MOORE. + + +Meanwhile Aurelia, mounted on a pair of pattens brought by the negro +to keep her above the dew, was crossing the park by the light of a fine +hunter's moon, Jumbo marching at a respectful distance in the rear. He +kept on chuckling to himself with glee, and when she looked round at +him, he informed her with great exultation that "Mas'r had not been +alone. His honour had been to see him. Mas'r so glad." + +"Sir Amyas!" exclaimed Aurelia: "Is he there still?" + +"No, missie. He went away before supper." + +"Did he see the young ladies?" + +"Oh, yes, missie. He came before mas'r up, quite promiskius," said +Jumbo, who loved a long word. "I tell him, wait till mas'r be dress, +and took him to summer parlour. He see little missies out in garden; +ask what chil'ren it was. His Hounour's sisters, Miss Fay, Missie Letty, +Missie Amy, I say! His Honour wonder. 'My sisters,' he say, 'my sisters +here,' and out he goes like a flash of lightning and was in among them." + +Aurelia's first thought was "Oh, I hope they were clean and neat, and +that they behaved themselves. I wish I had been at home." Wherewith +followed the recollection that Sir Amyas had been called her beau, +and her cheeks burnt; but the recent disagreeable lecture on etiquette +showed her that it would only have led to embarrassment and vexation +to have had any question of an interview with a young gentleman by so +little her elder. Nor would she have known what to say to him. Old Mr. +Belamour in the dark was a very different matter, and she had probably +had an escape from much awkwardness. + +Molly received her with her favourite exclamation: "Lawk, miss, and who +do you think have been here?" + +"Jumbo told me, Molly." + +"Ain't he a perfect pictur of a man? And such a gentleman! He gave me +a whole goolden guinea for my good care of his little sisters, and says +he: 'Their father shall hear of them, and what little ladies they be.'" + +"I am glad they behaved themselves prettily." + +"Yes, that they did, ma'am. It was good luck that they had not been +grubbing in their gardens as you lets 'em do, ma'am, but they was all as +clean as a whistle, a picking up horse-chestnuts under the big tree +at the corner of the bowling green, when out on the steps we sees him, +looking more like an angel than a man, in his red coat, and the goold +things on his shoulders, and out he comes! Miss Amy, she was afeard at +first: 'Be the soldiers a coming?' says she, and runs to me; but Miss +Letty, she holds out her arms, and says "It's my papa," and Miss Fay, +she stood looking without a word. Then when his Honour was in among +them: "My little sisters, my dear little sisters," says he, "don't you +know me?" and down he goes on one knee in the grass, never heeding his +beautiful white small-clothes, if you'll believe me, miss, and holds out +his arms, and gets Miss Fay into one arm, and Miss Letty into t'other, +and then Miss Amy runs up, and he kisses them all. Then miss Letty says +again 'Are you my papa from foreign parts?' and he laughs and says: 'No, +little one, I'm your brother. Did you never hear of your brother Amyas?' +and Miss Fay stood off a little and clapped her little hands, and says: +'O brother Amyas, how beautiful you are!'" + +Aurelia could not help longing to know whether she had been mentioned, +but she did not like to inquire, and she was obliged to rest satisfied +with the assurance that her little girls had comported themselves like +jewels, like lambs, like darling lumps of sugar, or whatever metaphors +were suggested by the imagination of Molly, who had, apparently, usurped +the entire credit of their good manners. It was impossible to help +feeling a little aggrieved, or, maugre [in spite of--D.L.] all +inconvenient properties to avoid wishing to have been under the +horse-chestnut tree, even though she might have shown herself just such +a bashful little speechless fool as she had been when Sir Amyas had +danced with her at Carminster. + +She was destined to hear a good deal more of the visitor the next day. +The children met her with the cry of "Cousin Aura, our brother"--"our +big beautiful brother--Brother Amyas."--They were with difficulty calmed +into saying their prayers, and Amoret startled the little congregation +by adding to "bless by father, my mother, my brothers and sisters," +"and pray bless big brother Amyas best of all, for I love him very much +indeed!" + +All day little facts about "brother Amyas" kept breaking out. Brother +Amyas had beautiful gold lace, brother Amyas had a red and white +feather; brother Amyas had given Fay and Letty each a ride on his +shoulder, but Amy was afraid; brother Amyas said their papa would love +them very much. He had given them each a new silver shilling, and Amoret +had in return presented him with her doll's beautiful pink back-string +that Cousin Aura had made for her. This wonderful brother had asked +who had taught them to be such pretty little gentlewomen, and at this +Aurelia's heart beat a little, but provoking Fidelia replied: "I told +him my Mammy Rolfe taught me to be genteel," and Letty added: "And he +said Fay was a conceited little pussy cat." + +A strange indefinable feeling between self-respect and shyness made +Aurelia shrink from the point-blank question whether the ungrateful +little things had acknowledged their obligations to her. She was +always hoping they would say something of their own accord, and always +disappointed. + +Evening came, and she eagerly repaired to the dark room, wondering, yet +half dreading to enter on the subject, and beginning by an apology for +having by no means perfected herself in Priam's visit to Achilles. + +"If you have been making visits," said Mr. Belamour: "I too have had a +visitor." + +"The children told me so," she answered. + +"He was greatly delighted with them," said Mr. Belamour. + +"While they, poor little things, never were more happy in their lives. +He must have been very kind to them, yet he did not know that they were +here." + +"His mother is not communicative respecting them. Ladies who love power +seek to preserve it by making little mysteries." + +"It was to see you, sir, that he came." + +"Yes. He ingenuously avowed that he had always been urged to do so by +his stepfather, but his mother has always put obstacles in the way, and +assured him that he would not gain admission. I have certainly refused +to see her, but this is a very different matter--my brother's only +child, my godson, and my ward!" + +"I am very glad he has come to see you, sir, and I am sure it has given +you pleasure." + +"Pleasure in seeing that he is a lad of parts, and of an ingenuous, +affectionate, honest nature, but regret in perceiving how I failed in +the confidence that his father reposed in me." + +"But, sir, you could not help it!" + +"Once I could not. It was, I know not how long, before I knew that my +brother was no more; and thinking myself dead to the world and the +world to me, I took no heed to what, it now seems to me, I was told of +guardianship to the boy. I was incapable of fulfilling any such charge, +and I shunned the pain of hearing of it," he continued, rather as if +talking to himself than to his auditor. "When I could, I gave them +my name and they asked no more. Yet what did they tell me of a sealed +letter from my brother, addressed to me? True, I heard of it more than +once, but I could ask no one to read it to me, and I closed my ears. In +Wayland's hands I knew the youth was well cared for, and only now do I +feel that I have ill requited my brother's confidence." + +"Indeed, sir, I cannot see how you could have done otherwise," said +Aurelia, who could not bear to hear his tone of self-reproach. + +"My amiable visitor!" he exclaimed, as though recalled to a sense of +her presence. "Excuse the absence of mind which has inflicted on you the +selfish murmurs of the old recluse. Tell me how you prospered with my +cousins, whom I remember as sprightly maidens. Phoebe had somewhat of +the prude, Delia of the coquette." + +"I could imagine what you say of Mistress Phoebe, sir, better than of +Mistress Delia." + +"Had they any guests to meet you?" + +"A Mrs. Hunter, sir, from Brentford, a doctor's wife I suppose." + +"You are right. She was a cousin of theirs on the other side of the +house, a loud-voiced buxom lass, who was thought to have married beneath +here when she took Dr. Hunter; but apparently they have forgiven her." + +Mr. Belamour was evidently much interested and amused by Aurelia's small +experiences and observations, such as they were. In spite of the sense +of past omission which had been aroused by his nephew's visit, it had +evidently raised his spirits, for he laughed when Aurelia spiced her +descriptions with a little playful archness, and his voice became more +cheery. + +So, too, it was on the ensuing evening when Aurelia, to compensate for +the last day's neglect, came primed with three or four pages of the +conversation between Priam and Achilles, which she rehearsed with great +feeling, thinking, like Pelides himself, of her own father and home. It +was requited with a murmured "Bravo," and Mr. Belamour then begged of +her, if she were not weary, to favour him with the Nightingale Song, +Jumbo as usual accompanying her with his violin. At the close there was +again a "Bravo! Truly exquisite!" in a tone as if the hermit were really +finding youth and life again. Once more at his request, she sang, and +was applauded with even more fervour, with a certain tremulous eagerness +in the voice. Yet there was probably a dread of the excitement being +too much, for this was followed by "Thank you, kind songstress, I could +listen for ever, but it is becoming late, and I must not detain you +longer." + +She found herself handed out of the room, with somewhat curtailed good +nights, although nine o'clock, her usual signal, had not yet struck. +When she came into the lamplit hall, Jumbo was grinning and nodding like +a maniac, and when she asked what was the matter, he only rolled his +eyes, and said, "Missie good! Mas'r like music!" + +The repressed excitability she had detected made her vaguely nervous +(not that she would have so called herself), and as the next day was the +blank Sunday, she appeased and worked off her restlessness by walking +with the children to Sedhurst church. It was the sixteenth Sunday after +Trinity, and the preacher, who had caught somewhat of the fire of Wesley +and Whitfield, preached a sermon which arrested her attention, +and filled her with new thoughts. Taking the Epistle and Gospel in +connection, he showed the death-in-life of indifference, and the +quickening touch of the Divine Love, awakening the dead spirit into true +life. On that life, with its glow of love, hope, and joy, the preacher +dwelt with enthusiasm such as Aurelia had never heard, and which carried +her quite out of herself. Tears of emotion trembled in her eyes, and she +felt a longing desire to walk on in that path of love to her Maker, whom +she seemed to have never known before. + +She talked with a new fervour to the children of the birds and flowers, +and all the fair things they loved, as the gifts of their Father in +Heaven; and when she gathered them round the large pictured Bible, it +was to the Gospel that she turned as she strove to draw their souls to +the appreciation of the Redeeming Love there shown. She saw in Fay's +deep eyes and thoughtful brow that the child was taking it in, though +differently from Amy, who wanted to kiss the picture, while Letty asked +those babyish material questions about Heaven that puzzle wiser heads +than Aurelia's to answer. + +So full was she of the thought, that she forgot her sense of something +strange and unaccountable in Mr. Belamour's manner before the evening, +nor was there anything to remind her of it afresh, for he was as calmly +grave and kindly courteous as ever; and he soon led her to pour forth +all her impressions of the day. Indeed she repeated to him great part of +the sermon, with a voice quivering with earnestness and emotion. He +was not stirred in the same way as she had been, saying in his pensive +meditative way, "The preacher is right. Love is life. The misfortune is +when we stake our all on one love alone, and that melts from us. Then +indeed there is death--living death!" + +"But there is never-failing love, and new life that never dies!" cried +Aurelia, almost transported out of herself. + +"May you ever keep hold of both unobscured, my sweet child," he +returned, with a sadness that repressed and drove her back into herself +again, feeling far too childish and unworthy to help him to that +new life and love; though her young heart yearned over him in his +desolation, and her soul was full of supplication for him. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. THE CANON OF WINDSOR. + + + Turn, gentle hermit of the dale.--GOLDSMITH. + + +"My child, will you do me a favour?" said Mr. Belamour the next evening, +in a tone no longer formal, but paternal. "Take this packet" (he put +one into the girl's hand) "to the light and inform me what is the +superscription." + +It was a thick letter, with a large red wax seal, bearing the well known +arms of Belamour and Delavie, and the address was + + + To AMYAS BELAMOUR, ESQ., K.C., + + OF THE INNER TEMPLE, LONDON. +To be opened after my death.] + + JOVIAN BELAMOUR. + Dec. 14th, 1727. + + +"I thought so," said Mr. Belamour, when she returned to him with +intelligence. "Little did my poor brother guess how long it would be +unopened! Will my gentle friend confer another obligation on me?" + +Aurelia made her ready assent, hoping to be asked to read the letter, +when he continued, "I cannot read this myself. Even could I bear the +light, the attempt to fix my eyes sends darts shooting through my +brain, which would take away my very power of comprehension. But," he +continued, "there are only two men living to whom I could entrust my +brother's last words to me. One, your own good father, is out of +reach; the other has frequently proffered his good offices and has been +rejected. Would you add to your kindness that of writing to entreat my +old friend, Dr. Godfrey, to favour with a visit one who has too often +and ungratefully refused him admission." + +Feminine curiosity felt balked, but Aurelia was ashamed of the +sensation, and undertook the task. Instructions were given her that she +was to write-- + + + "If Amyas Belamour's old Schoolfellow and Friend can overlook and + pardon the undeserved Rebuffs to His Constancy and Solicitude for + a lonely and sullen Wretch, and will once more come and spend a + Night at Bowstead, he will confer an inestimable Favour upon one + who is more sensible of his Goodness than when it has been + previously offered." + + +This letter, written in Aurelia's best Italian hand, on a large sheet +of paper, she brought with her the next evening. She was bidden to fold +down the exact place for the signature, which Mr. Belamour proceeded +to affix, and she was then to carry it to the candles in the lobby, and +there fold, seal, and address it to the Reverend Edward Godfrey, D.D., +Canon of Windsor, Windsor. She found the A. Belamour very fairly written +except that it was not horizontal, and she performed the rest of the +task with ladylike dexterity, sealing it with a ring that had been +supplied for the purpose. It did not, as she expected, bear the Belamour +sheaf of arrows, but was a gem, representing a sleeping Cupid with +folded wings, so beautiful that she asked leave to take another +impression for Harriet, who collected seals, after the fashion of the +day. + +"You are welcome," Mr. Belamour replied. "I doubt its great antiquity, +since the story of Cupid and Psyche cannot be traced beyond Apuleius. +I used it because Dr. Godfrey will remember it. He was with me at Rome +when I purchased it." + +The ring was of the size for a lady's finger, and Aurelia durst ask no +more. + +How the letter was sent she knew not, but Mrs. Aylward was summoned to +Mr. Belamour's room, and desired to have a room ready at any time for +his friend. + +Three days later, towards sunset, a substantial-looking clergyman, +attended by two servants, rode up to the door; and was immediately +appropriated by Jumbo, disappearing into the mysterious apartments; +Aurelia expected no summons that night, but at the usual hour, the negro +brought a special request for the honour of her society; and as she +entered the dark room, Mr. Belamour said, "My fair and charitable +visitor will permit me to present to her my old and valued friend, Dr. +Godfrey." He laid the hand he had taken on one that returned a little +gentlemanly acknowledgment, while a kind fatherly voice said, "The lady +must pardon me if I do not venture to hand her to her chair." + +"Thank you, sir, I am close to my seat." + +"Your visitors acquire blind eyes, Belamour," said Dr. Godfrey, +cheerfully. + +"More truly they become eyes to the blind," was the answer. "I feel +myself a man of the world again, since this amiable young lady has +conned the papers on my behalf, and given herself the trouble of +learning the choicest passages of the poets to repeat to me." + +"You are very good, sir," returned Aurelia; "it is my great pleasure." + +"That I can well believe," said Dr. Godfrey. "Have these agreeable +recitations made you acquainted with the new poem on the _Seasons_ by +Mr. James Thomson?" + +"No," replied Mr. Belamour, "my acquaintance with the _belles letters_ +ceased nine years ago." + +"The descriptions have been thought extremely effective. Those of autumn +were recalled to my mind on my way." + +Dr. Godfrey proceeded to recite some twenty lines of blank verse, for in +those days people had more patience and fewer books, and exercised their +memories much more than their descendants do. Listening was far from +being thought tedious. + + + "'But see the fading many-coloured roads, + Shade deepening over shade, the country round + Imbrown; a crowded umbrage, dusk and dim, + Of every hue, from wan, declining green, + To sooty dark.'" + + +The lines had a strange charm to one who had lived in darkness through +so many revolving years. Mr. Belamour eagerly thanked his friend, and on +the offer to lend him the book, begged that it might be ordered for him, +and that any other new and interesting work might be sent to him that +was suitable to the fair lips on which he was dependent. + +"You are secure with Mr. Thomson," said the Doctor. "Hear the conclusion +of his final hymn." + + + "'When even at last the solemn hour shall come, + And wing my mystic flight to future worlds, + I cheerful will obey; there with new powers + Will rising wonders sing. I cannot go + Where Universal Love not smiles around, + Sustaining all yon orbs, and all their suns, + From seeming evil still educing good, + And better thence again, and better still, + In infinite progression. But I lose + Myself in Him, in Light ineffable; + Come then expressive Silence, mine the praise.'" + + +"'Universal Love!'" repeated Mr. Belamour; "the poet sings as you do, my +amiable friend! I can conceive the idea better than I could a few months +ago." + + "'From seeming evil, still educing good,'" + +quoted Dr. Godfrey earnestly, as if feeling his way. + +"More of this another time," said Mr. Belamour hastily. "What say the +critics respecting this new aspirant?" + +The ensuing conversation much interested Aurelia, as it was on the men +of letters whose names had long been familiar to her, and whom the +two gentlemen had personally known. She heard of Pope, still living at +Twickenham, and of his bickerings with Lady Mary Wortley Montagu; of +young Horace Walpole, who would never rival his father as a politician, +but who was beginning his course as a _dilettante_, and actually +pretending to prefer the barbarous Gothic to the classic Italian. +However, his taste might be improved, since he was going to make the +grand tour in company with Mr. Gray, a rising young poet, in whom Dr. +Godfrey took interest, as an Etonian and a Cantab. + +At nine o'clock Mr. Belamour requested Miss Delavie to let him depute to +her the doing the honours of the supper table to his friend, who would +return to him when she retired for the night. + +Then it was that she first saw the guest, a fine, dignified clergyman, +in a large grey wig, with a benignant countenance, reminding her of the +Dean of Carminster. When she was little, the Dean had bestowed on her +comfits and kisses; but since she had outgrown these attentions, he was +wont to notice her only by a condescending nod, and she would no more +have thought of conversing with him at table than in his stall in the +cathedral. Thus it was surprising to find herself talked to, as Betty +might have been, by this reverend personage, who kindly satisfied her +curiosity about the King, Queen, and Princesses, but with a discretion +which did not diminish that blind loyalty which saw no defects in +"our good king," though he was George II. She likewise answered a +few questions about Mr. Belamour's tastes and habits, put in a very +different manner from those of the Mistress Treforth, and as soon as +supper was over she rose and retired. + +She did not see Dr. Godfrey again until he was ready for a late +breakfast, having been up nearly the whole night with his friend. His +horses were ordered immediately after the meal, as he had an appointment +in London, and he presently looked up, and said, + +"Madam, you must excuse me, I was silent from thinking how I can +adequately express my respect and gratitude for you." + +"I beg your pardon, sir," exclaimed Aurelia, thinking her ears mistaken. + +"My gratitude," he repeated, "for the inestimable blessing you have been +to my dear and much valued friend, in rousing him from that wretched +state of despondency in which no one could approach him." + +"You are too good, sir," returned Aurelia. "It was he who sent for me." + +"I know you did it in all simplicity, my dear child--forgive the +epithet, I have daughters of my own, and thankful should I be if one +of them could have produced such effects. I tell you, madam, my dear +friend, one of the most estimable and brilliant men of his day, was an +utter wreck, both in mind and body, through the cruel machinations of +an unprincipled woman. How much was to the actual injury from his wound, +how much to grief and remorse, Heaven only knows, but the death of his +brother, who alone had authority with him, left him thus to cut himself +off entirely in this utter darkness and despair. I called at first +monthly, then yearly, after the melancholy catastrophe, and held many +consultations with good Mr. Wayland, but all in vain. It was reserved +for your sweet notes to awaken and recall him to what I trust is indeed +new life." + +Tears filled Aurelia's eyes, and she could only murmur something about +being very glad. + +"Yes," pursued Dr. Godfrey, "it is as if I saw him rising from his +living tomb in all senses of the word. I find that your artless Sunday +evening conversations have even penetrated the inner hopeless gloom, +still more grievous than the outer darkness in which he lived." + +"Indeed, sir, I never meant to be presumptuous." + +"God's blessing on such presumption, my good child! If you had been +fully aware of his state of mind, you might never have ventured nor +have touched the sealed heart, as you have done, as I perceive, in your +ignorance, out of your obedient reverence to the Lord's day. Am I not +right?" + +"Yes, sir, I thought one _could_ not repeat plays and poems on Sunday, +and I was frightened when I found those other things were strange to +him; but he bade me go on." + +"For the sake of the music of your voice, as he tells me, at first; but +afterwards because you became the messenger of hope to one who had long +lain in the shadow of death, thinking pardon and mercy too much out of +reach to be sought for. You have awakened prayer within him once more." + +She could not speak, and Dr. Godfrey continued, "You will be glad +to hear that I am to see the curate on my way through Brentford, and +arrange with him at times to read prayers in the outer room. What is +it?" he added; "you look somewhat doubtful." + +"Only, sir, perhaps I ought not to say so, but I cannot think Mr. +Belamour well ever care for poor Mr. Greaves. If he could only hear that +gentleman who comes to Sedhurst! I never knew how much fire could be +put into the service itself, and yet I have often been at Carminster +Cathedral." + +"True, my dear young lady. These enthusiasts seem to be kindling a new +fire in the Church, but I am not yet so convinced of their orthodoxy +and wisdom as to trust them unreservedly; and zeal pushed too far might +offend our poor recluse, and alienate him more than ever. He is likely +to profit more by the direct words of the Church herself, read without +personal meaning, than by the individual exhortations of some devout +stranger." + +"Yes, sir. Thank you, I never meant to question your judgment. Indeed I +did not." + +The horses were here announced, and Dr. Godfrey said, + +"Then I leave him to you with a grateful heart. I am beginning to hope +that there is much hypochondriacism in his condition, and that this may +pass away with his despondency. I hope before many weeks are over to +come and visit him again, before I go to my parish in Dorsetshire." + +Then, with a fatherly blessing, the Canon took his leave. + +He was scarcely gone before there was a great rustling in the hall, +and Mrs. Phoebe and Mrs. Delia Treforth were announced. Aurelia was +surprised, for she had been decidedly sensible of their disapproval when +she made her visit of ceremony after her entertainment by them. She, +however, had underrated the force of the magnet of curiosity. They had +come to inquire about the visitor, who had actually spent a night at the +Park. They knew who he was, for "Ned Godfrey" had been a frequent guest +at Bowstead in the youth of all parties, and they were annoyed that he +had not paid his respects to them. + +"It would have been only fitting to have sent for us, as relations of +the family, to assist in entertaining him," said Mrs. Phoebe. "Pray, +miss, did my eccentric cousin place you in the position of hostess?" + +"It fell to me, madam," said Aurelia. + +"You could have asked for _our_ support," said Mrs. Phoebe, severely. +"It would have become you better, above all then Sir Amyas Belamour +himself was here." + +"He has only been here while I was with you, madam, and was gone before +my return." + +"_That_ is true," but Mrs. Phoebe looked at the girl so inquisitively +that her colour rose in anger, and exclaimed, "Madam, I know not what +you mean!" + +"There, sister," said Mrs. Delia, more kindly. "She is but a child, and +Bet Batley is a gossip. She would not know his Honour in the dark from +the blackamoor going down to visit his sweetheart." + +Very glad was Aurelia when the ladies curtsied themselves out of her +summer parlour, declaring they wished to speak to Mrs. Aylward, who she +knew could assure them of the absurdity of these implied suspicions. + +And Mrs. Aylward, who detested the two ladies, and repelled their +meddling, stiffly assured them both of Miss Delavie's discretion and +her own vigilance, which placed visits from the young baronet beyond +the bounds of possibility. Supposing his Honour should again visit his +uncle, she should take care to be present at any interview with the +young lady. She trusted that she knew her duty, and so did Miss Delavie. + + + + +CHAPTER XV. THE QUEEN OF BEAUTY. + + + O bright _regina_, who made thee so faire, + Who made thy colour vermeilie and white? + Now marveile I nothing that ye do hight + The quene of love.--CHAUCER. + + +Only a week had elapsed before the quiet of Bowstead was again disturbed +by the arrival of two grooms, with orders that everything should be made +ready the next day for the arrival of my Lady, who was on her way to +Carminster for a few weeks, and afterwards to Bath. Forthwith Mrs. +Aylward and her subordinates fell into a frenzy of opening shutters, +lighting fires, laying down carpets and uncovering furniture. Scrubbing +was the daily task for the maids, and there was nothing extra possible +in that line, but there was hurry enough to exacerbate the temper, and +when Aurelia offered her services she was tartly told that she could +solely be useful by keeping the children out of the way; for in spite of +all rebuffs, they persisted in haunting the footsteps of the housekeeper +and maids, Fay gazing with delight at the splendours that were revealed, +Amy proffering undesired aid, Letty dancing in the most inconvenient +places, romancing about her mamma and little brother, and making sure +that her big beautiful brother was also coming. + +The were very unwilling to let Aurelia call them away to practise them +in bridling, curtseying, and saying "Yes, madam," according to the laws +of good breeding so carefully inculcated by sister at home. So anxious +was she that she tried them over and over again till they were wearied +out, and became so cross and naughty that nothing restored good-homour +except gathering blackberries to feast brother Archer. + +The intelligence produced less apparent excitement in the dark chamber. +When Aurelia, in an eager, awe-stricken voice began, "O sir, have you +heard that my Lady is coming?" He calmly replied, + +"The sounds in the house have amply heralded her, to say nothing of +Jumbo." + +"I wonder what she will do!" + +"You will not long have known her, my fair friend, without discovering +that she is one of the most inscrutable of her sex. The mere endeavour +to guess at her plans only produces harassing surmises and alarms." + +"Do you think, sir, she can mean to take me away?" + +"I suppose that would be emancipation to you, my poor child." + +"I should dance to find myself going home," said Aurelia, "yet how could +I bear to leave my little girls, or you, sir. Oh! if you could only live +at the Great House, at home, I should be quite happy." + +"Then you would not willingly abandon the recluse?" + +"Indeed," she said with a quivering in her voice, "I cannot endure the +notion. You have been so kind and good to me, sir, and I do so enjoy +coming to you. And you would be all alone again with Jumbo! Oh sir, +could you not drive down if all the coach windows were close shut up? +You would have my papa to talk to!" + +"And what would your papa say to having a miserable old hermit inflicted +on him?" + +"He would be only too glad." + +"No, no, my gentle friend, there are other reasons. I could not make my +abode in Lady Belamour's house, while in that of my nephew, my natural +home, I have a right to drag out what remains of the existence of mine. +Nay, are you weeping, my sweet child? That must not be; your young life +must take no darkness from mine. Even should Lady Belamour's arbitrary +caprice bear you off without another meeting, remember that you have +given me many more happy hours than I ever supposed to be in store for +me, and have opened doors which shall not be closed again." + +"You will get some one to recite to you?" entreated Aurelia, her voice +most unsteady. + +"Godfrey shall seek out some poor scholar or exhausted poetaster, with a +proviso that he never inflicts his own pieces on me," said Mr. Belamour, +in a tone more as if he wished to console her than as it were a pleasing +prospect. "Never fear, gentle monitress, I will not sink into the +stagnation from which your voice awoke me. Neither Godfrey nor my nephew +would allow it. Come, let us put it from our minds. It has always +been my experience, that whatever I expected from my much admired +sister-in-law, that was the exact reverse of what she actually did. +Therefore let us attend to topics, though I wager that you have no fresh +acquisitions for me to-day." + +"I am ashamed, sir, but I could not fix my mind even to a most frightful +description of wolves in Mr. Thomson's 'Winter.'" + +"That were scarcely a soothing subject; but we might find calm in +something less agitating and more familiar. Perhaps you can recall +something too firmly imprinted on your memory to be disturbed by these +emotions." + +Aurelia bethought herself that she must not disappoint her friend on +what might prove their last evening; she began very unsteadily:-- + + + "' Hence, loathed Melancholy.'" + + +However by the time "Jonson's learned sock" was on, her mechanical +repetition had become animated, and she had restored herself to +equanimity. When the clock struck nine, her auditor added his thanks, +"In case we should not meet again thus, let me beg of my kind visitor to +wear this ring in memory of one to whom she has brought a breath indeed +from L'Allegro itself. It will not be too large. It was made for a +lady." + +And amid her tearful thanks she felt a light kiss on her fingers, +revealing to her that the hermit must possess a beard, a fact, which +in the close-shaven Hanoverian days, conveyed a sense of squalor and +neglect almost amounting to horror. + +In her own room she dropped many a tear over the ring, which was of +course the Cupid intaglio, and she spent the night in strange mixed +dreams and yearnings, divided between her father, Betty, and Eugene on +the one hand, and Mr. Belamour and the children on the other. Home-sick +as she sometimes felt, dull as Bowstead was, she should be sadly grieved +to leave those to whom she felt herself almost necessary, though her +choice must needs be for her home. + +Early the next day arrived an old roomy berlin loaded heavily with +luggage, and so stuffed with men and maids that four stout horses had +much ado to bring it up to the door. The servants, grumbling heartily, +declared that my Lady was only going to lie here for a single night, and +that Sir Amyas was not with her. + +Late in the afternoon, a couple of outriders appeared to say that the +great lady was close at hand, and Aurelia, in her best blue sacque, +and India muslin cap, edged with Flanders lace, had her three little +charges, all in white with red shoes, red sashes, and red ribbons in +their caps, drawn up in the hall to welcome their mother. + +Up swept the coach with six horses, Mr. Dove behind--runners in fact, +who at times rested themselves by an upright swing on the foot-board. + +The door of the gorgeous machine was thrown open, and forth sprang a +pretty little boy. Next descended the friendly form of Mrs. Dove, then +a smart person, who was my Lady's own woman, and finally something +dazzlingly grand and beautiful in feathers, light blue, and silver. + +Aurelia made her reverence, and so did the little triad; the great lady +bent her head, and gave a light kiss to the brow of each child, and the +boy sprang forward, crying: "You are my sisters. You must play with me, +and do whatever I choose." Amoret and he began kissing on the spot, but +Fidelia, regarding _must_ as a forbidden word, looked up at Aurelia with +an inquiring protest in her eyes; but it was not heeded, in the doubt +whether to follow Lady Belamour, who, with a stately greeting to Mrs. +Aylward, had sailed into the withdrawing-room. The question was decided +by Mrs. Aylward standing back to make room, and motioning her forward, +so she entered, Letty preceding her and Fay clinging to her. + +By the hearth stood the magnificent figure, holding out a long, +beautiful, beringed hand, which Aurelia shyly kissed, bending as before +a queen, while her forehead received the same slight salute as had been +given to the little girls. "My cousin Delavie's own daughter," said the +lady: "You have the family likeness." + +"So I have been told, madam." + +"Your father is well, I hope." + +"He was pretty well, I thank you Ladyship, when I heard from my sister +ten days ago." + +"I shall see him in a week's time, and shall report well of his little +daughter," said Lady Belamour kindly. "I am under obligations to you, my +dear. You seem to have tamed my little savages." + +Aurelia was amazed, for the universal awe of my Lady had made her expect +a harsh and sever Semiramis style of woman, whereas she certainly saw a +majestic beauty, but with none of the terrors that she had anticipated. +The voice was musical and perfectly modulated, the manner more caressing +than imperious towards herself, and studiously polite to the house +keeper. While orders were being given as to arrangements, Aurelia took +in the full details of the person of whom she had heard so much. +It seemed incredible that Lady Belamour could have been mother to +contemporaries of Betty, for she looked younger than Betty herself. Her +symmetry and carriage were admirable, and well shown by the light blue +habit laced richly and embroidered with silver. A small round hat with a +cluster of white ostrich feathers was placed among the slightly frizzed +and powdered masses of mouse-coloured hair, surmounting a long ivory +neck, whose graceful turn, the theme of many a sonnet, was not concealed +by the masculine collar of the habit. The exquisite oval contour of the +cheek, the delicate ear, and Grecian profile were as perfect in moulding +as when she had been Sir Jovian's bride, and so were the porcelain blue +of the eyes, the pencilled arches of eyebrow, and the curve of the lips, +while even her complexion retained its smooth texture, and tints of the +lily and rose. Often as Aurelia had heard of her beauty, its splendour +dazzled and astonished her, even in this travelling dress. + +Archer, who was about a year older than his sisters, was more like +Amoret than the other two, with azure eyes, golden curls, and a plump +rosy face, full of fun and mischief. Tired of the confinement of the +coach, he was rushing round the house with Amoret, opening the doors and +looking into the rooms. The other little sisters remained beside Aurelia +till their mother said, pointing to Fay: "That child seems to mean to +eat me with her eyes. Let all the children be with Nurse Dove, Mrs. +Aylward. Miss Delavie will do me the pleasure of supping with me at +seven. Present my compliments to Mr. Belamour, and let him know that I +will be with him at eight o'clock on particular business." Then turning +to the two children, she asked their names, and was answered by each +distinctly, with the orthodox "madam" at the end. + +"You are improved, little ones," she said: "Did Cousin Aurelia teach +you?" + +"And Mammy Rolfe," said constant Fay. + +"She must teach you next not to stare," said Lady Belamour. "I intend +to take one to be a companion to my boy, in the country. When I saw +them before, they were rustic little monsters; but they are less +unpresentable now. Call your sister, children." And, as the two left the +room, she continued: "Which do you recommend, cousin?" + +"Fidelia is the most reasonable, madam," said Aurelia. + +"But not the prettiest, I trust. She is too like her father, with those +dark brows, and her eyes have a look deep enough to frighten one. They +will frighten away the men, if she do not grow out of it." + +Here the door burst open, and, without any preliminary bow, Master +Archer flew in, crying out "Mamma, mamma, we _must_ stay here. The +galleries are so long, and it is such a place for whoop-hide!" + +His sisters were following his bad example, and rushing in with equal +want of ceremony, but though their mother held the boy unchecked on +her knee, Aurelia saw how she could frown. "You forget yourselves," she +said. + +Amoret looked ready to cry, but at a sign from their young instructress, +they backed and curtsied, and their mother reviewed them; Letitia was +the most like the Delavies, but also the smallest, while Amoret was +on the largest scale and would pair best with her brother, who besides +loudly proclaimed his preference for her, and she was therefore elected +to the honour of being taken home. Aurelia was requested as a favour to +bid the children's woman have the child's clothes ready repaired to her +own room. + +The little wardrobe could only be prepared by much assistance from +Aurelia herself, and she could attend to nothing else; while the +children were all devoted to Archer, and she only heard their voices +in the distance, till--as she was dressing for her _tete-a-tete_ +supper--Fay came to her crying, "Archer is a naughty boy--he said wicked +words--he called her ugly, and had cuffed and pinched her!" + +Poor child! she was tired out, and disappointed, and Aurelia could only +comfort her by hearing her little prayers, undressing her, and giving +her the highly-esteemed treat of sleeping in Cousin Aura's bed; while +the others were staying up as long as it pleased Master Archer. This +actually was the cause of my Lady being kept waiting, and an apology was +needful. "Fidelia was tired out, and was crying." + +"A peevish child! I am glad I did not choose her." + +"She is usually very good, madam," said Aurelia, eagerly. + +"Is she your favourite?" + +"I try not to make favourites, madam." + +"Ah! there spoke the true Manor House tone," said her Ladyship, rather +mockingly. "Maybe she will be a wit, for she will never be a beauty, but +the other little one will come on in due time after Amoret." + +"Your Ladyship will find Amoret a dear, good, affectionate child," said +Aurelia. "Only---" + +"Reserve that for nurse, so please you, my good girl. It is enough for +me to see the brats on their good manners now and then. You have had +other recreations--shall I call them, or cares? I never supposed, when +I sent you here to attend on the children, that the hermit of Bowstead +would summon you! I assure you it is an extraordinary honour." + +"I so esteem it, madam," said Aurelia, blushing. + +"More honour than pleasure, eh?" + +"A great pleasure, madam." + +"Say you so?" and the glittering blue eyes were keenly scanning the +modest face. "I should have thought a young maid like you would have had +the dismals at the mere notion of going near his dark chamber. I promise +you it gives me the megrim [migraine--D.L.] to look forward to it." + +"I was affrighted at first, madam," said Aurelia; "but Mr. Belamour is +so good and kind to me that I exceedingly enjoy the hours I spend with +him." + +"La, child, you speak with warmth! We shall have you enamoured of a +voice like the youth they make sonnets about--what's his name?" + +"Narcissus, madam," said Aurelia, put out of countenance by the banter. + +"Oh, you are learned. Is Mr. Belamour your tutor, pray? And--oh fie! I +have seen that ring before!" + +"He gave it to me yesterday," faltered Aurelia, "in case you should +intend to take me away, and I should not see him again. I hope I was not +wrong in accepting it, madam." + +"Wrong, little fool, assuredly not," said my Lady, laughing. "It is an +ensign of victory. Why, child, you have made a conquest worthy of--let +me see. You, or the wits, could tell me who it was that stormed the very +den of Cocytus and bore off the spoil!" + +Aurelia liked the tone too little to supply the names; yet she felt +flattered; but she said quietly, "I am happy to have been the means of +cheering him." + +The grave artlessness of the manner acted as a kind of check, and Lady +Belamour said in a different tone, "Seriously, child, the family are +truly obliged for your share in rousing the poor creature from his +melancholy. My good man made the attempt, but all in vain. What do you +to divert him?" + +In inquires of this kind the supper hour passed, and Lady Belamour was +then to keep her appointment with her brother-in-law. She showed so +much alarm and dread that Aurelia could not but utter assurances and +encouragements, which again awoke that arch manner, partly bantering, +partly flattering, which exercised a sort of pleasant perplexing +fascination on the simple girl. + +After being dismissed, Aurelia went in search of Mrs. Dove, whom she +found with Molly, taking stock of Amoret's little wardrobe. The good +woman rose joyfully. "Oh, my dear missie! I am right thankful to see you +looking so purely. I don't know how I could have held up my head to Miss +Delavie if I had not seen you!" + +"Ah! you will see my sister and all of them," cried Aurelia, a sudden +rush of home-sickness bringing tears to her eyes, in oblivion alike of +her recluse and her pupils. "Oh! if I were but going with you! But what +folly am I talking? You must not let them think I am not happy, for +indeed I am. Will you kindly come to my room, dear nurse, and I will +give you a packet for them?" + +Mrs. Dove willingly availed herself of the opportunity of explaining how +guiltless she had been of the sudden separation at Knightsbridge four +months back. She had been in such haste to ride after and overtake the +coach, that she had even made Dove swear at her for wanting to give the +horses no time to rest, and she had ridden off on her own particular +pillion long before the rest. She had been surprised that she never +succeeded in catching up the carriage, but never suspected the truth +till she had dismounted in Hanover Square and asked whether "Miss" were +with my Lady. Nobody knew anything about Miss Delavie, nor expected her; +and the good woman's alarm was great until she had had an interview with +her Ladyship, when she was told not to concern herself about the young +lady, who was safely bestowed in the country with the Miss Wayland. "But +that it was here, if you'll believe me, missie, I was as innocent as the +babe unborn, and so was his Honour, Sir Amyas. Indeed, my Lady gave him +to understand that she had put you to boarding-school with his little +sisters." + +"Oh! nurse, that is impossible!" + +"Lawk-a-day, missie, there's nothing my Lady wouldn't say to put him off +the scent. Bless you, 'tis not for us servants to talk, or I could tell +you tales! But there, mum's the word, as my Dove says, or he wouldn't +ha' sat on his box these twenty year!" + +"My Lady is very kind to me," said Aurelia, with a little assumption of +her father's repressive manner. + +"I'm right glad to hear it, Miss Aureely. A sweet lady she can be when +she is in the mood, though nothing like so sweet as his Honour. 'Tis +ingrain with him down to the bone, as I may say--and I should know, +having had him from the day he was weaned. To see him come up to the +nussery, and toss about his little brother, would do your very heart +good; and then he sits him down, without a bit of pride, and will have +me tell him all about our journey up to Lunnon, and the fair, and the +play and all; and the same with Dove in the stables. He would have the +whole story, and how we was parted at Knightsbridge, I never so much as +guessing where you was--you that your sister had given into my care! At +last, one day when I was sitting a darning of stockings in the window +at the back, where I can see out over to the green fields, up his Honour +comes, and says he, with his finger to his lips, 'Set your heart at +rest, nurse, I've found her!' Then he told me how he went down to see +his old uncle. Mr. Wayland had been urging him on one side that 'twas no +more than his duty; and her Ladyship, on the other, would have it that +Mr. Belamour was right down melancholy mad, and would go into a raving +fit if his nevvy did but go near the place." + +"She did not say that!" + +"Oh yes, she did, miss, I'll take my oath of it, for I was in the coach +with Master Wayland on my knee, when she was telling a lady how hard it +was they could have no use of Bowstead, because of Sir Jovian's brother +being there, who had got the black melancholics, and could not be +removed. The lady says how good she was to suffer it, and she answers, +that there was no being harsh with poor Sir Jovian's brother, though he +had a strange spleen at her and her son, and always grew worse when they +did but go near the house; but that some measures must be taken when her +son came of age or was married." + +"But he came at last!" + +"He said he wanted to see for himself, and thought he could at least +find out from the servants whether his uncle was in the state they +reported. And there he found his three little sisters, and that you was +their tutoress, and they couldn't say enough about you, nor the poor +gentleman neither. 'I didn't see her, nurse,' says he, 'but there's a +bit of her own sweet fingers' work.' And sure enough, I knew it, for +it was a knot of the very ribbon you had in your hair the day I came to +talk to your sister about the journey." + +"That was what Amy told me she gave him." + +"Nothing loth would he be to take it, miss! Though says he, 'Don't you +let my mother know I have tracked her, nurse,' says he. 'It is plain +enough why she gives out that I am not to go near my uncle, and if she +guessed where I had been, she would have some of her fancies.' 'Now your +Honour, my dear,' says I, 'you'll excuse your old nurse, but her sister +put her in my charge, and though I bless Heaven that you are no young +rake, yet you will be bringing trouble untold on her and hers if you go +down there a courting of her unbeknownst.' 'No danger of that, nurse,' +says he; 'why there's a she-dragon down there (meaning Mrs. Aylward) +that was ready to drive me out of my own house when I did but speak of +waiting to see her.'" + +"No, I am glad he will not come again. Yet it makes his uncle happy to +see him. I will keep out of the way if he does." + +"Right too, miss. A young lady never loses by discretion." + +"Oh, do not speak in--in that way," said Aurelia, blushing at +the implication. "Besides, he is going home with my Lady to dear +Carminster." + +"No, no, he remains with his regiment in town, unless he rides down +later when he can have his leave of absence, and my Lady is at the Bath. +He will not if he can help it, for he is dead set against the young lady +they want to marry him to, and she is to be there. What! you have not +heard? It is my Lady Arabella, sister to that there Colonel as is more +about our house than I could wish. She is not by the same mother as him +and my Lord Aresfield. Her father married a great heiress for his second +wife, whose father had made a great fortune by victualling the army in +the war time. Not that this Dowager Countess, as they call her, is a +bit like the real quality, so that it is a marvel how my Lady can put up +with her; only money-bags will make anything go down, more's the pity, +and my Lady is pressed, you see, with her losses at play. It was about +this match that Sir Amyas was sent down to Battlefield, the Countess's +place in Monmouthshire, when he came to Carminster last summer, and his +body servant, Mr. Grey, that has been about him from a child, told me +all about it. This Lady Belle, as they call her, is only about fourteen, +and such a spoilt little vixen, that they say nobody has been able to +teach her so much as to read, for her mother, the Dowager, never would +have her crossed in anything, and now she has got too headstrong for any +of 'em. Mr. Grey said dressing for supper, they heard the most horrid +screams, and thought some one must be killed at least. Sir Amyas was for +running out, but at the door they met a wench who only said, 'Bless +you! that's nought. It's only my young lady in her tantrums!' So in the +servants' hall, Grey heard it was all because her mamma wouldn't let her +put on two suits of pearls and di'monds both together. She lies on her +back, and rolls and kicks till she gets her own way; and by what the +servants say, the Dowager heerself ain't much better to her servants. +Her woman had got a black eye she had given her with her fan. She has +never had no breeding, you see, and there are uglier stories about her +than I like to tell you, Miss Aureely; and as to the young lady, Sir +Amyas saw her with his own eyes slap the lackey's face for bringing her +brown sugar instead of white. She is a little dwarfish thing that puts +her finger in her mouth and sulks when she is not flying out into a +rage; but Colonel Mar is going to have her up to a boarding-school to +mend her manners, and he and my lady are as much bent on marrying his +Honour to her as if she was a perfect angel." + +"They never can!" + +"Well, miss, they do most things they have a mind to; and they mean to +do this before my Lady's husband comes home." + +"But Mr. Belamour is his nephew's guardian." + +"That's what my Lady is come down here for. Either she will get his +consent out of him, or she will make the poor gentleman out to be _non +compos_, and do without him." + +"Oh, nurse, he is the wisest, cleverest gentleman I ever saw, except my +papa." + +"Do you say do, miss? But you are young, you see. A gentleman to shut +himself up in the dark like that must needs be astray in his wits." + +"That is because of his eyes, and his wound. Nobody could talk to him +and doubt his reason." + +"Well, missie, I hope you are in the right; but what my Lady's interest +is, that she is apt to carry out, one way or t'other! Bless me, if that +be not Master Archer screaming. I thought he was fast off to sleep. +There never was a child for hating the dark. Yes, yes, I'm coming, my +dearie! Lack a daisy, if his mamma heard!" + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. AUGURIES. + + + Venus, thy eternal sway + All the race of man obey. + EURIPIDES (Anstice). + + +Aurelia sat up late to finish her despatches to the beloved ones at +home, and pack the little works she had been able to do for each, though +my Lady's embroidery took up most of her sedentary hours. Mrs. Dove +undertook the care of the guinea's worth of presents to the little +sisters from Sir Amyas, which the prudent nurse advised her to +withhold till after Master Archer was gone, as he would certainly break +everything to pieces. He was up betimes, careering about the garden +with all his sisters after him, imperiously ordering them about, but +nevertheless bewitching them all, so that Amoretta was in ecstasies at +her own preferment, scarcely realising that it would divide her from the +others; while Letty made sure that she should soon follow, and Fidelia +gravely said, "I shall always know you are loving me still, Amy, as +Nurse Rolfe does." + +Lady Belamour breakfasted in her own room at about ten o'clock. Her +woman, Mrs. Loveday, a small trim active person, with the worn and +sharpened remains of considerable prettiness of the miniature brunette +style, was sent to summon Miss Delavie to her apartment and inspect the +embroidery she had been desired to execute for my Lady. Three or four +bouquets had been finished, and the maid went into such raptures over +them as somewhat to disgust their worker, who knew that they were not +half so well done as they would have been under Betty's direction. +However, Mrs. Loveday bore the frame to her Ladyship's room, following +Aurelia, who was there received with the same stately caressing manner +as before. + +"Good morning, child. Your roses bloom well in the forenoon! Pity they +should be wasted in darkness. Not but that you are duly appreciated +there. Ah! I can deepen them by what our unhappy recluse said of you. I +shall make glad hearts at Carminster by his good opinion, and who knows +what preferment may come of it--eh? What is that, Loveday?" + +"It is work your Ladyship wished me to execute," said Aurelia. + +"Handsome--yes; but is that all? I thought the notable Mistress Betty +brought you up after her own sort?" + +"I am sorry, madam, but I could not do it quickly at first without my +sister's advice, and I have not very much time between my care of the +children and preparing repetitions for Mr. Belamour." + +"Ha! ha! I understand. There are greater attractions! Go on, child. +Mayhap it may be your own wedding gown you are working at, if you finish +it in time! Heavens! what great wondering eyes the child has! All in +good time, my dear. I must talk to your father." + +It was so much the custom to talk to young maidens about their marriage +that this did not greatly startle Aurelia, and Lady Belamour continued: +"There, child, you have done your duty well by those little plagues of +mine, and it is Mr. Wayland's desire to make you a recompense. You may +need it in any change of circumstances." + +So saying, she placed in Aurelia's hand five guineas, the largest sum +that the girl had ever owned; and as visions arose of Christmas gifts +to be bestowed, the thanks were so warm, the curtsey so expressively +graceful, the smile so bright, the soft eyes so sparkling, that the +great lady was touched at the sight of such simple-hearted joy, and +said, "There, there, child, that will do. I could envy one whom a little +makes so happy. Now you will be able to make yourself fine when my +son brings home his bride; or--who knows?--you may be a bride yourself +first!" + +That sounds, thought Aurelia, as if Mr. Belamour had made her relinquish +the plan of that cruel marriage, for I am sure I have not yet seen the +man I am to marry. + +And with a lighter heart the young tutoress stood between Fay and Letty +on the steps to see the departure, her cheeks still feeling Amoret's +last fond kisses, and a swelling in her throat bringing tears to her +eyes at the thought how soon that carriage would be at Carminster. Yet +there were sweet chains in the little hands that held her gown, and in +the thought of the lonely old man who depended on her for enlivenment. + +The day was long, for Amoret was missed; and the two children were +unusually fretful and quarrelsome without her, disputing over the +new toys which Brother Amyas's guinea had furnished in demoralising +profusion. It was strange too see the difference made by the loss of the +child who would give up anything rather than meet a look of vexation, +and would coax the others into immediate good humour. There was +reaction, too, after the excitement, for which the inexperienced Aurelia +did not allow. At the twentieth bickering as to which doll should ride +on the spotted hobby-horse, the face of Letty's painted wooden baby +received a scar, and Fay's lost a leg, whereupon Aurelia's endurance +entirely gave way, and she pronounced them both naughty children, and +sent them to bed before supper. + +Then her heart smote her for unkindness, and she sat in the firelight +listless and sad, though she hardly knew why, longing to go up and pet +and comfort her charges, but withheld by the remembrance of Betty's +assurances that leniency, in a like case, would be the ruin of Eugene. + +At last Jumbo came to summon her, and hastily recalling a cheerful air, +she entered the room with "Good evening, sir; you see I am still here to +trouble you." + +"I continue to profit by my gentle friend's banishment. Tell me, was my +Lady in a gracious mood?" + +"O sir, how beautiful she is, and how kind! I know now why my father was +so devoted to her, and no one can ever gainsay her!" + +"The enchantress knows how to cast her spells. She was then friendly?" + +"She gave me five guineas!" said Aurelia exultingly. "She said Mr. +Wayland wished to recompense me." + +"Did he so? If it came from him I should have expected a more liberal +sum." + +"But, oh!" in a tone of infinite surprise and content, "this is more +than I ever thought of. Indeed I never dreamt of her giving me anything. +Sir, may I write to your bookseller, Mr. Tonson, and order a book of Mr. +James Thomson's _Seasons_ to give to my sister Harriet, who is delighted +with the extracts I have copied for her?" + +"Will not that consume a large proportion of the five guineas, my +generous friend?" + +"I have enough left. There is a new gown which I never have worn, which +will serve for the new clothes my Lady spoke of to receive her son's +bride." + +"She entered on that subject then?" + +"Only for a moment as she took leave. Oh, sir, is it possible that she +can know all about this young lady?" + +"What have you heard of her?" + +"Sir, they say she is a dreadful little vixen." + +"Who say? Is she known at Carminster?" + +"No, sir," said Aurelia, disconcerted. "It was from Nurse Dove that I +heard what Sir Amyas's man said when he came back from Battlefield. I +know my sister would chide me for listening to servants." + +"Nevertheless I should be glad to hear. Was the servant old Grey? Then +he is to be depended on. What did he say?" + +Aurelia needed little persuasion to tell all that she had heard from +Mrs. Dove, and he answered, "Thank you, my child, it tallies precisely +with what the poor boy himself told me." + +"Then he has told his mother? Will she not believe him?" + +"It does not suit her to do so, and it is easy to say the girl will be +altered by going to a good school. In fact, there are many reasons more +powerful with her than the virtue and happiness of her son," he added +bitterly. "There's the connection, forsooth. As if Lady Aresfield were +fit to bring up an honest man's wife; and there's the fortune to fill up +the void she has made in the Delavie estates." + +"Can no one hinder it, sir? Cannot you?" + +"As a last resource the poor youth came hither to see whether the +guardian whose wardship has hitherto been a dead letter, were indeed so +utterly obdurate and helpless as had been represented." + +"And you have the power?" + +"So far as his father's will and the injunctions of his final letter +to me can give it, I have full power. My consent is necessary to his +marriage while still a minor, and I have told my Lady I will never give +it to his wedding a Mar." + +"I was sure of it; and it is not true that they will be able to do +without it? + +"Without it! Have you heard any more? You pause. I see--she wishes to +declare me of unsound mind. Is that what you mean?" + +"So Nurse Dove said, sir," faltered Aurelia; "but it seemed too wicked, +too monstrous, to be possible." + +"I understand," he said. "I thought there was an implied threat in +my sweet sister-in-law's soft voice when she spoke of my determined +misanthropy. Well, I think we can guard against that expedient. After +all, it is only till my nephew comes of age, or till his stepfather +returns, that we must keep the enchantress at bay. Then the poor lad +will be safe, providing always that she and her Colonel have not made a +rake of him by that time. Alas, what a wretch am I not to be able to do +more for him! Child, you have seen him?" + +"I danced with him, sir, but I was too much terrified to look in his +face. And I saw his cocked hat over the thorn hedge." + +"Fancy free," muttered Mr. Belamour. "Fair exile for a cocked hat and +diamond shoe-buckles! You would not recognise him again, nor his voice?" + +"No, sir. He scarcely spoke, and I was attending to my steps." + +Mr. Belamour laughed, and then asked Aurelia for the passage in the +_Iliad_ where Venus carries off Paris in a cloud. He thanked her +somewhat absently, and then said, + +"Dr. Godfrey said something of coming hither before he goes to his +living in Dorsetshire. May I ask of you the favour of writing and +begging him to fix a day not far off, mentioning likewise that my +sister-in-law has been here." + +To this invitation Dr. Godfrey replied that he would deviate from the +slow progress of his family coach, and ride to Bowstead, spending two +nights there the next week; and to Aurelia's greater amazement, she +was next requested to write a billet to the Mistresses Treforth in Mr. +Belamour's name, asking them to bestow their company on him for the +second evening of Dr. Godfrey's visit. + +"You, my kind friend, will do the honours," he said, "and we will ask +Mrs. Aylward to provide the entertainment." + +"They will be quite propitiated by being asked to meet Dr. Godfrey," +said Aurelia. "Shall you admit them, sir?" + +"Certainly. You do not seem to find them very engaging company, but they +can scarce be worse than I should find in such an asylum as my charming +sister-in-law seems to have in preparation for me." + +"Oh! I wish I had said nothing about that. It is too shocking!" + +"Forewarned, forearmed, as the proverb says. Do you not see, my amiable +friend, that we are providing a body of witnesses to the sanity of the +recluse, even though he may 'in dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell'?" + +The visit took place; Dr. Godfrey greeted Miss Delavie as an old +friend, and the next day pronounced Mr. Belamour to be so wonderfully +invigorated and animated, that he thought my Lady's malignant plan was +really likely to prove the best possible stimulus and cure. + +Then the Canon gratified the two old ladies by a morning call, dined +with Aurelia and her pupils, who behaved very well, and with whom he +afterwards played for a whole hour so kindly that they placed him second +in esteem to their big and beautiful brother. Mrs. Phoebe and Mrs. Delia +came dressed in the faded splendours of the Louis XIV. period, just at +twilight, and were regaled with coffee and pound cake. They were a good +deal subdued, though as Aurelia listened to the conversation, it was +plain enough what Mr. Belamour meant when he said that his cousin Delia +was something of the coquette. + +Still they asked with evident awe if it were true that their unfortunate +cousin really intended to admit them, and they evidently became more and +more nervous while waiting for Jumbo's summons. Dr. Godfrey gave his arm +to Mrs. Phoebe, and Mrs. Delia gripped hold of Aurelia's, trembling all +over, declaring she felt ready to swoon, and marvelling how Miss Delavie +could ever have ventured, all alone too! + +After all, things had been made much less formidable than at Aurelia's +first introduction. The sitting-room was arranged as it was when Mr. +Greaves read prayers, with a very faint light from a shrouded lamp +behind the window curtain. To new comers it seemed pitchy darkness, but +to Aurelia and Dr. Godfrey it was a welcome change, allowing them at +least to perceive the forms of one another, and of the furniture. From +a blacker gulf, being the doorway to the inner room, came Mr. Belamour's +courteous voice of greeting to his kinswomen, who were led up by their +respective guides to take his hand; after which he begged them to excuse +the darkness, since the least light was painful to him still. If they +would be seated he would remain where he was, and enjoy the society he +was again beginning to be able to appreciate. He was, in fact, sitting +within his own room, with eyes covered from even the feeble glimmer in +the outer room. + +It was some minutes before they recovered their self-possession, but +Dr. Godfrey and Mr. Belamour began the conversation, and they gradually +joined in. It was chiefly full of reminiscences of the lively days +when Dr. Godfrey had been a young Cantab visiting his two friends at +Bowstead, and Phoebe and Delia were the belles of the village. Aurelia +scarcely opened her lips, but she was astonished to find how different +the two sisters could be from the censorious, contemptuous beings they +had seemed to her. The conversation lasted till supper-time, and Mr. +Belamour, as they took their leave, made them promise to come and see +him again. Then they were conducted back to the supper-room, Mrs. Phoebe +mysteriously asking "Is he always like this?" + +The experiment had been a great success, and Aurelia completed it by +asking Mrs. Phoebe to take the head of the supper-table. + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. THE VICTIM DEMANDED. + + + And if thou sparest now to do this thing, + I will destroy thee and thy land also.--MORRIS. + + +"Well, sir, have you seen my Lady?" + +"Not a year older than when I saw her last," returned Major Delavie, +who had just dismounted from his trusty pony at his garden gate, and +accepted Betty's arm; "and what think you?" he added, pausing that +Corporal Palmer might hear his news. "She has been at Bowstead, and +brings fresh tidings of our Aura. The darling is as fair and sprightly +as a May morning, and beloved by all who come near her--bless her!" + +Palmer echoed a fervent "Amen!" and Betty asked, "Is this my Lady's +report?" + +"Suspicious Betty! You will soon be satisfied," said the Major in high +glee. "Did not Dove meet me at the front door, and Mrs. Dove waylay me +in the hall to tell me that the child looked blooming and joyous, and +in favour with all, gentle and simple? Come her, Eugene, ay, and Harriet +and Arden too. Let us hear what my little maid says for herself. For +look here!" and he held aloft Aurelia's packet, at sight of which Eugene +capered high, and all followed into the parlour. + +Mr. Arden was constantly about the house. There was no doubt that he +would soon be preferred to a Chapter living in Buckinghamshire, and he +had thus been emboldened to speak out his wishes. It would have been +quite beneath the dignity of a young lady of Miss Harriet's sensibility +to have consented, and she was in the full swing of her game at coyness +and reluctance, daily vowing that nothing should induce her to resign +her liberty, and that she should be frightened out of her life by Mr. +Arden's experiments; while her father had cordially received the +minor Canon's proposals, and already treated him as one of the family. +Simpering had been such a fattening process that Harriet was beginning +to resume more of her good looks than had ever been brought back by +Maydew. + +"Open the letter, Betty. Thanks, Arden," as the minor Canon began to +pull off his boots, "only take care of my knee. My Lady has brought +down her little boy, and one of Aurelia's pupils; I declare they are a +perfect pair of Loves. What are you fumbling at, Betty?" + +"The seal, sir, it is a pity to break it," said Betty, producing her +scissors from one of her capacious pockets. "It is an antique, is it +not, Mr. Arden?" + +"A very beautiful gem, a sleeping Cupid," he answered. + +"How could the child have obtained it?" said Harriet. + +"I can tell you," said the Major. "From old Belamour. My Lady was +laughing about it. The little puss has revived the embers of gallantry +in our poor recluse. Says she, 'He has actually presented her with a +ring, nay, a ring bearing Love himself.'" + +Somehow the speech, even at second hand, jarred upon Betty, but her +father was delighted with my Lady's description of his favourite, and +the letters were full of contentment. When the two sisters, arrayed in +their stiffest silks, went up to pay their respects to my Lady the next +afternoon, their reception was equally warm. My Lady was more caressing +to her old acquaintance, Betty, than that discreet personage quite +liked, while she complimented and congratulated Harriet on her lover, +laughing at her bashful disclaimers in such a charmingly teasing fashion +as quite to win the damsel's heart, and convince her that all censure of +Lady Belamour was vile slander. The children were sent for, and Amoret +was called on to show how Cousin Aurelia had taught her to dance, +sing and recite. The tiny minuet performed by her and Archer was an +exceedingly pretty exhibition as far as it went, but the boy had no +patience to conclude, and jumped off into an extemporary _pas seul_, +which was still prettier, and as Amoret was sole exhibitor of the +repetition of Hay's "Hare and many friends," he became turbulent after +the first four lines, and put a stop to the whole. + +Then came in a tall, large, handsome, dashing-looking man, with the air +of a "_beau sabreur_," whom Lady Belamour presented to her cousins as +"Colonel Mar, my son's commandant, you know who has been kind enough to +take Carminster on his way, so as to escort me to the Bath. I am such +a sad coward about highwaymen. And we are to meet dear Lady Aresfield +there to talk over a little matter of business." + +Colonel Mar made a magnificent bow, carelessly, not to say +impertinently, scanned the two ladies, and having evidently decided they +had neither beauty nor fashion to attract him, caught up little Amy in +his arms, and began to play a half teasing, half caressing game with the +children. Betty thought it high time to be gone, and as she took leave, +was requested to send up her little brother to play with his cousins. +This did not prove a success, for Eugene constituted himself champion to +Amoret, of whom Archer was very jealous, though she was his devoted +and submissive slave. Master Delavie's rustic ways were in consequence +pronounced to be too rude and rough for the dainty little town-bred boy, +the fine ladies' pet. + +The Major dined at the Great House, but came home so much dismayed and +disgusted that he could hardly mention even to Betty what he had seen +and heard. He only groaned out at intervals, "This is what the service +is coming to! That fop to be that poor lad's commanding officer! That +rake to be always hovering about my cousin!" + +Others spoke out more plainly. Stories were afloat or orgies ending +in the gallant Colonel being under the supper table, a thing only too +common, but not in the house of a solitary lady who had only lately +quitted the carousers. Half the dependants on the estate were +complaining of the guest's swaggering overbearing treatment of +themselves, or of his insolence to their wives or daughters; and +Betty lived in a dreadful unnamed terror lest he should offer some +impertinence to her father which the veteran's honour might not brook. +However, there was something in the old soldier's dignity and long +service that kept the arrogance of the younger man in check, and +repressed all bluster towards him. + +Demands for money were, as usual, made, but the settlement of accounts +was deferred till the arrival of Hargrave, the family man of business, +who came by coach to Bath, and then rode across to Carminster. The Major +dined that day at the Great House, and came home early, with something +so strange and startled about his looks that Betty feared that her worst +misgivings were realised. It was a relief to hear him say, "Come hither, +Betty, I want a word with you." At least it was no duel! + +"What is it, dear sir?" she asked, as she shut his study door. "Is it +come at last? Must we quit this place?" + +"No, I could bear that better, but what do you think she asks of me +now?--to give my little Aurelia, my beautiful darling, to that madman in +the dark!" + +"Oh!" exclaimed Betty, in a strange tone of discovery. "May I inquire +what you said?" + +"I said--I scarce know what I said. I declared it monstrous, and not +to be thought of for a moment; and then she went on in her fashion that +would wile a bird off a bush, declaring that no doubt the proposal was a +shock, but if I would turn the matter over, I should see it was for the +dear child's advantage. Belamour dotes on her, and after being an old +man's darling for a few years, she may be free in her prime, with an +honourable name and fortune." + +"I dare say. As if one could not see through the entire design. My Lady +would call her sister-in-law to prevent her being daughter-in-law!" + +"That fancy has had no aliment, and must long ago have died out." + +"Listen to Nurse Dove on that matter." + +"Women love to foster notions of that sort." + +"Nay, sir, you believe, as I do, that the poor child was conveyed to +Bowstead in order that the youth might lose sight of her, and since he +proves refractory to the match intended for him, this further device is +found for destroying any possible hope on his part." + +"I cannot say what may actuate my Lady, but if Amyas Belamour be the man +I knew, and as the child's own letters paint him, he is not like to lend +himself to any such arrangement." + +"Comes the offer from him, or is it only a scheme of my Lady's?" + +"He never writes more than a signature, but Hargrave is empowered to +make proposals to me, very handsome proposals too, were not the bare +idea intolerable." + +"Aurelia is not aware of it, I am sure," said Betty, to whom Hargrave +had brought another packet of cheerful innocent despatches, of which, as +usual, the unseen friend in the dark was the hero. + +"Certainly not, and I hope she never may be. I declared the notion was +not to be entertained for a moment; but Urania never, in her life, would +take no for an answer, and she talked me nearly out of my senses, then +bade me go home, think it over, and discuss it with my excellent and +prudent daughter; as if all the thinking and talking in the world could +make it anything but more intolerable." + +His prudent daughter understood in the adjective applied to her a +hint which the wily lady would not have dared to make direct to +the high-spirited old soldier, namely, that the continuance of his +livelihood might depend on his consent. Betty knew likewise enough of +the terrible world of the early eighteenth century to be aware that +even such wedlock as this was not the worst to which a woman like Lady +Belamour might compel the poor girl, who was entirely in her power, and +out of reach of all protection; unless--An idea broke in on her--"If we +could but go to Bowstead, sir," she said, "then we could judge whether +the notion be as repugnant to Aurelia as it is to us, and whether Mr. +Belamour be truly rational and fit to be trusted with her." + +"I tell you, Betty, it is a mere absurdity to think of it. I believe the +child is fond of, and grateful to, the poor man, but if she supposed she +loved him, it would be mere playing on her ignorance." + +"Then we could take her safely home and bear the consequences together, +without leaving her alone exposed to any fresh machination of my Lady." + +"You are right, Betty. You have all your sainted mother's good sense. +I will tell my cousin that this is not a matter to be done blindly, and +that I withhold my reply till I have seen and spoken with her and this +most preposterous of suitors." + +"Yes, it is the only way," said Betty. "We can then judge whether it be +a cruel sacrifice, or whether the child have affection and confidence +enough in him to be reasonably happy with him. What is his age, father?" + +"Let me see. Poor Sir Jovian was much older than Urania, but he died at +forty years old. His brother was some three years his junior. He cannot +be above forty-six or seven. That is not the objection, but the moody +melancholy--Think of our gay sprightly child!" + +"We will see, sir." + +"We! Mistress Betty? The cost will be severe without you!" + +"Nay, sir, I cannot rest without going too; you might be taken ill." + +"You cannot trust a couple of old campaigners like Palmer and me? What +did we do without you?" + +"Got lamed for life," said Betty, saucily. "No, I go on a pillion behind +Palmer, and my grandfather's diamond ring shall pay expenses." + +"Sir Archibald's ring that he put on two baby fingers of yours when he +went off to Scotland." + +"Better part with that then resign my Aurelia in the dark, uncertain +whether it be for her good." + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. THE PROPOSAL. + + + Love sweetest lies concealed in night.--T. MOORE. + + +The Major rode up to the Great House to announce that he would only give +his answer after having conferred with both his daughter and the suitor. + +With tears in her beautiful blue eyes, Lady Belamour demanded why her +dear cousin Harry could not trust the Urania he had known all her life +to decide what was for the happiness of the sweet child whom she loved +like her own. + +She made him actually feel as if it were a cruel and unmerited +suspicion, but she did not over come him. "Madam," he said, "it would be +against my orders, as father of a family, to give my child away without +doing my poor best for her." + +There, in spite of all obstacles suggested and all displeasure +manifested, he stuck fast, until, without choosing to wait till a shower +of sleet and rain was over. Vexation and perplexity always overset +his health, and the chill, added to them, rendered him so ill the next +morning that Betty knew there was no chance of his leaving his room for +the next month or six weeks; and she therefore sent a polite and formal +note to the Great House explaining that he could not attend to business. + +This brought upon her the honour of a visit from the great lady herself. +Down came the coach-and-four, and forth from it came Lady Belamour in +a magnificent hoop, the first seen in those parts, managing it with a +grace that made her an overwhelming spectacle, in contrast with Betty, +in her close-fitting dark-grey homespun, plain white muslin apron, cap, +kerchief, and ruggles, scrupulously neat and fresh, but unadorned. The +visit was graciously designed for "good cousin Harry," but his daughter +was obliged, not unwillingly, though quite truly, to declare him far too +suffering with pain and fever. + +"La, you there, then," said the lady, "that comes of the dear man's heat +of temper. I would have kept him till the storm was over but he was far +too much displeased with his poor cousin to listen to me. Come, cousin +Betty, I know you are in all his counsels. You will bring him to hear +reason." + +"The whole affair must wait, madam, till he is able to move." + +"And if this illness be the consequence of one wet ride, how can he be +in a condition to take the journey?" + +"You best know, madam whether a father can be expected to bestow his +daughter in so strange a manner without direct communication either with +her or with the other party." + +"I grant you the idea is at first sight startling, but surely he might +trust to me; and he knows Amyas Belamour, poor man, to be the very soul +of honour; yes, and with all his eccentricity to have made no small +impression on our fair Aurelia. Depend upon it, my dear Betty, romance +carried the day; and the damsel is more enamoured of the mysterious +voice in the dark, than she would be of any lusty swain in the ordinary +light of day." + +"All that may be, madam, but she is scarce yet sixteen, and it is +our duty to be assured of her inclinations and of the gentleman's +condition." + +"You will not trust me, who have watched them both," said Lady Belamour, +with her most engaging manner. "Now look here, my dear, since we are two +women together, safe out of the hearing of the men, I will be round with +you. I freely own myself imprudent in sending your sister to Bowstead +to take charge of my poor little girls, but if you had seen the little +savages they were, you would not wonder that I could not take them home +at once, nor that I should wish to see them acquire the good manners +that I remembered in the children of this house; I never dreamt of Mr. +Belamour heeding the little nursery. He has always been an obstinate +melancholic lunatic, confined to his chamber by day, and wandering like +a ghost by night, refusing all admission. Moreover my good Aylward +had appeared hitherto a paragon of a duenna for discretion, only over +starched in her precision. Little did I expect to find my young lady +spending all her evenings alone with him, and the solitary hermit +transformed into a gay and gallant bachelor like the Friar of Orders +Gray in the song. And since matters have gone to such a length, I, as a +woman who has seen more of the world than you have, my dear good Betty, +think it expedient that the Friar and his charmer should be made one +without loss of time. _We_ know her to be innocence itself, and him for +a very Sidney for honour, but the world--" + +"It is your doing, madam," exclaimed Betty, passionately, completely +overset by the insinuation; "you bid us trust you, and then confess that +you have exposed my sweet sister to be vilely slandered! Oh my Aurelia, +why did I let you out of my sight?" she cried, while hot tears stood in +her eyes. + +"I know your warmth, my dear," said Lady Belamour with perfect command +of temper; "I tell you I blame myself for not having recollected that +a lovely maiden can tame even a savage brute, or that even in the sweet +rural country walls have ears and trees have tongues. Not that any harm +is done so far, nor ever will be; above all if your good father do not +carry his romantic sentiments so far as to be his ruin a second time. +Credit me, Betty, they will not serve in any world save the imaginary +one that crazed Don Quixote. What advantage can the pretty creature +gain? She is only sixteen, quite untouched by true passion. She will +obtain a name and fortune, and become an old man's idol for a few years, +after which she will probably be at liberty by the time she is of an age +to enjoy life." + +"He is but five-and-forty!" said Betty. + +"Well, if she arouse him to a second spring, there will be few women who +will not envy her." + +"You may colour it over, madam," said Betty, drawing herself up, "but +nothing can conceal the fact that you confess yourself to have exposed +my innocent helpless sister to malignant slander; and that you assure +me that the only course left is to marry the poor child to a wretched +melancholic who has never so much as seen her face." + +"You are outspoken, Miss Delavie," said Lady Belamour, softly, but +with a dangerous glitter in her blue eyes. "I pardon your heat for your +father's sake, and because I ascribe it to the exalted fantastic notions +in which you have been bred; but remember that there are bounds to my +forbearance, and that an agent in his state of health, and with his +stubborn ideas, only remains on sufferance." + +"My father has made up his mind to sacrifice anything rather than his +child," cried Betty. + +"My dear girl, I will hear you no more. You are doing him no service," +said Lady Belamour kindly. "You had better be convinced that it is +a sacrifice, or an unwilling one, before you treat me to any more +heroics." + +Betty successfully avoided a parting kiss, and remained pacing up +and down the room to work off her indignation before returning to her +father. She was quite as angry with herself, as with my Lady, for having +lost her temper, and so given her enemy an advantage, more especially as +when her distress became less agitating, her natural shrewdness began to +guess that the hint about scandal was the pure fruit of Lady Belamour's +invention, as an expedient for obtaining her consent. Yet the mere +breath of such a possibility of evil speaking was horror to her, and she +even revolved the question of going herself to Bowstead to rescue her +sister. But even if the journey had been more possible, her father was +in no condition to be left to Harriet's care, and there was nothing to +be done except to wait till he could again attend to the matter, calm +herself as best she could, so as not to alarm him, and intercept all +dangerous messages. + +Several days had passed, and though the Major had not left his bed, he +had asked whether more had been heard from my Lady, and discussed the +subject with his daughter, when a letter arrived in due course of post. +It was written in a large bold hand, and the signature, across a crease +in the paper, was in the irregular characters that the Major recognised +as those of Mr. Belamour. + + +"DEAR AND HONOURED SIR, + + "Proposals have been made to you on my Behalf for the Hand of your +fair and amiable Daughter, Miss Aurelia Delavie. I am well aware how +preposterous and even shocking they may well appear to you; yet, let me +assure you, on the Faith of a Man of Honour that if you will entrust +her to me, wretched Recluse though I be, and will permit her to bear my +Name, I will answer for her Happiness and Welfare. Situated as I am, +I cannot enter into further explanations; but we are old Acquaintance, +though we have not met for many Years, and therefore I venture to beg of +you to believe me when I say that if you will repose Confidence in +me, and exercise Patience, I can promise your admirable Daughter such +Preferment as she is far from expecting. She has been the Blessing of +my darkened Life, but I would never have presumed to ask further were it +not that I have no other Means of protecting her, nor of shielding her +from Evils that may threaten her, and that might prove far worse than +bearing the Name of + + "Your obedient Servant to command, + "AMYAS BELAMOUR. + +"Bowstead Park, Dec. 3rd, 1737." + + +"Enigmatical!" said Betty. + +"It could hardly be otherwise if he had to employ a secretary" said her +father. "Who can have written for him?" + +"His friend, Dr. Godfrey, most probably," said Betty. "It is well spelt +as well as indited, and has not the air of being drawn up by a lawyer." + +"No, it is not Hargrave's hand. It is strange that he says nothing of +the settlements." + +"Here is a postscript, adding, 'Should you consent, Hargrave will give +you ample satisfaction as to the property which I can settle on your +daughter.'" + +"Of that I have no doubt," said the Major. "Well, Betty, on reflection, +if I were only secure that no force was put on the child's will, and if +I could exchange a few words face to face with Amyas Belamour, I should +not be so utterly averse as I was at first sight. She is a good child, +and if she like him, and find it not hard to do her duty by him, she +might be as happy as another. And since she is out of our reach it might +save her from worse. What say you, child?" + +"That last is the strongest plea with me," said Betty, with set lips. + +They took another evening for deliberation, but there was something in +the tone of the letter that wrought on them, and it ended in a cautious +consent being given, on the condition of the father being fully +satisfied of his daughter's free and voluntary acquiescence. + +"After all," he said to Betty, "I shall be able to go up to Bowstead for +the wedding, and if I find that her inclinations have been forced, I can +take her away at all risks." + + + + +CHAPTER XIX. WOOING IN THE DARK. + + + You may put out my eyes with a ballad-maker's pen, and hang me + up for the sign of blind Cupid.--_Much Ado About Nothing_. + + +Aurelia had been walking in the park with her two remaining charges, +when a bespattered messenger was seen riding up to the door, and Letitia +dropped her hoop in her curiosity and excitement. + +Lady Belamour, on obtaining the Major's partial acquiescence, had felt +herself no longer obliged to vegetate at Carminster, but had started for +Bath, while the roads were still practicable; and had at the same time +sent off a courier with letters to Bowstead. Kind Mrs. Dove had sent +a little packet to each of the children, but they found Cousin Aura's +sympathy grievously and unwontedly lacking, and she at last replied to +their repeated calls to here to share their delight, that they must run +away, and display their treasures to Molly and Jumbo. She must read her +letters alone. + +The first she had opened was Betty's, telling her of her father's +illness, which was attributed in great part to the distress and +perplexity caused by Lady Belamour's proposal. Had it not been for +this indisposition, both father and sister would have come to judge for +themselves before entertaining it for a moment; but since the journey +was impossible, he could only desire Betty to assure her sister that +no constraint should be put on her, and that if she felt the least +repugnance to the match, she need not consider her obliged to submit. +More followed about the religious duty of full consideration and prayer +before deciding on what would fix her destiny for life, but all was +so confusing to the girl, entirely unprepared as she was, that after +hastily glancing on in search of an explanation which she failed +to find, she laid it aside, and opened the other letter. It began +imperially + + + "MY COUSIN, + + "No doubt you are already informed of the Honour that has been +done you by the Proposal that Mr. Amyas Belamour has made to your Father +for your Hand. It is no slight Compliment to a young Maid like you, from +one of the most noted Wits about Town in the last Reign; and you will +no doubt shew the Good Sense to esteem yourself fortunate beyond all +reasonable Expectations or Deserts of your own, as well as to act for +the Advantage of your Family. Be assured that I shall permit no foolish +Flightiness nor Reluctance to interfere with you true Welfare. I say +this, because, as you well know, your Father's Affection is strong and +blind, and you might easily draw him into a Resistance which could but +damage both his Health and his Prospects. On receiving the tidings +of your Marriage, I promise to settle on him the Manor House with an +Annuity of Three hundred Pounds; but if he should support you in any +foolish Refusal, I shall be obliged to inform him that I can dispense +with his Services; therefore you will do wisely to abstain from any +childish expressions of Distaste. + +"On your Marriage, you will of course have the enjoyment of the Pin Money +with which Mr. Belamour will liberally endow you, and be treated in all +Respects as a Married Lady. My Daughters shall be sent to School, unless +you wish to make them your Companions a little longer. Expecting to +hear from you that you are fully sensible to the good Fortune and the +Obligations you are under to me, + + "I remain + "Yours &c. + "URANIA BELAMOUR." + + +It was with a gasp of relief that Aurelia discovered what was required +of her. "Marry Mr. Belamour? Is that all? Then why should they all think +I should so much dislike it, my Lady, and my papa, and sister and all? +Nobody ever was so good to me, and maybe I could make him a little +happier, though it is not what I expected of him, to forget his Mary! +Oh, no, I am not afraid; I might have been afraid six months ago, but +now it is a different thing. I am not so foolish! And my dear papa will +have the Manor House for ever! And Eugene will be able to go to a good +school and have a pair of colours in good time! A fortunate girl! Yes, +of course I am! Then Mrs. Phoebe and Mrs. Delia will not flout me any +more, even if young Sir Amyas should come here! Ah! here are the little +girls returning! Keep them here? Of course I will. What toys and books I +will get for them!" + +Yet, when the time for her summons drew nigh, a great dread and shyness +overcame her, lest Mr. Belamour should begin on the subject; and she +only nerved herself by recollecting that he could have had no one to +read to him her father's letter of reply, and that he was scarcely +likely to speak without knowing the contents. Still, it was only shyness +and embarrassment that made her advance timidly, but in one moment a +new sensation, a strange tremor came over her, as instead of merely her +finger-tips, her whole hand was grasped and fervently pressed, and in +the silence that ensued the throbbing of her heart and the panting of +her breath seemed to find an echo. However, the well-known voice began, +"My fair visitor is very good in honouring me to-night." + +Was it coming? Her heart gave such a throb that she could only murmur +something inarticulate, while there was a hasty repressed movement near +her. + +"You have heard from your father?" said Mr. Belamour. + +"My father is ill, sir," she faltered. + +"Ah, yes, so I was sorry to understand. Has he not sent a message to you +through your sister?" + +"He has, sir," Aurelia continued, with difficulty, to utter. + +There was another silence, another space of tightened breath and +beating heart, absolutely audible, and again a hushed, restless movement +heralded Mr. Belamour's next words, "Did I no tell you truly that my +Lady devises most unexpected expedients?" + +"Then would you not have it so, sir?" asked Aurelia, in a bewildered +voice of perplexity. "Oh!" as again one of those echoes startled her, +"tell me what it all means." + +"Hush! listen to me," said Mr. Belamour, in a voice that added to her +undefined alarm by what seemed to her imperious displeasure as uncalled +for as it was unusual; but the usual fatherly gentleness immediately +prevailed, "My child, I should never have entertained the thought for a +moment but for--but for Lady Belamour. This sounds like no compliment," +he added, catching himself up, and manifesting a certain embarrassment +and confusion very unlike his usual calm dignity of demeanour, and thus +adding to the strange fright that was growing upon Aurelia. "But you +must understand that I would not--even in semblance--have dreamt of +your being apparently linked to age, sorrow, and infirmity, save +that--strange as it may seem--Lady Belamour has herself put into +my hands the best means of protecting you, and finally, as I trust, +securing your happiness." + +"You are very good, sir," she continued to breathe out, amid the +flutterings of her heart, and the reply produced a wonderful outburst of +ardour in a low but fervent voice. "You will! You will! You sweetest of +angels, you will be mine!" + +There was something so irresistibly winning in the sound, that it drew +forth an answer from the maiden's very heart. "Oh! yes, indeed--" and +before she could utter another word she was snatched into a sudden, +warm, vehement embrace, from which she was only partly released, +as--near, but still not so near as she would have expected--this +extraordinary suitor seemed to remonstrate with his ardent self, saying, +"Now! now! that will do! So be it then, my child," he continued. "Great +will be the need of faith, patience, trust, ay, and of self-restraint, +but let these be practised for a little space, and all will be well." + +She scarcely heard the latter words. The sense of something irrevocable +and unfathomable was overpowering her. The mystery of these sudden +alterations of voice, now near, now far off, was intolerable. Here were +hands claiming her, fervent, eager breathings close upon her, and +that serious, pensive voice going on all that time. The darkness grew +dreadful to her, dizziness came over her; she dashed aside the hands, +started up with a scream, and amid the strange noises and flashes of a +swoon, knew no more till she heard Mrs. Aylward's voice over her, found +the horrid smell of burnt feathers under her nose, and water trickling +down her face, dim candlelight was round her, and she perceived that she +was on a low settee in the lobby. + +"There, she is coming round. You may tell your master, Jumbo, 'twas +nothing but the mince pies." + +"Oh, no--" began Aurelia, but her own voice seemed to come from +somewhere else, and being inexperienced in fainting, she was frightened. + +"That is right, you are better. Now, a drop of strong waters." + +Aurelia choked, and put them aside, but was made to swallow the draught, +and revived enough to ask, "How came I here?" + +"Jumbo must have carried you out, ma'am, and laid you here before ever +he called any one," said Mrs. Aylward. "Dear, dear, to think of your +being taken like that. But the tins of those mince-pies are over large! +You must halve one next time." + +Aurelia was sensible enough to the reproof of greediness to begin to +protest against the mince-pie theory, but she recollected that she could +not account for her swoon, and thereupon became as red as she had been +pale, thus confirming the housekeeper's opinion. A sound of footsteps +made her start up and cry, "What's that?" in nervous fright; but Mrs. +Aylward declared it was fancy, and as she was by this time able to walk, +she was conducted to her own room. There she was examined on her recent +diet, and was compelled to allow the housekeeper to ascribe her illness +to neglect of autumnal blood-letting and medicine; and she only stave +off the send for the barber and his lancet the next morning by promising +to swallow a dose compounded of all that was horrible. + +She was altogether much shaken, she dreamed strange dreams by night, was +capable of little by day, was declared by the children to be cross, and +was much inclined to plead indisposition as an excuse for not visiting +that alarming room in the evening. Indeed for the greater part of the +day she felt as if she must avail herself of the pretext, and as if she +neither could nor would encounter that strange double creature in the +dark; but somehow she had been as much fascinated as terrified, and, in +spite of her resolve, she found herself mechanically following Jumbo, +shuddering all over and as cold as ice. + +The dark chambers were warmed by German stoves, so that the atmosphere +was always equable, and it seemed to revive her, while a kind, warm hand +led her as usual to her seat, and it was the usual gentle, courteous, +paternal tone that addressed her, "How chill and trembling you are! My +poor child, you were sadly alarmed last night." + +Aurelia murmured some excuse about being very foolish. + +"It was not you who was foolish," was the reply; and though her hand +was retained it was evidently for the sake of warming it, and comforting +her, not of caressing it in the startling mode of yesterday. There was +a pause, during which her composure began to be restored, and some +inquiries whether she were quite recovered; to which she replied with +eager affirmatives, feeling indeed quite herself again, now that all was +in its familiar state around her. Then this strange suitor spoke again. +"It is a hard and cruel fate that my Lady has sought to impose on you." + +"Oh, do not say so, sir I---" + +"No," he interrupted somewhat hastily, "do not try to deny it, my child; +I know better than you can what it would amount to. Believe me, I +only lend myself to her arrangement because I know no better means of +guarding you and preserving you for better days." + +"I know how kind you are, sir." + +"And you trust me?" + +"Indeed I do." + +"That is all I ask. I shall never be a husband to you more than in name, +Aurelia, nor ask of you more than you give me now, namely, your sweet +presence for a few hours in the evening, without seeing me. Can you bear +thus to devote your young life, for a time at least?" + +"You know, sir, how glad I always am to be with you," said Aurelia, +relieved yet half regretting that strange fervour. "I will do my very +best to please you." + +"Ah! sweet child," he began, with a thrill of deep feeling in his voice; +but checking himself he continued, "All I ask is patience and trust for +a time--for a time--you promise it!" + +"With all my heart," said Aurelia. + +"I will use my best endeavours to requite that trust, my child," he +said. "Is not the Christian watchword faith, not sight? It must be yours +likewise." + +"I hope so," she said, scarcely understanding. + +He then interrogated her somewhat closely as to the letters which had +prepared her for the proposal; and as Aurelia was far too simple to +conceal anything under cross-examination, Mr. Belamour soon found out +what her Ladyship's threats and promises had been. + +"The Manor House?" he said. "That is the original nucleus of the +property which had hitherto gone to the heir male?" + +"So my sister told me," said Aurelia. + +"That letter, which Dr. Godfrey read to me, spoke of my poor brother's +discomfort in holding it. It is well if thus tardily she refund it, +though not as your price, my poor child. It should have been as +matter of justice, if not by her husband's dying wish. So this is +the alternative set before you! Has it been set before your father +likewise?" + +"Almost certainly she will have threatened to dismiss him if he do not +consent. It was that which made my sister decide on sending me here, or +what would become of him and Eugene? But I should think my Lady knew my +father better than to seem to offer any kind of price, as you call it, +for me." + +"Precisely. You have heard from this maternal sister of yours? Does he +then give his consent?" + +"They say they will not have my inclinations forced, and that they had +rather undergo anything than that I should be driven to--to--" + +"To be as much a sacrifice as Iphigenia," he concluded the sentence. + +"Indeed, sir," said Aurelia, quite restored, "I cannot see why they +should imagine me to have such objections, or want me to be so cautious +and considerate. I shall write to my papa that it is not at all +repugnant to me, for that you are very, very good to me; and if I can +make your time pass ever so little more pleasantly, it is a delight to +me. I am sure I shall like you better than if---" + +"Stay, stay, child," he said, half laughing; "remember, it is as a +father that I ask you to love and trust the old recluse." + +She thought she had been forward, crimsoned in the dark, and retired +into her shell for the rest of the evening. She was glad when with his +usual tact, Mr. Belamour begged for the recitation he knew she could +make with the least effort of memory. + +At the end, however, she ventured to ask--"Sir, shall I be permitted +ever to see my father and sister?" + +"Certainly, my child. In due time I hope you will enjoy full liberty, +though you may have to wait for it." + +Aurelia durst not ask what was in her mind, whether they would not +come to the wedding, but that one great hope began to outweigh all +the strange future. She began to say something about being too young, +ignorant, and foolish for him, but this was kindly set aside, she hardly +knew how. Mr. Belamour himself suggested the formula in which she might +send her consent to Lady Belamour, begging at the same time to retain +the company of the little Misses Wayland. To her father she wrote such +a letter as might satisfy all doubts as to the absence of all repugnance +to the match, and though the Major had sacrificed all to love and honour +himself, _mariages de convenance_ were still so much the rule, and +wives, bestowed in all passiveness with unawakened hearts, so +often proved loving and happy matrons, that it would have been held +unreasonable to demand more than absence of dislike on the part of the +bride. + +Therewith things returned to their usual course, and she was beginning +to feel as if all had been a dream, when one evening, about a week +later, her suitor appeared to have one of those embarrassing fits of +youthful ardour; her hand was passionately seized, caressed, toyed with +by a warm strong hand, and kissed by lips that left a burning impression +and that were no longer hairy. Surely he had been shaving! Was the time +for which he bade her wait, his full recovery, and the resumption of the +youthfulness that seemed to come on him in fits and starts, and then to +ebb away, and leave him the grave courteous old man she had first +known? And why was it always in a whisper that he spoke forth all those +endearments which thrilled her with such strange emotions? + +When she came into the light, she found her fourth finger encircled with +an exquisite emerald ring, which seemed to bind her to her fate, and +make her situation tangible. Another time she was entreated to give a +lock of her hair, and she of course did so, though it was strange that +it should confer any pleasure on her suitor in the dark. + + + + +CHAPTER XX. THE MUFFLED BRIDEGROOM. + + + This old fantastical Duke of dark corners.-- + _Measure for Measure._ + + +There was some coming and going of Mr. Hargrave in the ensuing weeks; +and it began to be known that Miss Delavie was to become the wife of +the recluse. Mrs. Aylward evidently knew it, but said nothing; Molly +preferred a petition to be her waiting maid; Jumbo grinned as if +over-powered with inward mirth; the old ladies in the pew looked more +sour and haughty than ever to discourage "the artful minx," and the +little girls asked all manner of absurd and puzzling questions. + +My Lady was still at Bath, and Aurelia supposed that the marriage would +take place on her return; and that the Major and Betty would perhaps +accompany her. The former was quite in his usual health again, and had +himself written to give her his blessing as a good dutiful maiden, +and declare that he hoped to be with her for her wedding, and to give +himself to his honoured friend. + +She was the more amazed and startled when, one Sunday evening in spring, +Mr. Hargrave came to her as she sat in her own parlour, saying, "Madam, +you will be amazed, but under the circumstances, the parson and +myself being both here, Mr. Belamour trusts you will not object to the +immediate performance of the ceremony." + +Aurelia took some moments to realise what the ceremony was; and then she +cried, "Oh! but my father meant to have been here." + +"Mr. Belamour thinks it better not to trouble Major Delavie to come +up," said Mr. Hargrave; and as Aurelia stood in great distress and +disappointment at this disregard of her wishes, he added, "I think Miss +Delavie cannot fail to understand Mr. Belamour's wishes to anticipate +my Lady's arrival, so that he may be as little harassed as possible with +display and publicity. You may rely both on his honour and my vigilance +that all is done securely and legally." + +"Oh! I know that," said Aurelia, blushing; "but it is so sudden! And I +was thinking of my father---" + +"Your honoured father has given full consent in writing," said the +steward. "Your doubts and scruples are most natural, my dear madam, but +under the circumstances they must give way, for it would be impossible +to Mr. Belamour to go through a public wedding." + +That Aurelia well knew, though she had expected nothing so sudden or +so private; but she began to feel that she must allow all to be as he +chose; and she remembered that she had never pressed on him her longing +for her father's presence, having taken it as a matter of course, and +besides, having been far too shy to enter on the subject of her wedding. +So she rose up as in a dream, saying, "Shall I go as I am?" + +"I fear a fuller toilet would be lost upon the bridegroom," said the +lawyer with some commiseration, as he looked at the beautiful young +creature about to be bound to the heart-broken old hermit. "You will +have to do me the honour of accepting my services in the part of +father." + +He was a man much attached to the family, and especially to Mr. +Belamour, his first patron, and was ready to do anything at his bidding +or for his pleasure. Such private weddings were by no uncommon up to +the middle of the last century. The State Law was so easy as to render +Gretna Green unnecessary, when the presence of any clergyman anywhere, +while the parties plighted their troth before witnesses, was sufficient +to legalise the union; nor did any shame or sense of wrong necessarily +attach to such marriages. Indeed they were often the resource of +persons too bashful or too refined to endure the display and boisterous +merriment by which a public wedding was sure to be attended. Every one +knew of excellent and respectable couples who had not been known to be +married till the knot had been tied for several days or weeks--so that +there was nothing in this to shock the bride. And as usual she did as +she was told, and let Mr. Hargrave lead her by her finger-tips towards +Mr. Belamour's apartments. Mrs. Aylward was waiting in the lobby, with +a fixed impassive countenance, intended to imply that though obedient +to the summons to serve as a witness, it was no concern of hers. On the +stairs behind her the maids were leaning over the balusters, stuffing +their aprons into their mouths lest their tittering should betray them. + +The sitting-room was nearly, but not quite, dark, for a lamp, closely +shaded, cast a dim light on a Prayer-book, placed on a small table, +behind which stood poor Mr. Greaves--a black spectre, whose white bands +were just discernible below a face whose nervous, disturbed expression +was lost in the general gloom. He carefully avoided looking at the +bride, fearing perhaps some appeal on her part such as would make his +situation perplexing. Contempt and poverty had brought his stamp of +clergymen very low, and rendered them abject. He had been taken by +surprise, and though assured that this was according to my Lady's will, +and with the consent of the maiden's father, he was in an agony of +fright, shifting awkwardly from leg to leg, and ruffling the leaves +of the book, as a door opened and the bridegroom appeared, followed by +Jumbo. + +Aurelia looked up with bashful eagerness, and saw in the imperfect light +a tall figure entirely covered by a long dark dressing-gown, a grey, +tight curled lawyer's wig on the head, and the upper part of the face +sheltered from the scanty rays of the lamp by a large green shade. + +Taking his place opposite to her as Mr. Hargrave arranged them, he bowed +in silence to the clergyman, who, in a trembling voice, began the rite +which was to unite Amyas Belamour to Aurelia Delavie. He intended to +shorten the service, but his nervous terror and the obscurity of the +room made him stumble in finding the essential passages, and blunder in +dictating the vows, thus increasing the confusion and bewilderment of +poor little Aurelia. Somehow her one comfort was in the touch of the +hand that either clasped hers, or held the ring on her finger--a strong, +warm, tender, trustworthy hand, neither as white nor as soft as she +would have expected, but giving her a comfortable sense both of present +support and affection, and of identity with that eager one which had +sought to fondle and caress her. There was a certain tremor about +both, but hers was from bashful fright, his, from scarcely suppressed +eagerness. + +The steward had a form of certificate ready for signature. When it was +presented to the bridegroom he put up his hand for a moment as if to +push back the shade, but, in dread of admitting even a feeble ray of +light, gave up the attempt, took the pen and wrote Amyas Belamour where +the clergyman pointed. Aurelia could hardly see what she was doing, and +knew she had written very badly. The lawyer and housekeeper followed as +witnesses; and the bridegroom, laying a fee of ten guineas on the desk, +took his bride by the hand and led her within the door whence he had +issued. It was instantly closed, and at the same moment she was enfolded +in a pair of rapturous arms, and held to a breast whose throbs wakened +response in her own, while passionate kisses rained on her face, mingled +with ecstatic whispers and murmurs of "Mine! mine! my own!" + +On a knock at the door she was hastily released, and Mr. Hargrave said, +"Here are the certificates, sir."--Mr. Belamour put one into her hand, +saying "Keep it always about you; never part with it. And now, my child, +after all the excitement you have gone through, you shall be subjected +to no more to-night. Fare you well, and blessings attend your dreams." + +Strange that while he was uttering this almost peremptory dismissal, she +should feel herself in a clinging grasp, most unwilling to let her go! +What did it all mean? Could she indeed be a wife, when here she was +alone treading the long dark stair, in looks, in habits, in externals, +still only the little governess of my Lady's children! However, she had +hardly reached her room, before there was a knock at the door, and +the giggling, blushing entrance of Molly with "Please, ma'am, Madam +Belamour, I wishes you joy with all my heart. Please can't I do nothing +for you? Shall I help you undress, or brush your hair?" + +Perhaps she expected a largesse in honour of the occasion, but Aurelia +had spent all her money on Christmas gifts, and had nothing to bestow. +However, she found on the breakfast-table a parcel addressed to Madam +Belamour, containing a purse with a startling amount of golden guineas +in it. She was rather surprised at the title, which was one generally +conferred on dignified matrons whose husbands were below the rank of +knighthood, such as the wives of country squires and of the higher +clergy. The calling her mother Madam Delavie had been treated as an +offence by Lady Belamour; and when the day had gone by, with nothing +else to mark it from others, Aurelia, finding her recluse in what she +mentally called his quiet rational mood, ventured, after thanking him, +modestly to inquire whether that was what she was to be called. + +"It is better thus," hes said. "You have every right to the title." + +She recollected that he was a baronet's younger son, a distinction in +those days; and that she had been told that his patent of knighthood +had been made out, though he had never been able to appear at court to +receive the accolade, and had never assumed the title; so she only +said "Very well, sir, I merely thought whether my Lady would think it +presuming." + +He laughed a little. "My Lady will soon understand it," he said. +"Her husband will be at home in a few weeks. And now, my dear Madam +Belamour," he add playfully, "tell me whether there is any wish that I +can gratify." + +"You are very kind, sir---" + +"What does that pause mean, my fair friend?" + +"I fear it is too much to ask, sir, but since you inquire what would +please me most, it would be if you could spare me to go to my sister +Harriet's wedding?" + +"My child," he said, with evident regret, "I fear that cannot be. It +will not be prudent to make any move until Mr. Wayland's return; but +after that I can assure you of more liberty. Meantime, let us consider +what wedding present you would like to send her." + +Aurelia had felt her request so audacious that she subsided easily; +and modestly suggested a tea-service. She thought of porcelain, but Mr. +Belamour's views were of silver, and it ended in the lady giving the +cups and saucers, and the gentleman the urn and the tea and coffee +pots and other plate; but it was a drawback to the pleasure of this +munificence that the execution of the order had to be entrusted to Mr. +Hargrave. The daring hope Aurelia had entertained of shopping for a day, +with Mrs. Aylward as an escort, and choosing the last fashions to send +to her sisters was quashed by the grave reply that it was better not for +the present. What was the meaning of all this mystery, and when was it +to end? She felt that it would be ungrateful to murmur, for Mr. Belamour +evidently was full of sorrow whenever he was obliged to disappoint her, +and much was done for her pleasure. A charming little saddle-horse, two +riding-habits, with a groom, and a horse for him, were sent down from +London for her benefit; gifts showered upon her; and whenever she found +her husband in one of those perplexing accesses of tenderness she was +sure to carry away some wonderful present, a beautiful jewelled watch, +an _etui_ case, a fan, a scent-bottle, or patch-box with a charming +enamel of a butterfly. The little girls were always looking for +something pretty that she would show them in the morning, and thought +it must be a fine thing to have a husband who gave such charming things. +Those caressing evenings, however, always frightened Aurelia, and sent +her away vaguely uneasy, often to lie awake full of a vague yearning +and alarm; and several days of restlessness would pass before she could +return to her ordinary enjoyment of her days with the children and her +evenings with Mr. Belamour. Yet when there was any long intermission +of those fits of tender affection, she missed them sorely, and began to +fear she had given offence, especially as this strangely capricious man +seemed sometimes to repel those modest, timid advances which at other +times would fill him with ill-suppressed transport. Then came longings +to see and satisfy herself as to what was indeed the aspect of him whom +she was learning to love. + +No wonder there was something unsettled and distressed about her, +overthrowing much of that gentle duteous ness which she had brought from +home. She wrote but briefly and scantily to her sister, not feeling as +if she could give full confidence; she drifted away from some of the +good habits enjoined on her, feeling that, as a married woman, she was +less under authority. She was less thorough in her religious ways, less +scrupulous in attending to the children's lessons; and the general fret +of her uncertainties told upon her temper with them. They loved her +heartily still, and she returned their affection, but she was not so +uniformly patient and good-humoured. Indeed since Amoret's departure +some element of harmony was missing, and it could not now be said that +a whine, a quarrel, or a cry was a rare event. Even the giving up my +lady's wearisome piece of embroidery had scarcely a happy effect, +for Aurelia missed the bracing of the task-work and the attention it +required, and the unoccupied time was spent in idle fretting. A little +self-consequence too began to set in, longing for further recognition of +the dignities of Madam Belamour. + +The marriage had been notified to Lady Belamour and to Major Delavie, +and letters had been received from each. My Lady travelled to London +early in April in company with Lady Aresfield, and, to the relief of +the inmates of Bowstead, made no deviation thither. No one else was +officially told that the wedding had taken place, but all the village +knew it; and Mrs. Phoebe and Mrs. Delia so resented it that they +abandoned the state pew to Madam Belamour and the children, made their +curtsies more perpendicularly than ever, and, when formally invited to +supper, sent a pointed and ceremonious refusal, so that Aurelia felt +hurt and angered. + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. THE SISTERS' MEETING. + + + By all hope thou hast to see again + Our aged father and to soothe his pain, + I charge thee, tell me, hast thou seen the thing + Thou callst thine husband?--MORRIS. + + +After numerous delays Mr. Arden had at length been presented to the +living of Rundell Canonicorum, and in one of the last days of April +Harriet Delavie had become his wife. After a fortnight of festivities +amongst their old Carminster friends, the happy couple were to ride, +pillion-wise, to take possession of tier new home, passing through +London, and there spending time enough with some relations of the +bridegroom to show Harriet the wonders of the City. + +Thence Mrs. Arden sent an urgent invitation from her hospitable hostess +to Mrs. Belamour, to come and spend some days in Gracechurch Street and +share with her sister the pleasures of the first sight of London. + +"I assure you," wrote Harriet, "that though they be Woolstaplers, it +is all in the Wholesale Line; and they are very genteel, and well-bred +Persons, who have everything handsome about them. Indeed it is upon the +Cards that the Alderman may, ere many years be passed, be my Lord Mayor; +but yet he and his good Wife have a proper Appreciation of Family, and +know how to esteem me as one of the Delavies. They would hold themselves +infinitely honoured by your Visit; and if you were here, we might even +be invited to Lady Belamour's, and get Tickets for Ranelagh. I called at +my Lady's Door, but she was not within, nor has she returned my Visit, +though I went in the Alderman's own Coach; but if you were with me +she would have no Colour for Neglect, you being now her Sister-in-law, +though it makes me laugh to think of it. But as we poor married Ladies +are compelled to obey our Lords and Masters; and as Mr. Belamour may +chance to be too high in his Notions to permit you to be a Guest in this +House (as I told our good Cousin Arden was very like), we intend to lie +a Night at Brentford, and remain there for a Day, trusting that your +Husband will not be so cruel as to prevent a Meeting, either by your +coming to see us, or our coming to see you in your present Abode, which +I long to do. It is a Year since we parted, and I cannot tell you how I +long to clasp my beloved Sister in my Arms." + +Harriet could not long more for such a meeting than did Aurelia, and +there was, it must be owned, a little relief, that it was Harriet, and +not the severer judge, Betty, who thus awaited her. She could hardly +brook the delay until the evening, and even wondered whether it were not +a wife's privilege to anticipate the hour; but she did not venture, and +only hovered about impatient for Jumbo's summons. She came in with a +rapid movement that led Mr. Belamour to say, "Ha, my fair visitor, I +perceive that you have some tidings to bring to-day." + +Everything was rapidly poured out, and she anxiously awaited the +decision. She had little hope of being allowed to go to Gracechurch +Street, and did not press for it; but she could not refrain from showing +her earnest desire for the sight of her sister, so that it was plain +that it would have been a cruel disappointment to her, if she had been +prevented from meeting the newly-married couple. She detected a certain +sound of annoyance or perplexity in the tones that replied, and her +accents became almost plaintively imploring as she concluded, "Pray, +pray, sir, do not deny me." + +"No, my child, I could not be cruel enough for a refusal," he answered; +"I was but considering how most safely the thing may be contrived. I +know it would be your wish, and that it would seem more befitting that +you should act as hostess for your sister, but I fear that must be for +another time. This is not my house, and there are other reasons for +which it would be wiser for you to receive no one here." + +"It will be quite enough for me if I may only go to Brentford to meet my +dear, dear Harriet." + +"Then be it so, my child. Present my compliments to Mrs. Arden, and +entreat her to excuse the seeming inhospitality of the invalid." + +Aurelia was overflowing with joy at the anticipated meeting, wrote a +delighted letter to make the appointment, and skipped about the dark +stairs and passages more like the butterfly she was than like Madam +Belamour; while Fay and Letty found her a more delightful playfellow +than ever, recovering all the animation she had lost during the last +weeks. Her only drawback to the pleasure was that each intervening +evening convinced her more strongly that Mr. Belamour was uneasy and +dissatisfied about the meeting, which he could not prohibit. On the +previous night he asked many questions about her sister, in especial +whether she were of an inquisitive disposition. + +"That rather depends on how much she has to say about herself," returned +Aurelia, after some reflection. "She likes to hear about other people's +affairs, but she had much rather talk of her own." + +This made Mr. Belamour laugh. "Considering," he said, "how recently she +has undergone the greatest event of a woman's life, let us hope that her +imagination and her tongue may be fully occupied by it during the few +hours that you are to pass together. It seems hard to put any restraint +on your ingenuous confidence, my sweet friend; but I trust to your +discretion to say as little as you can contrive of your strange position +here, and of the infirmities and caprices of him whose name you have +deigned to bear." + +"Sir, do you think I could?" + +"It is not for my own sake, but for yours, that I would recommend +caution," he continued. "The situation is unusual, and such disclosures +might impel persons to interfere for what they thought your interest; +but you have promised me your implicit trust, and you will, I hope, +prove it. You can understand how painful would be such well-meaning +interference, though you cannot understand how fatally mischievous it +would be." + +"I had better say I can tell her nothing," said Aurelia, startled. + +"Nay, that would excite still greater suspicion. Reply briefly and +carefully, making no mysteries to excite curiosity, and avert the +conversation from yourself as much as possible." + +Man of the world and brilliant talker as he had been, he had no notion +of the difficulty of the task he had imposed on the simple open-hearted +girl, accustomed to share all her thoughts with her sister; and she was +too gay and joyous to take full note of all his cautions, only replying +sincerely that she hoped that she should say nothing amiss, and that she +would do her best to be heedful of his wishes. + +In spite of all such cautions, she was too happy to take in the notion +of anxiety. She rose early in the morning, caring for the first time +to array herself in the insignia of her new rank. Knowing that the +bridle-path lay through parks, woodlands and heaths, so that there was +no fear of dust, she put on a dainty habit of white cloth, trimmed and +faced with blue velvet, and a low-crowned hat with a white feather. On +her pretty grey horse, the young Madam Belamour was a fair and gracious +sight, as she rode into the yard of the Red Lion at Brentford. Harriet +was at the window watching for her, and Mr. Arden received her as she +sprang off her steed, then led her up to the parlour, where breakfast +was spread awaiting her. + +"Aurelia, what a sweet figure you make," cried Harriet, as the sisters +unwound their arms after the first ecstasy of embracing one another +again. "Where did you get that exquisite habit?" + +"It came down from London with another, a dark blue," said Aurelia. "I +suppose Mr. Belamour ordered them, for they came with my horse. It is +the first time I have worn it." + +"Ah! fine things are of little account when there is no one to see +them," said Mrs. Arden, shaking her head in commiseration. + +She was attired in a grey riding-dress with a little silver lace about +it, and looked wonderfully plump and well, full of importance and +complacency, and with such a return of comeliness that Aurelia would +hardly have recognised the lean, haggard, fretful Harriet of the +previous year. Her sentiment and romance, her soft melancholy and little +affectations had departed, and she was already the notable prosperous +wife of a beneficed clergyman, of whose abilities she was very +proud, though she patronised with good-humoured contempt his dreamy, +unpractical, unworldly ways. + +The questions poured forth from Aurelia's heart-hunger about +brother, sister and home, were answered kindly and fully over the +breakfast-table; but as if Harriet had turned that page in her life, and +expected Aurelia to have done the same, every now and then exclaiming: +"La! you have not forgotten that! What a memory you have, child!" + +She wanted much more to talk of the parsonage and glebe of Rundell +Canonicorum, and of how many servants and cows she should keep, +and showed herself almost annoyed when Aurelia brought her back to +Carminster by asking whether Eugene had finished his Comenius, and if +the speckled hen had hatched many chickens, whether Palmer had had his +rheumatic attack this spring, or if the Major's letter to Vienna had +produced any tidings of Nannerl's relation. Harriet seemed only to +be able to reply by an effort of memory, and was far more desirous of +expatiating on the luxuries at alderman Arden's, and the deference +with which she had been treated, in contrast to the indignity of Lady +Belamour's neglect. + +It was disappointing to find that her father had heard nothing from my +Lady about the settlement of the Manor House. + +"Was the promise in writing?" asked Mr. Arden, who had been silent all +this time. + +"Certainly, in a letter to me." + +"I recommend you to keep it carefully until Mr. Wayland's return," said +Mr. Arden: "he will see justice done to you." + +"Poor Mr. Wayland! When he does return, I pity him; but it is his own +fault for leaving his lady to herself. Have you ever seen the gallant +colonel, sister?" + +"Never." + +"Ah! most like he is not much at Bowstead. But do not folk talk there?" + +"My dear," said Mr. Arden, "you would do well to imitate your honoured +father's discretion on certain points." + +"Bless me, Mr. Arden, how you startled me. I thought you were in a +brown study." She winked at Aurelia as if to intimate that she meant to +continue the subject in his absence, and went on; "I assure you, I had +to be on the alert all the way to take care he looked at the sign-posts, +or we might have been at York by this time. And in London, what do you +think was all my gentleman cared to go and see? Why, he must needs go to +some correspondents of his who are Fellows of the Royal Society. I took +it for granted they must be friends of his Majesty or of the Prince of +Wales at the least, and would have had him wait for his new gown and +cassock; but la! it was only a set of old doctors and philosophers, and +he wished to know what musty discoveries they had been making. That was +one thing he desired in London, and the other was to hear that crazy +Parson Wesley preach a sermon hours long!" + +"I was well rewarded in both instances," said Mr. Arden gravely. + +Aurelia did not take advantage of the opportunity of shining in the +eyes of her new brother-in-law by showing her acquaintance with the +discussions on electricity which she had studied for Mr. Belamour's +benefit, nor did she speak of Dr. Godfrey's views of Wesley and +Whitfield. Had she so ventured, her sister would have pitied her, +and Mr. Arden himself been somewhat shocked at her being admitted to +knowledge unbecoming to a pretty young lady. Intellect in ladies would +have been a startling idea, and though very fond of his wife, he never +thought of her as a companion, but only as the mistress of his house and +guardian of his welfare. + +The dinner was ordered at one, and at three Aurelia would ride home, +while Mr. and Mrs. Arden went on about twelve miles to the house of +a great grazier, brother to the Alderman's wife, where they had been +invited to make their next stage, and spend the next day, Sunday, when +Harriet reckoned on picking up information about cattle, if she were +not actually presented with a cow or a calf. They went out and walked a +little about the town, where presently they met Mrs. Hunter. Aurelia +met her puzzled stare with a curtsey, and she shouted in her hearty tone +"Miss Delavie!--I mean Mrs. Belamour! Who would have thought of seeing +you here!" + +"I am here to meet my sister--Mrs. Arden. Let me--let me present you," +said Aurelia in obedience to an imperious sign from her sister, going +through the form for the first time, while Harriet volubly declared her +happiness in making Mrs. Hunter's acquaintance, and explained how they +were on their way to take possession of Mr. Arden's rectory of Rundell +Canonicorum, the words rolling out of her mouth with magnificent +emphasis. "I congratulate you, ma'am," said Mrs. Hunter, cordially, "and +you too, my dear," she added, turning to Aurelia. "I would have been +out long ago to call on you--a sort of relation as you are now, as I may +say--but it was kept all so mum, one never knew the time to drink your +health; and my Cousins Treforth wouldn't so much as give me a hint. But +la! says I, why should you talk about artfulness? I'm right glad +poor Mr. Amyas should find a sprightly young lady to cure him of his +mopishness. Never mind them, my dear, if they do look sour on you. I'll +come over one of these days and talk to them. Now, I must have you come +in to take your dinner with us. The Doctor will be right pleased to find +you. I'll take no excuse. I thank Heaven I'm always ready whoever may +drop in. There's spring chicken and sparrow-grass." + +However, on hearing their dinner was ordered at the inn, the good lady +was satisfied that to dine with her was impossible; but she insisted on +their coming in to partake of wine and cake in her best parlour. + +This, however, was a little more than Mr. Arden could endure, he made an +excuse about seeing to the horse, and escaped; while Mrs. Hunter led the +two sisters to her closely shut-up parlour, wainscoted, and hung with +two staring simpering portraits of herself and her husband, clean as +soap could make it, but smelling like a long closed box. She went to +a cupboard in the wall, and brought out a silver salver, a rich cake, +glasses and wine, and pouring out the wine, touched the glass with her +lips, as she wished health and happiness to the two brides before her. + +"We shall soon have another wedding in the family, if report speaks +true," she added. "They say--but you should be the best informed, Madam +Belamour-- + +"We hear nothing of the matter, ma'am," said Aurelia. + +"That's odd, since Mr. Belamour is young Sir Amyas's guardian; and +they cannot well pass him over now he has begun life again as it were," +laughed Mrs. Hunter. "'Tis said that my Lady is resolved the wedding +shall be within six weeks." + +"There are two words to that question," said Harriet, oracularly; "I +know from good authority that young Sir Amyas is determined against the +match." + +"But is it true, ma'am," cried Mrs. Hunter, eagerly, "that my Lady and +the Countess of Aresfield met at Bath, and that my Lady is to have 3,000 +pounds down to pay off her debts before her husband comes home, the day +her son is married to Lady Arabella?" + +"Every word of it is true, ma'am," said Harriet, importantly. + +"Well now, that folk should sell their own flesh and blood!" + +"How have you heard it, sister Harriet?" asked Aurelia. + +"From a sure hand, my love. No other than Mrs. Dove. She is wife to my +Lady's coachman," explained Mrs. Arden to her hostess, "and nurse to the +two children it is her pleasure to keep with her." + +"Dear good Nurse dove!" cried Aurelia, "did she come to see you?" + +"Yes, that did she! So I have it from the fountain-head, as I may say, +that the poor young gentleman's hand and heart are to be made over +without his will, that so his mother may not have such a schedule of +debts wherewith to face her husband on his return!" + +"Her jewels have been all paste long ago, I know very well," said Mrs. +Hunter, not to be outdone; "though, would you believe it, Doctor Hunter +is like all the men, and will believe nothing against her! But this +beats all the rest! Why, I have it from my maid, who is sister to one of +the servants at the boarding-school in Queen Square, whither they have +sent the Lady Belle, that she is a regular little shrew. She flew at one +of the young ladies like a wild cat, because she did not yield place to +her at once, and scratched her cheeks till the blood ran down, and tore +out whole handfuls of her hair. She was like one possessed, and they +had to call the lackey before they could get her safe tied down in bed, +where they kept her on bread and water, trying to get her to make her +apology; but not a word could be got out of her, till they had to yield +the point lest she should fall sick." + +Aurelia mentally applauded her own discretion in not capping this with +Mrs. Dove's former tale, and only observing that the marriage could not +take place before the young baronet was of age, without the consent of +his personal guardian, Mr. Belamour. + +"You will excuse me, my dear, in speaking of your husband, but he has +so long been incapable of acting, that they say his consent can be +dispensed with." + +"Aye, poor cousin Amyas Belamour!" said Mrs. Hunter. "He was the only +man who ever durst resist my Lady's will before, and you see to what she +has brought him!" + +"Her son is resisting her now," said Harriet; "and our good Dove says it +makes her blood boil to see the way the poor young gentleman is treated. +He, who was the darling for whom nothing was good enough a while ago, +has now scarce a place in his mother's own house. She is cold and +stately with him, and Colonel Mar, the Lady Belle's brother, being his +commanding officer, there is no end to the vexations and annoyances they +give him, both at home and in his quarters. Mrs. Dove says his own man, +Grey, tells her it is a wonder how he stands out against it all! And +a truly well-bred young gentleman he is. He came to pay me his call +in Gracechurch Street only yesterday, knowing our kindred, and most +unfortunate was it that I was stepped out to the office to speak as +to our boxes being duly sent by the Buckingham wain; but he left his +ticket, and a message with the servant, 'Tell my cousin, Mrs. Arden,' +he said, 'that I much regret not having seen her, and I should have done +myself the honour of calling sooner to inquire for her good father, if I +had known she was in town." + +"Well, I have never seen the young gentleman since he was a mere child," +said Mrs. Hunter. "His mother has bred him to neglect his own home and +relations, but I am sorry for him." + +"They say," continued Harriet significantly, "that they are sure there +is some cause for his holding out so stiffly--I verily believe My Lady +suspected--" + +"O hush, Harriet!" cried Aurelia, colouring painfully. + +"Well, it is all over now, so you need not be offended," said Harriet, +laughing. "Besides, if my Lady had any such notion when she brought +about your marriage, she must be disappointed, for the young spark is as +resolute as ever." + +"And no wonder, if he knows what the lady is like," said Aurelia. + +"Ah! he has admitted as much to the King." + +"To the King!" cried both auditors. + +"Oh yes! you know my Lady is very thick with my Lady Suffolk, and she +persuaded the King to speak to him at the levee. '_Comment_', says his +majesty in French, 'are you a young rebel, sir, that refuse the good +things your mother provides you?' Not a whit was my young gentleman +moved. He bowed, and answered that he was acting by the desire of +his guardian. Excuse me, sister, but the King answered--'A raving +melancholic! That will not serve your turn, sir. Come to your senses, +fulfil your mother's bond, and we'll put you on the Duke's staff, +where you may see more of service than of home, or belike get into gay +quarters, where you may follow any other _fantaisie_ if that is making +you commit such _betises!_' At that Sir Amyas, who is but an innocent +youth, flamed up in his cheeks till they were as red as his coat, and +said his honour was engaged; on which his majesty swore at him for an +idiot, and turned his back. Every word of this Mrs. Dove heard Colonel +Mar tell my Lady--and then they fell to rating the poor youth, and +trying to force out who this secret flame may be; but his is of the +same stuff as his mother, adamantine and impervious. And now the Colonel +keeps him on hard duty continually, and they watch him day and night to +find out what places he haunts. But bless me, Mrs. Hunter, is the church +clock striking? We must be gone, or my good man will be wondering where +we are." + +Mrs. Hunter would fain have kept them, and the last words and +compliments were of long duration, while Aurelia looked on in some +surprise at the transformation of all Harriet's languishing affected +airs into the bustling self-importance of Mrs. Arden. She was however +much occupied with all she had heard, and was marvelling how her sister +began again as soon as they were in the street again. "You are very +discreet, Aurelia, as it becomes a young married lady, but have you no +notion who this innamorata of the baronet may be?" + +"No, indeed, how should I?" + +"I thought he might have confided in your husband, since he makes so +sure of his support." + +"He has only once come to visit Mr. Belamour, and that was many months +ago." + +"It is strange," mused Harriet; "Mrs. Dove says she would have taken her +Bible oath that it was you, and my Lady believed as much, or she would +not have been in such haste to have you wedded. Nay, I'll never believe +but he made his confidences to Betty when he came to the Manor House the +Sunday after you were gone, though not a word could I get from her." + +"It must have been all a mistake," said Aurelia, not without a little +twinge at the thought of what might have been. "I wish you would not +talk of it." + +"Well he could have been but a fickle adorer--'tis the way of men, my +dear, for he must have found some new flame while his mother and the +Colonel were both at the Bath. They have proof positive of his riding +out of town at sundown, but whither he goes is unknown, for he takes +not so much as a groom with him, and he is always in time for morning +parade." + +"Poor young man, it is hard to be so beset with spies and watchers," +said Aurelia. + +"Most true," said Harriet, "but I am monstrous glad you are safe married +like me, child, so that no one can accuse us. Such romantic affairs +are well enough to furnish a course of letters to the _Tatler_, or the +_Gentlewomen's Magazine_, but I am thankful for a comfortable life with +my good man." + +Therewith they reached their inn, where Harriet, having satisfied +herself that the said good man was safe within, and profiting by the +unwonted calm to write his inaugural sermon, took Aurelia to her bedroom +to prepare for dinner, and to indulge in further confidences. + +"So, Aurelia, I can report to my father that you are looking well, and +as cheerful as can be expected." + +"Nay, I have always told you I am happy as the day is long." + +"What, when you have never so much as seen your husband?" + +"Only at our wedding, and then he was forced to veil his face from the +light." + +"Nor has he ever seen you?" + +"Not unless he then saw me." + +"If he were not then charmed enough to repeat the view, you are the most +cruelly wasted and unworthily matched--" + +"Hush, sister!" broke out Aurelia in eager indignation. + +"What! is a lovely young creature, almost equal to what I was before my +cruel malady, to waste her bloom on a wretched old melancholic, who will +not so much as look at her!" + +"Harriet, I cannot hear this--you know not of what you are talking! What +is my poor skin-deep beauty--if beauty it be--compared with the stores +of goodness and wisdom I find in him?" + +"La! child, what heat is this? One would really think you loved him." + +"Of course I do! I love and honour him more than any one I ever +met--except my dear father." + +"Come, Aura, you are talking by rote out of the marriage service. You +may be open with me, you know, it will go no further; and I do long to +know whether you can be truly content at heart," said Harriet with real +affection. + +"Dear sister," said Aurelia, touched, "believe me that indeed I am. Mr. +Belamour is kindness itself. He is all he ever promised to be to me, and +sometimes more." + +"Yet if he loved you, he could never let you live moped up there. Are +you never frighted at the dark chamber? I should die of it!" + +"The dark does not fright me," said Aurelia. + +"You have a courage I have not! Come, now, were you never frighted to +talk with a voice in the dark?" + +"Scarcely ever!" said aurelia. + +"Scarcely--when was that?" + +"You will laugh, Harriet, but it is when he is most--most tender and +full of warmth. Then I hardly know him for the same." + +"What! If he be not always tender to my poor dear child, he must be a +wretch indeed." + +"O no, no, Harriet! How shall I ever make you understand?" cried +Aurelia. "Never for a moment is he other than kind and gentle. It +is generally like a father, only more courtly and deferential, but +sometimes something seems to come over him, and he is--oh! I cannot tell +you--what I should think a lover would be," faltered Aurelia, colouring +crimson, and hiding her face on her sister's shoulder, as old habits of +confidence, and need of counsel and sympathy were obliterating all the +warnings of last night. + +"You silly little chit! Why don't you encourage these advances? You +ought to be charmed, not frightened." + +"They would ch---I should like it if it were not so like two men in one, +the one holding the other back." + +Harriet laughed at this fancy, and Aurelia was impelled to defend it. +"Indeed, Harriet, it is really so. There will be whispers--oh, such +whispers!"--she sunk her voice and hid her face again--"close to my ear, +and--endearments--while the grave voice sounds at the other end of the +room, and then I long for light. I swooned for fright the first time, +but I am much more used to it now." + +"This is serious," said Harriet, with unwonted gravity. "Do you really +think that there is another person in the room?" + +"I do not feel as if it could be otherwise, and yet it is quite +impossible." + +"I would not bear it," said her sister. "You ought not to bear it. How +do you know that it is not some vile stratagem? It might even be the +blackamoor!" + +"No, no, Harriet! I know better than that. It is quite impossible. +Besides, I am sure of this--that the hands that wedded me are the same +hands that caress me," she added, with another blushing effort, "strong +but delicate hands, rather hard inside, as with the bridle. I noticed it +because once I thought his hands soft with doing nothing and being shut +up." + +"That convinces me the more, then, there is some strange imposition +practised upon you," said Harriet, anxiously. + +"Oh, no!" said Aurelia, inconsistently; "Mr. Belamour is quite incapable +of doing anything wrong by me. I cannot let you have such shocking +notions. He told me I must be patient and trust him, though I should +meet with much that was strange and inexplicable." + +"This is trusting him much too far. They are playing on your +inexperience, I am sure. If you were not a mere child, you would see +what a shocking situation this is." + +"I wish I had not told you," said Aurelia, tears rushing into her eyes. +"I ought not! He bade me be cautious how I talked, and you have made me +quite forget!" + +"Did he so? Then it is evident that he fears disclosure! Something must +be done. Why not write to our father?" + +"I could not! He would call it a silly fancy." + +"And it might embroil him with my Lady," added Harriet. "We must devise +another mode." + +"You will not--must not tell Mr. Arden," exclaimed Aurelia, +peremptorily. + +"Never fear! He heeds nothing more sublunary than the course of the +planets. But I have it. His device will serve the purpose. Do you +remember Eugene confounding him with Friar Bacon because he was said +to light a candle without flint or steel? It was true. When he was a +bachelor he always lit his own candle and fire, and he always carries +the means. I was frighted the first time he showed me, but now I can do +it as well as he. See," she said, opening a case, "a drop of this spirit +upon this prepared cotton;" and as a bright flame sprang up and made +Aurelia start, she laughed and applied a taper to it. "There, one +such flash would be quite enough to prove to you whether there be any +deception practised on you." + +"I could never do it! Light is agony to Mr. Belamour, and what would he +think?" + +"He would take it for lightning, which I suppose he cannot keep out." + +"One flash did come through everything last summer, but I was not +looking towards him." + +"You will be wiser this time. Here, I can give you this little box, for +Mr. Arden compounded a fresh store in town." + +"I dare not, sister. He has ever bidden me trust without sight; and you +cannot guess how good he is to me, and how noble and generous. I cannot +insult him by a doubt." + +"Then he should not act as no true woman can endure." + +"And it would hurt him." + +"Tut, tut, child; if the lightning did not harm him how can this flash? +I tell you no man has a right to trifle with you in this manner, and it +is your duty to yourself and all of us to find out the truth. Some young +rake may have bribed the black, and be personating him; and some day you +may find yourself carried off you know not where." + +"Harriet, if you only knew either Mr. Belamour or Jumbo, you would know +that you are saying things most shocking!" + +"Convince me, then! Look here, Aurelia, if you cannot write to me and +explain this double-faced or double-voiced husband of yours, I vow to +you that I shall speak to Mr. Arden, and write to my father." + +"Oh! do not, do not, sister! Remember, it is of no use unless this +temper of affection be on him, and I have not heard it this fortnight, +no, nor more." + +"Promise me, then, that you will make the experiment. See, here is a +little chain-stitch pouch--poor Peggy Duckworth's gift to me--with two +pockets. Let me fasten it under your dress, and then you will always +have it about you." + +"If the bottle broke as I rode home!" + +"Impossible; it is a scent-bottle of strong glass." + +Here Mr. Arden knocked at the door, regretting to interrupt their +confidences, but dinner awaited them; and as, immediately after, Mrs. +Hunter brought her husband in his best wig to call on Madame Belamour +and her relations, the sisters had no more time together, till the +horses were at the door, and they went to their room together to put on +their hats. + +A whole mass of refusals and declarations of perfect confidence were on +Aurelia's tongue, but Harriet cut them all short by saying, "Remember, +you are bound for your own honour and ours, to clear up this mystery!" + +Then they rode off their several ways, Madame Belamour towards Bowstead, +Mr. and Mrs. Arden on their sturdy roadster towards Lea Farm. + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. A FATAL SPARK. + + + And so it chanced; which in those dark + And fireless halls was quite amazing, + Did we not know how small a spark + Can set the torch of love ablazing. + T. MOORE. + + +Aurelia rode home in perplexity, much afraid of the combustibles at her +girdle, and hating the task her sister had forced on her. She felt as +if her heedless avowals had been high treason to her husband; and yet +Harriet was her elder, and those assurances that as a true woman she was +bound to clear up the mystery, made her cheeks burn with shame, and her +heart thrill with the determination to vindicate her husband, while the +longing to know the face of one who so loved her was freshly awakened. + +She was strongly inclined to tell him all, indeed she knew herself well +enough to be aware that half a dozen searching questions would draw out +the whole confession of her own communication and Harriet's unworthy +suspicions; and humiliating as this would be, she longed for the +opportunity. Here, however, she was checked in her meditations by a +stumble of her horse, which proved to have lost a shoe. It was necessary +to leave the short cut, and make for the nearest forge, and when the +mischief was repaired, to ride home by the high road. + +She thus came home much later than had been expected; Jumbo, Molly, and +the little girls were all watching for her, and greeted her eagerly. The +supper was already on the table for her, and she had only just given +Fay and Letty the cakes and comfits she had bought at Brentford for them +when Jumbo brought the message that his master hoped that madam, if not +too much fatigued, would come to him as soon as her supper was finished. + +Accordingly, she came without waiting to change her dress, having only +taken off her hat and arranged her hair. + +She felt guilty, and dreaded the being questioned, yet longed to make +her avowal and have all explained. The usual greetings passed, and then +Mr. Belamour said, "I heard your horse hoofs come in late. You were +detained?" + +She explained about the shoe, and a few sentences were passing about her +sister when she detected a movement, as if a step were stealing towards +her, together with a hesitation in the remark Mr. Belamour was making +about Mrs. Hunter's good nature. + +Quite irrelevantly came in the whispering voice, "Where is my dearest +life?" + +"Sir, sir!" she cried, driven at last to bay, "what is this? Are you one +or two?" + +"One with you, my sweetest life! Your own--your husband!" + +Therewith there was a kind of groan further off, and as Aurelia felt a +hand on her dress, her fight and distress at the duality were complete. +While, in the dark, the hands were still groping for her, she eluded +them, and succeeded in carrying out Harriet's manoeuvre so far that +a quick bright flame leapt forth, lighting up the whole room, and +revealing two--yes, two! But it did not die away! In her haste, and in +the darkness, she had poured the whole contents of the bottle on the +phosphoric cotton, and dropped both without knowing it on a chintz +curtain. A fresh evening breeze was blowing in from the window, open +behind the shutters, and in one second the curtain was a flaming, waving +sheet. Some one sprang up to tear it down, leaping on a table in the +window. The table overbalanced, the heavy iron curtain-rod came out +suddenly, and there was a fall, the flaming mass covering the fallen! +The glare shone on a strange white face and head as well as on Jumbo's +black one, and with a trampling and crushing the fire died down, +quenched as suddenly as it began, and all was obscurity again. + +"Nephew, dear boy, speak," exclaimed Mr. Belamour; and as there was no +answer, "Open the shutters, Jumbo. For Heaven's sake let us see!" + +"Oh! what have I done?" cried poor Aurelia, in horror and misery, +dropping by him on the ground, while the opened shutters admitted the +twilight of a May evening, with a full moon, disclosing a strange scene. +A youth in a livery riding coat lay senseless on the ground, partly +covered by the black fragments of the curtain, the iron rod clenched in +one hand, the other arm doubled under him. A face absolutely white, with +long snowy beard and hair hung over him, and an equally white pair of +hands tried to lift the head. Jumbo had in a second sprung down, removed +the fallen table, and come to his masters help. "Struck head with this," +he said, as he tried to unclasp the fingers from the bar, and pointed to +a grazed blow close to the temple. + +"We must lay him on my bed," said Mr. Belamour. Then, seeing the +girl's horror-stricken countenance, "Ah, child, would that you had been +patient; but it was overtasking you! Call Aylward, I beg of you. +Tell her he is here, badly hurt. What, you do not know him," as her +bewildered eyes and half-opened lips implied the question she could not +utter, "you do not know him? Sir Amyas--my nephew--your true husband!" + +"Oh! and I have killed him!" she cried, with clasped hands. + +"Hush, child, no, with God's mercy! Only call the woman and bring a +light." + +She rushed away, and appeared, a pale terrified figure, with the smell +of fire on her hair and white dress, in the room where Mrs. Aylward was +reading her evening chapter. She could scarcely utter her message as +she stood under the gaze of blank amazement; but Mrs. Aylward understood +enough to make her start up without another word, and hurry away, candle +in hand. + +Aurelia took up the other, and followed, trembling. When she reached +the outer room the rush of air almost blew out her light, and pausing, +afraid to pass on, she perceived that Mr. Belamour and Jumbo were +carrying the insensible form between them into the inner apartment, +while a moan or two filled her heart with pangs of self-reproach. + +She hung about, in terrible anxiety, but not daring to come forward +while the others were engaged about the sufferer, for what seemed a very +long time before she heard Mrs. Aylward say, "His arm is broke, sir. We +must send for Dr. Hunter. The maids are all in their beds, but I will go +and wake one, and send her to the stables to call the groom." + +"I had best go," said Mr. Belamour. "You are of more use than I. He +sleeps at the stables, you say?" Then, seeing the waiting, watching form +of Aurelia, he said, "Come in, my poor child. Perhaps your voice may +rouse him." Every one, including himself, seemed to have forgotten Mr. +Belamour's horror of the light, for candles were flaring on all the +tables, as he led the you girl in, saying, "Speak to him." + +At the death-like face in its golden hair, Aurelia's voice choked in her +throat, and it was in an unnatural hoarse tone that she tried to say, +"Sir--Sir Amyas--" + +"I trust he will soon be better," said Mr. Belamour, marking her dismay +and grief with his wonted kindness, "but his arm needs the surgeon, and +I must be going. Let Lady Belamour sit here, Mrs. Aylward. I trust +you with the knowledge. It was my nephew, in disguise, who wedded +her, unknown to her. She is entirely blameless. Let Jumbo fetch her a +cordial. There, my child, take this chair, so that his eyes may fall +on you when he opens them. Bathe his head if you will. I shall return +quickly after having sped the groom on his journey." + +Gloomy and doubtful were the looks cast on Aurelia by the housekeeper, +but all unseen by the wondering, bewildered, remorseful eyes fixed +on the white face on the pillow, heedless of its perfect symmetry of +feature, and knowing only that this was he who had thrilled her heart +with his tender tones, who had loved her so dearly, and dared so much +for her sake, but whom her impatience and distrust had so cruelly +injured. Had she seen him strong, well, and ardent, as she had so +lately heard him, her womanhood would have recoiled indignantly at the +deception which had stolen her vows; but the spectacle of the +young senseless face and prostrate form filled her with compassion, +tenderness, and remorse, for having yielded to her sister's persuasions. +With intense anxiety she watched, and assisted in the fomentations, +longing for Mr. Belamour's return; but time passed on and still he +came not. No words passed, only a few faint sighs, and one of the hands +closed tight on Aurelia's. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. WRATH AND DESOLATION. + + + Straight down she ran +.... and fatally did vow To wreake her on the mayden messenger + Whom she had caused be kept as prisonere. + SPENSER. + + +Hark! there was the trampling of horses and thundering of wheels at the +door! Could the doctor be come already, and in such a fashion? + +Jumbo hurried to admit him, and Mrs. Aylward moved to arrange matters, +but the clasp that was on Aurelia's hand would not let her go. + +Presently there came, not Dr. Hunter's tread, but a crisp, rustling +sound, and the tap of high heels, and in the doorway stood, tall, erect, +and terrible, Lady Belamour, with a blaze of wrath in her blue eyes, and +concentrated rage in her whole form, while in accents low, but coming +from between her teeth, she demanded, "Miserable boy, what means this?" + +"Oh! madam, take care! he is sadly hurt!" cried Aurelia, with a gesture +as if to screen him. + +"I ask what this means?" repeated Lady Belamour, advancing, and seeming +to fill the room with her majestic figure, in full brocaded dress, with +feathers waving in her hair. + +"His Honour cannot answer you, my Lady," said Mrs. Aylward. "He has had +a bad fall, and Mr. Belamour is gone to send for the doctor." + +"This is the housekeeping in my absence!" said Lady Belamour, showing +less solicitude as to her son's condition than indignation at the +discovery, and her eyes and her diamonds glittering fearfully. + +"My Lady," said Mrs. Aylward, with stern respectfulness, "I knew nothing +of all this till this lady called me an hour ago telling me Sir Amyas +was hurt. I found him as you see. Please your Ladyship, I must go back +to him." + +"Speak then, you little viper," said Lady Belamour, turning on Aurelia, +who had risen, but was held fast by the hand upon hers. "By what arts +have you well nigh slain my son? Come here, and tell me." + +"None, madam!" gasped Aurelia, trembling, so that she grasped her +chair-back with her free hand for support. "I never saw him till +to-night." + +"Lies will not serve you, false girl. Come here this instant! I _know_ +that you have been shamelessly receiving my son here, night after +night." + +"I never knew!" + +"Missie Madam never knew," chimed in Jumbo. "All in the dark. She +thought it old mas'r." + +Lady Belamour looked contemptuously incredulous; but the negro's +advocacy gave a kind of courage to Aurelia, and availing herself of +a slight relaxation of the fingers she withdrew her hand, and coming +forward, said, "Indeed, madam, I know nothing, I was entirely deceived. +Only hearing two voices in the dark alarmed me, so that I listened to my +sister, and struck a light to discover the truth. Then all caught fire, +and blazed up, and--" + +"Then you are an incendiary as well as a traitor," said her Ladyship, +with cold, triumphant malignity. "This is work for the constable. Here, +Loveday," to her own woman, who was waiting in the outer room, "take this +person away, and lock her into her own room till morning, when we can +give her up to justice." + +"Oh, my Lady," cried Aurelia, crouching at her feet and clinging to her +dress, "do not be so cruel! Oh! let me go home to my father!" + +"Madam!" cried a voice from the bed, "let alone my wife! Come, Aurelia. +Oh!" + +Then starting up in bed had wrenched his broken arm, and he fell back +senseless again, just as Aurelia would have flown back to him, but his +mother stood between, spurning her away. + +Another defender, if she could so be called, spoke for her. "It is true, +please your Ladyship," said Mrs. Aylward, "that Mr. Belamour called her +the wife of this poor young gentleman." + +Jumbo too exclaimed, "No one knew but Jumbo; His Honour marry pretty +missie in mas'r's wig and crimson dressing-gown." + +"A new stratagem!" ironically observed the incensed lady. "But your game +is played out, miss, for madam I cannot call you. Such a marriage cannot +stand for a moment; and if a lawyer like Amyas Belamour pretended it +could, either his wits were altogether astray or he grossly deceived +you. Or, as I believe, he trafficked with you to entrap this unhappy +youth, whose person and house you have, between you, almost destroyed. +Remove her, Loveday, and lock her up till we can send for a magistrate +to take depositions in the morning. Go quietly, girl I will not have my +son disturbed with your outcries." + +Poor Aurelia's voice died in her throat. Oh! why did not Mr. Belamour +come to her rescue? Ah! he had bidden her trust and be patient; she had +transgressed, and he had abandoned her! There was no sign of life or +consciousness in the pallid face on the bed, and with a bleeding heart +she let the waiting-maid lead her through the outer apartment, still +redolent of the burning, reached her own chamber, heard the key turn in +the lock, and fell across her bed in a sort of annihilation. + +The threat was unspeakably frightful. Those were days of capital +punishment for half the offences in the calendar, and of what was to her +scarcely less dreadful, of promiscuous imprisonment, fetters, and gaol +fever. Poor Aurelia's ignorance could hardly enhance these horrors, and +when her perceptions began to clear themselves, her first thought was of +flight from a fate equally dreadful to the guilty or not guilty. + +Springing from the bed, she tried the other door of her room, which +was level with the wainscoting, and not readily observed by a person +unfamiliar with the house. It yielded to her hand, and she knew there +was a whole suite of empty rooms thus communicating with one another. It +was one of those summer nights that are never absolutely dark, and +there was a full moon, so that she had light enough to throw off her +conspicuous white habit, all scorched and singed as it was, and to put +on her dark blue cloth one, with her camlet cloak and hood. She made up +a small bundle of clothes, took her purse, which was well filled with +guineas and silver, and moved softly to the door. Hide and seek had +taught her all the modes of eluding observation, and with her walking +shoes in her hand, and her feet slippered, she noiselessly crept through +one empty room after another, and descended the stair into her own +lobby, where she knew how to open the sash door. + +One moment the thought that Mr. Belamour would protect her made her +pause, but the white phantom she had seen seemed more unreal than the +voice she was accustomed to, and both alike had vanished and abandoned +her to her fate. Nay, she had been cheated from the first. Everything +had given way with her. My Lady might be coming to send her to prison. +Hark, some one was coming! She darted out, down the steps, along the +path like a wild bird from a cage. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. THE WANDERER. + + + Widowed wife and wedded maid, + Betrothed, betrayer, and betrayed.--SCOTT. + + +Aurelia's first halt was in a moss-grown summer-house at the end of +the garden, where she ventured to sit down to put on her stout leather +shoes. The children's toys, a ball and a set of ninepins lay on the +floor! How many ages ago was it that she had made that sarcastic reply +to Letty?--perhaps her last! + +A nightingale, close overhead, burst into a peal of song, repeating his +one favourite note, which seemed to her to cry out "Although my heart +is broke, broke, broke, broke." The tears rushed into her eyes, but at +a noise as of opening doors or windows at the house, terror mastered her +again, and she hurried on to hide herself from the dawning light, which +was beginning to increase, as she crossed the park, on turf dank with +Maydew, and plunged deep into the thick woods beyond, causing many a +twittering cry of wondering birds. + +Day had fully come, and slanting golden beams were shining through the +tender green foliage, and illuminating the boles of the trees, ere she +was forced by failing strength again to pause and sit on a faggot, while +gathering breath and considering where she should go. Home was her first +thought. Who could shield her but her father and sister? How she longed +for their comfort and guardianship! But how reach them? She had money +but could do little for her. England never less resembled those days +of Brian Boromhe when the maiden with the gems, rich and rare wandered +unscathed form sea to sea in Ireland. Post chaises, though coming into +use, had not dawned on the simple country girl's imagination. She knew +there was a weekly coach from London to Bath, passing through Brentford, +and that place was also a great starting-place for stage waggons, of +which one went through Carminster, but her bewildered brain could not +recall on what day it started, and there was an additional shock of +despair when she remembered that it was Sunday morning. The chill of the +morning dew was on her limbs, she was exhausted by her fatigues of the +night, a drowsy recollection of the children in the wood came over her, +and she sank into a dreamy state that soon became actual sleep. She was +wakened by a strong bright sunbeam on her eyes, and found that this was +what had warmed her limbs in her sleep. A sound as of singing was also +in her ears, and of calling cows to be milked. She did not in the least +know where she was, for she had wandered into parts of the wood quite +strange to her, but she thought she must be a great way from home, and +quite beyond recognition, so she followed the voice, and soon came out +on a tiny meadow glade, where a stout girl was milking a great sheeted +cow. + +She knew now that she was faint with hunger and thirst, and must take +food before she could go much farther, so taking out a groat, her +smallest coin, she accosted the girl, and offered it for a draught +of milk. To her dismay the girl exclaimed "Lawk! It be young Madam! +Sarvice, ma'am!" + +"I have lost myself in the wood," said Aurelia. "I should be much +obliged for a little milk." + +"Well to be sure. Think of that! And have ee been out all night? Ye +looks whisht!" said the girl, readily filling a wooden cup she had +brought with her, for in those days good new milk was a luxury far more +easily accessible than in ours. She added a piece of barley bread, her +own intended breakfast, and was full of respectful wonder, pity, and +curiosity, proposing that young Madam should come and rest in mother's +cottage in the wood, and offering to guide her home as soon as the cows +were milked and the pigs fed. Aurelia had some difficulty in shaking her +off, finding also that she had gone round and round in the labyrinthine +paths, and was much nearer the village of Bowstead than she had +intended. + +Indeed, she was obliged to deceive the kindly girl by walking off in the +direction she pointed out, intending to strike afterwards into another +path, though where to go she had little idea, so long as it was out of +reach of my Lady and her prison. + +Oh! if Harriet were only at Brentford, or if it were possible to reach +the Lea Farm where she was! Could she ask her way thither, or could +she find some shelter near or in Brentford till the coach or the waggon +started? This was the most definite idea her brain, refreshed somewhat +by the food, could form; but in the meantime she was again getting +bewildered in the field paths. It was a part she did not know, lying +between the backs of the cottages and their gardens, and the woods +belonging to the great house; and the long sloping meadows, spangled +with cowslips were much alike. The cowslips seemed to strike her with +a pang as she recollected her merry day among them last spring, and how +little she then thought of being a homeless wanderer. At last, scarce +knowing where she was, she sat down on the step of a stile leading to a +little farmyard, leant her head on the top bar and wept bitterly. + +Again she startled by hearing a voice saying, "Sister, what is that in +the field?" and starting up, she saw Mrs. Delia in high pattens, and her +Sunday silk tucked up over her quilted petticoat, with a basket of corn +in her hand, surrounded by her poultry, while Mrs. Phoebe was bending +over a coop. She had stumbled unawares on their back premises, and with +a wild hope, founded on their well-known enmity to Lady Belamour, she +sprang over the stile. Mrs. Delia retreated in haste, but Mrs. Phoebe +came to the front. + +"Oh! Mrs. Phoebe," she cried, "I ask your pardon." + +"Mrs. Belamour! Upon my word! To what are we indebted for this visit?" + +"Oh! of your kindness listen to me, madam," said Aurelia. "My Lady is +come, and there is some dreadful mistake, and she is very angry with me; +and if you would only take me in and hide me till the waggon goes and I +can get home!" + +"So my Lady has found you out, you artful hussy," returned Mrs. Phoebe. +"I have long guessed at your tricks! I knew it was no blackamoor that +was stealing into the great house." + +"I do not know what you mean." + +"Oh! it is of no use to try your feigned artlessness on us. I wonder at +your assurance, after playing false with uncle and nephew both at once." + +"If you would but hear me!" + +"I have heard enough of you already. I wonder you dare show your face +at a respectable house. Away with you, if you would not have me send the +constable after you!" + +The threat renewed Aurelia's terror, and again she fled, but this time +she fell into a path better known to her, that leading to Sedhurst, and +ultimately to Brentford. + +The recollection of Dame Wheatfield's genial good nature inspired her +with another hope, and she made her way towards the farm. The church +bells were ringing, and she saw the farmer and his children going +towards the church, but not the mistress, and she might therefore hope +to find her at home and alone. As she approached, a great dog began a +formidable barking, and his voice brought out the good woman in person. +"Down, Bouncer! A won't hurt'ee, my lass. What d'ye lack that you bain't +at church?" + +"May I speak to you, Mrs. Wheatfield?" + +"My stars, if it bain't young Miss--Madam, I mean! Nothing ain't wrong +with the child?" + +"O no, she is quite well, but--" + +"What, ye be late for church? Come in and sit ye down a bit and sup +after your walk. We have been and killed Spotty's calf, though 'twas but +a staggering Bob, but us couldn't spare the milk no longer. So we've got +the l'in on un for dinner, and you're kindly welcome if you ain't too +proud. Only I wish you had brought my little missie." + +"O Mrs. Wheatfield! Shall I ever see the dear little girl again? Oh! can +you help me? Do you know where Lea Farm is? I'd pay anything for a horse +and man to take me there, where my sister is staying." + +"Well, I don't know as my master would hire a horse out of a Sunday, +unless 'twere very particler--illness or suchlike. Lea Farm did you say +ma'am? Is it the Lea out by Windmill hill--Master Brown's; or Lea Farm, +down by the river--Tom Smith's?" + +"No, this is Mr. Meadows's, a grazier." + +"Never heard tell on him, ma'am, but the master might, when he comes +in. But bless me," she added, after a moment's consideration, "what will +your master say? He'll be asking how it comes that a lady like you, with +a coach and horses of her own, should be coming after a horse here. You +ain't been and got into trouble with my Lady, my dear?" + +"Oh! Dame, indeed I have; pray help me!" + +It was no wonder that Mrs. Wheatfield failed to gather more than that +young Madam had almost burnt the house, and had fallen under grievous +displeasure, so as even to fear the constable. + +"Bless your poor heart! Think of that now! But I'm afeard we can't do +nothing for you. My master would be nigh about killing me if I harboured +you and got him into trouble, with the gentry." + +"If you could only hide me in some loft or barn till I could meet the +coach for Bath! Then I should be almost at home." + +"I dare not. The children are routing about everywhere on a Sunday +afternoon; and if so be as there's a warrant out after you" (Aurelia +shuddered) "my man would be mad with me. He ain't never forgot how his +grandfather was hanged up there in that very walnut for changing clothes +with a young gentleman in the wars long ago." + +"Then I must go! Oh, what will become of me?" + +"Stay a bit! It goes to my heart to turn you from the door, and you so +white and faint. And they won't be out of church yet a while. You've ate +nothing all this time! What was you thinking of doing, my dear?" + +"I don't know. If I could only find out the right Lea Farm, and get +a man and horse to take me there--but my sister goes on Monday, and I +might not find her, and nobody knows where it is. And nobody will take +me in or hide my till the coach goes! Oh, what will become of me?" + +"It is bitter hard," said the Dame. "I wish to my heart I could take +you in, but you see there's the master! I'll tell you what: there's my +cousin, Patty Woodman; she might take you in for a night or two. But +you'd never find your way to her cot; it lies out beyond the spinneys. +I must show you the way. Look you here. Nobody can't touch you in a +church, they hain't got no power there, and if you would slip into that +there empty place as opens with the little door, as the ringers goes in +by, afore morning prayers is over I'll make an excuse to come to evening +prayer alone, or only with little Davy, as is lying asleep there. If +Patty is there I'll speak, and you can go home with her. If not, I must +e'en walk with you out to the spinney. Hern is a poor place, but her's a +good sort of body, and won't let you come to no harm; and her goes into +Brentford with berries and strawberries to meet the coaches, so may be +she'll know the day." + +"Oh, thank you, thank you, dear Mrs. Wheatfield! If I can only get safe +home!" + +"Come, don't be in haste. You'll take a bit of bread and cheese, and +just a draught of ale to hearten you up a bit." + +Aurelia was too sick at heart for food, and feared to delay, lest she +should meet the congregation, but Mrs. Wheatfield forced on her a little +basket with some provisions, and she gladly accepted another draught of +milk. + +No one came out by the little door she was told; all she had to do would +be to keep out of sight when the ringers came in before the afternoon +service. She knew the way, and was soon close to Mary Sedhurst's grave. +"Ah! why was he not constant to her," she thought; "and oh! why has he +deserted me in my need?" + +The little door easily yielded, and she found herself--after passing the +staircase-turret that led by a gallery to the belfry in the centre of +the church--in an exceedingly dilapidated transept; once, no doubt, it +had been beautiful, before the coloured glass of the floriated window +had been knocked out and its place supplied with bricks. The broken +effigy of a crusading Sedhurst, devoid of arms, feet, and nose was +stowed away in the eastern sepulchre, in company with funeral apparatus, +torn books, and moth-eaten cushions. But this would not have shocked her +even in calmer moments. She only cared to find a corner where she was +entirely sheltered, between a green stained pier and the high wall and +curtain of a gigantic pew, where no doubt sweet Mary Sedhurst had +once worshipped. The lusty voices of the village choir in some exalted +gallery beyond her view were shouting out a familiar tune, and with some +of Betty's mild superstition about "the singing psalms," she heard-- + + + "Since I have placed my trust in God + A refuge always nigh, + Why should I, like tim'rous bird + To distant mountains fly? + + "Behold the wicked bend their bow, + And ready fix their dart, + Lurking in ambush to destroy + The man of upright heart. + + "When once the firm assurance fails + Which public faith imparts, + 'Tis time for innocence to flee + From such deceitful arts. + + "The Lord hath both a temple here + And righteous throne above, + Whence He surveys the sons of men, + And how their counsels move." + + +Poor timorous bird, whom even the firm assurance of wedded faith had +failed, what was left to her but to flee from the darts levelled against +her? Yet that last verse brought a sense of protection. Ah! did she +deserve it? A prayerless night and prayerless morning had been hers, and +no wonder, since she had never gone to bed nor risen with the ordinary +forms; but it was with a pang that she recollected that the habit of +calling out in her heart for guidance and help had been slipping from +her for a long time past, and she had never asked for heavenly aid when +her judgment was perplexed by Harriet, no, nor for protection in her +flight. + +She resolved to say her morning prayers with full attention so soon as +the church was empty, and meantime to follow the service with all her +powers, though her pulses were still throbbing and her head aching. + +In the far distance she heard the Commandments, and near to her the +unseen clerk responding, and then followed a gospel of love and comfort. +She could not catch every word, but there was a sense of promised peace +and comfort, which began to soothe the fluttering heart, for the first +time enjoying a respite from the immediate gripe of deadly terror. + +The sermon chimed in with these feelings, not that she could have any +account of it, nor preserved any connected memory, but it was full of +the words, Faith, Love, Sacrifice, so that they were borne in on her ear +and thought. Heavenly Love surrounding as with an atmosphere those who +had only faith to "taste and see how gracious the Lord is," believing +that which cannot be seen, and therefore having it revealed to their +inmost sense, and thus living the only real life. + +This was the chief thought that penetrated to her mind as she crouched +on the straw hassock behind the pew, and shared unseen in the blessing +of peace. No one saw her as the hob-nailed shoes trooped out of church, +and soon she was entirely alone, kneeling still in her hiding-place, +and whispering half-aloud the omitted morning prayer, whose heartfelt +signification had, she felt, been neglected for a long, long time. + +Since when? Ah! ever since those strange mysterious voices and caresses +had come to charm and terrify her, and when her very perplexity should +have warned her to cling closer to the aid of her Heavenly Father. +Vague yearnings, uplifted feelings, discontents, and little tempers had +usurped the place of higher feelings, and blinded her eyes. And through +it all, her heart began to ache and long for tidings of him on whose +pale features she had gazed so long and who had ventured and suffered +so much for her, nay, who had started into a moment's life for her +protection! All the tumult of resentment at the deception practised on +her fell on the uncle rather than the nephew; and in spite of this long +year of tender kindness and consideration from the recluse, there was a +certain consideration from the recluse, there was a certain leaping +of heart at finding herself bound not to him but to the youth whose +endearments returned with a flood of tender remembrance. And she had +fled just as he had claimed her as his wife, had fled just as he had +claimed her as his wife, unheeding whether he died of the injury she had +caused him! All that justified her alarm was forgotten, her heartstrings +had wound themselves round him, and began to pull her back. + +Then she thought of the danger of directing Lady Belamour's wrath on her +father, and leading to his expulsion and destitution. She had been sent +from home, and bestowed in marriage to prevent his ruin, and should +she now ensure it? Her return to him or even her disappearance would +no doubt lead to high words from him, and then he would be cast out to +beggary in his old age. No, she could only save him by yielding herself +up, exonerating him from all knowledge of her strange marriage, far more +of the catastrophe, and let my Lady do her worst! She had, as she knew, +not been going on well lately, but she had confessed her faults, and +recovered her confidence that her Heavenly Father would guard her as +long as she resolutely did her duty. And her duty, as daughter and a +wife, if indeed she was one, was surely to return, where her heart was +drawing her. It might be very terrible, but still it was going nearer to +_him_, and it would save her father. + +The door was still open; she wrote a few words of gratitude and +explanation to Dame Wheatfield, on a piece of a torn book, wrapped a +couple of guineas in it, and laid it in the basket, then kneeling again +to implore protection and safety, and if it might be, forgiveness and +reconciliation, she set forth. "Love is strong as death," said Mary +Sedhurst's tomb. She knew better what that meant than when her childish +eyes first fell upon it. A sense of Divine Love was wrapping her round +with a feeling of support and trust, while the human love drew her +onwards to confront all deadly possibilities in the hope of rejoining +her husband, or at least of averting misfortune from her father. + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. VANISHED. + + + Where there is no place + For the glow-worm to lie, + Where there is no space + For receipt of a fly, + Where the midge dares not venture + Lest herself fast she lay, + If Love come, he will enter + And find out the way.--OLD SONG. + + +Major Delavie and his eldest daughter were sitting down to supper in the +twilight, when a trampling of horses was heard in the lane a carriage +was seen at the gate, and up the pathway came a slender youthful figure, +in a scarlet coat, with an arm in a sling. + +"It is!--yes, it is!" exclaimed Betty: "Sir Amyas himself!" + +In spite of his lameness, the Major had opened the door before Palmer +could reach it; but his greeting and inquiry were cut short by the young +man's breathless question: "Is she here?" + +"Who?" + +"My wife--my love. Your daughter, sweet Aurelia! Ah! it was my one +hope." + +"Come in, come in, sir," entreated Betty, seeing how fearfully pale he +grew. "What has befallen you, and where is my sister?" + +"Would that I knew! I trusted to have found her here; but now, sir, you +will come with me and find her!" + +"I do not understand you, sir," said the Major severely, "nor how you +are concerned in the matter. My daughter is the wife of your uncle, Mr. +Belamour, and if, as I fear, you bear the marks of a duel in consequence +of any levity towards her, I shall not find it easy to forgive." + +"On my word and honour it is no such thing," said the youth, raising a +face full of frank innocence: "Your daughter is my wife, my most dear +and precious wife, with full consent and knowledge of my uncle. I was +married to her in his clothes, in the darkened room, our names being the +same!" + +"Was this your promise?" Betty exclaimed. + +"Miss Delavie, to the best of my ability I have kept my promise. Your +sister has never seen me, nor to her knowledge spoken with me." + +"These are riddles, young man," said the Major sternly. "If all be not +well with my innocent child, I shall know how to demand an account." + +"Sir," said the youth: "I swear to you that she is the same innocent +maiden as when she left you. Oh!" he added with a gesture of earnest +entreaty, "blame me as you will, only trace her." + +"Sit down, and let us hear," said Betty kindly, pushing a chair towards +him and pouring out a glass of wine. He sank into the first, but waved +aside the second, becoming however so pale that the Major sprang to hold +the wine to his lips saying: "Drink, boy, I say!" + +"Not unless you forgive me," he replied in a hoarse, exhausted voice. + +"Forgive! Of course, I forgive, if you have done no wrong by my child. I +see, I see, 'tis not wilfully. You have been hurt in her defence." + +"Not exactly," he said: "I have much to tell," but the words came +slowly, and there was a dazed weariness about his eye that made Betty +say, in spite of her anxiety--"You cannot till you have eaten and +rested. If only one word to say where she is!" + +"Oh! that I could! My hope was to find her here," and he was choked by a +great strangling sob, which his youthful manhood sought to restrain. + +Betty perceived that he was far from being recovered from the injury +he had suffered, and did her best to restrain her own and her father's +anxiety till she had persuaded him to swallow some of the excellent +coffee which Nannerl always made at sight of a guest. To her father's +questions meantime, he had answered that he had broken his arm ten days +ago, but he could not wait, he had posted down as soon as he could move. + +"You ought to sleep before you tell us farther," said the Major, +speaking from a strong sense of the duties of a host; but he was +relieved when the youth answered, "You are very good, sir, but I could +not sleep till you know all." + +"Speak, then," said the Major, "I cannot look at your honest young +countenance and think you guilty of more than disobedient folly; but I +fear it may have cost my poor child very dear! Is it your mother that +you dread?" + +"I would be thankful even to know her in my mother's keeping!" he said. + +"Is there no mistake?" said the Major; "my daughter, Mrs. Arden, saw her +at Brentford, safe and blooming." + +"Oh, that was before--before--" said Sir Amyas, "the day before she fled +from my mother at Bowstead, and has been seen no more." + +He put his hand over his face, and bowed it on the table in such +overpowering grief as checked the exclamations of horror and dismay and +the wrathful demands that were rising to the lips of his auditors, +and they only looked at one another in speechless sorrow. Presently +he recovered enough to say, "Have patience with me, and I will try +to explain all. My cousin, Miss Delavie, knows that I loved her sweet +sister from the moment I saw her, and that I hurried to London in the +hope of meeting her at my mother's house. On the contrary, my mother, +finding it vain to deny all knowledge of her, led me to believe that she +was boarded at a young ladies' school with my little sisters. I lived +on the vain hope of the holidays, and meantime every effort was made to +drive me into a marriage which my very soul abhorred, the contract +being absolutely made by the two ladies, the mothers, without my +participation, nay, against my protest. I was to be cajoled or else +persecuted into it--sold, in fact, that my mother's debts might be paid +before her husband's return! I knew my Uncle Belamour was my sole true +personal guardian, though he had never acted further than by affixing +his signature when needed. I ought to have gone long before to see him, +but as I now understand, obstacles had been purposely placed in my way, +while my neglectful reluctance was encouraged. It was in the forlorn +hope of finding in him a resource that took me to Bowstead at last, and +then it was that I learnt how far my mother could carry deception. There +I found my sisters, and learnt that my own sweetest life had been placed +there likewise. She was that afternoon visiting some old ladies, but my +uncle represented that my meeting her could only cause her trouble +and lead to her being removed. I was forced then to yield, having an +engagement in London that it would have been fatal to break, but I came +again at dark, and having sworn me to silence, he was forced to let +me take advantage of the darkness of his chamber to listen to her +enchanting voice. He promised to help me, as far as he had the power, +in resisting the hateful Aresfield engagement, and he obtained the +assistance of an old friend in making himself acquainted with the terms +of his guardianship, and likewise of a letter my father had left for +him. He has given me leave to show a part of it to you, sir," he added, +"you will see that my father expressed a strong opinion that you were +wronged in the matter of the estates, and declared that he had hoped to +make some compensation by a contract between one of your daughters and +my brother who died. He charged my uncle if possible to endeavour to +bring about such a match between one of your children and myself. Thus, +you see, I was acting in the strictest obedience. You shall see the +letter at once, if I may bid my fellow Gray bring my pocket-book from my +valise." + +"I doubt not of your words, my young friend; your father was a gentleman +of a high and scrupulous honour. But why all this hide-and-seek work?--I +hate holes and corners!" + +"You will see how we were driven, sir. My mother came in her turn to +see my uncle, and obtain his sanction to her cherished plan, and when he +absolutely refused, on account of Lady Aresfield's notorious character, +if for no other, she made him understand that nothing would be easier +than to get him declared a lunatic and thus to dispense with his +consent. Then, finding how the sweet society of your dear daughter had +restored him to new life and spirit, she devised the notable expedient +of removing what she suspected to be the chief cause of my contumacy, +by marrying the poor child to him. He scouted the idea as a preposterous +and cruel sacrifice, but it presently appeared that Colonel Mar +was ready to find her a debauched old lieutenant who would gladly +marry--what do I say?--it profanes the word--but accept the young lady +for a couple of hundred pounds. Then did I implore my uncle to seem to +yield, and permit me to personate him at the ceremony. Our names being +the same, and all being done in private and in the dark, the whole +was quite possible, and it seemed the only means of saving her from a +terrible fate." + +"He might--or you might, have remembered that she had a father!" said +the Major. + +"True. But you were at a distance, and my mother's displeasure against +you was to be deprecated." + +"I had rather she had been offended fifty times than have had such +practices with my poor little girl!" said Major Delavie. "No wonder the +proposals struck me as strange and ambiguous. Whose writing was it?" + +"Mine, at his dictation," said the youth. "He was unwilling, but +my importunity was backed by my mother's threats, conveyed through +Hargrave, that unless Aurelia became his wife she should be disposed of +otherwise, and that his sanity might be inquired into. Hargrave, who +is much attached to my uncle, and is in great awe of my Lady, was +thoroughly frightened, and implored him to secure himself and the young +lady by consenting, thinking, too, that anything that would rouse him +would be beneficial." + +"It is strange!" mused the Major. "A clear-headed punctilious man +like your uncle, to lend himself to a false marriage! His ten years of +melancholy must have changed him greatly!" + +"Less than you suppose, sir; but you will remember that my mother is +esteemed as a terrible power by all concerned with her. Even when she +seemed to love me tenderly, I was made to know what it was to cross her +will, and alas! she always carries her point." + +"It did seem a mode of protection," said Betty, more kindly. + +"And" added the youth, "my uncle impressed on me from the first that +he only consented on condition the I treated this wedlock as betrothal +alone, never met my sweet love save in his dark room, and never revealed +myself to her. He said it was a mere expedient for guarding her until +I shall come of age, or Mr. Wayland comes home, when I shall woo her +openly, and if needful, repeat the ceremony with her full knowledge. +Meanwhile I wrote the whole to my stepfather, and am amazed that he has +never written nor come home." + +"That is the only rational thing I have heard," said the Major. +"Though--did your uncle expect your young blood to keep the terms?" + +"Indeed, sir, I was frightened enough the first evening that I ventured +on any advances, for they startled her enough to make her swoon away. +I carried her from her room, and my uncle dragged me back before the +colour came back to that lovely face so that the women might come to +her. That was the only time I ever saw her save through the chinks of +the shutters. Judge of the distraction I lived in!" + +Betty looked shocked, but her father chuckled a little, though he +maintained his tone of censure "And may I inquire how often these +distracting interviews took place?" + +"Cruelly seldom for one to whom they were life itself! Mar is, as you +know, colonel of my corps, and my liberty has been restrained as much +as possible; I believe I have been oftener on guard and on court-martial +than any officer of my standing in the service; but about once in a +fortnight I could contrive to ride down to a little wayside inn where I +kept a fresh horse, also a livery coat and hat. I tied up my horse in +a barn on the borders of the park, and put on a black vizard, so as +to pass for my uncle's negro in the dark. I could get admittance to my +uncle's rooms unknown to any servant save faithful Jumbo--who has been +the sole depository of our secret. However, since my mother's return +from Bath, where the compact with Lady Aresfield was fully determined, +the persecution has been fiercer. I may have aroused suspicion by +failing to act my part when she triumphantly announced my uncle's +marriage to me, or else by my unabated resistance to the little +termagant who is to be forced on me. At any rate, I have been so +intolerably watched whenever I was not on duty, that my hours of +bliss became rarer than ever. Well, sir, my uncle charges me with +indiscretion, and says my ardour aroused unreasonable suspicions. He +was constantly anxious, and would baulk me in my happiest and most +tantalising moments by making some excuse for breaking up the evening, +and then would drive me frantic by asking whether he was to keep up my +character for consistency in my absence. However, ten days since, the +twelfth of May, after three weeks' unendurable detention in town on one +pretext or another, I escaped, and made my way to Bowstead at last. My +uncle told me that he had been obliged unwillingly to consent to our +precious charge going to meet her sister at Brentford, and that she was +but newly come home. Presently she entered, but scarcely had I accosted +her before a blaze broke out close to us. The flame caught the dry old +curtains, they flamed up like tinder, and as I leaped up on a table to +tear them down, it gave way with me, I got a blow on the head, and knew +no more. It seems that my uncle, as soon as the fire was out, finding +that my arm was broken, set out to send the groom for the doctor--he +being used to range the park at night. The stupid fellow, coming +home half tipsy from the village, saw his white hair and beard in the +moonlight, took him for a ghost, and ran off headlong. Thereupon my +uncle, with new energy in the time of need, saddled the horse, changed +his dressing-gown with the groom's coat, and rode off to Brentford. +Then, finding that Dr. Hunter was not within, he actually went on to +London, where Dr. Sandys, who had attended him ever since his would, +forced him to go to bed, and to remain there till his own return. Thus +my darling had no one to protect her, when, an hour or so after the +accident, my mother suddenly appeared. Spies had been set on me by Mar, +and so soon as they had brought intelligence of my movements she had +hurried off from Ranelagh, in full dress, just as she was, to track and +surprise me. My uncle, having gone by the bridle path, had not met +her, and I was only beginning to return to my senses. I have a dim +recollection of hearing my mother threatening and accusing Aurelia, and +striving to interfere, but I was as one bound down, and all after that +is blank to me. When my understanding again became clear, I could only +learn that my mother had locked her into her own room, whence she had +escaped, and"--with a groan--"nothing has been heard of her since!" +Again he dropped his head on his hand as one in utter dejection. + +"Fled! What has been done to trace her?" cried the Major. + +"Nothing could be done till my mother was gone and my uncle returned. +The delirium was on me, and whatever I tried to say turned to raving, +all the worse if I saw or heard my mother, till Dr. Sandys forbade +her coming near me. She was invited to the Queen's Sunday card party +moreover, so she fortunately quitted Bowstead just before Mr. Belamour's +return." + +"Poor gentleman, he could do nothing," said Betty. + +"Indeed I should have thought so, but it seems that he only needed +a shock to rouse him. His state had become hypochondriacal, and this +strong emotion has caused him to exert himself; and when he came into +the daylight, he found he could bear it. I could scarce believe my eyes +when, on awakening from a sleep, I found him by my bedside, promising +me that if I would only remain still, he would use every endeavour to +recover the dear one. He went first to Brentford, thinking she might +have joined her sister there, but Mr. and Mrs. Arden had left it at the +same time as she did. Then he travelled on to their Rectory at Rundell +Canonicorum, thinking she might have followed them, but they had only +just arrived, and had heard nothing of her; and he next sought her with +his friend the Canon of Windsor, but all in vain. Meantime my mother +had visited me, and denied all knowledge of her, only carrying away my +little sisters, I believe because she found them on either side of my +bed, telling me tales of their dear Cousin Aura's kindness. When my +uncle returned to Bowstead I could bear inaction no longer, and profited +by my sick leave to travel down hither, trusting that she might have +found her way to her home, and longing to confess all and implore your +pardon, sir,--and, alas! Your aid in seeking her." + +With the large tears in his eyes, the youth rose from his chair as he +spoke, and knelt on one knee before the Major, who exclaimed, extremely +affected--"By all that is sacred, you have it, my dear boy. It is a +wretched affair, but you meant to act honourably throughout, and you +have suffered heavily. May God bless you both, and give us back my dear +child. My Lady must have been very hard with her, to make her thus fly, +all alone." + +"You do not know, I suppose, any cause for so timid a creature +preferring flight to a little restraint?" + +"It seems," said Sir Amyas sadly, "that something the dear girl said +gave colour to the charge of having caused the fire, and that my mother +in her first passion threatened her with the constable!" + +"My poor Aurelia! that might well scare her," cried Betty: "but how +could it be?" + +"They say she spoke of using something her sister had given her to +discover what the mystery was that alarmed her." + +"Ah! that gunpowder trick of Mr. Arden's--I always hated it!" exclaimed +Betty. + +"Gunpowder indeed!" growled the old soldier. "Well, if ever there's +mischief among the children, Harriet is always at the bottom of it. I +hope Mr. Belamour made her confess if she had a hand in it." + +"I believe he did," said Sir Amyas. + +"Just like her to set the match to the train and then run away," said +the Major. + +"Still, sir," said Betty, her womanhood roused to defence, "though I am +angered and grieved enough that Harriet should have left Aurelia to face +the consequences of the act she instigated, I must confess that even by +Sir Amyas's own showing, if he will allow me to say so, my sisters were +justified in wishing to understand the truth." + +"That is what my uncle tells me," said the baronet. "He declares that +if I had attended to his stipulations, restrained my fervour, or kept my +distance, there would have been neither suspicion nor alarm. As if I had +not restrained myself!" + +"Ay, I dare say," said the Major, a little amused. + +"Well, sir, what could a man do with most bewitching creature in the +world, his own wife, too, on the next chair to him?" + +There was a simplicity about the stripling--for he was hardly +more--which forced them to forgive him; besides, they were touched by +his paleness and fatigue. His own man--a respectable elderly servant +whom the Major recollected waiting on Sir Jovian--came to beg that his +honour would sit up no longer, as he had been travelling since six in +the morning, and was quite worn out. Indeed, so it proved; for when the +Major and Betty not only promised to come with him on the search the +next day, but bade him a kind affectionate good-night, the poor lad, +all unused to kindness, fairly burst into tears, which all his dawning +manhood could not restrain. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. THE TRACES. + + + Oh, if I were an eagle to soar into the sky, + I'd gaze around with piercing eye when I my love might spy. + + +The second-best coach, which resided at Bowstead, the same which had +carried Aurelia off from Knightsbridge, had brought Sir Amyas Belamour +to Carminster--an effeminate proceeding of which he was rather ashamed, +though clearly he could not have ridden, and he had hoped to have +brought his bride back in it. + +There was plenty of room in it to take back the Major, Betty, and even +Eugene, since he could not well have been left without his sister or +Palmer, who was indispensable to the Major. He was so enchanted at +"riding in a coach," and going perhaps to see London, that he did not +trouble himself much about sister Aurelia being lost, and was in such +high spirits as to be best disposed of outside, between Palmer and Gray, +where he could at his ease contemplate the horses, generally four in +number, though at some stages only two could be procured, and then at an +extra steep hill a farmer's horse from the hayfield would be hitched on +in front. Luckily there was no lack of money; Mr. Belamour and Hargrave +had taken care that Sir Amyas should be amply supplied, and thus the +journey was as rapid as posting could be in those days of insufficient +inns, worse roads, and necessary precautions against highwaymen. + +The road was not the same as that which the young baronet had come down +by, as it was thought better to take the chance of meeting a different +stage waggon, Sir Amyas and his servant having, of course, examined the +one they had overtaken in coming down. At every possible resting place +on the route was inquiry made, but all in vain; no one had seen such a +young gentlewoman as was described, or if some answer inspired hope for +a moment, it was dashed again at once. The young gentlewoman once turned +out to be the Squire's fat lady, and another time was actually pursued +into a troop of strolling players, attiring themselves in a barn, whence +she came with cheeks freshly rouged with blood taken from a cat's tail. + +The young baronet had meanwhile become very dear to the Major and his +daughter. He had inherited his mother's indescribable attractiveness, +and he was so frank, so affectionate, so unspoilt, so grateful for the +little attentions demanded by his maimed condition, so considerate of +the Major, and so regardless of himself, and, above all, so passionately +devoted to his dearest life, as he called Aurelia, that it was +impossible not to take him into their hearts, and let him be, as he +entreated, a son and a brother. + +The travellers decided on first repairing to Bowstead, thinking it +probable that the truant might have returned thither, or that Mr. +Belamour might have found her in some one of the cottages around. Hopes +began to rise, and Major Delavie scolded Sir Amyas in quite a paternal +manner whenever he began to despond, though the parts were reversed +whenever the young people's expectations began to soar beyond his own +spirits at the moment. + +"Is yonder Hargrave? No, it is almost like my father!" exclaimed Sir +Amyas, in amazement, as the coach lumbered slowly up the approach, and +a very remarkable figure was before them. The long white beard was gone, +the hair was brushed back, tied up, and the ends disposed of in a square +black silk bag, hanging down behind; and the dark grey coat, with collar +and deep cuffs of black velvet, was such as would be the ordinary wear +of an elderly man of good position; but the face, a fine aquiline one, +as to feature, was of perfectly absolute whiteness, scarcely relieved by +the thin pale lips, or the eyes, which, naturally of a light-grey, had +become almost as colourless as the rest of the face, and Betty felt a +shock as if she had seen a marble statue clothed and animated, bowing +and speaking. + +The anxious inquiry and the mournful negative had been mutually +exchanged before the carriage door was opened, and all were standing +together in the avenue. + +"I have, however, found a clue, or what may so prove," said Mr. +Belamour, when the greetings had passed. "I have discovered how our +fugitive passed the early part of the Sunday;" and he related how he had +elicited from the Mistresses Treforth that they had seen her and driven +her away with contumely. + +Sir Amyas and the Major were not sparing of interjections, and the +former hoped that his uncle had told them what they deserved. + +"Thereby only incurring the more compassion," said Mr. Belamour, dryly, +and going on to say that he had extended his inquires to Sedhurst, and +had heard of her visit to Dame Wheatfield; also, that the good woman, +going to seek her at the church, had found only the basket with the +guineas in the paper. She had regarded this merely as a wrapper, +and, being unable to read, had never noticed the writing, but she +had fortunately preserved it, and Mr. Belamour thus learnt Aurelia's +intention of throwing herself on Lady Belamour's mercy. + +"My mother utterly denied all knowledge of her, when I cried out in +anguish when she came to see me!" said Sir Amyas. + +"So she does to Hargrave, whom she sent off to interrogate Mrs. Arden," +said Mr. Belamour. + +"Have you any reason to think the child could have reached my Lady?" +inquired Betty, seeing that none of the gentlemen regarded my Lady's +denials as making any difference to their belief, though not one of them +chose to say so. + +"Merely negative evidence," said Mr. Belamour. "I find that no one +in the house actually beheld the departure of my Lady on that Sunday +afternoon. The little girls had been found troublesome, and sent out +into the park with Molly, and my nephew was giving full employment to +Jumbo and Mrs. Aylward in my room. The groom, who was at the horses' +heads, once averred that he saw two women get into the carriage +besides her ladyship; but he is such a sodden confused fellow, and so +contradicts himself, that I can make nothing of him." + +"He would surely know his young mistress," said Sir Amyas. + +"Perhaps not in the camlet hood, which Dame Wheatfield says she wore." + +"Was good old Dove acting as coachman?" said Betty. "We should learn +something from him." + +"It was not her own coach," said Mr. Belamour. "All the servants were +strangers, the liveries sanguine, and the panels painted with helmets +and trophies." + +"Mar's," said Sir Amyas, low and bitterly. + +"I guessed as much," said his uncle. "It was probably chosen on purpose, +if the child has friends in your own household." + +"Then I must demand her," said the Major. "She cannot be denied to her +father." + +"At any rate we must go to town to-morrow," said Mr. Belamour. "We have +done all we can here." + +"Let us send for horses and go on at once," cried Sir Amyas. + +"Not so fast, nephew. I see, by her face, that Miss Delavie does not +approve, though our side of the town is safer than Hounslow." + +"I was not thinking of highwaymen, sir, but we set forth at five this +morning, and Sir Amyas always becomes flushed and feverish if he is over +fatigued; nor is my father so strong as he was." + +"Ah, ha! young sir, in adopting Betty for a sister you find you have +adopted a quartermaster-general, eh?" said the Major; "but she is quite +right. We should not get to town before ten or eleven at night, and what +good would that do? No, no, let us sup and have a good night's rest, and +we will drive into town long enough before fine ladies are astir in the +morning, whatever may be the fashionable hour nowadays." + +"Yes, nephew, you must content yourself with acting host to your father +and sister-in-law in your own house," said his uncle. + +"It seems to me more like yours, sir," rejoined the youth; but at the +hall door, with all his native grace, he turned and gave his welcome, +kissing Betty on the cheek with the grave ceremony of the host, and +lamenting, poor fellow, that he stood alone without his bride to receive +them. + +"Is that Jumbo?" asked Betty. "I must thank him for all his kind service +to my dear sister." + +Faithful Jumbo fairly wept when--infinite condescension for those +days--Major Delavie shook hands with him and thanked him. + +"If pretty Missie Madam were but safe and well, Jumbo would wish no +more," he sobbed out. + +"Poor Jumbo," said Mr. Belamour, "he has never been the same man since +pretty Missie Madam has been lost. I hear his violin mourning for her +till it is enough to break one's heart!" + +However Eugene created a diversion by curious inquiries whether Jumbo +would indeed play the fiddle of which he had heard from Archer and +Amoret, and he ran off most eagerly after the negro to be introduced to +the various curiosities of the place. + +Mrs. Aylward attended Miss Delavie to her room, and showed herself much +softened. As a good, conscientious woman, she felt that she had acted +a selfish part towards the lonely maiden, and Betty's confident belief +that she had been a kind friend was a keen reproach. + +"Indeed, madam," she said, "I would lief you could truly call me such, +but when young Miss came here first I took her for one of that flighty +sort that it is wise not to meddle with more than needful. I have +kept my place here these thirty years by never making or meddling, and +knowing nothing about what don't concern me, and is out of my province. +Now, I wish I had let the poor young lady be more friendly with me, for +maybe I could have been of use to her in her need. + +"You had no suspicion?" + +"No, ma'am; though I find there were those who suspected some one +came up here disguised as Jumbo; but I was never one to lend an ear to +gossip, and by that time I trusted the dear young lady altogether, and +knew she would never knowingly do aught that was unbecoming her station, +or her religion." + +"I am glad the dear child won your good opinion," said Betty. + +"Indeed, ma'am, that you may say," returned Mrs. Aylward, whom anxiety +had made confidential; "for I own I was prejudiced against her from the +first, as, if you'll excuse me, ma'am, all we Bowstead people are apt +to be set against whatever comes from my Lady's side. However, one must +have been made of the nether millstone not to feel the difference she +made in the house. She was the very life of it with her pretty ways, +singing and playing with the children, and rousing up the poor gentleman +too that had lived just like a mere heathen in a dungeon, and wouldn't +so much as hear a godly word in his despair. And now he has a minister +once a fortnight to read prayers, and is quite another man--all through +that blessed young lady, who has brought him back to light and life." +And as Betty's tears flowed at this testimony to her sister, the +housekeeper added, "Never you fear, ma'am; she is one of God's innocents +and His Hand will be over her." + +Meantime, having dismissed the young lover to take, if he could, a +much needed night's rest, the Major was listening to Mr. Belamour's +confession. "I was the most to blame, in as much as an old fool is worse +than a young one; and I would that the penalty fell on me alone." + +"If she be in my cousin's hands I cannot believe that she will permit +any harm to befall her," said the good Major, still clinging to his +faith in Urania--the child he had taught to ride, and with whom he had +danced her first minuet. + +"What I dread most is her being forced into some low marriage," said Mr. +Belamour. "The poor child's faith in the ceremony that passed must have +been overthrown, and who can tell what she may be induced to accept?" + +"It was that threat which moved you?" said the Major. + +"Yes. Hargrave assured me that my Lady had actually offered her to him, +with a bribe of a farm on easy terms; and when she found that he had +other intentions, there seemed to be some broken-down sycophant of Mar's +upon the cards, but of course I was preferable, both because my fair +sister-in-law has some lingering respect for the honour of her own +blood, and because the bar between Aurelia and my nephew would be +perpetual. I knew likewise that it was my brother's earnest desire that +a match should take place between your children and his. + +"He did me too much honour. The lad showed me the extract from his +letter." + +"I could not give him the whole. It was fit for no eyes but mine, who +had so long neglected it, and barely understood that it existed. My poor +brother's eyes were fully opened to his wife's character, and even while +he loved her to distraction, and yielded to her fascinating mastery +against his better judgment, he left me the charge of trying in some +degree to repair the injustice he believed you to be suffering, and of +counteracting evil influences on her son." + +"That seems at least to have been done." + +"By no efforts of mine; but because the boy was happily permitted to +remain with the worthy tutor his father had chosen for him, and because +Wayland is an excellent man, wise and prudent in all things save in +being bewitched by a fair face. Would that he were returned! When I +first consented to act this fool's part, I trusted that he would have +been at home soon enough to prevent more than the nominal engagement, +and when my Lady's threats rendered it needful to secure the poor child +by giving her my name, I still expected him before my young gentleman +should utterly betray himself by his warmth." + +"He tells me that he has written." + +"True. On that I insisted, and I am the more uneasy, for there has been +ample time for a reply. It is only too likely, from what my nephew tells +me of his venturesome explorations, that he may have fallen into the +hands of the Moorish corsairs! Hargrave says it is rumoured; but my Lady +will not be checked in her career of pleasure, and if she is fearful of +his return, she may precipitate matters with the poor girl!" + +"Come, come, sir, I cannot have you give way to despondency. You +did your best, and if it did not succeed, it was owing to my foolish +daughter Arden. Why, if she was not satisfied about her sister, could +she not have come here, and demanded an explanation? That would have +been the straightforward way!" + +"Would that she had! Or would that I had sooner discovered my own entire +recovery, which I owe in very truth to the sweet being who has brought +new life alike of body and mind to me, and who must think I have +requited her so cruelly." + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. CYTHEREA'S BOWER. + + + There Citherea, goddesse was and quene, + Honourid highly for her majeste, + And eke her sonne, the mighty god I weene, + Cupid the blinde, that for his dignite + A M lovers worshipp on ther kne. + There was I bid on pain of dethe to pere, + By Mercury, the winged messengre.--CHAUCER. + + +By twelve o'clock on the ensuing day Mr. Belamour, with Eugene and +Jumbo, was set down at a hotel near Whitehall, to secure apartments, +while the Major went on to demand his daughter from Lady Belamour, +taking with him Betty, whom he allowed to be a much better match for my +Lady than he could be. Very little faith in his cousin Urania remained +to him in the abstract, yet even now he could not be sure that she would +not talk him over and hoodwink him in any actual encounter. Sir Amyas +likewise accompanied him, both to gratify his own anxiety and to secure +admission. The young man still looked pale and worn with restless +anxiety; but he had, in spite of remonstrances, that morning discarded +his sling, saying that he should return to his quarters. Let his Colonel +do his worst then; he had still more liberty than if compelled to return +to his mother's house. + +Lady Belamour had, on her second marriage, forsaken her own old +hereditary mansion in the Strand, where Sir Jovian had died, and which, +she said, gave her the vapours. Mr. Wayland, whose wealth far exceeded +her own, had purchased one of the new houses in Hanover Square, the +fashionable quarter and very much admired; but the Major regretted the +gloomy dignity of the separate enclosure and walled court of Delavie +House, whereas the new one, in modern fashion, had only an area and +steps between the front and the pavement. + +The hall door stood wide open, with a stately porter within, and lackeys +planted about at intervals. Grey descended from the box, and after some +inquiry, brought word that "her Ladyship was at breakfast," then, at a +sign from his master, opened the carriage door. Sir Amyas, taking +Betty by the tips of her fingers, led her forward, receiving by the way +greetings and inquiries from the servants, whose countenances showed him +to be a welcome arrival. + +"Is it a reception day, Maine?" he asked of a kind of major-domo whom he +met on the top of the broad stairs. + +"No, your honour." + +"Is company with her ladyship?" + +"No, not company, sir," with a certain hesitation, which damped Betty's +satisfaction in the first assurance. + +What did she see as Maine opened the door? It was a very spacious +bedroom, the bed in an alcove hung with rose-coloured satin embroidered +with myrtles and white roses, looped up with lace and muslin. Like +draperies hung round the window, fluted silk lined the room, and +beautiful japanned and inlaid cabinets and _etageres_ adorned the walls, +bearing all varieties and devices of new and old porcelain from Chins, +Sevres, Dresden, or Worcester, tokens of Mr. Wayland's travels. There +was a toilette table before one window covered with lacquer ware, silver +and ivory boxes, and other apparatus, and an exquisite Venetian mirror +with the borders of frosted silver work. + +Not far off, but sideways to it, sat Lady Belamour in a loose sacque +of some rich striped silk, in crimson and blue stripes shot with gold +threads. Slippers, embroidered with gold, showed off her dainty feet, +and a French hairdresser stood behind her chair putting the finishing +touches to the imposing fabric of powder, flower, and feather upon her +head. A little hand-mirror, framed in carved ivory inlaid with coral, +and a fan, lay on a tiny spindle-legged table close in front of her, +together with a buff-coloured cup of chocolate. At a somewhat larger +table Mrs. Loveday, her woman, was dispensing the chocolate, whilst a +little negro boy, in a fantastic Oriental costume, waited to carry the +cups about. + +On a sofa near at hand, in an easy attitude, reclined Colonel Mar, +holding out to Lady Belamour a snuff-box of tortoiseshell and gold, +and a lady sat near on one of the tall black-and-gold chairs drinking +chocolate, while all were giving their opinions on the laces, feathers, +ribbons, and trinkets which another Frenchman was displaying from a +basket-box placed on the floor, trying to keep aloof a little Maltese +lion-dog, which had been roused from its cushion, and had come to +inspect his wares. A little further off, Archer, in a blue velvet coat, +white satin waistcoat, and breeches and silk stockings, and Amoret, +white-frocked, blue-sashed, and bare-headed (an innovation of fashion), +were admiring the nodding mandarins, grinning nondescript monsters, +and green lions of extraordinary form which an emissary from a +curiosity-shop was unpacking. Near the door, in an attitude weary +yet obsequious, stood, paper in hand, a dejected figure in shabby +plum-colour--_i.e._ a poor author--waiting in hopes that his sonnet in +praise of Cytherea's triumphant charms would win his the guinea he so +sorely needed, as + + + To quench the blushes of ingenuous shame, + And heap the shrine of luxury and pride + With incense kindled at the Muses' flame. + + +The scene was completed by a blue and yellow macaw at one window chained +to his perch, and a green monkey tethered in like manner at the other. + +Of course Elizabeth Delavie did not perceive all these details at once. +Her first sensation was the shock to the decorum of a modest English +lady at intruding into a bed-room; but her foreign recollections coming +to her aid, she accepted the fashion with one momentary feminine review +of her own appearance, and relief that she had changed her travelling +gear for her Sunday silks, and made her father put on his full uniform. +All this passed while Sir Amyas was leading her into the room, steering +her carefully out of the monkey's reach. Then he went a step or two +forward and bent before his mother, almost touching the ground with one +knee, as he kissed her hand, and rising, acknowledged the lady with a +circular sweep of his hat, and his Colonel with a military salute, all +rapidly, but with perfect ease and gracefulness. "Ah! my truant, my +runaway invalid!" said Lady Belamour, "you are come to surrender." + +"I am come," he said gravely, holding out his stronger hand to his +little brother and sister, who sprang to him, "to bring my father-and +sister-in-law, Major and Miss Delavie." + +"Ah! my good cousin, my excellent Mrs. Betty, excuse me that my tyrant +_friseur_ prevents my rising to welcome you. It is so good and friendly +in you to come in this informal way to cheer me under this terrible +anxiety. Let me present you to my kind friend, the Countess of +Aresfield, who has been so good as to come in to-day to sustain +my spirits. Colonel Mar you know already. Pray be seated. +Amyas--Archer--chairs. Let Syphax give you a cup of chocolate." + +"Madam," said the Major, disregarding all this and standing as if on +parade, "can I see you alone? My business is urgent." + +"No evil news, I trust! I have undergone such frightful shocks of late, +my constitution is well nigh ruined." + +"It is I that have to ask news of you madam." + +She saw that, if she trifled with him, something would break out that +she would not wish to have said publicly. "My time is so little my own," +she said, "I am under command to be at the Palace by two o'clock, but in +a few minutes I shall be able to dismiss my tormentor, and then, till +my woman comes to dress me, I shall be at your service. Sit down, I +entreat, and take some chocolate. I know Mrs. Betty is an excellent +housekeeper, and I want her opinion. My dear Lady Aresfield, suffer me +to introduce my estimable cousin, Mrs. Betty Delavie." + +The Countess looking in her feathers and powder like a beetroot in white +sauce, favoured Betty with a broad stare. Vulgarity was very vulgar in +those days, especially when it had purchased rank, and thought manners +might be dispensed with. Betty sat down, and Amoret climbed on her lap, +while a diversion was made by Archer's imperious entreaty that his mamma +would purchase a mandarin who not only nodded, but waved his hands and +protruded his tongue. + +Then ensued what seemed, to the sickening suspense of the two Delavies, +a senseless Babel of tongues on all sides; but it ended in the _friseur_ +putting up his implements, the trades-folk leaving the selected goods +unpaid for, and the poor poet bowing himself within reach of the monkey, +who made a clutch at his MS., chattered over it, and tore it into +fragments. There was a peal of mirth--loudest from Lady Aresfield--but +Sir Amyas sprang forward with gentlemanly regrets, apologies, and +excuses, finally opening the door and following the poor man out of the +room to administer the guinea from his own pocket, while Colonel Mar +exclaimed, "Here, Archer, boy, run after him with this. The poor devil +has won it by producing a smile from those divine lips--such as his +jungle might never have done---" + +"Fie! fie! Mar," said the Lady, shaking her fan at him, "the child will +repeat it to him." + +"The better sport if he do," said Colonel Mar, carelessly; "he may term +himself a very Orpheus charming the beasts, so that they snatch his +poems from him!" + +Then, as Sir Amyas returned, Lady Belamour entreated her dear Countess +to allow him to conduct her to the withdrawing room, and there endeavour +to entertain her. The Colonel could not but follow, and the Major and +Betty found themselves at length alone with her Ladyship. + +"I trust you have come to relieve my mind as to our poor runaway," she +began. + +"Would to Heaven I could!" said the Major. + +"Good Heavens! Then she has never reached you!" + +"Certainly not. + +"Nor her sister? Oh, surely she is with her sister!" + +"No, madam, her sisters knows nothing of her. Cousin, you have children +of your own! I entreat of you to tell me what you have done with her." + +"How should I have done anything with her? I who have been feeding all +this time on the assurance that she had returned to you." + +"How could a child like her do so?" + +"We know she had money," said Lady Belamour. + +"And we know," said Betty, fixing her eyes on the lady, "that though she +escaped, on the first alarm, as far as Sedhurst, and was there seen, +she had decided on returning to Bowstead and giving herself up to you +Ladyship." + +"Indeed? At what time was that?" exclaimed my Lady. + +"Some time in the afternoon of Sunday!" + +"Ah! then I must have left Bowstead. I was pledged to her Majesty's +card-table, and royal commands cannot be disregarded, so I had to +go away in grievous anxiety for my poor boy. She meant to return to +Bowstead, did she? Ah. Does not an idea strike you that old Amyas +Belamour may know more than he confesses! He has been playing a double +game throughout." + +"He is as anxious to find the dear girl as we are madam." + +"So he may seem to you and to my poor infatuated boy, but you see those +crazed persons are full of strange devices and secrets, as indeed we +have already experienced. I see what you would say; he may appear sane +and plausible enough to a stranger, but to those who have known him +ever since his misfortunes, the truth is but too plain. He was harmless +enough as long as he was content to remain secluded in his dark chamber, +but now that I hear he has broken loose, Heaven knows what mischief he +may do. My dear cousin Delavie, you are the prop left to me in these +troubles, with my poor good man in the hands of those cruel pirates, +who may be making him work in chains for all I know," and the tears came +into her beautiful eyes. + +"They will not do that," said Major Delavie, eager to reassure her; "I +have heard enough of their tricks to know that they keep such game as he +most carefully till they can get a ransom." + +"Your are sure of that!" + +"Perfectly. I met an Italian fellow at Vienna who told me how it was all +managed by the Genoese bankers." + +"Ah! I was just thinking that you would be the only person who could be +of use--you who know foreign languages and all their ways. If you could +go abroad, and arrange it for me!" + +"If my daughter were restored---" began the Major. + +"I see what you would say, and I am convinced that the first step +towards the discovery would be to put Mr. Belamour under restraint, and +separate his black from him. Then one or other of them would speak, and +we might know how she has been played upon." + +"What does your Ladyship suppose then?" asked the Major. + +"This is what I imagine. The poor silly maid repents herself and comes +back in search of me. Would that she had found me, her best friend! But +instead of that, she falls in with old Belamour, and he, having by this +time perceived the danger of the perilous masquerade in which he had +involved my unlucky boy, a minor, has mewed her up somewhere, till the +cry should be over." + +"That would be the part of a villain, but scarcely of a madman," said +Betty dryly. + +"My dear cousin Betty, there are lunatics endowed with a marvellous +shrewdness to commit senseless villanies, and to put on a specious +seeming. Depend upon it, my unfortunate brother-in-law's wanderings at +night were not solely spent in communings with the trees and brooks. Who +knows what might be discovered if he were under proper restraint? And it +is to you, the only relation I have, that I must turn for assistance in +my most unhappy circumstances," she added, wit a glance so full of sweet +helplessness that no man could withstand it. "I am so glad you are here. +You will be acting for me as well as for yourself in endeavouring to +find your poor lovely child, and the first thing I would have done would +be to separate Belamour and his black, put them under restraint, and +interrogate them separately. You could easily get an order from a +magistrate. But ah, here comes my woman. No more now. You will come to +me this evening, and we can talk further on this matter. I shall have +some company, and it will not be a regular rout, only a few card-tables, +and a little dancing for the young people." + +"Your ladyship must excuse me," said Betty, "I have no dress to appear +in, even if I had spirits for the company." + +"Ah! my dear cousin, how do you think it is with my spirits? Yet I think +it my duty not to allow myself to be moped, but to exert myself for the +interest of my son. While as to dress, my woman can direct you to the +milliner who would equip you in the last mode. What, still obstinate? +Nay, then, Harry, I can take no excuse from you, and I may have been +able to collect some intelligence from the servants." + +Nothing remained but to take leave and walk home, the Major observing-- + +"Well, what think you of that, Betty?" + +"Think, sir?--I think it is not for my lady to talk of villains." + +"She is in absolute error respecting Belamour; but then she has not seen +him since his recovery. Women are prone to those fancies, and in her +unprotected state, poor thing, no wonder she takes alarms." + +"I should have thought her rather over-protected." + +"Now, Betty, you need not take a leaf out of Mrs. Duckworth's book, and +begin to be censorious. You saw how relieved she was to have me, her own +blood relation, to turn to, instead of that empty braggart of a fellow. +Besides, a man does not bring his step-mother when there's anything +amiss." + +There was something in this argument, and Betty held her peace, knowing +that to censure my Lady only incited her father to defend her. + +For her own part her consternation was great, and she walked on in +silence, only speaking again to acquiesce in her father's observation +that they must say nothing to Mr. Belamour of my Lady's plans for his +seclusion. + +They found Mr. Belamour in the square parlour of the Royal York, having +sent Eugene out for a walk with Jumbo. The boy's return in the most +eager state of excitement at the shops, the horses, sedans, and other +wonders, did something, together with dinner, to wile away the weary +time till, about three hours after the Major and his daughter had +returned, they were joined by the young baronet, who came running up the +stairs with a good deal more impetuosity than he would have permitted +himself at home. + +"At last I have escaped," he said. "I fear you have waited long for me?" + +"I have been hoping you had discovered some indications," said the +Major. + +"Alas, no! I should imagine my Lady as ignorant as we are, save for one +thing." + +"And that was---?" + +"The pains that were taken to prevent my speaking with any of the +servants. I was forced to attend on that harridan, Lady Aresfield, till +my mother sent for me; and then she made Mar absolutely watch me off the +premises. Then I had to go and report myself at head-quarters, and see +the surgeon, so that there may be no colour of irregularity for the +Colonel to take advantage of." + +"Right, right!" said the Major; "do not let him get a handle +against you, though I should not call you fit for duty yet, even for +holiday-work like yours." + +"You still suspect that your mother knows where our Aurelia is?" said +Betty. "When I think of her demeanour, I can hardly believe it! But did +you hear nothing of your little sisters?" + +"I did not ask. In truth I was confounded by a proposal that was made to +me. If I will immediately marry my mother's darling, Lady Belle, I may +have leave of absence from her and my regiment, both at once, and go to +meet Mr. Wayland if I like, or at any rate make the grand tour, while +they try to break in my charming bride for me. Of course I said that, +being a married man, nothing should induce me to break the law, nor to +put any lady in such a position; and equally, of course, I was shown a +lawyer's opinion that the transaction was invalid." + +"As I always believed," said his uncle. "The ceremony must be repeated +when we find her: though even if you were willing, the other parties are +very ill-advised to press for a marriage without judgment first being +delivered, how far the present is binding. So she wants to send you off +on your travels, does she?" + +"She wishes me to go and arrange for her husband's ransom," said the +Major. "I would be ready enough were my child only found, but I believe +government would take it up, he being on his Majesty's service." + +"It is a mere device for disposing of you--yes, and of my nephew too," +said Mr. Belamour. "As for me, we know already her kind plans for +putting me out of reach of interference. I see, she communicated them +to you. Did she ask your cooperation, Major? Ah! certainly, an ingenious +plan for disuniting us. I am the more convinced that she is well aware +of where the poor child is, and that she wishes to be speedy in her +measures." + +There is no need to describe the half-frantic vehemence of the young +lover, nor the way in which the father and sister tried to moderate his +transports, though no less wretched themselves. + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. THE ROUT. + + + Great troups of people travelled thitherward + Both day and night, of each degree and place.--SPENSER. + + +Much against their will, Major Delavie and his _soi-disant_ son-in-law +set forth for Lady Belamour's entertainment, thinking no opportunity of +collecting intelligence was to be despised; while she probably wished to +obviate all reports of a misunderstanding as well as to keep them under +her own eye. + +The reception rooms were less adorned than the lady's private apartment. +There were pictures on the walls, and long ranks of chairs ranged round, +and card-tables were set out in order. The ladies sat in rows, and the +gentlemen stood in knots and talked, all in full dress, resplendent +figures in brilliant velvet, gold lace, and embroidery, with swords by +their sides, cocked hats, edged with gold or silver lace, under their +arms, and gemmed shoe buckles. The order of creation was not yet +reversed; the male creature was quite as gorgeous in colour and ornament +as the female, who sat in her brocade, powder and patches, fan in hand, +to receive the homage of his snuff-box. + +Sir Amyas went the round, giving and returning greetings, which were +bestowed on him with an ardour sufficient to prove that he was a general +favourite. His mother, exquisitely dressed in a rich rose-coloured +velvet train, over a creamy satin petticoat, both exquisitely +embroidered, sailed up with a cordial greeting to her good cousin, and +wanted to set him down to loo or ombre; but the veteran knew too well +what the play in her house was, and saw, moreover, Lady Aresfield +sitting like a harpy before the green baize field of her spoils. While +he was refusing, Sir Amyas returned to him, saying, "Sir, here is a +gentleman whom I think you must have known in Flanders;" and the Major +found himself shaking hands with an old comrade. Save for his heavy +heart, he would been extremely happy in the ensuing conversation. + +In the meantime Lady Belamour, turning towards a stout, clumsy, short +girl, her intensely red cheeks and huge black eyes staring out of her +powder, while the extreme costliness of her crimson satin dress, and +profusion of her rubies were ridiculous on the unformed person of a +creature scarcely fifteen. If she had been any one else she would have +been a hideous spectacle in the eyes of the exquisitely tasteful Lady +Belamour, who, detecting the expression in her son's eye, whispered +behind her fan, "We will soon set all that right;" then aloud, "My son +cannot recover from his surprise. He did not imagine that we could steal +you for an evening from Queen's Square to procure him this delight." +Then as Sir Amyas bowed, "The Yellow Room is cleared for dancing. Lady +Belle will favour you, Amyas." + +"You must excuse me, madam," he said; "I have not yet the free use of my +arm, and could not acquit myself properly in a minuet." + +"I hate minuets," returned Lady Belle; "the very notion gives me the +spleen." + +"Ah, pretty heretic!" said my Lady, making a playful gesture with her +fan at the peony-coloured cheek. "I meant this wounded knight to have +converted you, but he must amuse you otherwise. What, my Lord I thought +you knew I never meant to dance again. Cannot you open the dance without +me? I, who have no spirits!" + +The rest was lost as she sailed away on the arm of a gentleman in a +turquoise-coloured coat, and waistcoat embroidered with gillyflowers; +leaving the Lady Arabella on the hands of her son, who, neither as host +nor gentleman, could escape, until the young lady had found some other +companion. He stiffly and wearily addressed to her the inquiry how she +liked London. + +"I should like it monstrously if I were not moped up in school," she +answered. "So you have come back. How did you hurt your arm?" she said, +in the most provincial of dialects. + +"In the fire, madam." + +"What? In snatching your innamorata from the flames?" + +"Not precisely," he said. + +"Come, now, tell me; did she set the room a-fire?" demanded the young +lady. "Oh, you need not think to deceive me. My brother Mar's coachman +told my mamma's woman all about it, and how she was locked up and ran +away; but they have her fast enough now, after all her tricks!" + +"Who have? For pity's sake tell me, Lady Belle!" + +Loving to tease, she exclaimed: "There, now, what a work to make about a +white-faced little rustic!" + +"Your ladyship has not seen her." + +"Have I not, though? I don't admire your taste." + +"Is she in Queen's Square?" + +"Do not you wish me to tell you where you can find your old faded doll, +with a waist just like a wasp, and an old blue sacque--not a bit of +powder in her hair?" + +"Lady Belle, if you would have me for ever beholden to you---" + +"The cap fits," she cried, clapping her hands. "Not a word to say for +her! I would not have such a beau for the world." + +"When I have found her it will be time to defend her beauty! If your +ladyship would only tell me where she is, you know not what gratitude I +should feel!" + +"I dare say, but that's my secret. My mamma and yours would be ready to +kill me with rage if they knew I had let out even so much." + +"They would forgive you. Come, Lady Belle, think of her brave old +father, and give some clue to finding her. Where is she?" + +"Ah! where you will never get at her!" + +"Is she at Queen's Square?" + +"What would you do if you thought she was? Get a constable and come and +search? Oh, what a rage Madam would be in! Goodness me, what sport!" +and she fell back in a violent giggling fit; but the two matrons were so +delighted to see the young people talking to one another, that there +was no attempt to repress her. Sir Amyas made another attempt to elicit +whether Aurelia were really at the school in Queen's Square, but Lady +Arabella still refused to answer directly. Then he tried the expedient +of declaring that she was only trying to tease him, and had not really +seen the lady. He pretended not to believe her, but when she insisted, +"Hair just the colour of Lady Belamour's," his incredulity vanished; but +on his next entreaty, she put on a sly look imitated from the evil +world in which she lived, and declared she should not encourage naughty +doings. The youth, who though four years older, was by far the more +simple and innocent of the two, replied with great gravity, "It is the +Lady Belamour, my own wife, that I am seeking." + +"That's just the nonsense she talks!" + +"For Heaven's sake, what did she say?" + +But Belle was tired of her game, and threw herself boisterously on a +young lady who had the "sweetest enamel necklace in the world," and +whose ornaments she began to handle and admire in true spoilt-child +fashion. + +Sir Amyas then betook himself to the Major, who saw at once by his +eye and step that something was gained. They took leave together, Lady +Belamour making a hurried lamentation that she had seen so little of her +dear cousin, but accepting her son's excuse that he must return to his +quarters; and they walked away together escorted by Palmer and Grey, as +well as by two link-boys, summer night though it was. + +Sir Amyas repaired first to the hotel, where Mr. Belamour and Betty were +still sitting, for even the fashionable world kept comparatively early +hours, and it was not yet eleven o'clock. The parlor where they sat was +nearly dark, one candle out and the other shaded so as to produce the +dimness which Mr. Belamour still preferred, and they were sitting on +either side of the open window, Betty listening to her companion's +reminiscences of the evenings enlivened by poor Aurelia, and of the +many traits of her goodness, sweet temper, and intelligence which he had +stored up in his mind. He had, he said, already learned through her to +know Miss Delavie, and he declared that the voices of the sisters were +so much alike that he could have believed himself at Bowstead with the +gentle visitor who had brought him new life. + +The tidings of Lady Arabella's secret were eagerly listened to, and the +token of the mouse-coloured hair was accepted; Sir Amyas comparing, to +every one's satisfaction, a certain lock that he bore on a chain next +his heart, and a little knot, surrounded with diamonds, in a ring, which +he had been still wearing from force of habit, though he declared he +should never endure to do so again. + +It was evident that Lady Belle had really seen Aurelia; and where could +that have been save at the famous boarding-school in Queen's Square, +where the daughters of "the great" were trained in the accomplishments +of the day? The Major, with rising hopes, declared that he had always +maintained that his cousin meant no ill by his daughter, and though it +had been cruel, not to say worse, in her, to deny all knowledge of the +fugitive, yet women would have their strange ways. + +"That is very hard on us women, sir," said Betty. + +"Ah! my dear, poor Urania never had such a mother as you, and she has +lived in the great world besides, and that's a bad school. You will not +take our Aurelia much into it, my dear boy," he added, turning wistfully +to Sir Amyas. + +"I would not let a breath blow on her that could touch the bloom of her +charming frank innocence," cried the lad. "But think you she can be in +health? Lady Belle spoke of her being pale!" + +"Look at my young lady herself!" said the Major, which made them all +laugh. They were full of hope. The Major and his daughter would go +themselves the next day, and a father's claim could not be refused even +though not enforced according to Lady Arabella's desire. + +Their coach--for so Sir Amyas insisted on their going--was at the door +at the earliest possible moment that a school for young ladies could be +supposed to be astir; long before Mr. Belamour was up, for he retained +his old habits so much that it was only on great occasions the he rose +before noon; and while Eugene, under the care of Jumbo and Grey, was +going off in great felicity to see the morning parade in St. James's +Park. + +One of the expedients of well-born Huguenot refugees had been tuition, +and Madame d'Elmar had made here boarding-school so popular and +fashionable that a second generation still maintained its fame, and +damsels of the highest rank were sent there to learn French, to play the +spinnet, to embroider, to dance, and to get into a carriage with grace. +It was only countrified misses, bred by old-fashioned scholars, +who attempted to go any farther, such as that _lusus naturae_, Miss +Elizabeth Carter, who knew seven languages, or the Bishop of Oxford's +niece, Catherine Talbot, who even painted natural flowers and wrote +meditations! The education Aurelia Delavie had received over her Homer +and Racine would be smiled at as quite superfluous. + +There was no difficulty about admission. The coach with its Belamour +trappings was a warrant of admittance. The father and daughter were +shown into a parlour with a print of Marshal Schomberg over the +mantelpiece, and wonderful performances in tapestry work and embroidery +on every available chair, as well as framed upon the wainscoted walls. + +A little lady, more French than English, moving like a perfectly wound +up piece of mechanism, all but her bright little eyes, appeared at their +request to see Madame. It had been agreed before-hand that the Major +should betray neither doubt nor difficulty, but simply say that he had +come up from the country and wished to see his daughter. + +Madame, in perfectly good English, excused herself, but begged to hear +the name again. + +There must be some error, no young lady of the name of Delavie was +there. + +They looked at one another, then Betty asked, "Has not a young lady been +placed here by Lady Belamour?" + +"No, madam, Lady Belamour once requested me to receive her twin +daughters, but they were mere infants; I receive none under twelve year +old." + +"My good lady," cried the Major, "if you are denying my daughter to me, +pray consider what you are doing. I am her own father, and whatever Lady +Belamour may tell you, I can enforce my claim." + +"I am not in the habit of having my word doubted, sir," and the little +lady drew herself up like a true Gascon baroness, as she was. + +"Madam, forgive me, I am in terrible perplexity and distress. My poor +child, who was under Lady Belamour's charge, has been lost to us these +three weeks or more, and we have been told that she has been seen here." + +"Thus," said Betty, seeing that the lady still needed to be appeased, +"we thought Lady Belamour might have deceived you as well as others." + +"May I ask who said the young lady had been seen here?" asked the +mistress coldly. + +"It was Lady Arabella Mar," said Betty, "and, justly speaking, I believe +she did not say it was here that my poor sister was seen, but that she +had seen her, and we drew the conclusion that it was here." + +"My Lady Arabella Mar is too often taken out by my Lady Countess," said +Madame d'Elmar. + +"Could I see her? Perhaps she would tell me where she saw my dear +sister?" said Betty. + +"She went to a rout last evening and has not returned," was the reply. +"Indeed my lady, her mother, spoke as if she might never come back, her +marriage being on the _tapis_. Indeed, sir, indeed, madam, I should +most gladly assist you," she said as a gesture of bitter grief and +disappointment passed between father and daughter, both of whom were +evidently persons of condition. "If it will be any satisfaction to the +lady to see all my pupils, I will conduct her through my establishment." + +Betty caught at this, though there was no doubt that the mistress was +speaking in good faith. She was led to a large empty room, where a +dozen young ladies were drawn up awaiting the dancing master--girls +from fourteen to seventeen, the elder ones in mob caps, those with more +pretensions to fashion, with loose hair. Their twelve curtsies were +made, their twenty-four eyes peeped more or less through their lashes at +the visitor, but no such soft brown eyes as Aurelia's were among them. + +"Madame," said Betty, "may I be permitted to ask the ladies a question?" +She spoke it low, and in French, and her excellent accent won Madame's +heart at once. Only Madame trusted to Mademoiselle's discretion not to +put mysteries into their minds, or they would be all _tete montee_. + +So, as discretely as the occasion would permit, Betty asked whether any +one had seen or heard Lady Belle speak of having seen any one--a young +lady? + +Half-a-dozen tongues broke out, "We thought it all Lady Belle's +whimsical secrets," and as many stories were beginning, but Madame's +awful little hand waved silence, as she said, "Speak then, Miss +Staunton." + +"I know none of Lady Belle's secrets, ma'am--ask Miss Howard." + +Miss Howard looked sulky; and a little eager, black-eyed thing cried, +"She said it was an odious girl whom Lady Belamour keeps shut up in a +great dungeon of an old house, and is going to send beyond seas, because +she married two men at once in disguise." + +"Fie, Miss Crawford, you know nothing about it." + +"You told me so, yourself, Miss Howard." + +"I never said anything so foolish." + +"Hush, young ladies," said Madame. "Miss Howard, if you know anything, I +request you to speak." + +"It would be a great kindness," said Betty. "Might I ask the favour of +seeing Miss Howard in private?" + +Madame consented, and Miss Howard followed Betty out of hearing, +muttering that Belle would fly at her for betraying her. + +"I do not like asking you to betray your friend's confidence," said +Betty. + +"Oh, as to that, I'm not her friend, and I believe she has talked to a +half-a-dozen more." + +"I am this poor young lady's sister," said Betty. "We are afraid she +has fallen into unkind hands; and I should be very thankful if you could +help me to find her. Where do you think Lady Belle saw her?" + +"I thought it was in some old house in Hertfordshire," said Miss Howard, +more readily, "but I am not sure; for it was last Sunday, which she +spent with her mamma. She came back and made it a great secret that +she had seen the girl that had taken in Sir Amyas Belamour, who was +contracted to herself, to marry him and his uncle both at once in +disguise, and then had set the house a-fire. Belle had got some one to +let her see the girl, and then she went on about her being not pretty." + +"What did she say about sending her beyond seas?" + +"Oh! that Miss Crawford made up. She told me that they were going to +find a husband for her such as a low creature like that deserved. And +she protests she is to be married to Sir Amyas very soon, and come back +here while he makes the grand tour. I hope she won't. She will have more +spiteful ways than ever." + +This was all that Betty could extract. She saw Miss Crawford alone, but +her tiding melted into the vaguest second-hand hearsay. The inquiry had +only produced a fresh anxiety. + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. A BLACK BLONDEL. + + + And to the castle gate approached in quiet wise, + Whereat soft knocking, entrance he desired. + SPENSER. + + +"Nephew, is Delavie House inhabited?" inquired Mr. Belamour, as the +baffled seekers sat together that evening. + +"No, sir," replied Sir Amyas. "My Lady will only lease it to persons of +quality, on such high terms that she cannot obtain them for a house in +so antiquated a neighbourhood. Oh, you do not think it possible that my +dearest life can be in captivity so near us! An old house! On my soul, +so it must be; I will go thither instantly." + +"And be taken for a Mohock! No, no, sit down, rash youth, and tell me +who keeps the house." + +"One Madge, an old woman as sour as vinegar, who snarled at me like a +toothless cur when I once went there to find an old fowling-piece of my +father's." + +"Then you ar the last person who should show yourself there, since there +are sure to be strict charges against admitting you, and you would only +put the garrison on the alert. You had better let the reconnoitring +party consist of Jumbo and myself." + +The ensuing day was Sunday. Something was said of St. Paul's, then in +bloom of youth and the wonder of England; but Betty declared that she +could not run about to see fine churches till her mind was at ease about +her poor sister. Might she only go to the nearest and quietest church? +So she, with her father and Eugene, repaired to St. Clement Danes, where +their landlord possessed a solid oak pew, and they heard a sermon on the +wickedness and presumption of inoculating for the small-pox. + +It was not a genteel neighbourhood, and the congregation was therefore +large, for the substantial tradesfolk who had poured into the Strand +since it had been rebuilt were far more religiously disposed than the +fashionable world, retaining either the Puritan zeal, or the High Church +fervour, which were alike discouraged in the godless court. The Major +and his son and daughter were solitary units in the midst of the groups +of portly citizens, with soberly handsome wives, and gay sons and +daughters, who were exchanging greetings; and on their return to their +hotel, the Major betook himself to a pipe in the bar, and Eugene was +allowed to go for a walk in the park with Palmer, while Betty sat in her +own room with her Bible, striving to strengthen her assurance that +the innocent would never be forsaken. Indeed Mr. Belamour had much +strengthened her grounds of hope and comfort by his testimony to poor +Aurelia's perfect guilelessness and simplicity throughout the affair. +Yet the echo of that girl's chatter about Lady Belle's rival being sent +beyond the sea would return upon her ominously, although it might be +mere exaggeration and misapprehension, like so much besides. + +A great clock, chiming one, warned her to repair to the sitting-room, +where she met Eugene, full of the unedifying spectacle of a fight +between two street lads. There had been a regular ring, and the boy had +been so much excited that Palmer had had much ado to bring him away. +Betty had scarcely hushed his eager communications and repaired his +toilette for dinner before Sir Amyas came in, having hurried away as +soon as possible after attending his men to and from church. + +"Sister," he said, for so he insisted on calling Betty, "I really think +my uncle's surmise may be right. I went home past Delavie House last +night, just to look at it, and there was--there really was, a light in +one of the windows on the first floor, which always used to be as black +as Erebus. I had much ado to keep myself from thundering at the gate. I +would have done so before now but for my uncle's warning. Where can he +be?" + +The Major and Mr. Belamour here came in together, and the same torrent +was beginning to be poured forth, when the latter cut it short with, +"They are about to lay the cloth. Restrain yourself, my dear boy, or---" +and as at that moment the waiter entered, he went on with the utmost +readiness--"or, as it seems, the Queen of Hungary will never make good +her claims. Pray, sir," turning to Major Delavie, "have you ever seen +these young Archduchesses whose pretensions seem likely to convulse the +continent to its centre?" + +The Major, with an effort to gather his attention, replied that he could +not remember; but Betty, with greater presence of mind, described how +she had admired the two sisters of Austria as little girls walking on +the Prater. Indeed she and Mr. Belamour contrived to keep up the ball +till the Major was roused into giving an opinion of Prussian discipline, +and to tell stories of Leopold of Dessau, Eugene, and Marlborough with +sufficient zest to drive the young baronet almost frantic, especially +as Jumbo, behind his master's chair, was on the broad grin all the time, +and almost dancing in his shoes. Once he contrived to give an absolute +wink with one of his big black eyes; not, however, undetected, for Mr. +Belamour in a grave tone of reprimand ordered him off to fetch an ivory +toothpick-case. + +Not till the cloth had been remove, and dishes of early strawberries and +of biscuits, accompanied by bottles of port and claret, placed on the +table, and the servants had withdrawn, did Mr. Belamour observe, "I have +penetrated the outworks." + +There was an outburst of inquiry and explanation, but he was not to be +prevented from telling the story in his own way. "I know the house well, +for my brother lived there the first years of his marriage, before you +came on the stage, young sir. Perhaps you do not know how to open the +door from without?" + +"Oh, sir, tell me the trick!" + +Mr. Belamour held up a small pass-key. There was a certain tone of +banter about him which almost drove his nephew wild, but greatly +reassured Miss Delavie. + +"Why--why keep me in torments, instead of taking me with you?" cried the +youth. + +"Because I wished my expedition to be no failure. I could not tell +whether my key, which I found with my watch and seals, would still +serve me. Ah! you look on fire; but remember the outworks are not the +citadel." + +"For Heaven's sake, sir, torture me not thus!" + +"I knew that to make my summons at the out gate would lead to a summary +denial by the sour porteress, so I experimented on the lock of the +little door into the lane, and admitted myself and Jumbo into the court; +but the great hall-door stood before me jealously closed, and the lower +windows were shut with shutters, so that all I could do was to cause +Jumbo to awake the echoes with a lusty peal on the knocker, which he +repeated at intervals, until there hobbled forth to open it a crone as +wrinkled and crabbed as one of Macbeth's witches. I demanded whether my +Lady Belamour lived there. She croaked forth a negative sound, and had +nearly shut the door in my face, but I kept her in parley by protesting +that I had often visited my Lady there, and offering a crown-piece if +she would direct me to her." + +"A crown! a kingdom, if she would bring us to the right one!" cried Sir +Amyas. + +"Of course she directed me to Hanover Square, and then, evidently +supposing there was something amiss with the great gates, she insisted +on coming to let me out, and securing them after me." + +The youth gave a great groan, saying, "Excuse me, sir, but what are we +the better of that?" + +"Endure a little while, impatient swain, and you shall hear. I fancy +she recognised the Belamour Livery on Jumbo, for she hobbled by my side +maundering apologies about its being against orders to admit gentle or +simple, beast or body into the court, and that a poor woman could not +lose her place and the roof over her head. But mark me, while this +was passing, Jumbo, who had kept nearer the house whistling 'The +Nightingale' just above his breath, heard his name called, and presently +saw two little faces at an up-stairs window." + +"My little sisters!" cried Sir Amyas. + +"Even so; and he believes he heard one of them call out, 'Cousin, cousin +Aura, come and see Jumbo;' but as the window was high up, I scarce +dare credit his ears rather than his imagination, and we were instantly +hustled away by the old woman, whose evident alarm is a further +presumption that the captive is there, since Faith and Hope scarce have +reached the years of being princesses immured in towers." + +"It must be so," said Betty; "it would explain Lady Belle's having had +access to her! And now?" + +"Is it impossible to effect an entrance from the court and carry her +away?" asked Sir Amyas. + +"Entirely so," said his uncle. "The only door into the court is fit to +stand a siege, and all the lower windows are barred and fastened with +shutters. The servants' entrance is at the back towards the river, but +no doubt it is also guarded, and my key will not serve for it." + +"I could get some sprightly fellow of ours to come disguised as Mohocks, +and break in," proceeded the youth, eagerly. "Once in the court, trust +me for forcing my way to her." + +"And getting lodged in Newgate for your pains, or tried by +court-martial," said the Major. "No, when right is on our side, do +not let us make it wrong. Hush, Sir Amyas, it is I who must here act. +Whether you are her husband I do not know, I know that I am her father, +and to-morrow morning, as soon as a magistrate can be spoken with, +I shall go and demand a search warrant for the body of my daughter, +Aurelia Delavie." + +"The body! Good Heavens, sir," cried Betty. + +"Not without the sweet soul, my dear Miss Delavie," said Mr. Belamour. +"Your excellent father has arrived at the only right and safe decision, +and provided no farther alarm is given, I think he may succeed. It is +scarcely probable that my Lady is in constant communication with her +stern porteress, and my person was evidently unknown. For her own +sake, as well as that of the small fee I dropped into her hand, she is +unlikely to report my reconnoissance." + +Sir Amyas was frantic to go with his father-in-law, but both the elder +men justly thought that his ambiguous claims would but complicate the +matter. The landlord was consulted as to the acting magistrates of the +time, and gave two or three addresses. + +Another night of prayer, suspense, and hope for Betty's sick heart. +Then, immediately after breakfast, the Major set forth, attended by +Palmer, long before Mr. Belamour had left his room, or the young baronet +could escape from his military duties. Being outside the City, +the Strand was under the jurisdiction of justices of the peace for +Middlesex, and they had so much more than they could do properly, that +some of them did it as little as possible. The first magistrate would +not see him, because it was too early to attend to business; the second +never heard matters at his private house, and referred him to the office +in Bow Street. In fact he would have been wiser to have gone thither at +first, but he had hoped to have saved time. He had to wait sitting on +a greasy chair when he could no longer stand, till case after case +was gone through, and when he finally had a hearing and applied for +a warrant to search for his daughter in Delavie House, there was much +surprise and reluctance to put such an insult on a lady of quality in +favour at Court. On his giving his reasons on oath for believing the +young lady to be there, the grounds of his belief seemed to shrink away, +so that the three magistrates held consultation whether the warrant +could be granted. Finally, after eying him all over, and asking him +where he had served, one of them, who had the air of having been in the +army, told him that in consideration of his being a gentleman of high +respectability who had served his country, they granted what he asked, +being assured that he would not make the accusation lightly. The reforms +made by Fielding had not yet begun, everybody had too much work, and the +poor Major had still some time to wait before an officer--tipstaff, as +he was called--could accompany him, so that it was past noon when, +off in the Bowstead carriage again, they went along the Strand, to a +high-walled court belonging to one of the old houses of the nobility, +most of which had perished in the fire of London. There was a +double-doored gateway, and after much thundering in vain, at which the +tipstaff, a red-nosed old soldier, waxed very irate, the old woman came +out in curtseying, crying, frightened humility, declaring that they +would find no one there--they might look if they would. + +So they drove over the paved road, crossing the pitched pebbles, the +door was unbarred, but no Aurelia sprang into her father's arms. Only a +little terrier came barking out into the dismal paved hall. Into every +room they looked, the old woman asseverating denials that it was of no +use, they might see for themselves, that no one had been there for years +past. Full of emptiness, indeed, with faded grimy family portraits on +the walls, moth-eaten carpets and cushions, high-backed chairs with +worm-holes; and yet, somehow, there was one room that did look as if +it had recently been sat in. Two little stools were drawn up close to a +chair; the terrier poked and smelt about uneasily as though in search +of some one, and dragged out from under a couch a child's ball which he +began to worry. On the carpet, too, were some fragments of bright fresh +embroidery silk, which the practiced eye of the constable noticed. "This +here was not left ten or a dozen years ago," said he; and, extracting +the ball from the fangs of the dog, "No, and this ball ain't ten year +old, neither. Come, Mother What's'-name, it's no good deceiving an +officer of the law; whose is this here ball?" + +"It's the little misses. They've a bin here with their maid, but their +nurse have been and fetched 'em away this morning, and a good riddance +too." + +"Who was the maid?--on your oath!" + +"One Deborah Davis, a deaf woman, and pretty nigh a dumb one. She be +gone too." + +Nor could the old woman tell where she was to be found. "My Lady's woman +sent her in," she said, "and she was glad enough to be rid of her." + +"Come, now, my good woman, speak out, and it will be better for you," +said the Major. "I know my daughter was here yesterday." + +"And what do I know of where she be gone? She went off in a sedan-chair +this morning before seven o'clock, and if you was to put me to the rack +I couldn't say no more." + +As to which way or with whom she had gone, the old woman was, +apparently, really ignorant. + +The poor Major had to return home baffled and despairing, still taking +the tipstaff with him, in case, on consultation with Mr. Belamour, it +should be deemed expedient to storm Hanover Square itself, and examine +Lady Belamour and her servants upon oath. + +Behold, the parlour was empty. Even Betty and Eugene were absent. The +Major hastened to knock at Mr. Belamour's door. There was no answer; and +when he knocked louder it was still in vain. He tried the door and +found it locked. Then he retreated to the sitting-room, rang, and made +inquiries of the waiter who answered the bell. + +Mr. Belamour had received a note at about ten o'clock, and had gone out +with him "in great disorder," said the waiter. + +At the same moment there was a knock at the door, and a billet was +brought in from Lady Belamour. The Major tore it open and read:-- + + + "MY DEAR COUSIN, + + "I grieve for you, but my Suspicions were correct. We have all +been completely hoodwinked by that old Villain, my Brother-in-law. I +can give him no other Name, for his partial Aberration of Mind has only +sharpened his natural Cunning. Would you believe it? He had obtained +access to Delavie House, and had there hidden the unfortunate Object of +your Search, while he pretended to be assisting you, and this Morning +he carried her off in a Sedan. I have sent the good Doves to Bowstead in +case he should have the Assurance to return to his old Quarters, but I +suspect that they are on the Way to Dover. You had better consult with +Hargrave on the means of confirming the strange Marriage Ceremony that +has passed between them, since that affords the best Security for your +Daughter's Maintenance and Reputation. Believe me, I share in your +Distress. Indeed I have so frightful a Megrim that I can scarcely tell +what I write, and I dare not admit you to-day. + + "I remain, + "Your loving and much-grieved Cousin, + "URANIA BELAMOUR." + + +Poor Major! His horror, perplexity, and despair were indescribable. He +had one only hope--that Sir Amyas and Betty might be on the track. + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. THE FIRST TASK. + + + After all these there marcht a most faire dame, + Led of two gryslie villains, th' one Despight, + The other cleped Crueltie by name. + SPENSER. + + +The traces of occupation had not deceived Major Delavie; Aurelia had +been recently in Delavie House, and we must go back some way in our +narrative to her arrival there. + +She had, on her return from Sedhurst on that Sunday, reached Bowstead, +and entered by the lobby door just as Lady Belamour was coming down the +stairs only attended by her woman, and ready to get into the carriage +which waited at the hall door. + +Sinking on her knees before her with clasped hands, Aurelia exclaimed, +"O madam, I ought not to have come away. Here I am, do what you will +with me, but spare my father. He knew nothing of it. Only, for pity's +sake, do not put me among the poor wicked creatures in gaol." + +"Get into that carriage immediately, and you shall know by decision," +said Lady Belamour, with icy frigidness, but not the same fierceness +as before; and Aurelia submissively obeyed, silenced by an imperious +gesture when she would have asked, "How is it with _him_?" whom she +durst not name. + +Lady Belamour waited a minute or two while sending Loveday on a last +message to the sick room, then entered the large deep carriage, signing +to her captive to take a corner where she could hardly be seen if any +one looked through the window. Loveday followed, the door was shut by a +strange servant, as it was in fact Lady Aresfield's carriage, borrowed +both for the sake of speed, and of secrecy towards her own household. + +A few words passed by which Aurelia gathered something reassuring as +to the state of the patient, and then Lady Belamour turned on her, +demanding, "So, young miss, you tried to escape me! Where have you +been?" + +"Only as far as Sedhurst Church, madam. I would have gone home, but I +feared to bring trouble on my father, and I came back to implore you to +forgive." + +There was no softening of the terrible, beautiful face before her, and +she durst put no objective case to her verb. However, the answer was +somewhat less dreadful than she had anticipated. + +"I have been shamefully duped," said Lady Belamour, "but it is well that +it is no worse; nor shall I visit our offences on your father if you +show your penitence by absolute submission. The absurd ceremony you went +through was a mere mockery, and the old fool, Belamour, showed himself +crazed for consenting to such an improper frolic on the part of my son. +Whether your innocence be feigned or not, however, I cannot permit you +to go out of my custody until the foolish youth or yourself be properly +bestowed in marriage elsewhere. Meantime, you will remain where I +place you, and exactly fulfil my commands. Remember that any attempt to +communicate with any person outside the house will be followed by your +Father's immediate dismissal." + +"May I not let him know that I am safe?" + +"Certainly not; I will see to your father." + +It was a period when great ladies did not scruple to scold at the top +of their voices, and sometimes proceed to blows, but Lady Belamour never +raised her low silvery tones, and thus increased the awfulness of her +wrath and the impressiveness of her determination. Face to face with +her, there were few who did not cower under her displeasure; and poor +Aurelia, resolute to endure for her father's sake, could only promise +implicit obedience. + +She only guessed when the entered London by the louder rumbling, and for +one moment the coach paused as a horse was reined up near it, and with +plumed hat in hand the rider bent forward to the window, exclaiming, +"Successful, by all that is lovely! Captured, by Jove!" + +"You shall hear all another time," said lady Belamour. "Let us go on +now." + +They did so, but the horseman continued to flash across the windows, and +when the coach, after considerable delay, had entered the walled court, +rumbled over the pavement, and stopped before a closed door, he was +still there. When, after much thundering, the door was opened, Aurelia +had a moment's glimpse of a splendid figure in gold and scarlet handing +out Lady Belamour, who stood talking with him on the steps of the house +for some moments. Then, shrugging his shoulders, he remounted, and +cantered off, after which my Lady signed to Aurelia to alight, and +followed her into the hall. + +"Madge," said Lady Belamour to the witch-like old woman who had admitted +her, "this young lady is to remain here. You will open a bedroom and +sitting-room for her at the back of the house. Let her be properly cared +for, and go out in the court behind, but on no account approach the +front gates. Let no one know she is here." + +Madge muttered some demands about supplies and payments, and Lady +Belamour waved her to settle them with Mrs. Loveday, turning meantime to +the prisoner and saying, "There, child, you are to remain here on +your good behaviour. Do your best to merit my good will, so that I may +overlook what is past. Recollect, the least attempt to escape, or to +hold intercourse with the young, or the old, fool, and it shall be the +worse with them and with your father." + +Therewith she departed, followed by Loveday, leaving Aurelia standing in +the middle of the hall, the old hag gazing on her with a malignant +leer. "Ho! ho'! So that's the way! He has begun that work early, has he? +What's your name, my lass? Oh, you need give yourself airs! I cry you +mercy," and she made a derisive curtsey. + +Poor Aurelia, pride had less to do with her silence than absolute +uncertainty what to call herself. The wedding ring was on her finger, +and she would not deny her marriage by calling herself Delavie, but +Belamour might be dangerous, and the prefix was likewise a difficulty, +so faltered, "You may call me Madam Aurelia." + +"Madam Really. That's a queer name, but it will serve while you are +here." + +"Pray let me go to my room," entreated the poor prisoner, who felt as +ineffable disgust at her jailor, and was becoming sensible to extreme +fatigue. + +"Your room, hey? D'ye think I keep rooms and beds as though this were +an inn, single-handed as I am? You must wait, unless you be too fine to +lend a hand." + +"Anything will do," said Aurelia, "if I may only rest. I would help, but +I am so much tired that I can hardly stand." + +"My Lady has given it to you well, Mistress Really or Mistress Falsely, +which ever you may be," mumbled Madge, perhaps in soliloquy, fumbling +at the lock of a room which at last she opened. It smelt very close and +fusty, and most of the furniture was heaped together under a cloth in +the midst, dimly visible by the light of a heart-shaped aperture in the +shutters. Unclosing one of the leaves, the old woman admitted enough +daylight to guide Aurelia to a couch against the wall, saying, "You can +wait there till I see to your bed. And you'll be wanting supper too!" +she added in a tone of infinite disgust. + +"O never mind supper, if I can only go to bed," sighed Aurelia, sinking +on the couch as the old woman hobbled off. Lassitude and exhaustion had +brought her to a state like annihilation--unable to think or guess, hope +or fear, with shoes hurting her footsore feet, a stiff dress cramping +her too much for sleep, and her weary aching eyes gathering a few +impressions in a passive way. On the walls hung dimly seen portraits +strangely familiar to her. The man in a green dressing gown with +floating hair had a face she knew; so had the lady in the yellow ruff. +And was that not the old crest, the Delavie butterfly, with the motto, +_Ma Vie et ma Mie_, carved on the mantelpiece? Thus she knew that +she must be in Delavie House, and felt somewhat less desolate as she +recognised several portraits as duplicates of those at the Great House +at Carminster, and thought they looked at her in pity with their eyes +like her father's. The youngest son in the great family group was, as +she knew, an Amyas, and he put her in mind of her own. Oh, was he her +own, when she could not tell whether those great soft, dark-grey eyes +that looked so kindly on her had descended to the young baronet? She +hoped not, for Harriet and she had often agreed that they presaged the +fate of that gallant youth, who had been killed by Sir Bevil Grenville's +side. He must have looked just as Sir Amyas did, lying senseless after +the hurt she had caused. + +No more definite nor useful thought passed through the brain of the +overwearied maiden as she rest on the couch, how long she knew not; but +it was growing dark by the time Madge returned with a guttering candle, +a cracked plate and wedge of greasy-looking pie, a piece of dry bread, +a pewter cup of small beer, and an impaired repulsive steel knife with +a rounded end, and fork with broken prong. The fact of this being steel +was not distressing to one who had never seen a silver fork, but the +condition of both made her shudder, and added to the sick sense of +exhaustion that destroyed her appetite. She took a little of the bread, +and, being parched with thirst, drank some of the beer before Madge came +back again. "Oh ho, you're nice I see, my fine Dame Really!" + +"Thank you, indeed I can't eat, I am so much tired," said Aurelia +apologetically. + +"You'll have to put up with what serves your betters, I can tell you," +was all the reply she received. "Well be ye coming to your bed?" + +So up the creaking stairs she was guided to a room, very unlike that +fresh white bower at Bowstead, large, eerie, ghostly-looking, bare +save for a dark oak chest, and a bed of the same material, the posts +apparently absolute trees, squared and richly carved, and supporting a +solid wooden canopy with an immense boss as big as a cabbage, and carved +something like one, depending from the centre, as if to endanger the +head of the unwary, who should start up in bed. No means of ablution +were provided, and Aurelia felt so grimed and dusty that she ventured to +beg for an ewer and basin; but her amiable hostess snarled out that she +had enough to do without humouring fiddle-faddle whimsies, and that she +might wash at the pump if nothing else would serve her. + +Aurelia wished she had known this before going up stairs, and, worn out +as she was, the sense implanted by her mother that it was wicked to go +to sleep dirty, actually made her drag herself down to a grim little +scullery, where she was permitted to borrow a wooden bowl, since she +was too _nice_ forsooth to wash down stairs. She carried it up with a +considerable trouble more than half full, and a bit of yellow soap and +clean towel were likewise vouchsafed to her. The wash--perhaps because +of the infinite trouble it cost her--did her great good,--it gave her +energy to recollect her prayers and bring good angels about her. If this +had been her first plunge from home, when Jumbo's violin had so scared +her, such a place as this would have almost killed her; but the peace +that had come to her in Sedhurst Church lingered still round her, and +as she climbed up into the lofty bed the verse sang in her ears "Love is +strong as death." Whether Love Divine or human she did not ask herself, +but with the sense of soothing upon her, she slept--and slept as a +seventeen-years'-old frame will sleep after having been thirty-six hours +awake and afoot. + +When she awoke it was with the sense of some one being in the room. "O +gemini!" she heard, and starting up, only just avoiding the knob, she +saw Mrs. Loveday's well-preserved brunette face gazing at her. + +"Your servant, ma'am," she said. "You'll excuse me if I speak with you +here, for I must be back by the time my Lady's bell rings." + +"Is it very late?" said Aurelia, taking from under her pillow her watch, +which had stopped long ago. + +"Nigh upon ten o'clock," said Loveday. "I must not stay, but it is my +Lady's wish that you should have all that is comformable, and you'll let +me know how Madge behaves herself." + +"Is there any news from Bowstead?" was all Aurelia could at first +demand. + +"Not yet; but bless you, my dear young lady, you had best put all that +matter out of your head for ever and a day. I know what these young +gentlemen are. They are not to be hearkened to one moment, not the best +of them. Let them be ever so much in earnest at the time, their parents +and guardians have the mastery of them sooner or later, and the farther +it has gone, the worse it is. I saw you lying asleep here looking so +innocent that it went to my heart, and I heard you mutter in your sleep +'Love is strong as death,' but that's only a bit of some play-book, and +don't you trust to it, for I never saw love that was stronger than a +spider's web." + +"Oh, hush, Mrs. Loveday. It is in the Bible!" + +"You don't say so, ma'am," the woman said awestruck. + +"I would show it you, only all my things are away. God is love, you +know," said Aurelia, sitting up with clasped hands, "and He gives it, so +it must be strong." + +"Well, all the love I've ever seen was more the devil's," said Loveday +truly enough; "and you'll find it so if you mean to trust to these fine +young beaux and what they say." + +Aurelia shook her head a little as she sat up in bed with her clasped +hands; and there was a look on her face that Mrs. Loveday did not +understand, as she went on with her advice. + +"So, my dear young lady, you see all that is left for you is to frame +your mind to keep close here, and conform to my Lady's will till all is +blown over one way or another." + +"I know that," said Aurelia. + +"Don't' you do anything to anger her," added the waiting-woman, "for +there's no one who can stand against her; and I'll speak up for you when +I can, for I know how to come round my Lady, if any one does. Tell me +what you want, and I'll get it for you; but don't try to get out, and +don't send Madge, for she is not to be trusted with money. If I were +you, I'd not let her see that watch, and I'd lock my door at night. +You're too innocent, whatever my Lady may say. Here's half a pound of +tea and sugar, which you had best keep to yourself, and I've seen +to there being things decent down stairs. Tell me, my dear, is there +anything you want? Your clothes, did you say? Oh, yes, you shall have +them--yes, and your books. Here's some warm water," as a growling was +heard at the door; "I must not wait till you are dressed, but there's a +box of shells down in your room that Mr. Wayland sent home for my Lady +to line a grotto with, and she wants them all sorted out. 'Tell her she +must make herself of use if she wants to be forgiven,' says my Lady, for +she is in a mighty hurry for them now she has heard of the Duchess of +Portland's grotto; though she has let them lie here unpacked for this +half year and more. So if they are all done by night, maybe may Lady +will be pleased to let you have a bit more liberty." + +Mrs. Loveday departed, having certainly cheered the captive, and Aurelia +rose, weary-limbed and sad-hearted, with a patient trust in her soul +that Love Divine would not fail her, and that earthly love would do its +best. + +She found matters improved in the down-stairs room, the furniture was in +order, a clean cloth on the table, a white roll, butter, and above all +clean bright implements, showing Mrs. Loveday's influence. She ate and +drank like a hungry girl, washed up for herself rather than let Madge +touch anything she could help, and looked from the window into a +dull court of dreary, blighted-looking turf divided by flagged walks, +radiating from a statue in the middle, representing a Triton blowing a +conch--no doubt intended to spout water, for there was a stone trough +round him, but he had long forgotten his functions, and held a sparrow's +nest with streaming straws in his hand. This must be the prison-yard, +where alone she might walk, since it lay at the back of the house; and +with a sense of depression she turned to the task that awaited her. + +A very large foreign-looking case had been partly opened, and when she +looked in she was appalled at the task to be accomplished in one day. +It was crammed with shells of every size and description, from the +large helmet-conch and Triton's trumpet, down to the tiny pink cowry +and rice-volute, all stuffed together without arrangement or packing, +forming a mass in which the unbroken shells reposed in a kind of sand, +of _debris_ ground together out of the victims; and when she took up a +tolerably-sized univalve, quantities of little ones came tumbling out +of its inner folds. She took up a handful, and presently picked out +one perfect valve like a rose petal, three fairy cups of limpets, four +ribbed cowries, and a thing like a green pea. Of course she knew no +names, but a kind of interest was awakened by the beauty and variety +before her. A pile of papers had been provided, and the housewife [a +pocket-size container for small articles (as thread)--D.L.] which Betty +made her always carry in her pocket furnished wherewithal to make up a +number of bags for the lesser sorts; and she went to work, her troubles +somewhat beguiled by the novel beauties of each delicate creature +she disinterred, but remembering with a pang how, if she could have +described them to Mr. Belamour, he would have discoursed upon the Order +of Nature. + +London noises were not the continuous roar of vehicles of the present +day, but there was sound enough to remind the country girl where she +was, and the street cries "Old Clothes!" "Sprats, oh!" "Sweep!" were +heard over the wall, sometimes with tumultuous voices that seemed +to enhance her loneliness, as she sat on the floor, hour after hour, +sifting out the entire shells, and feeling a languid pleasure in joining +the two halves of a bivalve, especially those lovely sunset shells that +have rosy rays diverging from their crimson hinge over their polished +surface, white, or just tinted with the hues of a daffodil sky. She +never clasped a pair together without a little half-uttered ejaculation, +"Oh, bring me and my dear young love thus together again!" And when she +found a couple making a perfect heart, and holding together through all, +she kissed it tenderly in the hope that thus it might be with her and +with him whose hand and whose voice returned on her, calling her his +dearest life! + +She durst only quit the shells to eat the dinner which Madge served at +one o'clock--a tolerable meal of slices of cold beef from a cook's-shop, +but seasoned with sour looks and a murmur at ladies' fancies. The +weariness and languor of the former day's exertions made her for the +present disinclined to explore the house, even had she had time, and +when twilight came there could have been little but fragments at the +bottom of the case, though she could see no more to sort them. + +And what were these noises around her making her start? Rats! Yes, here +they were, venturing out from all the corners. They knew there had been +food in the room. This was why Madge had those to gaunt, weird-looking +cats in her kitchen! Aurelia went and sat on the step into the court to +be out of their way, but Madge hunted her in that the door might be shut +and barred; and when she returned trembling to the sitting room, she +heard such a scampering and a scrambling that she durst not enter, and +betook herself to her chamber and to bed. + +Alas! that was no refuge. She had been too much tired to hear anything +the night before, but to-night there was scratching, nibbling, +careering, fighting, squeaking, recoil and rally, charge and rout, as +the grey Hanover rat fought his successful battle with his black English +cousin all over the floors and stairs--nay, once or twice came rushing +up and over the bed--frightening its occupant almost out of her senses, +as she cowered under the bed-clothes, not at all sure that they would +not proceed to eating her. Happily daylight came early. Aurelia, at its +first ray, darted across the room, starting in horror when she touched +a soft thing with her bare foot, opened the shutter, and threw open the +casement. Light drove the enemy back to their holes, and she had a few +hours' sleep, but when Mrs. Loveday came to the room when she was +nearly dressed, she exclaimed, "Why, miss, you look paler than you did +yesterday." + +"The rats!" said Aurelia under her breath. + +"Ah! the rats! Of course they are bad enough in an old desolate place +like this. But you've done the shells right beautiful, that I will say; +and you may leave this house this very day if you will only give your +consent to what my Lady asks. You shall be sent down this very day to +Carminster, if so be you'll give up that ring of yours, and sign a paper +giving up all claim to be married to his Honour. See, here it is, all +ready, in my Lady's letter." + +"I cannot," said Aurelia, with her hands behind her. + +"You can read my Lady's letter," said Loveday; "that can do you no +harm." + +Aurelia felt she must do that at least. + + + "CHILD, + + "I will overlook your Transgression on the One Condition, that +you sign this Paper and send it with your so-called Wedding Ring back +to me immediately. Otherwise you must take the Consequences, and remain +where you are till after my Son's Marriage. + + "URANIA BELAMOUR." + + +The paper was a formal renunciation of all rights or claims from the +fictitious marriage by which she had been deceived, and an absolute +pledge never to renew any contract with Sir Amyas Belamour, Knight +Baronet, who had grossly played on her. + +"No, I cannot," said Aurelia, pushing it from her. + +"Indeed, miss, I would not persuade you to it if it were not for your +own good; but you may be sure it is no use holding out against her +Ladyship. If you sign it now, and give it up honourable, she will send +Mr. Dove home with you, and there you'll be as if nothing had been +amiss, no one knowing nothing about it; but if you persist it will not +make the marriage a bit more true, and you will only be kept moped up in +this dismal place till his Honour is married, and there's no saying what +worse my Lady may do to you." + +Another night of rats came up before Aurelia's imagination in contrast +with the tender welcome at home; but the white face and the tones that +had exclaimed, "Madam, what are you doing to my wife?" arose and forbade +her. She would not fail him. So she said firmly once more, "No, Mrs. +Loveday, I cannot. I do not know what lawyers may say, but I feel myself +bound to Sir Amyas, and I will not break my vow--God helping me," she +added under breath. + +"You must write it to her ladyship then. She will never take such a +message through me. Here is paper and pen that I brought, in hopes that +you would be wise and submit for your honoured father's sake." + +"My father cannot be persecuted for what he has nothing to do with," +said Aurelia, with the gentle dignity that had grown on her since her +troubles. And taking the pen, she wrote her simple refusal, signing it +Aurelia Belamour. + +"As you please, ma'am," said Mrs. Loveday, "but I have my Lady's orders +to bring this paper every day till you sign it, and it would be better +for you if you would do it at once." + +Aurelia only shook her head, and asked if Mrs. Loveday had seen that she +had finished sorting the shells. Yes; and as she was now dressed they +went down together to the sitting-room. The shutters were still closed, +Madge would not put a hand to the room except on the compulsion, and +Aurelia's enemies had left evidence of their work; not only was the +odour of the room like that of a barn, but the paper bags had in some +cases been bitten through, and the shells scattered about, and of the +loaf and butter which Aurelia had left on a high shelf in the cupboard +nothing remained but a few fragments. + +Loveday was very much shocked, all the more when Aurelia quietly said +she should not mind it so much if the rats would only stay down stairs, +and not run over her in bed. + +"Yet you will not sign the paper." + +"I cannot," again said Aurelia. + +"My stars, I never could abear rats! Why they fly at one's throat +sometimes!" + +"I hope God will take care of me," said Aurelia, in a trembling voice. +"He did last night." + +Loveday began a formal leave-taking curtsey, but presently turned back. +"There now," she said, "I cannot do it, I couldn't sleep a wink for +thinking of you among the rats! Look here, I shall send a porter to +bring away those shells if you'll make up their bags again that the +nasty vermin have eaten, and there's a little terrier dog about the +place that no one will miss, he shall bring it down, and depend upon it, +the rats won't venture near it." + +"Oh! thank you, Mrs. Loveday, how good you are!" + +"Ah, don't then! If you could say that my dear!" + +Mrs. Loveday hurried away, and after breakfasting, Aurelia repaired the +ravages of the rats, and made a last sorting of the residuum of shell +dust, discovering numerous minute beauties, which awoke in her the happy +thought of the Creator's individual love. + +She had not yet finished before Madge's voice was heard in querulous +anger, and a heavy tread came along with her. A big man, who could have +carried ten times the weight of the box of shells, came in with a little +white dog with black ears, under his arm. + +"There," said the amiable guardian of the house, "that smart madam says +that it's her ladyship's pleasure you should have that little beast to +keep down the rats. As if my cats was not enough! But mind you, Madam +Really, if so be he meddles with my cats, it will be the worse for him." + +The porter took up the box, and departed, and Aurelia was left with +her new companion sniffing all round the room, much excited by the +neighbourhood of his natural enemies. However, he obeyed her call, and +let her make friends, and read the name on the brass plate upon his +collar. When she read "Sir A. Belamour, Bart.," she took the little dog +in her arms and kissed it's white head. + +Being fairly rested, and having no task to accomplish, she felt the day +much longer, though less solitary, in the companionship of the dog, to +whom she whispered many fond compliments, and vain questions as to his +name. With him at her heels and Madge and her cats safely shut into the +kitchen, she took courage to wander about the dull court, and then to +explore the mansion and try to get a view from the higher windows, in +case they were not shuttered up like the lower ones. The emptiness +of Bowstead was nothing to this, and she smiled to herself at having +thought herself a prisoner there. + +Most of the rooms were completely dismantled, or had only ghastly rags +of torn leather or tapestry hanging to their walls. The upper windows, +however, were merely obscured by dust and cobwebs. Her own bedroom +windows only showed the tall front of an opposite house, but climbing +to the higher storey, she could see at the back over the garden wall +the broad sheet of the Thames, covered with boats and wherries, and the +banks provided with steps and stairs, at the opening of every street on +the opposite side, where she beheld a confused mass of trees, churches, +and houses. Nearer, the view to the westward was closed in by a stately +edifice which she did not know to be Somerset House; and from another +window on the east side of the house she saw, over numerous tiled +roofs, a gateway which she guessed to be Temple Bar, and a crowded +thoroughfare, where the people looked like ants, toiling towards the +great dome that rose in the misty distance. Was this the way she was to +see London? + +Coming down with a lagging step, she met Madge's face peering up. +"Humph! there you be, my fine miss! No gaping after sweethearts from the +window, or it will be the worse for you." + +The terrier growled, as having already adopted his young lady's defence, +and Aurelia, dreading a perilous explosion of his zeal in her cause, +hurried him into her parlour. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. THE SECOND TASK. + + + Hope no more, + Since thou art furnished with hidden lore, + To 'scape thy due reward if any day + Without some task accomplished passed away. + MOORE. + + +The little dog's presence was a comfort, but his night of combat and +scuffling was not a restful one and the poor prisoner's sickness of +heart and nervous terrors grew upon her every hour, with misgivings +lest she should be clinging to a shadow, and sacrificing her return to +Betty's arms for a phantom. There were moments when her anguish of +vague terror and utter loneliness impelled her to long to sign her +renunciation that moment; and when she thought of recurring hours and +weeks of such days and such nights her spirit quailed within her, and +Loveday might have found her less calmly steadfast had she come in the +morning. + +She did not come, and this in itself was a disappointment, for at least +she brought a human voice and a pitying countenance which, temptress +though she might be, had helped to bear Aurelia through the first days. +Oh! could she but find anything to do! She had dusted her two rooms as +well as she could consistently with care for the dress she could not +change. She blamed herself extremely for having forgotten her Bible and +Prayer-book when hastily making up her bundle of necessaries, and though +there was little chance that Madge should possess either, or be able to +read, she nerved herself to ask. "Bible! what should ye want of a Bible, +unless to play the hypocrite? I hain't got none!" was the reply. + +So Aurelia could only walk up and down the court trying to repeat the +Psalms, and afterwards the poetry she had learnt for Mr. Belamour's +benefit, sometimes deriving comfort from the promises, but oftener +wondering whether he had indeed deserted her in anger at her distrustful +curiosity. She tried to scrape the mossgrown Triton, she crept up stairs +to the window that looked towards the City, and cleared off some of the +dimness, and she got a needle and thread and tried to darn the holes +in the curtains and cushions, but the rotten stuff crumbled under her +fingers, and would not hold the stitches. At last she found in a dusty +corner a boardless book with neither beginning nor end, being Defoe's +_Plague of London_. She read and read with a horrid fascination, +believing every word of it, wondering whether this house could have been +infected, and at length feeling for the plague spot! + +A great church-clock enabled her to count the hours! Oh, how many there +were of them! How many more would there be? This was only her +second day, and deliverance could not come for weeks, were her young +husband--if husband he were--ever so faithful. How should she find +patience in this dreariness, interspersed with fits of alarm lest he +should be dangerously ill and suffering? She fell on her knees and +prayed for him and for herself! + +Here it was getting dark again, and Madge would hunt her in presently +and shut the shutters. Hark! what was that? A bell echoing over the +house! Madge came after her. "Where are you, my fine mistress! Go you +into the parlour, I say," and she turned the key upon the prisoner, +whose heart beat like a bird fluttering in a cage. Suddenly her door was +opened, and in darted Fidelia and Lettice, who flung themselves upon her +with ecstatic shrieks of "Cousin Aura, dear cousin Aura!" Loveday was +behind, directing the bringing in of trunks from a hackney coach. All +she said was, "My Lady's daughters are to be with you for the night, +madam; I must not say more, for her ladyship is waiting for me." + +She was gone, while the three were still in the glad tangle of an +embrace beginning again and again, with all sorts of little exclamations +from the children, into which Aurelia broke with the inquiry for their +brother. "He is much better," said Fay. "He is to get up to-morrow, and +then he will come and find you." + +"Have you seen him?" + +"Oh, yes, and he says it is Sister Aura, and not Cousin Aura--" + +"My dear, dear little sisters--" and she hugged them again. + +"I was sitting upon his bed," said Letty, "and we were all talking about +you when my Lady mamma came. Are mothers kinder than Lady mammas?" + +"Was she angry?" asked Aurelia. + +"Oh! she frightened me," said Fay. "She said we were pert, forward +misses, and we must hold our tongues, for we should be whipped if we +ever said you name, Cousin--Sister Aura, again; and she would not let us +go to wish Brother Amyas good-bye this morning." + +Aurelia's heart could not but leap with joy that her tyrant should have +failed in carrying to Bowstead the renunciation of the marriage. Whether +Lady Belamour meant it or not, she had made resistance much easier by +the company of Faith and Hope, if only for a single night. She gathered +from their prattle that their mother, having found that their talk with +their brother was all of the one object of his thoughts, had carried +them off summarily, and had been since driving about London in search +of a school at which to leave them; but they were too young for Queen's +Square, and there was no room at another house at which Lady Belamour +had applied. She would not take them home, being, of course, afraid of +their tongues, and in her perplexity had been reduced to letting them +share Aurelia's captivity at least for the night. + +What joy it was! They said it was an ugly dark house, but Aurelia's +presence was perfect content to them, and theirs was to her comparative +felicity, assuring her as they did, through their childish talk, of Sir +Amyas's unbroken love and of Mr. Belamour's endeavours to find her. What +mattered it that Madge was more offended than ever, and refused to make +the slightest exertion for "the Wayland brats at that time of night" +without warning. They had enough for supper, and if Aurelia had not, +their company was worth much more to her than a full meal. The terrier's +rushes after rats were only diversion now, and when all three nestled +together in the big bed, the fun was more delightful than ever. Between +those soft caressing creatures Aurelia heard no rats, and could well +bear some kicks at night, and being drummed awake at some strange hour +in the morning. + +Mrs. Loveday arrive soon after the little party had gone down stairs. +She said the children were to remain until her ladyship had decided +where to send them; and she confirmed their report that his Honour +was recovering quickly. As soon as he was sufficiently well to leave +Bowstead he was to be brought to London, and married to Lady Arabella +before going abroad to make the grand tour; and as a true well-wisher, +Mrs. Loveday begged Miss Delavie not to hold out when it was of no use, +for her Ladyship declared that her contumacy would be the worse for +her. Aurelia's garrison was, however, too well reinforced for any vague +alarms to shake even her out works, and she only smiled her refusal, as +in truth Mrs. Loveday must have expected, for it appeared that she had +secured a maid to attend on the prisoners; an extremely deaf woman, who +only spoke in the broken imperfect mode of those who have never heard +their own voice, deficiencies that made it possible that Madge would +keep the peace with her. + +Lady Belamour had also found another piece of work for Aurelia. A dark +cupboard was opened, revealing shelves piled with bundle of old letters +and papers. There was a family tradition that one of the ladies of the +Delavie family had been an attendant of Mary of Scotland for a short +time, and had received from her a recipe for preserving the complexion +and texture of the skin, devised by the French Court perfumer. Nobody +had ever seen this precious prescription; but it was presumed to be +in the archives of the family, and her ladyship sent word that if Miss +Delavie wished to deserve her favour she would put her French to some +account and discover it. + +A severe undertaking it was. Piles of yellow letters, files of dusty +accounts, multitudes of receipts, more than one old will had to be +conned it was possible to be certain they were not the nostrum. In the +utter solitude, even this occupation would have been valuable, but with +the little girls about her, and her own and their property, she had +alternative employments enough to make it an effort to apply herself to +this. + +Why should she? she asked herself more than once; but then came the +recollection that if she showed herself willing to obey and gratify my +Lady, it might gain her good will, and if Sir Amyas should indeed hold +out till Mr. Wayland came home--Her heart beat wildly at the vision of +hope. + +She worked principally at the letters, after the children had gone to +bed, taking a packet up stairs with her, and sitting in the bedroom, +deciphering them as best she might by the light of the candles that +Loveday had brought her. + +Every morning Loveday appeared with supplies, and messages from her +Ladyship, that it was time Miss submitted; but she was not at all +substantially unkind, and showed increasing interest in her captive, +though always impressing on her that her obstinacy was all in vain. My +Lady was angered enough at his Honour having got up from his sick bed +and gone off to Carminster, and if Miss did not wish to bring her father +into trouble she must yield. No, this gladdened rather than startled +Aurelia, though her heart sank within her when she was warned that Mr. +Wayland had been taken by the corsairs, so that my Lady would have +the ball at her own foot now. The term of waiting seemed indefinitely +prolonged. + +The confinement to the dingy house and courtyard was trying to all +three, who had been used to run about in the green park and breezy +fields; but Aurelia did her best to keep her little companions happy +and busy, and the sense of the insecurity of her tenure of their company +aided her the more to meet with good temper and sweetness the various +rubs incidental to their captivity in this close warm house in the +hottest of summer weather. The pang she had felt at her own fretfulness, +when she thought she had lost them, made her guard the more against +giving way to impatience if they were troublesome or hard to please. +Indeed, she was much more gentle and equable now, in the strength of +her resolution, than she had been when uplifted by her position, yet +doubtful of its mysteries. + +Sundays were the most trying time. The lack of occupation in the small +space was wearisome, and Aurelia's heart often echoed the old strains of +Tate and Brady, + + I sigh whene'er my musing thoughts + Those happy days present, + When I with troops of pious friends + Thy temple did frequent. + +She and her charges climbed up to the window above, which happily had +a broken pane, tried to identify the chimes of the church bells by the +notable nursery rhyme, + + Oranges and lemons, + Say the bells of St. Clements, &c., + +watched the church-goers as far as they could see them, and then came +down to such reading of the service and other Sunday occupations +as Aurelia could devise. On the Sunday of her durance it was such +a broiling day that, unable to bear the heat of her parlour, she +established herself and her charges in a nook of the court, close under +the window, but shaded by the wall, which was covered with an immense +bush of overhanging ivy, and by the elm tree in the court. Here she made +Fay and Letty say their catechism, and the Psalm she had been teaching +them in the week, and then rewarded them with a Bible story, that of +Daniel in the den of lions. Once or twice the terrier (whose name she +had learnt was Bob) had pricked his ears, and the children had thought +there was a noise, but the sparrows in the ivy might be accountable for +a great deal, and the little ones were to much wrapped in her tale to be +attentive to anything else. + +"Then it came true!" said Letty. "His God Whom he trusted did deliver +him out of the den of lions?" + +"God always does deliver people when they trust Him," said Fay, with +gleaming eyes. + +"Yes, one way or the other," said Aurelia. + +"How do you think He will deliver us?" asked Letty; "for I am sure this +is a den, though there are no lions." + +"I do not know how," said Aurelia, "but I know He will bear us through +it as long as we trust Him and do nothing wrong," and she looked up at +the bright sky with hope and strength in her face. + +"Hark! what's that?" cried Letty, and Bob leapt up and barked as a great +sob became plainly audible, and within the room appeared Mrs. Loveday, +her face all over tears, which she was fast wiping away as she rose up +from crouching with her head against the window-sill. + +"I beg your pardon, ma'am," said she, her voice still broken when she +rejoined them, "but I would not interrupt you, so I waited within; and +oh, it was so like my poor old mother at home, it quite overcame me! I +did not think there was anything so near the angels left on earth." + +"Nay, Loveday," said Fay, apprehending the words in a different sense, +"the angels are just as near us as ever they were to Daniel, only we +cannot see them. Are they not, Cousin Aura?" + +"Indeed they are, and we may be as sure that they will shut the lions' +mouths," said Aurelia. + +"Ah! may they," sighed Loveday, who had by this time mastered her +agitation, and remembered that she must discharge herself of her +messages, and return hastily to my Lady's toilette. + +"I have found the recipe," said Aurelia. "Here it is." And she put into +Loveday's hand a yellow letter, bearing the title in scribbled writing, +"_Poure Embellire et blanchire la Pel, de part de Maistre Raoul, +Parfumeur de la Royne Catherine_." + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. LIONS. + + + The helmet of darkness Pallas donned, + To hide her presence from the sight of man. + _Derby's_ HOMER. + + +The next morning Loveday returned with orders from Lady Belamour that +Miss Delavie should translate the French recipe, and make a fair copy +of it. It was not an easy task, for the MS. was difficult and the French +old; whereas Aurelia lived on the modern side of the _Acadamie_, her +French was that of Fenelon and Racine. + +However, she went to work as best she could in her cool corner, guessing +at many of the words by lights derived from _Comenius_, and had just +made out that the chief ingredients were pounded pearls and rubies, +mixed with white of eggs laid by pullets under a year old, during the +waxing of the April moon, when she heard voices chattering in the hall, +and a girlish figure appeared in a light cloak and calash, whom Loveday +seemed to be guiding, and yet keeping as much repressed as she could. + +"Gracious Heavens!" were the first words to be distinguished; "what a +frightful old place; enough to make one die of the dismals! I won't +live here when I'm married, I promise Sir Amyas! Bless me, is this the +wench?" + +"Your Ladyship promised to be careful," entreated Loveday, while Aurelia +rose, with a graceful gesture of acknowledgment, which, however remained +unnoticed, the lady apparently considering herself unseen. + +"Who are these little girls?" asked she, in a giggling whisper. "Little +Waylands? Then it is true," she cried, with a peal of shrill laughter. +"There are three of them, only Lady Belamour shuts them up like +kittens--I wonder she did not. Oh, what sport! Won't I tease her now +that I know her secret!" + +"Your ladyship!" intreated Loveday in distress in an audible aside, "you +will undo me." Then coming forward, she said, "You did not expect me +at this hour, madam; but if your French copy be finished, my Lady would +like to have it at once." + +"I have written it out once as well as I could," said Aurelia, "but I +have not translated it; I will find the copy." + +She rose and found the stranger full before her in the doorway, gazing +at her with an enormous pair of sloe-black eyes, under heavy inky brows, +set in a hard, red-complexioned face. She burst into a loud, hoydenish +laugh as Loveday tried to stammer something about a friend of her own. + +"Never mind, the murder's out, good Mrs. Abigail," she cried, "it is +me. I was determined to see the wench that has made such a fool of young +Belamour. I vow I can't guess what he means by it. Why, you are a poor +pale tallow-candle, without a bit of colour in your face. Look at me! +Shall you ever have such a complexion as mine, with ever so much rouge?" + +"I think not," said Aurelia, with one look at the peony face. + +"Do you know who I am, miss? I am the Lady Bella Mar. The Countess +of Aresfield is my mamma. I shall have Battlefield when she dies, and +twenty thousand pounds on my wedding day. The Earl of Aresfield and +Colonel Mar are my brothers, and a wretched little country girl like +you is not to come between me and what my mamma has fixed for me; so you +must give it up at once, for you see he belongs to me." + +"Not yet, madam," said Aurelia. + +"What do you say? Do you pretend that your masquerade was worth a +button?" + +"That is not my part to decide," said Aurelia. "I am bound by it, and +have no power to break it." + +"You mean the lawyers! Bless you, they will never give it to you against +me! You'd best give it up at once, and if you want a husband, my mamma +has one ready for you." + +"I thank her ladyship," said Aurelia, with simple dignity, "but I will +not give her the trouble." + +She glanced at her wedding ring, and so did Lady Belle, who screamed, +"You've the impudence to wear that! Give it to me." + +"I cannot," repeated Aurelia. + +"You cannot, you insolent, vulgar, low"-- + +"Hush! hush, my lady," entreated Loveday. "Come away, I beg of your +ladyship!" + +"Not till I have made that impudent hussy give me that ring," cried +Belle, stamping violently. "What's that you say?" + +"That your ladyship asks what is impossible," said Aurelia, firmly. + +"Take that then, insolent minx!" cried the girl, flying forward and +violently slapping Aurelia's soft cheeks, and making a snatch at her +hair. + +Loveday screamed, Letty cried, but Fidelia and Bob both rushed forward +to Aurelia's defence, one with her little fists clenched, beating Lady +Belle back, the other tearing at her skirts with his teeth. At that +moment a man's step was heard, and a tall, powerful officer was among +them, uttering a fierce imprecation. "You little vixen, at your tricks +again," he said, taking Belle by the waist, while she kicked and +screamed in vain. She was like an angry cat in his arms. "Be quiet, +Belle," he said, backing into the sitting-room. "Let Loveday compose +your dress. Recover your senses and I shall take you home: I wish it was +to the whipping you deserve." + +He thrust her in, waved aside Loveday's excuses about her ladyship +not being denied, and stood with his back to the door as she bounced +shrieking against it from within. + +"I fear this little devil has hurt you, madam," he said. + +"Not at all, I thank you, sire." said Aurelia, though one side of her +face still tingled. + +"She made at you like a little game-cock," he said. "I am glad I was in +time. I followed when I found she had slipped away from Lady Belamour's, +knowing that her curiosity is only equalled by her spite. By Jove, it is +well that her nails did not touch that angel face!" + +Aurelia could only curtsey and thank him, hoping within herself that +Lady Belle would soon recover, and wondering how he had let himself in. +There was something in his manner of examining her with his eyes that +made her supremely uncomfortable. He uttered fashionable expletives +of admiration under his breath, and she turned aside in displeasure, +bending down to Fidelia. He went on, "You must be devilishly moped in +this dungeon of a place! Cannot we contrive something better?" + +"Thank you, sir, I have no complaint to make. Permit me to see whether +the Lady Arabella is better." + +"I advise you not. Those orbs are too soft and sparkling to be exposed +to her talons. 'Pon my honour, I pity young Belamour. But there is no +help for it, and such charms ought not to be wasted in solitude on his +account. These young lads are as fickle as the weather-cock, and have +half-a-dozen fancies in as many weeks. Come now, make me your friend, +and we will hit on some device for delivering the enchanted princess +from her durance vile." + +"Thank you, sir, I promised Lady Belamour to make no attempt to escape." + +At that moment out burst Lady Belle, shouting with laughter: "Ho! ho! +Have I caught you, brother, gallanting away with Miss? What will my lady +say? Pretty doings!" + +She had no time for more. Her brother fiercely laid hold of her, and +bore her away with a peremptory violence that she could not resist, and +only turning at the hall door to make one magnificent bow. + +Loveday was obliged to follow, and the children were left clinging to +Aurelia and declaring that the dreadful young lady was as bad as the +lions; while Aurelia, glowing with shame and resentment at what she felt +as insults, had a misgiving that her protector had been the worse lion +of the two. + +She had no explanation of the invasion till the next morning, when +Loveday appeared full of excuses and apologies. From the fact of +Lady Aresfield's carriage having been used on Aurelia's arrival, her +imprisonment was known, and Lady Belle, spending a holiday at Lady +Belamour's, had besieged Loveday with entreaties to take her to see her +rival. As the waiting-woman said, for fear of the young lady's violent +temper, but more probably in consideration of her bribes, she had +yielded, hoping that Lady Belle would be satisfied with a view from the +window, herself unseen. However, from that moment all had been taken out +of the hands of Loveday, and she verily believed the Colonel had made +following his sister an excuse for catching a sight of Miss Delavie, for +he had been monstrously smitten even with the glimpse he had had of her +in the carriage. And now, as his sister had cut short what he had +to say, he had written her a billet. And Loveday held out a perfumed +letter. + +Aurelia's eyes flashed, and she drew herself up: "You forget, Loveday, I +promised to receive no letters!" + +"Bless me, ma'am, they, that are treated as my lady treats you, are not +bound to be so particular as that." + +"O fie, Loveday," said Aurelia earnestly, "you have been so kind, that I +thought you would be faithful. This is not being faithful to your lady, +nor to me." + +"It is only from my wish to serve you, ma'am," said Loveday in her +fawning voice. "How can I bear to see a beautiful young lady like you, +that ought to be the star of all the court, mewed up here for the sake +of a young giddy pate like his Honour, when there's one of the first +gentlemen in the land ready to be at your feet?" + +"For shame! for shame!" exclaimed Aurelia, crimson already. "You know I +am married." + +"And you will not take the letter, nor see what the poor gentleman +means? May be he wants to reconcile you with my lady, and he has power +with her." + +Aurelia took the letter, and, strong paper though it was, tore it across +and across till it was all in fragments, no bigger than daisy flowers. +"There," she said, "you may tell him what I have done to his letter." + +Loveday stared for a minute, then exclaimed, "You are in the right, my +dear lady. Oh, I am a wretch--a wretch--" and she went away sobbing. + +Aurelia hoped the matter was ended. It had given her a terrible feeling +of insecurity, but she found to her relief that Madge was really more +trustworthy than Loveday. She overheard from the court a conversation at +the back door in which Madge was strenuously refusing admission to some +one who was both threatening and bribing her, all in vain; but she +was only beginning to breathe freely when Loveday brought, not another +letter, but what was less easy to stop, a personal message from "that +poor gentleman." + +"Loveday, after what you said yesterday, how can you be so--wicked?" +said Aurelia. + +"Indeed, miss, 'tis only as your true well-wisher." + +Aurelia turned away to leave the room. + +"Yes, it is, ma'am! On my bended knees I will swear it," cried Loveday, +throwing herself on them and catching her dress. "It is because I know +my lady has worse in store for you!" + +"Nothing can be worse than wrong-doing," said Aurelia. + +"Ah! you don't know. Now, listen, one moment. I would not--indeed I +would not--if I did not know that he meant true and honourable--as he +does, indeed he does. He is madder after you then ever he was for my +lady, for he says you have all her beauty, and freshness and simplicity +besides. He is raving. And you should never leave me, indeed you should +not, miss, if you slipped out after me in Deb's muffler--and we'd go +to the Fleet. I have got a cousin there, poor fellow--he is always in +trouble, but he is a real true parson notwithstanding, and I'd never +leave your side till the knot was tied fast. Then you would laugh at my +lady, and be one of the first ladies in the land, for my Lord Aresfield +is half a fool, and can't live long, and when you are a countess you +will remember your poor Loveday." + +"Let me go. You have said too much to a married woman," said Aurelia, +and as the maid began the old demonstrations of the invalidity of the +marriage, and the folly of adhering to it when nobody knew where his +honour was gone, she said resolutely, "I shall write to Lady Belamour to +send me a more trustworthy messenger." + +On this Loveday fairly fell on the floor, grovelling in her wild +entreaty that my Lady might hear nothing of this, declaring that it was +not so much for the sake of the consequences to herself as to the young +lady, for there was no guessing what my lady might not be capable of +if she guessed at Colonel Mar's admiration of her prisoner. Aurelia, +frightened at her violence, finally promised not to appeal to her +ladyship as long as Loveday abstained from transmitting his messages, +but on the least attempt on her part to refer to him, a complaint should +certainly be made to my lady. + +"Very well, madam," said Loveday, wiping her eyes. "I only hope it will +not be the worse for you in the end, and that you will not wish you had +listened to poor Loveday's advice." + +"I can never wish to have done what I know to be a great sin," said +Aurelia gravely. + +"Ah! you little know!" said Loveday, shaking her head sadly and +ominously. + +Something brought to Aurelia's lips what she had been teaching the +children last Sunday, and she answered, + +"My God, in Whom I have trusted, is able to deliver me out of the mouth +of lions, and He will deliver me out of thy hand." + +"Oh! if ever there were one whom He should deliver!" broke out Loveday, +and again she went away weeping bitterly. + +Aurelia could not guess what the danger the woman threatened could +be; so many had been mentioned as possible. A forcible marriage, +incarceration in some lonely country place, a vague threat of being +taken beyond seas to the plantation--all these had been mentioned; but +she was far more afraid of Colonel Mar forcing his way in and +carrying her off, and this kept her constantly in a state of nervous +watchfulness, always listening by day and hardly able to sleep by night. + +Once she had a terrible alarm, on a Sunday. Letty came rushing to her, +declaring that Jumbo, dear Jumbo, and a gentleman were in the front +court. Was it really Jumbo? Come and see! No, she durst not, and Fay +almost instantly declared that Madge had shut them out. The children +both insisted that Jumbo it was, but Aurelia would not believe that it +could be anything but an attempt of her enemies. She interrogated +Madge, who had grown into a certain liking for one so submissive and +inoffensive. Madge shook her head, could not guess how such folks had +got into the court, was sure they were after no good, and declared that +my Lady should hear of all the strange doings, and the letters that had +been left with her. Oh, no, she knew better than to give them, but my +Lady should see them. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. THE COSMETIC. + + + But one more task I charge thee with to-day, + For unto Proserpine then take thy way, + And give this golden casket to her hands. + MORRIS. + + +Late on that Sunday afternoon, a muffled and masked figure came through +the house into the court behind, and after the first shock Aurelia +was relieved to see that it was too tall, and moved too gracefully, to +belong to Loveday. + +"Why, child, what a colour you have!" said Lady Belamour, taking off +her mask. "You need no aids to nature at your happy age. That is right, +children," as they curtsied and kissed her hand. "Go into the house, I +wish to speak with your cousin." + +Lady Belamour's unfailing self-command gave her such dignity that she +seemed truly a grand and majestic dame dispensing justice, and the +gentle, shrinking Aurelia like a culprit on trial before her. + +"You have been here a month, Aurelia Delavie. Have you come to your +senses, and are you ready to sign this paper?" + +"No, madam, I cannot." + +"Silly fly; you are as bent as ever on remaining in the web in which a +madman and a foolish boy have involved you?" + +"I cannot help it, madam." + +"Oh! I thought," and her voice became harshly clear, though so low, +"that you might have other schemes, and be spreading your toils at +higher game." + +"Certainly not, madam." + +"Your colour shows that you understand, in spite of all your pretences." + +"I have never used any pretences, my lady," said Aurelia, looking up in +her face with clear innocent eyes. + +"You have had no visitors? None!" + +"None, madam, except once when the Lady Arabella Mar forced her way in, +out of curiosity, I believe, and her brother followed to take her away." + +"Her brother? You saw him?" Each word came out edged like a knife from +between her nearly closed lips. + +"Yes, madam." + +"How often?" + +"That once." + +"That has not hindered a traffic in letters." + +"Not on my side, madam. I tore to fragments unread the only one that I +received. He had no right to send it!" + +"Certainly not. You judge discreetly, Miss Delavie. In fact you are too +transcendent a paragon to be retained here." Then, biting her lip, as if +the bitter phrase had escaped unawares, she smiled blandly and said, "My +good girl, you have merited to be returned to your friends. You may pack +your mails and those of the children!" + +Aurelia shuddered with gladness, but Lady Belamour checked her thanks by +continuing, "One service you must first do for me. My perfumer is at a +loss to understand your translation of the recipe for Queen Mary's wash. +I wish you to read and explain it to her." + +"Certainly, madam." + +"She lives near Greenwich Park," continued Lady Belamour, "and as I +would not have the secret get abroad, I shall send a wherry to take +you to the place early to-morrow morning. Can you be ready by eight +o'clock?" + +Aurelia readily promised, her heart bounding at the notion of a voyage +down the river after her long imprisonment and at the promise of +liberty! She thought her husband must still be true to her, since my +lady would have been the first to inform her of his defection, and as +long as she had her ring and her certificate, she could feel little +doubt that her father would be able to establish her claims. And oh! to +be with him and Betty once more! + +She was ready in good time, and had spent her leisure in packing. When +Loveday appeared, she was greeted with a petition that the two little +girls might accompany her; but this was refused at once, and the +waiting-maid added in her caressing, consoling tone that Mrs. Dove was +coming with their little brother and sister to take them a drive into +the country. They skipped about with glee, following Aurelia to the door +of the court, and promising her posies of honeysuckles and roses, and +she left her dear love with them for Amoret and Nurse Dove. + +At the door was a sedan chair, in which Aurelia was carried to some +broad stone stairs, beside which lay a smartly-painted, trim-looking +boat with four stout oarsmen. She was handed into the stern, Loveday +sitting opposite to her. The woman was unusually silent, and could +hardly be roused to reply to Aurelia's eager questions as she passed the +gardens of Lincoln's Inn, saw St. Paul's rise above her, shot beneath +the arch of London Bridge, and beheld the massive walls of the Tower +with its low-browed arches opening above their steps. Whenever a scarlet +uniform came in view, how the girl's eyes strained after it, thinking +of one impossible, improbable chance of a recognition! Once or twice +she thought of a far more terrible chance, and wondered whether Lady +Belamour knew how little confidence could be placed in Loveday; but she +was sure that their expedition was my lady's own device, and the fresh +air and motion, with all the new scenes, were so delightful to her that +she could not dwell on any alarms. + +On, on, Redriffe, as the watermen named Rotherhithe, was on one bank, +the marshes of the Isle of Dogs were gay with white cotton-grass and +red rattle on the other. Then came the wharves and building yards of +Deptford, and beyond them rose the trees of Greenwich Park, while +the river below exhibited a forest of masts. The boat stopped at a +landing-place to a little garden, with a sanded path, between herbs +and flowers. "This is Mistress Darke's," said Loveday, and as a little +dwarfish lad came to the gate, she said, "We would speak with your +mistress." + +"On your own part?' + +"From the great lady in Hanover Square." + +The lad came down to assist in their landing, and took them up the +path to a little cupboard of a room, scented with a compound of every +imaginable perfume. Bottles of every sort of essence, pomade, and +cosmetic were ranged on shelves, or within glass doors, interspersed +with masks, boxes for patches, bunches of false hair, powder puffs, +curling-irons, and rare feathers. An alembic [a device used in +distillation--D.L.] was in the fireplace, and pen and ink, in a +strangely-shaped standish, were on the table. Altogether there was +something uncanny about the look and air of the room which made Aurelia +tremble, especially as she perceived that Loveday was both frightened +and distressed. + +The mistress of the establishment speedily appeared. She had been a +splendid Jewish beauty, and still in middle age, had great owl-like +eyes, and a complexion that did her credit to her arts; but there was +something indescribably repulsive in her fawning, deferential curtsey, +as she said, in a flattering tone, with a slightly foreign accent, "The +pretty lady is come, as our noble dame promised, to explain to the +poor Cora Darke the great queen's secret! Ah! how good it is to have +learning. What would not my clients give for such a skin as hers! And +I have many more, and greater than you would think, come to poor Cora's +cottage. There was a countess here but yesterday to ask how to blanch +the complexion of miladi her daughter, who is about to wed a young +baronet, beautiful as Love. Bah! I might as well try to whiten a clove +gillyflower! Yet what has not nature done for this lovely miss?" + +"Shall I read you the paper?" said Aurelia, longing to end this part of +the affair. + +"Be seated, fair and gracious lady." + +Aurelia tried to wave aside a chair, but Mrs. Darke, on the plea of +looking over the words as she read, got her down upon a low couch, +putting her own stout person and hooked face in unpleasant proximity, +while she asked questions, and Aurelia mentioned her own conjectures on +the obsolete French of the recipe, while she perceived, to her alarm, +that the woman understood the technical terms much better than she did, +and that her ignorance could have been only an excuse. + +At last it was finished, and she rose, saying it was time to return to +the boat. + +"Nay, madam, that cannot be yet," said Loveday; "the watermen are gone +to rest and dine, and we must wait for the tide to shoot the bridge." + +"Then pray let us go out and walk in Greenwich Park," exclaimed Aurelia, +longing to escape from this den. + +"The sweet young lady will take something in the meantime?" said Mrs. +Darke. + +"I thank you, I have breakfasted," said Aurelia. + +"My Lady intended us to eat here," said Loveday in an undertone to her +young lady, as their hostess bustled out. "She will make it good to Mrs. +Darke." + +"I had rather go to the inn--I have money--or sit in the park," +she added as Loveday looked as if going to the inn were an improper +proposal. "Could we not buy a loaf and eat in the park? I should like it +so much better." + +"One cup of coffee," said Mrs. Darke, entering; "the excellent Mocha +that I get from the Turkey captains." + +She set down on a small table a wonderful cup of Eastern porcelain, and +some little sugared cakes, and Aurelia, not to be utterly ungracious, +tasted one, and began on the coffee, which was so hot that it had to be +taken slowly. As she sipped a soothing drowsiness came over her, which +at first was accounted for by the warm room after her row on the river; +but it gained upon her, and instead of setting out for her walk she fell +sound asleep in the corner of the couch. + +"It has worked. It is well," said Mrs. Darke, lifting the girl's feet on +the couch, and producing a large pair of scissors. + +Loveday could not repress a little shriek. + +"Hush!" as the woman untied the black silk hood, drew it gently off, and +then undid the ribbon that confined the victim's abundant tresses. "Bah! +it will be grown by the time she arrives, and if not so long as present, +what will they know of it? It will be the more agreeable surprise! Here, +put yonder cloth under her head while I hold it up." + +"I cannot," sobbed Loveday. "This is too much. I never would have +entered my Lady's service if I had known I was to be set to such as +this." + +"Come, come, Grace Loveday, I know too much of you for you to come the +Presician over me." + +"Such a sweet innocent! So tender-hearted and civil too." + +"Bless you, woman, you don't know what's good for her! She will be a +very queen over the black slaves on the Indies. Captain Karen will tell +you how the wenches thank him for having brought 'em out. They could +never do any good here, you know, poor lasses; but out there, where +white women are scarce, they are ready to worship the very ground they +tread upon." + +"I tell you she ain't one of that sort. She is a young lady of birth, +a cousin of my Lady's own, as innocent as a babe, and there are two +gentlemen, if not three, a dying for her." + +"I lay you anything not one of 'em is worth old Mr. Van Draagen, who +turns his thousands every month. 'Send me out a lady lass,' says he, +'one that will do me credit with the governor's lady.' Why she will have +an estate as big as from here to Dover, and slaves to wait on her, so +as she need never stoop to pick up her glove. He has been married +twice before, and his last used to send orders for the best brocades in +London. He stuck at no expense. The Queen has not finer gowns!" + +"But to think of the poor child's waking up out at sea." + +"Oh! Mrs. Karen will let her know she may think herself well off. I +never let 'em go unless there's a married woman aboard to take charge of +them, and that's why I kept your lady waiting till the _Red Cloud_ was +ready to sail. You may tell her Ladyship she could not have a better +berth, and she'll want for nothing. I know what is due to the real +quality, and I've put aboard all the toilette, and linen, and dresses +as was bespoke for the last Mrs. Van Draagen, and there's a civil spoken +wench aboard, what will wait on her for a consideration." + +"Nay, but mistress," said Loveday, whispering: "I know those that would +give more than you will ever get from my Lady if they found her safe +here." + +"Of course there are, or she would not be here now," said Mrs. Darke, +with a horrid grin; "but that won't do, my lass. A lady that's afraid +of exposure will pay you, if she pawns her last diamond, but a +gentleman--why, he gets sick of his fancy, and snaps his fingers at +them that helped him!" Then, looking keenly at Loveday, "You've not been +playing me false, eh?" + +"O no, no," hastily exclaimed Loveday, cowering at the malignant look. + +"If so be you have, Grace Loveday, two can play at that game," said Mrs. +Darke composedly. "There, I have left her enough to turn back. What +hair it is! Feel the weight of it! There's not another head of the +mouse-colour to match your Lady's in the kingdom," she added, smoothing +out the severed tresses with the satisfaction of a connoisseur. "No +wonder madame could not let this be wasted on the plantations, when you +and I and M. le Griseur know her own hair is getting thinner than she +would wish a certain Colonel to guess. There! the pretty dear, what a +baby she looks! I will tie her on a cowl, lest she should take cold on +the river. See these rings. Did you Lady give no charge about them?" + +"I had forgot!" said the waiting-woman, confused; "she charged me to +bring them back, old family jewels, she said, that must not be carried +off to foreign parts; but I cannot, cannot do it. To rob that pretty +creature in her sleep." + +"Never fear. She'll soon have a store much finer than these! You fool, I +tell you she will not wake these six or eight hours. Afraid? There, +I'll do it! Ho! A ruby? A love-token, I wager; and what's this? A carved +Cupid. I could turn a pretty penny by that, when your lady finds +it convenient, and her luck at play goes against her. Eh! is this a +wedding-ring? Best take that off; Mr. Van Draagen might not understand +it, you see. Here they are. Have you a patch-box handy for them in your +pocket? Why what ails the woman? You may thank your stars there's some +one here with her wits about her! None of your whimpering, I say, her +comes Captain Karen." + +Two seafaring men here came up the garden path, the foremost small and +dapper, with a ready address and astute countenance. "All right, Mother +Darkness, is our consignment ready? Aye, aye! And the freight?" + +"This lady has it," said Mrs. Darke, pointing to Loveday; "I have been +telling her she need have no fears for her young kinswoman in your +hands, Captain." + +He swore a round oath to that effect, and looking at the sleeping +maiden, again swore that she was the choicest piece of goods ever +confided to him, and that he knew better than let such an article arrive +damaged. Mr. Van Draagen ought to come down handsomely for such an extra +fine sample; but in the meantime he accepted the rouleau of guineas +that Loveday handed to him, the proceeds, as she told Mrs. Darke, of my +Lady's winnings last night at loo. + +All was ready. Poor Aurelia was swathed from head to foot in a large +mantle, like the chrysalis whose name she bore, the two sailors took her +up between them, carried her to their boat, and laid her along in the +stern. Then they pushed off and rowed down the river. Loveday looked up +and looked down, then sank on the steps, convulsed with grief, sobbing +bitterly. "She said He could deliver her from the mouth of lions! And +He has not," she murmured under her breath, in utter misery and +hopelessness. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. DOWN THE RIVER. + + The lioness, ye may move her + To give o'er her prey, + But ye'll ne'er stop a lover, + He will find out the way. + + +Elizabeth Delavie and her little brother were standing in the bay window +of their hotel, gazing eagerly along the street in hopes of seeing the +Major return, when Sir Amyas was seen riding hastily up on his charger, +in full accoutrements, with a soldier following. In another moment he +had dashed up stairs, and saying, "Sister, read that!" put into Betty's +hand a slip of paper on which was written in pencil-- + +"If Sir A. B. would not have his true love kidnapped to the plantations, +he had best keep watch on the river gate of Mistress Darke's garden at +Greenwich. No time to lose." + +"Who brought you this?" demanded Betty, as well as she could speak for +horror. + +"My mother's little negro boy, Syphax. He says Mrs. Loveday, her +waiting-woman, gave it to him privately on the stairs, as she was about +to get into a sedan, telling him I would give him a crown if he gave it +me as I came off parade." + +"Noon! Is there time?" + +"Barely, but there shall be time. There is no time to seek your father." + +"No, but I must come with you." + +"The water is the quickest way. There are stairs near. I'll send my +fellow to secure a boat." + +"I will be ready instantly, while you tell your uncle. It might be +better if he came." + +Sir Amyas flew to his uncle's door, but found him gone out, and, in too +great haste to inquire further, came down again to find Betty in cloak +and hood. He gave her his arm, and, Eugene trotting after them, they +hurried to the nearest stairs, remembering in dire confirmation what +Betty had heard from the school-girl. Both had heard reports that young +women were sometimes thus deported to become wives to the planters in +the southern colonies or the West Indies, but that such a destiny should +be intended for their own Aurelia, and by Lady Belamour, was scarcely +credible. Doubts rushed over Betty, but she remembered what the +school-girl had said of the captive being sent beyond seas; and at any +rate, she must risk the expedition being futile when such issues hung +upon it. And if they failed to meet her father, she felt that her +presence might prevail when the undefined rights of so mere a lad as her +companion might be disregarded. + +His soldier servant had secured a boat, and they rapidly descended to +the river; Sir Amyas silent between suspense, dismay and shame for his +mother, and Betty trying to keep Eugene quiet by hurried answers to his +eager questions about all he saw. They had to get out at London Bridge, +and take a fresh boat on the other side, a much larger one, with +two oarsmen, and a grizzled old coxswain, with a pleasant honest +countenance, who presently relieved Betty of all necessity of attending +to, or answering, Eugene's chatter. + +"Do you know where this garden is?" said she, leaning across to Sir +Amyas, who had engaged the boat to go to Greenwich. + +He started as if it were a new and sudden thought, and turning to the +steersman demanded whether he knew Mrs. Darke's garden. + +The old man gave a kind of grunt, and eyed the trio interrogatively, +the young officer with his fresh, innocent, boyish face and brilliant +undisguised uniform, the handsome child, the lady neither young, gay, +nor beautiful, but unmistakeably a decorous gentlewoman. + +"Do you know Mrs. Darke's?" repeated Sir Amyas. + +"Aye, do I? Mayhap I know more about the place than you do." + +There was that about his face that moved Betty and the young man to +look at one another, and the former said, "She has had to do with--evil +doings?" + +"You may say that, ma'am." + +"Then," they cried in one breath, "you will help us!" And in a very +few words Betty explained their fears for her young sister, and asked +whether he thought the warning possible. + +"I've heard tell of such things!" said the old man between his teeth, +"and Mother Darkness is one to do 'em. Help you to bring back the poor +young lass? That we will, if we have to break down the door with our +fists. And who is this young spark? Her brother or her sweetheart?" + +"Her husband!" said Sir Amyas. "Her husband from whom she has been +cruelly spirited away. Aid me to bring her back, my good fellow, and +nothing would be too much to reward you." + +"Aye, aye, captain, Jem Green's not the man to see an English girl +handed over to they slave-driving, outlandish chaps. But I say, I wish +you'd got a cloak or summat to put over that scarlet and gold of yourn. +It's a regular flag to put the old witch on her guard." + +On that summer's day, however, no cloak was at hand. They went down the +river very rapidly, for the tide was running out and at length Jem Green +pointed out the neat little garden. On the step sat a woman, apparently +weeping bitterly. Could it be the object of their search? No, but as +they came nearer, and she was roused so as to catch sight of the scarlet +coat, she beckoned and gesticulated with all her might; and as they +approached Sir Amyas recognised her as his mother's maid. + +"You will be in time yet," she cried breathlessly. "Oh! take me in, or +you won't know the ship!" + +So eager and terrified was she, that but for the old steersman's +peremptory steadiness, her own life and theirs would have been in much +peril, but she was safely seated at last, gasping out, "The _Red Cloud_, +Captain Karen. They've been gone these ten minutes." + +"Aye, aye," gruffly responded Green, and the oars moved rapidly, while +Loveday with another sob cried, "Oh! sir, I thought you would never +come!" + +"You sent the warning?" + +Yes, sir, I knew nothing till the morning, when my Lady called me up. I +lie in her room, you know. She had given orders, and I was to take the +sweet lady and go down the river with her to Mrs. Darke, the perfuming +woman my Lady has dealings with about here hair and complexion. There +I was to stay with her till--till this same sea-captain was to come and +carry her off where she would give no more trouble. Oh, sir, it was too +much--and my Lady knew it, for she had tied my hands so that I had but +a moment to scribble down that scrip, and bid Syphax take it to you. The +dear lady! she said, 'her God could deliver her out of the mouth of the +lion,' and I could not believe it! I thought it too late!" + +"How can we thank you," began Betty; but she was choked by intense +anxiety, and Jem Green broke in with an inquiry where the ship was +bound for. Loveday only had a general impression of the West Indies, and +believed that the poor lady's destined spouse was a tobacconist, and as +the boat was soon among a forest of shipping where it could not proceed +so fast, Green had to inquire of neighbouring mariners where the _Red +Cloud_ was lying. + +"The _Red Cloud_, Karen, weighs anchor for Carolina at flood tide +to-night. Shipper just going aboard," they were told. + +Their speed had been so rapid that they were in time to see the boat +alongside, and preparations being made to draw up some one or something +on board. "Oh! that is she!" cried Loveday in great agitation. "They've +drugged her. No harm done. She don't know it. But it is she!" + +Sir Amyas, with a voice of thunder, called out, "Halt, villain," at the +same moment as Green shouted "Avast there, mate!" And their boat came +dashing up alongside. + +"Yield me up that lady instantly, fellow!" cried Sir Amyas, with his +sword half drawn. + +"And who are you, I should like to know," returned Karen, coolly, +"swaggering at an honest man taking his freight and passengers aboard?" + +"I'll soon show you!" + +"Hush, sir," said Green, who had caught sight of pistols and cutlasses, +"let me speak a moment. Look you here, skipper, this young gentleman +and lady have right on their side. This is her sister, and he is her +husband. They are people of condition, as you see." + +"All's one to me on the broad seas." + +"That may be," said Green, "but you see you can't weigh anchor these +three hours or more; and what's to hinder the young captain here from +swearing against you before a magistrate, and getting your vessel +searched, eh?" + +"I've no objection to hear reason if I'm spoke to reasonable," said +Karen, sulkily; "but I'll not be bullied like a highwayman, when I've my +consignment regularly made out, and the freight down in hand, square." + +"You may keep your accursed passage-money and welcome," cried Sir Amyas, +"so you'll only give me my wife!" + +"Show him the certificate," whispered Betty. + +Sir Amyas had it ready, and he read it loud enough for all on the Thames +to hear. Karen gave a sneering little laugh. "What's that to me? My +passenger here has her berth taken in the name of Ann Davis." + +"Like enough," said Loveday, "but you remember me, captain, and I swear +that this poor young lady is what his Honour Sir Amyas say. He is a +generous young gentleman, and will make it up to you if you are at any +loss in the matter." + +"A hundred times over!" exclaimed Amyas hotly. + +"Hardly that," said Karen. "Van Draagen might have been good for a round +hundred if he'd been pleased with the commission." + +"I'll give you and order--" began Sir Amyas. + +"What have you got about you, sir?" interrupted Karen. "I fancy hard +cash better than your orders." + +The youth pulled out his purse. There was only a guinea or two and some +silver. "One does not go out to parade with much money about one," he +said, with a trembling endeavour for a smile, "but if you would send up +to my quarters in Whitehall Barracks---" + +"Never mind, sir," said Karen, graciously. "I see you are in earnest, +and I'll put up with the loss rather than stand in the light of a couple +of true lovers. Here, Jack, lend a hand, and we'll hoist the young woman +over. She's quiet enough, thanks to Mother Darkness." + +The sudden change in tone might perhaps be owing to the skipper's +attention having been called by a sign from one of his men to a boat +coming up from Woolwich, rowed by men of the Royal navy, who were +certain to take part with an officer; but Sir Amyas and Betty were only +intent on receiving the inanimate form wrapped up in its mantle. What a +meeting it was for Betty, and yet what joy to have her at all! They +laid her with her head in her sister's lap, and Sir Amyas hung over her, +clasping one of the limp gloved hands, while Eugene called "Aura, Aura," +and would have impetuously kissed her awake, but Loveday caught hold of +him. "Do not, do not, for pity's sake, little master," she said; "the +potion will do her no harm if you let her sleep it off, but she may not +know you if you waken her before the time." + +"Wretch, what have you given her?" cried Sir Amyas. + +"It was not me, sir, it was Mrs. Darke, in a cup of coffee. She vowed +it would do no hurt if only she was let to sleep six or eight hours. And +see what a misery it has saved her from!" + +"That is true," said Betty. "Indeed I believe this is a healthy sleep. +See how gently she breathes, how soft and natural her colour is, how +cool and fresh her cheek is. I cannot believe there is serious harm +done." + +"How soon can we reach a physician?" asked Sir Amyas, still anxiously, +of the coxswain. + +"I can't rightly say, sir," replied he; "but never you fear. They +wouldn't do aught to damage such as she." + +Patience must perforce be exercised as, now against the tide and the +stream, the wherry worked its way back. Once there was a little stir; +Sir Amyas instantly hovered over Aurelia, and clasped her hand with a +cry of "My dearest life!" The long dark eyelashes slowly rose, the eyes +looked up for one moment from his face to her sister's, and then to her +brother's, but the lids sank as if weighed down, and with a murmur, +"Oh, don't wake me," she turned her face around on Betty's lap and slept +again. + +"Poor darling, she thinks it a dream," said Betty. "Eugene, do not. Sir, +I entreat! Brother, yes I _will_ call you so if you will only let her +alone! See how happy and peaceful her dear face is! Do not rouse her +into terror and bewilderment." + +"If I only were sure she was safe," he sighed, hanging over, with an +intensity of affection and anxiety that brought a dew even to the old +steersman's eyes; and he kindly engrossed Eugene by telling about the +places they passed, and setting him to watch the smart crew of the boat +from the Royal Arsenal at Woolwich, which was gaining on them. + +Meanwhile the others interrogated Loveday, who told them of the pretext +on which Lady Belamour had sent her captive down to Mrs. Darke's. No one +save herself had, in my Lady's household, she said, an idea of where the +young lady was, Lady Belamour having employed only hired porters except +on that night when Lady Aresfield's carriage brought her. This had led +to the captivity being know to Lady Belle and her brother, and Loveday +had no doubt that it was the discovery of their being aware of it, as +well as Jumbo's appearance in the court, that had made her mistress +finally decide on this frightful mode of ridding herself of the poor +girl. The maid was as adroit a dissembler as her mistress, and she held +her peace as to her own part in forwarding Colonel Mar's suit, whether +her lady guessed it or not, but she owned with floods of tears how the +sight of the young lady's meek and dutiful submission, her quiet trust, +and her sweet, simple teaching of the children, had wakened into life +again a conscience long dead to all good, and made it impossible to her +to carry out this last wicked commission without an attempt to save the +creature whom she had learnt to reverence as a saint. Most likely her +scruples had been suspected by her mistress, for there had been an +endeavour to put it out of her power to give any warning to the victim. +Yet after all, the waiting-maid had been too adroit for the lady, or, +as she fully owned, Aurelia's firm trust had not been baulked, and +deliverance from the lions had come. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. THE RETURN. + + + And now the glorious artist, ere he yet + Had reached the Lemnian Isle, limping, returned; + With aching heart he sought his home. + _Odyssey_--COWPER. + + +How were they to get the slumbering maiden home? That was the next +question. Loveday advised carrying her direct to her old prison, where +she would wake without alarm; but Sir Amyas shuddered at the notion, +and Betty said she _could_ not take her again into a house of Lady +Belamour's. + +The watermen, who were enthusiastic in the cause, which they understood +as that of one young sweetheart rescued by the other, declared that they +would carry the sweet lady between them on the cushions of their boat, +laid on stretchers; and as they knew of a land-place near the _Royal +York_, with no need of crossing any great thoroughfare, Betty thought +this the best chance of taking her sister home without a shock. + +The boat from Woolwich had shot London Bridge immediately after them, +and stopped at the stairs nearest that where they landed; and just as +Sir Amyas, with an exclamation of annoyance at his unserviceable arm, +had resigned Aurelia to be lifted on to her temporary litter, a hand +was laid on his shoulder, a voice said "Amyas, what means this?" and he +found himself face to face with a small, keen-visaged, pale man, with +thick grizzled brows overhanging searching dark grey eyes, shaded by a +great Spanish hat. + +"Sir! oh sir, is it you?" he cried, breathlessly; "now all will be +well!" + +"I am very glad you think so, Amyas," was the grave answer; "for all +this has a strange appearance." + +"It is my dearest wife, sir, my wife, whom I have just recovered +after--Oh, say, sir, if you think all is well with her, and it is only +a harmless sleeping potion. Sister--Betty--this is my good father, Mr. +Wayland. He is as good as a physician. Let him see my sweetest life." + +Mr. Wayland bent over the slumbering figure still in the bottom of +the boat, heard what could be told of the draught by Loveday, whom he +recognized as his wife's attendant, and feeling Aurelia's pulse, said, +"I should not think there was need for fear. To the outward eye she is +a model of sleeping innocence." "Well you may say so," and "She is +indeed," broke from the baronet and the waiting-maid at the same +instant; but Mr. Wayland heeded them little as he impatiently asked, +"Where and how is your mother, Amyas?" + +"In health sir, at home, I suppose," said Sir Amyas; "but oh, sir, hear +me, before you see her." + +"I must, if you walk with me," said Mr. Wayland, turning for a moment +to bid his servant reward and dismiss the boat's crew, and see to the +transport of his luggage; and in the meantime Aurelia was lifted by her +bearers. + +Sir Amyas again uttered a rejoicing, "We feared you were in the hands of +the pirates, sir." + +"So I was; but the governor of Gibraltar obtained my release, and was +good enough to send me home direct in a vessel on the king's service," +said Mr. Wayland, taking the arm his stepson offered to assist his +lameness. "Now for your explanation, Amyas; only let me hear first that +my babes are well." + +"Yes, sir, all well. You had my letter?" + +"Telling of that strange disguised wedding? I had, the very day I was +captured." + +By the time they had come to the place where their ways parted, Mr. +Wayland had heard enough to be so perplexed and distressed that he knew +not that he had been drawn out of the way to Hanover Square, till at +the entrance of the _Royal York_, they found Betty asseverating to the +landlady that she was bringing no case of small pox into the house; +and showing, as a passport of admittance, two little dents on the white +wrist and temple. + +At that instant the sound brought Major Delavie hurrying from his +sitting-room at his best speed. There was a look of horror on his face +as he saw his daughter's senseless condition, but Betty sprang to his +side to prevent his wakening her, and Aurelia was safely carried up +stairs and laid upon her sister's bed, still sleeping, while Betty and +Loveday unloosed her clothes. Her bearers were sent for refreshment +to the bar, and the gentlemen stood looking on one another in the +sitting-room, Mr. Wayland utterly shocked, incredulous of the little he +did understand, and yet unable to go home until he should hear more; +and the Major hardly less horrified, in the midst of his relief. "But +where's Belamour!" he cried, "Your uncle, I mean." + +"Where?" said Sir Amyas. "They said he was gone out." + +"So they told me! And see here!" + +Major Delavie produced Lady Belamour's note. + +"A blind!" cried Sir Amyas, turning away under a strange stroke of pain +and sham. "Oh! mother, mother!" and he dashed out of the room. + +Poor Mr. Wayland sat down as one who could stand no longer. "Of what do +they suspect her?" he said hoarsely. + +"Sir," said the good Major, "I grieve sincerely for and with you. +Opposition to this match with my poor child seems to have transported +my poor cousin to strange and frantic lengths, but you may trust me to +shield and guard her from exposure as far as may be." + +Her husband only answered by a groan, and wrung Major Delavie's hand, +but their words were interrupted by Sir Amyas's return. He had been to +his uncle's chamber, and had found on the table a note addressed to the +Major. Within was a inclosure directed to A. Belamour, Esq. + + "If you have found the way to the poor captive, for pity's sake + come to her rescue. Be in the court with your faithful black + by ten o'clock, and you may yet save on who loves and looks to + you." + +On the outer sheet was written-- + + "I distrust this handwriting, and suspect a ruse. In case I do + not return, send for Hargrave, Sandys, Godfrey, as witnesses to + my sanity, and storm the fair one's fortress in person. A. B." + +"It is not my Aurelia's writing," said the Major. "Bravest of friends, +what has he not dared on her account!" + +"This is too much!" cried Mr. Wayland, striving in horror against +his convictions. "I cannot hear my beloved wife loaded with monstrous +suspicions in her absence!" + +"I am sorry to say this is no new threat ever since poor Belamour has +crossed her path," said the Major. + +"What have you done, sir!" asked Sir Amyas. + +"I fear I have but wasted time," said the Major. "I have been to Hanover +Square, and getting no admittance there, I came back in the hope you +might be on the track with Betty--as, thank God, you were! The first +thing to be done now is to find what she has done with Belamour," he +added, rising up. + +"That must fall to my share," said Mr. Wayland, pale and resolute. "Come +with me, Amyas, your young limbs will easily return before the effect of +the narcotic has passed, and I need fuller explanation." + +Stillness than came on the Delavie party. The Major went up stairs, and +sat by Aurelia's bed gazing with eyes dazzled with tears at the child he +had so longed to see, and whom he found again in this strange trance. +A doctor came, and quite confirmed Mr. Wayland's opinion, that the drug +would not prove deleterious, provided the sleep was not disturbed, and +Betty continued her watch, after hearing what her father knew of Mr. +Belamour. She was greatly struck with the self-devotion that had gone +with open eyes into so dreadful a snare as a madhouse of those days +rather than miss the least chance of saving Aurelia. + +"If we go by perils dared, the uncle is the true knight-errant," said +she to her father. "I wonder which our child truly loves the best!" + +"Betty!" said her father, scandalised. + +"Ay, I know, Sir Amyas is a charming boy, but what a boy he is! And she +has barely spoken with him or seen him, whereas Mr. Belamour has been +kind to her for a whole twelvemonth. I know what I should do if I were +in her place. I would declare that I intended to be married to the +uncle, and would keep it!" + +"He would think it base to put the question." + +"He would; but indeed, dear sir, I think it would be but right and due +to the dear child herself that she should have here free choice, and +not be bound for ever by a deception! Yes, I know the poor boy's despair +would be dreadful, but it would be better for them both than such a +mistake." + +"Hush! I hear him knocking at the door, you cruel woman." + +The bedroom opened into the parlour the party had hired, so that both +could come out and meet Sir Amyas with the door ajar, without relaxing +their watch upon the sleeper. The poor young man looked pale, shocked, +and sorrowful. "Well," said he, after having read in their looks that +there was no change, "he knows the worst." Then on a further token of +interrogation, "It may have been my fault; I took him, unannounced, +through the whole suite of rooms, and in the closet at the end, with all +the doors open, she was having an altercation with Mar. He was insisting +on knowing what she had done with"--(he signed towards the other room) +"she, upbraiding him with faithlessness. They were deaf to an approach, +till Mr. Wayland, in a loud voice, ordered me back, saying 'it was no +scene for a son.'" + +"I trust it will not end in a challenge?" asked the Major, gravely. + +"No, my father's infirmity renders him no fighting man, and I--I may not +challenge my superior officer." + +"But your uncle?" said Betty, much fearing that such a scene might have +led to his being forgotten. + +"I should have told you. We had not made many steps from hence before +we met poor Jumbo wandering like a dog that had lost his master. Mr. +Belamour had taken the precaution of giving Jumbo the pass-key, and +not taking him into that house (some day I will pull every brick of it +down), so he watched till by and by he saw a coach come out with all the +windows closed, and as his master had bidden him in such a case, he +kept along on the pavement near, and never lost sight of it till he had +tracked it right across the City to a house with iron-barred windows +inside a high wall. There it went in, and he could not follow, but he +asked the people what place it was, and though they jeered at him, he +made out that it was as we feared. Nay, do not be alarmed, sister, he +will soon be with us. My poor father shut me out, and I know not what +passed with my mother, but just as I could wait no longer to return to +my dearest, he came out and told me that he had found out that my uncle +was in a house at Moorfields, and he is gone himself to liberate him. +He is himself a justice of the peace, and he will call for Dr. Sandys +by the way, that there may be no difficulty. He is gone in the +coach-and-four, with Jumbo on the box, so that matters will soon be +righted." + +"And a heroic champion set free," said Betty moving to return to her +sister, when the others would not be denied having another look at the +sweet slumberer, on whose face there was now a smile as if her dreams +were marvellously lovely; or, as Betty thought, as if she knew their +voices even in her sleep. + +Sir Amyas had not seen his mother again. He only knew that Mr. Wayland +had come out with a face as of one stricken to the heart, a sad contrast +to that which had greeted him an hour before, and while the carriage was +coming round, had simply said, "I did wrong to leave her." + +It would not bear being talked over, and both son and kinsman took +refuge in silence. Two hours more of this long day had passed, and +then a coach stopped at the door. Sir Amyas hurried down in his eager +anxiety, and came back with his uncle, holding him by the hand like a +child, in his gladness, and Betty came out to meet them in the outer +room with a face of grateful welcome and outstretched hands. + +"Sir! sir! you have done more than all of us." + +"Yet you and your young champion here were the victors," said Mr. +Belamour. + +"Ah, we dared and suffered nothing like you." + +"I hope you did not suffer much," said the major, looking at the calm +face and neatly-tied white hair, which seemed to have suffered no +disarrangement. + +"No," said Mr. Belamour, smiling, "my little friend Eugene, ay, and my +nephew himself, are hoping to hear I was released from fetters and a +heap of straw, but I took care to give them no opportunity. I merely +told them they were under a mistake, and had better take care. I gave +them a reference or two, but I saw plainly that was of no use, though +they promised to send, and then I did exactly as they bade me, so as to +deprive them of all excuse for meddling with me, letting them know that +I could pay for decent treatment so long as I was in their hands." + +"Did you receive it?" + +"I was told in a mild manner, adapted to my intelligence, that if I +behaved well, I might eat at the master's table, and have a room with +only one inmate. Of the former I have not an engaging experience, either +as to the fare, the hostess, or the company. Of the latter, happily +I know little, as I only know that my comrade was to be a harmless +gibbering idiot; of good birth, poor fellow. However, the sounds I +heard, and the court I looked into, convinced me that my privileges were +worth paying for." + +He spoke very quietly, but he shuddered involuntarily, and Betty, unable +to restrain her tears, retreated to her sister's side. + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. WAKING. + + + So Love was still the Lord of all.--SCOTT. + + +The summer sun was sinking and a red glow was on the wall above +Aurelia's head when she moved again, upon the shutting of the door, +while supper was being taken by the gentlemen in the outer room. + +Presently her lips moved, and she said, "Sister," not in surprise, but +as if she thought herself at home, and as Betty gently answered, "Yes, +my darling child," the same voice added, "I have had such a dream; +I thought I was a chrysalis, and that I could not break my shell nor +spread my wings." + +"You can now, my sweet," said Betty, venturing to kiss her. + +Recollection came. "Sister Betty, is it you indeed?" and she threw her +arms round Betty's neck, clinging tight to her in delicious silence, +till she raised her head and said: "No, this is not home. Oh, is it all +true?" + +"True that I have you again, my dear, dearest, sweetest child," said +Betty. "Oh, thank God for it." + +"Thank God," repeated Aurelia. "Now I have you nothing will be dreadful. +But where am I? I thought once I was in a boat with you and Eugene, +and some one else. Was it a dream? I can't remember anything since that +terrible old woman made me drink the coffee. You have not come there, +have you?" + +"No, dear child, it was no dream that you were in a boat. We had been +searching everywhere for you, and we were bringing you back sound, sound +asleep," said Betty, in her tenderness speaking as it to a little child. + +"I knew you would," said Aurelia; "I knew God would save me. Love is +strong as death, you know," she added dreamily: "I think I felt it all +round me in that sleep." + +"That was what you murmured once or twice in your sleep," said Betty. + +"And now, oh! it is so sweet to lie here and know it is you. And wasn't +_he_ there too?" + +"Sir Amyas? Yes, my dear. He came for you. He and my father and the +others are in the other room waiting for you to wake." + +"I hear their voices," cried Aurelia, with a start, sitting up. "Oh! +that's my papa's voice! Oh! how good it is to hear it!" + +"I will call him as soon as I have set you a little in order. Are you +sure you are well, my dearest? No headache?" + +"Quite, quite well! Why, sister, I have not been ill; and if I had, I +should skip to see you and hear their voices, only I wish they would +speak louder! That's Eugene! Oh! they are hushing him. Let me make +haste," and she moved with an alacrity that was most reassuring. "But I +can't understand. Is it morning or evening?" + +"Evening, my dear. They are at supper. Are not you hungry?" + +"Oh, yes, I believe I am;" but as she was about to wash her hands: "My +rings, my wedding-ring? Look in my glove!" + +"No, they are not there my dear, they must have robbed you! And oh! +Aurelia, what have you done to your hair?" + +"My hair? It was all there this morning. Sister, it was that woman, I +remember now, I was not quite sound asleep, but I had no power to move +or cry out, and the woman was snipping and Loveday crying." + +"Vile creature!" burst out Betty. + +"My hair will grow!" said Aurelia; "but I had so guarded my +wedding-ring--and what will he, Sir Amyas, think?" + +Their voices were at this moment heard, and in another second Aurelia +was held against her father's breast, as in broken words he sobbed out +thanks for her restoration, and implored her pardon for having trusted +her out of his care. + +"Oh! sir, do not speak so! Dear papa, I have tried hard to do you no +harm, and to behave well. Please, sir, give me your blessing." + +"God bless you indeed, my child. He has blessed you in guarding you as +your innocence deserved, though I did not. Ah! others are impatient. The +poor old father comes second now." + +After a few minutes spent in repairing the disorder of her dress, and +her hands in those of her father and little brother, she was led to the +outer room where in the twilight there was a rapturous rush, an embrace, +a fondling of the hand in the manner more familiar to her than the +figure from before whom it proceeded. She only said in her gentle +plaintive tone, "Oh, sir, it was not my fault. They took away your +rings." + +"Nay," said a voice, new to her, "here are your rings, Lady Belamour. I +must trust to your Christian charity to pardon her who caused you to be +stripped of them." + +The name of Lady Belamour made her start as that of her enemy, but a +truly familiar tone said, "You need not fear, my kind friend. This +is Mr. Wayland, who, to our great joy, has returned, and has come to +restore your jewels." + +"Indeed I am very glad yours is not lost," said Aurelia, not a little +bewildered. + +Mr. Wayland said a few words of explanation that his wife's agent at +Greenwich had brought them back to her. + +"Pray let me have them," entreated Sir Amyas; "I must put them on +again!" + +"Stay," said Major Delavie; "I can have such things done only under true +colours and in the full light of day. The child is scarcely awake yet, +and does not know one from the other! Why neither of you so much as know +the colour of the eyes of the other! Can you tell me sir?" + +"Heavenly," exclaimed the youth, in an ecstatic tone of self-defence, +which set the Major laughing and saying, "My silly maid knows as little +which gentleman put on the ring." + +"I do, sir," said Aurelia indignantly; "I know his voice and hand quite +well," and in the impulse she quitted her father's arm and put both +hands into those of her young adorer, saying, "Pray sir, pardon me, I +never thought to hurt you so cruelly." + +There was a cry of, "My own, my dearest life," and she was clasped as +she had been immediately after her strange wedding. + +However, the sound of a servant's step made them separate instantly, +and Betty begged that the supper might not be removed, since it was many +hours since her sister had tasted food. + +Sir Amyas and Betty hovered about her, giving her whatever she could +need, in the partial light, while the others stood apart, exchanging +such explanations as they could. Mr. Wayland said he must report himself +to Government on the morrow; but intended afterwards to take his wife +to Bowstead, whither she had sent all her children with Mrs. Dove. There +was a great tenderness in his tone as he spoke of her, and when he took +leave Mr. Belamour shrugged his shoulders saying, "She will come round +him again!" + +"It is true enough that he ought not to have left her to herself," said +the Major. + +"You making excuses for her after the diabolical plot of to-day?" said +Mr. Belamour; "I could forgive her all but that letter to you." + +"My Lady loves her will," quoted the Major; "it amounts to insanity in +some women, I believe." + +"So I might say does men's infatuation towards women like her," muttered +Mr. Belamour. + +By this time Aurelia had finished her meal, and Betty was anxious to +carry her off without any more excitement, for she was still drowsy and +confused. She bade her father good night, asking his blessing as of old, +but when Mr. Belamour kissed her hand and repeated the good night, she +said, "Sir, I ought to have trusted you; I am so sorry." + +"It is all well now, my child," he said, soothingly, understanding +Betty's wish; "Sleep, and we will talk it over." + +So the happy sisters once more slept in each other's arms, till in the +early summer morning Betty heard the whole story from Aurelia, now +fully herself, though she slumbered again after all was poured into her +sister's bosom. + +Betty had sympathised step by step, and felt even more strongly than +Harriet that the situation had been intolerable for womanhood, and that +only Aurelia's childishness could have endured it so long. Only the +eldest sister held that it would have been right and honourable to +have spoken before flashing out the flame; but when, with many tears of +contrition, Aurelia owned that she had long thought so, and longed to +confess it, what could the motherly sister do but kiss the tears away, +and rejoice that the penance was over which had been borne with such +constancy and self-devotion. + +Then Betty rose quietly, and after giving thanks on her knees that the +gentle spirit had passed through all unscathed, untainted with even the +perception of evil, she applied herself to the adaptation of one of her +morning caps to her poor shorn lamb's head. Nor did Aurelia wake again +till her father came to the door to make sure that all was well with his +recovered treasure, and to say that Loveday would recover for her the +box of clothes, which old Madge had hidden. + +Loveday had gone back to her mistress, who either had not discovered her +betrayal, or, as things had turned out, could not resent it. + +So, fresh and blooming, Aurelia came out into the sitting-room, whence +her father held out his arms to her. He would have her all to himself +for a little while, since even Eugene was gone to his daily delight, the +seeing the changing of the guard. + +"And now, my child, tell me," he said, when he had heard a little of her +feelings through these adventures, "what would you have me do? Remember, +such a wedding as yours goes for nothing, and you are still free to +choose either or neither of your swains." + +"Oh, papa!" in a remonstrating tone. + +"You were willing to wed your old hermit?" + +"I was content _then_. He was very kind to me." + +"Content then, eh? Suppose you were told he was your real husband?" + +"Sir, he is not!" cried Aurelia, frightened. + +"If he were?" + +"I would try to do my duty," she said, in a choked voice. + +"Silly child, don't cry. And how, if after these fool's tricks it +turns out that the other young spark is bound to that red-faced little +spitfire and cannot have you?" + +"Papa, don't!" she cried. "You know he is my husband in my heart, and +always will be, and if he cannot come back to me take me home, and I +will try to be a good daughter to you," and she hid her face on his +shoulder. + +"Poor child, it is a shame to tease her," said her father, raising up +her face; "I only wanted to know which of them you would wish to put on +the ring again. I see. You need not be afraid, you shall have the ruby +one. But as for the little gold one, wait for that till it is put on in +church, my dear. Ah! and there's the flutter of his wings, or rather the +rattle of his spurs. Now then, young people, you shall not be hindered +from a full view of each others lineaments. It is the first time you +ever had a real sight of each other, neither of you being in a swoon, is +it not? I trust you do not repent upon further acquaintance. Aurelia got +as far as the shoe-buckles once, I believe." + +"She will get no farther this time, sir, if you annihilate her with your +pleasantry," said Betty, fully convinced by this time. + +"Ah! young Love has made himself more dazzling than ever," continued +the Major, too delighted to be stopped. "The fullest dress uniform, I +declare; M. le Capitaine is bent on doing honour to the occasion." + +"Would that it were on for no other reason, sir," said Sir Amyas; "but +the King and Queen have taken it into their heads to go off to Kew and +here am I under orders to command the escort. I verily believe it is all +spite on the Colonel's part, for Russell would have exchanged the turn +with me, but he sent down special orders for me. I have but half an hour +to spend here, and when I shall be able to get back again Heaven only +knows." + +However, he and Aurelia were permitted to improve that half hour to the +utmost in their own way, while the Major and Betty were reading a long +and characteristic letter from Mrs. Arden, inquiring certainly for +her sister's fate, but showing far more solicitude in proving that she +(Harriet Arden) had acted a wise, prudent, and sisterly part, and that +it was most unreasonable and cruel to treat her as accountable for her +sister's disappearance. It was really making her quite ill, and Mr. +Arden was like a man--so disagreeable about it. + +Betty was very glad this epistle had not come till it was possible to +laugh at it. She would have sat down to reply to it at once, had not a +billet been brought in from the widow of one of her father's old brother +officers who had heard of his being in town, and begged him to bring his +daughter to see her, excusing herself for not waiting on Miss Delavie, +as she was very feeble and infirm. + +It was a request that could not be refused, but Aurelia was not equipped +for such a visit, and shrank timidly from showing herself. So when Mr. +Belamour came down it was agreed that she should remain at home under +his protection, in which she could be very happy, though his person was +as strange to her as his voice was familiar. Indeed she felt as if a +burden was on her mind till she could tell him of her shame at having +failed in the trust and silence that he had enjoined on her. + +"My child," he said, "we have carried it too far. It was more than we +ought to have required of you, and I knew it. I had made up my mind, and +told my nephew that the first time you really asked I should tell the +whole truth, and trust to your discretion, while of course he wished for +nothing more." + +"As my sister said, it was my fault." + +"Nay, I think you had good cause to stand on your defence, and I cannot +have you grieve over it. You have shown an unshaken steadiness under +trial since, such as ought indeed to be compensation." + +"I deserved it all," said Aurelia; "and I do hope that I am a little +wiser and less foolish for it all; a little more of a woman," she added, +blushing. + +"A soul trained by love and suffering, as in the old legend," said Mr. +Belamour thoughtfully. + +Thoroughly pleasant was here _tete-a-tete_ with him, especially when she +artlessly asked him whether her dear sister were not all she had told +him, and he fervently answered that indeed she was "a perfect lesson to +all so-called beauties of what true loveliness of a countenance can be." + +"Oh, I am so glad," cried Aurelia. "I never saw a face--a woman's I +mean--that I like as well as my dear sister's!" + +She was sorry when they were interrupted by a call from Mr. Wayland, who +had reported himself at the Secretary of War, but could do no more that +day, and had come to inquire for her. He and Mr. Belamour drew apart +into a window, and conversed in a low voice, and then they came to her, +and Mr. Wayland desired to know from where she found the recipe for the +cosmetic which had nearly cost her so dearly. + +"It was in a shelf in the wainscoting, in a sort of little study at that +house," said Aurelia. + +"Among other papers?" + +"Quantities of other papers." + +"Of what kind?" + +"Letters, and bills, and wills, and parchments! Oh, so dusty! Some were +on paper tumbling to pieces, and some on tiny slips of parchment." + +"And you read them all?" + +"I had to read them to see what they were, as well as I could make out, +and sorted them and tied them up in bundles." + +"Can you tell me whether they were Delavie wills?" + +"I should think they were. I know that the oldest of all were Latin, +and I could make nothing out in them but something about _Manoriem_ +and Carminster, and what looked like the names of some of the fields at +home." + +"Do you think you could show me those slips?" + +"I do not suppose any one has touched them." + +"Then, my dear young lady, you would confer a great favour on me if you +would allow Mr. Belamour and myself to escort you to Delavie and show us +these papers. I fear it may be alarming and distressing." + +"Oh no, sir, I know no harm can happen to me where Mr. Belamour is," she +said, smiling. + +"It may be very important," he said, and she went to put on her hood. + +"Surely," said Mr. Wayland, "the title-deeds cannot have been left +there?" + +"No. The title-deeds to the main body of the property are at Hargrave's. +I have seen them, at the time of my brother's marriage; but still this +may be what was wanting." + +"Yet the sending this child to search is presumption that no such +document existed." + +"Of course no one supposed it did," said Mr. Wayland, on the defence +again. + +Aurelia was quickly ready in her little hood and kerchief, and trim +high-heeled shoes. She was greatly surprised to find how near she had +been to her friends during these last few days of her captivity, and +when Madge obeyed the summons to the door, the old woman absolutely +smiled to see her safe, and the little terrier danced about her in such +transports that she begged to take him back with her. + +She opened the door of the little empty book room, where nothing stood +except the old bureau. That, she said, had been full of letters, but all +the oldest things had been within a door opening in the wainscot, which +she should never have found had not Bob pushed it open in his search for +rats, and then she found a tin case full of papers and parchments, much +older, she thought, than the letters. She had tied them up together, and +easily produced them. + +Mr. Wayland handed them to Mr. Belamour, whose legal eye was better +accustomed to crabbed old documents. A conversation that had begun +on the way about Fay and Letty was resumed, and interested both their +father and Aurelia so much that they forgot to be impatient, until +Mr. Belamour looked up from his examination, saying, "This is what was +wanting. Here is a grant in the 12th year of Henry III. to Guglielmus ab +Vita and the heirs male of his body to the Manor, lying without the city +of Carminster, and here are three wills of successive lords of Delavie +expressly mentioning heirs male. Now the deeds that I have seen do not +go beyond 1539, when Henry Delavie had a grant of the Grange and lands +belonging to Carminster Abbey--the place, in fact, where the Great House +stands, and there is in that no exclusion of female heirs. But the Manor +house can certainly be proved to be entailed in the male line alone, +according to what was, I believe, the tradition of the family." + +"There is no large amount of property involved, I fear," said Mr. +Wayland. + +"There is an old house, much out of repair, and a few farms worth, may +be, 200 pounds a year, a loss that will not be material to you, sir, I +hope." + +"Do you mean--?" said Aurelia, not daring to ask farther. + +"I mean, my dear young lady," said Mr. Wayland, "that your researches +have brought to light the means of doing tardy justice to your good +father." + +"His right to the Manor House is here established," explained Mr. +Belamour. "It will not be a matter of favour of my Lady's, but, as my +brother supposed, he ought to have been put in possession on the old +Lord's death." + +"And Eugene will be a gentleman of estate," cried Aurelia, joyously. +"Nor will any one be able to drive out my dear father! Oh! how happy I +am." + +Both she and Mr. Belamour spared Mr. Wayland the knowledge of my Lady's +many broken promises, and indeed she was anxious to get back to the +_Royal York_, lest her father and sister should have returned, and think +her again vanished. + +They all met at the door, and much amazed were the Major and Betty to +encounter her with her two squires. Mr. Wayland took the Major to show +him the parchments. Betty had her explanation from her sister and Mr. +Belamour. + +"You actually ventured back to that dreadful house," she said, looking +at them gratefully. + +"You see what protectors I had," said Aurelia, with a happy smile. + +"Yes," said Betty, "I have been longing to say--only I cannot," for she +was almost choked by a great sob, "how very much we owe to you, sir. I +could say it better if I did not feel it so much." And she held out her +hand. + +"You cannot owe to me a tithe of what I owe to your sister," said Mr. +Belamour, "and through her to you, madam. Much as nature had done for +her, never would she have been to the miserable recluse the life and +light-bringing creature she was, save for the 'sister' she taught me to +know and love, even before I saw her." + +A wonderful revelation here burst on Aurelia, the at least half-married +woman, and she fled precipitately, smiling to herself in ecstasy, behind +her great fan. + +Betty, never dreaming of the drift of the words, so utterly out of the +reach of love did she suppose herself, replied, composedly, "Our Aurelia +is a dear good girl, and I am thankful that through all her trials she +has so proved herself. I am glad she has been a comfort to you, sir. +She---" + +"And will not you complete the cure, and render the benefit lasting?" +said Mr. Belamour, who had never let go the hand she had given him in +gratitude, and now gave it a pressure that conveyed, for the first time, +his meaning. + +"Oh!" she cried, trying to take it away, "your kindness and gratitude +are leading you too far, sir. A hideous old fright like me, instead of a +lovely young thing like her! It is an absurdity." + +"Stay, Miss Delavie. Remember that your Aurelia's roses and lilies were +utterly wasted on me; I never thought whether she was beautiful save +when others raved about her. I never saw her till yesterday; but the +voice, the goodness, the amiability, in fact all that I did truly esteem +and prize in her I had already found matured and mellowed together +with that beauty of countenance which is independent of mere skin-deep +complexion and feature. You know my history, and how far I am from +being able to offer you a fresh untouched young heart, such as my nephew +brings to the fair Aurelia; but the devotion of my life will be yours if +you will accept it." + +"Sir, I cannot listen to you. You are very good, but I can never leave +my father. Oh, let me go away!" + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. MAKING THE BEST OF IT. + + + At last the Queen said, "Girl, I bid thee rise, + For now thou hast found favour in mine eyes, + And I repent me of the misery + That in this place thou hast endured me, + Altho' because of it the Joy indeed + Shall now be mine, that pleasure is thy meed." + MORRIS. + + +Those were evil times, and the court examples were most corrupting, +so that a splendid and imperious woman like Urania, Lady Belamour, had +found little aid from public opinion when left to herself by the absence +of her second husband. Selfish, unscrupulous, and pleasure-loving she +was by nature, but during Sir Jovian Belamour's lifetime she had +been kept within bounds. Then came a brief widowhood, when debt +and difficulty hurried her into accepting Mr. Wayland, a thoughtful +scientific man, whose wealth had accumulated without much volition of +his own to an extent that made her covet his alliance. Enthralled by +her charm of manner, he had not awakened to the perception of what she +really was during the few years that had elapsed before he was sent +abroad, and she refused to accompany him. + +Then it was that wealth larger than she had before commanded, and a +court appointment, involved her in more dangerous habits. Her debts, +both of extravagance and of the gaming table, were enormous, trenching +hard on the Delavie property, and making severe inroads on Mr. Wayland's +means; but the Belamour estates being safely tied up, she had only been +able to borrow on her dower. She had sinned with a high hand, after the +fashion of the time, and then, in terror at the approaching return of +her husband, had endeavoured to conceal the ravages of her extravagance +by her bargain for her son's hand. + +The youth, bred up at a distance, and then the companion of his +step-father, had on his return found his home painfully altered in his +two years' absence, and had been galled and grieved by the state of +things, so that even apart from the clearing of his prospects, the +relief was great. The quarrel with Colonel Mar that Mr. Wayland had +interrupted was not made up. There was no opportunity, for Mr. Wayland +at once removed his family to Bowstead, there to remain while he +transacted his business in London. + +Moreover Mr. Belamour and Mr. Wayland agreed in selling the young +baronet's commission. The Major allowed that it was impossible that he +should remain under the command of his present Colonel, but regretted +that he should not continue in the service, declaring it the best +school for a young man, and that he did not want to see his son-in-law +a muddle-brained sporting country squire. He would have had Sir Amyas +exchange into the line, and see a little service before settling down, +but Maria Theresa had not as yet set Europe in a blaze, and in the +absence of a promising war Sir Amyas did more incline to his uncle's +representations of duties to tenants and to his county, and was even +ready to prepare himself for them when he should be of sufficient age +to undertake them. However, in the midst of the debates a new scheme was +made. Mr. Belamour had been called upon and welcomed by his old friends, +who, being men of rank and influence, had risen in life while he +was immured at Bowstead. One of these had just received a diplomatic +appointment at Vienna, and in spite of insular ignorance of foreign +manners was at a loss for a capable suite. Mr. Belamour suggested Major +Delavie, as from his long service in Austria likely to be very useful. +The Envoy caught at the idea, and the thought of once more seeing his +old comrades enchanted the Major, whose only regret was that his hero, +Prince Eugene, had been dead three years; but to visit his grave would +be something. Appointments ran in families, so that nothing could be +easier than to obtain one for the young baronet; and though Mr. Belamour +did not depend on his own health enough to accept anything, he was quite +willing to join the party, and to spend a little time abroad, while his +nephew was growing somewhat older, making an essay of his talents, and +at any rate putting off the commencement of stagnation. Thus matters +settled themselves, the only disappointed member of the family being +Mrs. Arden, who thought it very hard that she could not stir any one up +to request an appointment of her husband as chaplain--not even himself! + +Mr. Wayland was at once called upon to go out to America to superintend +the defences of the Canadian frontier, and he resolved on taking his +family out, obtaining land, and settling there permanently. He would +pay all my Lady's debts, but she should never again appear in London +society, and cruel exile as it must seem to her, he trusted that his +affection and tenderness would in time reconcile her to the new way of +life, knowing as she did that he had forgiven much that had made him +look like a crushed and sorrowful man in the midst of all the successes +and the honours he received from his country. + +She remained quietly at Bowstead, and none of them saw her except her +son and the Major, to the latter of whom her husband brought a message +that she would esteem it a favour if he would come and visit her there, +the day before he returned to Carminster. Very much affected, the good +Major complied with her request, went down with Mr. Wayland and spent a +night at Bowstead. + +He found that she had accepted her fate with the good grace of a woman +whose first instinct was not to make herself disagreeable. She was +rather pale, and not "made up" in any way, but exquisitely though more +simply dressed, and more beautiful than ever, her cousin thought, as +he always did whenever he came into her presence. She was one of those +people whose beauty is always a fresh surprise, and she was far more +self-possessed than he was. + +"So, Cousin Harry, where am I to begin my congratulations! I did you and +unwitting service when I sent your daughter to search among those musty +old parchments. I knew my father believed in the existence of some such +document, but I thought all those hoards in Delavie House were devoid +of all legal importance, and had been sifted again and again. Besides, I +always meant to settle that old house upon you." + +"I have always heard so, cousin," he answered. + +"But it was such a mere trifle," she added, "that it never seemed worth +while to set the lawyers to work about that alone, so I waited for other +work to be in hand." + +"There is a homely Scottish proverb, my Lady, which declares that the +scrapings of the muckle pot are worth the wee pot fu'. A mere trifle to +you is affluence to us." + +"I am sincerely rejoiced at it, Harry" (no doubt she thought she was), +"you will keep up the old name, while my scrupulous lord and master +gives up my poor patrimony to the extortionate creditors for years to +come. It is well that the young lovers have other prospects. So Harry, +you see after all, I kept my word, and your daughter is provided for," +she continued with an arch smile. "Pretty creature, I find my son bears +me more malice than she does for the robbery that was perpetrated on +her. It was too tempting, Harry. Nature will repair her loss, but at out +time of life we must beg, borrow, or steal." + +"That was the least matter," said the Major gravely. + +"This is the reason why I wished to see you," said my Lady, laying her +white hand on his, "I wanted to explain." + +"Cousin, cousin, had not you better leave it alone?" said Major Delavie. +"You know you can always talk a poor man out of his senses at the +moment." + +"Yet listen, Harry, and understand my troubles. Here I was pledged, +absolutely pledged, to give my son to Lady Aresfield's daughter. I do +not know whether she may not yet sue me for breach of contract, though +Wayland has repaid her the loans she advanced me; and on the other hand, +in spite of all my precautions, Mar had obtained a sight of your +poor daughter, and I knew him well enough to be aware that to put her +entirely and secretly out of his reach was the only chance preserving +her from his pursuit. I had excellent accounts of the worthy man to whom +I meant her to be consigned, and I knew that when she wrote to you as a +West Indian queen you would be able to forgive your poor cousin. I see +what you would say, but sending her to you was impossible, since I had +to secure her both from Amyas and from Mar. It would only have involved +you in perplexities innumerable, and might have led even to bloodshed! I +may not have acted wisely, but weak women in difficulties know not which +path to choose." + +"There is always the straight one," said he. + +"Ah! you strong men can easily says so, but for us poor much-tried +women! However," she said suddenly changing her tone, "Love has +check-mated us, and I rejoice. Your daughter will support the credit +of the name! I am glad the new Lady Belamour will not be that little +termagant milkmaid Belle, whom circumstances compelled me to inflict +upon my poor boy! The title will be your daughter's alone. I have +promised my husband that in the New World I will sink into plain Mrs. +Wayland." Then with a burst of genuine feeling she exclaimed, "He _is_ a +good man, Harry." + +"He is indeed, Urania, I believe you will yet be happier than you have +ever been." + +"What, among barbarians who never saw a loo-table, and get the modes +three months too late! And you are laughing at me, but see I am a poor +frivolous being, not sufficient to myself like your daughters! They say +Aurelia was as sprightly as a spring butterfly all the time she was shut +up at Bowstead with no company save the children and old Belamour!" + +"They are lovely children, madam, Aurelia dotes on them, and you will +soon find them all you need." + +"Their father is never weary of telling me so. He is never so happy as +when they hang about him and tell him of Cousin Aura, or Sister Aura as +they love to call her." + +"It was charming to see them dance round her when he brought them to +spend the day with her. Mr. Wayland brought his good kinswoman, who will +take charge of them on the voyage, and Aurelia was a little consoled at +the parting by seeing how tender and kind she is with them." + +"Aye! If I do not hate that woman it will be well, for she is as much a +duenna for me as governess for the children! Heigh-ho! what do not our +follies bring on us? We poor creatures should never be left to the great +world." + +The pretty air of repentance was almost irresistible, well as the Major +knew it for the mood of the moment, assumed as what would best satisfy +him. + +"I rejoice," she went on, "in spite of my lovely daughter-in-law's +discretion, she will be well surrounded with guardians. Has the +excellent Betty consented?" + +"At last, madam. My persuasions were vain till she found that Mr. +Belamour would gladly come with us to Austria, and that she should be +enabled to watch over both her young sister and me." + +"There, again, I give myself credit, Harry. Would the sacred flame ever +have awakened in yonder misanthrope had I not sent your daughter to +restore him to life?" She spoke playfully, but the Major could not help +thinking she had persuaded herself that all his present felicity was +owing to her benevolence, and that she would persuade him of it too, if +she went on much longer looking at him so sweetly. He _would_ not tax +her with the wicked note she had written to account for Mr. Belamour's +disappearance, and which she had forgotten; he felt that he could not +impel one, whom he could not but still regard with tenderness, to utter +any more untruths and excuses. + +"By the by," she added, "does your daughter take my waiting-maid after +all? I would have forgiven her, for she is an admirable hairdresser, +but Wayland says he cannot have so ingenious person in his house; +though after all I do not see that she is a bit worse than others of +her condition, and she herself insists on trying to become Aurelia's +attendant, vowing that the sight of her is as good as any Methodist +sermon!" + +"Precisely, madam. We were all averse to taking her with us, but Aurelia +said she owed her much gratitude; and she declared so earnestly that the +sight of my dear child brought back all the virtuous and pious thoughts +she had forgotten, that even Betty's heart was touched, and she is to go +with us, on trial." + +"Oh! she is as honest as regards money and jewels as ever I knew a +waiting-maid, but for the rest!" Lady Belamour shrugged her shoulders. +"However, one is as good as another, and at least she will never let her +lady go a fright! See here, Harry. These are the Delavie jewels: I shall +never need them more: carry them to your daughters." + +"Nay, your own daughters, Urania." + +"Never mind the little wretches. Their father will provide for them, and +they will marry American settlers in the forests. What should they do +with court jewels? It is his desire. See here, this suit of pearls is +what I wore at my wedding with Amyas's father, I should like Aurelia to +be married in them. Farewell, Harry, you did better for yourself than if +you had taken me. Yet maybe I might been a better woman---" She stopped +short as she looked at his honest face, and eyes full of tears. + +"No, Urania," he said, "man's love could not have done for you what only +another Love can do. May you yet find that and true Life." + + +The sisters were not married at the same time. Neither Mr. Belamour nor +his Elizabeth could endure to make part of the public pageant that it +was thought well should mark the _real_ wedding at Bowstead. So their +banns were put up at St. Clement Danes, and one quiet morning they +slipped out, with no witnesses but the Major, Aurelia, and Eugene, and +were wedded there in the most unobtrusive manner. + +As to the great marriage, a month later at Bowstead, there was a certain +bookseller named Richardson, who by favour of Hargrave got a view of it, +and who is thought there to have obtained some ideas for the culminating +wedding of his great novel. + +A little later, the following letter was written from the excellent Mrs. +Montagu to her correspondent Mrs. Elizabeth Carter. "There was yesterday +presented, preparatory to leaving England for Vienna, the young Lady +Belamour, incomparably the greatest beauty who has this year appeared +at Court. Every one is running after her, but she appears perfectly +unconscious of the _furore_ she has excited, and is said to have been +bred up in all simplicity in the country, and to be as good as she is +fair. Her young husband, Sir Amyas Belamour, is a youth of much promise, +and they seem absolutely devoted, with eyes only for each other. They +are said to have gone through a series of adventures as curious as they +are romantic; and indeed, when they made their appearance, there was a +general whisper, begun by young Mr. Horace Walpole, of + + + "CUPID AND PSYCHE." + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Love and Life, by Charlotte M. 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