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diff --git a/old/7lvar10.txt b/old/7lvar10.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..325a9ce --- /dev/null +++ b/old/7lvar10.txt @@ -0,0 +1,19581 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lovels of Arden, by M. E. Braddon +#5 in our series by M. E. Braddon + +Copyright laws are changing all over the world. Be sure to check the +copyright laws for your country before downloading or redistributing +this or any other Project Gutenberg eBook. + +This header should be the first thing seen when viewing this Project +Gutenberg file. Please do not remove it. Do not change or edit the +header without written permission. + +Please read the "legal small print," and other information about the +eBook and Project Gutenberg at the bottom of this file. Included is +important information about your specific rights and restrictions in +how the file may be used. You can also find out about how to make a +donation to Project Gutenberg, and how to get involved. + + +**Welcome To The World of Free Plain Vanilla Electronic Texts** + +**eBooks Readable By Both Humans and By Computers, Since 1971** + +*****These eBooks Were Prepared By Thousands of Volunteers!***** + + +Title: The Lovels of Arden + +Author: M. E. Braddon + +Release Date: December, 2005 [EBook #9475] +[Yes, we are more than one year ahead of schedule] +[This file was first posted on October 4, 2003] + +Edition: 10 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOVELS OF ARDEN *** + + + + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram and PG Distributed Proofreaders + + + + +[Illustration: Henry French, del. + +E. Evans, sc. + +"Mr. Granger seated himself by his wife's side and bent +down to kiss hisson without waking him."] + + +THE + +LOVELS OF ARDEN + +BY THE AUTHOR OF + +"LADY AUDLEY'S SECRET," "AURORA FLOYD," "VIXEN," "ISHMAEL," ETC., ETC., +ETC. + +CHEAP UNIFORM EDITION OF MISS BRADDON'S NOVELS. + +_Price 2s. picture boards; 2s. 6d. cloth gilt; 3s. 6d. half parchment or +half morocco; postage 4d._ + +MISS BRADDON'S NOVELS + +INCLUDING + +"LADY AUDLEY'S SECRET," "VIXEN," "ISHMAEL," ETC. + +"No one can be dull who has a novel by Miss Braddon in hand. The most +tiresome journey is beguiled, and the most wearisome illness is brightened, +by any one of her books." + +"Miss Braddon is the Queen of the circulating libraries."--_The World._ + +N.B.--There are now 43 Novels always in print. For full list see back of +cover, or apply for a Catalogue, to be sent (post free). + + + + +CONTENTS + +CHAP. + + I. COMING HOME + II. BEGINNING THE WORLD + III. FATHER AND DAUGHTER + IV. CLARISSA IS "TAKEN UP" + V. AT HALE CASTLE + VI. AND THIS IS GEORGE FAIRFAX + VII. DANGEROUS GROUND + VIII. SMOULDERING FIRES + IX. LADY LAURA DIPLOMATISES + X. LADY LAURA'S PREPARATIONS + XI. DANIEL GRANGER + XII. MR. GRANGER IS INTERESTED + XIII. OPEN TREASON + XIV. THE MORNING AFTER + XV. CHIEFLY PATERNAL + XVI. LORD CHALDERWOOD IS THE CAUSE OF INCONVENIENCE + XVII. "'TIS DEEPEST WINTER IN LORD TIMON'S PURSE" + XVIII. SOMETHING FATAL + XIX. MR. GRANGER IS PRECIPITATE + XX. MODEL VILLAGERS + XXI. VERY FAR GONE + XXII. TAKING THE PLEDGE + XXIII. "HE'S SWEETEST FRIEND, OR HARDEST FOE" + XXIV. "IT MEANS ARDEN COURT" + XXV. WEDDING BELLS + XXVI. COMING HOME + XXVII. IN THE SEASON + XXVIII. MR. WOOSTER + XXIX. "IF I SHOULD MEET THEE--" + XXX. THE HEIR OF ARDEN + XXXI. THE NEAREST WAY TO CARLSRUHE + XXXII. AUSTIN + XXXIII. ONLY A PORTRAIT-PAINTER + XXXIV. AUSTIN'S PROSPECTS + XXXV. SISTERS-IN-LAW + XXXVI. "AND THROUGH THE LIFE HAVE I NOT WRIT MY NAME?" + XXXVII. STOLEN HOURS + XXXVIII. "FROM CLARISSA" + XXXIX. THAT IS WHAT LOVE MEANS + XL. LYING IN WAIT + XLI. MR. GRANGER'S WELCOME HOME + XLII. CAUGHT IN A TRAP + XLIII. CLARISSA'S ELOPEMENT + XLIV. UNDER THE SHADOW OF ST. GUDULE + XLV. TEMPTATION + XLVI. ON THE WING + XLVII. IN TIME OF NEED + XLVIII. "STRANGERS YET" + XLIX. BEGINNING AGAIN + L. HOW SUCH THINGS END + + + + +CHAPTER I. + +COMING HOME. + + +The lamps of the Great Northern Terminus at King's Cross had not long been +lighted, when a cab deposited a young lady and her luggage at the departure +platform. It was an October twilight, cold and gray, and the place had +a cheerless and dismal aspect to that solitary young traveller, to whom +English life and an English atmosphere were somewhat strange. + +She had been seven years abroad, in a school near Paris; rather an +expensive seminary, where the number of pupils was limited, the masters and +mistresses, learned in divers modern accomplishments, numerous, and the +dietary of foreign slops and messes without stint. + +Dull and gray as the English sky seemed to her, and dreary as was the +aspect of London in October, this girl was glad to return to her native +land. She had felt herself very lonely in the French school, forgotten and +deserted by her own kindred, a creature to be pitied; and hers was a nature +to which pity was a torture. Other girls had gone home to England for their +holidays; but vacation after vacation went by, and every occasion brought +Clarissa Lovel the same coldly worded letter from her father, telling her +that it was not convenient for him to receive her at home, that he had +heard with pleasure of her progress, and that experienced people with whom +he had conferred, had agreed with him that any interruption to the regular +course of her studies could not fail to be a disadvantage to her in the +future. + +"They are all going home except me, papa," she wrote piteously on one +occasion, "and I feel as if I were different from them, somehow. Do let +me come home to Arden for this one year. I don't think my schoolfellows +believe me when I talk of home, and the gardens, and the dear old park. I +have seen it in their faces, and you cannot think how hard it is to bear. +And I want to see you, papa. You must not fancy that, because I speak of +these things, I am not anxious for that. I do want to see you very much. +By-and-by, when I am grown up, I shall seem a stranger to you." + +To this letter, and to many such, letters, Mr. Lovel's reply was always the +same. It did not suit his convenience that his only daughter should return +to England until her education was completed. Perhaps it would have suited +him better could she have remained away altogether; but he did not say as +much as that; he only let her see very clearly that there was no pleasure +for him in the prospect of her return. + +And yet she was glad to go back. At the worst it was going home. She told +herself again and again, in those meditations upon her future life which +were not so happy as a girl's reveries should be,--she told herself that +her father must come to love her in time. She was ready to love him so much +on her part; to be so devoted, faithful, and obedient, to bear so much from +him if need were, only to be rewarded with his affection in the end. + +So at eighteen years of age Clarissa Lovel's education was finished, and +she came home alone from a quiet little suburban village just outside +Paris, and having arrived to-night at the Great Northern Station, King's +Cross, had still a long journey before her. + +Mr. Lovel lived near a small town called Holborough, in the depths of +Yorkshire; a dreary little town enough, but boasting several estates of +considerable importance in its neighbourhood. In days gone by, the Lovels +had been people of high standing in this northern region, and Clarissa had +yet to learn how far that standing was diminished. + +She had been seated about five minutes in a comfortable corner of a +first-class carriage, with a thick shawl over her knees, and all her little +girlish trifles of books and travelling, bags gathered about her, and she +had begun to flatter herself with the pleasing fancy that she was to have +the compartment to herself for the first stage of the journey, perhaps for +the whole of the journey, when a porter flung open the door with a bustling +air, and a gentleman came in, with more travelling-rugs, canes, and +umbrellas, russia leather bags, and despatch boxes, than Clarissa had ever +before beheld a traveller encumbered with. He came into the carriage very +quietly, however, in spite of these impedimenta, arranged his belongings in +a methodical manner, and without the slightest inconvenience to Miss +Lovel, and then seated himself next the door, upon the farther side of the +carriage. + +Clarissa looked at him rather anxiously, wondering whether they two were to +be solitary companions throughout the whole of that long night journey. She +had no prudish horror of such a position, only a natural girlish shyness in +the presence of a stranger. + +The traveller was a man of about thirty, tall, broad-shouldered, with long +arms, and powerful-looking hands, ungloved, and bronzed a little by sun and +wind. There was the same healthy bronze upon his face, Clarissa perceived, +when he took off his hat, and hung it up above him; rather a handsome face, +with a long straight nose, dark blue eyes with thick brown eyebrows, a well +cut mouth and chin, and a thick thatch of crisp dark brown hair waving +round a broad, intelligent-looking forehead. The firm, full upper lip was +half-hidden by a carefully trained moustache; and in his dress and bearing +the stranger had altogether a military air: one could fancy him a cavalry +soldier. That bare muscular hand seemed made to grasp the massive hilt of a +sabre. + +His expression was grave--grave and a little proud, Clarissa thought; +and, unused as she was to lonely wanderings in this outer world, she felt +somehow that this man was a gentleman, and that she need be troubled by no +fear that he would make is presence in any way unpleasant to her, let their +journey together last as long as it would. + +She sank back into her corner with a feeling of relief. It would have been +more agreeable for her to have had the carriage to herself; but if she must +needs have a companion, there was nothing obnoxious in this one. + +For about an hour they sped on in silence. This evening train was not +exactly an express, but it was a tolerably quick train, and the stoppages +were not frequent. The dull gray twilight melted into a fair tranquil +night. The moon rose early; and the quiet English landscape seemed very +fair to Clarissa Lovel in that serene light. She watched the shadowy fields +flitting past; here and there a still pool, or a glimpse of running water; +beyond, the sombre darkness of wooded hills; and above that dark background +a calm starry sky. Who shall say what dim poetic thoughts were in her mind +that night, as she looked at these things? Life was so new to her, the +future such an unknown country--a paradise perhaps, or a drear gloomy +waste, across which she must travel with bare bleeding feet. How should she +know? She only knew that she was going home to a father who had never loved +her, who had deferred the day of her coming as long as it was possible for +him decently to do so. + +The traveller in the opposite corner of the carriage glanced at Miss Lovel +now and then as she looked out of the window. He could just contrive to +see her profile, dimly lighted by the flickering oil lamp; a very perfect +profile, he thought; a forehead that was neither too high nor too low, a +small aquiline nose, a short upper lip, and the prettiest mouth and chin in +the world. It was just a shade too pensive now, the poor little mouth, he +thought pityingly; and be wondered what it was like when it smiled. And +then he began to arrange his lines for winning the smile he wanted so much +to see from those thoughtful lips. It was, of course, for the gratification +of the idlest, most vagabond curiosity that he was eager to settle this +question: but then on such a long dreary journey, a man may be forgiven for +a good deal of idle curiosity. + +He wondered who his companion was, and how she came to be travelling alone, +so young, so pretty, so much in need of an escort. There was nothing in her +costume to hint at poverty, nor does poverty usually travel in first-class +carriages. She might have her maid lurking somewhere in the second-class, +he said to himself. In any case, she was a lady. He had no shadow of doubt +about that. + +She was tall, above the ordinary height of women. There was a grace in the +long flowing lines of her figure more striking than the beauty of her face. +The long slim throat, the sloping shoulder, not to be disguised even by +the clumsy folds of a thick shawl--these the traveller noted, in a lazy +contemplative mood, as he lolled in his corner, meditating an easy opening +for a conversation with his fair fellow-voyager. + +He let some little time slip by in this way, being a man to whom haste was +almost unknown. This idle artistic consideration of Miss Level's beauty was +a quiet kind of enjoyment for him. She, for her part, seemed absorbed +in watching the landscape--a very commonplace English landscape in the +gentleman's eyes--and was in no way disturbed by his placid admiration. + +He had a heap of newspapers and magazines thrown pell-mell into the empty +seat next him; and arousing himself with a faint show of effort presently, +he began to turn these over with a careless hand. + +The noise of his movements startled Clarissa; she looked across at him, and +their eyes met. This was just what he wanted. He had been curious to see +her eyes. They were hazel, and very beautiful, completing the charm of her +face. + +"May I offer you some of these things?" he said. "I have a reading lamp +in one of my bags, which I will light for you in a moment. I won't pledge +myself for your finding the magazines very amusing, but anything is better +than the blankness of a long dreary journey." + +"Thank you, you are very kind; but I don't care about reading to-night; I +could not give you so much trouble." + +"Pray don't consider that. It is not a question of a moments trouble. I'll +light the lamp, and then you can do as you like about the magazines." + +He stood up, unlocked one of his travelling-bags, the interior of which +glittered like a miniature arsenal, and took out a lamp, which he lighted +in a rapid dexterous manner, though without the faintest appearance of +haste, and fixed with a brass apparatus of screws and bolts to the arm +of Clarissa's seat. Then he brought her a pile of magazines, which she +received in her lap, not a little embarrassed by this unexpected attention. +He had called her suddenly from strange vague dreams of the future, and it +was not easy to come altogether back to the trivial commonplace present. + +She thanked him graciously for his politeness, but she had not smiled yet. + +"Never mind," the traveller said to himself; "that will come in good time." + +He had the easiest way of taking all things in life, this gentleman; and +having established Clarissa with her lamp and books, sank lazily back into +his corner, and gave himself up to a continued contemplation of the fair +young face, almost as calmly as if it had been some masterpiece of the +painter's art in a picture gallery. + +The magazines were amusing to Miss Lovel. They beguiled her away from those +shapeless visions of days to come. She began to read, at first with very +little thought of the page before her, but, becoming interested by degrees, +read on until her companion grew tired of the silence. + +He looked at his watch--the prettiest little toy in gold and enamel, with +elaborate monogram and coat of arms--a watch that looked like a woman's +gift. They had been nearly three hours on their journey. + +"I do not mean to let you read any longer," he said, changing his seat to +one opposite Clarissa. "That lamp is very well for an hour or so, but after +that time the effect upon one's eyesight is the reverse of beneficial. I +hope your book is not very interesting." + +"If you will allow me to finish this story," Clarissa pleaded, scarcely +lifting her eyes from the page. It was not particularly polite, perhaps, +but it gave the stranger an admirable opportunity for remarking the dark +thick lashes, tinged with the faintest gleam of gold, and the perfect curve +of the full white eyelids. + +"Upon my soul, she is the loveliest creature I ever saw," he said to +himself; and then asked persistently, "Is the story a long one?" + +"Only about half-dozen pages more; O, do please let me finish it!" + +"You want to know what becomes of some one, or whom the heroine marries, of +course. Well, to that extent I will be a party to the possible injury of +your sight." + +He still sat opposite to her, watching her in the old lazy way, while she +read the last few pages of the magazine story. When she came to the end, +a fact of which he seemed immediately aware, he rose and extinguished the +little reading lamp, with an air of friendly tyranny. + +"Merciless, you see," he said, laughing. "O, _la jeunesse_, what a +delicious thing it is! Here have I been tossing and tumbling those +unfortunate books about for a couple of hours at a stretch, without being +able to fix my attention upon a single page; and here are you so profoundly +absorbed in some trivial story, that I daresay you have scarcely been +conscious of the outer world for the last two hours. O, youth and +freshness, what pleasant things they are while we can keep them!" + +"We were not allowed to read fiction at Madame Marot's," Miss Lovel +answered simply. "Anything in the way of an English story is a treat when +one has had nothing to read but Racine and Telemaque for about six years of +one's life." + +"The Inimical Brothers, and Iphigenia; Athalie, as performed before Louis +Quatorze, by the young ladies of St. Cyr, and so on. Well, I confess +there are circumstances under which even Racine might become a bore; and +Telemaque has long been a synonym for dreariness and dejection of mind. +You have not seen Rachel? No, I suppose not. She was a great creature, and +conjured the dry bones into living breathing flesh. And Madame Marot's +establishment, where you were so hardly treated, is a school, I conclude?" + +"Yes, it is a school at Belforet, near Paris. I have been there a long +time, and am going home now to keep house for papa." + +"Indeed! And is your journey a long one? Are we to be travelling companions +for some time to come?" + +"I am going rather a long way--to Holborough." + +"I am very glad to hear that, for I am going farther myself, to the outer +edge of Yorkshire, where I believe I am to do wonderful execution upon the +birds. A fellow I know has taken a shooting-box yonder, and writes me most +flourishing accounts of the sport. I know Holborough a little, by the way. +Does your father live in the town?" + +"O, no; papa could never endure to live in a small country town. Our house +is a couple of miles away--Arden Court; perhaps you know it?" + +"Yes, I have been to Arden Court," the traveller answered, with rather a +puzzled air. "And your papa lives at Arden?--I did not know he had any +other daughter," he added in a lower key, to himself rather than to his +companion. "Then I suppose I have the pleasure of speaking to Miss--" + +"My name is Lovel My father is Marmaduke Level, of Arden Court." + +The traveller looked at her with a still more puzzled air, as if singularly +embarrassed by this simple announcement. He recovered himself quickly, +however, with a slight effort. + +"I am proud and happy to have made your acquaintance, Miss Lovel," he said; +"your father's family is one of the best and oldest in the North Riding." + +After this, they talked of many things; of Clarissa's girlish experiences +at Belforet; of the traveller's wanderings, which seemed to have extended +all over the world. + +He had been a good deal in India, in the Artillery, and was likely to +return thither before long. + +"I had rather an alarming touch of sunstroke a year ago," he said, "and was +altogether such a shattered broken-up creature when I came home on sick +leave, that my mother tried her hardest to induce me to leave the service; +but though I would do almost anything in the world to please her, I could +not bring myself to do that; a man without a profession is such a lost +wretch. It is rather hard upon her, poor soul; for my elder brother died +not very long ago, and she has only my vagabond self left. 'He was the only +son of his mother, and she was a widow.'" + +"I have no mother," Clarissa said mournfully; "mine died when I was quite a +little thing. I always envy people who can speak of a mother." + +"But, on the other hand, I am fatherless, you see," the gentleman said, +smiling. But Clarissa's face did not reflect his smile. + +"Ah, that is a different thing," she said softly. + +They went on talking for a long while, talking about the widest range of +subjects; and their flight across the moonlit country, which grew darker +by-and-by, as that tender light waned, seemed swifter than. Clarissa could +have imagined possible, had the train been the most desperate thing in the +way of an express. She had no vulgar commonplace shyness, mere school-girl +as she was, and she had, above all, a most delightful unconsciousness of +her own beauty; so she was quickly at home with the stranger, listening to +him, and talking to him with a perfect ease, which seemed to him a natural +attribute of high breeding. + +"A Lovel," he said to himself once, in a brief interval of silence; "and so +she comes of that unlucky race. It is scarcely strange that she should be +beautiful and gifted. I wonder what my mother would say if she knew that my +northern journey had brought me for half-a-dozen hours _tete-a-tete_ with +a Lovel? There would be actual terror for her in the notion of such an +accident. What a noble look this girl has!--an air that only comes after +generations of blue blood untainted by vulgar admixture. The last of such +a race is a kind of crystallisation, dangerously, fatally brilliant, the +concentration of all the forces that have gone before." + +At one of their halting-places, Miss Lovel's companion insisted upon +bringing her a cup of coffee and a sponge-cake, and waited upon her with a +most brotherly attention. At Normanton they changed to a branch line, and +had to wait an hour and a half in that coldest dreariest period of the +night that comes before daybreak. Here the stranger established Clarissa in +a shabby little waiting-room, where he made up the fire with his own hands, +and poked it into a blaze with his walking-stick; having done which, he +went out into the bleak night and paced the platform briskly for nearly an +hour, smoking a couple of those cigars which would have beguiled his night +journey, had he been alone. + +He had some thoughts of a third cigar, but put it back into his case, and +returned to the waiting-room. + +"I'll go and have a little more talk with the prettiest woman I ever met in +my life," he said to himself. "It is not very likely that we two shall ever +see each other again. Let me carry away the memory of her face, at any +rate. And she is a Lovel! Will she be as unfortunate as the rest of her +race, I wonder? God forbid!" + +Clarissa was sitting by the fire in the dingy little waiting-room, with one +elbow resting on the arm of her chair, her chin leaning on her hand, and +her eyes fixed thoughtfully upon a dull red chasm in the coals. She had +taken off her gray felt hat, and she looked older without it, the traveller +thought, in spite of her wealth of waving dark brown hair, gathered into a +great coil of plaits at the back of the graceful head. Perhaps it was that +thoughtful expression which made her look older than she had seemed to him +in the railway carriage, the gentleman argued with himself; a very grave +anxious expression for a girl's face. She had indeed altogether the +aspect of a woman, rather than of a girl who had just escaped from +boarding-school, and to whom the cares of life must needs be unknown. + +She was thinking so deeply, that she did not hear the opening of the door, +or her fellow-traveller's light footstep as he crossed the room. He was +standing on the opposite side of the fireplace, looking down at her, before +she was aware of his presence. Then she raised her head with a start; and +he saw her blush for the first time. "You must have been absorbed in some +profound meditation, Miss Lovel," he said lightly. + +"I was thinking of the future." + +"Meaning your own future. Why, at your age the future ought to be a most +radiant vision." + +"Indeed it is not that. It is all clouds and darkness. I do not see that +one must needs be happy because one is young. There has been very little +happiness in my life yet awhile, only the dreary monotonous routine of +boarding-school." + +"But all that is over now, and life is just beginning for you. I wish I +were eighteen instead of eight-and-twenty." + +"Would you live your life over again?" + +The traveller laughed. + +"That's putting a home question," he said. "Well, perhaps not exactly the +same life, though it has not been a bad one. But I should like the feeling +of perfect youth, the sense of having one's full inheritance of life lying +at one's banker's, as it were, and being able to draw upon the account a +little recklessly, indifferent as to the waste of a year or two. You see +I have come to a period of existence in which a man has to calculate his +resources. If I do not find happiness within the next five years, I am +never likely to find it at all. At three-and-thirty a man has done with a +heart, in a moral and poetic sense, and begins to entertain vague alarms on +the subject of fatty degeneration." + +Clarissa smiled faintly, as if the stranger's idle talk scarcely beguiled +her from her own thoughts. + +"You said you had been at Arden," she began rather abruptly; "then you must +know papa." + +"No, I have not the honour to know Mr. Lovel," with the same embarrassed +air which he had exhibited before in speaking of Arden Court. "But I am +acquainted--or I was acquainted, rather, for he and I have not met for some +time--with one member of your family, a Mr. Austin Lovel." + +"My brother," Clarissa said quickly, and with a sudden shadow upon her +face. + +"Your brother; yes, I supposed as much." + +"Poor Austin! It is very sad. Papa and he are ill friends. There was some +desperate quarrel between them a few years ago; I do not even know what +about; and Austin was turned out of doors, never to come back any more. +Papa told me nothing about it, though it was the common talk at Holborough. +It was only from a letter of my aunt's that I learnt what had happened; and +I am never to speak of Austin when I go home, my aunt told me." + +"Very hard lines," said the stranger, with a sympathetic air. "He was wild, +I suppose, in the usual way. Your brother was in a line regiment when I +knew him; but I think I heard afterwards that he had sold out, and had +dropped away from his old set, had emigrated, I believe, or something of +that kind exactly the thing I should do, if I found myself in difficulties; +turn backwoodsman, and wed some savage woman, who should rear my dusky +race, and whose kindred could put me in the way to make my fortune by +cattle-dealing; having done which, I should, of course, discover that fifty +years of Europe are worth more than a cycle of Cathay, and should turn my +steps homeward with a convenient obliviousness upon the subject of the +savage woman." + +He spoke lightly, trying to win Clarissa from her sad thoughts, and with +the common masculine idea, that a little superficial liveliness of this +kind can lighten the load of a great sorrow. + +"Come, Miss Lovel, I would give the world to see you smile. Do you know +that I have been watching for a smile ever since I first saw your face, and +have not surprised one yet? Be sure your brother is taking life pleasantly +enough in some quarter of the globe. We worthless young fellows always +contrive to fall upon our feet." + +"If I could believe that he was happy, if I could think that he was leading +an honourable life anywhere, I should not feel our separation so much," the +girl said mournfully; "but to be quite ignorant of his fate, and not to be +allowed to mention his name, that is hard to bear. I cannot tell you how +fond I was of him when we were children. He was seven years older than I, +and so clever. He wanted to be a painter, but papa would not hear of that. +Yet I think he might have been happier if he had been allowed to have his +own way. He had a real genius for art." + +"And you too are fond of art, I suppose?" hazarded the traveller, more +interested in the young lady herself than in this reprobate brother of +hers. + +"Yes, I am very fond of it. It is the only thing I really care for. Of +course, I like music to a certain extent; but I love painting with my whole +heart." + +"Happy art, to be loved by so fair a votary! And you dabble with brushes +and colours, of course?" + +"A little." + +"A true young lady's answer. If you were a Raffaelle in glace silk and +crinoline, you would tell me no more than that. I can only hope that some +happy accident will one day give me an opportunity of judging for myself. +And now, I think, you had better put on your hat. Our train will be in +almost immediately." + +She obeyed him; and they went out together to the windy platform, where +the train rumbled in presently. They took their places in a carriage, the +gentleman bundling in his rugs and travelling-bags and despatch boxes +with very little ceremony; but this time they were not alone. A plethoric +gentleman, of the commercial persuasion, was sleeping laboriously in one +corner. + +The journey to Holborough lasted a little less than an hour. Miss Lovel +and her companion did not talk much during that time. She was tired and +thoughtful, and he respected her silence. As she drew nearer home, the +happiness she had felt in her return seemed to melt away somehow, leaving +vague anxieties and morbid forebodings in its stead. To go home to a father +who would only be bored by her coming. It was not a lively prospect for a +girl of eighteen. + +The dull cold gray dawn was on the housetops of Holborough, as the train +stopped at the little station. The traveller alighted, and assisted +Clarissa's descent to the platform. + +"Can I see about your luggage, Miss Lovel?" he asked; but looking up +at that moment, the girl caught sight of a burly gentleman in a white +neckcloth, who was staring in every direction but the right one. + +"Thank you very much, no; I need not trouble you. My uncle Oliver is here +to meet me--that stout gentleman over there." + +"Then I can only say good-bye. That tiresome engine is snorting with a +fiendish impatience to bear me away. Good-bye, Miss Lovel, and a thousand +thanks for the companionship that has made this journey so pleasant to me." + +He lifted his hat and went back to the carriage, as the stout gentleman +approached Clarissa. He would fain have shaken hands with her, but +refrained from that unjustifiable familiarity. And so, in the bleak early +autumnal dawn, they parted. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER II. + +BEGINNING THE WORLD. + + +"Who on earth was that man you were talking to, Clary?" asked the Reverend +Mathew Oliver, when he had seen his niece's luggage carried off to a fly, +and was conducting her to that vehicle. "Is it any one you know?" + +"O, no, uncle; only a gentleman who travelled in the same carriage with me +from London. He was very kind." + +"You seemed unaccountably familiar with him," said Mr. Oliver with an +aggrieved air; "you ought to be more reserved, my dear, at your age. A +young lady travelling alone cannot be too careful. Indeed, it was very +wrong of your father to allow you to make this long journey alone. Your +aunt has been quite distressed about it." + +Clarissa sighed faintly; but was not deeply concerned by the idea of her +aunt's distress. Distress of mind, on account of some outrage of propriety +on the part of her relatives, was indeed almost the normal condition of +that lady. + +"I travelled very comfortably, I assure you, uncle Oliver," Clarissa +replied. "No one was in the least rude or unpleasant. And I am so glad to +come home--I can scarcely tell you how glad--though, as I came nearer and +nearer, I began to have all kinds of fanciful anxieties. I hope that all is +well--that papa is quite himself." + +"O, yes, my dear; your papa is--himself," answered the parson, in a tone +that implied that he did not say very much for Mr. Lovel in admitting that +fact. "Your papa is well enough in health, or as well as he will ever +acknowledge himself to be. Of course, a man who neither hunts nor shoots, +and seldom gets out of bed before ten o'clock in the day, can't expect to +be remarkably robust. But your father will live to a good old age, child, +rely upon it, in spite of everything." + +"Am I going straight home, uncle?" + +"Well, yes. Your aunt wished you to breakfast at the Rectory; but there are +your trunks, you see, and altogether I think it's better for you to go home +at once. You can come and see us as often as you like." + +"Thank you, uncle. It was very kind of you to meet me at the station. Yes, +I think it will be best for me to go straight home. I'm a little knocked up +with the journey. I haven't slept five minutes since I left Madame Marot's +at daybreak yesterday." + +"You're looking rather pale; but you look remarkably well in spite of +that--remarkably well. These six years have changed you from a child into +a woman. I hope they gave you a good education yonder; a solid practical +education, that will stand by you." + +"I think so, uncle. We were almost always at our studies. It was very hard +work." + +"So much the better. Life is meant to be hard work. You may have occasion +to make use of your education some day, Clary." + +"Yes," the girl answered with a sigh; "I know that we are poor." + +"I suppose so; but perhaps you hardly know how poor." + +"Whenever the time comes, I shall be quite ready to work for papa," said +Clarissa; yet she could not help wondering how the master of Arden Court +could ever bring himself to send out his daughter as a governess; and +then she had a vague childish recollection that not tens of pounds, but +hundreds, and even thousands, had been wanted to stop the gaps in her +father's exchequer. + +They drove through Holborough High Street, where there was the faint stir +and bustle of early morning, windows opening, a housemaid kneeling on a +doorstep here and there, an occasional tradesman taking down his shutters. +They drove past the fringe of prim little villas on the outskirts of the +town, and away along a country road towards Arden; and once more Clarissa +saw the things that she had dreamed of so often in her narrow white bed in +the bleak dormitory at Belforet. Every hedge-row and clump of trees +from which the withered leaves were drifting in the autumn wind, every +white-walled cottage with moss-grown thatch and rustic garden, woke a faint +rapture in her breast. It was home. She remembered her old friends the +cottagers, and wondered whether goody Mason were still alive, and whether +Widow Green's fair-haired children would remember her. She had taught +them at the Sunday-school; but they too must have grown from childhood to +womanhood, like herself, and were out at service, most likely, leaving Mrs. +Green's cottage lonely. + +She thought of these simple things, poor child, having so little else to +think about, on this, her coming home. She was not so foolish as to expect +any warm welcome from her father. If he had brought himself just to +tolerate her coming, she had sufficient reason to be grateful. It was only +a drive of two miles from Holborough to Arden. They stopped at a lodge-gate +presently; a little gothic lodge, which was gay with scarlet geraniums +and chrysanthemums, and made splendid by railings of bronzed ironwork. +Everything had a bright new look which surprised Miss Lovel, who was +not accustomed to see such, perfect order or such fresh paint about her +father's domain. + +"How nice everything looks!" she said. + +"Yes," answered her uncle, with a sigh; "the place is kept well enough +nowadays." + +A woman came out to open the gates--a brisk young person, who was a +stranger to Clarissa, not the feeble old lodge-keeper she remembered in her +childhood. The change, slight as it was, gave her a strange chill feeling. + +"I wonder how many people that I knew are dead?" she thought. + +They drove into the park, and here too, even in this autumn season, +Clarissa perceived traces of care and order that were strange to her. The +carriage road was newly gravelled, the chaos of underwood among the old +trees had disappeared, the broad sweeps of grass were smooth and level as +a lawn, and there were men at work in the early morning, planting rare +specimens of the fir tribe in a new enclosure, which filled a space that +had been bared twenty years before by Mr. Lovel's depredations upon the +timber. + +All this bewildered Clarissa; but she was still more puzzled, when, instead +of approaching the Court the fly turned sharply into a road leading across +a thickly wooded portion of the park, through which there was a public +right of way leading to the village of Arden. + +"The man is going wrong, uncle!" she exclaimed. + +"No, no, my dear; the man is right enough." + +"But indeed, uncle Oliver, he is driving to the village." + +"And he has been told to drive to the village." + +"Not to the Court?" + +"To the Court! Why, of course not. What should we have to do at the Court +at half-past seven in the morning?" + +"But I am going straight home to papa, am I not?" + +"Certainly." + +And then, after staring at his niece's bewildered countenance for a few +moments, Mr. Oliver exclaimed,---- + +"Why, surely, Clary, your father told you----" + +"Told me what, uncle?" + +"That he had sold Arden." + +"Sold Arden! O, uncle, uncle!" + +She burst into tears. Of all things upon this earth she had loved the grand +old mansion where her childhood had been spent. She had so little else to +love, poor lonely child, that it was scarcely strange she should attach +herself to lifeless things. How fondly she had remembered the old place in +all those dreary years of exile, dreaming of it as we dream of some lost +friend. And it was gone from her for ever! Her father had bartered away +that most precious birthright. + +"O, how could he do it! how could he do it!" she cried piteously. + +"Why, my dear Clary, you can't suppose it was a matter of choice with him. +'Needs must when'--I daresay you know the vulgar proverb. Necessity has no +law. Come, come, my dear, don't cry; your father won't like to see you +with red eyes. It was very wrong of him not to tell you about the sale of +Arden--excessively wrong. But that's just like Marmaduke Lovel; always +ready to shirk anything unpleasant, even to the writing of a disagreeable +letter." + +"Poor dear papa! I don't wonder he found it hard to write about such a +thing; but it would have been better for me to have known. It is such a +bitter disappointment to come home and find the dear old place gone from +us. Has it been sold very long?" + +"About two years. A rich manufacturer bought it--something in the cloth +way, I believe. He has retired from business, however, and is said to be +overwhelmingly rich. He has spent a great deal of money upon the Court +already, and means to spend more I hear." + +"Has he spoiled it--modernised it, or anything of that kind?" + +"No; I am glad to say that he--or his architect perhaps--has had the good +taste to preserve the mediaeval character of the place. He has restored the +stonework, renewing all the delicate external tracery where it was lost or +decayed, and has treated the interior in the same manner. I have dined with +Mr. Granger once or twice since the work was finished, and I must say the +place is now one of the finest in Yorkshire--perhaps the finest, in its +peculiar way. I doubt if there is so perfect a specimen of gothic domestic +architecture in the county." + +"And it is gone from us for ever!" said Clarissa, with a profound sigh. + +"Well, my dear Clary, it is a blow, certainly; I don't deny that. But there +is a bright side to everything; and really your father could not afford to +live in the place. It was going to decay in the most disgraceful manner. He +is better out of it; upon my word he is." + +Clarissa could not see this. To lose Arden Court seemed to her unmitigated +woe. She would rather have lived the dreariest, loneliest life in one +corner of the grand old house, than have occupied a modern palace. It was +as if all the pleasant memories of her childhood had been swept away from +her with the loss of her early home. This was indeed beginning the world; +and a blank dismal world it appeared to Clarissa Lovel, on this melancholy +October morning. + +They stopped presently before a low wooden gate, and looking out of the +window of the fly, Miss Lovel saw a cottage which she remembered as a +dreary uninhabited place, always to let; a cottage with a weedy garden, +and a luxuriant growth of monthly roses and honeysuckle covering it from +basement to roof; not a bad sort of place for a person of small means and +pretensions, but O, what a descent from the ancient splendour of Arden +Court!--that Arden which had belonged to the Lovels ever since the land +on which it stood was given to Sir Warren Wyndham Lovel, knight, by his +gracious master King Edward IV., in acknowledgment of that warrior's +services in the great struggle between Lancaster and York. + +There were old-fashioned casement windows on the upper story, and queer +little dormers in the roof. Below, roomy bows had been added at a much +later date than the building of the cottage. The principal doorway was +sheltered by a rustic porch, spacious and picturesque, with a bench on each +side of the entrance. The garden was tolerably large, and in decent order, +and beyond the garden was a fine old orchard, divided from lawn and +flower-beds only by a low hedge, full of bush-roses and sweet brier. It was +a very pretty place in summer, not unpicturesque even at this bleak season; +but Clarissa was thinking of lost Arden, and she looked at Mill Cottage +with mournful unadmiring eyes. There had been a mill attached to the place +once. The old building was there still, indeed, converted into a primitive +kind of stable; hence its name of Mill Cottage. The stream still ran +noisily a little way behind the house, and made the boundary which divided +the orchard from the lands of the lord of Arden. Mill Cottage was on the +very edge of Arden Court. Clarissa wondered that her father could have +pitched his tent on the borders of his lost heritage. + +"I think I would have gone to the other end of the world, had I been in his +place," she said to herself. + +An elderly woman-servant came out, in answer to the flyman's summons; and +at her call, a rough-looking young man emerged from the wooden gate opening +into a rustic-looking stable-yard, where the lower half of the old mill +stood, half-hidden by ivy and other greenery, and where there were +dovecotes and a dog-kennel. + +Mr. Oliver superintended the removal of his niece's trunks, and then +stepped back into the fly. + +"There's not the slightest use in my stopping to see your father, Clary," +he said; "he won't show for a couple of hours at least. Good-bye, my dear; +make yourself as comfortable as you can. And come and see your aunt as soon +as you've recovered from your long journey, and keep up your spirits, my +dear.--Martha, be sure you give Miss Lovel a good breakfast.--Drive back to +the Rectory, coachman.--Good-bye, Clarissa;" and feeling that he had shown +his niece every kindness that the occasion required, Mr. Oliver bowled +merrily homewards. He was a gentleman who took life easily--a pastor of +the broad church--tolerably generous and good to his poor; not given to +abnormal services or daily morning prayer; content to do duty at Holborough +parish church twice on a Sunday, and twice more in the week; hunting a +little every season, in a black coat, for the benefit of his health, as he +told his parishioners; and shooting a good deal; fond of a good horse, +a good cellar, a good dinner, and well-filled conservatories and +glass-houses; altogether a gentleman for whom life was a pleasant journey +through a prosperous country. He had, some twenty years before, married +Frances Lovel; a very handsome woman--just a little faded at the time +of her marriage--without fortune. There were no children at Holborough +Rectory, and everything about the house and gardens bore that aspect of +perfect order only possible to a domain in which there are none of those +juvenile destroyers. + +"Poor girl," Mr. Oliver muttered to himself, as he jogged comfortably +homewards, wondering whether his people would have the good sense to cook +'those grouse' for breakfast. "Poor Clary, it was very hard upon her; and +just Like Marmaduke not to tell her." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER III. + +FATHER AND DAUGHTER. + + +While Mr. Oliver went back to the Rectory, cheered by the prospect of +possible grouse, Clarissa entered her new home, so utterly strange to her +in its insignificance. The servant, Martha, who was a stranger to her, but +who had a comfortable friendly face, she thought, led her into a room at +the back of the cottage, with a broad window opening on to a lawn, beyond +which Clarissa saw the blue mill-stream. It was not a bad room at all: +countrified-looking and old-fashioned, with a low ceiling and wainscoted +walls. Miss Level recognised the ponderous old furniture from the +breakfast-room at Arden--high-backed mahogany chairs of the early Georgian +era, with broad cushioned seats covered with faded needlework; a curious +old oval dining-table, capable of accommodating about six; and some slim +Chippendale coffee-tables and cheffoniers, upon which there were a few +chipped treasures of old Battersea and Bow china. The walls were half-lined +with her father's books--rare old books in handsome bindings. His +easy-chair, a most luxurious one, stood in a sheltered corner of the +hearth, with a crimson silk banner-screen hanging from the mantelpiece +beside it, and a tiny table close at hand, on which there were a noble +silver-mounted meerschaum, and a curious old china jar for tobacco. The +oval table was neatly laid for breakfast, and a handsome brown setter lay +basking in the light of the fire. Altogether, the apartment had a very +comfortable and home-like look. + +"The tea's made, miss," said the servant; "and I've a savoury omelette +ready to set upon the table. Perhaps you'd Like to step upstairs and take +off your things before you have your breakfast? Your papa begged you +wouldn't wait for him. He won't be down for two hours to come." + +"He's quite well, I hope?" + +"As well as he ever is, miss. He's a bit of an invalid at the best of +times." + +Remembering what Mr. Oliver had said, Clarissa was not much disturbed by +this intelligence. She was stooping to caress the brown setter, who had +been sniffing at her dress, and seemed anxious to inaugurate a friendship +with her. + +"This is a favourite of papa's, I suppose?" she said. + +"O Lord, yes, miss. Our master do make a tremenjous fust about Ponto. I +think he's fonder of that dumb beast than any human creature. Eliza shall +show you your room, miss, while I bring in the teapot and such-like. +There's only me and Eliza, who is but a bit of a girl; and John Thomas, the +groom, that brought your boxes in just now. It's a change for your pa from +the Court, and all the servants he had there; but he do bear it like a true +Christian, if ever there was one." + +Clarissa Lovel might have wondered a little to hear this--Christianity not +being the dominant note in her father's character; but it was only like her +father to refrain from complaint in the hearing of such a person as honest +Martha. A rosy-faced girl of about fifteen conducted Miss Lovel to a +pleasant bedroom, with three small windows; one curiously placed in +an angle of the room, and from which--above a sweep of golden-tinted +woodland--Clarissa could see the gothic chimneys of Arden Court. She stood +at this window for nearly ten minutes, gazing out across those autumnal +woods, and wondering how her father had nerved himself for the sacrifice. + +She turned away from the little casement at last with a heavy sigh, and +began to take off her things. She bathed her face and head in cold +water, brushed out her long dark hair, and changed her thick merino +travelling-dress for a fresher costume. While she was doing these things, +her thoughts went back to her companion of last night's journey; and, with +a sudden flush of shame, she remembered his embarrassed look when she had +spoken of her father as the owner of Arden Court. He had been to Arden, he +had told her, yet had not seen her father. She had not been particularly +surprised by this, supposing that he had gone to the Court as an ordinary +sight-seer. Her father had never opened the place to the public, but he had +seldom refused any tourist's request to explore it. + +But now she understood that curious puzzled look of the stranger's, and +felt bitterly ashamed of her error. Had he thought her some barefaced +impostor, she wondered? She was disturbed in these reflections by the trim +rosy-cheeked house-maid, who came to tell her that breakfast had been on +the table nearly a quarter of an hour. But in the comfortable parlour +downstairs, all the time she was trying to do some poor justice to +Martha's omelette, her thoughts dwelt persistently upon the unknown of the +railway-carriage, and upon the unlucky mistake which she had made as to her +father's position. + +"He could never guess the truth," she said to herself. "He could never +imagine that I was going home, and yet did not know that my birthplace had +been sold." + +He was so complete a stranger to her--she did not even know his name--so it +could surely matter very little whether he thought well or ill of her. +And yet she could not refrain from torturing herself with all manner of +annoying suppositions as to what he might think. Miss Lovel's character was +by no means faultless, and pride was one of the strongest ingredients in +it. A generous and somewhat lofty nature, perhaps, but unschooled and +unchastened as yet. + +After a very feeble attempt at breakfast, Clarissa went out into the +garden, closely attended by Ponto, who seemed to have taken a wonderful +fancy to her. She was very glad to be loved by something on her return +home, even a dog. She went out through the broad window, and explored +garden and orchard, and wandered up and down by the grassy bank of the +stream. She was fain to own that the place was pretty: and she fancied how +well she might have loved it, if she had been born here, and had never been +familiar with the broad terraces and verdant slopes of Arden Court. She +walked in the garden till the village-church clock struck ten, and then +went hastily in, half-afraid lest her father should have come down to the +parlour in her absence, and should be offended at not finding her ready to +receive him. + +She need not have feared this. Mr. Lovel was rarely offended by anything +that did not cause him physical discomfort. + +"How do you do, my dear?" he said, as she came into the room, in very much +the same tone he might have employed had they seen each other every day for +the last twelve months. "Be sure you never do that again, if you have the +faintest regard for me." + +"Do what, papa?" + +"Leave that window open when you go out. I found the room a perfect +ice-house just now. It was very neglectful of Martha to allow it. You'd +better use the door at the end of the passage in future, when you go into +the garden. It's only a little more trouble, and I can't stand open windows +at this time of year." + +"I will be sure to do so, papa," Clarissa answered meekly. She went up to +her father and kissed him, the warmth and spontaneity of their greeting a +little diminished by this reproof about the window; but Clarissa had not +expected a very affectionate reception, and was hardly disappointed. She +had only a blank hopeless kind of feeling; a settled conviction that there +was no love for her here, and that there had never been any. + +"My dear father," she began tenderly, "my uncle told me about the sale of +Arden. I was so shocked by the news--so sorry--for your sake." + +"And for your own sake too, I suppose," her father answered bitterly. "The +less this subject is spoken of between us in future, the better we shall +get on together, Clarissa." + +"I will keep silence, papa." + +"Be sure you do so," Mr. Lovel said sternly; and then, with a sudden +passion and inconsistency that startled his daughter, he went on: "Yes, I +have sold Arden--every acre. Not a rood of the land that has belonged to my +race from generation to generation since Edward IV. was king, is left to +me. And I have planted myself here--here at the very gates of my lost +home--so that I may drain the bitter cup of humiliation to the dregs. The +fools who call themselves my friends think, that because I can endure to +live here, I am indifferent to all I have lost; that I am an eccentric +bookworm--an easy-going philosophical recluse, content to dawdle away the +remnant of my days amongst old books. It pleases me to let them think +so. Why, there is never a day that yonder trader's carriage, passing my +windows, does not seem to drive over my body; not a sound of a woodman's +axe or a carpenter's hammer in the place that was mine, that does not go +straight home to my heart!" + +"O, papa, papa!" + +"Hush, girl! I can accept pity from no one--from you least of all." + +"Not from me, papa--your own child?" + +"Not from you; because your mother's reckless extravagance was the +beginning of my ruin. I might have been a different man but for her. My +marriage was fatal, and in the end, as you see, has wrecked me." + +"But even if my mother was to blame, papa--as she may have been--I cannot +pretend to deny the truth of what you say, being so completely ignorant of +our past history--you cannot be so cruel as to hold _me_ guilty?" + +"You are too like her, Clarissa," Mr. Lovel answered, in a strange tone. +"But I do not want to speak of these things. It is your fault; you had no +right to talk of Arden. _That_ subject always raises a devil in me." + +He paced the room backwards and forwards for a few minutes in an agitated +way, as if trying to stifle some passion raging inwardly. + +He was a man of about fifty, tall and slim, with a distinguished air, and +a face that must once have been very handsome, but perhaps, at its best, a +little effeminate. The face was careworn now, and the delicate features +had a pinched and drawn look, the thin lips a half-cynical, half-peevish +expression. It was not a pleasant countenance, in spite of its look of high +birth; nor was there any likeness between Marmaduke Lovel and his daughter. +His eyes were light blue, large and bright, but with a cold look in them--a +coldness which, on very slight provocation, intensified into cruelty; his +hair pale auburn, crisp and curling closely round a high but somewhat +narrow forehead. + +He came back to the breakfast-table presently, and seated himself in his +easy-chair. He sipped a cup of coffee, and trifled listlessly with a morsel +of dried salmon. + +"I have no appetite this morning," he said at last, pushing his plate away +with an impatient gesture; "nor is that kind of talk calculated to improve +the flavour of a man's breakfast. How tall you have grown, Clarissa, a +perfect woman; remarkably handsome too! Of course you know that, and there +is no fear of your being made vain by anything I may say to you. All young +women learn their value soon enough. You ought to make a good match, a +brilliant match--if there were any chance for a girl in such a hole as +this. Marriage is your only hope, remember, Clarissa. Your future lies +between that and the drudgery of a governess's life. You have received an +expensive education--an education that will serve you in either case; and +that is all the fortune I can give you." + +"I hope I may marry well, papa, for your sake; but--" + +"Never mind me. You have only yourself to think about." + +"But I never could marry any one I did not esteem, if the match were ever +such a brilliant one." + +"Of course not. All schoolgirls talk like that; and in due course discover +how very little esteem has to do with matrimony. If you mean that you would +like to marry some penniless wretch of a curate, or some insolvent ensign, +for love, I can only say that the day of your marriage will witness our +final parting. I should not make any outrageous fuss or useless opposition, +rely upon it. I should only wish you good-bye." + +Clarissa smiled faintly at this speech. She expected so little from her +father, that his hardest words did not wound her very deeply, nor did they +extinguish that latent hope, "He will love me some day." + +"I trust I may never be so imprudent as to lose you for ever, like that, +papa.. I must shut my heart resolutely against curates." + +"If bad reading is an abomination to you, you have only to open your ears. +I have some confidence in you, Clary," Mr. Lovel went on, with a smile +that was almost affectionate. "You look like a sensible girl; a little +impulsive, I daresay; but knowledge of the world--which is an uncommonly +hard world for you and me--will tone that down in good time. You are +accomplished, I hope. Madame Marot wrote me a most flourishing account +of your attainments; but one never knows how much to believe of a +schoolmistress's analysis." + +"I worked very hard, papa; all the harder because I was so anxious to +come home; and I fancied I might shorten my exile a little by being very +industrious." + +"Humph! You give yourself a good character. You sing and play, I suppose?" + +"Yes, papa. But I am fonder of art than of music." + +"Ah, art is very well as a profession; but amateur art--French plum-box +art--is worse than worthless. However, I am glad you can amuse yourself +somehow; and I daresay, if you have to turn governess by-and-by, that sort +of thing will be useful. You have the usual smattering of languages, of +course?" + +"Yes, papa. We read German and Italian on alternate days at Madame +Marot's." + +"I _promessi Sposi_, and so on, no doubt. There is a noble Tasso in the +bookcase yonder, and a fine old Petrarch, with which you may keep up your +Italian. You might read a little to me of an evening sometimes. I should +not mind it much." + +"And I should like it very much, papa," Clarissa answered eagerly. + +She was anxious for anything that could bring her father and herself +together--that might lessen the gulf between them, if by ever so little. + +And in this manner Miss Lovel's life began in her new home. No warmth of +welcome, no word of fatherly affection, attended this meeting between a +father and daughter who had not met for six years. Mr. Lovel went back +to his books as calmly as if there had been no ardent impetuous girl of +eighteen under his roof, leaving Clarissa to find occupation and amusement +as best she might. He was not a profound student; a literary trifler +rather, caring for only a limited number of books, and reading those again +and again. Burton's _Anatomy of Melancholy_, Southey's _Doctor_. Montaigne, +and Swift, he read continually. He was a collector of rare editions of +the Classics, and would dawdle over a Greek play, edited by some learned +German, for a week at a time, losing himself in the profundity of elaborate +foot-notes. He was an ardent admirer of the lighter Roman poets, and +believed the Horatian philosophy the only true creed by which a man should +shape his existence. But it must not be supposed that books brought repose +to the mind and heart of Marmaduke Lovel. He was a disappointed man, a +discontented man, a man given to brooding over the failure of his life, +inclined to cherish vengeful feelings against his fellow-men on account of +that failure. Books to him were very much what they might have been to +some fiery-tempered ambitious soldier of fortune buried alive in a prison, +without hope of release,--some slight alleviation of his anguish, some +occasional respite from his dull perpetual pain; nothing more. + +Clarissa's first day at Mill Cottage was a very fair sample of the rest of +her life. She found that she must manage to spend existence almost entirely +by herself--that she must expect the smallest amount of companionship from +her father. + +"This is the room in which I generally sit," her father said to her that +first morning after breakfast; "my books are here, you see, and the aspect +suits me. The drawing-room will be almost entirely at your disposal. We +have occasional callers, of course; I have not been able to make these +impervious country people comprehend that I don't want society. They +sometimes pester me with invitations to dinner, which no doubt they +consider an amazing kindness to a man in my position; invitations which I +make a point of declining. It will be different with you, of course; and +if any eligible people--Lady Laura Armstrong or Mrs. Renthorpe for +instance--should like to take you up, I shall not object to your seeing a +little society. You will never find a rich husband at Mill Cottage." + +"Please do not speak of husbands, papa. I don't want to be married, and I +shouldn't care to go into society without you." + +"Nonsense, child; you will have to do what is best for your future welfare. +Remember that my death will leave you utterly unprovided for--absolutely +penniless." + +"I hope you may live till I am almost an old woman, papa." + +"Not much chance of that; and even if I did, I should not care to have you +on my hands all that time. A good marriage is the natural prospect of a +good-looking young woman, and I shall be much disappointed if you do not +marry well, Clarissa." + +The pale cold blue eyes looked at her with so severe a glance, as Mr. Lovel +said this, that the girl felt she must expect little mercy from her father +if her career in life did not realise his hopes. + +"In short," he continued, "I look to you to redeem our fallen fortunes. I +don't want the name of Lovel to die out in poverty and obscurity. I look to +you to prevent that, Clarissa." + +"Papa," said Clarissa, almost trembling as she spoke, "it is not to me you +should look for that. What can a girl do to restore a name that has fallen +into obscurity? Even if I were to marry a rich man, as you say, it would be +only to take another name, and lose my own identity in that of my husband. +It is only a son who can redeem his father's name. There is some one else +to whom you must look----" + +"What!" cried her father vehemently, "have you not been forbidden to +mention that name in my hearing? Unlucky girl, you seem to have been born +on purpose to outrage and pain me." + +"Forgive me, papa; it shall be the last time. But O, is there no hope that +you will ever pardon----" + +"Pardon," echoed Mr. Lovel, with a bitter laugh; "it is no question of +pardon. I have erased that person's image from my mind. So far as I am +concerned, there is no such man in the world. Pardon! You must induce me to +reinstate him in my memory again, before you ask me to pardon." + +"And that can never be, papa?" + +"Never!" + +The tone of that one word annihilated hope in Clarissa's mind. She had +pushed the question to its utmost limit, at all hazards of offending her +father. What was it that her brother Austin had done to bring upon himself +this bitter sentence of condemnation? She remembered him in his early +manhood, handsome, accomplished, brilliant; the delight and admiration +of every one who knew him, except her father. Recalling those days, she +remembered that between her father and Austin there had never been any show +of affection. The talents and brilliant attributes that had won admiration +from others seemed to have no charm in the father's eye. Clarissa could +remember many a sneering speech of Mr. Lovel's, in which he had made light +of his son's cleverness, denouncing his varied accomplishments as trivial +and effeminate, and asking if any Englishman ever attained an honourable +distinction by playing the piano, or modelling in clay. + +"I would rather have my son the dullest plodder that ever toiled at the +bar, or droned bald platitudes from a pulpit, than the most brilliant +drawing-room idler, whose amateur art and amateur music ever made him the +fashion of a single season, to leave him forgotten in the next. I utterly +despise an accomplished man." + +Austin Lovel had let such speeches as this go by him with a languid +indifference, that testified at once to his easy temper and his comfortable +disregard of his father's opinion. He was fond of his little sister Clary, +in rather a careless way, and would suffer her companionship, juvenile as +she was at that time, with perfect good nature, allowing her to spoil his +drawing paper with her untutored efforts, and even to explore the sacred +mysteries of his colour-box. In return for this indulgence, the girl loved +him with intense devotion, and believed in Him as the most brilliant of +mankind. + +Clarissa Lovel recalled those departed days now with painful tenderness. +How kind and gracious Austin had been to her! How happy they had been +together! sometimes wandering for a whole day in the park and woods of +Arden, he with his sketching apparatus, she with a volume of Sir Walter +Scott, to read aloud to him while he sketched, or to read him to sleep with +very often. And then what delight it had been to sit by his side while he +lay at full length upon the mossy turf, or half-buried in fern--to sit by +him supremely happy, reading or drawing, and looking up from her occupation +every now and then to glance at the sleeper's handsome face in loving +admiration. + +Those days had been the happiest of her life. When Austin left Arden, he +seemed always to carry away the brightness of her existence with him; for +without him her life was very lonely--a singularly joyless life for one +so young. Then, in an evil hour, as she thought, there came their final +parting. How well she remembered her brother loitering on the broad terrace +in front of Arden Court, in the dewy summer morning, waiting to bid her +good-bye! How passionately she had clung to him in that farewell embrace, +unable to tear herself away, until her father's stern voice summoned her to +the carriage that was to take her on the first stage of her journey! + +"Won't you come to the station with us, Austin?" she pleaded. + +"No, Clary," her brother answered, with a glance at her father. "_He_ does +not want me." + +And so they had parted; never to meet any more upon this earth perhaps, +Clarissa said to herself, in her dismal reveries to-day. "That stranger in +the railway-carriage spoke of his having emigrated. He will live and die +far away, perhaps on the other side of the earth, and I shall never see his +bright face again. O, Austin, Austin, is this the end of all our summer +days in Arden woods long ago!" + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IV. + +CLARISSA IS "TAKEN UP." + + +For some time there was neither change nor stir in Clarissa Lovel's new +life. It was not altogether an unpleasant kind of existence, perhaps, and +Miss Lovel was inclined to make the best of it. She was very much her own +mistress, free to spend the long hours of her monotonous days according to +her own pleasure. Her father exacted very little from her, and received +her dutiful attentions with an air of endurance which was not particularly +encouraging. But Clarissa was not easily disheartened. She wanted to +win her father's affection; and again and again, after every new +discouragement, she told herself that there was no reason why she should +not ultimately succeed in making herself as dear to him as an only daughter +should be. It was only a question of time and patience. There was no reason +that he should not love her, no possible ground for his coldness. It was +his nature to be cold, perhaps; but those cold natures have often proved +capable of a single strong attachment. What happiness it would be to win +this victory of love! + +"We stand almost alone in the world," she said to herself. "We had need be +very dear to each other." + +So, though the time went by, and she made no perceptible progress towards +this happy result, Clarissa did not despair. Her father tolerated her, and +even this was something; it seemed a great deal when she remembered her +childhood at Arden, in which she had never known what it was to be in her +father's society for an hour at a time, and when, but for chance meetings +in corridors and on staircases, she would very often have lived for weeks +under the same roof with him without seeing his face or hearing his voice. + +Now it was all different; she was a woman now, and Mill Cottage was +scarcely large enough to accommodate two separate existences, even had Mr. +Lovel been minded to keep himself aloof from his daughter. This being so, +he tolerated her, treating her with a kind of cold politeness, which might +have been tolerably natural in some guardian burdened with the charge of +a ward he did not care for. They rarely met until dinner-time, Clarissa +taking her breakfast about three hours before her father left his room. But +at seven they dined together, and spent the long winter evenings in each +other's company, Clarissa being sometimes permitted to read aloud in German +or Italian, while her father lay back in his easy-chair, smoking his +meerschaum, and taking the amber mouthpiece from his lips now and then to +correct an accent or murmur a criticism on the text. Sometimes, too, Mr. +Lovel would graciously expound a page or two of a Greek play, or dilate on +the subtilty of some learned foot-note, for his daughter's benefit, but +rather with the air of one gentleman at his club inviting the sympathy of +another gentleman than with the tone of a father instructing his child. + +Sometimes, but very rarely, they had company. Mr. Oliver and his wife would +dine with them occasionally, or the Vicar of Arden, a grave bachelor of +five-and-thirty, would drop in to spend an hour or two of an evening. But +besides these they saw scarcely any one. The small professional men of +Holborough Mr. Lovel held in supreme contempt, a contempt of which those +gentlemen themselves were thoroughly aware; the country people whom he had +been accustomed to receive at Arden Court he shrank from with a secret +sense of shame, in these days of his fallen fortunes. He had therefore made +for himself a kind of hermit life at Mill Cottage; and his acquaintance +had come, little by little, to accept this as his established manner of +existence. They still called upon the recluse occasionally, and sent him +cards for their state dinners, averse from any neglect of a man who +had once occupied a great position among them; but they were no longer +surprised when Mr. Lovel pleaded his feeble health as a reason for +declining their hospitality. A very dull life for a girl, perhaps; but for +Clarissa it was not altogether an unhappy life. She was at an age when a +girl can make an existence for herself out of bright young fancies and +vague deep thoughts. There was that in her life just now which fades and +perishes with the passing of years; a subtle indescribable charm, a sense +of things beyond the common things of daily life. If there had been a +closer bond of union between her father and herself, if there had not +been that dark cloud upon her brother's life, she might have made herself +entirely happy; she might almost have forgotten that Arden was sold, and +a vulgar mercantile stranger lord of those green slopes and broad ancient +terraces she loved so well. + +As it was, the loneliness of her existence troubled her very little. She +had none of that eager longing for "society" or "fashion" wherewith young +ladies who live in towns are apt to inoculate one another. She had no +desire to shine, no consciousness of her own beauty; for the French girls +at Madame Marot's had been careful not to tell her that her pale patrician +face was beautiful. She wished for nothing but to win her father's love, +and to bring about some kind of reconciliation between him and Austin. +So the autumn deepened into winter, and the winter brightened into early +spring, without bringing any change to her life. She had her colour-box and +her easel, her books and piano, for her best companions; and if she did +not make any obvious progress towards gaining her father's affection, +she contrived, at any rate, to avoid rendering her presence in any way +obnoxious to him. + +Two or three times in the course of the winter Mrs. Oliver gave a little +musical party, at which Clarissa met the small gentry of Holborough, who +pronounced her a very lovely girl, and pitied her because of her father's +ruined fortunes. To her inexperience these modest assemblies seemed the +perfection of gaiety; and she would fain have accepted the invitations that +followed them, from the wives of Holborough bankers and lawyers and medical +men to whom she had been introduced. Against this degradation, however, Mr. +Lovel resolutely opposed himself. + +"No, Clarissa," he said, sternly; "you must enter society under such +auspices as I should wish, or you must be content to remain at home. I +can't have a daughter of mine hawked about in that petty Holborough set. +Lady Laura will be at Hale Castle by-and-by, I daresay. If she chooses to +take you up, she can do so. Pretty girls are always at par in a country +house, and at the Castle you would meet people worth knowing." + +Clarissa sighed. Those cordial Holborough gentry had been so kind to her, +and this exclusiveness of her father's chilled her, somehow. It seemed to +add a new bitterness to their poverty--to that poverty, by the way, of +which she had scarcely felt the sharp edges yet awhile. Things went very +smoothly at Mill Cottage. Her father lived luxuriously, after his quiet +fashion. One of the best wine-merchants at the West-end of London supplied +his claret; Fortnum and Mason furnished the condiments and foreign rarities +which were essential for his breakfast-table. There seemed never any lack +of money, or only when Clarissa ventured to hint at the scantiness of her +school-wardrobe, on which occasion Mr. Lovel looked very grave, and put her +off with two or three pounds to spend at the Holborough draper's. + +"I should want so many new clothes if I went to the Castle, papa," she +said, rather sadly one day, when her father was talking of Lady Laura +Armstrong; but Mr. Lovel only shrugged his shoulders. + +"A young woman is always well dressed in a white muslin gown," he said, +carelessly. "I daresay a few pounds would get you all you want." + +The Castle was a noble old place at Hale, a village about six miles from +Holborough. It had been the family seat of the Earl of Roxham ever since +the reign of Edward VI.; but, on the Roxham race dying out, some fifty +years before this, had become the property of a certain Mr. Armstrong, a +civilian who had made a great fortune in the East, in an age when great +fortunes were commonly made by East-Indian traders. His only son had +been captain in a crack regiment, and had sold out of the army after his +father's death, in order to marry Lady Laura Challoner, second daughter of +the Earl of Calderwood, a nobleman of ancient lineage and decayed fortunes, +and to begin life as a country gentleman under her wise governance. The +Armstrongs were said to be a very happy couple; and if the master of Hale +Castle was apt to seem something of a cipher in his own house, the house +was an eminently agreeable one, and Lady Laura popular with all classes. +Her husband adored her, and had surrendered his judgment to her guidance +with a most supreme faith in her infallibility. Happily, she exercised her +power with that subtle tact which is the finest gift of woman, and his +worst enemies could scarcely call Frederick Armstrong a henpecked husband. + +The spring and early summer brought no change to Clarissa's life. She had +been at home for the greater part of a year, and in all that time one day +had resembled another almost us closely as in the scholastic monotony of +existence at Madame Marot's. And yet the girl had shaped no complaint about +the dulness of this tranquil routine, even in her inmost unspoken thoughts. +She was happy, after a quiet fashion. She had a vague sense that there was +a broader, grander kind of life possible to womanhood; a life as different +from her own as the broad river that lost itself in the sea was different +from the placid mill-stream that bounded her father's orchard. But she +had no sick fretful yearning for that wider life. To win her father's +affection, to see her brother restored to his abandoned home--these were +her girlish dreams and simple unselfish hopes. + +In all the months Clarissa Lovel had spent at Mill Cottage she had never +crossed the boundary of that lost domain she loved so well. There was a +rustic bridge across the mill-stream, and a wooden gate opening into Arden +woods. Clarissa very often stood by this gate, leaning with folded arms +upon the topmost bar, and looking into the shadowy labyrinth of beech and +pine with sad dreamy eyes, but she never went beyond the barrier. Honest +Martha asked her more than once why she never walked in the wood, which +was so much pleasanter than the dusty high-road, or even Arden common, an +undulating expanse of heathy waste beyond the village, where Clarissa would +roam for hours on the fine spring days, with a sketch-book under her arm. +The friendly peasant woman could not understand that obstinate avoidance of +a beloved scene--that sentiment which made her lost home seem to Clarissa a +thing to shrink from, as she might have shrunk from beholding the face of +the beloved dead. + +It was bright midsummer weather, a glorious prolific season, with the +thermometer ranging between seventy and eighty, when Lady Laura Armstrong +did at last make her appearance at Mill Cottage. The simple old-fashioned +garden was all aglow with roses; the house half-hidden beneath the +luxuriance of foliage and flowers, a great magnolia on one side climbing up +to the dormer windows, on the other pale monthly roses, and odorous golden +and crimson tinted honeysuckle. Lady Laura was in raptures with the place. +She found Clarissa sitting in a natural arbour made by a group of old +hawthorns and a wild plum-tree, and placed herself at once upon a footing +of perfect friendliness and familiarity with the girl. Mr. Lovel was out--a +rare occurrence. He had gone for a stroll through the village with Ponto. + +"And why are you not with him?" asked Lady Laura, who, like most of these +clever managing women, had a knack of asking questions. "You must be a +better companion than Ponto." + +"Papa does not think so. He likes walking alone. He likes to be quite free +to dream about his books, I fancy, and it bores him rather to have to +talk." + +"Not a very lively companion for you, I fear. Why, child, how dismal your +life must be!" + +"O, no; not dismal. It is very quiet, of course; but I like a quiet life." + +"But you go to a good many parties, I suppose, in Holborough and the +neighbourhood? I know the Holborough people are fond of giving parties, and +are quite famous for Croquet." + +"No, Lady Laura; papa won't let me visit any one at Holborough, except my +uncle and aunt, the Olivers." + +"Yes; I know the Olivers very well indeed. Remarkably pleasant people." + +"And I don't even know how to play croquet." + +"Why, my poor benighted child, in what a state of barbarism this father of +yours is bringing you up! How are you ever to marry and take your place +in the world? And with your advantages, too! What can the man be dreaming +about? I shall talk to him very seriously. We are quite old friends, you +know, my dear, and I can venture to say what I like to him. You must come +to me immediately. I shall have a houseful of people in a week or two, +and you shall have a peep at the gay world. Poor little prison flower! no +wonder you look thoughtful and pale. And now show me your garden, please, +Miss Lovel. We can stroll about till your father comes home; I mean to talk +to him _at once_." + +Energy was one of the qualities of her own character for which Laura +Armstrong especially valued herself. She was always doing something or +other which she was not actually called upon by her own duty or by the +desire of other people to do, and she was always eager to do it "at once." +She had come to Mill Cottage intending to show some kindness to Clarissa +Lovel, whose father and her own father, the Earl of Calderwood, had been +firm friends in the days when the master of Arden entertained the county; +and Clarissa's manner and appearance having impressed her most favourably, +she was eager to do her immediate service, to have her at the Castle, and +show her to the world, and get her a rich husband if possible. + +In honest truth, this Lady Laura Armstrong was a kindly disposed, +sympathetic woman, anxious to make the best of the opportunities which +Providence had given her with so lavish a hand, and to do her duty towards +her less fortunate neighbours. The office of Lady Bountiful, the position +of patroness, suited her humour. Her active frivolous nature, which spurned +repose, and yet never rose above trifles, found an agreeable occupation in +the exercise of this kind of benign influence upon other people's lives. +Whether she would have put herself seriously out of the way for the benefit +of any of these people to whom she was so unfailingly beneficent, was a +question which circumstances had never yet put to the test. Her benevolence +had so far been of a light, airy kind, which did not heavily tax her bodily +or mental powers, or even the ample resources of her purse. + +She was a handsome woman, after a fair, florid, rather redundant style +of beauty, and was profoundly skilled in all those arts of costume and +decoration by which such beauty is improved. A woman of middle height, with +a fine figure, a wealth of fair hair, and an aquiline nose of the true +patrician type, her admirers said. The mouth was rather large, but redeemed +by a set of flashing teeth and a winning smile; the chin inclined to be of +that order called "double;" and indeed a tendency to increasing stoutness +was one of the few cares which shadowed Lady Laura's path. She was +five-and-thirty, and had only just begun to tell herself that she was no +longer a girl. She got on admirably with Clarissa, as she informed her +husband afterwards when she described the visit. + +The girl was fascinated at once by that frank cordial manner, and was quite +ready to accept Lady Laura for her friend, ready to be patronised by her +even, with no sense of humiliation, no lurking desire to revolt against the +kind of sovereignty with which her new friend took possession of her. + +Mr. Lovel came strolling in by-and-by, with his favourite tan setter, +looking as cool as if there were no such thing as blazing midsummer +sunshine, and found the two ladies sauntering up and down the grassy walk +by the mill-stream, under the shadow of gnarled old pear and quince trees. +He was charmed to see his dear Lady Laura. Clarissa had never known him +so enthusiastic or so agreeable. It was quite a new manner which he put +on--the manner of a man who is still interested in life. Lady Laura began +almost at once with her reproaches. How could he be so cruel to this dear +child? How could he be so absurd as to bury her alive in this way? + +"She visits no one, I hear," cried the lady; "positively no one." + +"Humph! she has been complaining, has she?" said Mr. Lovel, with a sharp +glance at his daughter. + +"Complaining! O no, papa! I have told Lady Laura that I do not care about +gaiety, and that you do not allow me to visit." + +"_Aut Caesar aut nullus_--the best or nothing. I don't want Clarissa to be +gadding about to all the tea-drinkings in Holborough; and if I let her go +to one house, I must let her go to all" + +"But you will let her come to me?" + +"That is the best, my dear Lady Laura. Yes, of course she may come to you, +whenever you may please to be troubled with her." + +"Then I please to be troubled with her immediately. I should like to carry +her away with me this afternoon, if it were possible; but I suppose that +can't be--there will be a trunk to be packed, and so on. When will you +come to me, Miss Lovel? Do you know, I am strongly tempted to call you +Clarissa?" + +"I should like it so much better," the girl answered, blushing. + +"What! may I? Then I'm sure I will. It's such a pretty name, reminding one +of that old novel of Richardson's, which everybody quotes and no one ever +seems to have read. When will you come, Clarissa?" + +"Give her a week," said her father; "she'll want a new white muslin gown, I +daresay; young women always do when they are going visiting." + +"Now, pray don't let her trouble herself about anything of that kind; my +maid shall see to all that sort of thing. We will make her look her best, +depend upon it. I mean this visit to be a great event in her life, Mr. +Lovel, if possible." + +"Don't let there be any fuss or trouble about her. Every one knows that I +am poor, and that she will be penniless when I am gone. Let her wear her +white muslin gown, and give her a corner to sit in. People may take her for +one of your children's governesses, if they choose; but if she is to see +society, I am glad for her to see the best." + +"People shall not take her for one of my governesses; they shall take her +for nothing less than Miss Lovel of Arden. Yes, of Arden, my dear sir; +don't frown, I entreat you. The glory of an old house like that clings to +those who bear the old name, even though lands and house are gone--Miss +Lovel, of Arden, By the way, how do you get on with your neighbour, Mr. +Granger?" + +"I do not get on with him at all. He used to call upon me now and then, +but I suppose he fancied, or saw somehow or other--though I am sure I was +laboriously civil to him--that I did not care much for his visits; at any +rate, he dropped them. But he is still rather obtrusively polite in sending +me game and hot-house fruit and flowers at odd times, in return for which +favours I can send him nothing but a note of thanks--'Mr. Level presents +his compliments to Mr. Granger, and begs to acknowledge, with best thanks, +&c."--the usual formula." + +"I am so sorry you have not permitted him to know you," replied Lady Laura. +"We saw a good deal of him last year--such a charming man! what one may +really call a typical man--the sort of person the French describe as +solid---_Carre par la base_--a perfect block of granite; and then, so +_enormously_ rich!" + +Lady Laura glanced at Clarissa, as if she were inspired with some sudden +idea. She was subject to a sudden influx of ideas, and always fancied her +ideas inspirations. She looked at Clarissa, and repeated, with a meditative +air, "So _enormously_ rich!" + +"There is a grown-up daughter, too," said Mr. Lovel; "rather a +stiff-looking young person. I suppose she is solid, too." + +"She is not so charming as her father," replied Lady Laura, with whom that +favourite adjective served for everything in the way of praise. To her the +Pyramids and Niagara, a tropical thunderstorm, a mazourka by Chopin, and a +Parisian bonnet, were all alike charming. "I suppose solidity isn't so nice +in a girl," she went on, laughing; "but certainly Sophia Granger is not +such a favourite with me as her father is. I suppose she will make a +brilliant marriage, however, sooner or later, unattractive as she may be; +for she'll have a superb fortune,--unless, indeed, her father should take +it into his head to marry again." + +"Scarcely likely that, I should think, after seventeen years of widowhood. +Why, Granger must be at least fifty." "My dear Mr. Lovel, I hope you are +not going to call that a great age." + +"My dear Lady Laura, am I likely to do so, when my own fiftieth birthday +is an event of the past? But I shouldn't suppose Granger to be a marrying +man," he added meditatively; "such an idea has never occurred to me +in conjunction with him." And here he glanced ever so slightly at his +daughter. "That sort of granite man must take a great deal of thawing." + +"There are suns that will melt the deepest snows," answered the lady, +laughing. "Seriously, I am sorry you will not suffer him to know you. But +I must run away this instant; my unfortunate ponies will be wondering +what has become of me. You see this dear girl and I have got on so well +together, that I have been quite unconscious of time; and I had ever so +many more calls to make, but those must be put off to another day. Let +me see; this is Tuesday, I shall send a carriage for you, this day week, +Clarissa, soon after breakfast, so that I may have you with me at luncheon. +Good-bye." + +Lady Laura kissed her new _protegee_ at parting. She was really fond of +everything young and bright and pretty; and having come to Mr. Lovel's +house intending to perform a social duty, was delighted to find that the +duty was so easy and pleasant to her. She was always pleased with new +acquaintances, and was apt to give her friendship on the smallest +provocation. On the other hand, there came a time when she grew just a +little weary of these dear sweet friends, and began to find them less +charming than of old; but she was never uncivil to them; they always +remained on her list, and received stray gleams from the sunlight of her +patronage. + +"Well," said Mr. Lovel interrogatively, when the mistress of Hale Castle +had driven off, in the lightest and daintiest of phaetons, with a model +groom and a pair of chestnut cobs, which seemed perfection, even in +Yorkshire, where every man is a connoisseur in horseflesh. "Well, child, I +told you that you might go into society if Lady Laura Armstrong took you +up, but I scarcely expected her to be as cordial as she has been to-day. +Nothing could have been better than the result of her visit; she seemed +quite taken with you, Clary." + +It was almost the first time her father had ever called her Clary. It was +only a small endearment, but she blushed and sparkled into smiles at +the welcome sound. He saw the smile and blush, but only thought she was +delighted with the idea of this visit to the Castle. He had no notion +that the placid state of indifference which he maintained towards her was +otherwise than agreeable to her feelings. He was perfectly civil to her, +and he never interfered with her pursuits or inclinations. What more could +she want from a father? + +Perhaps she assumed a new value in his eyes from the time of that visit of +Lady Laura's. He was certainly kinder to her than usual, the girl +thought, as they sat on the lawn in the balmy June evening, sipping their +after-dinner coffee, while the moon rose fair and pale above the woods of +Arden Court. He contemplated her with a meditative air now and then, when +she was not looking his way. He had always known that she was beautiful, +but her beauty had acquired a new emphasis from Lady Laura Armstrong's +praises. A woman of the world of that class was not likely to be deceived, +or to mistake the kind of beauty, likely to influence mankind; and in the +dim recesses of his mind there grew up a new hope--very vague and shadowy; +he despised himself for dwelling upon it so weakly--a hope that made him +kinder to his daughter than he had ever been yet--a hope which rendered her +precious to him all at once. Not that he loved her any better than of old; +it was only that he saw how, if fortune favoured him, this girl might +render him the greatest service that could be done for him by any human +creature. + +She might marry Daniel Granger, and win back the heritage he had lost. +It was a foolish thought, of course; Mr. Lovel was quite aware of the +supremity of folly involved in it. This Granger might be the last man in +the world to fall in love with a girl younger than his daughter; he might +be as impervious to beauty as the granite to which Laura Armstrong had +likened him. It was a foolish fancy, a vain hope; but it served to brighten +the meditations of Marmaduke Lovel--who had really very few pleasant +subjects to think about--with a faint rosy glow. + +"It is the idlest dream," he said to himself. "When did good luck ever come +my way? But O, to hold Arden Court again--by any tie--to die knowing that +my race would inherit the old gray walls!" + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER V. + +AT HALE CASTLE. + + +Mr. Lovel gave his daughter twenty pounds; a stretch of liberality which +did not a little astonish her. She was very grateful for this unexpected +kindness; and her father was fain to submit to be kissed and praised for +his goodness more than was entirely agreeable to him. But he had been +kinder to her ever since Lady Laura's visit, and her heart was very light +under that genial influence. She thought he was beginning to love her, and +that belief made her happy. + +Nor was there anything but unqualified pleasure for her in the possession +of twenty pounds--the largest sum she had ever had at her disposal. +Although the solitude of her life and the troubles that overshadowed it had +made her thoughtful beyond her years, she was still young enough to be able +to put aside all thought, and to live in the present. It was very pleasant +to go into Holborough, with those four crisp new five-pound notes in her +purse, to ask her aunt's advice about her purchases. Mrs. Oliver was +enraptured to hear of the visit to the Castle, but naturally a little +despondent about the circumstances under which the visit was to be paid. +That Clarissa should go to Lady Laura's without a maid was eminently +distressing to her aunt. + +"I really think you ought to take Peters," Mrs. Oliver said meditatively. +"She is a most reliable person; and of course nobody need know that she is +not your own maid. I can fully rely upon her discretion for not breathing a +word upon the subject to any of the Castle servants." + +Peters was a prim middle-aged spinster, with a small waist and a painfully +erect figure, who combined the office of parlour-maid at the Rectory with +that of personal attendant upon the Rector's wife--a person whom Clarissa +had always regarded with a kind of awe--a lynx-eyed woman, who could see at +a glance the merest hint of a stray hair-pin in a massive coil of plaits, +or the minutest edge of a muslin petticoat, visible below the hem of a +dress. + +"O no, aunt; please don't think of such a thing!" the girl cried eagerly. +"I could not go with a borrowed servant; and I don't want a maid at all; I +am used to do everything for myself Besides, Lady Laura did not ask me to +bring a maid." + +"She would take that for granted. She would never expect Mr. Lovel's +daughter to travel without a maid." + +"But papa told her how poor he was." + +"Very unnecessary, and very bad taste on his part, I think. But of course +she would not suppose him to be too poor to maintain a proper establishment +in a small way. People of that kind only understand poverty in the broadest +sense." + +Mrs. Oliver consented to forego the idea of sending Peters to the Castle, +with a regretful sigh; and then the two ladies went out shopping--Clarissa +in high spirits; her aunt depressed by a conviction, that she would not +make her first entrance into society with the surroundings that befitted a +Lovel of Arden Court. + +There seemed so many things indispensable for this all-important visit. +The twenty pounds were nearly gone by the time Miss Lovel's shopping was +finished. A white muslin dress for ordinary occasions, some white gauzy +fabric for a more important toilette, a golden-brown silk walking or dinner +dress, a white areophane bonnet, a gray straw hat and feather, gloves, +boots, slippers, and a heap of feminine trifles. Considerable management +and discretion were required to make the twenty pounds go far enough: but +Mrs. Oliver finished her list triumphantly, leaving one bright golden +sovereign in Clarissa's purse. She gave the girl two more sovereigns at +parting with her. + +"You will want as much as that for the servants when you are coming away, +Clary," she said imperatively, as Clarissa protested against this gift. "I +don't suppose you will be called upon to spend a shilling for anything else +during your visit, unless there should happen to be a charity sermon while +you are at Hale. In that case, pray don't put less than half-a-crown in +the plate. Those things are noticed so much. And now, good-bye, my dear. I +don't suppose I shall see you again between this, and Tuesday. Miss +Mallow will come to you to try-on the day after to-morrow at one o'clock, +remember; be sure you are at home. She will have hard work to get your +things ready in time; but I shall look in upon her once or twice, to keep +her up to the mark. Pray do your best to secure Lady Laura's friendship. +Such an acquaintance as that is all-important to a girl in your position." + +Tuesday came very quickly, as it seemed to Clarissa, who grew a little +nervous about this visit among strangers, in a great strange house, as it +came nearer. She had seen the outside of the Castle very often: a vast +feudal pile it seemed, seen across the bright river that flowed beneath +its outward wall--a little darksome and gloomy at the best, Clarissa had +thought, and something too grand to make a pleasant habitation. She +had never seen the inner quadrangle, in all its splendour of modern +restoration--sparkling freestone, fresh from the mason's chisel; gothic +windows, glowing with rare stained glass; and the broad fertile gardens, +with their terraces and banks of flowers, crowded together to make a feast +of colour, sloping down to the setting sun. + +It was still the same bright midsummer weather--a blue sky without a cloud, +a look upon earth and heaven as if there would never be rain again, or +anything but this glow and glory of summer. At eleven o'clock the +carriage came from the Castle; Clarissa's trunks and travelling-bag were +accommodated somehow; and the girl bade her father good-bye. + +"I daresay I shall be asked to dinner while you are there," he said, as +they were parting, "and I may possibly come; I shall be curious to see how +you get on." + +"O, pray do come, papa; I'm sure it will do you good." + +And then she kissed him affectionately, emboldened by that softer manner +which he had shown towards her lately; and the carriage drove off. A +beautiful drive past fertile fields, far stretching towards that bright +river, which wound its sinuous way through all this part of the country; +past woods that shut in both sides of the road with a solemn gloom even at +midday--woods athwart which one caught here and there a distant glimpse of +some noble old mansion lying remote within the green girdle of a park. + +It was something less than an hour's drive from Arden to Hale: the +village-church clock and a great clock in the Castle stables were both +striking twelve as the carriage drove under a massive stone arch, above +which the portcullis still hung grimly. It was something like going into +a prison, Clarissa thought; but she had scarcely time for the reflection, +when the carriage swept round a curve in the smooth gravel road, and she +saw the sunny western front of the Castle, glorious in all its brightness +of summer flowers, and with a tall fountain leaping and sparkling up +towards the blue sky. + +She gave a little cry of rapture at sight of so much brightness and beauty, +coming upon her all at once with a glad surprise. There were no human +creatures visible; only the glory of fountain and flowers. It might have +been the palace of the Sleeping Beauty, deep in the heart of the woodlands, +for any evidence to the contrary, perceptible to Clarissa in this drowsy +noontide; but presently, as the carriage drove up to the hall door, a +dog barked, and then a sumptuous lackey appeared, and anon another, who, +between them, took Miss Lovel's travelling-bag and parasol, prior to +escorting her to some apartment, leaving the heavier luggage to meaner +hands. + +"The saloon, or my lady's own room, miss?" one of the grandiose creatures +demanded languidly. + +"I would rather see Lady Laura alone at first, if you please." + +The man bowed, and conducted her up a broad staircase, lined with darksome +pictures of battles by land and sea, along a crimson-carpeted corridor +where there were many doors, to one particular portal at the southern end. + +He opened this with a lofty air, and announced "Miss Lovel." + +It was a very large room--all the rooms in this newly-restored part of the +Castle were large and lofty (a great deal of the so-called "restoration" +had indeed been building, and many of these splendid rooms were new, newer +even than the wealth of Frederick Armstrong)--a large room, furnished with +chairs and tables and cabinets of satin wood, with oval medallions of pale +blue Wedgwood let into the panelled doors of the cabinets, and a narrow +beading of lustreless gold here and there; a room with pale blue +silken hangings, and a carpet of white wood-anemones scattered on a +turquoise-coloured ground. There were no pictures; art was represented only +by a few choice bronzes and a pair of Venetian mirrors. + +Lady Laura was busy at a writing-table, filling in the blanks in some notes +of invitation. She was always busy. On one table there were an easel and +the appliances of illumination; a rare old parchment Missal lying open, and +my lady's copy of a florid initial close beside it. On a small reading-desk +there was an open Tasso with a couple of Italian dictionaries near at +hand. Lady Laura had a taste for languages, and was fond of reviving her +acquaintance with foreign classics. She was really the most indefatigable +of women. It was a pity, perhaps, that her numerous accomplishments and +her multifarious duties towards society at large left her so very little +leisure to bestow upon her own children; but then, they had their foreign +governesses, and maids--there was one poor English drudge, by the way, who +seemed like a stranger in a far land--gifted in many tongues, and began +to imbibe knowledge from their cradles. To their young imaginations the +nursery wing of Hale Castle must have seemed remarkably like the Tower of +Babel. + +The lady of the Castle laid down her pen, and received Clarissa with warm +affection. She really liked the girl. It was only a light airy kind of +liking, perhaps, in unison with her character; but, so far as it went, it +was perfectly sincere. + +"My dear child, I am so glad to have you here," she said, placing Miss +Lovel beside her on a low sofa. "You will find me dreadfully busy +sometimes, I daresay; but you must not think me neglectful if I cannot be +very much with you downstairs. You are to come in and out of this room +whenever you please. It is not open to the world at large, you know, and I +am supposed to be quite inaccessible here; but it is open to my favourites, +and I mean you to be one of them, Clarissa." + +"You are very good, dear Lady Laura." + +"No, I am not good; I daresay I am the most selfish creature in +Christendom; but when I like people, I like them with all my heart. And now +tell me what you think of Hale." + +"It is lovely--it is like fairyland." + +"Yes, it is pretty, isn't it, this new side? It has all been done in my +time--it has all been my doing, indeed, I may venture to say; for Fred +would have gone on living contentedly in the old rooms till his dying day. +You can't imagine the trouble I took. I read no end of books upon the +domestic architecture of the middle ages, went all over England hunting for +model houses, and led the poor architect a fine life. But I think, between +us, we succeeded in carrying out a very fine idea at last. The crenellated +roof, with its machicolations, is considered a great success. There was a +time when one was obliged to get a license from the sovereign to build that +kind of thing; but it is all changed now. The sovereign is not afraid of +rebellion, and the machicolations are only for ornament. You have not seen +the old hall yet. That is splendid--a real original bit of the Castle, you +know, which has never been tampered with, as old as Edward III., with a +raised platform at the upper end, where the lord of the castle used to sit +while his vassals ate below him; and with a stone hearth in the centre, +where they used to make their wood fires, all the smoke going through an +opening in the roof--rather pleasant for my lord and his vassals, I should +think! Take off your hat, Clarissa; or perhaps you would rather go to your +room at once. Yes, you shall, dear; and I'll finish my letters, and we can +meet at luncheon." + +Lady Laura rang a bell twice; which particular summons produced a very +smart-looking maid, into whose charge my lady confided Clarissa, with a +pretty little wave of her hand, and "_a bientot_, dear child." + +The maid conducted Miss Lovel to a charming chintz-curtained bedroom on the +second floor, looking westward over those gorgeous flower-banks; a bedroom +with a bright-looking brass bedstead, and the daintiest chintz-patterned +carpet, and nothing medieval about it except the stone-framed gothic +window. + +"I will send a person to unpack your trunks, miss," the maid said, when she +had listened with a deferential air to Clarissa's praise of the room. "I +am very glad you like your rooms; my lady was most anxious you should be +pleased. I'll send Fosset miss; she is a very handy young person, and will +be always at your service to render you any assistance you may require." + +"Thank you--I am not likely to trouble her often; there is so very little +assistance I ever want. Sometimes, when I am putting on an evening dress, I +may ask for a little help perhaps--that is all." + +"She will be quite at your service, miss: I hope you will not scruple to +ring for her," the chief of the maids replied, and then made a dignified +exit. + +The maid of inferior degree, Fosset, speedily appeared; a +pale-complexioned, meek-looking young woman, who set about unpacking +Clarissa's trunks with great skill and quickness, and arranged their +contents in the capacious maple wardrobe, while their owner washed her face +and hands and brushed the dust of her brief journey out of her dark brown +hair. A clamorous bell rang out the summons to the midday meal presently, +and Clarissa went down to the hall, where a watchful footman took her in +charge. + +"Luncheon is served in the octagon room, miss," he said, and straightway +led her away to an apartment in an angle of the Castle: a room with a +heavily-carved oak ceiling, and four mullioned windows overlooking the +river; a room hung with gilt and brown stamped leather, and furnished in +the most approved mediaeval style. There was an octagon table, bright with +fruit and flowers, and a good many ladies seated round it, with only here +and there a gentleman. + +There was one of these gentlemen standing near Lady Laura's chair as +Clarissa went into the room, tall and stout, with a very fair good-natured +countenance, light blue eyes, and large light whiskers, whom, by reason +of some careless remarks of her father's, she guessed at once to be Mr. +Armstrong; a gentleman of whom people were apt to say, after the shortest +acquaintance, that there was not much in him, but that he was the best +fellow in the world--an excellent kind of person to be intrusted with the +disposal of a large fortune, a man by whom his neighbours could profit +without a too painful sense of obligation, and who was never so happy as +when a crowd of people were enjoying life at his expense. Friends who meant +to say something very generous of Frederick Armstrong were wont to observe, +that he was not such a fool as he looked. Nor, in the ordinary attributes +of a country gentleman, was the master of Hale Castle behind his compeers. +He rode like Assheton Smith, never missed his bird in the open, and had a +manly scorn of battues; was great in agriculture, and as good a judge of +a horse as any man in Yorkshire. His literary attainments were, perhaps, +limited to a comprehensive knowledge of the science of farriery, a profound +study of _Buff's Guide_, and a familiar acquaintance with _Bell's Life_ and +two or three weekly newspapers devoted to the agricultural interest; but +as he had the happiness to live amongst a race which rather cultivates the +divine gift of ignorance, his shortcomings awakened no scorn. + +When he was known to have made a bad book for the Leger or the Great Ebor, +his friends openly expressed their contempt for his mental powers; but no +one despised him because an expensive university training had made him +nothing more than a first-rate oarsman, a fair billiard-player, and a +distinguished thrower of the hammer. He was just what a country gentleman +should be in the popular idea--handsome, broad-shouldered, long-limbed, +with the fist and biceps of a gladiator, and a brain totally unburdened by +the scholiast's dry-as-dust rubbish: sharp and keen enough where the things +that interested him were in question, and never caring to look beyond them. + +To this gentleman Lady Laura introduced Clarissa. + +"Fred, this is Miss Lovel--Clarissa Lovel--and you and she are to like each +other very much, if you please. This is my husband, Clarissa, who cares +more for the cultivation of short-horns--whatever kind of creatures those +brutes may be--and ugly little shaggy black Highland cattle, than for my +society, a great deal; so you will see very little of him, I daresay, while +you are at the Castle. In London he is obliged to be shut-up with me now +and then; though, as he attends nearly all the race-meetings, I don't see +very much of him even there; but here he escapes me altogether." + +"Upon my word, Laura--upon my word, you know, Miss Lovel, there's not a +syllable of truth in it," exclaimed the gentleman with the light whiskers. +"My wife's always illuminating old Missals, or rending Italian, or +practising the harmonium, or writing out lists of things for her Dorcas +club, or something of that sort; and a fellow only feels himself in the way +if he's hanging about her. She's the busiest woman in the world. I don't +believe the prime minister gets through more work or receives more letters +than she does. And she answers 'em all too, by Jove; she's like the great +Duke of Wellington." + +"Do you happen to take a lively interest in steam-ploughs and +threshing-machines, and that kind of thing, Clarissa?" asked Lady Laura. + +"I'm afraid not. I never even saw a steam-plough; and I believe if I were +to see one, I should think it a most unpicturesque object." + +"I am sorry to hear that. Fred would have been so delighted with you, +if you'd shown agricultural proclivities. We had a young lady from +Westmoreland here last year who knew an immense deal about farming. She +was especially great upon pigs, I believe, and quite fascinated Fred by +tramping about the home farm with him in thick boots. I was almost jealous. +But now let me introduce you to some of my friends, Clarissa." + +Hereupon Miss Lovel had to bow and simper in response to the polite bows +and simpers of half a dozen ladies. Mrs. Weldon Dacre and three Miss +Dacres, Rose, Grace, and Amy, tall and bony damsels, with pale reddish +hair, and paler eyebrows and eyelashes, and altogether more "style" than +beauty; Mrs. Wilmot, a handsome widow, whom Frederick Armstrong and his +masculine friends were wont to call "a dasher;" Miss Fermor, a rather +pretty girl, with a piquant nose and sparkling hazel eyes; and Miss +Barbara Fermor, tall and slim and dark, with a romantic air. The gentlemen +were a couple of officers--Major Mason, stout, dark, hook-nosed, and +close-shaven; Captain Westleigh, fair, auburn-moustached and whiskered-- +and a meek-looking gentleman, of that inoffensive curate race, against +which Clarissa had been warned by her father. + +She found herself very quickly at home among these people. The Miss Fermors +were especially gifted in the art of making themselves delightful to +strangers; they had, indeed, undergone such training in a perpetual career +of country-house visiting, that it would have gone hard with them had they +not acquired this grace. The three tall pale Dacres, Rose, Grace, and Amy, +were more conventional, and less ready to swear alliance with the stranger; +but they were not disagreeable girls, and improved considerably after a +few days' acquaintance, showing themselves willing to take the bass in +pianoforte duets, sing a decent second, exhibit their sketch-books and +photographic collections in a friendly manner, and communicate new stitches +and patterns in _point de Russe_ or _point d'Alencon_. + +After luncheon Miss Lovel went off with Captain Westleigh and Miss +Fermor--Lizzie, the elder and livelier of the two sisters--to take her +first lesson in croquet. The croquet-ground was a raised plateau to the +left of the Italian garden, bounded on one side by a grassy slope and the +reedy bank of the river, and on the other by a plantation of young firs; a +perfect croquet-ground, smooth as an ancient bowling-green, and unbroken +by invading shrub or flower-bed. There were some light iron seats on the +outskirts of the ground here and there, and that was all. + +Clarissa received her lesson, and (having been lucky enough to send her +ball through the hoop now and then) was pronounced to have a natural genius +for croquet. It was a pleasant, idle afternoon, passed amidst so bright and +fair a scene, that the beauty of her surroundings alone was enough to give +Clarissa's life a new zest--a day which the mind recalls in the stormier +periods of after-life, wondering at its gracious peace, its utter freedom +from care or thought. Too soon came the time when there could be no more of +such girlish happiness for Clarissa, such perfect respite from thought of +to-morrow, or regret for yesterday. + +By-and-by came dressing for dinner, and then an assemblage of visitors +in the drawing-room--county people from neighbouring parks and halls and +courts--mingling pleasantly with the Castle guests, and then dinner in the +great dining-room; a splendid chamber, with a music-gallery at one end, and +with the earliest crystal chandeliers ever used in England, and given by +Queen Elizabeth to the Lord of Hale, for its chief decorations. At eight +o'clock these crystal chandeliers glittered with the light of many +wax-candles, though there was still the soft glow of sunset in the gardens +beyond the great gothic windows. + +That first visit to a great country house was like a new page in life to +Clarissa. She had not wearied of her quiet existence at Mill Cottage, her +books, her art, her freedom from the monotonous tasks and dull restraints +of school; but she felt that if life could always be like this, it would be +something very sweet and joyous. Captain Westleigh had contrived to take +her in to dinner. + +"I was determined to do it," he told her confidentially, as they sat down; +"so I made a rush across to you when I saw Lady Laura's eye upon you, +with a malicious intention of billeting you upon young Halkin, the great +cloth-manufacturer's son. I know Lady Laura so well; she will be trying to +plant all those rich manufacturing fellows upon you; she has quite a mania +for that sort of people." + +The Captain made himself very pleasant all through that long ceremonial of +dinner. If the brilliant things which he said were not quite the newest in +the world, they were at least new to Clarissa, who rewarded his efforts to +please her by seeming very much amused, and flattered, and stimulated him +to new flights by her appreciation. He told her all about the people round +her, making her feel less like a stranger in a foreign country; and that +pageant-like dinner, long as it was, did not seem at all too long to be +pleasant. + +After dinner there was a little music and singing at one end of the +drawing-room, to which people listened or not, as they pleased; a +friendly whist-table established at the other end, at which four elderly, +grey-whiskered, and bald-headed country gentlemen played gravely for an +hour or so; and a good deal of desultory strolling out through the open +windows to the terrace for the contemplation of the moonlit gardens, with +perhaps a spice of flirtation. Lady Laura was never quite happy unless she +saw something like flirtation going on among her younger visitors. She was +pleased to see Captain Westleigh's attention to Clarissa, though she would +rather that James Halkin had occupied the ground. But, alas! Mr. Halkin, +stiff and solemn as a policeman on duty, was standing by the chair of the +very palest and least beautiful of the Miss Dacres, mildly discussing a +collection of photographs of Alpine scenery. They had both been over the +same country, and were quite enthusiastic when they came to peaks and +mountain gorges that they remembered. + +"I was there with another fellow, and he nearly slipped just on that edge +there. It was as near as a----" Mr. Halkin was going to say "a toucher," +but it occurred to him that that vague expression was scarcely permissible +in conversation with a lady--"the nearest thing you ever saw in your life, +in fact. If it hadn't been for his alpen-stock, it would have been all over +with him; and the guides told us there'd been a fellow killed there the +year before. We stopped at Rigot's--I think the dearest hotel I was ever +at; but they gave us some very fair still champagne--very fair indeed." + +Lady Laura took occasion to warn Clarissa against the Captain when they +separated for the night, in the corridor upon which my lady's rooms opened. + +"Very nice, isn't he, dear? Come into my dressing-room for a few minutes' +talk;" and my lady led Clarissa into another charming chamber, all blue +silk and satin-wood, like the morning room. "Yes, he is very nice, and he +really seemed quite _epris_. Poor Herbert Westleigh! I've known him for +years. He belongs to one of the oldest families in Somersetshire, and is a +capital fellow, as my husband says; but a person not to be thought of by +you, Clarissa. There are a crowd of brothers, and I doubt if Herbert has +a hundred a year beyond his pay. Did you notice that Mr. Halkin, a rather +sandy-haired young man with a long nose? That young fellow will come into +thirty thousand a year by-and-by." + +"Yes, Lady Laura, I did notice him a little when he was talking to one of +the Miss Dacres. He seemed very stupid." + +"Stupid, my dear Clarissa! Why, I have been told that young man made a +good deal of character at Oxford. But I daresay you are taken by Herbert +Westleigh's rattling way. Now remember, my dear, I have warned you." + +"There is no occasion for any warning, Lady Laura. Believe me, I am in no +danger. I thought Captain Westleigh was very kind, and I liked him because +he told me all about the other people; that is all." + +"Very well, dear. You will see a good many people here; there is an +advantage in that--one influence neutralises another. But I should really +like you to take some notice of that Mr. Halkin. He will be a good deal +here, I daresay. His family live at Selbrook Hall, only four miles off. The +father and mother are the plainest, homeliest people, but very sensible; +live in a quiet unpretending style, and can't spend a quarter of their +income. When I speak of thirty thousand a year, I don't reckon the +accumulations that young man will inherit. He is the only son. There is a +sister; but she is lame and a confirmed invalid--not likely to live many +years, I think." + +Clarissa smiled at Lady Laura's earnestness. + +"One would think you were in league with papa, dear Lady Laura. He says I +am bound to marry a rich man." + +"Of course; it is a solemn duty when a girl is handsome and not rich. Look +at me: what would my life have been without Fred, Clarissa? There were five +of us, child: five daughters to be married, only think of that; and there +are still three unmarried. One of my sisters is coming here to-morrow. I do +so hope you will get on with her; but she is rather peculiar. I am glad to +say she is engaged at last--quite an old affair, and I think an attachment +on both sides for some time past; but it has only lately come to a definite +engagement. The gentleman's prospects were so uncertain; but that is all +over now. The death of an elder brother quite alters his position, and he +will have a very fine estate by-and-by. He is coming here, too, in a few +days, and I'm sure I hope the marriage will take place soon. But I must not +keep you here chattering, at the risk of spoiling your fresh looks." + +And with a gracious good-night Lady Laura dismissed her new _protegee_. + +Yes, it was a pleasant life, certainly; a life that drifted smoothly onward +with the tide, and to all seeming unshadowed by one sorrowful thought or +care. And yet, no doubt, with but a few youthful exceptions, every guest at +Hale Castle had his or her particular burden to carry, and black Care sat +behind the gentlemen as they rode to small country meetings or primitive +cattle-fairs. To Clarissa Lovel the state of existence was so new, that it +was scarcely strange she should be deluded by the brightness and glitter of +it, and believe that these people could have known no sorrow. + +She found herself looking forward with unwonted interest to the arrival of +Lady Laura's sister, Lady Geraldine Challoner. To a girl who has never had +a lover--to whom the whole science of love is yet a profound inscrutable +mystery--there is apt to be something especially interesting in the idea +of an engagement. To her the thought of betrothal is wondrously solemn. +A love-match too, and an attachment of long standing--there were the +materials for a romance in these brief hints of Lady Laura's. And then, +again, her sister described this Lady Geraldine as a peculiar person, with +whom it was rather doubtful whether Clarissa would be able to get on. All +this made her so much the more anxious to see the expected guest; and in +the morning's drive, and the afternoon's croquet, she thought more of Lady +Geraldine than of the landscape or the game. + +Croquet was over--Clarissa had taken part in a regular game this +afternoon--and the players were strolling about the gardens in couples, in +an idle half-hour before the first dinner-bell, when Miss Lovel met Lady +Laura with another lady. They were sauntering slowly along one of the +sunny gravel walks--there was every charm in this Italian garden except +shade--and stopped on seeing Clarissa. + +"Now, Geraldine, I shall be able to introduce you to my favourite, Clarissa +Lovel," said Lady Laura; "Captain Westleigh you know of old." + +The Captain and Lady Geraldine shook hands, declaring that they were quite +old friends--had known each other for ages, and so on; and Clarissa had a +few moments' pause, in which to observe the young lady. + +She was tall and slim, her sister's junior by perhaps five years, but not +more; very fair, with bright auburn hair--that golden-tinted hair, of which +there seems to be so much more nowadays than was to be seen twenty years +ago. She was handsome--very handsome--Clarissa decided at once; but it +seemed to her rather a cold, hard style of beauty; the straight nose, the +mouth, and chin chiselled with a clearness and distinctness that was almost +sharpness; the large luminous blue eyes, which did not seem to possess much +capacity for tenderness. + +Lady Laura was very proud of this sister, and perhaps just a little afraid +of her; but of course that latter fact was not obvious to strangers; +she was only a shade less volatile than usual in Geraldine's presence. +Geraldine was the beauty of the Challoner family, and her career had been +a failure hitherto; so that there was much rejoicing, in a quiet way, +now that Lady Geraldine's destiny was apparently decided, and in an +advantageous manner. + +She was sufficiently gracious to Clarissa, but displayed none of that +warmth which distinguished Lady Laura's manner to her new friend; and when +the sisters had turned aside into another path, and were out of hearing, +Geraldine asked rather sharply why "that girl" was here? + +"My dear Geraldine, she is perfectly charming. I have taken the greatest +fancy to her." + +"My dear Laura, when will you leave off those absurd fancies for +strangers?" + +"Clarissa Lovel is not a stranger; you must remember how intimate papa used +to be with her father." + +"I only remember that Mr. Lovel was a very selfish person, and that he has +lost his estate and gone down in the world. Why should you trouble yourself +about his daughter? You can only do the girl harm by bringing her here; she +will have to go out as a governess, I daresay, and will be writing to you +whenever she is out of a situation to ask some favour or other, and boring +you to death. I cannot think how you can be so inconsiderate as to entangle +yourself with that kind of acquaintance." + +"I don't mean Clarissa to be a governess; I mean her to make a good +marriage." + +"O, of course it is very easy to say that," exclaimed Lady Geraldine +scornfully; "but you have not been so fortunate as a match-maker hitherto. +Look at Emily and Louisa." + +"Emily and Louisa were so intractable and difficult to please, that I could +do nothing for them; and now I look upon them as confirmed old maids. But +it is a different thing with Clarissa. She is very sensible; and I do not +think she would stand in her own light if I could bring about what I wish. +And then she is so lovely. Emily and Louisa were good-looking enough half a +dozen years ago, but this girl is simply perfect. Come, Geraldine, you can +afford to praise her. Is she not lovely?" + +"Yes, I suppose she is handsome," the other answered icily. + +"You suppose she is handsome! It is really too bad of you to be prejudiced +against a girl I wanted you to like. As if this poor little Clarissa could +do anybody any harm! But never mind, she must do without your liking. And +now tell me all about George Fairfax. I was so glad to hear your news, +dear, so thoroughly rejoiced." + +"There is no occasion for such profound gladness. I could have gone on +existing very well as Geraldine Challoner." + +"Of course; but I had much rather see you well married, and your own +mistress; and this is such a good match." + +"Yes; from a worldly point of view, I suppose, the affair is +unexceptionable," Geraldine Challoner answered, with persistent +indifference; simulated indifference, no doubt, but not the less provoking +to her sister. "George will be rich by-and-by, and he is well enough off +now. We shall be able to afford a house in one of the streets out of Park +Lane--I have a rooted detestation for both Belgravia and Tyburnia--and a +carriage, and so on; and I shall not be worried as I have been about my +milliner's bills." + +"And then you are very fond of him, Geraldine," Lady Laura said, softly. + +There were still little romantic impulses in the matron's heart, and this +studied coldness of her sister's tone wounded her. + +"Yes, of course that is the beginning of the business. We like each other +very well," Lady Geraldine replied, still with the same unenthusiastic air. +"I think there has always been some kind of liking between us. We suit each +other very well, you see; have the same way of thinking about most things, +take the same view of life, and so on." + +Lady Laura gave a faint sigh of assent. She was disappointed by her +sister's tone; for in the time past she had more than once suspected that +Geraldine Challoner loved George Fairfax with a passionate half-despairing +love, which, if unrequited, might make the bane of her life. And, lo! here +was the same Geraldine discussing her engagement as coolly as if the match +had been the veriest marriage of convenience ever planned by a designing +dowager. She did not understand how much pride had to do with this +reticence, or what volcanic depths may sometimes lie beneath the Alpine +snows of such a nature as Geraldine Challoner's. + +In the evening Lady Geraldine was the centre of a circle of old friends and +admirers; and Clarissa could only observe her from a distance, and wonder +at her brilliancy, her power to talk of anything and everything with an air +of unlimited wisdom and experience, and the perfect ease with which she +received the homage offered to her beauty and wit. The cold proud face +lighted up wonderfully at night, and under the softening influence of so +much adulation; and Lady Geraldine's smiles, though wanting in warmth +at the best, were very fascinating. Clarissa wondered that so radiant a +creature could have been so long unmarried, that it could be matter for +rejoicing that she was at last engaged. It must have been her own fault, +of course; such a woman as this could have been a duchess if she pleased, +Clarissa thought. + +Lizzy Fermor came up to her while she was admiring the high-bred beauty. + +"Well, Miss Lovel, what do you think of her?" + +"Lady Geraldine? I think she is wonderfully handsome--and fascinating." + +"Do you? Then I don't think you can know the meaning of the word +'fascination.' If I were a man, that woman would be precisely the last +in the world to touch my heart. O yes, I admit that she is very +handsome--classic profile, bright blue eyes, complexion of lilies and +roses, real golden hair--not dyed, you know--and so on; but I should as +soon think of falling in love with a statue of snow as with Lady Geraldine +Challoner. I think she has just about as much heart as the statue would +have." + +"Those people with cold manners have sometimes very warm hearts," Clarissa, +remonstrated, feeling that gratitude to Lady Laura made it incumbent on her +to defend Lady Laura's sister. + +"Perhaps; but that is not the case with her. She would trample upon a +hecatomb of hearts to arrive at the object of her ambition. I think she +might have made more than one brilliant marriage since she has been +out--something like ten years, you know--only she was too cold, too +obviously mercenary. I am very sorry for George Fairfax." + +"Do you know him?" + +"Yes, and he is a very noble fellow. He has been rather wild, I believe; +but of course we are not supposed to know anything about that; and I have +heard that he is the most generous-hearted of men. I know Lady Geraldine +has contrived to keep him dangling about her whenever he was in England +for the last six or eight years; but I thought it was one of those old +established flirtations that would never come to anything--a kind of +institution. I was quite surprised to hear of their engagement--and very +sorry." + +"But Lady Geraldine is very much attached to him, is she not?" + +"O yes, I daresay she likes him; it would be almost difficult for any +one to avoid liking him. She used to do her utmost to keep him about her +always, I know; and I believe the flirtation has cost her more than one +chance of a good marriage. But I doubt if we should have ever heard of this +engagement if Reginald Fairfax had not died, and left his brother the heir +of Lyvedon." + +"Is Lyvedon a very grand place?" + +"It is a fine estate, I believe; a noble old house in Kent, with +considerable extent of land attached to it. The place belongs now to Sir +Spencer Lyvedon, an old bachelor, whose only sister is George Fairfax's +mother. The property is sure to come to Mr. Fairfax in a few years. He is +to be here to-morrow, they say; and you will see him, and be able to judge +for yourself whether Lady Geraldine is worthy of him." + +There was a little excursion proposed and planned that evening for the next +day--a drive to Marley Wood, a delicious bit of forest about seven miles +from the Castle, and a luncheon in the open air. The party was made up +on the spot. There were ladies enough to fill two carriages; a couple +of servants were to go first with the luncheon in a waggonette, and the +gentlemen were to ride. Everybody was delighted with the idea. It was one +of those unpremeditated affairs which are sure to be a success. + +"I am glad to have something to do with myself," said Lady Geraldine. "It +is better than dawdling away one's existence at croquet." + +"I hope you are not going to be dull here, Geraldine," replied Lady Laura. +"There are the Helston races next week, and a flower-show at Holborough." + +"I hate small country race-meetings and country flower-shows; but of course +I am not going to be dull, Laura. The Castle is very nice; and I shall hear +all about your last new _protegees_, and your Dorcas societies, and your +model cottages, and your architect, and your hundred-and-one schemes for +the benefit of your fellow-man. It is not possible to be dull in the +presence of so much energy." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VI. + +AND THIS IS GEORGE FAIRFAX. + + +The next day was lovely. There seemed, indeed, no possibility of variation +in the perfection of this summer weather; and Clarissa Lovel felt her +spirits as light as if the unknown life before her had been all brightness, +unshadowed by one dread or care. The party for Marley Wood started about an +hour after breakfast--Lady Laura, Mrs. Dacre, Barbara Fermor, and Clarissa, +in one carriage; two Miss Dacres, Lady Geraldine, and Mrs. Wilmot in the +other; Lizzy Fermor and Rose Dacre on horseback; with a small detachment of +gentlemen in attendance upon them. There were wide grassy waste lands +on each side of the road almost all the way to the wood, on which the +equestrian party could disport themselves, without much inconvenience +from the dust of the two carriages. Once arrived at the wood, there were +botanising, fern-hunting, sketching, and flirtation without limit. Lady +Laura was quite happy, discussing her Dorcas societies and the ingratitude +of her model cottagers, with Mrs. Dacre; Lady Geraldine sat at the foot +of a great shining beech, with her white dress set off by a background of +scarlet shawl, and her hat lying on the grass beside her. She seemed +too listless to ramble about with the rest of the party, or to take the +faintest interest in the conversation of any of the gentlemen who tried to +talk to her. She amused herself in a desultory way with a drawing-book and +a volume of a novel, and did not appear to consider it incumbent on her to +take notice of any one. + +Clarissa and Barbara Fermor wandered away into the heart of the wood, +attended by the indefatigable Captain Westleigh, and sketched little bits +of fern and undergrowth in their miniature sketch-books, much to the +admiration of the Captain, who declared that Clarissa had a genius for +landscape. "As you have for croquet and for everything else, I think," he +said; "only you are so quiet about your resources. But I am very glad you +have not that grand sultana manner of Lady Geraldine Challoner's. I really +can't think how any man can stand it, especially such a man as George +Fairfax." + +"Why 'especially'?" asked Miss Fermor, curiously. + +"Well, I don't know exactly how to explain my meaning to a lady--because +he has knocked about the world a good deal--seen a great deal of life, in +short. _Il a vecu_, as the French say. He is not the kind of man to be any +woman's slave, I should think; he knows too much of the sex for that. He +would take matters with rather a high hand, I should fancy. And then Lady +Geraldine, though she is remarkably handsome, and all that kind of thing, +is not in the first freshness of her youth. She is nearly as old as +George, I should say; and when a woman is the same age as a man, it is +her misfortune to seem much older. No, Miss Fermor, upon my word, I don't +consider them fairly matched." + +"The lady has rank," said Barbara Fermor. + +"Yes, of course. It will be Mr. and Lady Geraldine Fairfax. There are some +men who care for that kind of thing; but I don't suppose George is one of +them. The Fairfaxes are of a noble old Scotch family, you know, and hold +themselves equal to any of our nobility." + +"When is Mr. Fairfax expected at the Castle?" + +"Not till to-night. He is to come by the last train, I believe. You may +depend Lady Geraldine would not be here if there were any chance of his +arriving in the middle of the day. She will keep him up to collar, you +maybe sure. I shouldn't like to be engaged to a woman armed with the +experience of a decade of London seasons. It must be tight work!" + +A shrill bell, pealing gaily through the wood, summoned them to luncheon; +a fairy banquet spread upon the grass under a charmed circle of beeches; +chicken-pies and lobster-salads, mayonaise of salmon and daintily-glazed +cutlets in paper frills, inexhaustible treasure of pound-cake and +strawberries and cream, with a pyramid of hothouse pines and peaches in +the centre of the turf-spread banquet. And for the wines, there were no +effervescent compounds from the laboratory of the wine-chemist--Lady +Laura's guests were not thirsty cockneys, requiring to be refreshed by +"fizz"--but delicate amber-tinted vintages of the Rhineland, which seemed +too ethereal to intoxicate, and yet were dangerous. And for the more +thirsty souls there were curiously compounded "cups:" hock and seltzer; +claret and soda-water, fortified with curacoa and flavoured artistically +with burrage or sliced pine-apple. + +The banquet was a merry one; and it was nearly four o'clock when the ladies +had done trifling with strawberries and cream, and the gentlemen had +suspended their homage to the Rhineland. Then came a still more desultory +wandering of couples to and fro among the shadowy intricacies of the +wood; and Clarissa having for once contrived to get rid of the inevitable +Captain, who had been beguiled away to inspect some remote grotto under +convoy of Barbara Fermor, was free to wander alone whither she pleased. She +was rather glad to be alone for a little. Marley Wood was not new to her. +It had been a favourite spot of her brother Austin's, and the two had spent +many a pleasant day beneath the umbrage of those old forest-trees; she, +sitting and reading, neither of them talking very much, only in a spasmodic +way, when Austin was suddenly moved by some caprice to pour out his +thoughts into the ear of his little sister--strange bitter thoughts they +were sometimes; but the girl listened as to the inspirations of genius. +Here he had taught her almost all that she had ever learned of landscape +art. She had only improved by long practice upon those early simple +lessons. She was glad to be alone, for these old memories were sad ones. +She wandered quite away from the rest, and, sitting down upon a bank that +sloped towards a narrow streamlet, began to sketch stray tufts and clusters +of weedy undergrowth--a straggling blackberry-branch, a bit of ivy creeping +sinuously along the uneven ground--in an absent desultory way, thinking of +her brother and the days gone by. She had been alone like this about half +an hour, when the crackling of the brambles near her warned her of an +approaching footstep. She looked up, and saw a stranger approaching her +through the sunlight and shadows of the wood--a tall man, in a loose, gray +overcoat. + +A stranger? No. As he came nearer to her, the face seemed very familiar; +and yet in that first moment she could not imagine where she had seen him. +A little nearer, and she remembered all at once. This was her companion +of the long railway journey from London to Holborough. She blushed at +the recollection, not altogether displeased to see him again, and yet +remembering bitterly that cruel mistake she had made about Arden Court. She +might be able to explain her error now, if he should recognise her and stop +to speak; but that was scarcely likely. He had forgotten her utterly, no +doubt, by this time. + +She went on with her sketching--a trailing spray of Irish ivy, winding away +and losing itself in a confusion of bramble and fern, every leaf sharply +defined by the light pencil touches, with loving pre-Raphaelite care--she +went on, trying to think that it was not the slightest consequence to +her whether this man remembered their brief acquaintance of the +railway-carriage. And yet she would have been wounded, ever so little, +if he had forgotten her. She knew so few people, that this accidental +acquaintance seemed almost a friend. He had known her brother, too; and +there had been something in his manner that implied an interest in her +fate. + +She bent a little lower over the sketch-book, doing her uttermost not to be +seen, perhaps all the more because she really did wish for the opportunity +of explaining that mistake about Arden Court. Her face was almost hidden +under the coquettish gray hat, as she bent over her drawing; but the +gentleman came on towards her with evident purpose. It was only to make an +inquiry, however. + +"I am looking for a picnic party," he said. "I discovered the _debris_ of a +luncheon yonder, but no human creature visible. Perhaps you can kindly +tell me where the strayed revellers are to be found; you are one of them, +perhaps?" + +Clarissa looked up at him, blushing furiously, and very much ashamed of +herself for the weakness, and then went on with her drawing in a nervous +way, as she answered him,-- + +Yes, I am with Lady Laura Armstrong's party; but I really cannot tell you +where to look for them all. They are roaming about in every direction, I +believe." + +"Good gracious me!" cried the gentleman, coming a good deal +nearer--stepping hastily across the streamlet, in fact, which had divided +him from Clarissa hitherto. "Have I really the pleasure of speaking to +Miss Lovel? This is indeed a surprise. I scarcely expected ever to see you +again." + +"Nor I to see you," Clarissa answered, recovering herself a little by this +time, and speaking with her accustomed frankness. "And I have been very +anxious to see you again." + +"Indeed!" cried the gentleman eagerly. + +"In order to explain a mistake I made that night in the railway-carriage, +in speaking of Arden Court. I talked of the place as if it had still +belonged to papa; I did not know that he had sold it, and fancied I was +going home there. It was only when I saw my uncle that I learnt the truth. +You must have thought it very strange." + +"I was just a little mystified, I confess, for I had dined at the Court +with Mr. Granger." + +"Papa had sold the dear old place, and, disliking the idea of writing such +unpleasant news, had told me nothing about the sale. It was not wise, of +course; but he felt the loss of Arden so keenly, I can scarcely wonder that +he could not bring himself to write about it." + +"It would have been better to have spared you, though," the unknown +answered gravely. "I daresay you were as fond of the old home as ever your +father could have been?" + +"I don't think it would be possible for any one to love Arden better than +I. But then, of course, a man is always prouder than a woman--" + +"I am not so sure of that," the stranger muttered parenthetically. + +"--And papa felt the degradation involved in the loss." + +"I won't admit of any degradation in the case. A gentleman is none the less +a gentleman for having spent his fortune rather recklessly, and the old +blood is no less pure without the old acres. If your father were a wise +man, he might be happier now than he has ever been. The loss of a great +estate is the loss of a bundle of cares." + +"I daresay that is very good philosophy," Clarissa answered, smiling, +beguiled from painful thoughts by the lightness of his tone; "but I doubt +if it applies to all cases--not to papa's, certainly." + +"You were sketching, I see, when I interrupted you. I remember you told me +that night of your fondness for art. May I see what you were doing?" + +"It is hardly worth showing you. I was only amusing myself, sketching at +random--that ivy straggling along there, or anything that caught my eye." + +"But that sort of thing indicates so much. I see you have a masterly touch +for so young an artist. I won't say anything hackneyed about so fair a one; +for women are showing us nowadays that there are no regions of art closed +against them. Well, it is a divine amusement, and a glorious profession." + +There was a little pause after this, during which Clarissa looked at her +watch, and finding it nearly five o'clock, began to put up her pencils and +drawing-book. + +"I did not think that you knew Lady Laura Armstrong," she said; and then +blushed for the speech, remembering that, as she knew absolutely nothing +about himself or his belongings, the circumstance of her ignorance on this +one point was by no means surprising. + +"No; nor did I expect to meet you here," replied the gentleman. "And yet I +might almost have done so, knowing that you lived at Arden. But, you see, +it is so long since we met, and I----" + +"Had naturally forgotten me." + +"No, I had not forgotten you, Miss Lovel, nor would it have been natural +for me to forget you. I am very glad to meet you again under such agreeable +auspices. You are going to stay at the Castle a long time, I hope. I am +booked for an indefinite visit." + +"O no, I don't suppose I shall stay very long. Lady Laura is extremely +kind; but this is my first visit, and she must have many friends who have a +greater claim upon her hospitality." + +"Hale Castle is a large place, and I am sure Lady Laura has always room for +agreeable guests." + +"She is very, very kind. You have known her a long time, perhaps?" + +"Yes. I have been intimate with the Challoners ever since I was a boy. +Lady Laura was always charming; but I think her marriage with Fred +Armstrong--who worships the ground she walks on--and the possession of Hale +Castle have made her absolutely perfect." + +"And you know her sister, Lady Geraldine, of course?" + +"O yes, I know Geraldine." + +"Do you know Mr. Fairfax, the gentleman to whom she is engaged?" + +"Well, yes; I am supposed to have some knowledge of that individual." + +Something in his smile, and a certain significance in his tone, let in a +sudden light upon Clarissa's mind. + +"I am afraid I am asking very foolish questions," she said. "You are Mr. +Fairfax?" + +"Yes, I am George Fairfax. I forgot that I had omitted to you my name that +night." + +"And I had no idea that I was speaking to Mr. Fairfax. You were not +expected till quite late this evening." + +"No; but I found my business in London easier to manage than I had supposed +it would be; so, as in duty bound, I came down here directly I found myself +free. When I arrived at the Castle, I was told of this picnic, and rode off +at once to join the party." + +"And I am keeping you here, when you ought to be looking for your friends." + +"There is no hurry. I have done my duty, and am here; that is the grand +point. Shall we go and look for them together?" + +"If you like. I daresay we shall be returning to the Castle very soon." + +They sauntered slowly away, in and out among the trees, towards a grassy +glade, where there was more open space for walking, and where the afternoon +sun shone warmly on the smooth turf. + +"I hope you get on very well with Geraldine?" Mr. Fairfax said presently. + +It was almost the same phrase Lady Laura had used about her sister. + +"I have seen so little of her yet," Clarissa answered, rather embarrassed +by this inquiry. "I should like to know her very much; but she only arrived +yesterday, and we have scarcely spoken half-a-dozen words to each other +yet." + +"You will hardly like her at first, perhaps," Mr. Fairfax went on, +doubtfully. "People who don't know much of her are apt to fancy her cold +and proud; but to those whom she really likes she is all that is charming, +and I don't think she can fail to like you." + +"You are very kind to say so. I hope she may like me. Do you know, I have +been so much interested in Lady Geraldine from the first, before I saw her +even--partly, perhaps, because her sister told me about her engagement. You +will think that very romantic and silly, I daresay." + +"Not at all; a young lady is bound to be interested in that kind of thing. +And I hope your interest in Lady Geraldine was not lessened when you did +see her." + +"It could scarcely be that. No one could help admiring her." + +"Yes, she is very handsome, there is no question about that; she has been +an acknowledged beauty ever since she came out. I think I can catch a +glimpse of her yonder among the trees; I see a white dress and a scarlet +shawl. Geraldine always had a penchant for scarlet draperies." + +"Yes, that is Lady Geraldine." + +They hastened their steps a little, and came presently to the circle of +beeches where they had lunched, and where most of the party were now +assembled, preparing for the return journey. Lady Geraldine was sauntering +to and fro with Major Mason, listening with a somewhat indifferent air to +that gentleman's discourse. + +She caught sight of her lover the moment he appeared; and Clarissa saw the +statuesque face light up with a faint flush of pleasure that brightened it +wonderfully. But however pleased she might be, Lady Geraldine Challoner was +the last of women to demonstrate her pleasure in her lover's arrival by any +overt act. She received him with the tranquil grace of an empress, who sees +only one courtier more approach the steps of her throne. They shook hands +placidly, after Mr. Fairfax had shaken hands and talked for two or three +minutes with Lady Laura Armstrong, who welcomed him with considerable +warmth. + +The major dropped quietly away from Lady Geraldine's side, and the plighted +lovers strolled under the trees for a little, pending the signal for the +return. + +"So you know Miss Lovel?" Geraldine said, with an icy air of surprise, as +soon as she and George Fairfax were alone. + +"I can hardly say that I know her; our acquaintance is the merest +accident," answered Mr. Fairfax; and then proceeded to relate his railway +adventure. + +"How very odd that she should travel alone!" + +"Scarcely so odd, when you remember the fact of her father's poverty. He +could not be supposed to find a maid for his daughter." + +"But he might be supposed to take some care of her. He ought not to have +allowed her to travel alone--at night too." + +"It was careless and imprudent, no doubt. Happily she came to no harm. She +was spared from any encounter with a travelling swell-mobsman, who would +have garotted her for the sake of her watch and purse, or an insolent +bagman, who would have made himself obnoxiously agreeable on account of her +pretty face." + +"I suppose she has been in the habit of going about the world by herself. +That accounts for her rather strong-minded air." + +"Do you find her strong-minded? I should have thought her quite gentle and +womanly." + +"I really know nothing about her; and I must not say anything against her. +She is Laura's last _protegee_; and you know, when my sister takes any one +up, it is always a case of rapture." + +After this the lovers began to talk about themselves, or rather George +Fairfax talked about himself, giving a detailed account of his proceedings +since last they had met. + +"I went down to see my uncle," he said, "the day before yesterday. He is at +Lyvedon, and I had a good look at the old house. Really it is the dearest +old place in the world, Geraldine, and I should like above all things to +live there by-and-by, when the estate is ours. I don't think we are likely +to wait very long. The poor old man is awfully shaky. He was very good to +me, dear old boy, and asked all manner of kind questions about you. I think +I have quite won his heart by my engagement; he regards it as a pledge of +my reform." + +"I am glad he is pleased," replied Lady Geraldine, in a tone that was just +a shade more gracious than that in which she had spoken of Clarissa. + +The summons to the carriages came almost immediately. Mr. Fairfax conducted +his betrothed to her seat in the barouche, and then mounted his horse to +ride back to the Castle beside her. He rode by the side of the carriage +all the way, indifferent to dust; but there was not much talk between the +lovers during that homeward progress, and Clarissa fancied there was a +cloud upon Mr. Fairfax's countenance. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VII. + +DANGEROUS GROUND. + + +Life was very pleasant at Hale Castle. About that one point there could be +no shadow of doubt. Clarissa wondered at the brightness of her new +existence; began to wonder vaguely by-and-by what it was that made it seem +brighter every day. There was the usual round of amusements +--dinner-parties, amateur concerts, races, flower-shows, excursions +to every point of interest within a day's drive, a military ball +at the garrison-town twenty miles off, perennial croquet, and gossip, and +afternoon tea-drinking in arbours or marquees in the gardens, and unlimited +flirtation. It was impossible for the most exacting visitor to be dull. +There was always something. + +And to Clarissa all these things possessed the charm of freshness. She was +puzzled beyond measure by the indifference, real or simulated, of the girls +who had seen half-a-dozen London seasons; the frequent declarations that +these delights only bored them, that this or that party was a failure. +George Fairfax watched her bright face sometimes, interested in spite of +himself by her freshness. + +"What a delicious thing youth is!" he said to himself. "Even if that girl +were less completely lovely than she is, she would still be most charming. +If Geraldine were only like that--only fresh and candid and pure, and +susceptible to every new emotion! But there is an impassable gulf of ten +years between them. Geraldine is quite as handsome--in her own particular +style--and she talks much better than Clarissa Lovel, and is more clever, +no doubt; and yet there are some men who would be bewitched by that girl +before they knew where they were." + +Very often after this Mr. Fairfax fell a-musing upon those apocryphal men +who might be subjugated by the charms of Miss Lovel. + +When did he awaken to the fatal truth that those charms were exercising a +most potent influence upon his own mind? When did he open his eyes for the +first time to behold his danger? + +Not yet. He was really attached to Geraldine Challoner. Her society had +been a kind of habit with him for several years of his life. She had been +more admired than any woman he knew, and it was, in some sort, a triumph to +have won her. That he never would have won her but for his brother's death +he knew very well, and accepted the fact as a matter of course; a mere +necessity of the world in which they lived, not as evidence of a mercenary +spirit in the lady. He knew that no woman could better discharge the duties +of an elevated station, or win him more social renown. To marry Geraldine +Challoner was to secure for his house the stamp of fashion, for every +detail of his domestic life a warrant of good taste. She had a kind of +power over him too, an influence begun long ago, which had never yet been +oppressive to him. And he took these things for love. He had been in love +with other women during his long alliance with Lady Geraldine, and had +shown more ardour in the pursuit of other flames than he had ever evinced +in his courtship of her; but these more passionate attachments had come, +for the most part, to a sorry end; and now he told himself that Geraldine +suited him better than any other woman in the world. + +"I have outgrown all foolish notions," he said to himself, believing that +the capacity was dead within him for that blind unreasoning passion which +poets of the Byronic school have made of love. "What I want is a wife; a +wife of my own rank, or a little above me in rank; a wife who will be true +and loyal to me, who knows the world well enough to forgive my antecedents, +and to be utterly silent about them, and who will help me to make a +position for myself in the future. A man must be something in this world. +It is a hard thing that one cannot live one's own life; but it seems +inevitable somehow." + +His mother had helped not a little to the bringing about of this +engagement. She knew that her son's bachelor life had been at best a wild +one; not so bad as it was supposed to be, of course, since nothing in this +world ever is so bad as the rest of the world supposes it; and she was very +anxious to see him safely moored in the sheltered harbour of matrimony. She +was a proud woman, and she was pleased that her son should have an earl's +daughter for his wife; and beyond this there was the fact that she liked +Lady Geraldine. The girl who had been too proud to let the man she loved +divine the depth of her feeling, had not been too proud to exhibit her +fondness for his mother. There had grown up a warm friendship between these +two women; and Mrs. Fairfax's influence had done much, almost unknown +to her son, to bring about this result of his chronic flirtation with +Geraldine Challoner. + +Just at present he was very well satisfied with the fact of his engagement, +believing that he had taken the best possible means for securing his future +happiness; an equable, quiet sort of happiness, of course--he was nearly +thirty, and had outlived the possibility of anything more than that. It +would have bored him to suppose that Geraldine expected more from him +than this tranquil kind of worship. Perhaps the lady understood this, and +schooled herself to a colder tone than was even natural to her, rather than +be supposed for one moment to be the more deeply attached of the two. + +Thus it happened that Mr. Fairfax was not severely taxed in his capacity of +plighted lover. However exacting Lady Geraldine may have been by nature, +she was too proud to demand more exclusive attention than her betrothed +spontaneously rendered; indeed, she took pains to let him perceive that he +was still in full enjoyment of all his old bachelor liberty. So the days +drifted by very pleasantly, and George Fairfax found himself in Clarissa +Lovel's society perhaps a little oftener than was well for either of those +two. + +He was very kind to her; he seemed to understand her better than other +people, she thought; and his companionship was more to her than that of +any one else--a most delightful relief after Captain Westleigh's incessant +frivolity, or Mr. Halkin's solemn small-talk. In comparison with these +men, he appeared to such wonderful advantage. Her nature expanded in his +society, and she could talk to him as she talked to no one else. + +He used to wonder at her eloquence sometimes, as the beautiful face glowed, +and the dark hazel eyes brightened; he wondered not a little also at the +extent of her reading, which had been wide and varied during that quiet +winter and spring-time at Mill Cottage. + +"What a learned lady you are!" he said, smiling at her enthusiasm one day, +when they had been talking of Italy and Dante; "your close knowledge of the +poet puts my poor smattering to shame. Happily, an idler and a worldling +like myself is not supposed to know much. I was never patient enough to be +a profound reader; and if I cannot tear the heart out of a book, I am apt +to throw it aside in disgust. But you must have read a great deal; and yet +when we met, less than a year ago, you confessed to being only a schoolgirl +fresh from grinding away at Corneille and Racine." + +"I have had the advantage of papa's help since then," answered Clarissa, +"and he is very clever. He does not read many authors, but those he does +care for he reads with all his heart. He taught me to appreciate Dante, and +to make myself familiar with the history of his age, in order to understand +him better." + +"Very wise of him, no doubt. And that kind of studious life with your papa +is very pleasant to you, I suppose, Miss Lovel?" + +"Yes," she answered thoughtfully; "I have been quite happy with papa. Some +people might fancy the life dull, perhaps, but it has scarcely seemed so to +me. Of course it is very different from life here; but I suppose one would +get tired of such a perpetual round of pleasure as Lady Laura provides for +us." + +"I should imagine so. Life in a country house full of delightful people +must be quite intolerable beyond a certain limit. One so soon gets tired of +one's best friends. I think that is why people travel so much nowadays. It +is the only polite excuse for being alone." + +The time came when Clarissa began to fancy that her visit had lasted long +enough, and that, in common decency, she was bound to depart; but on +suggesting as much to Lady Laura, that kindly hostess declared she could +not possibly do without her dearest Clarissa for ever so long. + +"Indeed, I don't know how I shall ever get on without you, my dear," she +said; "we suit each other so admirably, you see. Why, I shall have no one +to read Tasso with--no one to help me with my Missal when you are gone." + +Miss Lovel's familiar knowledge of Italian literature, and artistic tastes, +had been altogether delightful to Lady Laura; who was always trying to +improve herself, as she called it, and travelled from one pursuit to +another, with a laudable perseverance, but an unhappy facility for +forgetting one accomplishment in the cultivation of another. Thus by +a vigorous plunge into Spanish and Calderon this year, she was apt to +obliterate the profound impression created by Dante and Tasso last year. +Her music suffered by reason of a sudden ardour for illumination; or art +went to the wall because a London musical season and an enthusiastic +admiration of Halle had inspired her with a desire to cultivate a more +classic style of pianoforte-playing. So in her English reading, each new +book blotted out its predecessor. Travels, histories, essays, biographies, +flitted across the lady's brain like the coloured shadows of a +magic-lantern, leaving only a lingering patch of picture here and there. +To be versatile was Lady Laura's greatest pride, and courteous friends had +gratified her by treating her as an authority upon all possible subjects. +Nothing delighted her so much as to be appealed to with a preliminary, +"Now, you who read so much, Lady Laura, will understand this;" or, "Dear +Lady Laura, you who know everything, must tell me why," etc.; or to be told +by a painter, "You who are an artist yourself can of course see this, Lady +Laura;" or to be complimented by a musician as a soul above the dull mass +of mankind, a sympathetic spirit, to whom the mysteries of harmony are a +familiar language. + +In that luxurious morning-room of Lady Laura's Clarissa generally spent the +first two hours after breakfast. Here the children used to come with French +and German governesses, in all the freshness of newly-starched cambric and +newly-crimped tresses, to report progress as to their studies and general +behaviour to their mother; who was apt to get tired of them in something +less than a quarter of an hour, and to dispatch them with kisses and +praises to the distant schoolrooms and nurseries where these young exotics +were enjoying the last improvements in the forcing system. + +Geraldine Challoner would sometimes drop into this room for a few minutes +at the time of the children's visit, and would converse not unkindly with +her nephews and nieces; but for her sister's accomplishments she displayed +a profound indifference, not to say contempt. She was not herself given to +the cultivation of these polite arts--nothing could ever induce her to sing +or play in public. She read a good deal, but rarely talked about books--it +was difficult indeed to say what Lady Geraldine did talk about--yet in +the art of conversation, when she chose to please, Geraldine Challoner +infinitely surpassed the majority of women in her circle. Perhaps this may +have been partly because she was a good listener; and, in some measure, on +account of that cynical, mocking spirit in which she regarded most things, +and which was apt to pass for wit. + +Clarissa had been a month at Hale Castle already; but she stayed on at the +urgent desire of her hostess, much too happy in that gay social life to +oppose that lady's will. + +"If you really, really wish to have me, dear Lady Laura," she said; "but +you have been so kind already, and I have stayed so long, that I begin to +feel myself quite an intruder." + +"You silly child! I do really, really wish to have you. I should like to +keep you with me always, if I could. You suit me so much better than any of +my sisters; they are the most provoking girls in the world, I think, for +being uninterested in my pursuits. And your Italian is something wonderful. +I have not opened my dictionary since we have been reading together. And +beyond all that, I have a very particular reason for wishing you to be here +next month." + +"Why next month, Lady Laura?" + +"I am not going to tell you that." + +"But you quite mystify me." + +"I mean to mystify you. No, it's not the least use asking questions, Clary; +but mind, you must not tease me any more about running away: that is +understood." + +In all this time Clarissa had not found herself any nearer to that desired +result of getting on well with Geraldine Challoner. That, lady seemed quite +as far away from her after a month's acquaintance as she had seemed at the +very first. It was not that Lady Geraldine was uncivil. She was polite, +after her manner, to Clarissa, but never cordial; and yet she could not +fail to see that George Fairfax admired and liked Miss Lovel, and she might +have been supposed to wish to think well of any one he liked. + +Was she jealous of Clarissa? Well, no, it scarcely seemed possible to +associate the fever of jealousy with that serene temperament. She had an +air of complete security in all her intercourse with George Fairfax, which +was hardly compatible with doubt or the faintest shadow of suspicion. + +If ever she did speak of Miss Lovel to her lover, or to any one else, she +talked of her as a pretty country girl, and seemed to consider her as far +removed, by reason of her youth and obscure position, from herself, as if +they had been inhabitants of two separate worlds. + +Mr. Lovel had been invited to several dinner-parties at the Castle during +his daughter's visit, but was not to be drawn from his seclusion. He had no +objection, however, that Clarissa should stay as long as Lady Laura cared +to retain her, and wrote very cordially to that effect. + +What a pleasant, idle, purposeless life it was, and how rapidly it drifted +by for Clarissa! She wondered to find herself so happy; wondered what the +charm was which made life so new and sweet, which made her open her eyes on +the morning sunshine with such a glad eagerness to greet the beginning +of another day, and filled up every hour with such a perfect sense of +contentment. + +She wondered at this happiness only in a vague dreamy way, not taking much +trouble to analyse her feelings. It was scarcely strange that she should be +completely happy in a life so different from her dull existence at home. +The freshness and beauty of all these pleasant things would be worn off in +time, no doubt, and she would become just like those other young women, +with their experience of many seasons, and their perpetual complaint of +being bored; but just now, while the freshness lasted, everything delighted +her. + +Clarissa had been more than six weeks at the Castle, while other visitors +had come and gone, and the round of country-house gaieties had been +unbroken. The Fermors still lingered on, and languidly deprecated the +length of their visit, without any hint of actual departure. Captain +Westleigh had gone back to his military duties, very much in love with +Miss Lovel. He plaintively protested, in his confidences with a few chosen +friends, against a Providence which had made them both penniless. + +"I don't suppose I shall ever meet such a girl again," he would declare +piteously. "More than once I was on the point of making her an offer; the +words were almost out, you know; for I don't go in for making a solemn +business of the thing, with a lot of preliminary palaver. If a fellow +really likes a girl, he doesn't want to preach a sermon in order to let her +know it; and ever so many times, when we've been playing croquet, or when +I've been hanging about the piano with her of an evening, I've been on the +point of saying, 'Upon my word, Miss Lovel, I think we two are eminently +suited to each other, don't you?' or something plain and straightforward +of that kind; and then I've remembered that her father can't give her a +sixpence, which, taken in conjunction with my own financial condition, +would mean starvation!" + +"And do you think she liked you?" a curious friend would perhaps inquire. + +"Well, I don't know. She might do worse, you see. As a rule, girls +generally do like me. I don't see why there should be any difference in her +case." + +Nor did the Captain for a moment imagine that Clarissa would have rejected +him, had he been in a position to make an offer of his hand. + +Lady Geraldine was a fixture at Hale. She was to stay there till her +marriage, with the exception, perhaps, of a brief excursion to London for +millinery purposes, Lady Laura told Clarissa. But the date of the marriage +had not yet been settled--had been, indeed, only discussed in the vaguest +manner, and the event seemed still remote. + +"It will be some time this year, I suppose," Lady Laura said; "but beyond +that I can really say nothing. Geraldine is so capricious; and perhaps +George Fairfax may not be in a great hurry to give up his bachelor +privileges. He is very different from Fred, who worried me into marrying +him six weeks after he proposed. And in this case a long engagement seems +so absurd, when you consider that they have known each other for ten years. +I shall really be very glad when the business is over, for I never feel +quite sure of Geraldine." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER VIII. + +SMOULDERING FIRES. + + +With the beginning of August there came a change in the weather. High +winds, gloom, and rain succeeded that brilliant cloudless summer-time, +which had become, as it were, the normal condition of the universe; +and Lady Laura's guests were fain to abandon their picnics and forest +excursions, their botanical researches and distant-race meetings--nay, even +croquet itself, that perennial source of recreation for the youthful mind, +had to be given up, except in the most fitful snatches. In this state +of things, amateur concerts and acted charades came into fashion. The +billiard-room was crowded from breakfast till dinner time. It was +a charmingly composite apartment--having one long wall lined with +bookshelves, sacred to the most frivolous ephemeral literature, and a grand +piano in an arched recess at one end of the room--and in wet weather was +the chosen resort of every socially-disposed guest at Hale. Here Clarissa +learned to elevate her pretty little hand into the approved form of bridge, +and acquired some acquaintance with the mysteries of cannons and pockets. +It was Mr. Fairfax who taught her billiards. Lady Geraldine dropped into +the room now and then, and played a game in a dashing off-hand way with her +lover, amidst the admiring comments of her friends; but she did not come +very often, and Mr. Fairfax had plenty of time for Clarissa's instruction. + +Upon one of these wet days he insisted upon looking over her portfolio of +drawings; and in going through a heap of careless sketches they came upon +something of her brother Austin's. They were sitting in the library,--a +very solemn and splendid chamber, with a carved oak roof and deep mullioned +windows,--a room that was less used than any other apartment in the Castle. +Mr. Fairfax had caught Miss Lovel here, with her portfolio open on the +table before her, copying a drawing of Piranesi's; so there could be no +better opportunity for inspecting the sketches, which she had hitherto +refused to show him. + +That sketch of Austin's--a group of Arab horsemen done in pen and ink--set +them talking about him at once; and George Fairfax told Clarissa all he +could tell about his intercourse with her brother. + +"I really liked him so much," he said gently, seeing how deeply she was +moved by the slightest mention of that name. "I cannot say that I ever knew +him intimately, that I can claim to have been his friend; but I used at +one time to see a good deal of him, and I was very much impressed by +his genius. I never met a young man who gave me a stronger notion of +undisciplined genius; but, unhappily, there was a recklessness about him +which I can easily imagine would lead him into dangerous associations. I +was told that he had quarrelled with his family, and meant to sell out, and +take to painting as a profession,--and I really believe that he would have +made his fortune as a painter; but when I heard of him next, he had gone +abroad--to the colonies, some one said. I could never learn anything more +precise than that." + +"I would give the world to know where he is," said Clarissa mournfully; +"but I dare not ask papa anything about him, even if he could tell me, +which I doubt very much. I did try to speak of him once; but it was no +use--papa would not hear his name." + +"That seems very hard; and yet your father must have been proud of him and +fond of him once, I should think." + +"I am not sure of that. Papa and Austin never seemed to get on quite well +together. There was always something--as if there had been some kind of +hidden resentment, some painful feeling in the mind of each. I was too +young to be a competent judge, of course; but I know, as a child, I had +always a sense that there was a cloud between those two, a shadow that +seemed to darken our lives." + +They talked for a long time of this prodigal son; and this kind of +conversation seemed to bring them nearer to each other than anything else +that had happened within the six weeks of their acquaintance. + +"If ever I have any opportunity of finding out your brother's whereabouts, +Miss Lovel, you may be sure that I will use every effort to get you some +tidings of him. I don't want to say anything that might lead to your being +disappointed; but when I go to town again, I will hunt up a man who used to +be one of his friends, and try to learn something. Only you must promise me +not to be disappointed if I fail." + +"I won't promise that; but I promise to bear my disappointment quietly, and +to be grateful to you for your goodness," Clarissa answered, with a faint +smile. + +They went on with the inspection of the drawings, in which Mr. Fairfax +showed himself deeply interested. His own manipulative powers were of the +smallest, but he was an excellent critic. + +"I think I may say of you what I said of your brother just now--that you +might make a fortune, if you were to cultivate art seriously." + +"I wish I could make a fortune large enough to buy back Arden Court," +Clarissa answered eagerly. + +"You think so much of Arden?" + +"O yes, I am always thinking of it, always dreaming of it; the dear old +rooms haunt me sleeping and waking. I suppose they are all altered now. I +think it would almost break my heart to see them different." + +"Do you know, I am scarcely in a position to understand that fervent love +for one's birthplace. I may be said to have no birthplace myself. I +was born in lodgings, or a furnished house--some temporary ark of that +kind--the next thing to being born on board ship, and having Stepney for +one's parish. My father was in a hard-working cavalry regiment, and the +early days of my mother's married life were spent in perpetual wanderings. +They separated, when I was about eight years old, for ever--a sad story, +of course--something worse than incompatibility of temper on the husband's +side; and from that time I never saw him, though he lived for some years. +So, you see, the words 'home' and 'father' are for me very little more than +sentimental abstractions. But with my mother I have been quite happy. She +has indeed been the most devoted of women. She took a house at Eton when +my brother and I were at school there, and superintended our home studies +herself; and from that time to this she has watched my career with +unchanging care. It is the old story of maternal kindness and filial +shortcomings. I have given her a world of trouble; but I am not the less +fond of her, or the less grateful to her." He stopped for a few moments, +with something like a sigh, and then went on in a lighter tone: "You can +see, however, that having no ancestral home of my own, I am hardly able to +understand the depth of your feeling for Arden Court. There is an old place +down in Kent, a fine old castellated mansion, built in the days of Edward +VI., which is to be mine by-and-by; but I doubt if I shall ever value it as +you do your old home. Perhaps I am wanting in the poetic feeling necessary +for the appreciation of these things." + +"O no, it is not that," Clarissa answered eagerly; "but the house you +speak of will not have been your home. You won't have that dim, dreamy +recollection of childhood spent in the old rooms; another life, the life of +another being almost, it seems, as one looks back to it. I have only +the faintest memory of my mother; but it is very sweet, and it is all +associated with Arden Court. I cannot conjure up her image for a moment +without that background. Yes, I do wish for fortune, for that one reason. I +would give the world to win back Arden." + +She was very much in earnest. Her cheeks flushed and her eyes brightened +with those eager words. Never perhaps had she looked lovelier than at that +moment. George Fairfax paused a little before he answered her, admiring the +bright animated face; admiring her, he thought, very much as he might have +admired some beautiful wayward child. And then he said gravely: + +"It is dangerous to wish for anything so intensely. There are wishes the +gratification whereof is fatal. There are a dozen old stories in the +classics to show that; to say nothing of all those mediaeval legends in +which Satan is complaisant to some eager wisher." + +"But there is no chance of my wish being gratified. If I could work my +fingers to the bone in the pursuit of art or literature, or any of the +professions by which women win money, I should never earn the price of +Arden; nor would that hateful Mr. Granger be disposed to sell a place which +gives him his position in the county. And I suppose he is fond of it, +after a fashion. He has spent a fortune upon improvements. Improvements!" +repeated Clarissa contemptuously; "I daresay be has improved away the very +spirit of the place." + +"You cherish a strong dislike for this gentleman, it seems, Miss Lovel." + +"I am wicked enough to dislike him for having robbed us of Arden. Of course +you will say that any one else might have bought the place. But then I can +only reply, that I should have disliked any other purchaser just the same; +a little less though, perhaps, if he had been a member of some noble old +family--a man with a great name. It would have been some consolation to +think that Arden was promoted." + +"I am afraid there is a leaven of good old Tory spirit in your composition, +Miss Lovel." + +"I suppose papa is a Tory. I know he has a profound contempt for what he +calls new people--very foolish, of course, I quite feel that; but I think +he cannot help remembering that he comes of a good old race which has +fallen upon evil days." + +"You remember my telling you that I had been to Arden Court. Mr. Granger +gave a state dinner once while I was staying here, and I went with Fred and +Lady Laura. I found him not by any means a disagreeable person. He is just +a little slow and ponderous, and I should scarcely give him credit for +a profound or brilliant intellect; but he is certainly sensible, +well-informed, and he gave me the idea of being the very essence of truth." + +"I daresay he is very nice," Clarissa answered with a subdued sigh. "He has +always been kind and attentive to papa, sending game and hothouse fruit, +and that kind of thing; and he has begged that we would use the park as if +it were our own; but I have never crossed the boundary that divides my new +home from my old one. I couldn't bear to see the old walks now." + +They talked for a good deal longer, till the clanging of the Castle bell +warned Clarissa that it was time to dress for dinner. It is amazing how +rapidly time will pass in such serious confidential talk. George Fairfax +looked at his watch with an air of disbelief in that supreme authority the +Castle bell, which was renowned for its exact observance of Greenwich time. +That blusterous rainy August afternoon had slipped away so I quickly. + +"It is a repetition of my experience during that night journey to +Holborough," Mr. Fairfax said, smiling. "You have a knack of charming away +the hours, Miss Lovel." + +It was the commonest, most conventional form of compliment, no doubt; but +Clarissa blushed a little, and bent rather lower over the portfolio, which +she was closing, than she had done before. Then she put the portfolio under +her arm, murmured something about going to dress, made George Fairfax a +gracious curtsey, and left him. + +He did not hurry away to make his own toilet, but walked up and down the +library for some minutes, thinking. + +"What a sweet girl she is!" he said to himself; "and what a pity her +position is not a better one! With a father like that, and a brother who +has stamped himself as a scapegrace at the beginning of life, what is to +become of her? Unless she marries well, I see no hopeful prospect for her +future. But of course such a girl as that is sure to make a good marriage." + +Instead of being cheered by this view of the case, Mr. Fairfax's brow grew +darker, and his step heavier. + +"What does it matter to me whom she chooses for her husband?" he asked +himself; "and yet no man would like to see such a girl throw herself away +for mercenary reasons. If I had known her a few months ago! If! What is the +history of human error but a succession of 'ifs'? Would it have been better +for me or for her, that we had learned to know each other while I was free? +The happiest thing for _me_ would have been never to have met her at all. +I felt myself in some kind of danger that night we met in the +railway-carriage. Her race is fatal to mine, I begin to think. Any +connection in that quarter would have galled my mother to the quick--broken +her heart perhaps; and I am bound to consider her in all I do. Nor am I a +schoolboy, to fancy that the whole colour of my life is to be governed by +such an influence as this. She is only a pretty woman, with a low sweet +voice, and gentle winning ways. Most people would call Geraldine the +handsomer of the two. Poor child! She ought to seem no more than a child to +me. I think she likes me, and trusts me. I wish Geraldine were kinder to +her; I wish-----" + +He did not particularise that last wish, even to himself, but went away to +dress, having wasted the first quarter of the three-quarters that elapsed +between the first and second bell at Hale Castle. + +Throughout that evening, which was an unusually quiet and domestic evening +for Hale, he did not talk any more to Clarissa. It might even have been +thought that he scrupulously, and of a fixed purpose, avoided her. +He devoted himself to chess with Lady Geraldine; a game he played +indifferently, and for which he cherished a profound aversion. But chess +was one of Geraldine Challoner's strong points; and that aristocratic +beauty never looked more regal than when she sat before a chess-table, with +one thin white hand hovering gently above the carved ivory pieces. + +Mr. Fairfax lost four or five games in succession, excusing his own +careless play every time by some dexterous compliment to his betrothed. +More than once he stifled a yawn--more than once his glances wandered away +to the group near the piano, amidst which Clarissa was seated, listening to +Lizzy Fermor's brilliant waltzes and mazurkas, with an open music-book +on her lap, turning over the leaves now and then, with rather a listless +pre-occupied air, Mr. Fairfax thought. + +That evening did certainly seem very dreary to Clarissa, in spite of Miss +Fermor's dashing music and animated chatter. She missed that other talk, +half playful, half earnest, with which George Fairfax had been wont to +beguile some part of every evening; finding her out, as if by a subtle +instinct, in whatever corner of the room she happened to be, and always +devoting one stray half-hour of the evening to her society. To-night all +things came to an end: matrons and misses murmured their good-nights and +sailed away to the corridor, where there was a regiment of small silver +candlesticks, emblazoned with the numerous quarterings of Armstrong and +Challoner; and George Fairfax only rose from the chess-table as Lady +Laura's guests abandoned the drawing-room. Geraldine bade her lover +good-night with her most bewitching smile--a smile in which there was even +some faint ray of warmth. + +"You have given me some very easy victories," she said, as they shook +hands, "and I won't flatter you by saying you have played well. But it was +very good of you to sit so long at a game which I know you detest, only to +please me." + +"A very small sacrifice, surely, my dear Geraldine. We'll play chess every +night, if you like. I don't care much for the game in the abstract, I +admit; but I am never tired of admiring your judicious play, or the +exquisite shape of your hands." + +"No, no; I don't want to try you with such severe training. I saw how tired +you were more than once to-night, and how your eyes wandered away to those +noisy girls by the piano, like an idle boy who is kept at his lessons when +his companions are at play." + +Mr. Fairfax's sunburnt countenance reddened a little at this reproof. + +"Was I inattentive?" he asked; "I did not know that. I was quite aware of +my bad play, and I really believe I was conscientious." + +And so they wished each other good-night and parted. Geraldine Challoner +did not go at once to her own room. She had to pass her sister's quarters +on her way, and stopped at the door of the dressing-room. + +"Are you quite alone, Laura?" she asked, looking in. + +"Quite alone." + +A maid was busy unweaving a splendid pyramid of chestnut plaits which had +crowned the head of her mistress; but she of course counted for nothing, +and could be dismissed at any moment. + +"And there will not be half-a-dozen people coming in to gossip?" Lady +Geraldine asked in rather a fretful tone, as she flung herself into an +arm-chair near the dressing-table. + +"Not a soul; I have wished every one good-night. I was rather tired, to +tell the truth, and not inclined for talk. But of course I am always glad +of a chat with you, Geraldine.--You may go, Parker; I can finish my hair +myself." + +The maid retired, as quietly as some attendant spirit. + +Lady Laura took up a big ivory brush and began smoothing the long chestnut +locks in a meditative way, waiting for her sister to speak. But Lady +Geraldine seemed scarcely in the mood for lively conversation; her fingers +were twisting themselves in and out upon the arm of her chair in a nervous +way, and her face had a thoughtful, not to say moody, expression. + +Her sister watched her for some minutes silently. + +"What is the matter, Geraldine?" she inquired at last. "I can see there is +something wrong." + +"There is very much that is wrong," the other answered with a kind of +suppressed vehemence. "Upon my word, Laura, I believe it is your destiny +to stand in my light at every stage of my life, or you would scarcely have +happened to have planted that girl here just at this particular time." + +"What girl?" cried Lady Laura, amazed at this sudden accusation. + +"Clarissa Lovel." + +"Good gracious me, Geraldine! what has my poor Clarissa done to offend +you?" + +"Your poor Clarissa has only set her cap at George Fairfax; and as she +happens to be several years younger than I am, and I suppose a good deal +prettier, she has thoroughly succeeded in distracting his attention--his +regard, perhaps--from myself." + +Laura Armstrong dropped the hair-brush, in profound consternation. + +"My dear Geraldine, this is the merest jealous folly on your part. Clarissa +is the very last girl in the world who would be guilty of such meanness as +to try and attract another woman's lover. Besides, I am sure that George's +attachment to yourself--" + +"Pray, don't preach about that, Laura!" her sister broke in impatiently. "I +must be the best judge of his attachment; and you must be the very blindest +of women, if you have not seen how your newest pet and _protegee_ has +contrived to lure George to her side night after night, and to interest him +by her pretty looks and juvenile airs and graces." + +"Why, I don't believe George spoke to Miss Lovel once this evening; he was +playing chess with you from the moment he came to the drawing-room after +dinner." + +"To-night was an exceptional case. Mr. Fairfax was evidently on duty. His +manner all the evening was that of a man who has been consciously culpable, +and is trying to atone for bad behaviour. And your favourite was wounded by +his desertion--I could see that." + +"She did seem a little depressed, certainly," Lady Laura answered +thoughtfully; "I observed that myself. But I know that the girl has a noble +nature, and if she has been so foolish as to be just a little attracted by +George Fairfax, she will very; quickly awake to a sense of her folly. Pray +don't give yourself the faintest uneasiness, Geraldine. I have my plans for +Clarissa Lovel, and this hint of yours will make me more anxious to put +them into execution. As for George, it is natural to men to flirt; there's +no use in being angry with them. I'm sure that wretched Fred of mine has +flirted desperately, in his way." + +Lady Geraldine gave her shoulders a contemptuous shrug, expressive of a +most profound indifference to the delinquencies of Mr. Armstrong. + +"Your husband and George Fairfax are two very different people," she said. + +"But you don't for a moment suppose there is anything serious in this +business?" Laura asked anxiously. + +"How can I tell? I sometimes think that George has never really cared for +me; that he proposed to me because he thought his mother would like the +marriage, and because our names had often been linked together, and our +marriage was in a manner expected by people, and so on. Yes, Laura, I have +sometimes doubted if he ever loved me--I hate to talk of these things, even +to you; but there are times when one must confide in some one--and I have +been sorely tempted to break off the engagement." + +She rose from her chair, and began to pace up and down the room in a quick +impatient way. + +"Upon my honour, I believe it would be the happiest thing for both of us," +she said. + +Lady Laura looked at her sister with perfect consternation. + +"My dearest Geraldine, you would surely never be so mad!" she exclaimed. +"You could not be so foolish as to sacrifice the happiness of your future +life to a caprice of the moment--a mere outbreak of temper. Pray, let there +be an end of such nonsense. I am sure George is sincerely attached to you, +and I am very much mistaken in you if you do not like him--love him--better +than you can ever hope to love any other man in this world." + +"O yes; I like him well enough," said Geraldine Challoner impatiently; "too +well to endure anything less than perfect sincerity on his part." + +"But, my dearest, I am sure that he is sincere," Laura answered soothingly. +"Now, my own Geraldine, do pray be reasonable, and leave this business to +me. As for Clarissa, I have plans for her, the realization of which would +set your mind quite at ease; but if I cannot put them into execution +immediately, the girl shall go. Of course you are the first consideration. +With regard to George, if you would only let me sound him, I am sure I +should get at the real state of his feelings and find them all we can +wish----" + +"Laura!" cried Geraldine indignantly, "if you dare to interfere, in the +smallest degree, with this business, I shall never speak to you again." + +"My dear Geraldine!" + +"Remember that, Laura, and remember that I mean what I say. I will not +permit so much as the faintest hint of anything I have told you." + +"My dearest girl, I pledge myself not to speak one word," protested Lady +Laura, very much, alarmed by her sister's indignation. + +Geraldine left her soon after this, vexed with herself for having betrayed +so much feeling, even to a sister; left her--not to repose in peaceful, +slumbers, but to walk up and down her room till early morning, and look +out at daybreak on the Castle gardens and the purple woods beyond, with a +haggard face and blank unseeing eyes. + +George Fairfax meanwhile had lain himself down to take his rest in +tolerable good-humour with himself and the world in general. + +"I really think I behaved very well," he said to himself; "and having +made up my mind to stop anything like a flirtation with that perilously +fascinating Clarissa, I shall stick to my resolve with the heroism of an +ancient Roman; though the Romans were hardly so heroic in that matter, by +the way--witness the havoc made by that fatal Egyptian, a little bit of a +woman that could be bundled up in a carpet--to say nothing of the general +predilection for somebody else's wife which prevailed in those days, and +which makes Suetonius read like a modern French novel. I did not think +there was so much of the old leaven left in me. My sweet Clarissa! I fancy +she likes me--in a sisterly kind of way, of course--and trusts me not a +little. And yet I must seem cold to her, and hold myself aloof, and wound +the tender untried heart a little perhaps. Hard upon both of us, but I +suppose only a common element in the initiatory ordinances of matrimony." + +And so George Fairfax closed hie eyes and fell asleep, with the image of +Clarissa before him in that final moment of consciousness, whereby the same +image haunted him in his slumbers that night, alternately perplexing or +delighting him; while ever and anon the face of his betrothed, pale and +statue-like, came between him and that other face; or the perfect hand he +had admired at chess that night was stretched out through the darkness to +push aside the form of Clarissa Lovel. + +That erring dreamer was a man accustomed to take all things lightly; not a +man of high principle--a man whose best original impulses had been weakened +and deadened not a little by the fellowship he had kept, and the life he +had led; a man unhappily destined to exercise an influence over others +disproportionate to the weight of his own character. + +Lady Laura was much disturbed by her sister's confidence; and being of a +temperament to which the solitary endurance of any mental burden is almost +impossible, immediately set to work to do the very things which would have +been most obnoxious to Geraldine Challoner. In the first place she awakened +her husband from comfortable slumbers, haunted by no more awful forms than +his last acquisition in horseflesh, or the oxen he was fattening for the +next cattle-show; and determinedly kept him awake while she gave him a +detailed account of the distressing scene she had just had with "poor +Geraldine." + +Mr. Armstrong, whose yawns and vague disjointed replies were piteous to +hear, thought there was only one person in question who merited the epithet +"poor," and that person himself; but he made some faint show of being +interested nevertheless. + +"Silly woman! silly woman!" he mumbled at last. "I've always thought she +rides the high horse rather too much with Fairfax. Men don't like that sort +of thing, you know. Geraldine's a very fine woman, but she can't twist a +man round her fingers as you can, Laura. Why don't you speak to George +Fairfax, and hurry on the marriage somehow? The sooner the business is +settled the better, with such a restive couple as these two; uncommonly +hard to drive in double harness--the mare inclined to jib, and the other +with a tendency to shy. You're such a manager, Laura, you'd make matters +square in no time." + +If Lady Laura prided herself on one of her attributes more than +another--and she did cherish a harmless vanity about many things--it was in +the idea that she was a kind of social Talleyrand. So on this particular +occasion, encouraged by simple Fred Armstrong, who had a rooted belief that +there never had existed upon this earth such a wonderful woman as his wife, +my lady resolved to take the affairs of her sister under her protection, +and to bring all things to a triumphant issue. She felt very little +compunction about breaking her promise to Geraldine. + +"All depends upon the manner in which a thing is done," she said to herself +complacently, as she composed herself for slumber; "of course I shall act +with the most extreme delicacy. But it would never do for my sister's +chances in life to be ruined for want of a little judicious intervention." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER IX. + +LADY LAURA DIPLOMATISES. + + +The weather was fine next day, and the Castle party drove ten miles to +a rustic racecourse, where there was a meeting of a very insignificant +character, but interesting to Mr. Armstrong, to whom a horse was a source +of perennial delight, and a fair excuse for a long gay drive, and a picnic +luncheon in carriages and on coach-boxes. + +Amongst Lady Laura's accomplishments was the polite art of driving. To-day +she elected to drive a high phaeton with a pair of roans, and invited +George Fairfax to take the seat beside her. Lady Geraldine had a headache, +and had not appeared that morning; but had sent a message to her sister, +to request that her indisposition, which was the merest trifle, might not +prevent Mr. Fairfax going to the races. + +Mr. Fairfax at first seemed much inclined to remain at home, and perform +garrison duty. + +"Geraldine will come downstairs presently, I daresay," he said to Lady +Laura, "and we can have a quiet stroll in the gardens, while you are all +away. I don't care a straw about the Mickleham races. Please leave me at +home, Lady Laura." + +"But Geraldine begs that you will go. She'll keep her room all day, I've no +doubt; she generally does, when she has one of her headaches. Every one +is going, and I have set my heart on driving you. I want to hear what you +think of the roans. Come, George, I really must insist upon it." + +She led him off to the phaeton triumphantly; while Frederick Armstrong was +fain to find some vent for his admiration of his gifted wife's diplomacy +in sundry winks and grins to the address of no one in particular, as he +bustled to and fro between the terrace and the hall, arranging the mode and +manner of the day's excursion--who was to be driven by whom, and so on. + +Clarissa found herself bestowed in a landau full of ladies, Barbara Fermor +amongst them; and was very merry with these agreeable companions, who gave +her no time to meditate upon that change in Mr. Fairfax's manner last +night, which had troubled her a little in spite of her better sense. He was +nothing to her, of course; an accidental acquaintance whom she might never +see again after this visit; but he had known her brother, and he had been +kind and sympathetic--so much so, that she would have been glad to think +that he was really her friend. Perhaps, after all, there was very little +cause that she should be perplexed or worried on account of his quiet +avoidance of her that one evening; but then Clarissa Lovel was young and +inexperienced, and thus apt to be hypersensitive, and easily disturbed +about trifles. + +Having secured a comfortable _tete-a-tete _with Mr. Fairfax, Lady Laura +lost no time in improving the occasion. They were scarcely a mile from the +Castle before she began to touch upon the subject of the intended marriage, +lightly, and with an airy gaiety of manner which covered her real +earnestness. + +"When is it to be, George?" she asked. "I really want to know something +positive, on account of my own engagement and Fred's, which must all hinge +more or less on this important business. There's no use in my talking to +Geraldine, for she is really the most impracticable of beings, and I can +never get her to say anything definite." + +"My dear Lady Laura, I am almost in the same position. I have more than +once tried to induce her to fix the date for her marriage, but she has +always put the subject aside somehow or other. I really don't like to bore +her, you see; and no doubt things will arrange themselves in due course." + +Lady Laura gave a little sigh of relief. He did not avoid the +question--that was something; nor did her interference seem in any manner +unpleasant to him. Indeed, nothing could be more perfect than his air of +careless good-humour, Lady Laura thought. + +But she did not mean the subject to drop here; and after a little graceful +manipulation of the reins, a glance backward to see how far behind they had +left the rest of the caravan, and some slight slackening of the pace at +which they had been going, she went on. + +"No doubt things would arrange themselves easily enough, if nothing +happened to interfere with our plans. But the fact is, my dear George, I am +really most uneasy about the state of poor papa's health. He has been so +sadly feeble for the last three or four years, and I feel that we may lose +him at any moment. At his age, poor dear soul, it is a calamity for winch +we must be prepared, but of course such an event would postpone our +marriage for a long time, and I should really like to see my sister happily +settled before the blow fell upon her. She has been so much with him, you +see, and is so deeply attached to him--it will be worse for her than for +any of us." + +"I--I conclude so," Mr. Fairfax replied rather doubtfully. He could not +help wondering a little how his betrothed cared to leave a beloved father +in so critical a condition; but he knew that his future sister-in-law was +somewhat given to exaggeration, a high colouring of simple facts, as well +as to the friendly direction of other people's affairs, he was therefore +not surprised, upon reflection, that she should magnify her father's danger +and her sister's filial devotion. Nor was he surprised that she should be +anxious to hasten his marriage. It was natural to this impulsive matron to +be eager for something, some event involving fine dress and invitations, +elaborate dinners, and the gathering together of a frivolous crowd to be +astonished and delighted by her own cleverness and fascination. To have +a handsome sister to marry, and to marry well, was of course a great +opportunity for the display of all those powers in which Lady Laura took +especial pride. + +And then George Fairfax had told himself that this marriage was the best +possible thing for him; and being so, it would be well that there should be +no unnecessary delay. He had perhaps a vague feeling that he was giving up +a good deal in sacrificing his liberty; but on the whole the sacrifice was +a wise one, and could not be consummated too quickly. + +"I trust you alarm yourself needlessly about your father, my dear Lady +Laura," he said presently; "but, upon my word, you cannot be more anxious +to see this affair settled than I am. I want to spend my honeymoon at +Lyvedon, the quietest, most picturesque old place you can imagine, but not +very enjoyable when the leaves are falling. My good uncle has set his heart +on my borrowing his house for this purpose, and I think it would please +Geraldine to become acquainted with an estate which must be her own in a +few years." + +"Unquestionably," cried Lady Laura eagerly; "but you know what Geraldine +is, or you ought to know--so foolishly proud and sensitive. She has known +you so long, and perhaps--she would never forgive me if she knew I had +hinted such a thing--had half-unconsciously given you her heart before she +had reason to be assured of your regard: and this would make her peculiarly +sensitive. Now do, dear George, press the question, and let everything be +settled as soon as possible, or I have an apprehension that somehow or +other my sister will slip through your fingers." + +Mr. Fairfax looked wonderingly at his charioteer. + +"Has she said anything to put this fancy into your head?" he asked, with +gravity rather than alarm. + +"Said anything! O dear, no. Geraldine is the last person to talk about her +own feelings. But I know her so well," concluded Lady Laura with a solemn +air. + +After this there came a brief silence. George Fairfax was a little puzzled +by my lady's diplomacy, and perhaps just a little disgusted. Again and +again he told himself that this union with Geraldine Challoner was the very +best thing that could happen to him; it would bring him to anchor, at any +rate, and he had been such mere driftwood until now. But he wanted to feel +himself quite a free agent, and this pressing-on of the marriage by Lady +Laura was in some manner discordant with his sense of the fitness of +things. It looked a little like manoeuvring; yet after all she was quite +sincere, perhaps, and did really apprehend her father's death intervening +to postpone the wedding. + +He would not remain long silent, lest she should fancy him displeased, and +proceeded presently to pay her some compliments upon the roans, and on her +driving; after which they rattled on pleasantly enough till they came to +the green slope of a hill, where there was a rude rustic stand and a railed +racecourse, with a sprinkling of carriages on one side and gipsy-tents on +the other. + +Here Mr. Fairfax delivered over Lady Laura to her natural protector; and +being free to stroll about at his own pleasure, contrived to spend a very +agreeable day, devoting the greater part thereof to attendance upon the +landau full of ladies, amongst whom was Clarissa Lovel. And she, being +relieved from that harassing notion that she had in some unknown manner +offended him, and being so new to all the pleasures of life that even these +rustic races were delightful to her, was at her brightest, full of gay +girlish talk and merry laughter. He was not to see her thus many times +again, in all the freshness of her young beauty, perfectly natural and +unrestrained. + +Once in the course of that day he left his post by the landau, and went +for a solitary ramble; not amongst the tents, where black-eyed Bohemians +saluted him as "my pretty gentleman," or the knock-'em-downs and +weighing-machines, or the bucolic babble of the ring, but away across the +grassy slope, turning his back upon the racecourse. He wanted to think it +out again, in his own phrase, just as he had thought it out the day before +in the library at Hale. + +"I am afraid I am getting too fond of her," he said to himself. "It's the +old story: just like dram-drinking. I take the pledge, and then go and +drink again. I am the weakest of mankind. But it cannot make very much +difference. She knows I am engaged--and--Lady Laura is right. The sooner +the marriage comes off, the better. I shall never be safe till the knot is +tied; and then duty, honour, feeling, and a dozen other motives, will hold +me to the right course." + +He strolled back to his party only; a little time before the horses were +put in, and on this occasion went straight to the phaeton, and devoted +himself to Lady Laura. + +"You are going to drive me home, of course?" he said. "I mean to claim my +place." + +"I hardly think you have any right to it, after your desertion of me. You +have been flirting with those girls in the landau all day." + +"Flirting is one of the melancholy privileges of my condition. An engaged +man enjoys an immunity in that matter. When a criminal is condemned to +death, they give him whatever he likes to eat, you know. It is almost the +same kind of thing." + +He took his place in the phaeton presently, and talked gaily enough all the +way home, in that particular strain required to match my lady's agreeable +rattle; but he had a vague sense of uneasiness lurking somewhere in his +mind, a half-consciousness that he was drifting the wrong way. + +All that evening he was especially attentive to Lady Geraldine, whose +headache had left her with a pale and pensive look which was not without +its charm. The stately beauty had a softer air, the brightness of the blue +eyes was not so cold as it was wont to be. They played chess again, and Mr. +Fairfax kept aloof from Clarissa. They; walked together in the gardens for +a couple of hours next morning; and George Fairfax pressed the question of +his marriage with such a show of earnestness and warmth, that Geraldine's +rebellious pride was at once solaced and subdued, and she consented to +agree to any arrangement he and Lady Laura might make. + +"My sister is so much more practical than I am," she said, "and I would +really rather leave everything to her and to you." + +Lightly as she tried to speak of the future, she did on this occasion allow +her lover to perceive that he was indeed very dear to her, and that the +coldness which had sometimes wounded him was little more than a veil +beneath which a proud woman strove to hide her deepest feelings. Mr. +Fairfax rather liked this quality of pride in his future wife, even if it +were carried so far as to be almost a blemish. It would be the surest safe +guard of his home in the time to come. Such women are not prone to petty +faults, or given to small quarrels. A man has a kind of security from +trivial annoyances in an alliance with such a one. + +It was all settled, therefore, in that two hours' stroll in the sunny +garden, where the roses still bloomed, in some diminution of their +midsummer glory, their sweetness just a little over powered by the spicy +odour of innumerable carnations, their delicate colours eclipsed here and +there by an impertinent early dahlia. Everything was settled. The very date +of the wedding was to be decided at once by Lady Laura and the bridegroom; +and when George Fairfax went back to the Castle, he felt, perhaps for the +first time in his life, that he really was an engaged man. It was rather a +solemn feeling, but not altogether an unpleasant one. He had seen more of +Geraldine Challoner's heart this morning than he had ever seen before. It +pleased him to discover that she really loved him; that the marriage was +to be something more to her than a merely advantageous alliance; that she +would in all probability have accepted him had he offered himself to her in +his brother's lifetime. Since his thirtieth birthday he had begun to feel +himself something of a waif and stray. There had been mistakes in his life, +errors he would be very glad to forget in an utterly new existence. It was +pleasant to know himself beloved by a proud and virtuous woman, a woman +whose love was neither to be easily won nor lightly lost. + +He went back to the Castle more at ease with himself than he had felt for +some time. His future was settled, and he had done his duty. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER X. + +LADY LAURA'S PREPARATIONS. + + +After that interview between Mr. Fairfax and his betrothed, there was no +time wasted. Laura Armstrong was enraptured at being made arbiter of the +arrangements, and was all haste and eagerness, impetuosity and animation. +The wedding was appointed for the second week in September, about five +weeks from the period of that garden _tete-a-tete_. Lady Geraldine was to +go to town for a week, attended only by her maid, to see her father, and to +give the necessary orders for her trousseau. The business of settlements +would be arranged between the family lawyers. There were no difficulties. +Lord Calderwood was not able to settle anything on his daughter, and +Mr. Fairfax was inclined to be very generous. There was no prospect of +squabbling or unpleasantness. + +George Fairfax was to be away during this brief absence of his betrothed. +He had an engagement with an old friend and brother officer who was wont +to spend the autumn in a roughly comfortable shooting-box in the north of +Scotland, and whom he had promised to visit before his marriage; as a kind +of farewell to bachelorhood and bachelor friendship. There could be no +other opportunity for the fulfilment of this promise, and it was better +that Mr. Fairfax should be away while Lady Geraldine was in London. As the +period of his marriage became imminent, he had a vague feeling that he was +an object of general attention; that every feminine eye, at any rate, was +on him; and that the watch would be all the closer in the absence of his +betrothed No, he did not want to dawdle away a week (off duty) at Hale +Castle. Never before had he so yearned for the rough freedom of Major +Seaman's shooting-quarters, the noisy mirth of those rude Homeric feasts, +half dinner, half supper, so welcome after a long day's sport, with a quiet +rubber, perhaps, to finish with, and a brew of punch after a recondite +recipe of the Major's, which he was facetiously declared to bear tattooed +above the region of his heart. Mr. Fairfax had been two months at Hale when +Lady Geraldine left on that dutiful visit to her father, and necessary +interviewing of milliners and dressmakers; and he was, it is just +possible, a little tired of decorous country-house life, with its weekly +dinner-parties and perpetual influx of county families to luncheon, and its +unfailing croquet. He felt, too, that at such a time it would, be perhaps +safer for him to be away from Clarissa Lovel. + +Was there any real danger for him in her presence? If he asked himself this +question nowadays, he was able to answer boldly in the negative. There +might have been a time of peril, just one perilous interval when he was in +some danger of stumbling; but he had pulled himself up in time, with an +admirable discretion, he thought, and now felt as bold as a lion. After +that morning with Lady Geraldine in the garden, he had never wavered. He +had not been less kind or polite to Miss Lovel; he had only made a point +of avoiding anything like that dangerous confidential friendship which had +been so nearly arising between them. + +Of course every guest at the Castle knew all about the intended wedding +directly things had been finally arranged. Lady Laura was not given to the +keeping of secrets, and this important fact she communicated to all her +particular friends with a radiant face, and a most triumphant manner. The +two Fermor girls and Clarissa she invited to remain at Hale till after the +wedding, and to act as bridesmaids. + +"My sisters Emily and Louisa will make two more," she said; "and that +pretty little Miss Trellis, Admiral Trellis's daughter, will be the +sixth--I shall have only six. We'll have a grand discussion about the +dresses to-morrow morning. I should like to strike out something original, +if it were possible. We shall see what Madame Albertine proposes. I have +written to ask her for her ideas; but a milliner's ideas are so _bornees._" +Lady Laura had obtained permission from her sister to enlist Clarissa in +the ranks of the bridesmaids. + +"It would look so strange to exclude a pretty girl like that," she said. +Whereupon Geraldine had replied rather coldly that she did not wish to do +anything that was strange, and that Miss Lovel was at liberty to be one of +her bridesmaids. She had studiously ignored the confession of jealousy made +that night in her sister's dressing-room; nor had Laura ever presumed to +make the faintest allusion to it. Things had gone so well since, and there +seemed nothing easier than to forget that unwonted outbreak of womanly +passion. + +Clarissa heard the approaching marriage discussed with a strange feeling, a +nameless undefinable regret. It seemed to her that George Fairfax was the +only person in her small world who really understood her, the only man +who could have been her friend and counsellor. It was a foolish fancy, no +doubt, and had very little foundation in fact; but, argue with herself as +she might against her folly, she could not help feeling that this marriage +was in somewise a calamity for her. She was quite sure that Lady Geraldine +did not like her, and that, as Lady Geraldine's husband, George Fairfax +could not be her friend. She thought of this a great deal in those busy +weeks before the wedding, and wondered at the heaviness of her heart in +these days. What was it that she had lost? As she had wondered a little +while ago at the brightness of her life, she wondered now at its darkness. +It seemed as if all the colour had gone out of her existence all at once; +as if she had been wandering for a little while in some enchanted region, +and found herself now suddenly thrust forth from the gates of that fairy +paradise upon the bleak outer world. The memory of her troubles came back +to her with a sudden sharpness. She had almost forgotten them of late--her +brother's exile and disgrace, her father's coldness, all that made her fate +dreary and hopeless. She looked forward to the future with a shudder. What +had she to hope for--now? + +It was the last week in August when Lady Geraldine went up to London, and +George Fairfax hurried northward to his Friend's aerie. The trousseau had +been put in hand a day or two after the final settlement of affairs, and +the post had carried voluminous letters of instruction from Lady Laura to +the milliners, and had brought back little parcels containing snippings of +dainty fabrics, scraps of laces, and morsels of delicate silk, in order +that colours and materials might be selected by the bride. Everything was +in progress, and Lady Geraldine was only wanted for the adjustment of those +more important details which required personal supervision. + +If Clarissa Lovel could have escaped from all this pleasant bustle and +confusion, from the perpetual consultations and discussions which Lady +Laura held with all her favourites upon the subject of the coming +marriage--if she could by any means have avoided all these, and above all +her honourable office of bridesmaid--she would most gladly have done so. A +sudden yearning for the perfect peace, the calm eventless days of her old +life at Mill Cottage, had taken possession of her. In a moment, as if by +some magical change, the glory and delight of that brilliant existence at +the Castle seemed to have vanished away. There were the same pleasures, the +same people; but the very atmosphere was different, and she began to feel +like those other girls whose dulness of soul she had wondered at a little +while ago. + +"I suppose I enjoyed myself too much when first I came here," she thought, +perplexed by this change in herself. "I gave myself up too entirely to +the novelty of this gay life, and have used up my capacity for enjoyment, +almost like those girls who have gone through half-a-dozen London seasons." + +When Lady Geraldine and George Fairfax were gone, it seemed to Clarissa +that the Castle had a vacant air without them. The play still went on, +but the chief actors had vanished from the scene. Miss Lovel had allowed +herself to feel an almost morbid interest in Mr. Fairfax's betrothed. She +had watched Lady Geraldine from day to day, half unconsciously, almost in +spite of herself, wondering whether she really loved her future husband, or +whether this alliance were only the dreary simulacrum she had read of +in fashionable novels--a marriage of convenience. Lady Laura; certainly +declared that her sister was much attached to Mr. Fairfax; but then, in +an artificial world, where such a mode of marrying and giving in marriage +obtained, it would obviously be the business of the bride's relatives to +affect a warm belief in her affection for the chosen victim. In all her +watching Clarissa had never surprised one outward sign of Geraldine +Challoner's love. It was very difficult for a warm-hearted impulsive girl +to believe in the possibility of any depth of feeling beneath that coldly +placid manner. Nor did she perceive in Mr. Fairfax himself many of those +evidences of affection which she would have expected from a man in his +position. It was quite true that as the time of his marriage drew near he +devoted himself more and more exclusively to his betrothed; but Clarissa +could not help fancying, among her many fancies about these two people, +that them was something formal and ceremonial in his devotion; that he had, +at the best, something of the air of a man who was doing his duty. Yet it +would have seemed absurd to doubt the reality of his attachment to Lady +Geraldine, or to fear the result of an engagement that had grown out of a +friendship which had lasted for years. The chorus of friends at Hale Castle +were never tired of dwelling upon this fact, and declaring what a beautiful +and perfect arrangement such a marriage was. It was only Lizzie Fermor who, +in moments of confidential converse with Clarissa, was apt to elevate her +expressive eyebrows and impertinent little nose, and to make disrespectful +comments upon the subject of Lady Geraldine's engagement--remarks which +Miss Lovel felt it in some manner her duty to parry, by a warm defence of +her friend's sister. + +"You are such a partisan, Clarissa," Miss Fermor would exclaim impatiently; +"but take my word for it, that woman only marries George Fairfax because +she feels she has come to the end of her chances, and that this is about +the last opportunity she may have of making a decent marriage." + +The engaged couple were to be absent only a week--that was a settled point; +for on the very day after that arranged for their return there was to be +a ball at Hale Castle--the first real ball of the season--an event which +would of course lose half its glory if Lady Geraldine and her lover were +missing. So Laura Armstrong had been most emphatic in her parting charge to +George Fairfax. + +"Remember, George, however fascinating your bachelor friends may be--and of +course we know that nothing we have to offer you in a civilized way can be +so delightful as roughing it in a Highland bothy (bothy is what you call +your cottage, isn't it?) with a tribe of wild sportsmen--you are to be back +in time for my ball on the twenty-fifth. I shall never forgive you, if you +fail me." + +"My dear Lady Laura, I would perish in the struggle to be up to time, +rather than be such a caitiff. I would do the journey on foot, like Jeannie +Deans, rather than incur the odium of disappointing so fair a hostess." + +And upon this Mr. Fairfax departed, with a gayer aspect than he had worn +of late, almost as if it had been a relief to him to get away from Hale +Castle. + +Lady Laura had a new set of visitors coming, and was full of the business +involved in their reception. She was not a person who left every +arrangement to servants, numerous and skilful as her staff was. She liked +to have a finger in every pie, and it was one of her boasts that no +department of the household was without her supervision. She would stop in +the middle of a page of Tasso to discuss the day's bill of fare with her +cook; and that functionary had enough to do to gratify my lady's eagerness +for originality and distinction even in the details of her dinner-table. + +"My good Volavent," she would say, tossing the poor man's list aside, with +a despairing shrug of her shoulders, "all these entrees are as old as the +hills. I am sure Adam must have had stewed pigeons with green peas, and +chicken a la Marengo--they are the very ABC of cookery. Do, pray, strike +out something a little newer. Let me see; I copied the menu of a dinner at +St. Petersburg from 'Count Cralonzki's Diary of his Own Times,' the other +day, on purpose to show you. There really are some ideas in it. Do look it +over, Volavent, and see if it will inspire you. We must try to rise above +the level of a West-end hotel." + +In the same manner did my lady supervise the gardens, to the affliction of +the chief official and his dozen or so of underlings. To have the first +peaches and the last grapes in the county of York, to decorate her table +with the latest marvel in pitcher plants and rare butterfly-shaped orchids, +was Lady Laura's ambition; to astonish morning visitors with new effects in +the garden her unceasing desire. Nor within doors was her influence +less actively exercised. Drawing-rooms and boudoirs, morning-rooms and +bedchambers, were always undergoing some improving touch, some graceful +embellishment, inspired by that changeful fancy. When new visitors were +expected at the Castle, Lady Laura flitted about their rooms, inspecting +every arrangement, and thinking of the smallest minutiae. She would even +look into the rooms prepared for the servants on these occasions, to be +sure that nothing was wanting for their comfort. She liked the very maids +and valets to go away and declare there was no place so pleasant as Hale +Castle. Perhaps when people had been to her two or three times, she was apt +to grow a little more careless upon these points. To dazzle and astonish +was her chief delight, and of course it is somewhat difficult to dazzle old +friends. + +In the two days after Geraldine Challoner's departure Lady Laura was in +her gayest mood. She had a delightful air of mystery in her converse with +Clarissa; would stop suddenly sometimes in the midst of her discourse +to kiss the girl, and would contemplate her for a few moments with her +sweetest smile. + +"My dear Lady Laura, what pleasant subject are you thinking about?" +Clarissa asked wonderingly; "I am sure there is something. You have such a +mysterious air to-day, and one would suppose by your manner that I must be +concerned in this mystery." + +"And suppose you were, Clary--suppose I were plotting for your happiness? +But no; there is really nothing; you must not take such silly fancies into +your head. You know how much I love you, Clary--as much as if you were a +younger sister of my own; and there is nothing I would not do to secure +your happiness." + +Clarissa shook her head sadly. + +"My dear Lady Laura, good and generous as you are, it is not in your power +to do that," she said, "unless you could make my father love me, or bring +my brother happily home." + +"Or give you back Arden Court?" suggested Lady Laura, smiling. + +"Ah, that is the wildest dream of all! But I would not even ask Providence +for that. I would be content, if my father loved me; if we were only a +happy united family." + +"Don't you think your father would be a changed man, if he could get back +his old home somehow? The loss of that must have soured him a good deal." + +"I don't know about that. Yes, of course that loss does weigh upon his +mind; but even when we were almost children he did not seem to care much +for my brother Austin or me. He was not like other fathers." + +"His money troubles may have oppressed him even then. The loss of Arden +Court might have been a foreseen calamity." + +"Yes, it may have been so. But there is no use in thinking of that. Even if +papa were rich enough to buy it, Mr. Granger would never sell the Court." + +"Sell it!" repeated Lady Laura, meditatively; "well, perhaps not. One could +hardly expect him to do that--a place for which he has done so much. But +one never knows what may happen; I have really seen such wonderful changes +come to pass among friends and acquaintances of mine, that scarcely +anything would astonish me--no, Clary, not if I were to see you mistress of +Arden Court." + +And then Lady Laura kissed her protegee once more with effusion, and anon +dipped her brush in the carmine, and went on with the manipulation of a +florid initial in her Missal--a fat gothic M, interlaced with ivy-leaves +and holly. + +"You haven't asked me who the people are that I am expecting this +afternoon," she said presently, with a careless air. + +"My dear Lady Laura, if you were to tell me their names, I don't suppose I +should be any wiser than I am now. I know so few people." + +"But you do know these--or at least you know all about them. My arrivals +to-day are Mr. and Miss Granger." + +Clarissa gave a faint sigh, and bent a little lower over her work. + +"Well, child, are you not surprised? have you nothing to say?" cried Lady +Laura, rather impatiently. + +"I--I daresay they are very nice people," Clarissa answered, nervously. +"But the truth is--I know you must despise me for such folly--I cannot help +associating them with our loss, and I have a kind of involuntary dislike of +them. I have never so much as seen them, you know--not even at church; +for they go to the gothic chapel which Mr. Granger has built in his model +village, and never come to our dear little church at Arden; and it is very +childish and absurd of me, no doubt, but I don't think I ever could like +them." + +"It is very absurd of you, Clary," returned my lady; "and if I could +be angry with you for anything, it certainly would be for this unjust +prejudice against people I want you to like. Think what a nice companion +Miss Granger would be for you when you are at home--so near a neighbour, +and really a very superior girl." + +"I don't want a companion; I am used to being alone." + +"Well, well, when you come to know her, you will like her very much, I +daresay, in spite of yourself; that will be my triumph. I am bent upon +bringing about friendly relation, between your father and Mr. Granger." + +"You will never do that, Lady Laura." + +"I don't know. I have a profound faith in my own ideas." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XI. + +DANIEL GRANGER. + + +After luncheon that day, Clarissa lost sight of Lady Laura. The Castle +seemed particularly quiet on this afternoon. Nearly every one was out of +doors playing croquet; but Clarissa had begun to find croquet rather a +wearisome business of late, and had excused herself on the plea of letters +to write. She had not begun her letter-writing yet, however, but was +wandering about the house in a purposeless way--now standing still for a +quarter of an hour at a time, looking out of a window, without being in the +least degree conscious of the landscape she was looking at, and then pacing +slowly up and down the long picture gallery with a sense of relief in being +alone. + +At last she roused herself from this absent dreamy state. + +"I am too idle to write this afternoon," she thought. "I'll go to the +library and get a book." + +The Hale library was Clarissa's delight. It was a noble collection gathered +by dead-and-gone owners of the Castle, and filled up with all the most +famous modern works at the bidding of Mr. Armstrong, who gave his +bookseller a standing order to supply everything that was proper, and +rarely for his own individual amusement or instruction had recourse to any +shelf but one which contained neat editions of the complete works of the +Druid and Mr. Apperley, the _Life of Assheton Smith_, and all the volumes +of the original _Sporting Magazine_ bound in crimson russia. These, with +_Ruff's Guide_, the _Racing Calendar_, and a few volumes on farriery, +supplied Mr. Armstrong's literary necessities. But to Clarissa, for whom +books were at once the pleasure and consolation of life, this library +seemed a treasure-house of inexhaustible delights. Her father's collection +was of the choicest, but limited. Here she found everything she had ever +heard of, and a whole world of literature she had never dreamed of. She was +not by any means a pedant or a blue-stocking, and it was naturally amongst +the books of a lighter class she found the chief attraction; but she was +better read than most girls of her age, and better able to enjoy solid +reading. + +To-day she was out of spirits, and came to the library for some relief from +those vaguely painful thoughts that had oppressed her lately. The room was +so little affected by my lady's butterfly guests that she made sure of +having it all to herself this afternoon, when the voices and laughter of +the croquet-players, floating in at the open windows, told her that the +sport was still at its height. + +She went into the room, and stopped suddenly a few paces from the doorway. +A gentleman was standing before the wide empty fireplace, where there was +a great dog-stove of ironwork and brass which consumed about half a ton of +coal a day in winter; a tall, ponderous-looking man, with his hands behind +him, glancing downward with cold gray eyes, but not in the least degree +inclining his stately head to listen to Lady Laura Armstrong, who was +seated on a sofa near him, fanning herself and prattling gaily after her +usual vivacious manner. + +Clarissa started and drew back at sight of this tall stranger. + +"Mr. Granger," she thought, and tried to make her escape without being +seen. + +The attempt was a failure. Lady Laura called to her. + +"Who is that in a white dress? Miss Lovel, I am sure.--Come here, +Clary--what are you running away for? I want to introduce my friend Mr. +Granger to you.--Mr. Granger, this is Miss Lovel, the Miss Lovel whose +birthplace fortune has given to you." + +Mr. Granger bowed rather stiffly, and with the air of a man to whom a bow +was a matter of business. + +"I regret," he said, "to have robbed Miss Lovel of a home to which she was +attached. I regret still more that she will not avail herself of my desire +to consider the park and grounds entirely at her disposal on all occasions. +Nothing would give me greater pleasure than to see her use the place as if +it were her own." + +"And nothing could be kinder than such a wish on your part." exclaimed my +lady approvingly. + +Clarissa lifted her eyes rather shyly to the rich man's face. He was not +a connoisseur in feminine loveliness, but they struck him at once as very +fine eyes. He was a connoisseur in pictures, and no mean judge of them, +and those brilliant hazel eyes of Clarissa's reminded him of a portrait by +Velasquez, of which he was particularly proud. + +"You are very kind," she murmured; "but--but there are some associations +too painful to bear. The park would remind me so bitterly of all I have +lost since I was a child." + +She was thinking of her brother, and his disgrace--or misfortune; she did +not even know which of these two it was that had robbed her of him. Mr. +Granger looked at her wonderingly. Her words and manner seemed to betray +a deeper feeling than he could have supposed involved in the loss of an +estate. He was not a man of sentiment himself, and had gone through life +affected only by its sternest realities. There was something rather too +Rosa-Matildaish for his taste in this faltered speech of Clarissa's; but +he thought her a very pretty girl nevertheless, and was inclined to look +somewhat indulgently upon a weakness he would have condemned without +compunction in his daughter. Mr. Granger was a man who prided himself upon +his strength of mind, and he had a very poor idea of the exclusive recluse +whose early extravagances had made him master of Arden Court. He had not +seen Mr. Lovel half-a-dozen times in his life, for all business between +those two that could be transacted by their respective lawyers had been so +transacted; but what he had seen of that pale careworn face, that fragile +figure, and somewhat irritable manner, had led the ponderous, strong-minded +Daniel Granger to consider Marmaduke Lovel a very poor creature. + +He was interested in this predecessor of his nevertheless. A man must be +harder than iron who can usurp another man's home, and sit by another man's +hearthstone, without giving some thought to the exile he has ousted. Daniel +Granger was not so hard as that, and he did profoundly pity the ruined +gentleman he had deposed. Perhaps he was still more inclined to pity the +ruined gentleman's only daughter, who must needs suffer for the sins and +errors of others. + +"Now, pray don't run away, Clary," cried Lady Laura, seeing Clarissa moving +towards the door, as if still anxious to escape. "You came to look for some +books, I know.--Miss Lovel is a very clever young lady, I assure you, Mr. +Granger, and has read immensely.--Sit down, Clary; you shall take away an +armful of books by-and-by, if you like." + +Clarissa seated herself near my lady's sofa with a gracious submissive air, +which the owner of Arden Court thought a rather pretty kind of thing, in +its way. He had a habit of classifying all young women in a general way +with his own daughter, as if in possessing that one specimen of the female +race he had a key to the whole species. His daughter was obedient--it was +one of her chief virtues; but somehow there was not quite such a graceful +air in her small concessions as he perceived in this little submission of +Miss Lovel's. + +Mr. Granger was rather a silent man; but my lady rattled on gaily in her +accustomed style, and while that perennial stream of small talk flowed on, +Clarissa had leisure to observe the usurper. + +He was a tall man, six feet high perhaps, with a powerful and somewhat +bulky frame, broad shoulders, a head erect and firmly planted as an +obelisk, and altogether an appearance which gave a general idea of +strength. He was not a bad-looking man by any means. His features were +large and well cut, the mouth firm as iron, and unshadowed by beard or +moustache; the eyes gray and clear, but very cold. Such a man could surely +be cruel, Clarissa thought, with an inward shudder. He was a man who would +have looked grand in a judge's wig; a man whose eyes and eyebrows, lowered +upon some trembling delinquent, might have been almost as awful as Lord +Thurlow's. Even his own light-brown hair, faintly streaked with grey, which +he wore rather long, had something of a leonine air. + +He listened to Lady Laura's trivial discourse with a manner which was no +doubt meant to be gracious, but with no great show of interest. Once he +went so far as to remark that the Castle gardens were looking very fine for +so advanced a season, and attended politely to my lady's rather diffuse +account of her triumphs in the orchid line. + +"I don't pretend to understand much about those things," he said, in his +stately far-off way, as if he lived in some world quite remote from Lady +Laura's, and of a superior rank in the catalogue of worlds. "They are +pretty and curious, no doubt. My daughter interests herself considerably in +that sort of thing. We have a good deal of glass at Arden--more than I care +about. My head man tells me that I must have grapes and pines all the year +round: and since he insists upon it, I submit. But I imagine that a good +many more of his pines and grapes find their way to Covent Garden than to +my table." + +Clarissa remembered the old kitchen-gardens at the Court in her father's +time, when the whole extent of "glass" was comprised by a couple of +dilapidated cucumber-frames, and a queer little greenhouse in a corner, +where she and her brother had made some primitive experiments in +horticulture, and where there was a particular race of spiders, the biggest +specimens of the spidery species it had ever been her horror to encounter. + +"I wonder whether the little greenhouse is there still?" she thought. "O, +no, no; battered down to the ground, of course, by this pompous man's +order. I don't suppose I should know the dear old place, if I were to see +it now." + +"You are fond of botany, I suppose, Miss Lovel?" Mr. Granger asked +presently, with a palpable effort. He was not an adept in small talk, and +though in the course of years of dinner-eating and dinner-giving he had +been frequently called upon to address his conversation to young ladies, he +never opened his lips to one of the class without a sense of constraint +and an obvious difficulty. He had all his life been most at home in men's +society, where the talk was of grave things, and was no bad talker when +the question in hand was either commercial or political. But as a rich +man cannot go through life without being cultivated more or less by the +frivolous herd, Mr. Granger had been compelled to conform himself somehow +to the requirements of civilised society, and to talk in his stiff bald way +of things which he neither understood nor cared for. + +"I am fond of flowers," Clarissa answered, "but I really know nothing of +botany. I would always rather paint them than anatomise them." + +"Indeed! Painting is a delightful occupation for a young lady. My daughter +sketches a little, but I cannot say that she has any remarkable talent that +way. She has been well taught, of course." + +"You will find Miss Lovel quite a first-rate artist," said Lady Laura, +pleased to praise her favourite. "I really know no one of her age with such +a marked genius for art. Everybody observes it." And then, half afraid +that this praise might seem to depreciate Miss Granger, the good-natured +_chatelaine_ went on, "Your daughter illuminates, I daresay?" + +"Well, yes, I suppose so, Lady Laura. I know that Sophia does some massy +kind of work involving the use of gums and colours. I have seen her engaged +in it sometimes. And there are scriptural texts on the walls of our +poor-schools which I conclude are her work. A young woman cannot have too +many pursuits. I like to see my daughter occupied." + +"Miss Granger reads a good deal, I suppose, like Clarissa,' Lady Laura +hazarded. + +"No, I cannot say that she does. My daughter's habits are active and +energetic rather than studious. Nor should I encourage her in giving +much time to literature, unless the works she read were of a very solid +character. I have never found anything great achieved by reading men of my +own acquaintance; and directly I hear that, a man is never so happy as in +his library, I put him down as a man whose life will be a failure." + +"But the great men of our day have generally been men of wide reading, have +they not?" + +"I think not, Lady Laura. They have been men who have made a little +learning go a long way. Of course there are numerous exceptions amongst the +highest class of all--statesmen, and so on. But for success in active life, +I take it, a man cannot have his brain too clear of waste rubbish in the +way of book-learning. He wants all his intellectual coin in his current +account, you see, ready for immediate use, not invested in out-of-the-way +corners, where he can't get at it." + +While Mr. Granger and my lady were arguing this question, Clarissa went to +the bookshelves and amused herself hunting for some attractive volumes. +Daniel Granger followed the slender girlish figure with curious eyes. +Nothing could have been more unexpected than this meeting with Marmaduke +Lovel's daughter. He had done his best, in the first year or so of his +residence at the Court, to cultivate friendly relations with Mr. Lovel, +and had most completely failed in that well-meant attempt. Some men in Mr. +Granger's position might have been piqued by this coldness. But Daniel +Granger was not such a one; he was not given to undervalue the advantage +of his friendship or patronage. A career of unbroken prosperity, and a +character by nature self-contained and strong-willed, combined to sustain +his belief in himself. He could not for a moment conceive that Mr. Lovel +declined his acquaintance as a thing not worth having. He therefore +concluded that the banished lord of Arden felt his loss too keenly +to endure to look upon his successor's happiness, and he pitied him +accordingly. It would have been the one last drop of bitterness in +Marmaduke Lovel's cup to know that this man did pity him. Having thus +failed in cultivating anything approaching intimacy with the father, Mr. +Granger was so much the more disposed to feel an interest--half curious, +half compassionate--in the daughter. From the characterless ranks of +young-ladyhood this particular damsel stood out with unwonted distinctness. +He found his mind wandering a little as he tried to talk with Lady Laura. +He could not help watching the graceful figure yonder, the slim white-robed +figure standing out so sharply against the dark background of carved oaken +bookshelves. + +Clarissa selected a couple of volumes to carry away with her presently, and +then came back to her seat by Lady Laura's sofa. She did not want to appear +rude to Mr. Granger, or to disoblige her kind friend, who for some reason +or other was evidently anxious she should remain, or she would have been +only too glad to run away to her own room. + +The talk went on. My lady was confidential after her manner communicating +her family affairs to Daniel Granger as freely as she might have done if +he had been an uncle or an executor. She told him about her sister's +approaching marriage and George Fairfax's expectations. + +"They will have to begin life upon an income that I daresay _you_ would +think barely sufficient for bread and cheese," she said. + +Mr. Granger shook his head, and murmured that his own personal requirements +could be satisfied for thirty shillings a week. + +"I daresay. It is generally the case with millionaires. They give four +hundred a year to a cook, and dine upon a mutton-chop or a boiled chicken. +But really Mr. Fairfax and Geraldine will be almost poor at first; only my +sister has fortunately no taste for display, and George must have sown all +his wild oats by this time. I expect them to be a model couple, they are so +thoroughly attached to each other." + +Clarissa opened one of her volumes and bent over it at this juncture. Was +this really true? Did Lady Laura believe what she said? Was that problem +which she had been perpetually trying to solve lately so very simple, after +all, and only a perplexity to her own weak powers of reason? Lady Laura +must be the best judge, of course, and she was surely too warm-hearted +a woman to take a conventional view of things, or to rejoice in a mere +marriage of convenience. No, it must be true. They really did love each +other, these two, and that utter absence of all those small signs and +tokens of attachment which Clarissa had expected to see was only a +characteristic of good taste. What she had taken for coldness was merely a +natural reserve, which at once proved their superior breeding and rebuked +her own vulgar curiosity. + +From the question of the coming marriage, Lady Laura flew to the lighter +subject of the ball. + +"I hope Miss Granger has brought a ball-dress; I told her all about our +ball in my last note." + +"I believe she has provided herself for the occasion," replied Mr. Granger. +"I know there was an extra trunk, to which I objected when my people were +packing the luggage. Sophia is not usually extravagant in the matter of +dress. She has a fair allowance, of course, and liberty to exceed it on +occasion; but I believe she spends more upon her school-children and +pensioners in the village than on her toilet." + +"Your ideas on the subject of costume are not quite so wide as Mr. +Brummel's, I suppose," said my lady. "Do you remember his reply, when an +anxious mother asked him what she ought to allow her son for dress?" + +Mr. Granger did not spoil my lady's delight in telling an anecdote by +remembering; and he was a man who would have conscientiously declared his +familiarity with the story, had he known it. + +"'It might be done on eight hundred a year, madam,' replied Brummel, 'with +the strictest economy.'" + +Mr. Granger gave a single-knock kind of laugh. + +"Curious fellow, that Brummel," he said. "I remember seeing him at Caen, +when I was travelling as a young man." + +And so the conversation meandered on, my lady persistently lively in her +pleasant commonplace way, Mr. Granger still more commonplace, and not +at all lively. Clarissa thought that hour and a half in the library the +longest she had ever spent in her life. How different from that afternoon +in the same room when George Fairfax had looked at his watch and declared +the Castle bell must be wrong! + +That infallible bell rang at last--a welcome sound to Clarissa, and perhaps +not altogether unwelcome to Lady Laura and Mr. Granger, who had more than +once sympathised in a smothered yawn. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XII. + +MR. GRANGER IS INTERESTED. + + +When Clarissa went to the great drawing-room dressed for dinner, she found +Lizzie Fermor talking to a young lady whom she at once guessed to be Miss +Granger. Nor was she allowed to remain in any doubt of the fact; for the +lively Lizzie beckoned her to the window by which they were seated, and +introduced the two young ladies to each other. + +"Miss Granger and I are quite old friends," she said, "and I mean you to +like each other very much." + +Miss Granger bowed stiffly, but pledged herself to nothing. She was a tall +young woman of about two-and-twenty, with very little of the tender grace +of girlhood about her; a young woman who, by right of a stately carriage +and a pair of handsome shoulders, might have been called fine-looking. +Her features were not unlike her father's; and those eyes and eyebrows of +Daniel Granger's, which would have looked so well under a judicial wig, +were reproduced in a modified degree in the countenance of his daughter. +She had what would be generally called a fine complexion, fair and florid; +and her hair, of which she had an abundant quantity, was of an insipid +light brown, and the straightest Clarissa had ever seen. Altogether, she +was a young lady who, invested with all the extraneous charms of her +father's wealth, would no doubt be described as attractive, and even +handsome. She was dressed well, with a costly simplicity, in a dark-blue +corded silk, relieved by a berthe of old point lace, and the whiteness of +her full firm throat was agreeably set off by a broad band of black velvet, +from which there hung a Maltese cross of large rubies. + +The two young ladies went on with their talk, which was chiefly of gaieties +they had each assisted at since their last meeting, and people they had +met. + +Clarissa, being quite unable to assist in this conversation, looked on +meekly, a little interested in Miss Granger, who was, like herself, an +only daughter, and about whose relations with her father she had begun to +wonder. Was he very fond of this only child, and in this, as in all else, +unlike her own father? He had spoken of her that afternoon several times, +and had even praised her, but somewhat coldly, and with a practical +matter-of-course air, almost as Mr. Lovel might have spoken of his daughter +if constrained to talk of her in society. + +Miss Granger said a good deal about the great people she had met that year. +They seemed all to be more or less the elect of the earth: but she pulled +herself up once or twice to protest that she cared very little for society; +she was happier when employed with her schools and poor people--_that_ was +her real element. + +"One feels all the other thing to be so purposeless and hollow," she said +sententiously. "After a round of dinners and dances and operas and concerts +in London, I always have a kind of guilty feeling. So much time wasted, and +nothing to show for it. And really my poor are improving so wonderfully. +If you could see my cottages, Miss Fermor!" (she did not say, "their +cottages.") "I give a prize for the cleanest floors and windows, an +illuminated ticket for the neatest garden-beds. I don't suppose you could +get a sprig of groundsel for love or money in Arden village. I have +actually to cultivate it in a corner of the kitchen-garden for my canaries. +I give another prize at Christmas for the most economical household +management, accorded to the family which has dined oftenest without meat +in the course of the year; and I give a premium of one per cent upon all +investments in the Holborough savings-bank--one and a half in the case of +widows; a complete suit of clothes to every woman who has attended morning +and evening service without missing one Sunday in the year, the consequence +of which has been to put a total stop to cooking on the day of rest. I +don't believe you could come across so much as a hot potato on a Sunday in +one of my cottages." + +"And do the husbands like the cold dinners?" Miss Fermor asked rather +flippantly. + +"I should hope that spiritual advantage would prevail over temporal luxury, +even in their half-awakened minds," replied Miss Granger. "I have never +inquired about their feelings on the subject. I did indeed hear that the +village baker, who had driven a profitable trade every Sunday morning +before my improvements, made some most insolent comments upon what I had +done. But I trust I can rise superior to the impertinence of a village +baker. However, you must come to Arden and see my cottages, and judge for +yourself; and if you could only know the benighted state in which I found +these poor creatures----" + +Lizzie Fermor glanced towards Clarissa, and then gave a little warning +look, which had the effect of stopping Miss Granger's disquisition. + +"I beg your pardon, Miss Lovel," she said; "I forgot that I was talking of +your own old parish. But you were a mere child, I believe, when you +left the Court, and of course could not be capable of effecting much +improvement." + +"We were too poor to do much, or to give prizes," Clarissa answered; "but +we gave what we could, and--and I think the people were fond of us." + +Miss Granger looked as if this last fact were very wide from the question. + +"I have never studied how to make the people fond of me," she said. "My +constant effort has been to make them improve themselves and their own +condition. All my plans are based upon that principle. 'If you want a new +gown, cloak, and bonnet at Christmas,' I tell the women, 'you must +earn them by unfailing attendance at church. If you wish to obtain the +money-gift I wish to give you, you must first show me something saved by +your own economy and self-sacrifice.' To my children I hold out similar +inducements--a prize for the largest amount of plain needlework, every +stitch of which I make it my duty to examine through a magnifying glass; a +prize for scrupulous neatness in dress; and for scripture knowledge. I +have children in my Sunday-schools who can answer any question upon the +Old-Testament history from Genesis to Chronicles." + +Clarissa gave a faint sigh, almost appalled by these wonders. She +remembered the girls' Sunday-school in her early girlhood, and her own +poor little efforts at instruction, in the course of which she had seldom +carried her pupils out of the Garden of Eden, or been able to get over the +rivers that watered that paradise, as described by the juvenile inhabitants +of Arden, without little stifled bursts of laughter on her own part; while, +in the very midst of her most earnest endeavours, she was apt to find her +brother Austin standing behind her, tempting the juvenile mind by the +surreptitious offer of apples or walnuts. The attempts at teaching +generally ended in merry laughter and the distribution of nuts and apples, +with humble apologies to the professional schoolmistress for so useless an +intrusion. + +Miss Granger had no time to enlarge farther upon her manifold improvements +before dinner, to which she was escorted by one of the officers from +Steepleton, the nearest garrison town, who happened to be dining there that +day, and was very glad to get an innings with the great heiress. The master +of Arden Court had the honour of escorting Lady Laura; but from his post +by the head of the long table he looked more than once to that remote spot +where Clarissa sat, not far from his daughter. My lady saw those curious +glances, and was delighted to see them. They might mean nothing, of course; +but to that sanguine spirit they seemed an augury of success for the scheme +which had been for a long time hatching in the matron's busy brain. + +"What do you think of my pet, Mr. Granger?" she asked presently. + +Mr. Granger glanced at the ground near my lady's chair with rather a +puzzled look, half expecting to see a Maltese spaniel or a flossy-haired +Skye terrier standing on its hind legs. + +"What do you think of my pet and _protegee_, Miss Lovel?" + +"Miss Lovel! Well, upon my word, Lady Laura, I am so poor a judge of the +merits of young ladies in a general way; but she really appears a very +amiable young person." + +"And is she not lovely?" asked Lady Laura, contemplating the distant +Clarissa in a dreamy way through her double eye-glass. "I think it is the +sweetest face I ever saw." + +"She is certainly very pretty," admitted Mr. Granger. "I was struck by her +appearance this afternoon in the library. I suppose there is something +really out of the common in her face, for I am generally the most +unobservant of men in such matters." + +"Out of the common!" exclaimed Lady Laura. "My dear sir, it is such a face +as you do not see twice in a lifetime. Madame Recamier must have been +something like that, I should fancy--a woman who could attract the eyes +of all the people in the great court of the Luxembourg, and divide public +attention with Napoleon." + +Mr. Granger did not seem interested in the rather abstract question of +Clarissa's possible likeness to Madame Recamier. + +"She is certainly very pretty," he repeated in a meditative manner; and +stared so long and vacantly at a fricandeau which a footman was just +offering him, that any less well-trained attendant must have left him in +embarrassment. + +The next few days were enlivened by a good deal of talk about the ball, in +which event Miss Granger did not seem to take a very keen interest. + +"I go to balls, of course," she said; "one is obliged to do so: for it +would seem so ungracious to refuse one's friends' invitations; but I really +do not care for them. They are all alike, and the rooms are always hot." + +"I don't think you will be able to say that here," replied Miss Fermor. +"Lady Laura's arrangements are always admirable; and there is to be an +impromptu conservatory under canvas the whole length of the terrace, in +front of the grand saloon where we are to dance, so that the six windows +can be open all the evening." + +"Then I daresay it will be a cold night," said Miss Granger, who was not +prone to admire other people's cleverness. "I generally find that it is so, +when people take special precautions against heat." + +Clarissa naturally found herself thrown a good deal into Sophia Granger's +society; but though they worked, and drove, and walked together, and played +croquet, and acted in the same charades, it is doubtful whether there was +really much more sympathy between these two than between Clarissa and Lady +Geraldine. There was perhaps less; for Clarissa Lovel had been interested +in Geraldine Challoner, and she was not in the faintest degree interested +in Miss Granger. The cold and shining surface of that young lady's +character emitted no galvanic spark. It was impossible to deny that she was +wise and accomplished; that she did everything well that she attempted; +that, although obviously conscious of her own supreme advantages as the +heiress to a great fortune, she was benignly indulgent to the less blessed +among her sex,--it was impossible to deny all this; and yet it was not any +more easy to get on with Sophia Granger than with Lady Geraldine. + +One day, after luncheon, when a bevy of girls were grouped round the piano +in the billiard-room, Lizzie Fermor--who indulged in the wildest latitude +of discourse--was audacious enough to ask Miss Granger how she would like +her father to marry again. + +The faultless Sophia elevated her well-marked eyebrows with a look of +astonishment that ought to have frozen Miss Fermor. The eyebrows were as +hard and as neatly pencilled as the shading in Miss Granger's landscapes. + +"Marry again!" she repeated, "papa!--if you knew him better, Miss Fermor, +you would never speculate upon such a thing. Papa will never marry again." + +"Has he promised you that?" asked the irrepressible Lizzie. + +"I do not require any promise from him. I know him too well to have the +slightest doubt upon the subject. Papa might have married brilliantly, +again and again, since I was a little thing." (It was rather difficult to +fancy Miss Granger a "little thing" in any stage of her existence.) "But +nothing has ever been more remote from his ideas than a second marriage. I +have heard people regret it." + +"_You_ have not regretted it, of course." + +"I hope I know my duty too well, to wish to stand between papa and his +happiness. If it had been for his happiness to marry--a person of a +suitable age and position, of course--I should not have considered my own +feelings in the matter." + +"Well, I suppose not," replied Lizzie, rather doubtfully; "still it is nice +to have one's father all to oneself--to say nothing of being an heiress. +And the worst of the business is, that when a widower of your papa's age +does take it into his head to marry, he is apt to fall in love with some +chit of a girl." + +Miss Granger stared at the speaker with a gaze as stony as Antigone herself +could have turned upon any impious jester who had hinted that Oedipus, in +his blindness and banishment, was groping for some frivolous successor to +Jocasta. + +"My father in love with a girl!" she exclaimed. "What a very false idea you +must have formed of his character, Miss Fermor, when you can suggest such +an utter absurdity!" + +"But, you see, I wasn't speaking of Mr. Granger, only of widowers in +general. I have seen several marriages of that kind--men of forty or fifty +throwing themselves away, I suppose one ought to say, upon girls scarcely +out of their teens. In some cases the marriage seems to turn out well +enough; but of course one does sometimes hear of things not going on quite +happily." + +Miss Granger was grave and meditative after this--perhaps half disposed to +suspect Elizabeth Fermor of some lurking design on her father. She had +been seated at the piano during this conversation, and now resumed her +playing--executing a sonata of Beethoven's with faultless precision and the +highest form of taught expression; so much emphasis upon each note--careful +_rallentando_ here, a gradual _crescendo_ there; nothing careless or +slapdash from the first bar to the last. She would play the same piece a +hundred times without varying the performance by a hair's-breadth. Nor did +she affect anything but classical music. She was one of those young ladies +who, when asked for a waltz or a polka, freeze the impudent demander by +replying that they play no dance music--nothing more frivolous than Mozart. + +The day for the ball came, but there was no George Fairfax. Lady Geraldine +had arrived at the Castle on the evening before the festival, bringing an +excellent account of her father's health. He had been cheered by her visit, +and was altogether so much improved, that his doctors would have given him +permission to come down to Yorkshire for his daughter's wedding. It was +only his own valetudinarian habits and extreme dread of fatigue which had +prevented Lady Geraldine bringing him down in triumph. + +Lady Laura was loudly indignant at Mr. Fairfax's non-appearance; and for +the first time Clarissa heard Lady Geraldine defend her lover with some +natural and womanly air of proprietorship. + +"After pledging his word to me as he did!" exclaimed my lady, when it had +come to luncheon-time and there were still no signs of the delinquent's +return. + +"But really, Laura, there is no reason he should not keep his word," +Geraldine answered, with her serene air. "You know men like to do these +things in a desperate kind of way--as if they were winning a race. I +daresay he has made his plans so as not to leave himself more than +half-an-hour's margin, and will reach the Castle just in time to dress." + +"That is all very well; but I don't call that keeping his promise to me, +to come rushing into the place just as we are beginning to dance; after +travelling all night perhaps, and knocking himself up in all sorts of +ways, and with no more animation or vivacity left in him than a man who is +walking in his sleep. Besides, he ought to consider our anxiety." + +"Your anxiety, if you please, Laura. I am not anxious. I cannot see that +George's appearance at the ball is a matter of such vital importance." + +"But, my deal Geraldine, it would seem so strange for him to be away. +People would wonder so." + +"Let them wonder," Lady Geraldine replied, with a little haughty backward +movement of her head, which was natural to her. + +Amongst the cases and packages which had been perpetually arriving from +London during the last week or so, there was one light deal box which +Lady Laura's second maid brought to Clarissa's room one morning with +her mistress's love. The box contained the airiest and most girlish of +ball-dresses, all cloudlike white tulle, and the most entrancing wreath of +wild-roses and hawthorn, such a wreath as never before had crowned Miss +Lovel's bright-brown hair. Of course there was the usual amount of thanks +and kissing and raptures. + +"I am responsible to your father for your looking your best, you see, +Clary," Lady Laura said, laughing; "and I intend you to make quite a +sensation to-night. The muslin you meant to wear is very pretty, and will +do for some smaller occasion; but to-night is a field-night. Be sure you +come to me when you are dressed. I shall be in my own rooms till the people +begin to arrive; and I want to see you when Fosset has put her finishing +touches to your dress." + +Clarissa promised to present herself before her kind patroness. She was +really pleased with her dress, and sincerely grateful to the giver. Lady +Laura was a person from whom it was easy to accept benefits. There was +something bounteous and expansive in her nature, and her own pleasure in +the transaction made it impossible for any but the most churlish recipient +to feel otherwise than pleased. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIII. + +OPEN TREASON. + + +The ball began, and without the assistance of Mr. Fairfax--much to +my lady's indignation. She was scarcely consoled by the praises and +compliments she received on the subject of her arrangements and +decorations; but these laudations were so unanimous and so gratifying, +that she did at last forget Mr. Fairfax's defection in the delight of such +perfect success. + +_The_ Duke--the one sovereign magnate of that district--a tall +grand-looking old man with white hair, even deigned to be pleased and +surprised by what she had done. + +"But then you have such a splendid platform to work upon," he said; "I +don't think we have a place in Yorkshire that can compare with Hale. You +had your decorators from London, of course?" + +"No, indeed, your grace," replied my lady, sparkling with delighted pride; +"and if there is anything I can boast of, it is that. Fred wanted me +to send for London people, and have the thing done in their wholesale +manner--put myself entirely into their hands, give them _carte blanche_, +and so on; so that, till the whole business was finished, I shouldn't +have known what the place was to be like; but that is just the kind of +arrangement I detest. So I sent for one of my Holborough men, told him +my ideas, gave him a few preliminary sketches, and after a good many +consultations and discussions, we arrived at our present notion. Abolish +every glimmer of gas," I said, "and give me plenty of flowers and +wax-candles. The rest is mere detail." + +Everything was successful; Miss Granger's prophecy of cold weather was +happily unfulfilled. The night was unusually still and sultry, a broad +harvest moon steeping terraces and gardens in tender mellow light; not a +breath to stir the wealth of blossoms, or to flutter the draperies of the +many windows, all wide open to the warm night--a night of summer at the +beginning of autumn. + +Clarissa found herself in great request for the dances, and danced more +than she had done since the days of her schoolgirl waltzes and polkas in +the play-room at Belforet. It was about an hour after the dancing had +begun, when Lady Laura brought her no less a partner than Mr. Granger, who +had walked a solemn quadrille or two with a stately dowager, and whose +request was very surprising to Clarissa. She had one set of quadrilles, +however, unappropriated on her card, and expressed herself at Mr. Granger's +disposal for that particular dance, and then tripped away, to be whirled +round the great room by one of her military partners. + +Daniel Granger stood amongst the loungers at one end of the room, watching +that aerial revolving figure. Yes, Lady Laura was right; she was very +lovely. In all his life he had never before paid much heed to female +loveliness, any more than to the grandeurs and splendours of nature, or +anything beyond the narrow boundary of his own successful commonplace +existence. But in this girl's face there was something that attracted his +attention, and dwelt in his memory when he was away from her; perhaps, +after all, it was the result of her position rather than her beauty. It was +natural that he should be interested in her, poor child. He had robbed her +of her home, or it would seem so to her, no doubt; and she had let him see +that she set an exaggerated value on that lost home, that she clung to it +with a morbid sentimentality. + +"I should not wonder if she hates me," he said to himself. He had never +thought as much about her father, but then certainly he had never been +brought into such close contact with her father. + +He waited quietly for that appointed quadrille, declining a dance in which +Lady Laura would have enlisted him, and keeping a close watch upon Clarissa +during the interval. What a gay butterfly creature she seemed to-night! He +could scarcely fancy this was the same girl who had spoken so mournfully +of her lost home in the library that afternoon. He looked from her to +his daughter for a moment, comparing the two; Sophia resplendent in pink +areophane and pearls, and showing herself not above the pleasures of a +polka; eminently a fine young woman, but O, of what a different day from +that other one! + +Once Miss Fermor, passing the rich man on the arm of her partner, surprised +the watchful gray eyes with a new look in them--a look that was neither +cold nor stern. + +"So, my gentleman," thought the lively Lizzie, "is it that way your fancies +are drifting? It was I whom you suspected of dangerous designs the other +day, Miss Granger. Take care your papa doesn't fall into a deeper pitfall. +I should like to see him marry again, if it were only to take down that +great pink creature's insolence." Whereby it will be seen that Miss Granger +was not quite so popular among her contemporaries as, in the serenity of +her self-possessed soul, she was wont to imagine herself. + +The quadrille began presently, and Clarissa walked through its serious +mazes with the man whom she was apt to consider the enemy of her race. She +could not help wondering a little to find herself in this position, and her +replies to Mr. Granger's commonplace remarks were somewhat mechanical. + +Once he contrived to bring the conversation round to Arden Court. + +"It would give me so much pleasure to see you there as my daughter's +guest," he said, in a warmer tone than was usual to him, "and I really +think you would be interested in her parish-work. She has done wonders in a +small way." + +"I have no doubt. You are very kind," faltered Clarissa; "but I do not the +least understand how to manage people as Miss Granger does, and I could not +bear to come to the Court. I was so happy there with my brother, and now +that he is gone, and that I am forbidden even to mention his name, the +associations of the place would be too painful." + +Mr. Granger grew suddenly grave and silent. + +"Yes, there was that business about the brother," he thought to himself; +"a bad business no doubt, or the father would never have turned him out of +doors--something very queer perhaps. A strange set these Lovels evidently. +The father a spendthrift, the son something worse." + +And then he looked down at Clarissa, and thought again how lovely she was, +and pitied her for her beauty and her helplessness--the daughter of such a +father, the sister of such a brother. + +"But she will marry well, of course," he said to himself, just as George +Fairfax had done; "all these young fellows seem tremendously struck by +her. I suppose she is the prettiest girl in the room. She will make a good +match, I daresay, and get out of her father's hands. It must be a dreary +life for her in that cottage, with, a selfish disappointed man." + +The night waned, and there was no George Fairfax. Lady Geraldine bore +herself bravely, and danced a good deal more than she would have done, had +there not been appearances to be kept up. She had to answer a great many +questions about her lover, and she answered all with supreme frankness. He +was away in Scotland with some bachelor friends, enjoying himself no doubt. +He promised to be with them to-night, and had broken his promise; that was +all--she was not afraid of any accident. + +"I daresay he found the grouse-shooting too attractive," she said coolly. + +After supper, while the most determined of the waltzers were still spinning +round to a brisk _deux temps_ of Charles d'Albert's, Clarissa was fain to +tell the last of her partners she could dance no more. + +"I am not tired of the ball," she said; "I like looking on, but I really +can't dance another step. Do go and get some one else for this waltz; I +know you are dying to dance it." + +This was to the devoted Captain Westleigh, a person with whom Miss Level +always felt very much at home. + +"With _you_," he answered tenderly. "But if you mean to sit down, I am at +your service. I would not desert you for worlds. And you really are looking +a little pale. Shall we find some pleasanter place? That inner room, looks +deliciously cool." + +He offered his arm to Clarissa, and they walked slowly away towards a small +room at the end of the saloon; a room which Lady Laura had arranged with an +artful eye to effect, leaving it almost in shadow. There were only a few +wax-candles glimmering here and there among the cool dark foliage of the +ferns and pitcher-plants that filled every niche and corner, and the +moonlight shone full into the room through a wide window that opened upon a +stone balcony a few feet above the terrace. + +"If I am left alone with her for five minutes, I am sure I shall propose," +Captain Westleigh thought, on beholding the soft secluded aspect of this +apartment, which was untenanted when he and Clarissa entered it. + +She sank down upon a sofa near the window, more thoroughly tired than she +had confessed. This long night of dancing and excitement was quite a new +thing to her. It was nearly over now, and the reaction was coming, bringing +with it that vague sense of hopelessness and disappointment which had so +grown upon her of late. She had abandoned herself fully to the enchantment +of the ball, almost losing the sense of her own identity in that brilliant +scene. But self-consciousness came back to her now, and she remembered that +she was Clarissa Lovel, for whom life was at best a dreary business. + +"Can I get you anything?" asked the Captain, alarmed by her pallor. + +"Thanks, you are very kind. If it would not be too much trouble--I know +the refreshment-room is a long way off--but I should be glad of a little +water." + +"I'll get some directly. But I really am afraid you are ill," said the +Captain, looking at her anxiously, scarcely liking to leave her for fear +she should faint before he came back. + +"No, indeed, I am not ill--only very tired. If you'll let me lest here a +little without talking." + +She half closed her eyes. There was a dizziness in her head very much like +the preliminary stage of fainting. + +"My dear Miss Lovel, I should be a wretch to bore you. I'll go for the +water this moment." + +He hurried away. Clarissa gave a long weary sigh, and that painful +dizziness passed off in some degree. All she wanted was air, she thought, +if there had been any air to be got that sultry night. She rose from the +sofa presently, and went out upon the balcony. Below her was the river; not +a ripple upon the water, not a breath stirring the rushes on the banks. +Between the balcony and the river there was a broad battlemented walk, and +in the embrasures where cannon had once been there were great stone vases +of geraniums and dwarf roses, which seemed only masses of dark foliage in +the moonlight. + +The Captain was some little time gone for that glass of water. Clarissa had +forgotten him and his errand as she sat upon a bench in the balcony with +her elbow leaning on the broad stone ledge, looking down at the water and +thinking of her own life--thinking what it might have been if everything in +the world had been different. + +A sudden step on the walk below startled her, and a low voice said, + +"I would I were a glove upon that hand, that I might kiss that cheek." + +She knew the voice directly, but was not less startled at hearing it just +then. The step came near her, and in the next moment a dark figure had +swung itself lightly upward from the path below, and George Fairfax was +seated on the angle of the massive balustrade. + +"Juliet!" he said, in the same low voice, "what put it into your head to +play Juliet to-night? As if you were not dangerous enough without that." + +"Mr. Fairfax, how could you startle me so? Lady Laura has been expecting +you all the evening." + +"I suppose so. But you don't imagine I've been hiding in the garden all the +evening, like the man in Tennyson's _Maud_? I strained heaven and earth to +be here in time; but there was a break-down between Edinburgh and Carlisle. +Nothing very serious: an engine-driver knocked about a little, and a few +passengers shaken and bruised more or less, but I escaped unscathed, and +had to cool my impatience for half a dozen hours at a dingy little station +where there was no refreshment for body or mind but a brown jug of +tepid water and a big Bible. There I stayed till I was picked up by the +night-mail, and here I am. I think I shall stand absolved by my lady when +she reads the account of my perils in to-morrow's papers. People are just +going away, I suppose. It would be useless for me to dress and put in an +appearance now." + +"I think Lady Laura would be glad to see you. She has been very anxious, I +know." + +"Her sisterly cares shall cease before she goes to sleep to-night. She +shall be informed that I am in the house; and I will make my peace +to-morrow morning." + +He did not go away however, and Clarissa began to feel that there was +something embarrassing in her position. He had stepped lightly across the +balustrade, and had seated himself very near her, looking down at her face. + +"Clarissa, do you know what has happened to me since I have been away from +this place?" + +She looked up at him with an alarmed expression. It was the first time he +had ever uttered her Christian name, but his tone was so serious as to make +that a minor question. + +"You cannot guess, I suppose," he went on, "I've made a discovery--a most +perplexing, most calamitous discovery." + +"What is that?" + +"I have found out that I love you." + +Her hand was lying on the broad stone ledge. He took it in his firm grasp, +and held it as he went on: + +"Yes, Clarissa; I had my doubts before I went away, but thought I was +master of myself in this, as I have been in other things, and fancied +myself strong enough to strangle the serpent. But it would not be +strangled, Clarissa; it has wound itself about my heart, and here I sit by +your side dishonoured in my own sight, come what may--bound to one woman +and loving another with all my soul--yes, with all my soul. What am I to +do?" + +"Your duty," Clarissa answered, in a low steady voice. + +Her heart was beating so violently that she wondered at her power to utter +those two words. What was it that she felt--anger, indignation? Alas, no; +Pride, delight, rapture, stirred that undisciplined heart. She knew now +what was wanted to make her life bright and happy; she knew now that she +had loved George Fairfax almost from the first. And her own duty--the duty +she was bound in honour to perform--what was that? Upon that question she +had not a moment's doubt. Her duty was to resign him without a murmur; +never to let him know that he had touched her heart. Even after having done +this, there would be much left to her--the knowledge that he had loved her. + +"My duty! what is that?" he asked in a hoarse hard voice. "To keep faith +with Geraldine, whatsoever misery it may bring upon both of us? I am not +one of those saints who think of everybody's happiness before their own, +Clarissa. I am very human, with all humanity's selfishness. I want to +be happy. I want a wife for whom I can feel something more than a cold +well-bred liking. I did not think that it was in me to feel more than that. +I thought I had outlived my capacity for loving, wasted the strength of my +heart's youth on worthless fancies, spent all my patrimony of affection; +but the light shines on me again, and I thank God that it is so. Yes, +Clarissa, come what may, I thank my God that I am not so old a man in heart +and feeling as I thought myself." + +Clarissa tried to stem the current of his talk, with her heart still +beating stormily, but with semblance of exceeding calmness. + +"I must not hear you talk in this wild way, Mr. Fairfax," she said. "I feel +as if I had been guilty of a sin against Lady Geraldine in having listened +so long. But I cannot for a moment think you are in earnest." + +"Do not play the Jesuit, Clarissa. You _know_ that I am in earnest." + +"Then the railway accident must have turned your brain, and I can only hope +that to-morrow morning will restore your reason." + +"Well, I am mad, if you like--madly in love with you. What am I to do? If +with some show of decency I can recover my liberty--by an appeal to Lady +Geraldine's generosity, for instance--believe me, I shall not break her +heart; our mutual regard is the calmest, coolest sentiment possible--if I +can get myself free from this engagement, will you be my wife, Clarissa?" + +"No; a thousand times no." + +"You don't care for me, then? The madness is all on my side?" + +"The madness--if you are really in earnest, and not carrying on some absurd +jest--is all on your side." + +"Well, that seems hard. I was vain enough to think otherwise. I thought so +strong a feeling on one side could not co-exist with perfect indifference +on the other. I fancied there was something like predestination in this, +and that my wandering unwedded soul had met its other half--it's an old +Greek notion, you know, that men and women were made in pairs--but I was +miserably mistaken, I suppose. How many lovers have you rejected since you +left school, Miss Lovel?" he asked with a short bitter laugh. "Geraldine +herself could not have given me my quietus more coldly." + +He was evidently wounded to the quick, being a creature spoiled by easy +conquests, and would have gone on perhaps in the same angry strain, but +there was a light step on the floor within, and Lady Laura Armstrong came +quickly towards the balcony. + +"My dearest Clary, Captain Westleigh tells me that you are quite knocked +up--" she began; and then recognizing the belated traveller, cried out, +"George Fairfax! Is it possible?" + +"George Fairfax, my dear Lady Laura, and not quite so base a delinquent as +he seems. I must plead guilty to pushing matters to the last limit; but +I made my plans to be here at seven o'clock this evening, and should +inevitably have arrived at that hour, but for a smash between Edinburgh and +Carlisle." + +"An accident! Were you hurt?" + +"Not so much as shaken; but the break-down lost me half a dozen hours. +We were stuck for no end of time at a dingy little station whose name I +forget, and when I did reach Carlisle, it was too late for any train to +bring me on, except the night-mail, which does not stop at Holborough. I +had to post from York, and arrived about ten minutes ago--too late for +anything except to prove to you that I did make heroic efforts to keep my +word." + +"And how, in goodness' name, did you get here, to this room, without my +seeing you?" + +"From the garden. Finding myself too late to make an appearance in the +ball-room, I prowled round the premises, listening to the sounds of revelry +within; and then seeing Miss Lovel alone here--playing Juliet without a +Romeo--I made so bold as to accost her and charge her with a message for +you." + +"You are amazingly considerate; but I really cannot forgive you for having +deferred your return to the last moment. You have quite spoilt Geraldine's +evening, to say nothing of the odd look your absence must have to our +friends. I shall tell her you have arrived, and I suppose that is all I can +do. You must want some supper, by the bye: you'll find plenty of people in +the dining-room." + +"No, thanks; I had some cold chicken and coffee at Carlisle. I'll ring +for a soda-and-brandy when I get to my room, and that's all I shall do +to-night. Good-night, Lady Laura; good-night, Miss Lovel." + +He dropped lightly across the balcony and vanished. Lady Laura stood in +the window for a few moments in a meditative mood, and then, looking up +suddenly, said, + +"O, by the bye, Clarissa, I came to fetch you for another dance, the last +quadrille, if you feel well enough to dance it. Mr. Granger wants you for a +partner." + +"I don't think I can dance any more, Lady Laura. I refused Captain +Westleigh the last waltz." + +"Yes, but a quadrille is different. However, if you are really tired, I +must tell Mr. Granger so. What was George Fairfax saying to you just now? +You both looked prodigiously serious." + +"I really don't know--I forget--it was nothing very particular," +Clarissa answered, conscious that she was blushing, and confused by that +consciousness. + +Lady Laura looked at her with a sharp scrutinising glance. + +"I think it would have been better taste on George's part if he had taken +care to relieve my sister's anxiety directly he arrived, instead of acting +the balcony scene in _Romeo and Juliet_. I must go back to Mr. Granger with +your refusal, Clarissa. O, here comes Captain Westleigh with some water." + +The Captain did appear at this very moment carrying a glass of that +beverage, much to Clarissa's relief, for a _tete-a-tete_ with Lady Laura +was very embarrassing to her just now. + +"My dear Miss Lovel, you must think me an utter barbarian," exclaimed +the Captain; "but you really can't conceive the difficulties I've had to +overcome. It seemed as if there wasn't a drop of iced water to be had in +the Castle. If you'd wanted Strasburg pies or barley-sugar temples, I could +have brought you them by cartloads. Moselle and Maraschino are the merest +drugs in the market; but not a creature could I persuade to get me this +glass of water. Of course the fellows all said, 'Yes, sir;' and then went +off and forgot all about me. And even when I had got my prize, I was +waylaid by thirsty dowagers who wanted to rob me of it. It was like +searching for the North-west Passage." + +Lady Laura had departed by this time. Clarissa drank some of the water and +took the Captain's arm to return to the ball-room, which was beginning to +look a little empty. On the threshold of the saloon they met Mr. Granger. + +"I am so sorry to hear you are not well, Miss Lovel," he said. + +"Thank you, Mr. Granger, but I am really not ill--only too tired to dance +any more." + +"So Lady Laura tells me--very much to my regret. I had hoped for the honour +of dancing this quadrille with you." + +"If you knew how rarely Mr. Granger dances, you'd consider yourself rather +distinguished, I think, Miss Lovel," said the Captain, laughing. + +"Well, no, I don't often dance," replied Mr. Granger, with a shade of +confusion in his manner; "but really, such a ball as this quite inspires a +man--and Lady Laura was good enough to wish me to dance." + +He remained by Clarissa's side as they walked back through the rooms. They +were near the door when Miss Granger met them, looking as cold and prim +in her pink crape and pearls as if she had that moment emerged from her +dressing-room. + +"Do you know how late it is, papa?" she asked, contemplating her parent +with severe eyes. + +"Well, no, one does not think of time upon such an occasion as this. I +suppose it is late; but it would not do for us of the household to desert +before the rest of the company." + +"I was thinking of saying good-night," answered Miss Granger. "I don't +suppose any one would miss me, or you either, papa, if we slipped away +quietly; and I am sure you will have one of your headaches to-morrow +morning." + +There is no weapon so useful in the hands of a dutiful child as some +chronic complaint of its parent. A certain nervous headache from which Mr. +Granger suffered now and then served the fair Sophia as a kind of rod for +his correction on occasions. + +"I am not tired, my dear." + +"O, papa, I know your constitution better than you do yourself. Poor Lady +Laura, how worn out she must be!" + +"Lady Laura has been doing wonders all the evening," said Captain +Westleigh. "She has been as ubiquitous as Richmond at Bosworth, and she has +the talent of never seeming tired." + +Clarissa took the first opportunity of saying good-night. If so important a +person as the heiress of Arden Court could depart and not leave a void in +the assembly, there could be assuredly no fear that she would be missed. +Mr. Granger shook hands with her for the first time in his life as he +wished her good-night, and then stood in the doorway watching her receding +figure till it was beyond his ken. + +"I like your friend Miss Lovel, Sophia," he said to his daughter presently. + +"Miss Lovel is hardly a friend of mine, papa," replied that young lady +somewhat sharply. "I am not in the habit of making sudden friendships, and +I have not known Miss Lovel a week. Besides which, she is not the kind of +girl I care for." + +"Why not?" asked her father bluntly. + +"One can scarcely explain that kind of thing. She is too frivolous for me +to get on very well with her. She takes no real interest in my poor, in +spite of her connection with Arden, or in church music. I think she hardly +knows one _Te Deum_ from another." + +"She is rather a nice girl, though," said the Captain, who would fain be +loyal to Clarissa, yet for whom the good opinion of such an heiress is Miss +Granger could not be a matter of indifference--there was always the chance +that she might take a fancy to him, as he put it to his brother-officers, +and what a lucky hit that would be! "She's a nice girl," he repeated, "and +uncommonly pretty." + +"I was not discussing her looks, Captain Westleigh," replied Miss Granger +with some asperity; "I was talking of her ideas and tastes, which are quite +different from mine. I am sorry you let Lady Laura persuade you to dance +with a girl like that, papa. You may have offended old friends, who would +fancy they had a prior claim on your attention." + +Mr. Granger laughed at this reproof. + +"I didn't think a quadrille was such a serious matter, Sophy," he said. +"And then, you see, when a man of my age does make a fool of himself, he +likes to have the prettiest girl in the room for his partner." + +Miss Granger made an involuntary wry face, as if she had been eating +something nasty. Mr. Granger gave a great yawn, and, as the rooms by this +time were almost empty, made his way to Lady Laura in order to offer his +congratulations upon her triumph before retiring to rest. + +For once in a way, the vivacious chatelaine of Hale Castle was almost +cross. + +"Do you really think the ball has gone off well?" she asked incredulously. +"It seems to me to have been an elaborate failure." She was thinking of +those two whom she had surprised tete-a-tete in the balcony, and wondering +what George Fairfax could have been saying to produce Clarissa's confusion. +Clarissa was her protegee, and she was responsible to her sister Geraldine +for any mischief brought about by her favourite. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XIV. + +THE MORNING AFTER. + + +The day after the ball was a broken straggling kind of day, after the usual +manner of the to-morrow that succeeds a festival. Hale Castle was full to +overflowing with guests who, having been invited to spend one night, were +pressed to stay longer. The men spent their afternoon for the most part in +the billiard-room, after a late lingering luncheon, at which there was +a good deal of pleasant gossip. The women sat together in groups in the +drawing-room, pretending to work, but all desperately idle. It was a +fine afternoon, but no one cared for walking or driving. A few youthful +enthusiasts did indeed get up a game at croquet, but even this +soul-enthralling sport was pursued with a certain listlessness. + +Mr. Fairfax and Lady Geraldine walked in the garden. To all appearance, a +perfect harmony prevailed between them. Clarissa, sitting alone in an oriel +at the end of the drawing-room, watched them with weary eyes and a dull +load at her heart, wondering about them perpetually, with a painful wonder. + +If she could only have gone home, she thought to herself, what a refuge +the dull quiet of her lonely life would have been! She had not slept five +minutes since the festival of last night, but had lain tossing wearily from +side to side, thinking of what George Fairfax had said to her--thinking of +what might have been and could never be, and then praying that she might do +her duty; that she might have strength to keep firmly to the right, if he +should try to tempt her again. + +He would scarcely do that, she thought. That wild desperate talk of last +night was perhaps the merest folly--a caprice of the moment, the shallowest +rodomontade, which he would be angry with himself for having spoken. She +told herself that this was so; but she knew now, as she had not known +before last night, that she had given this man her heart. + +It would be a hard thing to remain at Hale to perform her part in the grand +ceremonial of the marriage, and yet keep her guilty secret hidden from +every eye; above all, from his whom it most concerned. But there seemed no +possibility of escape from this ordeal, unless she were to be really ill, +and excused on that ground. She sat in the oriel that afternoon, wondering +whether a painful headache, the natural result of her sleeplessness and +hyper-activity of brain, might not be the beginning of some serious +illness--a fever perhaps, which would strike her down for a time and make +an end to all her difficulties. + +She had been sitting in the window for a long time quite alone, looking out +at the sunny garden and those two figures passing and repassing upon an +elevated terrace, with such an appearance of being absorbed in each other's +talk, and all-sufficient for each other's happiness. It seemed to Clarissa +that she had never seen them so united before. Had he been laughing at +her last night? she asked herself indignantly; was that balcony scene a +practical joke? He had been describing it to Lady Geraldine perhaps this +afternoon, and the two had been laughing together at her credulity. She was +in so bitter a mood just now that she was almost ready to believe this. + +She had been sitting thus a long time, tormented by her own thoughts, and +hearing the commonplace chatter of those cheerful groups, now loud, now +low, without the faintest feeling of interest, when a heavy step sounded +on the floor near her, and looking up suddenly, she saw Mr. Granger +approaching her solitary retreat. The cushioned seat in the oriel, the +ample curtains falling on either side of her, had made a refuge in which +she felt herself alone, and she was not a little vexed to find her retreat +discovered. + +The master of Arden Court drew a chair towards the oriel, and seated +himself deliberately, with an evident intention of remaining. Clarissa was +obliged to answer his courteous inquiries about her health, to admit her +headache as an excuse for the heaviness of her eyes, and then to go on +talking about everything he chose to speak of. He did not talk stupidly by +any means, but rather stiffly, and with the air of a man to whom friendly +converse with a young lady was quite a new thing. He spoke to her a good +deal about the Court and its surroundings--which seemed to her an error in +taste--and appeared anxious to interest her in all his improvements. + +"You really must come and see the place, Miss Lovel," he said. "I shall be +deeply wounded if you refuse." + +"I will come if you wish it," Clarissa answered meekly; "but you cannot +imagine how painful the sight of the dear old house will be to me." + +"A little painful just for the first time, perhaps. But that sort of +feeling will soon wear off. You will come, then? That is settled. I want to +win your father's friendship if I can, and I look to you to put me in the +right way of doing so." + +"You are very good, but papa is so reserved--eccentric, I suppose most +people would call him--and he lives shut up in himself, as it were. I +have never known him make a new friend. Even my uncle Oliver and he seem +scarcely more than acquaintances; and yet I know my uncle would do anything +to serve us, and I believe papa knows it too." + +"We must trust to time to break down that reserve, Miss Lovel," Mr. Granger +returned cheerily; "and you will come to see us at the Court--that is +understood. I want you to inspect Sophia's schools, and sewing classes, and +cooking classes, and goodness knows what. There are plenty of people +who remember you, and will be delighted to welcome you amongst them. I have +heard them say how kind you were to them before you went abroad." + +"I had so little money," said Clarissa, "I could do hardly anything." + +"But, after all, money is not everything with that class of people. No +doubt they like it better than anything in the present moment; but as +soon as it is gone they forget it, and are not apt to be grateful for +substantial benefits in the past. But past kindness they do remember. Even +in my own experience, I have known men who have been ungrateful for large +pecuniary benefits, and yet have cherished the memory of some small +kindness; a mere friendly word perhaps, spoken at some peculiar moment +in their lives. No, Miss Lovel, you will not find yourself forgotten at +Arden." + +He was so very earnest in this assurance, that Clarissa could not help +feeling that he meant to do her a kindness. She was ashamed of her unworthy +prejudice against him, and roused herself with a great effort from her +abstraction, in order to talk and listen to Mr. Granger with all due +courtesy. Nor had she any farther opportunity of watching those two figures +pacing backward and forward upon the terrace; for Mr. Granger contrived +to occupy her attention till the dressing-bell rang, and afforded her the +usual excuse for hurrying away. + +She was one of the last to return to the drawing-room, and to her surprise +found Mr. Granger by her side, offering his arm in his stately way when the +procession began to file off to the dining-room, oblivious of the claims +which my lady's matronly guests might have upon him. + +Throughout that evening Mr. Granger was more or less by Clarissa's side. +His daughter, perceiving this with a scarcely concealed astonishment, +turned a deaf ear to the designing compliments of Captain Westleigh (who +told himself that a fellow might just as well go in for a good thing as +not when he had a chance), and came across the room to take part in her +parent's conversation. She even tried to lure him away on some pretence +or other; but this was vain. He seemed rooted to his chair by Clarissa's +side--she listlessly turning over a folio volume of steel plates, he +pointing out landscapes and scenes which had been familiar to him in his +continental rambles, and remarking upon them in a somewhat disjointed +fashion--"Marathon, yes--rather flat, isn't it? But the mountains make a +fine background. We went there with guides one day, when I was a young man. +The Acropolis--hum! ha!--very fine ruins, but a most inconvenient place to +get at. Would you like to see Greece, Miss Lovel?" + +Clarissa gave a little sigh--half pain, half rapture. What chance had she +of ever treading that illustrious soil, of ever emerging from the bondage +of her dull life? She glanced across the room to the distant spot where +Lady Geraldine and George Fairfax sat playing chess. _He_ had been there. +She remembered his pleasant talk of his wanderings, on the night of their +railroad journey. + +"Who would not like to see Greece?" she said. + +"Yes, of course," Mr. Granger answered in his most prosaic way. "It's a +country that ought to be remarkably interesting; but unless one is very +well up in its history, one is apt to look at everything in a vague +uncertain sort of manner. A mountain here, and a temple there--and then the +guides and that kind of people contrive to vulgarise everything somehow; +and then there is always an alarm about brigands, to say nothing of the +badness of the inns. I really think you would be disappointed in Greece, +Miss Lovel." + +"Let me keep my dream," Clarissa answered rather sadly "I am never likely +to see the reality." + +"You cannot be sure of that; at your age all the world is before you." + +"You have read Grote, of course, Miss Lovel?" said Miss Granger, who had +read every book which a young lady ought to have read, and who rather +prided herself upon the solid nature of her studies. + +"Yes, I have read a good deal of Grote," Clarissa replied meekly. + +Miss Granger looked at her as if she rather doubted this assertion, and +would like to have come down upon her with some puzzling question about the +Archons or the Areopagus, but thought better of it, and asked her father if +he had been talking to Mr. Purdew. + +Mr. Purdew was a landed gentleman of some standing, whose estate lay near +Arden Court, and who had come with his wife and daughters to Lady Laura's +ball. + +"He in sitting over there, near the piano," added Sophia; "I expected to +find you enjoying a chat with him." + +"I had my chat with Purdew after luncheon," answered Mr. Granger; and +then he went on turning the leaves for Clarissa with a solemn air, and +occasionally pointing out to her some noted feature in a landscape or +city. His daughter stared at him in supreme astonishment. She had seen +him conventionally polite to young ladies before to-night, but this was +something more than conventional politeness. He kept his place all the +evening, and all that Sophia could do was to remain on guard. + +When Clarissa was lighting her candle at a table in the corridor, Mr. +Fairfax came up to her for the first time since the previous night. + +"I congratulate you on your conquest, Miss Lovel," he said in a low voice. + +She looked up at him with a pale startled face, for she had not known +that he was near her till his voice sounded close in her ear. "I don't +understand you," she stammered. + +"O, of course not; young ladies never can understand that sort of thing. +But I understand it very well, and it throws a pretty clear light upon our +interview last night. I wasn't quite prepared for such wise counsel as you +gave me then. I can see now whence came the strength of your wisdom. It is +a victory worth achieving, Miss Lovel. It means Arden Court.--Yes, that's a +very good portrait, isn't it?" he went on in a louder key, looking up at +a somewhat dingy picture, as a little cluster of ladies came towards the +table; "a genuine Sir Joshua, I believe." + +And then came the usual good-nights, and Clarissa went away to her room +with those words in her ears, "It means Arden Court." + +Could he be cruel enough to think so despicably of her as this? Could he +suppose that she wanted to attract the attention of a man old enough to be +her father, only because he was rich and the master of the home she loved? +The fact is that Mr. Fairfax--not too good or high-principled a man at the +best of times, and yet accounting himself an honourable gentleman--was +angry with himself and the whole world, most especially angry with +Clarissa, because she had shown herself strong where he had thought to find +her weak. Never before had his vanity been so deeply wounded. He had half +resolved to sacrifice himself for this girl--and behold, she cared nothing +for him! + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XV. + +CHIEFLY PATERNAL. + + +The preparations for the wedding went on. Clarissa's headache did not +develop into a fever, and she had no excuse for flying from Hale Castle. +Her father, who had written Lady Laura Armstrong several courteous little +notes expressing his gratitude for her goodness to his child, surprised +Miss Lovel very much by appearing at the Castle one fine afternoon to make +a personal acknowledgment of his thankfulness. He consented to remain to +dinner, though protesting that he had not dined away from home--except at +his brother-in-law's--for a space of years. + +"I am a confirmed recluse, my dear Lady Laura, a worn-out old bookworm, +with no better idea of enjoyment than a good fire and a favourite author," +he said; "and I really feel myself quite unfitted for civilised society. +But you have a knack at commanding, and to hear is to obey; so if you +insist upon it, and will pardon my morning-dress, I remain." + +Mr. Lovel's morning-dress was a suit of rather clerical-looking black from +a fashionable West-end tailor--a costume that would scarcely outrage the +proprieties of a patrician dinner-table. + +"Clarissa shall show you the gardens between this and dinner-time," +exclaimed Lady Laura. "It's an age since you've seen them, and I want to +know your opinion of my improvements. Besides, you must have so much to say +to her." + +Clarissa blushed, remembering how very little her father ever had to say to +her of a confidential nature, but declared that she would be very pleased +to show him the gardens; so after a little more talk with my lady they set +out together. + +"Well, Clary," Mr. Lovel began, with his kindest air, "you are making a +long stay of it." + +"Too long, papa. I should be so glad to come home. Pray don't think me +ungrateful to Lady Laura, she is all goodness; but I am so tired of this +kind of life, and I do so long for the quiet of home." + +"Tired of this kind of life! Did ever any one hear of such a girl! I really +think there are some people who would be tired of Paradise. Why, child, +it is the making of you to be here! If I were as rich as--as that fellow +Granger, for instance; confound Croesus!--I couldn't give you a better +chance. You must stay here as long as that good-natured Lady Laura likes +to have you; and I hope you'll have booked a rich husband before you come +home. I shall be very much disappointed if you haven't." + +"I wish you would not talk in that way, papa; nothing would ever induce me +to marry for money." + +"_For_ money; no, I suppose not," replied Mr. Lovel testily; "but you might +marry a man _with_ money. There's no reason that a rich man should be +inferior to the rest of his species. I don't find anything so remarkably +agreeable in poor men." + +"I am not likely to marry foolishly, papa, or to offend you in that way," +Clarissa answered with a kind of quiet firmness, which her father inwardly +execrated as "infernal obstinacy;" "but no money in the world would be the +faintest temptation to me." + +"Humph! Wait till some Yorkshire squire offers you a thousand a year +pin-money; you'll change your tone then, I should hope. Have you seen +anything of that fellow Granger, by the way?" + +"I have seen a good deal of Mr. and Miss Granger, papa. They have been +staying here for a fortnight, and are here now." + +"You don't say so! Then I shall be linked into an intimacy with the fellow. +Well, it is best to be neighbourly, perhaps. And how do you like Mr. +Granger?" + +"He is not a particularly unpleasant person, papa; rather stiff and +matter-of-fact, but not ungentlemanly; and he has been especially polite to +me, as if he pitied me for having lost Arden." + +In a general way Mr. Lovel would have been inclined to protest against +being pitied, either in his own person or that of his belongings, by such a +man as Daniel Granger. But in his present humour it was not displeasing to +him to find that the owner of Arden Court had been especially polite to +Clarissa. + +"Then he is really a nice fellow, this Granger, eh, Clary?" he said airily. + +"I did not say nice, papa." + +"No, but civil and good-natured, and that kind of thing. Do you know, I +hear nothing but praises of him about Arden; and he is really doing +wonders for the place. Looking at his work with an unjaundiced mind, it is +impossible to deny that. And then his wealth!--something enormous, they +tell me. How do you like the daughter, by the way?" + +This question Mr. Lovel asked with something of a wry face, as if the +existence of Daniel Granger's daughter was not a pleasing circumstance in +his mind. + +"Not particularly, papa. She is very good, I daresay, and seems anxious to +do good among the poor; and she is clever and accomplished, but she is not +a winning person. I don't think I could ever get on with her very well." + +"That's a pity, since you are such near neighbours." + +"But you have always avoided any acquaintance with the Grangers, papa," +Clarissa said wonderingly. + +"Yes, yes, naturally. I have shrunk from knowing people who have turned me +out of house and home, as it were. But that sort of thing must come to an +end sooner or later. I don't want to appear prejudiced or churlish; and in +short, though I may never care to cross that threshold, there is no reason +Miss Granger and you should not be friendly. You have no one at Arden of +your own age to associate with, and a companion of that kind might be +useful. Has the girl much influence with her father, do you think?" + +"She is not a girl, papa, she is a young woman. I don't suppose she is more +than two or three-and-twenty, but no one would ever think of calling Miss +Granger a girl." + +"You haven't answered my question." + +"I scarcely know how to answer it. Mr. Granger seems kind to his daughter, +and she talks as if she had a great deal of influence over him; but one +does not see much of people's real feelings in a great house like this. It +is 'company' all day long. I daresay Mr. and Miss Granger are very fond of +one another, but--but--they are not so much to each other as I should like +you and me to be, papa," Clarissa added with a sudden boldness. + +Mr. Lovel coughed, as if something had stuck in his throat. + +"My dear child, I have every wish to treat you fairly--affectionately, that +is to say," he replied, after that little nervous cough; "but I am not a +man given to sentiment, you see, and there are circumstances in my life +which go far to excuse a certain coldness. So long as you do not ask too +much of me--in the way of sentiment, I mean--we shall get on very well, as +we have done since your return from school. I have had every reason to be +satisfied." + +This was not much, but Clarissa was grateful even for so little. + +"Thank you, papa," she said in a low voice; "I have been very anxious to +please you." + +"Yes, my dear, and I hope--nay, am sure--that your future conduct will give +me the same cause for satisfaction; that you will act wisely, and settle +the more difficult questions of life like a woman of sense and resolution. +There are difficult questions to be solved in life, you know, Clary; and +woe betide the woman who lets her heart get the better of her head!" + +Clarissa did not quite understand the drift of this remark, but her father +dismissed the subject in his lightest manner before she could express her +bewilderment. + +"That's quite enough serious talk, my dear," he said; "and now give me the +_carte du pays_. Who is here besides these Grangers? and what little social +comedies are being enacted? Your letters, though very nice and dutiful, are +not quite up to the Horace-Walpole standard, and have not enlightened me +much about the state of things." + +Clarissa ran over the names of the Castle guests. There was one which she +felt would be difficult to pronounce, but it must needs come at last. She +wound up her list with it: "And--and there are Lady Geraldine Challoner, +and the gentleman she is going to marry--Mr. Fairfax." + +To her extreme surprise, the name seemed to awaken some unwonted emotion in +her father's breast. + +"Fairfax!" he exclaimed; "what Fairfax is that? You didn't tell me whom +Lady Geraldine was to marry when you told me you were to officiate as +bridesmaid. Who is this Mr. Fairfax?" + +"He has been in the army, papa, and has sold out. He is the heir to some +great estate called Lyvedon, which he is to inherit from an uncle." + +"His son!" muttered Mr. Lovel. + +"Do you know Mr. Fairfax, papa?" + +"No, I do not know this young man. But I have known others--members of the +same family--and have a good reason for hating his name. He comes of a +false, unprincipled race. I am sorry for Lady Geraldine." + +"He may not have inherited the faults of his family, papa." + +"May not!" echoed Mr. Lovel contemptuously; "or may. I fancy these vices +run in the blood, child, and pass from father to son more surely than a +landed estate. To lie and betray came natural to the man I knew. Great +Heaven! I can see his false smile at this moment." + +This was said in a low voice; not to Clarissa, but to himself; a +half-involuntary exclamation. He turned impatiently presently, and walked +hurriedly back towards the Castle. + +"Let us go in," he said. "That name of Fairfax has set my teeth on edge." + +"But you will not be uncivil to Mr. Fairfax, papa?" Clarissa asked +anxiously. + +"Uncivil to him! No, of course not. The man is Lady Laura's guest, and a +stranger to me; why should I be uncivil to him?" + +Nor would it have been possible to imagine by-and-by, when Mr. Lovel and +George Fairfax were introduced to each other, that the name of the younger +man was in any manner unpleasant to the elder. Clarissa's father had +evidently made up his mind to be agreeable, and was eminently successful +in the attempt. At the dinner-table he was really brilliant, and it was +a wonder to every one that a man who led a life of seclusion could shine +forth all at once with more than the success of a professed diner-out. But +it was to Mr. Granger that Marmaduke Lovel was most particularly gracious. +He seemed eager to atone, on this one occasion, for all former coldness +towards the purchaser of his estate. Nor was Daniel Granger slow to take +advantage of his urbane humour. For some reason or other, that gentleman +was keenly desirous of acquiring Mr. Lovel's friendship. It might be the +commoner's slavish worship of ancient race, it might be some deeper motive, +that influenced him, but about the fact itself there could be no doubt. The +master of Arden was eager to place his coverts, his park, his library, his +hot-houses, his picture-gallery--everything that he possessed--at the feet +of his ruined neighbour. Yet even in his eagerness to confer these benefits +there was some show of delicacy, and he was careful not to outrage the +fallen man's dignity. + +Mr. Lovel listened, and bowed, and smiled; pledged himself to nothing; +waived off every offer with an airy grace that was all his own. A prime +minister, courted by some wealthy place-hunter, could not have had a +loftier air; and yet he contrived to make Mr. Granger feel that this was +the inauguration of a friendship between them; that he consented to the +throwing down of those barriers which had kept them apart hitherto. + +"For myself, I am a hermit by profession," he said; "but I am anxious that +my daughter should have friends, and I do not think she could have a more +accomplished or agreeable companion than Miss Granger." + +He glanced towards that young lady with a smile--almost a triumphant +smile--as he said this. She had been seated next him at dinner, and he had +paid her considerable attention--attention which had not been received +by her with quite that air of gratification which Mr. Level's graceful +compliments were apt to cause. He was not angry with her, however. He +contemplated her with a gentle indulgence, as an interesting study in human +nature. + +"Well, Mr. Lovel," said Lady Laura in a confidential tone, when he was +wishing her good-night, "what do you think of Mr. Granger now?" + +"I think he is a very excellent fellow, my dear Lady Laura; and that I am +to blame for having been so prejudiced against him." + +"I am so glad to hear you say that!" cried my lady eagerly. She had drawn +him a little way apart from the rest of her visitors, out of earshot of the +animated groups of talkers clustered here and there. "And now I want to +know if you have made any great discovery?" she added, looking at him +triumphantly. + +He responded to the look with a most innocent stare. + +"A discovery, my dearest Lady Laura--you mystify me. What discovery is +there for me to make, except that Hale Castle is the most delightful place +to visit?--and that fact I knew beforehand, knowing its mistress." + +"But is it possible that you have seen nothing--guessed nothing? And I +should have supposed you such a keen observer--such a profound judge of +human nature." + +"One does not enlarge one's knowledge of human nature by being buried +amongst books as I have been. But seriously, Lady Laura, what is the answer +to the enigma--what ought I to have guessed, or seen?" + +"Why, that Daniel Granger is desperately in love with your daughter." + +"With Clarissa! Impossible! Why, the man is old enough to be her father." + +"Now, my dear Mr. Lovel, you know that is _no_ reason against it. I tell +you the thing is certain--palpable to any one who has had some experience +in such matters, as I have. I wanted to bring this about; I had set my +heart upon it before Clarissa came here, but I did not think it would be +accomplished so easily. There is no doubt about his feelings, my dear +Mr. Lovel; I know the man thoroughly, and I never saw him pay any woman +attention before. Perhaps the poor fellow is scarcely conscious of his own +infatuation yet, but the fact is no less certain. He has betrayed himself +to me ever so many times by little speeches he has let fall about our dear +Clary. I think even the daughter begins to see it." + +"And what then, my kind friend?" asked Mr. Lovel with an air of supreme +indifference. "Suppose this fancy of yours to be correct, do you think +Clarissa would marry the man?" + +"I do not think she would be so foolish as to refuse him," Lady Laura +answered quickly; "unless there were some previous infatuation on her +side." + +"You need have no apprehension of that," returned Mr. Lovel sharply. +"Clarissa has never had the opportunity for so much as a flirtation." + +Lady Laura remembered that scene on the balcony with a doubtful feeling. + +"I hope she would have some regard for her own interest," she said +thoughtfully. "And if such an opportunity as this were to present +itself--as I feel very sure it will--I hope your influence would be exerted +on the right side." + +"My dear Lady Laura, my influence should be exercised in any manner you +desired," replied Mr. Lovel eagerly. "You have been so good to that poor +friendless girl, that you have a kind of right to dispose of her fate. +Heaven forbid that I should interfere with any plans you may have formed on +her behalf, except to promote them." + +"It is so good of you to say that. I really am so fond of my dear Clary, +and it would so please me to see her make a great marriage, such as this +would be. If Mr. Granger were not a good man, if it were a mere question +of money, I would not urge it for a moment; but he really is in every +way unexceptionable, and if you will give me your permission to use my +influence with Clary----" + +"My dear Lady Laura, as a woman, as a mother, you are the fittest judge +of what is best for the girl. I leave her in your hands with entire +confidence; and if you bring this marriage about, I shall say Providence +has been good to us. Yes, I confess I should like to see my daughter +mistress of Arden Court." + +Almost as he spoke, there arose before him a vision of what his own +position would be if this thing should come to pass. Was it really worth +wishing for at best? Never again could he be master of the home of his +forefathers. An honoured visitor perhaps, or a tolerated inmate--that was +all. Still, it would be something to have his daughter married to a rich +man. He had a growing, almost desperate need of some wealthy friend who +should stretch out a saving hand between him and his fast-accumulating +difficulties; and who so fitted for this office as a son-in-law? Yes, upon +the whole, the thing was worth wishing for. + +He bade Lady Laura good-night, declaring that this brief glimpse of the +civilised world had been strangely agreeable to him. He even promised to +stay at the Castle again before long, and so departed, after kissing his +daughter almost affectionately, in a better humour with himself and mankind +than had been common to him lately. + +"So that is young Fairfax," he said to himself as he jogged slowly homeward +in the Arden fly, the single vehicle of that kind at the disposal of the +village gentility; "so that is the son of Temple Fairfax. There is a look +of his father in his eyes, but not that look of wicked power in his face +that there was in the Colonel's--not that thorough stamp of a bold bad man. +It will come, I suppose, in good time." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVI. + +LORD CALDERWOOD IS THE CAUSE OF INCONVENIENCE. + + +The preparations for the wedding went on gaily, and whatever inclination to +revolt may have lurked in George Fairfax's breast, he made no sign. Since +his insolent address that night in the corridor he had scarcely spoken to +Clarissa; but he kept a furtive watch upon her notwithstanding, and she +knew it, and sickened under it as under an evil influence. He was +very angry with her--she was fully conscious of that--unjustifiably, +unreasonably angry. More than once, when Mr. Granger was especially +attentive, she had encountered a withering glance from those dark gray +eyes, and she had been weak enough, wicked enough perhaps, to try and make +him perceive that Mr. Granger's attentions were in no way pleasant to her. +She could bear anything better than that he should think her capable of +courting this man's admiration. She told herself sometimes that it would be +an unspeakable relief to her when the marriage was over, and George Fairfax +had gone away from Hale Castle, and out of her life for evermore; and then, +while she was trying to believe this, the thought would come to her of what +her life would be utterly without him, with no hope of ever seeing +him again, with the bitter necessity of remembering him only as Lady +Geraldine's husband. She loved him, and knew that she loved him. To hear +his voice, to be in the same room with him, caused her a bitter kind of +joy, a something that was sweeter than common pleasure, keener than common +pain. His presence, were he ever so silent or angry, gave colour to her +life, and to realise the dull blankness of a life without him seemed +impossible. + +While this silent struggle was going on, and the date of the marriage +growing nearer and nearer, Mr. Granger's attentions became daily more +marked. It was impossible even for Clarissa, preoccupied as she was by +those other thoughts, to doubt that he admired her with something more than +common admiration. Miss Granger's evident uneasiness and anger were in +themselves sufficient to give emphasis to this fact. That young lady, +mistress of herself as she was upon most occasions, found the present state +of things too much for her endurance. For the last ten years of her life, +ever since she was a precocious damsel of twelve, brought to a premature +state of cultivation by an expensive forcing apparatus of governesses and +masters, she had been in the habit of assuring herself and her confidantes +that her father would never marry again. She had a very keen sense of the +importance of wealth, and from that tender age, of twelve or so upwards, +she had been fully aware of the diminution her own position would undergo +in the event of a second marriage, and the advent of a son to the house of +Granger. Governesses and maidservants had perhaps impressed this upon her +at some still earlier stage of her existence; but from this time upwards +she had needed nothing to remind her of the fact, and she had watched her +father with an unwearying vigilance. + +More than once, strong-minded and practical as he was, she had seen him in +danger. Attractive widows and dashing spinsters had marked him for their +prey, and he had seemed not quite adamant; but the hour of peril had +passed, and the widow or the spinster had gone her way, with all her +munitions of war expended, and Daniel Granger still unscathed. This time it +was very different. Mr. Granger showed an interest in Clarissa which he had +never before exhibited in any member of her sex since he wooed and won the +first Mrs. Granger; and as his marriage had been by no means a romantic +affair, but rather a prudential arrangement made and entered upon by Daniel +Granger the elder, cloth manufacturer of Leeds and Bradford, on the one +part, and Thomas Talloway, cotton-spinner of Manchester, on the other part, +it is doubtful whether Miss Sophy Talloway had ever in her ante-nuptial +days engrossed so much of his attention. + +Having no one else at Hale to whom she could venture to unbosom herself, +Miss Granger was fain to make a confidante of her maid, although she did +not, as a general rule, affect familiarity with servants. This maid, who +was a mature damsel of five-and-thirty or upwards, and a most estimable +Church-of-England person, had been with Miss Granger for a great many +years; had curled her hair for her when she wore it in a crop, and even +remembered her in her last edition of pinafores. Some degree of familiarity +therefore might be excused, and the formal Sophia would now and then expand +a little in her intercourse with Warman. + +One night, a very little while before Lady Geraldine's wedding-day, the +cautious Warman, while brushing Miss Granger's hair, ventured to suggest +that her mistress looked out of spirits. Had she said that Sophia looked +excessively cross, she would scarcely have been beside the mark. + +"Well, Warman," Miss Granger replied, in rather a shrewish tone, "I _am_ +out of spirits. I have been very much annoyed this evening by papa's +attentions to--by the designing conduct of a young lady here." + +"I think I can guess who the young lady is, miss," Warman answered +shrewdly. + +"O, I suppose so," cried Sophia, giving her head an angry jerk which almost +sent the brush out of her abigail's hand; "servants know everything." + +"Well, you see, miss, servants have eyes and ears, and they can't very well +help using them. People think we're inquisitive and prying if we venture to +see things going on under our very noses; and so hypocrisy gets be almost +part of a servant's education, and what people call a good servant is +a smooth-faced creature that pretends to see nothing and to understand +nothing. But my principles won't allow of my stooping to that sort of +thing, Miss Granger, and what I think I say. I know my duty as a servant, +and I know the value of my own immortal soul as a human being." + +"How you do preach, Warman! Who wants you to be a hypocrite?" exclaimed +Sophia impatiently. "It's always provoking to hear that one's affairs have +been talked over by a herd of servants, but I suppose it's inevitable. And +pray, what have they been saying about papa?" + +"Well, miss, I've heard a good deal of talk of one kind and another. You +see, your papa is looked upon as a great gentleman in the county, and +people will talk about him. There's Norris, Lady Laura's own footman, who's +a good deal in the drawing-room--really a very intelligent-well-brought-up +young man, and, I am happy to say, _not_ a dissenter. Norris takes a good +deal of notice of what's going on, and he has made a good many remarks upon +your par's attention to Miss Lovel. Looking at the position of the parties, +you see, miss, it would be such a curious thing if it was to be brought +round for that young lady to be mistress of Arden Court." + +"Good gracious me, Warman!" cried Sophia aghast, "you don't suppose that +papa would marry again?" + +"Well, I can't really say, miss. But when a gentleman of your par's age +pays so much attention to a lady young enough to be his daughter, it +generally do end that way." + +There was evidently no consolation to be obtained from Warman, nor was that +astute handmaiden to be betrayed into any expression of opinion against +Miss Lovel. It seemed to her more than probable that Clarissa Lovel +might come before long to reign over the household at Arden, and this +all-powerful Sophia sink to a minor position. Strong language of any kind +was therefore likely to be dangerous. Hannah Warman valued her place, which +was a good one, and would perhaps be still better under a more impulsive +and generous mistress. The safest thing therefore was to close the +conversation with one of those pious platitudes which Warman had always at +her command. + +"Whatever may happen, miss, we are in the hands of Providence," she said +solemnly; "and let us trust that things will be so regulated as to work for +the good of our immortal souls. No one can go through life without trials, +miss, and perhaps yours may be coming upon you now; but we know that such +chastisements are intended for our benefit." + +Sophia Granger had encouraged this kind of talk from the lips of Warman, +and other humble disciples, too often too be able to object to it just +now; but her temper was by no means improved by this conversation, and she +dismissed her maid presently with a very cool good-night. + +On the third day before the wedding, George Fairfax's mother arrived at +the Castle, in order to assist in this important event in her son's life. +Clarissa contemplated this lady with a peculiar interest, and was not a +little wounded by the strange coldness with which Mrs. Fairfax greeted her +upon her being introduced by Lady Laura to the new arrival. This coldness +was all the more striking on account of the perfect urbanity of Mrs. +Fairfax's manners in a general way, and a certain winning gentleness which +distinguished her on most occasions. It seemed to Clarissa as if she +recoiled with something like aversion at the sound of her name. + +"Miss Lovel of Arden Court, I believe?" she said, looking at Lady Laura. + +"Yes; my dear Clarissa is the only daughter of the gentleman who till +lately was owner of Arden Court. It has passed into other hands now." + +"I beg your pardon. I did not know there had been any change." + +And then Mrs. Fairfax continued her previous conversation with Lady Laura, +as if anxious to have done with the subject of Miss Lovel. + +Nor in the three days before the wedding did she take any farther notice of +Clarissa; a neglect the girl felt keenly; all the more so because she was +interested in spite of herself in this pale faded lady of fifty, who still +bore the traces of great beauty and who carried herself with the grace of a +queen. She had that air _du faubourg_ which we hear of in the great ladies +of a departed era in Parisian society,--a serene and tranquil elegance +which never tries to be elegant, a perfect self-possession which never +degenerates into insolence. + +In a party so large as that now assembled at Hale, this tacit avoidance +of one person could scarcely be called a rudeness. It might so easily be +accidental. Clarissa felt it nevertheless, and felt somehow that it was not +accidental. Though she could never be anything to George Fairfax, though +all possibility even of friendship was at an end between them, she would +have liked to gain his mother's regard. It was an idle wish perhaps, but +scarcely an unnatural one. + +She watched Mrs. Fairfax and Lady Geraldine together. The affection between +those two was very evident. Never did the younger lady appear to greater +advantage than in her intercourse with her future mother-in-law. All pride +and coldness vanished in that society, and Geraldine Challoner became +genial and womanly. + +"She has played her cards well," Barbara Fermor said maliciously. "It is +the mother who has brought about this marriage." + +If Mrs. Fairfax showed herself coldly disposed towards Clarissa, there was +plenty of warmth on the parts of Ladies Emily and Louisa Challoner, who +arrived at the Castle about the same time, and at once took a fancy to +their sister's _protegee._ + +"Laura has told us so much about you, Miss Lovel," said Lady Louisa, "and +we mean to be very fond of you, if you will allow us; and, O, please may we +call you Clarissa? It is such a _sweet_ name!" + +Both these ladies had passed that fearful turning-point in woman's life, +her thirtieth birthday, and had become only more gushing and enthusiastic +with increasing years. They were very much like Lady Laura, had all her +easy good-nature and liveliness, and were more or less afraid of the +stately Geraldine. + +"Do you know, we are quite glad she is going to be married at last," Lady +Emily said in a confidential tone to Clarissa; "for she has kept up a kind +of frigid atmosphere at home that I really believe has helped to frighten +away all our admirers. Men of the present day don't like that sort of +thing. It went out of fashion in England with King Charles I., I think, and +in France with Louis XIV. You know how badly the royal household behaved +coming home from his funeral, laughing and talking and all that: I +believe it arose from their relief at thinking that the king of forms +and ceremonies was dead. We always have our nicest little +parties--kettle-drums, and suppers after the opera, and that sort of +thing--when Geraldine is away; for we can do anything with papa." + +The great day came, and the heavens were propitious. A fine clear September +day, with a cool wind and a warm sun; a day upon which the diaphanous +costumes of the bridesmaids might be a shade too airy; but not a stern +or cruel day, to tinge their young noses with a frosty hue, or blow the +crinkles out of their luxuriant hair. + +The bridesmaids were the Ladies Emily and Louisa Challoner, the two Miss +Fermors, Miss Granger, and Clarissa--six in all; a moderation which Lady +Laura was inclined to boast of as a kind of Spartan simplicity. They were +all to be dressed alike, in white, with bonnets that seemed composed of +waxen looking white heather and tremulous harebells, and with blue sashes +to match the harebells. The dresses were Lady Laura's inspiration: they +had come to her almost in her sleep, she declared, when she had well-nigh +despaired of realising her vague desires; and Clarissa's costume was, like +the ball-dress, a present from her benefactress. + +The nine-o'clock breakfast--a meal that begun at nine and rarely ended till +eleven--was hurried over in the most uncomfortable and desultory manner on +this eventful morning. The principals in the great drama did not appear at +all, and Clarissa and Miss Granger were the only two bridesmaids who could +spare half an hour from the cares of the toilet. The rest breakfasted +in the seclusion of their several apartments, with their hair in +crimping-pins. Miss Granger was too perfect a being to crinkle her hair, +or to waste three hours on dressing, even for a wedding. Lady Laura +showed herself among her guests, for a quarter of an hour or so, in a +semi-hysterical flutter; so anxious that everything should go off well, +so fearful that something might happen, she knew not what, to throw the +machinery of her arrangements out of gear. + +"I suppose it's only a natural feeling on such an occasion as this," she +said, "but I really do feel as if something were going to happen. Things +have gone on so smoothly up to this morning--no disappointments +from milliners, no stupid mistakes on the part of those railway +people--everything has gone upon velvet; and now it is coming to the crisis +I am quite nervous." + +Of course every one declared this was perfectly natural, and recommended +his or her favourite specific--a few drops of sal-volatile--a liqueur-glass +of dry curacoa--red lavender--chlorodyne--and so on; and then Lady Laura +laughed and called herself absurd, and hurried away to array herself in a +pearl-coloured silk, half smothered by puffings of pale pink areophane +and Brussels-lace flounces; a dress that was all pearly gray and rose and +white, like the sky at early morning. + +Mr. Armstrong, Mr. Granger, with some military men and country squires, +took their breakfast as calmly as if a wedding were part of the daily +business of life. Miss Granger exhibited a polite indifference about +the great event; Miss Level was pale and nervous, not able to give much +attention to Daniel Granger, who had contrived to sit next her that +morning, and talked to her a good deal, with an apparent unconsciousness of +the severe gaze of his daughter, seated exactly opposite to him. + +Clarissa was glad to make her toilet an excuse for leaving Mr. Granger; but +once in the sanctuary of her own room, she sat down in an absent manner, +and made no attempt to begin dressing. Fosset, the maid, found her there at +a quarter past ten o'clock--the ceremony was to take place at eleven--and +gave a cry of horror at seeing the toilet uncommenced. + +"Good gracious me, miss! what have you been thinking of? Your hair not +begun nor nothing! I've been almost torn to bits with one and another--Miss +Fermor's maid bothering for long hair-pins and narrow black ribbon; and +Jane Roberts--Lady Emily Challoner's maid--who really never has anything +handy, wanting half the things out of my work-box--or I should have been +with you ever so long ago. My Lady would be in a fine way if you were +late." + +"I think my hair will do very well as it is, Fosset," Clarissa said +listlessly. + +"Lor, no, miss; not in that dowdy style. It don't half show it off." + +Clarissa seated herself before the dressing-table with an air of +resignation rather than interest, and the expeditious Fosset began her +work. It was done very speedily--that wealth of hair was so easy to dress; +there was no artful manipulation of long hair-pins and black ribbon needed +to unite borrowed tresses with real ones. The dress was put on, and +Clarissa was invited to look at herself in the cheval-glass. + +"I do wish you had a bit more colour in your cheeks to-day, miss," Fosset +said, with rather a vexed air. "Not that I'd recommend you any of their +vinegar rouges, or ineffaceable blooms, or anything of that kind. But I +don't think I ever saw you look so pale. One would think _you_ were going +to be married, instead of Lady Geraldine. _She's_ as cool as a cucumber +this morning, Sarah Thompson told me just now. You can't put _her_ out +easily." + +The carriages were driving up to the great door by this time. It was about +twenty minutes to eleven, and in ten minutes more the procession would be +starting. Hale Church was within five minutes' drive of the Castle. + +Clarissa went fluttering down to the drawing-room, where she supposed +people would assemble. There was no one there but Mr. Granger, who was +stalking up and down the spacious room, dressed in the newest and stiffest +of coats and waistcoats, and looking as if he were going to assist at a +private hanging. Miss Lovel felt almost inclined to ran away at sight of +him. The man seemed to pursue her somehow; and since that night when +George Fairfax had offered her his mocking congratulations, Mr. Granger's +attentions had been particularly repugnant to her. + +She could not draw back, however, without positive rudeness, and it was +only a question of five minutes; so she went in and entered upon an +interesting little conversation about the weather. It was still fine; there +was no appearance of rain; a most auspicious day, really; and so on,--from +Mr. Granger; to which novel remarks Clarissa assented meekly. + +"There are people who attach a good deal of significance to that kind +of thing," he said presently. "For my own part, _if_ I were going to be +married to the woman I loved, I should care little how black the sky above +us might be. That sounds rather romantic for me, doesn't it? A man of fifty +has no right to feel like that." + +This he said with a half-bitter laugh. Clarissa was spared the trouble of +answering by the entrance of more bridesmaids--Lady Louisa Challoner and +Miss Granger--with three of the military men, who wore hothouse flowers +in their buttonholes, and were altogether arrayed like the lilies of the +field, but who had rather the air of considering this marriage business a +tiresome interruption to partridge-shooting. + +"I suppose we are going to start directly," cried Lady Louisa, who was a +fluttering creature of three-and-thirty, always eager to flit from one +scene to another. "If we don't, I really think we shall be late--and there +is some dreadful law, isn't there, to prevent people being married after +eleven o'clock?" + +"After twelve," Mr. Granger answered in his matter of fact way. "Lady +Geraldine has ample margin for delay." + +"But why not after twelve?" asked Lady Louisa with a childish air; "why not +in the afternoon or evening, if one liked? What can be the use of such a +ridiculous law? One might as well live in Russia." + +She fluttered to one of the windows and looked out. + +"There are all the carriages. How well the men look! Laura must have +spent a fortune in white ribbon and gloves for them--and the horses, dear +things!"--a woman of Lady Louisa's stamp is generally enthusiastic about +horses, it is such a safe thing--"they look as if they knew it was a +wedding. O, good gracious!" + +"What is the matter. Lady Louisa?" + +"A man from the railway--with a telegram--yes, I am sure it's a telegram! +Do you know, I have such a horror of telegrams! I always fancy they mean +illness--or death--or something dreadful. Very absurd of me, isn't it? And +I daresay this is only a message about some delayed parcel, or some one who +was to be here and can't come, or something of that kind." + +The room was full of idle people by this time. Every one went to the open +window and stared down at the man who had brought the telegram. He had +given his message, and was standing on the broad flight of steps before +the Castle door, waiting for the return of the official who had taken it. +Whether the electric wires had brought the tidings of some great calamity, +or a milliner's apology for a delayed bonnet, was impossible to guess. The +messenger stood there stolid and impenetrable, and there was nothing to be +divined from his aspect. + +But presently, while a vague anxiety possessed almost every one present, +there came from the staircase without a sudden cry of woe--a woman's +shriek, long and shrill, ominous as the wail of the banshee. There was a +rush to the door, and the women crowded, out in a distracted way. Lady +Laura was fainting in her husband's arms, and George Fairfax was standing +near her reading a telegram. + +People had not long to wait for the evil news. Lord Calderwood had been +seized with a paralytic stroke--his third attack--at ten o'clock the +previous night, and had expired at half-past eight that morning. There +could be no wedding that day--nor for many days and weeks to come. + +"O, Geraldine, my poor Geraldine, let me go to her!" cried Lady Laura, +disengaging herself from her husband's arms and rushing upstairs. Mr. +Armstrong hurried after her. + +"Laura, my sweet girl, don't agitate yourself; consider yourself," he +cried, and followed, with Lady Louisa sobbing and wailing behind him. +Geraldine had not left her room yet. The ill news was to find her on the +threshold, calm and lovely in the splendour of her bridal dress. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVII. + +"'TIS DEEPEST WINTER IN LORD TIMOR'S PURSE." + + +Before nightfall--before the evening which was to have been enlivened by a +dinner-party and a carpet-dance, and while bride and bridegroom should have +been speeding southwards to that noble Kentish mansion which his uncle had +lent George Fairfax--before the rooks flew homeward across the woods beyond +Hale--there had been a general flight from the Castle. People were anxious +to leave the mourners alone with their grief, and even the most intimate +felt more or less in the way, though Mr. Armstrong entreated that there +might be no hurry, no inconvenience for any one. + +"Poor Laura won't be fit to be seen for a day or two," he said, "and of +course I shall have to go up to town for the funeral; but that need make no +difference. Hale is large enough for every one, and it will be a comfort to +her by-and-by to find her friends round her." + +Through all that dreary day Lady Laura wandered about her morning-room, +alternately sobbing and talking of her father to those chosen friends with +whom she held little interviews. + +Her sisters Louisa and Emily were with her for the greater part of the +time, echoing her lamentations like a feeble chorus. Geraldine kept +her room, and would see no one--not even him who was to have been her +bridegroom, and who might have supposed that he had the chiefest right to +console her in this sudden affliction. + +Clarissa spent more than an hour with Lady Laura, listening with a tender +interest to her praises of the departed. It seemed as if no elderly +nobleman--more or less impecunious for the last twenty years of his +life--had ever supported such a load of virtues as Lord Calderwood had +carried with him to the grave. To praise him inordinately was the only +consolation his three daughters could find in the first fervour of their +grief. Time was when they had been apt to confess to one another that +papa was occasionally rather "trying," a vague expression which scarcely +involved a lapse of filial duty on the part of the grumbler. But to hear +them to-day one would have supposed that they had never been tried; that +life with Lord Calderwood in a small house in Chapel-street, Mayfair, had +been altogether a halcyon existence. + +Clarissa listened reverently, believing implicitly in the merits of the +newly lost, and did her best to console her kind friend during the hour Mr. +Armstrong allowed her to spend with Lady Laura. At the end of that time he +came and solemnly fetched her away, after a pathetic farewell. + +"You must come to me again, Clary, and very, very soon," said my lady, +embracing her. "I only wish Fred would let you stay with me now. You would +be a great comfort." + +"My dearest Lady Laura, it is better not. You have your sisters." + +"Yes, they are very good; but I wanted you to stay, Clary. I had such plans +for you. O, by the bye, the Grangers will be going back to-day, I +suppose. Why should they not take you with them in their great travelling +carriage?--Frederick, will you arrange for the Grangers to take Clarissa +home?" cried Lady Laura to her husband, who was hovering near the door. +In the midst of her grief my lady brightened a little; with the idea of +managing something, even so small a matter as this. + +"Of course, my dear," replied the affectionate Fred. "Granger shall take +Miss Lovel home. And now I must positively hurry her away; all this talk +and excitement is so bad for you." + +"I must see the Fermors before they go. You'll let me see the Fermors, +Fred?" + +"Well, well, I'll bring them just to say good-bye--that's all--Come along, +Miss Lovel." + +Clarissa followed him through the corridor. + +"O, if you please, Mr. Armstrong," she said, "I did not like to worry Lady +Laura, but I would so much rather go home alone in a fly." + +"Nonsense! the Grangers can take you. You could have Laura's brougham, of +course; but if she wants you to go with the Grangers, you must go. Her word +is law; and she's sure to ask me about it by-and-by. She's a wonderful +woman; thinks of everything." + +They met Mr. and Miss Granger presently, dressed for the journey. + +"O, if you please, Granger, I want you to take Miss Lovel home in your +carriage. You've plenty of 'room, I know." + +Sophia looked as if she would have liked to say that there was no room, but +her father's face quite flushed with pleasure. + +"I shall be only too happy," he said, "if Miss Lovel will trust herself to +our care." + +"And perhaps you'll explain toiler father what has happened, and how sorry +we are to lose her, and so on." + +"Certainly, my dear Armstrong. I shall make a point of seeing Mr. Lovel in +order to do so." + +So Clarissa had a seat in Mr. Granger's luxurious carriage, the proprietor +whereof sat opposite to her, admiring the pale patrician face, and +wondering a little what that charm was which made it seem to him more +beautiful than any other countenance he had ever looked upon. They did not +talk much, Mr. Granger only making a few stereotyped remarks about the +uncertainties of this life, or occasionally pointing out some feature of +the landscape to Clarissa. The horses went at a splendid pace Their owner +would have preferred a slower transit. + +"Remember, Miss Lovel," he said, as they approached the village of Arden, +"you have promised to come and see us." + +"You are very good; but I go out so little, and papa is always averse to my +visiting." + +"But he can't be that any more after allowing you to stay at the Castle, +or he will offend commoner folks, like Sophy and me, by his exclusiveness. +Besides, he told me he wished Sophy and you to be good friends. I am sure +he will let you come to us. When shall it be? Shall we say to-morrow, +before luncheon--at twelve or one, say? I will show you what I've done +for the house in the morning, and Sophy can take you over her schools and +cottages in the afternoon." + +Sophia Granger made no attempt to second this proposition; but her father +was so eager and decisive, that it seemed quite impossible for Clarissa to +say no. + +"If papa will let me come," she said doubtfully. + +"O, I'm quite sure he will not refuse, after what he was good enough to say +to me," replied Mr. Granger; "and if he does not feel equal to going about +with us in the morning, I hope we shall be able to persuade him to come to +dinner." + +They were at the little rustic gate before Mill Cottage by this time. How +small the place looked after Hale Castle! but not without a prettiness +of its own. The virginia creeper was reddening on the wall; the casement +windows open to the air and sunshine. Ponto ran out directly the gate was +opened--first to bark at the carriage, and then to leap joyously about +Clarissa, overpowering her with a fond canine welcome. + +"You'll come in with us, Sophia?" asked Mr. Granger, when he had alighted, +and handed Clarissa out of the carriage. + +"I think not, papa. You can't want me; and this dreadful morning has given +me a wretched headache." + +"I thought there was something amiss. It would be more respectful to Mr. +Lovel for you to come in. I daresay he'll excuse you, however, when he +hears you are ill." + +Clarissa held out her hand, which Miss Granger took with an almost obvious +reluctance, and the two young ladies said "Good-bye" to each other, without +a word from Sophia about the engagement for the next day. + +They found Mr. Lovel in his favourite sitting-room; not dreaming over +a Greek play or a volume of Bentley, as it was his custom to do, but +seriously engaged with a number of open letters and papers scattered on the +writing-table before him--papers that looked alarmingly like tradesmens' +bills. He was taken by surprise on the entrance of Clarissa and her +companion, and swept the papers into an open drawer with rather a nervous +hand. + +"My dear Clarissa, this is quite unexpected!--How do you do, Mr. Granger? +How very good of you to bring my little girl over to see me! Will you take +that chair by the window? I was deep in a file of accounts when you came +in. A man must examine his affairs sometimes, however small his household +may be.--Well, Clary, what news of our kind friends at the Castle? Why, +bless my soul, this is the wedding-day, isn't it? I had quite forgotten the +date. Has anything happened?" + +"Yes, papa; there has been a great misfortune, and the wedding is put off." + +Between them, Mr. Granger and Clarissa explained the state of affairs at +the Castle. Mr. Lovel seemed really shocked by the intelligence of the +Earl's death. + +"Poor Calderwood! He and I were great friends thirty years ago. I suppose +it's nearly twenty since I last saw him. He was one of the handsomest men +I ever knew--Lady Geraldine takes after him--and when he was in the +diplomatic service had really a very brilliant career before him; but he +missed it somehow. Had always rather a frivolous mind, I fancy, and a want +of perseverance. Poor Calderwood! And so he is gone! How old could he have +been? Not much over sixty, I believe. I'll look into Debrett presently." + +As soon as he could decently do so after this, Mr. Granger urged his +invitation for the next day. + +"O, certainly, by all means. Clary shall come to you as early as you +like. It will be a great relief for her from the dulness of this place. +And--well--yes, if you insist upon it, I'll join you at dinner. But you see +what a perfect recluse I am. There will be no one else, I suppose?" + +"You have only to say that you wish it, and there shall be no one else," +Mr. Granger replied courteously. + +Never had he been so anxious to propitiate any one. People had courted +him more or less all his life; and here he was almost suing for the +acquaintance of this broken-down spendthrift--a man whom he had secretly +despised until now. + +On this assurance Mr. Lovel consented to dine with his neighbour for the +first time; and Mr. Granger, having no excuse for farther lingering, took +his departure, remembering all at once that he had such a thing as a +daughter waiting for him in the carriage outside. + +He went, and Clarissa took up the thread of her old life just where she had +dropped it. Her father was by no means so gracious or agreeable to-day +as he had been during his brief visit to Hale Castle. He took out his +tradesmen's letters and bills when Mr. Granger was gone, and went on with +his examination of them, groaning aloud now and then, or sometimes stopping +to rest his head on his hands with a dreary long-drawn sigh. Clarissa would +have been very glad to offer her sympathy, to utter some word of comfort; +but there was something in her father's aspect which forbade any +injudicious approach. She sat by the open window with a book in her hand, +but not reading, waiting patiently in the hope that he would share his +troubles with her by-and-by. + +He went on with his work for about an hour, and then tied the papers in a +bundle with an impatient air. + +"Arithmetic is no use in such a case as mine," he said; "no man can make +fifty pounds pay a hundred. I suppose it must end in the bankruptcy court. +It will be only our last humiliation, the culminating disgrace." + +"The bankruptcy court! O, papa!" cried Clarissa piteously. She had a very +vague idea as to what bankruptcy meant, but felt that it was something +unutterably shameful--the next thing to a criminal offence. + +"Better men than I have gone through it," Mr. Lovel went on with a sigh, +and without the faintest notice of his daughter's dismay; "but I couldn't +stand Arden and Holborough after that degradation. I must go abroad, to +some dull old town in the south of France, where I could have my books and +decent wine, and where, as regards everything else, I should be in a living +grave. + +"But they would never make you bankrupt surely, papa;" Clarissa exclaimed +in the same piteous tone. + +"_They_ would never make me bankrupt!" echoed her father fretfully. "What +do you mean by _they_? You talk like a baby, Clarissa. Do you suppose that +tradesmen and bankers and bill-discounters would have more mercy upon me +than upon other people? They may give me more time than they would give +another man, perhaps, because they know I have some pride of race, and +would coin my heart's blood rather than adopt expedients that other men +make light of; but when they know there is no more to be got out of me, +they will do their worst. It is only a question of time." + +"Are you very much in debt, papa?" Clarissa asked timidly, anticipating a +rebuff. + +"No; that is the most confounded part of the business. My liabilities only +amount to a few pitiful hundreds. When I sold Arden--and I did not do that +till I was obliged, you may believe--the bulk of the purchase-money went to +the mortgagees. With the residue--a paltry sum--I bought myself an annuity; +a transaction which I was able to conclude upon better terms than most men +of my age, on account of my precarious health, and to which I was most +strongly urged by my legal advisers. On this I have existed, or tried to +exist, ever since: but the income has not been sufficient even for the +maintenance of this narrow household; if I lived in a garret, I must live +like a gentleman, and should be always at the mercy of my servants. +These are honest enough, I daresay, but I have no power of checking my +expenditure. And then I had your schooling to pay for--no small amount, I +assure you." + +"Thank heaven that is over, papa! And now, if you would only let me go out +as a governess, I might be some help to you instead of a burden." + +"There's time enough to think of that. You are not much of a burden to me +at present. I don't suppose you add many pounds a year to the expenses of +this house. And if I have to face the inevitable, and see my name in the +_Gazette_, we must begin life again upon a smaller scale, and in a cheaper +place--some out-of-the-way corner of France or Belgium. The governess +notion will keep till I am dead. You can always be of some use to me as a +companion, if you choose." + +This was quite a concession. Clarissa came over to her father's chair, and +laid her hand caressingly upon his shoulder. + +"My dear father," she said in a low sweet voice, "you make me almost happy, +in spite of our troubles. I wish for nothing better than to stay with you +always. And by-and-by, if we have to live abroad, where you need not be so +particular about our name, I may be able to help you a little--by means of +art or music--without leaving home. I think I could be happy anywhere with +you, papa, if you would only love me a little." + +That appeal touched a heart not easily moved. Marmaduke Lovel put +his hand--such a slender feminine hand--into his daughter's with an +affectionate pressure. + +"Poor child!" he said sadly. "It would be hard if I couldn't love you a +little. But you were born under an evil star, Clarissa; and hitherto +perhaps I have tried to shut my heart against you. I won't do that any +more. Whatever affection is in me to give shall be yours. God knows I have +no reason to withhold it, nor any other creature on this earth on whom to +bestow it. God knows it is a new thing for me to have my love sued for." + +There was a melancholy in his tone which touched his daughter deeply. +He seemed to have struck the key-note of his life in those few words; a +disappointed unsuccessful life; a youth in which there had been some hidden +cause for the ungenial temper of his middle age. + +It was nearly six o'clock by this time, and Clarissa strolled into the +garden with her father while the table was being laid for dinner. There +were faint glimpses of russet here and there among the woods around Arden +Court, but it still seemed summer time. The late roses were in full bloom +in Mr. Lovel's fertile garden, the rosy apples were brightening in the +orchard, the plums purpling on a crumbling old red-brick wall that bounded +the narrow patch of kitchen-garden. Yes, even after Hale Castle the place +seemed pretty; and a pang went through Clarissa's heart, as she thought +that this too they might have to leave; even this humble home was not +secure to them. + +Father and daughter dined together very pleasantly. Clarissa had been +almost happy by her father's unwonted tenderness, and Mr. Lovel was in +tolerable spirits, in spite of that dreary afternoon's labour, that +hopeless task of trying to find out some elastic quality in pounds, +shillings, and pence. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. + +SOMETHING FATAL. + + +AT seven o'clock Mr. Level composed himself for his after-dinner nap, and +Clarissa, being free to dispose of herself as she pleased till about nine, +at which hour the tea-tray was wont to be brought into the parlour, put on +her hat and went out into the village. It would be daylight till nearly +eight, and moonlight after that; for the moon rose early, as Miss Lovel +remembered. She had a fancy to look at the familiar old plane again--the +quiet village street, with its three or four primitive shops, and single +inn lying back a little from the road, and with a flock of pigeons and +other feathered creatures always on the patch of grass before it; the low +white-walled cottages, in which there were only friendly faces for her. +That suggestion of a foreign home had made her native village newly dear to +her. + +She had not held much intercourse with these Arden people since her coming +home. The sense of her inability to help them in any substantial way had +kept her aloof from them. She had not the gift of preaching, or of laying +down the laws of domestic economy, whereby she might have made counsel +and admonition serve instead of gold or silver. Being able to give them +nothing, she felt herself better out of the way; but there were two +or three households upon which she had contrived to bestow some small +benefits--a little packet of grocery bought with her scanty pocket-money, +a jar of good soup that she had coaxed good-natured Martha to make, and so +on--and in which her visits had been very welcome. + +All was very quiet this evening. Clarissa went through the village without +meeting any one she knew. The gate of the churchyard stood open, and Arden +churchyard was a favourite spot with Clarissa. A solemn old place, shadowed +by funereal yews and spreading cedars, which must have been trees of some +importance before the Hanoverian succession. There was a narrow footpath +between two rows of tall quaint old tombstones, with skulls and crossbones +out upon the moss-grown stone; a path leading to another gate which opened +upon a wide patch of heath skirted by a scanty firwood. + +This was the wildest bit of landscape about Arden, and Clarissa loved it +with all an artist's love. She had sketched that belt of fir-trees under +almost every condition--with the evening sun behind them, standing blackly +out against the warm crimson light; or later, when the day had left no more +than a faint opal glimmer in the western sky; later still, in the fair +summer moonlight, or en a blusterous autumn afternoon, tossed by the +pitiless wind. There was a poetry in the scene that seemed to inspire her +pencil, and yet she could never quite satisfy herself. In short, she +was not Turner; and that wood and sky needed the pencil of a Turner to +translate them fully. This evening she had brought her pocket sketch-book +with her. It was the companion of all her lonely walks. + +She sat down upon the low boundary-wall of the churchyard, close by the +rustic wooden gate through which she had come, facing the heath and the +firwood, and took out her sketch-book. There was always something new; +inexhaustible Nature had ever some fresh lesson for her. But this evening +she sat idle for a long time, with her pencil in her hand; and when at last +she began to draw, it was no feature of heathy ridge or dark firwood, but a +man's face, that appeared upon the page. + +It was a face that she had drawn very often lately in her idle moods, half +unconsciously sometimes--a bold handsome face, that offered none of those +difficulties by which some countenances baffle the skill of a painter. It +was the face of a man of whom she had told herself it was a sin even to +think; but the face haunted her somehow, and it seemed as if her pencil +reproduced it in spite of herself. + +She was thinking as she drew near of Lady Geraldine's postponed wedding. It +would have been better that the marriage should have taken place; better +that the story should have ended to-day and that the frail link between +herself and George Fairfax should have been broken. That accident of Lord +Calderwood's death had made everything more or less uncertain. Would the +marriage ever take place? Would George Fairfax, with ample leisure for +deliberation, hold himself bound by his promise, and marry a woman to whom +he had confessed himself indifferent? + +She was brooding over this question when she heard the thud of a horse's +hoofs upon the grass, and, looking up, saw a man riding towards her. He was +leaning across his horse's head, looking down at her in the next moment--a +dark figure shutting out the waving line of fir-trees and the warm light in +the western sky. "What are you doing there, Miss Lovel?" asked a voice that +went straight to her heart. Who shall say that it was deeper or sweeter +than, common voices? but for her it had a thrilling sound. + +She started and dropped her book. George Fairfax dismounted, tied +his horse's bridle to the churchyard gate, and picked up the little +sketch-book. + +"My portrait!" he cried, recognizing the carelessly-pencilled bead. "Then +you do think of me a little, Clarissa! Do you know that I have been +prowling about Arden for the last two hours, waiting and watching for you? +I have ridden past your father's cottage twenty times, I think, and was on +the point of giving up all hope and galloping back to Hale, when I caught +sight of a familiar figure from that road yonder." + +He had taken a knife from his pocket, and was deliberately cutting out the +leaf from Miss Lovel's sketch-book. + +"I shall keep this, Clarissa,--this one blessed scrap of evidence that you +do sometimes think of me." + +"I think of a good many people in the same manner," she said, smiling, with +recovered self-possession. "I have very few acquaintance whose likenesses I +have not attempted in some fashion." + +"But you have attempted mine very often," he answered, looking over the +leaves of the book. "Yes, here is my profile amongst bits of foliage, and +scroll-work, and all the vagabond thoughts of your artistic brain. You +shall not snub me, Clarissa. You do think of me--not as I think of you, +perhaps, by day and night, but enough for my encouragement, almost enough +for my happiness. Good heavens, how angry I have been with you during the +last few weeks!" + +"What right had you to be angry with me, Mr. Fairfax?" + +"The sublime right of loving you. To my mind that constitutes a kind of +moral ownership. And to see you flirting with that fellow Granger, and +yet have to hold my peace! But, thank God, all pretences are done with. I +recognize the event of to-day as an interposition of Providence. As soon as +I can decently do so, I shall tell Lady Geraldine the truth." + +"You will not break your engagement--at such a time--when she has double +need of your love?" cried Clarissa indignantly. + +She saw the situation from the woman's point of view, and it was of +Geraldine Challoner's feelings she thought at this crisis. George Fairfax +weighed nothing in the scale against that sorrowing daughter. And yet she +loved him. + +"My love she never had, and never can have; nor do I believe that honour +compels me to make myself miserable for life. Of course I shall not disturb +her in the hour of her grief by any talk about our intended marriage; but, +so soon as I can do so with kindness, I shall let her know the real state +of my feelings. She is too generous to exact any sacrifice from me." + +"And you will make her miserable for life, perhaps?" + +"I am not afraid of that. I tell you, Clarissa, it is not in her cold proud +nature to care much for any man. We can invent some story to account for +the rupture, which will save her womanly pride. The world can be told that +it is she who has broken the engagement: all that will be easily settled. +Poor Lord Calderwood! Don't imagine that I am not heartily sorry for him; +he was always a good friend to me; but his death has been most opportune. +It has saved me, Clarissa. But for that I should have been a married man +this night, a bound slave for evermore. You can never conceive the gloomy +dogged spirit in which I was going to my doom. Thank God, the release came; +and here, sitting by your side, a free man, I feel how bitter a bondage I +have escaped." + +He put his arm round Clarissa, and tried to draw her towards him; but she +released herself from him with a quick proud movement, and rose from her +seat on the low wall. He rose at the same moment, and they stood facing +each other in the darkening twilight. + +"And what then, Mr. Fairfax?" she said, trembling a little, but looking him +steadily in the face nevertheless. "When you have behaved like a traitor, +and broken your engagement, what then?" + +"What then? Is there any possible doubt about what must come then? You will +be my wife, Clarissa!" + +"You think that I would be an accomplice to such cruelty? You think that +I could be so basely ungrateful to Lady Laura, my first friend? Yes, Mr. +Fairfax, the first friend I ever had, except my aunt, whose friendship has +always seemed a kind of duty. You think that after all her goodness to me I +could have any part in breaking her sister's heart?" + +"I think there is one person whose feelings you overlook in this business." + +"And who is that?" + +"Myself. You seem to forget that I love you, and that my happiness depends +upon you. Are you going to stand upon punctilio, Clarissa, and break my +heart because Laura Armstrong has been civil to you?" + +Clarissa smiled--a very mournful smile. + +"I do not believe you are so dreadfully in earnest," she said. "If I did--" + +"If you did, what then, Clarissa?" + +"It might be different. I might be foolish enough, wicked enough--But I am +sure that this folly of yours is no more than a passing fancy. You will go +away and forget all about me. You would be very sorry by-and-by, if I were +weak enough to take you at your word; just as sorry as you are now for your +engagement to Lady Geraldine. Come, Mr. Fairfax, let us both be sensible, +if we can, and let there be an end of this folly for evermore between us. +Good-night; I must go home. It is half-past eight o'clock, and at nine papa +has his tea." + +"You shall go home in time to pour out Mr. Lovel's tea; but you shall hear +me out first, Clarissa, and you shall confess to me. I will not be kept in +the dark." + +And then he urged his cause, passionately, eloquently, or with that which +seemed eloquence to the girl of nineteen, who heard him with pale cheeks +and fast-throbbing heart, and yet tried to seem unmoved. Plead as he might, +he could win no admission from her. It was only in her eyes, which could +not look denial, on her tremulous lips, which could not simulate coldness, +that he read her secret. There he saw enough to make him happy and +triumphant. + +"Say what you please, my pitiless one," he cried at last; "in less than +three months you shall be my wife!" + +The church-clock chimed the three-quarters. He had no excuse for keeping +her any longer. + +"Come then, Clarissa," he said, drawing her hand through his arm; "let me +see you to your father's door." + +"But your horse--you can't leave him here?" + +"Yes, I can. I don't suppose any one will steal him in a quarter of an hour +or so; and I daresay we shall meet some village urchin whom I can send to +take care of him." + +"There is no occasion. I am quite accustomed to walk about Arden alone." + +"Not at this hour. I have detained you, and am bound to see you safely +lodged." + +"But if papa should hear----" + +"He shall near nothing. I'll leave you within a few yards of his gate." + +It was no use for her to protest; so they went back to within half a dozen +paces of Mill Cottage arm-in-arm; not talking very much, but dangerously +happy in each other's company. + +"I shall see you again very soon, Clarissa," George Fairfax said. And then +he asked her to tell him her favourite walks; but this she refused to do. + +"No matter. I shall find you out in spite of your obstinacy. And remember, +child, you owe nothing to Laura Armstrong except the sort of kindness she +would show to any pretty girl of good family. You are as necessary to her +as the orchids on her dinner-table. I don't deny that she is a warm-hearted +little woman, with a great deal that is good in her--just the sort of woman +to dispense a large fortune. But I shall make matters all right in that +quarter, and at once." + +They were now as near Mill Cottage as Mr. Fairfax considered it prudent to +go. He stopped, released Clarissa's hand from his arm, only to lift it to +his lips and kiss it--the tremulous little ungloved hand which had been +sketching his profile when he surprised her, half an hour before, on the +churchyard wall. + +There was not a creature on the road before them, as they Stood thus in +the moonlight; but in spite of this appearance of security, they were not +unobserved. A pair of angry eyes watched them from across a clipped holly +hedge in front of the cottage--the eyes of Marmaduke Lovel, who had +ventured out in the soft September night to smoke his after-dinner cigar. + +"Good-night, Clarissa," said George Fairfax; "I shall see you again very +soon." + +"No, no; I don't wish to see you. No good can come of our seeing each +other." + +"You will see me, whether you wish or not. Good-night. There is nine +striking. You will be in time to pour out papa's tea." + +He let go the little hand which he had held till now, and went away. When +Clarissa came to the gate, she found it open, and her father standing by +it. She drew back with a guilty start. + +"Pray come in," said Mr. Lovel, in his most ceremonious tone. "I am very +glad that a happy accident has enabled me to become familiar with your new +habits. Have you learnt to give clandestine meetings to your lovers at +Hale Castle? Have I to thank Lady Laura for this novel development of your +character?" + +"I don't know what you mean, papa. I was sitting in the churchyard just +now, sketching, when Mr. Fairfax rode up to me. He stopped talking a +little, and then insisted on seeing me home. That is all." + +"That is all. And so it was George Fairfax--the bridegroom that was to have +been--who kissed your hand just now, in that loverlike fashion. Pray come +indoors; I think this is a business that requires to be discussed between +us quietly." + +"Believe me you have no reason to be angry, papa," pleaded Clarissa; +"nothing could have been farther from my thoughts than the idea of meeting +Mr. Fairfax to-night." + +"I have heard that kind of denial before, and know what it is worth," +answered her father coldly. "And pray, if he did not come here to meet you, +may I ask what motive brought Mr. Fairfax to Arden to-night? His proper +place would have been at Hale Castle, I should have supposed." + +"I don't know, papa. He may have come to Arden for a ride. Everything is in +confusion at the Castle, I scarcely think he would be wanted there." + +"You scarcely think! And you encourage him to follow you here--this man who +was to have been married to Lady Geraldine Challoner to-day--and you let +him kiss your hand, and part from you with the air of a lover. I am ashamed +of you, Clarissa. This business is odious enough in itself to provoke the +anger of any father, if there were not circumstances in the past to make it +trebly hateful to me." + +They had passed in at the open window by this time, and were standing in +the lamp-lit parlour, which had a pretty air of home comfort, with its +delicate tea-service and quaintly shaped silver urn. Mr. Lovel sank into +his arm-chair with a faint groan, and looking at him in the full light of +the lamp, Clarissa saw that he was deadly pale. + + +"Do you know that the father of that man was my deadliest foe?" he +exclaimed. + +"How should I know that, papa?" + +"How should you know it!--no. But that you should choose that man for your +secret lover! One would think there was some hereditary curse upon your +mother's race, binding her and hers with that hateful name. I tell you, +Clarissa, that if there had been no such creature as Temple Fairfax, my +life might have been as bright a one as any man need hope for. I owe every +misery of my existence to that man." + +"Did he injure you so deeply, papa?" + +"He did me the worst wrong that one man can do to another. He came between +me and the woman I loved; he stole your mother's heart from me, Clarissa, +and embittered both our lives." + +He stopped, and covered his face with his hand. Clarissa could see that the +hand trembled. She had never seen her father so moved before. She too was +deeply moved. She drew a chair close to him, and sat down by his side, but +dared not speak. + +"It is just as well that you should hear the story from me," he said, after +a long pause. "You may hear hints and whispers about it from other people +by-and-by perhaps, if you go more into society; for it was known to +several. It is best you should know the truth. It is a common story enough +in the history of the world; but whenever it happens, it is enough to make +the misery of one man's life. I was not always what you have known me, +Clarissa,--a worn-out machine, dawdling away the remnant of a wasted +existence. I once had hopes and passions like the rest of mankind--perhaps +more ardent than the most. Your mother was the loveliest and most +fascinating woman I ever met, and from the hour of our first meeting I had +but one thought--how I should win her for my wife. It was not a prudent +marriage. She was my equal by birth; but she was the daughter of a ruined +spendthrift, and had learnt extravagance and recklessness in her very +nursery. She thought me much richer than I was, and I did not care to +undeceive her. Later, when we were married, and I could see that her +extravagant habits were hastening my ruin, I was still too much a moral +coward to tell her the naked truth. I could not bear to come between her +and caprices that seemed a natural accompaniment to her charms. I was +weakness itself in all that concerned her." + +"And she loved you, papa?" said Clarissa softly. "I am sure she must have +loved you." + +"That is a question that I have never answered with any satisfaction to +myself. I thought she loved me. She liked me well enough, I believe, till +that man crossed her path, and might have learnt to like me better as she +grew older and wiser, and rose above the slavery of frivolous pleasures. +But, in the most evil hour of her life, she met Temple Fairfax, and from +that hour her heart was turned from me. We were travelling, trying to +recover from the expenses of a house perpetually full of my wife's set; +and it was at Florence that we first encountered the Colonel. He had just +returned from India, had been doing great things there, and was considered +rather a distinguished person in Florentine society. I need not stop to +describe him. His son is like him. He and I became friends, and met almost +daily. It was not till a year afterwards that I knew how pitiful a dupe of +this man's treachery I had been from the very first. We were still in Italy +when I made my first discovery; it was one that let in the light upon his +character, but did not seriously involve my wife. We fought, and I was +wounded. When I recovered, I brought my wife home to Arden. Our year's +retrenchment had left me poorer than when I left home. Your mother's +beauty was a luxury not to be maintained more cheaply at Florence than in +Yorkshire." + +There was another pause, and then Marmaduke Lovel went on, in the same +bitter tone: + +"Within a short time of our return your brother was born. There are things +that I can't even hint to you, Clarissa; but there have been times when the +shadow of that man has come between me and my children. Passion has made me +unjust. I know that in her worst sin against my love--for I went on loving +her to the last--your mother remained what the world calls innocent. But +years after I had believed there was an end of all communion between those +two, I discovered letters, even stolen meetings--rare, I confess, and never +without witnesses, but no less a treason against me. Colonel Fairfax had +friends at Holborough, by whose aid he contrived to see my wife. That he +urged her to leave me, I know, and that she was steadfast in her refusal to +do me that last wrong. But I know too that she loved him. I have read the +confession of that which she called her 'madness' under her own hand." + +"O, papa, papa, how sad! how dreadful!" + +"Within a year or two of your birth she began to fade. From my heart I +believe it was this struggle between passion and the last remnant of honour +that killed her. I need not tell you the details of my discoveries, some of +them made not very long before her death. They led to bitter scenes between +us; but I thank God I did believe her protestations of innocence, and that +I kept her under my own roof. There were others not so merciful. Colonel +Fairfax's wife was told of his devotion to mine at Florence, and the duel +which ended our acquaintance. She found out something of his subsequent +meetings with your mother, and her jealousy brought about a separation. It +was managed quietly enough, but not without scandal; and nothing but my +determination to maintain my wife's position could have saved her from +utter disgrace. Yes, Clarissa, I loved her to the last, but the misery of +that last year was something that no words can tell. She died in my arms, +and in her latest hours of consciousness thanked me for what she called my +generosity. I went straight from her funeral to London, with a bundle of +letters in my pocket, to find Temple Fairfax. What might have happened +between us, had we met, I can scarcely guess; but there were no scruples on +my side. Fortune favoured him, however; he had sailed for India a few weeks +before, in command of his regiment. I had some thoughts of following him +even there, but abandoned the notion. My wrongs would keep. I waited for +his return, but that never happened. He was killed in Afghanistan, and +carried to his Indian grave the reputation of one of the worst men and best +soldiers who ever bore the king's commission." + +This was all. To speak of these things had profoundly agitated Marmaduke +Lovel; but a sudden impulse had moved this man, who was apt to be so silent +about himself and his own feelings, and he had been in a manner constrained +to tell this story. + +"You can understand now, I suppose, Clarissa," he said coldly, after +another pause, "why this young man, George Fairfax, is hateful to me." + +"Yes, papa. It is only natural that you should be prejudiced against him. +Does he know, do you think----" she faltered and stopped, with a bitter +sense of shame. + +"Does he know what?" + +"About the past?" + +"Of course he must know. Do you suppose his mother has not told him her +grievances?" + +Clarissa remembered Mrs. Fairfax's cold manner, and understood the reason +of that tacit avoidance which had wounded her so deeply. She too, no doubt, +was hateful; as hateful to the injured wife of Colonel Fairfax as his son +could be to her father. + +"And now, Clarissa," said Mr. Lovel, "remember that any acquaintance +between you and George Fairfax is most repugnant to me. I have told you +this story in order that there may be no possibility of any mistake between +us. God only knows what it costs a man to open old wounds as I have opened +mine to-night. Only this afternoon you affected a considerable regard for +me, which I promised to return to the best of my power. All that is a dead +letter if you hold any communion with this man. Choose him for your friend, +and renounce me for your father. You cannot have both." + +"He is not my friend, papa; he is nothing to me. Even it there were no +such thing as this prejudice on your part, I am not so dishonourably as to +forget that Mr. Fairfax is engaged to Lady Geraldine." + +"And you promise that there shall be no more meetings, no repetition of the +kind of thing I saw to-night?" + +"I promise, papa, that of my own free will I will never see him again. Our +meeting to-night was entirely accidental." + +"On your part, perhaps; but was it so on his?" + +"I cannot tell that, papa." + +Mr. Lovel felt himself obliged to be satisfied with this answer. It seemed +to him a hard thing that the son of his enemy should arise thus to torment +him--an accident that might have tempted a superstitious man to think that +an evil fate brooded over his house; and Marmaduke Lovel's mind, being +by no means strongly influenced by belief, was more or less tainted with +superstition. Looked at from any point of view, it was too provoking that +this man should cross Clarissa's pathway at the very moment when it was +all-important to her destiny that her heart should be untouched, her fancy +unfettered. + +"If nothing comes of this Granger business I shall take her abroad," Mr. +Lovel said to himself; "anything to get her out of the way of a Fairfax." + +He drank his tea in silence, meditating upon that little scene in the +moonlight, and stealing a look at his daughter every now and then, as she +sat opposite to him pretending to read. He could see that the open book was +the merest pretence, and that Clarissa was profoundly agitated. Was it her +mother's story that had moved her so deeply, or that other newer story +which George Fairfax might have been whispering to her just now in the +lonely moonlit road? Mr. Lovel was disturbed by this question, but did not +care to seek any farther explanation from his daughter. There are some +subjects that will not bear discussion. + + * * * * * + + + +CHAPTER XIX. + +MR. GRANGER IS PRECIPITATE. + + +Clarissa had little sleep that night. The image of George Fairfax, and +of that dead soldier whom she pictured darkly like him, haunted her all +through the slow silent hours. Her mother's story had touched her to the +heart; but her sympathies were with her father. Here was a new reason why +she should shut her heart against Lady Geraldine's lover, if any reason +were wanted to strengthen that sense of honour which reigns supreme in a +girl's unsullied soul. In her conviction as to what was right she never +wavered. She felt herself very weak where this man was concerned--weak +enough to love him in spite of reason and honour; but she did not doubt +her power to keep that guilty secret, and to hide her weakness from George +Fairfax. + +She had almost forgotten her engagement at Arden Court when her father came +down to his late breakfast, and found her sketching at a little table near +the window, with the affectionate Ponto nestling close at her side. + +"I thought you would be dressing for your visit by this time, Clary," he +said very graciously. + +"My visit, papa? O, yes, to the Court," she replied, with a faint sigh of +resignation. "I had very nearly forgotten all about it. I was to be there +between twelve and one, I think. I shall have plenty of time to give you +your breakfast. It's not eleven yet." + +"Be sure you dress yourself becomingly. I don't want you to appear at a +disadvantage compared with the heiress." + +"I'll put on my prettiest dress, if you like, papa; but I can't wear such +silks and laces as Miss Granger wears." + +"You will have such things some day, I daresay, and set them off better +than Miss Granger. She is not a bad-looking young woman--good complexion, +fine figure, and so on--but as stiff as a poker." + +"I think she is mentally stiff, papa; she is a sort of person I could never +get on with. How I wish you were coming with me this morning!" + +"I couldn't manage it, Clarissa. The schools and the model villagers would +be more than I could stand. But at your age you ought to be interested in +that sort of thing; and you really ought to get on with Miss Granger." + +It was half-past twelve when Miss Lovel opened the gate leading into Arden +Park--the first time that she had ever opened it; though she had stood +so often leaning on that rustic boundary, and gazing into the well-known +woodland, with fond sad looks. There was an actual pain at her heart as she +entered that unforgotten domain; and she felt angry with Daniel Granger for +having forced this visit upon her. + +"I suppose he is determined that we shall pay homage to his wealth, and +admire his taste, and drink the bitter cup of humiliation to the very +dregs. If he had any real delicacy of feeling, he would understand our +reluctance to any intimacy with him." + +While she was thinking of Mr. Granger in this unfriendly spirit, a step +sounded on the winding path before her, and looking up, she perceived the +subject of her thoughts coming quickly towards her. Was there ever such an +intrusive man? She blushed rosy red with vexation. + +He came to her, with his hat in his hand, looking very big and stiff and +counting-house like among the flickering shadows of forest trees; not +an Arcadian figure by any means, but with a certain formal +business-like-dignity about him, for all that; not a man to be ridiculed or +despised. + +"I am glad you have not forgotten your promise to come early, Miss Lovel," +he said, in his strong sonorous voice. "I was just walking over to the +cottage to remind you. Sophia is quite ready to do the honours of her +schools. But I shall not let her carry you off till after luncheon; I want +to show you my improvements. I had set my heart on your seeing the Court +for the first time--since its restoration--under my guidance." + +"Pompous, insufferable _parvenu_," thought Clarissa, to whom this desire on +Mr. Granger's part seemed only an odious eagerness to exhibit his wealth. +She little knew how much sentiment there was involved in this wish of +Daniel Granger's. + +They came into the open part of the park presently, and she was fain to +confess, that whatever changes had been made--and the alterations here were +not many--had been made with a perfect appreciation of the picturesque. +Even the supreme neatness with which the grounds were now kept did not +mar their beauty. Fairy-like young plantations of rare specimens of the +coniferous tribe had arisen at every available point of the landscape, +wherever there had been barrenness before. Here and there the old timber +had been thinned a little, always judiciously. No cockney freaks of fancy +disfigured the scene. There were no sham ruins, no artificial waterfalls +poorly supplied with water, no Chinese pagodas, or Swiss cottages, or +gothic hermitages. At one point of the shrubbery where the gloom of cypress +and fir was deepest, they came suddenly on a Grecian temple, whose slender +marble columns might have gleamed amidst the sacred groves of Diana; and +this was the only indulgence Mr. Granger had allowed to an architect's +fancy, Presently, at the end of a wide avenue, a broad alley of turf +between double lines of unrivalled beeches, the first glimpse of the Court +burst upon Clarissa's sight--unchanged and beautiful. A man must have been +a Goth, indeed, who had altered the outward aspect of the place by a hair's +breadth. + +The house was surrounded by a moat, and there was a massive stone gateway, +of older date than the Court itself--though that was old--dividing a small +prim garden from the park; this gatehouse was a noble piece of masonry, of +the purest gothic, rich with the mellow tint of age, and almost as perfect +as in the days when some wandering companionship of masons gave the last +stroke of their chisels to the delicate tracery of window and parapet. + +The Court formed three sides of a quadrangle. A dear old place, lovable +rather than magnificent, yet with all the grandeur of the middle ages; a +place that might have stood a siege perhaps, but had evidently been built +for a home. The garden originally belonging to the house was simplicity +itself, and covered scarcely an acre. All round the inner border of the +moat there ran a broad terrace-walk, divided by a low stone balustrade from +a grassy bank that sloped down to the water. The square plot of ground +before the house was laid out in quaint old flower-beds, where the roses +seemed, to Clarissa at least, to flourish as they flourished nowhere else. +The rest of the garden consisted of lawn and flower-beds, with more roses. +There were no trees near the house, and the stables and out-offices, which +made a massive pile of building, formed a background to the grave old +gothic mansion. + +Without, at least, Mr. Granger had respected the past. Clarissa felt +relieved by this moderation, and was inclined to think him a little less +hateful. So far he had said nothing which could seem to betray a boastful +spirit. He had watched her face and listened to her few remarks with a kind +of deferential eagerness, as if it had been a matter of vital importance +to him that she should approve what he had done. A steward, who had been +entrusted with the conduct of alterations and renovations during the +absence of his master, could scarcely have appeared more anxious as to the +result of his operations. + +The great iron gates under the gothic archway stood wide open just as they +had been wont to do in Mr. Lovel's time, and Clarissa and her companion +passed into the quiet garden. How well she remembered the neglected air of +the place when last she had seen it--the mossgrown walks, the duckweed in +the moat, the straggling rose-bushes, everything out of order, from the +broken weathercock on one of the gateway towers, to the scraper by the +half-glass door in one corner of the quadrangle, which had been, used +instead of the chief entrance! It seems natural to a man of decayed fortune +to shut up his hall-door and sneak in and out of his habitation by some +obscure portal. + +Now all was changed; a kind of antique primness, which had no taint of +cockney stiffness, pervaded the scene. One might have expected to see Sir +Thomas More or Lord Bacon emerge from the massive gothic porch, and stroll +with slow step and meditative aspect towards the stone sun-dial that stood +in the centre of that square rose-garden. The whole place had an air of +doublet and hose. It seemed older to Clarissa than when she had seen +it last--older and yet newer, like the palace of the Sleeping Beauty, +restored, after a century of decay, to all its original grandeur. + +The door under the porch stood open; but there were a couple of men in a +sober livery waiting in the hall--footmen who had never been reared +in those Yorkshire wilds--men with powdered hair, and the stamp of +Grosvenor-square upon them. Those flew to open inner doors, and Clarissa +began with wonder to behold the new glories of the mansion. She followed +Mr. Granger in silence through dining and billiard-rooms, saloon and +picture-gallery, boudoir and music-room, in all of which the Elizabethan +air, the solemn grace of a departed age, had been maintained with a +marvellous art. Money can do so much; above all, where a man has no +bigoted belief in his own taste or capacity, and will put his trust in the +intelligence of professional artists. Daniel Granger had done this. He had +said to an accomplished architect, "I give you the house of my choice; make +it what it was in its best days. Improve wherever you can, but alter as +little as possible; and, above all, no modernising." + +Empowered by this _carte blanche_, the architect had given his soul to +dreams of mediaeval splendour and had produced a place which, in its way, +was faultless. No matter that some of the carved-oak furniture was fresh +from the chisel of the carver, while other things were the spoil of old +Belgian churches; that the tapestry in one saloon was as old as the days of +its designer, Boucher, and that in the adjoining chamber made on purpose +for Arden Court at the Gobelins manufactory of his Imperial Majesty +Napoleon III. No matter that the gilt-leather hangings in one room had hung +there in the reign of Charles I., while those in another were supplied by a +West-end upholsterer. Perfect taste had harmonised every detail; there was +not so much as a footstool or a curtain that could have been called an +anachronism. Clarissa looked at all these things with a strange sense of +wandering somewhere in a dream. It was, and yet was not her old home. There +was nothing incongruous. The place scarcely seemed new to her, though +everything was altered. It was only as it ought to have been always. + +She remembered the bare rooms, the scanty shabby furniture of the Georgian +era, the patches and glimpses of faded splendour here and there, the +Bond-street prettinesses and fripperies in her mother's boudoir, which, +even in her early girlhood, had grown tawdry and _rococo_, the old pictures +rotting in their tarnished frames; everything with that sordid air of +poverty and decay upon it." + +"Well, Miss Lovel," Daniel Granger said at last, when they had gone through +all the chief rooms almost in silence, "do you approve of what has been +done?" + +"It is beautiful," Clarissa answered, "most beautiful; but--but it breaks +my heart to see it." + +The words were wrung from her somehow. In the next moment she was ashamed +of them--it seemed like the basest envy. + +"O, pray, pray do not think me mean or contemptible, Mr. Granger," she +said; "it is not that I envy you your house, only it was my home so long, +and I always felt its neglect so keenly; and to see it now so beautiful, as +I could have only pictured it in my dreams--and even in them I could not +fancy it so perfect." + +"It may be your home again, Clarissa, if you care to make it so," said Mr. +Granger, coming very close to her, and with a sudden passion in his voice. +"I little thought when I planned this place that it would one day seem +worthless to me without one lovely mistress. It is all yours, Clarissa, if +you will have it--and the heart of its master, who never thought that it +was in his nature to feel what he feels for you." + +He tried to take her hand; but she shrank away from him, trembling a +little, and with a frightened look in her face. + +"Mr. Granger, O, pray, pray don't----" + +"For God's sake don't tell me that this seems preposterous or hateful to +you--that you cannot value the love of a man old enough to be your father. +You do not know what it is for a man of my age and my character to love for +the first time. I had gone through life heart-whole, Clarissa, till I saw +you. Between my wife and me there was never more than liking. She was a +good woman, and I respected her, and we got on very well together. That was +all. Clarissa, tell me that there is some hope. I ought not to have spoken +so soon; I never meant to be such a fool--but the words came in spite of +me. O, my dearest, don't crush me with a point-blank refusal. I know that +all this must seem strange to you. Let it pass. Think no more of anything I +have said till you know me better--till you find my love is worth having. +I believe I fell in love with you that first afternoon in the library +at Hale. From that time forth your face haunted me--like some beautiful +picture--the loveliest thing I had ever seen, Clarissa." + +"I cannot answer you, Mr. Granger," she said in a broken voice; "you have +shocked and surprised me so much, I----" + +"Shocked and surprised you! That seems hard." + +In that very moment it flashed upon her that this was what her father and +Lady Laura Armstrong had wished to bring about. She was to win back the +lost heritage of Arden Court--win it by the sacrifice of every natural +feeling of her heart, by the barter of her very self. + +How much more Mr. Granger might have said there is no knowing--for, +once having spoken, a man is loth to leave such a subject as this +unexhausted--but there came to Clarissa's relief the rustling sound of a +stiff silk dress, announcing the advent of Miss Granger, who sailed towards +them through a vista of splendid rooms, with a stately uncompromising air +that did not argue the warmest possible welcome for her guest. + +"I have been hunting for you everywhere, papa," she said in an aggrieved +tone. "Where have you been hiding Miss Lovel?" + +And then she held out her hand and shook hands with Clarissa in the coldest +manner in which it was possible for a human being to perform that ceremony. +She looked at her father with watchful suspicious eyes as he walked away to +one of the windows, not caring that his daughter should see his face just +at that moment. There was something, evidently, Sophia thought,--something +which it concerned her to discover. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XX. + +MODEL VILLAGERS. + + +They went to luncheon in a secondary dining room--a comfortable apartment, +which served pleasantly for all small gatherings, and had that social air +so impossible in a stately banqueting-chamber--a perfect gem of a room, +hung with gilt leather, relieved here and there by a choice picture in a +frame of gold and ebony. Here the draperies were of a dark crimson cut +velvet, which the sunshine brightened into ruby. The only ornaments in this +room were a pair of matchless Venetian girandoles on the mantelpiece, and +a monster Palissy dish, almost as elaborate in design as the shield of +Achilles, on the oaken buffet. + +The luncheon was not a very genial repast; Miss Granger maintained a polite +sulkiness; Clarissa had not yet recovered from the agitation which Mr. +Granger's most unexpected avowal had occasioned; and even the strong man +himself felt his nerves shaken, and knew that he was at a disadvantage, +between the daughter who suspected him and the woman who had all but +refused his hand. He did his utmost to seem at his ease, and to beguile +his daughter into a more cordial bearing; but there was a gloom upon that +little party of three which was palpably oppressive. It seemed in vain to +struggle against the dismal influence. Mr. Granger felt relieved when, just +at the close of the meal, his butler announced that Mr. Tillott was in the +drawing-room. Mr. Tillott was a mild inoffensive young man of High-church +tendencies, the curate of Arden. + +"I asked Tillott to go round the schools with us this afternoon," Mr. +Granger said to his daughter in an explanatory tone. "I know what an +interest he takes in the thing, and I thought it would be pleasanter." + +"You are very kind, papa," Miss Granger replied, with implacable stiffness; +"but I really don't see what we want with Mr. Tillott, or with you either. +There's not the least reason that we should take you away from your usual +occupations; and you are generally so busy of an afternoon. Miss Lovel and +I can see everything there is to be seen, without any escort; and I have +always heard you complain that my schools bored you." + +"Well, perhaps I may have had rather an overdose of the philanthropic +business occasionally, my dear," answered Mr. Granger, with a good-humoured +laugh. "However, I have set my heart upon seeing how all your improvements +affect Miss Lovel. She has such a peculiar interest in the place, you see, +and is so identified with the people. I thought you'd be pleased to have +Tillott. He's really a good fellow, and you and he always seem to have so +much to talk about." + +On this they all repaired to the drawing-room, where Mr. Tillott the curate +was sitting at a table, turning over the leaves of an illuminated psalter, +and looking altogether as if he had just posed himself for a photograph. + +To this mild young man Miss Granger was in a manner compelled to relax the +austerity of her demeanour. She even smiled in a frosty way as she shook +hands with him; but she had no less a sense of the fact that her father had +out-manoeuvred her, and that this invitation to Mr. Tillott was a crafty +design whereby he intended to have Clarissa all to himself during that +afternoon. + +"I am sorry you could not come to luncheon with us, Tillott," said Mr. +Granger in his hearty way. "Or are you sure, by the bye, that you have +taken luncheon? We can go back to the dining-room and hear the last news of +the parish while you wash down some game-pie with a glass or two of the old +madeira." + +"Thanks, you are very good; but I never eat meat on Wednesdays or Fridays. +I had a hard-boiled egg and some cocoa at half-past seven this morning, +and shall take nothing more till sunset. I had duties at Swanwick which +detained me till within the last half-hour, or I should have been very +happy to have eaten a biscuit with you at your luncheon." + +"Upon my word, Tillott, you are the most indefatigable of men; but I really +wish you High-church people had not such a fancy for starving yourselves. +So much expenditure of brain-power must involve a waste of the coarser +material. Now, Sophy, if you and Miss Lovel are ready, we may as well +start." + +They went out into the sunny quadrangle, where the late roses were blooming +with all their old luxuriance. How well Clarissa remembered them in those +days when they had been the sole glory of the neglected place! In spite +of Sophia, who tried her hardest to prevent the arrangement, Mr. Granger +contrived that he and Clarissa should walk side by side, and that Mr. +Tillott should completely absorb his daughter. This the curate was by no +means indisposed to do; for, if the youthful saint had a weakness, it lay +in the direction of vanity. He sincerely admired the serious qualities of +Miss Granger's mind, and conceived that, blest with such a woman and with +the free use of her fortune, he might achieve a rare distinction for his +labours in tins fold, to say nothing of placing himself on the high-road to +a bishopric. Nor was he inclined to think Miss Granger indifferent to his +own merits, or that the conquest would be by any means an impossible one. +It was a question of time, he thought; the sympathy between them was too +strong not to take some higher development. He thought of St. Francis de +Sales and Madame de Chantal, and fancied himself entrusted with the full +guidance of Miss Granger's superior mind. + +They walked across the park to a small gothic gateway, which had been made +since the close of Marmaduke Lovel's reign. Just outside this stood the +chapel of Mr. Granger's building, and the new schools, also gothic, and +with that bran-new aspect against which architecture can do nothing. They +would be picturesque, perhaps, ten years hence. To-day they had the odour +of the architect's drawing-board. + +Beyond the schools there were some twenty cottages, of the same modern +gothic, each habitation more or less borne down and in a manner +extinguished by its porch and chimney. If the rooms had been in reasonable +proportion to the chimneys, the cottages would have been mansions; but +gothic chimneys are pleasing objects, and the general effect was good. +These twenty cottages formed the beginning of Mr. Granger's model +village--a new Arden, which was to arise on this side of the Court. They +were for the most part inhabited by gardeners and labourers more or less +dependent on Arden Court, and it had been therefore an easy matter for Miss +Granger to obtain a certain deference to her wishes from the tenants. + +The inspection of the schools and cottages was rather a tedious business. +Sophia would not let her companions off with an iota less than the +whole thing. Her model pupils were trotted out and examined in the +Scriptures--always in Kings and Chronicles--and evinced a familiarity with +the ways of Jezebel and Rehoboam that made Clarissa blush at the thought +of her own ignorance. Then there came an exhibition of plain needlework, +excruciatingly suggestive of impaired eyesight; then fancy-work, which Miss +Granger contemplated with a doubtful air, as having a frivolous tendency; +and then the school mistress's parlour and kitchen were shown, and +displayed so extreme a neatness that made one wonder where she lived; and +then the garden, where the heels of one's boots seemed a profanation; +and then, the schools and schoolhouses being exhausted, there came the +cottages. + +How Clarissa's heart bled for the nice clean motherly women who were put +through their paces for Miss Granger's glorification, and were fain to +confess that their housekeeping had been all a delusion and a snare till +that young lady taught them domestic economy! How she pitied them as the +severe Sophia led the way into sacred corners, and lifted the lids of +coppers and dustholes, and opened cupboard-doors, and once, with an aspect +of horror, detected an actual cobweb lurking in an angle of the whitewashed +wall! Clarissa could not admire things too much, in order to do away with +some of the bitterness of that microscopic survey. Then there was such +cross-examination about church-going, and the shortcomings of the absent +husbands were so ruthlessly dragged into the light of day. The poor wives +blushed to own that these unregenerate spirits had still a lurking desire +for an occasional social evening at the Coach and Horses, in spite of the +charms of a gothic chimney, and a porch that was massive enough for the +dungeon of a mediaeval fortress. Miss Granger and the curate played into +each other's hands, and between the two the model villagers underwent a +kind of moral dissection. It was dreary work altogether; and Daniel Granger +had been guilty of more than one yawn before it was all over, even though +he had the new delight of being near Clarissa all the time. It was finished +at last. One woman, who in her benighted state had known Miss Lovel, had +shown herself touched by the sight of her. + +"You never come anigh me now, miss," she said tenderly, "though I've knowed +you ever since you was a little girl; and it would do my heart good to see +your sweet face here once in a way." + +"You've better friends now, you see, Mrs. Rice," Clarissa answered gently. +"I could do so little for you. But I shall be pleased to look in upon you +now and then." + +"Do'ee, now, miss; me and my master will be right down glad to see you. +However kind new friends may be," this was said with a conciliatory curtsey +to Miss Granger, "we can't forget old friends. We haven't forgot your +goodness when my boy Bill was laid up with the fever, miss, and how you sat +beside his bed and read to him." + +It was at this juncture that Sophia espied another cobweb, after which the +little party left this the last of the cottages, and walked back to the +park, Daniel Granger still by Clarissa's side. He did not make the faintest +allusion to that desperate avowal of the morning. He was indeed cruelly +ashamed of his precipitation, feeling that he had gone the very way to ruin +his cause. All that afternoon, while his daughter had been peering into +coppers and washing-tubs and dustholes, he had been meditating upon the +absurdity of his conduct, and hating himself for his folly. He was not a +man who suffered from a mean opinion of his own merits. On the contrary, in +all the ordinary commerce of life he fancied himself more than the equal of +the best among his fellow-men. He had never wished himself other than what +he was, or mistrusted his own judgment, or doubted that he, Daniel Granger, +was a very important atom in the scheme of creation. But in this case it +was different. He knew himself to be a grave middle-aged man, with none +of those attributes that might have qualified him to take a young woman's +heart by storm; and as surely as he knew this, he also knew himself to be +passionately in love. All the happiness of his future life depended on this +girl who walked by his side, with her pale calm face and deep hazel eyes. +If she should refuse him, all would be finished. He had dreamed his dream, +and life could never any more be what it had been for him. The days were +past in which, he himself had been all-sufficient for his own happiness. +But, though he repented that hasty betrayal of his feelings, he did not +altogether despair. It is not easy to reduce a man of his age and character +to the humble level of a despairing lover. He had so much to bestow, and +could not separate himself in his own mind from those rich gifts of fortune +which went along with him. No, there was every chance of ultimate success, +he thought, in spite of his rashness of that morning. He had only to teach +himself patience--to bide his time. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXI. + +VERY FAR GONE. + + +It was a little after six when they came to the gateway of the Court, at +which point Mr. Tillott made his adieux. Mr. Granger would have been very +glad to ask him to dinner, had he not promised Mr. Lovel that they would +be quite alone; so he made up for any apparent inhospitality towards the +curate by a hearty invitation for the following Sunday. + +There was nearly an hour and a half before dinner; but Sophia carried off +her guest to her own rooms at once, for the revision of her toilet, and +detained her in those upper regions until just before the ringing of the +second bell, very much to the aggravation of Mr. Granger, who paced the +long drawing-room in dismal solitude, waiting for Mr. Lovel's arrival. + +In her own rooms Miss Granger became a shade more gracious to Clarissa. The +exhibition of her _sanctum sanctorum_ was always pleasing to her. It was +the primmest of apartments, half study, half office; and Sophia, one of +whose proudest boasts was of her methodical habits, here displayed herself +in full force. It seemed as if she had inherited all the commercial +faculties of her father, and having no other outlet for this mercantile +genius, was fain to expend her gifts upon the petty details of a woman's +life. Never had Clarissa seen such a writing-table, with so many +pigeon-holes for the classification of documents, and such ranges of +drawers with Brahma locks. Miss Granger might have carried on a small +banking business with less paraphernalia than she employed in the conduct +of her housekeeping and philanthropy. + +"I am my own housekeeper," she told Clarissa triumphantly, "and know the +consumption of this large establishment to an ounce. There is no stint of +anything, of course. The diet in the servant's hall is on the most liberal +scale, but there is no waste. Every cinder produced in the house is sifted; +every candle we burn has been in stock a twelvemonth. I could not pretend +to teach my cottagers economy if I did not practise it myself. I rule +everything by the doctrine of averages--so much consumed in one month, so +much necessarily required in another; and I reduce everything to figures. +Figures cannot deceive, as I tell Mrs. Plumptree, my cook, when she shows +me a result that I cannot understand or accept. And there are my books." + +Miss Granger waved her hand towards a row of most uncompromising-looking +volumes of the ledger or day-book species. The delight which she displayed +in these things was something curious to behold. Every small charity +Miss Granger performed, every shortcoming of the recipients thereof, was +recorded in those inexorable volumes. She had a book for the record of the +church-going, a book for the plain needlework, and was wont to freeze the +young blood of her school-children by telling them at the end of the year +how many inches of cambric frilling they had hemmed, and how many times +they had missed afternoon service. To them she appeared a supernatural +creature--a kind of prophetess, sent upon earth for their correction and +abasement. + +On a solid ecclesiastical-looking oak table in one of the windows Miss +Granger had a row of brass-bound money-boxes, inscribed, "For the Home +Mission," "For the Extra Curate Society," and so on--boxes into which Miss +Granger's friends and visitors were expected to drop their mite. Clarissa +felt that if she had been laden down with shillings, she could not for her +very life have approached those formidable boxes to drop one in under Miss +Granger's ken; but, of course, this was a morbid fancy. On another table +there were little piles of material for plain work; so prim, so square, +so geometrically precise, that Clarissa thought the flannel itself looked +cold--a hard, fibrous, cruel fabric, that could never be of use to mortal +flesh except as an irritant. + +Miss Granger's bedroom and dressing-room were like Miss Granger's +morning-room. No frivolous mediaevalism here, no dainty upholsterer's work +in many-coloured woods, but solid mahogany, relieved by solemn draperies +of drab damask, in a style which the wise Sophia called unpretentious. The +chief feature in one room was a sewing-machine that looked like a small +church organ, and in the other a monster medicine-chest, from the contents +of which Miss Granger dealt out doses of her own concoction to her +parishioners. Both of these objects she showed to Clarissa with pride, but +the medicine-chest was evidently the favourite. + +Having improved the time after this manner till twenty minutes past seven, +with a very brief interval devoted to the duties of the toilet, the two +young ladies went down to the drawing-room, where the lamps were lighted, +and Mr. Lovel just arrived. + +That gentleman had the honour of taking Miss Granger in to dinner, and did +his utmost to render himself agreeable to her in a quiet undemonstrative +way, and to take the gauge of her mental powers. She received his +attentions graciously enough--indeed it would not have been easy for any +one to be ungracious to Marmaduke Lovel when he cared to please--but he +could see very clearly that she suspected the state of affairs, and +would be, to the last degree, antagonistic to his own and his daughter's +interests. He saw how close a watch she kept upon her father all through +the dinner, and how her attention was distracted every now and then when he +was talking to Clarissa. + +"It is only natural that she should set her face against the business," +he said to himself; "no woman in her position could be expected to act +otherwise; but it strikes me that Granger is not a man likely to be +influenced by domestic opposition. He is the kind of man to take his own +way, I fancy, in defiance of an opposing universe--a very difficult man +to govern. He seems over head and ears in love, however, and it will be +Clarissa's own fault if she doesn't do what she likes with him. Heaven +grant she may prove reasonable! Most women would be enchanted with such +an opportunity, but with a raw school-girl there is no knowing. And +that fellow Fairfax's influence may work against us, in spite of her +protestations last night." + +This was the gist of Mr. Level's disjointed musings during the progress of +the dinner; but he took care not to neglect Miss Granger even for a moment, +and he gave her very little time to listen to her father's conversation +with Clarissa. + +The dinner ceremonial was performed in a manner which seemed perfection, +even to the fastidious taste of Marmaduke Lovel. There was not the faintest +indication of ostentation. Daniel Granger's father had been rich before +him; he had been born in the commercial purple, as it were, and none of +these things were new to him. Before the Arden Court days he had occupied +a handsome modern country house southward, near Doncaster. He had only +expanded his style of living after the purchase of the Court, that was all. +He had good taste too, and a keen sense of the incongruous. He did not +affect the orchids and frivolous floral decorations, the fragile fairy-like +glass, with which Lady Laura Armstrong brightened her dinner-table; but, on +the other hand, his plate, of which he exhibited no vulgar profusion, was +in the highest art, the old Indian china dinner-service scarcely less +costly than solid silver, and the heavy diamond-cut glass, with gold +emblazonment of crest and monogram, worthy to be exhibited behind the +glazed doors of a cabinet. There was no such abomination as gas in the +state chambers of Arden Court. Innumerable candles, in antique silver +candelabra, gave a subdued brightness to the dining-room. More candles, +in sconces against the walls, and two pairs of noble moderator-lamps, on +bronze and ormolu pedestals six feet high, lighted the drawing-room. In +the halls and corridors there was the same soft glow of lamplight. Only in +kitchens and out-offices and stables was the gas permitted to blaze merrily +for the illumination of cooks and scullions, grooms and helpers. + +Miss Granger only lingered long enough to trifle with a cluster of purple +grapes before giving the signal for withdrawal Her father started up to +open the dining-room door, with a little sudden sigh. He had had Clarissa +all to himself throughout the dinner, and had been very happy, talking +about things that were commonplace enough in themselves, but finding a +perfect contentment in the fact that he was talking to her, that +she listened to him and smiled upon him graciously, with a sweet +self-possession which put him quite at his ease. She had recovered from +that awkward scene of the morning, and had settled in her own mind that the +business was rather absurd than serious. She had only to take care that Mr. +Granger never had any second opportunity for indulging in such folly. + +He held the door open as Clarissa and his daughter went out of the +room--held it till that slim girlish figure had vanished at the end of the +corridor, and then came back to his seat with another sigh. + +"Very far gone," Mr. Lovel thought, smiling ever so little, as he bent over +his claret-glass, pretending to admire the colour of the wine. + +It was really wonderful. That vague dream which had grown out of Lady +Laura's womanly hints, that pleasant phantom which she had conjured up in +Mr. Lovel's mental vision a month or two ago, in the midsummer afternoon, +had made itself into a reality so quickly as to astound a man too Horatian +in his philosophy to be easily surprised. The fish was such a big one to +be caught so easily--without any exercise of those subtle manoeuvres and +Machiavellian artifices in which the skilful angler delights--nay, to +pounce open-eyed upon the hook, and swallow it bodily! + +Mr. Granger filled his glass with such a nervous hand, that half the claret +he poured out ran upon the shining oak table. He wiped up the spilt wine +clumsily enough, with a muttered denunciation of his own folly, and then +made a feeble effort to talk about indifferent things. + +It was of no use; with every appearance of courtesy and interest Mr. Lovel +contrived _not_ to help him. One subject after another fell flat: the state +of the Conservative party, the probability of a war--there is always a +probability of war somewhere, according to after-dinner politicians--the +aspect of the country politically and agriculturally, and so on. No, it was +no use; Daniel Granger broke down altogether at last, and thought it best +to unbosom himself. + +"There is something that I think you have a right to know, Mr. Lovel," he +said, in an awkward hesitating way; "something which I should scarcely like +you to learn from your daughter's lips, should she think it worth her while +to mention it, before you have heard it from mine. The fact is, in plain +English"--he was playing with his dessert-knife as he spoke, and seemed to +be debating within himself whereabouts upon the dinning-table he should +begin to carve his name--"the fact is, I made an abject fool of myself this +morning. I love your daughter--and told her so." + +Mr. Lovel gave a little start, the faintest perceptible movement, +expressive of a gentle astonishment. + +"I need hardly tell you that you have taken me entirely by surprise," he +said in his quietest tone. + +"Of course not. People always are surprised when a man of my age presumes +to fall in love with a beautiful girl of eighteen or twenty. If I were to +marry some worn-out woman of fashion, some battered widow, steeped to the +lips in worldly wisdom, every one would call the match the most suitable +thing possible. But if a man of fifty ventures to dream a brighter dream, +he is condemned at once for a fool." + +"Pardon me, my dear Granger; I have no idea of looking at things in that +light. I only remark that you surprise me, as you no doubt surprised my +daughter by any avowal you may have made this morning." + +"Yes; and, I fear, disgusted her still more. I daresay I did my cause all +the harm that it was possible to do it." + +"I must own that you were precipitate," Mr. Lovel answered, with his quiet +smile. He felt as if he had been talking to a schoolboy. In his own words +the man was so "very far gone." + +"I shall know how to be more careful in future, if not wiser; but I +suffered myself to be carried away by impulse this morning. It was +altogether unworthy of--of my time of life." This was said rather bitterly. +"Frankly, now, Mr. Lovel: if in the future I were able to gain some hold +upon your daughter's affection--without that I would do nothing, no, so +help me heaven, however passionately I might love her; if I could--if, in +spite of the difference of our ages, I could win her heart--would you be in +any way antagonistic to such a marriage?" + +"On the contrary, my dear Granger." Mr. Lovel had already something of the +tone of a father-in-law. "Slight as our actual acquaintance has been, I +think I know the estimable qualities of your character well enough from +other sources to be able to say that such a marriage would be eminently +pleasing to me. Nor is this all. I mean to be perfectly candid with you, +Granger. My daughter and myself have both an almost romantic attachment to +this place, and I freely own that it would be very delightful to me to see +her mistress of her old home. But, at the same time, I give you my honour +that nothing would induce me to govern her choice by the smallest exercise +of parental influence. If you can win her, win her, and my best wishes +shall go with your wooing; but I will utter no word to persuade her to be +your wife." + +"I respect you for that resolution; I think I should have asked you to be +neutral, if you hadn't said as much. I couldn't stand the idea of a wife +driven into my arms by fatherly coercion. I suppose such things are done in +modern society. No, I must win my treasure myself, or not at all. I have +everything against me, no doubt, except a rival. There is no fear of +_that_, is there, Lovel?" + +"Not the slightest. Clarissa is the merest school-girl. Her visit to Lady +Laura Armstrong was her first glimpse of the world. No, Granger, you have +the field all before you. And you strike me as a man not likely to be +vanquished by small difficulties." + +"I never yet set myself to do a thing which I didn't accomplish in the long +run," answered Mr. Granger; "but then I never set myself to win a woman's +heart. My wife and I came together easily enough--in the way of business, +as I may say--and liked each other well enough, and I regretted her +honestly when she was gone, poor soul! but that was all. I was never 'in +love' till I knew your daughter; never understood the meaning of the +phrase. Of all the accidents that might have happened to me, this is the +most surprising to myself. I can never cease to wonder at my own folly." + +"I do not know why you should call it a folly. You are only in the very +middle of a man's life; you have a fortune that exempts you from all care +and labour, and of course at the same time leaves you more or less without +occupation. Your daughter will marry and leave you in a year or two, no +doubt. Without some new tie your future existence must needs be very +empty." + +"I have felt that; but only since I have loved your daughter." + +This was all. The men came in with coffee, and put an end to all +confidential converse; after which Mr. Granger seemed very glad to go back +to the drawing-room, where Clarissa was playing a mazurka; while Sophia +sat before a great frame, upon which some splendid achievement in Berlin +woolwork, that was to be the glory of an approaching charity bazaar, was +rapidly advancing towards completion. The design was a group of dogs, +after Landseer, and Miss Granger was putting in the pert black nose of a +Skye-terrier as the gentlemen entered. The two ladies were as far apart as +they well could be in the spacious room, and had altogether an inharmonious +air, Mr. Granger thought; but then he was nervously anxious that these two +should become friends. + +He went straight to the piano, and seated himself near Clarissa, almost +with the air of having a right to take that place. + +"Pray go on playing," he said; "that seems very pretty music. I am no +judge, and I don't pretend to care for that classical music which every one +talks about nowadays, but I know what pleases me." + +The evening was not an especially gay one; but it seemed pleasant enough +to Mr. Granger, and he found himself wondering at its brevity. He showed +Clarissa some of his favourite pictures. His collection of modern art was a +fine one--not large, but very perfect in its way, and he was delighted to +see her appreciation of his treasures. Here at least was a point upon +which they might sympathise. He had been a good deal worried by Sophia's +obtuseness upon all artistic matters. + +Mr. Lovel was not very sorry when the fly from the Arden Inn was announced, +and it was time to go home. The pictures were fine, no doubt, and the old +house was beautiful in its restored splendour; but the whole business +jarred upon Marmaduke Lovel's sensitive nerves just a little, in spite of +the sudden realization of that vague dream of his. This place might be his +daughter's home, and he return to it: but not as its master. The day of +his glory was gone. He was doubtful if he should even care to inhabit that +house as his daughter's guest. He had to remind himself of the desperate +condition of his own circumstances before he could feel duly grateful to +Providence for his daughter's subjugation of Daniel Granger. + +He was careful to utter no word about her conquest on the way home, or +during the quarter of an hour Clarissa spent with him before going to her +room. + +"You look pale and tired, my child," he said, with a sympathetic air, +turning over the leaves of a book as he spoke. + +"The day was rather fatiguing, papa," his daughter answered listlessly, +"and Miss Granger is a tiring person. She is so strong-minded, that she +makes one feel weak and helpless by the mere force of contrast." + +"Yes, she is a tiring person, certainly; but I think I had the worst of her +at dinner and in the evening." + +"But there was all the time before dinner, papa. She showed us her +cottages--O, how I pitied the poor people! though I daresay she is kind to +them, in her way; but imagine any one coming in here and opening all our +cupboards, and spying out cobwebs, and giving a little shriek at the +discovery of a new loaf in our larder. She found out that one of her model +cottagers had been eating new bread. She said it gave her quite a revulsion +of feeling. And then when we went home she showed me her account-books and +her medicine-chest. It was very tiring." + +"Poor child! and this young woman will have Arden Court some day--unless +her father should marry again." + +Clarissa's pale face flamed with sudden crimson. + +"Which he is pretty sure to do, sooner or later," continued Mr. Lovel, with +an absent meditative air, as of a man who discusses the most indifferent +subject possible. "I hope he may. It would be a pity for such a place to +fall into such hands. She would make it a phalanstery, a nest for Dorcas +societies and callow curates." + +"But if she does good with her money, papa, what more could one wish?" + +"I don't believe that she would do much good. There is a pinched hard +look about the lower part of her face which makes me fancy she is mean. I +believe she would hoard her money, and make a great talk and fuss about +nothing. Yes, I hope Granger will marry again. The house is very fine, +isn't it, since its renovation?" + +"It is superb, papa. Dearly as I love the place, I did not think it could +be made so beautiful." + +"Yes, and everything has been done in good taste, too," Mr. Lovel went on, +in rather a querulous tone. "I did not expect to see that. But of course a +man of that kind has only to put himself into the hands of a first-class +architect, and if he is lucky enough to select an architect with an +artistic mind, the thing is done. All the rest is merely a question of +money. Good heavens, what a shabby sordid hole this room looks, after the +place we have come from!" + +The room was not so bad as to merit that look of angry disgust with which +Mr. Lovel surveyed it. Curtains and carpet were something the worse for +wear, the old-fashioned furniture was a little sombre; but the rich +binding of the books and a rare old bronze here and there redeemed it from +commonness--poor jetsam and flotsam from the wreck of the great house, but +enough to give some touch of elegance to meaner things. + +"O, papa," Clarissa cried reproachfully, "the room is very nice, and we +have been peaceful and happy in it. I don't suppose all the splendour of +Arden would have made us much happier. Those external things make so little +difference." + +She thought of those evenings at Hale Castle, when George Fairfax had +abandoned her to pay duty to his betrothed, and of the desolation of spirit +that had come upon her in the midst of those brilliant surroundings. + +Her father paced the little room as if it had been a den, and answered her +philosophic remonstrance with an exclamation of contempt. + +"That's rank nonsense, Clarissa--copybook morality, which nobody in his +heart ever believes. External things make all the difference--except when +a man is writhing in physical pain perhaps. External things make the +difference between a king and a beggar. Do you suppose that man Granger is +no happier for the possession of Arden Court--of those pictures of his? +Why, every time he looks at a Frith or Millais he feels a little thrill of +triumph, as he says to himself, 'And that is mine.' There is a sensuous +delight in beautiful surroundings which will remain to a man whose heart is +dead to every other form of pleasure. I suppose that is why the Popes were +such patrons of art in days gone by. It was the one legitimate delight left +to them. Do you imagine it is no pleasure to dine every night as that man +dines? no happiness to feel the sense of security about the future which he +feels every morning? Great God, when I think of his position and of mine!" + +Never before had he spoken so freely to his daughter; never had he so +completely revealed the weakness of his mind. + +She was sorry for him, and forbore to utter any of those pious commonplaces +by which she might have attempted to bring him to a better frame of mind. +She had tact enough to divine that he was best left to himself--left to +struggle out of this grovelling state by some effort of his own, rather +than to be dragged from the slough of despond by moral violence of hers. + +He dismissed her presently with a brief good-night; but lying awake nearly +two hours afterwards, she heard him pass her door on the way to his room. +He too was wakeful, therefore, and full of care. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXII. + +TAKING THE PLEDGE. + + +Clarissa had a visitor next day. She was clipping and trimming the late +roses in the bright autumnal afternoon, when Lady Laura Armstrong's close +carriage drove up to the gate, with my lady inside it, in deep mourning. +The visit was unexpected, and startled Clarissa a little, with a sensation +that was not all pleasure. She could scarcely be otherwise than glad to see +so kind a friend; but there were reasons why the advent of any one from +Hale Castle should be somewhat painful to her. That meeting with George +Fairfax by the churchyard had never been quite out of her mind since it +happened. His looks and his words had haunted her perpetually, and now she +was inclined to ascribe Lady Laura's coming to some influence of his. She +had a guilty feeling, as if she had indeed tried to steal Lady Geraldine's +lover. + +Lady Laura greeted her with all the old cordiality. There was a relief in +that; and Clarissa's face, which had been very pale when she opened the +gate to admit her visitor, brightened a little as my lady kissed her. + +"My dear child, I am so glad to see you again!" exclaimed Lady Laura. "I am +not supposed to stir outside the Castle in all this dreary week. Poor +papa is to be buried to-morrow; but I wanted so much to see you on a most +important business; so I ordered the brougham and drove here, with the +blinds down all the way; and I'm sure, Clary, you won't think that I feel +papa's loss any less because I come to see you just now. But I declare you +are looking as pale and wan as any of us at Hale. You have not recovered +that dreadful shock yet." + +"It was indeed a dreadful shock, dear Lady Laura," said Clarissa; and then +in a less steady tone she went on: "Lady Geraldine is better, I hope?" + +"Geraldine is what she always is, Clary--a marvel of calmness. And yet I +know she feels this affliction very deeply. She was papa's favourite, you +know, and had a most extraordinary influence over him. He was so proud of +her, poor dear!" + +"Won't you come into the house, Lady Laura?" + +"By and by, just to pay my respects to your papa. But we'll stay in the +garden for the present, please, dear. I have something most particular to +say to you." + +Clarissa's heart beat a little quicker. This most particular something was +about George Fairfax: she felt very sure of that. + +"I am going to be quite candid with you, Clary," Lady Laura began +presently, when they were in a narrow walk sheltered by hazel bushes, the +most secluded bit of the garden. "I shall treat you just as if you were a +younger sister of my own. I think I have almost a right to do that; for I'm +sure I love you as much as if you were my sister." + +And here Lady Laura's plump little black-gloved hand squeezed Clarissa's +tenderly. + +"You have been all goodness to me," the girl answered; "I can never be too +grateful to you." + +"Nonsense, Clary; I will not have that word gratitude spoken between us. I +only want you to understand that I am sincerely attached to you, and that +I am the last person in the world to hold your happiness lightly. And now, +dearest child, tell me the truth--have you seen George Fairfax since you +left Hale?" + +Clarissa flushed crimson. To be asked for the truth, as if, under any +circumstances, she would have spoken anything less than truth about George +Fairfax! And yet that unwonted guilty feeling clung to her, and she was not +a little ashamed to confess that she had seen him. + +"Yes, Lady Laura." + +"I thought so. I was sure of it. He came here on the very day you left--the +day which was to have been his wedding-day." + +"It was on that evening that I saw him; but he did not come to this house. +I was sitting outside the churchyard sketching when I saw him." + +"He did not come to the house--no; but he came to Arden on purpose to see +you," Lady Laura answered eagerly. "I am sure of that." + +Unhappily Clarissa could not deny the fact. He had told her only too +plainly that he had come to Arden determined to see her. + +"Now, Clary, let us be perfectly frank. Before my sister Geraldine came to +Hale, I told you that the attachment between her and George Fairfax was one +of long standing; that I was sure her happiness was involved in the matter, +and how rejoiced I was at the turn things had taken. I told you all this, +Clary; but I did not tell you that in the years we had known him Mr. +Fairfax had been wild and unsteady; that, while always more or less devoted +to Geraldine, he had had attachments elsewhere--unacknowledged attachments +of no very creditable nature; such affairs as one only hears of by a side +wind, as it were. How much Geraldine may have known of this, I cannot tell. +I heard the scandals, naturally enough, through Fred; but she may have +heard very little. I said nothing of this to you, Clarissa; it was not +necessary that I should say anything to depreciate the character of my +future brother-in-law, and of a man I really liked." + +"Of course not," faltered Clarissa. + +"Of course not. I was only too happy to find that George had become a +reformed person, and that he had declared himself so soon after the change +in his fortunes. I was convinced that Geraldine loved him, and that she +could only be really happy as his wife. I am convinced of that still; but +I know that nothing on earth could induce her to marry him if she had the +least doubt of his devotion to herself." + +"I hope that she may never have occasion to doubt that, Lady Laura," +answered Clarissa. It was really all she could find to say under the +circumstances. + +"I hope not, and I think not, Clary. He has been attached to my sister so +long--he proposed to her in such a deliberate manner--that I can scarcely +imagine he would prove really inconstant. But I know that he is a slave to +a pretty face, and fatally apt to be ruled by the impulse of the moment. It +would be very hard now, Clary, if some transient fancy of that kind were to +ruin the happiness of two lives--would it not, my dear?" + +"It would be very hard." + +"O, Clarissa, do pray be candid. You _must_ understand what I mean. That +wretched man has been making love to you?" + +"You ought not to ask me such a question, Lady Laura," answered Clarissa, +sorely perplexed by this straight attack. + +"You must know that I should respect Lady Geraldine's position--that I +should be incapable of forgetting her claims upon Mr. Fairfax. Whatever he +may have said to me has been, the merest folly. He knows that I consider it +in that light, and I have refused ever to see him again if I can possibly +help it." + +"That's right, dear!" cried Lady Laura, with a pleased look. "I knew that +you would come out of the business well, in spite of everything. Of course +you can care nothing for this foolish fellow; but I know Geraldine's +sensitive nature so well, and that if she had the faintest suspicion of +George's conduct, the whole thing would be off for ever--an attachment of +many years' standing, think of that, Clary! Now I want you to promise me +that, come what may, you will give Mr. Fairfax no encouragement. Without +encouragement this foolish fancy will die out very quickly. Of course, if +it were possible you could care for him, I would not come here to ask you +such a thing as this. You would have a right to consider your own happiness +before my sister's. But as that is out of the question, and the man is +almost a stranger to you----" + +"Out of the question--almost a stranger." Clarissa remembered that night in +the railway carriage, and it seemed to her as if she and George Fairfax had +never been strangers. + +"It is so easy for you to give me this promise. Tell me now, Clary dear, +that you will not have anything to say to him, if he should contrive to see +you again." + +"I will not, Lady Laura." + +"Is that a promise, now, Clarissa?" + +"A most sacred promise." + +Lady Armstrong kissed her young friend in ratification of the compact. + +"You are a dear generous-minded girl," she said, "and I feel as if I had +saved my sister's happiness by this bold course. And now tell me what you +have been doing since you left us. Have you seen anything more of the +Grangers?" + +Questioned thus, Clarissa was fain to give her friend some slight account +of her day at Arden. + +"It must have affected you very much to see the old place. Ah, Clary, it is +you who ought to be mistress there, instead of Miss Granger!" + +Clarissa blushed, remembering that awkward avowal of Daniel Granger's. + +"I am not fit to be mistress of such, a place," she said. "I could never +manage things as Miss Granger does." + +"Not in that petty way, perhaps. I should not care to see you keeping +accounts and prying into grocery-lists as she does. You would govern your +house on a grander scale. I should like to see you the owner of a great +house" + +"That is a thing you are never likely to see, Lady Laura." + +"I am not so sure of that. I have an idea that there is a great fortune +lying at your feet, if you would only stoop to pick it up. But girls are so +foolish; they never know what is really for their happiness; and if by any +chance there should happen to be some passing folly, some fancy of the +moment, to come between them and good fortune, everything is lost." + +She looked at Clarissa closely as she said this. The girl's face had been +changing from red to pale throughout the interview. She was very pale now, +but quite self-possessed, and had left off blushing. Had she not given +her promise--pledged away her freedom of action with regard to George +Fairfax--and thus made an end of everything between them? She felt very +calm, but she felt as if she had made a sacrifice. As for Daniel Granger, +any reference to him and his admiration for her touched upon the regions of +the absurd. Nothing--no friendly manoeuvring of Lady Laura's, no selfish +desires of her father's--could ever induce her to listen for a moment to +any proposition from that quarter. + +She asked her visitor to go into the house presently, in order to put an +end to the conversation; and Lady Laura went in to say a few words to +Mr. Lovel. They were very melancholy words--all about the dead, and his +innumerable virtues--which seemed really at this stage of his history +to have been alloyed by no human frailty or shortcoming. Mr. Lovel was +sympathetic to the last degree--sighed in unison with his visitor, and +brushed some stray drops of moisture from his own eyelids when Lady Laura +wept. And then he went out to the carriage with my lady, and saw her drive +away, with the blinds discreetly lowered as before. + +"What did she come about, Clarissa?" he asked his daughter, while they were +going back to the house. + +"Only to see me, papa." + +"Only to see you! She must have had something very important to say to you, +I should think, or she would scarcely have come at such a time." + +He glanced at his daughter sharply as he said this, but did not question +her farther, though he would have liked to do so. He had a shrewd suspicion +that this visit of Lady Laura's bore some reference to George Fairfax. Had +there been a row at the Castle? he wondered, and had my lady come to scold +her protegee? + +"I don't suppose they would show her much mercy if she stood in the way of +their schemes," he said to himself. "His brother's death makes this young +Fairfax a very decent match. The property must be worth five or six +thousand a year--five or six thousand. I wonder what Daniel Granger's +income is? Nearer fifty thousand than five, if I may believe what I have +been told." + +Mr. Granger and his daughter called at Mill Cottage next day: the fair +Sophia with a somewhat unwilling aspect, though she was decently civil +to Mr. and Miss Lovel. She had protested against the flagrant breach of +etiquette in calling on people who had just dined with her, instead of +waiting until those diners had discharged their obligation by calling on +her; but in vain. Her father had brought her to look at some of Clarissa's +sketches, he told his friends. + +"I want her to take more interest in landscape art, Mr. Lovel," he said, +"and I think your daughter's example may inspire her. Miss Lovel seems to +me to have a real genius for landscape. I saw some studies of ferns and +underwood that she had done at Hale--full of freedom and of feeling. Sophia +doesn't draw badly, but she wants feeling." + +The young lady thus coldly commended gave her head rather a supercilious +toss as she replied,-- + +"You must remember that I have higher duties than sketching, papa," she +said; "I cannot devote _all_ my existence to ferns and blackberry-bushes." + +"O, yes, of course; you've your schools, and that kind of thing; but +you might give more time to art than you do, especially if you left the +management of the house more to Mrs. Plumptree. I think you waste time and +energy upon details." + +"I hope I know my duty as mistress of a large establishment, papa, and that +I shall never feel the responsibility of administering a large income any +less than I do at present. It would be a bad thing for you if I became +careless of your interests in order to roam about sketching toadstools and +blackberry-bushes." + +Mr. Granger looked as if he were rather doubtful upon this point, but it +was evidently wisest not to push the discussion too far. + +"Will you be so kind as to show us your portfolio, Miss Lovel?" he asked. + +"Of course she will," answered her father promptly; "she will only be +too happy to exhibit her humble performances to Miss Granger. Bring your +drawing-book, Clary." + +Clarissa would have given the world to refuse. A drawing-book is in some +measure a silent confidante--almost a journal. She did not know how far her +random sketches--some of them mere vagabondage of the pencil, jotted down +half unconsciously--might betray the secrets of her inner life to the cold +eyes of Miss Granger. + +"I'd better bring down my finished drawings, papa; those that were mounted +for you at Belforet," she said. + +"Nonsense, child; Mr. Granger wants to see your rough sketches, not +those stiff schoolgirl things, which I suppose were finished by your +drawing-master. Bring that book you are always scribbling in. The girl +has a kind of passion for art," said Mr. Lovel, rather fretfully; "she is +seldom without a pencil in her hand. What are you looking for, Clarissa, in +that owlish way? There's your book on that table." + +He pointed to the volume--Clarissa's other self and perpetual +companion--the very book she had been sketching in when George Fairfax +surprised her by the churchyard wall. There was no help for it, no +disobeying that imperious finger of her father's; so she brought the book +meekly and laid it open before Sophia Granger. + +The father and daughter turned over the leaves together. It was book of +"bits:" masses of foliage, bramble, and bird's-nest; here the head of an +animal, there the profile of a friend; anon a bit of still life; a vase +of flowers, with the arabesqued drapery of a curtain for a background; +everywhere the evidence of artistic feeling and a practised hand, +everywhere a something much above a schoolgirl's art. + +Miss Granger looked through the leaves with an icy air. She was obliged to +say, "Very pretty," or "Very clever," once in a way; but this cold praise +evidently cost her an effort. Not so her father. He was interested in +every page, and criticised everything with a real knowledge of what he was +talking about, which made Clarissa feel that he was at least no pretender +in his love of art; that he was not a man who bought pictures merely +because he was rich and picture-buying was the right thing to do. + +They came presently to the pages Clarissa had covered at Hale Castle--bits +of familiar landscape, glimpses of still life in the Castle rooms, and +lightly-touched portraits of the Castle guests. There was one head that +appeared very much oftener than others, and Clarissa felt herself blushing +a deeper red every time Mr. Granger paused to contemplate this particular +likeness. + +He lingered longer over each of these sketches, with rather a puzzled air, +and though the execution of these heads was very spirited, he forbore to +praise. + +"There is one face here that I see a good deal of, Miss Lovel," he said at +last. "I think it is Mr. Fairfax, is it not?" + +Clarissa looked at a profile of George Fairfax dubiously. + +"Yes, I believe I meant that for Mr. Fairfax; his is a very easy face +to draw, much easier than Lady Geraldine's, though her features are so +regular. All my portraits of her are failures." + +"I have only seen one attempt at Lady Geraldine's portrait in this book, +Miss Lovel," said Sophia. + +"I have some more on loose sheets of paper, somewhere; and then I generally +destroy my failures, if they are quite hopeless." + +"Mr. Fairfax would be quite flattered if he could see how often you have +sketched him," Sophia continued blandly. + +Clarissa thought of the leaf George Fairfax had cut out of her +drawing-book; a recollection which did not serve to diminish her +embarrassment. + +"I daresay Mr. Fairfax is quite vain enough without any flattery of +that kind," said Mr. Lovel. "And now that you have exhibited your rough +sketches, you can bring those mounted drawings, if you like, Clarissa." + +This was a signal for the closing of the book, which Clarissa felt was +intended for her relief. She put the volume back upon the little side-table +from which she had taken it, and ran upstairs to fetch her landscapes. +These Miss Granger surveyed in the same cold tolerant manner with which she +had surveyed the sketch-book--the manner of a person who could have done +much better in that line herself, if she had cared to do anything so +frivolous. + +After this Mr. Lovel and his daughter called at the Court; and the +acquaintance between the two families being thus formally inaugurated by a +dinner and a couple of morning calls, Mr. Granger came very often to the +Cottage, unaccompanied by the inflexible Sophia, who began to feel that her +father's infatuation was not to be lessened by any influence of hers, and +that she might just as well let him take his own way. It was an odious +unexpected turn which events had taken; but there was no help for it. +Her confidential maid, Hannah Warman, reminded her of that solemn truth +whenever she ventured to touch upon this critical subject. + +"If your pa was a young man, miss, or a man that had admired a great many +ladies in his time, it would be quite different," said the astute Warman; +"but never having took notice of any one before, and taking such particular +notice of this young lady, makes it clear to any one that's got eyes. +Depend upon it, miss, it won't be long before he'll make her an offer; and +it isn't likely she'll refuse him--not with a ruined pa to urge her on!" + +"I suppose not," said Sophia disconsolately. + +"And after all, miss, he might have made a worse choice. If he were to +marry one of those manoeuvring middle-aged widows we've met so often out +visiting, you'd have had a regular stepmother, that would have taken every +bit of power out of your hands, and treated you like a child. But Miss +Lovel seems a very nice young lady, and being so near your own age will be +quite a companion for you." + +"I don't want such a companion. There is no sympathy between Miss Lovel +and me; you ought to know that, Warman. Her tastes are the very reverse of +mine, in every way. It's not possible we can ever get on well together; and +if papa marries her, I shall feel that he is quite lost to me. Besides, how +could I ever have any feeling but contempt for a girl who would marry for +money? and of course Miss Lovel could only marry papa for the sake of his +money." + +"It's done so often nowadays. And sometimes those matches turn out very +well--better than some of the love-matches, I've heard say." + +"It's no use discussing this hateful business, Warman," Miss Granger +answered haughtily. "Nothing could change my opinion." + +And in this inflexible manner did Daniel Granger's daughter set her face +against the woman he had chosen from among all other women for his wife. He +felt that it was so, and that there would be a hard battle for him to fight +in the future between these two influences; but no silent opposition of his +daughter's could weaken his determination to win Clarissa Lovel, if she was +to be won by him. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. + +"HE'S SWEETEST FRIEND, OR HARDEST FOE." + + +Mr. Granger fell into the habit of strolling across his park, and dropping +into the garden of Mill Cottage by that little gate across which Clarissa +had so often contemplated the groves and shades of her lost home. He would +drop in sometimes in the gloaming, and take a cup of tea in the bright +lamplit parlour, where Mr. Lovel dawdled away life over Greek plays, +Burton's _Anatomy_, and Sir Thomas Browne--a humble apartment, which seemed +pleasanter to Mr. Granger under the dominion of that spell which bound him +just now, than the most luxurious of his mediaeval chambers. Here he would +talk politics with Mr. Lovel, who took a mild interest in the course of +public affairs, and whose languid adherence to the Conservative party +served to sustain discussion with Daniel Granger, who was a vigorous +Liberal. + +After tea the visitor generally asked for music; and Clarissa would play +her favourite waltzes and mazourkas, while the two gentlemen went on with +their conversation. There were not many points of sympathy between the two, +perhaps. It is doubtful whether Daniel Granger had ever read a line of a +Greek play since his attainment to manhood and independence, though he had +been driven along the usual highway of the Classics by expensive tutors, +and had a dim remembrance of early drillings in Caesar and Virgil. Burton +he had certainly never looked into, nor any of those other English classics +which were the delight of Marmaduke Lovel; so the subject of books was a +dead letter between them. But they found enough to talk about somehow, and +really seemed to get on very tolerably together. Mr. Granger was bent upon +standing well with his poor neighbour; and Mr. Lovel appeared by no means +displeased by the rapid growth of this acquaintance, from which he had +so obstinately recoiled in the past. He took care, however, not to be +demonstrative of his satisfaction, and allowed Mr. Granger to feel that at +the best he was admitted to Mill Cottage on sufferance, under protest as it +were, and as a concession to his own wishes. Yet Mr. Lovel meant all this +time that his daughter should be mistress of Arden Court, and that his +debts should be paid, and his future comfort provided for out of the ample +purse of Daniel Granger. + +"I shall go and live on the Continent," he thought, "when that is all +settled. I could not exist as a hanger-on in the house that was once my +own, I might find myself a _pied a terre_ in Paris or Vienna, and finish +life pleasantly enough among some of the friends I liked when I was young. +Six or seven hundred a year would be opulence for a man of my habits." + +Little by little Clarissa came to accept those visits of Mr. Granger's as a +common part of her daily life; but she had not the faintest notion that she +was drifting into a position from which it would be difficult by-and-by to +escape. He paid her no disagreeable attentions; he never alluded to that +unfortunate declaration which she remembered with such a sense of its +absurdity. It did not seem unreasonable to suppose that he came to Mill +Cottage for no keener delight than a quiet chat with Mr. Lovel about the +possibility of a coming war, or the chances of a change in the ministry. + +Clarissa had been home from Hale nearly six weeks, and she had neither +heard nor seen any more of George Fairfax. So far there had been no +temptation for the violation of that sacred pledge which she had given to +Lady Laura Armstrong. His persistence did not amount to much evidently; his +ardour was easily checked; he had sworn that night that she should see him, +should listen to him, and six weeks had gone by without his having made the +faintest attempt to approach her. It was best, of course, that it should be +so--an unqualified blessing for the girl whose determination to be true +to herself and her duty was so deeply fixed; and yet she felt a little +wounded, a little humiliated, as if she had been tricked by the common +phrases of a general wooer--duped into giving something where nothing had +been given to her. + +"Lady Laura might well talk about his transient folly," she said to +herself. "It has not lasted very long. She need scarcely have taken the +trouble to be uneasy about it." + +There had been one brief note for Clarissa from the mistress of Hale +Castle, announcing her departure for Baden with Mr. Armstrong, who was +going to shoot capercailzies in the Black Forest. Lady Geraldine, who was +very much shaken by her father's death, was to go with them. There was not +a word about Mr. Fairfax, and Clarissa had no idea as to his whereabouts. +He had gone with the Baden party most likely, she told herself. + +It was near the close of October. The days were free from rain or +blusterous winds, but dull and gray. The leaves were falling silently in +the woods about Arden, and the whole scene wore that aspect of subdued +mournfulness which is pleasant enough to the light of heart, but very +sad to those who mourn. Clarissa Lovel was not light-hearted. She had +discovered of late that there was something wanting in her life. The days +were longer and drearier than they used to be. Every day she awoke with a +faint sense of expectation that was like an undefined hope; something would +come to pass, something would happen to her before the day was done, to +quicken the sluggish current of her life; and at nightfall, when the +uneventful day had passed in its customary blankness, her heart would grow +very heavy. Her father watched her somewhat anxiously at this crisis of her +life, and was inwardly disturbed on perceiving her depression. + +She went out into the garden alone one evening after dinner, as it was her +wont to do almost every evening, leaving Mr. Lovel dozing luxuriously in +his easy-chair by the fire--she went out alone in the chill gray dusk, and +paced the familiar walks, between borders in which there were only pale +autumnal flowers, chrysanthemums and china asters of faint yellow and +fainter purple. Even the garden looked melancholy in this wan light, +Clarissa thought. She made the circuit of the small domain, walked up and +down the path by the mill-stream two or three times, and then went into the +leafless orchard, where the gnarled old trees cast their misshapen shadows +on the close-cropped grass. A week-old moon had just risen, pale in the +lessening twilight. The landscape had a cold shadowy beauty of its own; but +to-night everything seemed wan and cheerless to Clarissa. + +She was near the gate leading into Arden Park, when she heard a crackling +of withered leaves, the sound of an approaching footstep. It was Mr. +Granger, of course. She gave a sigh of resignation. Another evening of the +pattern which had grown so familiar to her, that it seemed almost as if Mr. +Granger must have been dropping in of an evening all her life. The usual +talk of public matters--the leaders in that day's _Times_, and so on. The +usual request for a little music; the usual inquiries about her recent +artistic studies. It was as monotonous as the lessons she had learned at +Madame Marot's seminary. + +"Is my life to go on like that for ever?" she asked herself. + +The step came a little nearer. Surely it was lighter and quicker than +Daniel Granger's--it had a sharp martial sound; it was like a step she had +learned to know very well in the gardens of Hale Castle. + +"He is at Baden," she said to herself. + +But the beating of her heart grew faster in spite of that tranquillizing +assurance. She heard an unaccustomed hand trying the fastening of the gate, +then a bolt withdrawn, the sharp light step upon the turf behind her, and +in the next moment George Fairfax was by her side, among the weird shadows +of the orchard trees. + +He tried to draw her towards him, with the air of an accepted lover. + +"My darling!" he said, "I knew I should find you here. I had a fancy that +you would be here, waiting for me in the pale moonlight." + +Clarissa laughed--rather an artificial little laugh--but she felt the +situation could only be treated lightly. The foolish passionate heart was +beating so fast all the time, and the pale face might have told so much, if +the light of the new-risen moon had not been dim as yet. + +"How long do you suppose I have been waiting at this spot for you, Mr. +Fairfax?" she asked lightly. "For six weeks?" + +"Six weeks! Yes, it is six weeks since I saw you. It might be six years, +if I were to measure the time by my own impatience. I have been at Nice, +Clarissa, almost ever since that night we parted." + +"At Nice! with Lady Laura and Lady Geraldine, I suppose, I thought they +were going to Baden." + +"They are at Baden; but I have not been with them. I left England with my +mother, who had a very bad attack of her chronic asthma earlier than usual +this year, and was ordered off to the South of France, where she is obliged +to spend all her winters, poor soul. I went with her, and stayed till she +was set up again in some measure. I was really uneasy about her; and it was +a good excuse for getting away from Hale." + +Clarissa murmured some conventional expression of sympathy, but that was +all. + +"My darling," said George Fairfax, taking her cold hand in his--she tried +to withdraw it, but it was powerless in that firm grasp--"My darling, you +know why I have come here; and you know now why my coming has been so long +delayed. I could not write to you. The Fates are against us, Clarissa, and +I do not expect much favour from your father. So I feared that a letter +might do us mischief, and put off everything till I could come, I said a +few words to Laura Armstrong before I left the Castle--not telling her very +much, but giving her a strong hint of the truth. I don't think she'll be +surprised by anything I may do; and my letters to Geraldine have all been +written to prepare the way for our parting. I know she will be generous; +and if my position with regard to her is rather a despicable one, I have +done all I could to make the best of it. I have not made things worse by +deceit or double-dealing. I should have boldly asked for my freedom before +this, but I hear such bad accounts of poor Geraldine, who seems to be +dreadfully grieved by her father's loss, that I have put off all idea +of any direct explanation for the present. I am not the less resolved, +however, Clarissa." + +Miss Lovel turned her face towards him for the first time, and looked at +him with a proud steady gaze. She had given her promise, and was not afraid +that anything, not even his tenderest, most passionate pleading, could ever +tempt her to break it; but she knew more and more that she loved him--that +it was his absence and silence which, had made her life so blank, that his +coming was the event she had waited and watched for day after day. + +"Why should you break faith with Lady Geraldine?" she asked calmly. + +"Why! Because my bondage has been hateful to me ever since I came to Hale. +Because there is only one woman I will have for my wife--and her name is +Clarissa Lovel!" + +"You had better keep your word, Mr. Fairfax. I was quite in earnest in what +I said to you six weeks ago. Nothing in the world would ever induce me to +have any part in your breach of faith. Why, even if I loved you--" her +voice trembled a little here, and George Fairfax repeated the words after +her, "_Even_ if you loved me--I could never trust you. How could I hope +that, after having been so false to her, you could be true to me?" + +"Even if I loved you. Tell me that you do love me--as I have +hoped and dreamed--as I dared to believe sometimes at Hale, when my +wedding-day was so near, that I seemed like some wretch bound to the wheel, +for whom there is no possibility of escape. That is all over now, darling. +To all intents and purposes I am free. Confess that you love me." This was +said half tenderly, half imperiously--with the air of a conqueror +accustomed to easy triumphs, an air which this man's experience had made +natural to him. "Come, Clarissa, think how many miles I have travelled for +the sake of this one stolen half hour. Don't be so inexorable." + +He looked down at her with a smile on his face, not very much alarmed by +her obduracy. It seemed to him only a new form of feminine eccentricity. +Here was a woman who actually could resist him for ten minutes at a +stretch--him, George Fairfax! + +"I am very sorry you should have come so far. I am very sorry you should +have taken so much trouble; it is quite wasted." + +"Then you don't like me, Miss Lovel," still half playfully--the thing was +too impossible to be spoken of in any other tone. "For some reason or other +I am obnoxious to you. Look me full in the face, and swear that you don't +care a straw for me." + +"I am not going to swear anything so foolish. You are not obnoxious to me. +I have no wish to forfeit your friendship; but I will not hear of anything +more than friendship from your lips." + +"Why not?" + +"For many reasons. In the first place, because there would be treason +against Lady Geraldine in my listening to you." + +"Put that delusion out of your mind. There would be no treason; all is over +between Lady Geraldine and me." + +"There are other reasons, connected with papa." + +"Oh, your father is against me. Yes, that is only natural. Any more +reasons, Clarissa?" + +"One more." + +"What is that?" + +"I cannot tell you." + +"But I insist upon being told." + +She tried her uttermost to avoid answering his questions; but he was +persistent, and she admitted at last that she had promised not to listen to +him. + +"To whom was the promise given?" + +"That is my secret." + +"To your father?" + +"That is my secret, Mr. Fairfax. You cannot extort it from me. And now I +must go back to papa, if you please, or he will be sending some one to look +for me." + +"And I shall be discovered in Mr. Capulet's orchard. Ten minutes more, +Clarissa, and I vanish amidst the woods of Arden, through which I came like +a poacher in order to steal upon you unawares by that little gate. And now, +my darling, since we have wasted almost all our time in fencing with words, +let us be reasonable. Promises such as you speak of are pledges given to +the winds. They cannot hold an hour against true love. Listen, Clary, +listen." + +And then came the pleading of a man only too well accustomed to plead--a +man this time very much in earnest: words that seemed to Clarissa full of +a strange eloquence, tones that went to her heart of hearts. But she had +given her promise, and with her that promise meant something very sacred. +She was firm to the last--firm even when those thrilling tones changed from +love to auger. + +All that he said towards the end she scarcely knew, for there was a +dizziness in her brain that confused her, and her chiefest fear was that +she should drop fainting at his feet; but the last words of all struck upon +her ear with a cruel distinctness, and were never forgotten. + +"I am the merest fool and schoolboy to take this matter so deeply to +heart," he said, with a scornful laugh, "when the reason of my rejection +is so obvious. What I saw at Hale Castle might have taught me wisdom. Even +with my improved prospects I am little better than a pauper compared with +Daniel Granger. And I have heard you say that you would give all the world +to win back Arden Court. I will stand aside, and make way for a wealthier +suitor. Perhaps we may meet again some day, and I may not be so unfortunate +as my father." + +He was gone. Clarissa stood like a statue, with her hands clasped before +her face. She heard the gate shut by a violent hand. He was gone in supreme +anger, with scorn and insult upon his lips, believing her the basest of the +base, the meanest of the mean, she told herself. The full significance of +his last words she was unable to understand, but it seemed to her that they +veiled a threat. + +She was going back to the house slowly, tearless, but with something like +despair in her heart, when she heard the orchard gate open again. He had +come back, perhaps,--returned to forgive and pity her. No, that was not his +footstep; it was Mr. Granger, looking unspeakably ponderous and commonplace +in the moonlight, as he came across the shadowy grass towards her. + +"I thought I saw a white dress amongst the trees," he said, holding out his +hand to her for the usual greeting. "How cold your hand is, Miss Lovel! Is +it quite prudent of you to be out so late on such a chilly evening, and in +that thin dress? I think I must ask your papa to lecture you." + +"Pray don't, Mr. Granger; I am not in the habit of catching cold, and I am +used to being in the gardens at all times and seasons. You are late." + +"Yes; I have been at Holborough all day, and dined an hour later than +usual. Your papa is quite well, I hope?" + +"He is just the same as ever. He is always more or less of an invalid, you +know." + +They came in sight of the broad bay window of the parlour at this moment, +and the firelight within revealed Mr. Lovel in a very comfortable aspect, +fast asleep, with his pale aristocratic-looking face relieved by the +crimson cushions of his capacious easy-chair, and the brown setter's head +on his knee. There were some books on the table by his side, but it was +evident that his studies since dinner had not been profound. + +Clarissa and her companion went in at a half-glass door that opened into a +small lobby next the parlour. She knew that to open the window at such an +hour in the month of October was an unpardonable crime in her father's +eyes. They went into the room very softly; but Mr. Lovel, who was a light +sleeper, started up at their entrance, and declared with some show of +surprise that he must have been indulging in a nap. + +"I was reading a German critic on Aeschylus," he said. "Those Germans are +clever, but too much given to paradoxes. Ring the bell for tea, Clary. I +didn't think we should see you to-night, Granger; you said you were going +to a dinner at Sir Archer Taverham's." + +"I was engaged to dine with Sir Archer; but I wrote him a note this +morning, excusing myself upon the plea of gout. I really had a few twinges +last night, and I hate dinner-parties." + +"I am glad you have so much wisdom. I don't think any man under a +Talleyrand or an Alvanley can make a masculine dinner worth going to; and +as for your mixed herds of men and women, every man past thirty knows that +kind of thing to be an abomination." + +The rosy-faced parlour-maid brought in the lamp and the tea-tray, and +Clarissa sat quietly down to perform her nightly duties. She took her seat +in the full light of the lamp, with no evidence of emotion on her face, and +poured out the tea, and listened and replied to Mr. Granger's commonplace +remarks, just the same as usual, though the sound of another voice was in +her ear--the bitter passionate sound of words that had been almost curses. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. + +"IT MEANS ARDEN COURT." + + +The time went by, and Daniel Granger pursued his wooing, his tacit +undemonstrative courtship, with the quiet persistence of a man who meant +to win. He came to Mill Cottage almost every evening throughout the late +autumn and early winter months, and Clarissa was fain to endure his +presence and to be civil to him. She had no ground for complaint, no +opportunity for rebellion. His visits were not made ostensibly on her +account, though friends, neighbours, and servants knew very well why +he came, and had settled the whole business in their gossiping little +coteries. Nor did he take upon himself the airs of a lover. He was biding +his time, content to rejoice in the daily presence of the woman he loved; +content to wait till custom should have created a tie between them, +and till he could claim her for his wife by right of much patience and +fidelity. He had an idea that no woman, pure and true as he believed this +woman to be, could shut her heart against an honest man's love, if he were +only patient and faithful, single-minded and unselfish in his wooing. + +George Fairfax kept his word. From the hour of that bitter parting he made +no sign of his existence to Clarissa Lovel. The Armstrongs were still in +Germany when December came, and people who had any claim upon Lady Laura's +hospitality lamented loudly that there were to be no gaieties at the Castle +this year. It was the second Christmas that the family had been absent. Mr. +Fairfax was with them at Baden most likely, Clarissa thought; and she tried +to hope that it was so. + +Christmas came, and Miss Lovel had to assist at Miss Granger's triumphs. +That young lady was in full force at this time of year, dealing out +blankets of the shaggiest and most uncompromising textures--such coverings +as might have suited the requirements of a sturdy Highlander or a stalwart +bushranger sleeping in the open air, but seemed scarcely the pleasantest +gifts for feeble old women or asthmatic old men--and tickets +representative of small donations in kind, such as a quart of split-peas, +or a packet of prepared groats, with here and there the relief of a couple +of ounces of tea. Against plums and currants and candied peel Miss Granger +set her face, as verging on frivolity. The poor, who are always given +to extravagance, would be sure to buy these for themselves: witness +the mountain of currants embellished with little barrows of citron and +orange-peel, and the moorland of plums adorned with arabesques of Jamaica +ginger in the holly-hung chandler's shop at Arden. Split-peas and groats +were real benefits, which would endure when the indigestible delights +of plum-pudding were over. Happily for the model villagers, Mr. Granger +ordered a bullock and a dozen tons of coal to be distributed amongst them, +in a large liberal way that was peculiar to him, without consulting his +daughter as to the propriety of the proceeding. She was very busy with +the beneficent work of providing her special _protegees_ with the ugliest +imaginable winter gowns and frocks. Clarissa, who was eager to contribute +something to this good work, had wounded her fingers desperately in the +manufacture of these implacable fabrics, which set her teeth on edge every +time she touched them. Mr. Lovel would not even allow them to be in the +room where he sat. + +"If you must work at those unspeakably odious garments, Clarissa," he said, +"for pity's sake do it out of my presence. Great Heavens! what cultivator +of the Ugly could have invented those loathsome olive-greens, or that +revolting mud-colour? evidently a study from the Thames at low water, just +above Battersea-bridge. And to think that the poor--to whom nature seems to +have given a copyright in warts and wens and boils--should be made still +more unattractive by such clothing as that! If you are ever rich, Clarissa, +and take to benevolence, think of your landscape before you dress your +poor. Give your old women and children scarlet cloaks and gray petticoats, +and gratify your men with an orange neckerchief now and then, to make a +patch of colour against your russet background." + +There were dinner-parties at Arden Court that winter, to which Mr. Lovel +consented to take his daughter, obnoxious as he had declared all such +festivities to be to him. He went always as a concession to his host's +desires, and took care to let Daniel Granger know that his going was an +act of self-sacrifice; but he did go, and he gave his daughter a ten-pound +note, as a free-will offering, for the purchase of a couple of new dresses. + +Clarissa wondered not a little at the distinction with which her father and +herself were treated by every one who met them at Mr. Granger's house. She +did not know that a good deal of this attention was given to the future +mistress of Arden Court, and that, in the eyes of county people and +Holborough gentry alike, she stood in that position. She did not know that +her destiny was a settled business in every one's mind except her own: that +her aunt Oliver and the Rector, quite as much as her father, looked upon +her marriage with Daniel Granger as inevitable. Mr. Lovel had been careful +not to alarm his daughter by any hint of his convictions. He was very well +satisfied with the progress of affairs. Daniel Granger was too securely +caught for there to be any room for fear of change on his part, and Daniel +Granger's mode of carrying on the siege seemed to Mr. Lovel an excellent +one. Whatever Clarissa's feelings might have been in the beginning, she +must needs succumb before such admirable patience, such almost sublime +devotion. + +Christmas passed, and the new year and all festivities belonging to the +season, and a dreary stretch of winter remained, bleak and ungenial, +enlivened only by Christmas bills, the chill prelude of another year of +struggle. Towards the end of January, Marmarduke Lovel's health broke down +all of a sudden. He was really ill, and very fretful in his illness. Those +creditors of his became desperately pressing in their demands; almost every +morning's post brought him a lawyer's letter; and, however prostrate he +might feel, he was obliged to sit up for an hour or so in the day, resting +his feverish head upon his hand, while he wrote diplomatic letters for the +temporary pacification of impatient attorneys. + +Poor Clarissa had a hard time of it in these days. Her father was a +difficult patient, and that ever-present terror of insolvency, and all the +pains and perils attendant thereupon, tormented her by day and kept her +awake at night. Every ring at the cottage gate set her heart beating, and +conjured up the vision of some brutal sheriff's officer, such as she had +read of in modern romance. She nursed her father with extreme tenderness. +He was not confined to his room for any length of time, but was weak and +ill throughout the bleak wintry months, with a racking cough and a touch of +low fever, lying prostrate for the greater part of the day on a sofa by the +fire, and only brightening a little in the evening when Mr. Granger paid +his accustomed visit. Clarissa tended him all through these melancholy +days, when the rain beat against the windows and the dull gray sky looked +as if it would never more be illuminated by a gleam of sunshine; tended him +with supreme patience, and made heroic efforts to cheer and sustain his +spirits, though her own heart was very heavy. And it came to pass that, in +these most trying days, Daniel Granger repeated the avowal of his love, not +urging his suit with any hazardous impatience, but offering to wait as long +as Clarissa pleased for his sentence. And then, in the midst of the girl's +distress at the renewal of this embarrassing declaration, her father spoke +to her, and told her plainly that she was, in all honour, bound to become +Mr. Granger's wife. She had suffered him to devote himself to her, with a +devotion rare in a man of his age and character. She had allowed the outer +world to take the business for granted. It would be a cruel wrong done to +this man, if she were to draw back now and leave him in the lurch. + +"Draw back, papa!" she cried with unmitigated surprise and alarm; "but what +have I done to give you or Mr. Granger, or any one else, the slightest +justification for supposing I ever thought of him, except as the most +commonplace acquaintance?" + +"That pretence of unconsciousness is the merest affectation, Clarissa. You +must have known why Mr. Granger came here." + +"I thought he came to see you, papa, just like any other acquaintance." + +"Nonsense, child; one man does not dance attendance upon another like +that--crying off from important dinner-parties in order to drink tea with +his neighbour, and that kind of thing. The case has been clear enough from +the beginning, and you must have known how it was--especially as Granger +made some declaration to you the first time you went to the Court. He told +me what he had done, in a most honourable manner. It is preposterous to +pretend, after that, you could mistake his intentions. I have never worried +you about the business; it seemed to me wisest and best to let matters take +their natural course; and I am the last of men to play the domestic tyrant +in order to force a rich husband upon my daughter; but I never for a moment +doubted that you understood Mr. Granger's feelings, and were prepared to +reward his patience." + +"It can never be, papa," Clarissa said decisively; "I would not commit such +a sin as to marry a man I could not love. I am grateful to Mr. Granger, +of course, and very sorry that he should think so much more of me than I +deserve, but----" + +"For God's sake don't preach!" cried her father fretfully. "You won't +have him; that's enough. The only road there was to extrication from my +difficulties is shut up. The sheriff's officers can come to-morrow. I'll +write no more humbugging letters to those attorneys, trying to stave off +the crisis. The sooner the crash comes the better; I can drag out the rest +of my existence somehow, in Bruges or Louvain. It is only a question of a +year or two, I daresay." + +The dreary sigh with which Mr. Lovel concluded this speech went to +Clarissa's heart. It can scarcely be said that she loved him very dearly, +but she pitied him very much. To his mind, no doubt, it seemed a hard thing +that she should set her face against a change of fortune that would have +ensured ease and comfort for his declining years. She knew him weighed down +by embarrassments which were very real--which had been known to her before +Daniel Granger's appearance as a wooer. There was no pretence about the +ruin that menaced them; and it was not strange that her father, who had +been loath to move beyond the very outskirts of his lost domain, should +shrink with a shuddering dread from exile in a dismal Belgian town. + +After that one bitter speech and that one dreary sigh, Mr. Lovel made +no overt attempt to influence his daughter's decision. He had a more +scientific game to play, and he knew how to play it. Peevish remonstrances +might have availed nothing; threats or angry speeches might have provoked a +spirit of defiance. Mr. Lovel neither complained nor threatened; he simply +collapsed. An air of settled misery fell upon him, an utter hopelessness, +that was almost resignation, took possession of him. There was an unwonted +gentleness in his manner to his daughter; he endured the miseries of +weakness and prostration with unaccustomed patience; meekness pervaded all +his words and actions, but it was the meekness of despair. And so--and +so--this was how the familiar domestic drama came to be acted once +more--the old, old story to be repeated. It was Robin Gray over again. If +the cow was not stolen, the sheriff's officers were at the door, and, +for lack of a broken arm, Marmaduke Lovel did not want piteous silent +arguments. He was weak and ill and despairing, and where threats or +jesuitical pleading would have availed little, his silence did much; until +at last, after several weary weeks of indecision, during which Mr. Granger +had come and gone every evening without making any allusion to his suit, +there came one night when Clarissa fell on her knees by her father's sofa, +and told him that she could not endure the sight of his misery any longer, +and that she was willing to be Daniel Granger's wife. Marmaduke Lovel put +his feeble arms round his daughter's neck, and kissed her as he had never +kissed her before; and then burst into tears, with his face hidden upon her +shoulder. + +"It was time, Clarissa," he said at last. "I could not have kept the +brokers out another week. Granger has been offering to lend me money ever +since he began to suspect my embarrassments, but I could not put myself +under an obligation to him while I was uncertain of your intentions: it +will be easy to accept his help now; and he has made most liberal proposals +with regard to your marriage settlements. Bear witness, Clary, that I never +mentioned that till now. I have urged no sordid consideration upon you to +bring about this match; although, God knows, it is the thing I desire most +in this world." + +"No, no, papa, I know that," sobbed Clarissa. And then the image of George +Fairfax rose before her, and the memory of those bitter words, "It means +Arden Court." + +What would he think of her when he should come to hear that she was to be +Daniel Granger's wife? It would seem a full confirmation of his basest +suspicions. He would never know of her unavailing struggles to escape this +doom--never guess her motives for making this sacrifice. He would think of +her, in all the days to come, only as a woman who sold herself for the sake +of a goodly heritage. + +Once having given her promise, there was no such thing as drawing back for +Clarissa, even had she been so minded. Mr. Lovel told the anxious lover +that his fate was favourably decided, warning him at the same time that it +would be well to refrain from any hazardous haste, and to maintain as far +as possible that laudable patience and reserve which had distinguished his +conduct up to this point. + +"Clarissa is very young," said her father; "and I do not pretend to tell +you that she is able to reciprocate, as fully as I might wish, the ardour +of your attachment. One could hardly expect that all at once." + +"No, one could hardly expect that," Mr. Granger echoed with a faint sigh. + +"As a man of the world, you would not, I am sure, my dear Granger, overlook +the fact of the very wide difference in your ages, or expect more than is +reasonable. Clarissa admires and esteems you, I am sure, and is deeply +grateful for a devotion to which she declares herself undeserving. She is +not a vain frivolous girl, who thinks a man's best affection only a tribute +due to her attractions. And there is a kind of regard which grows up in a +girl's heart for a sensible man who loves her, and which I believe with all +my soul to be better worth having than the romantic nonsense young people +take for the grand passion. I make no profession, you see, my dear Granger, +on my daughter's part; but I have no fear but that Clarissa will learn to +love you, in good time, as truly as you can desire to be loved." + +"Unless I thought that she had some affection for me, I would never ask her +to be my wife," said Mr. Granger. + +"Wouldn't you?" thought Mr. Lovel. "My poor Granger, you are farther gone +than you suppose!" + +"You can give me your solemn assurance upon one point, eh, Lovel?" said the +master of Arden Court anxiously; "there is no one else in the case? Your +daughter's heart is quite free? It is only a question as to whether I can +win it?" + +"Her heart is entirely free, and as pure as a child's. She is full of +affection, poor girl, only yearning to find an outlet for it. She ought to +make you a good wife, Daniel Granger. There is nothing against her doing +so." + +"God grant she may!" replied Mr. Granger solemnly; "God knows how dearly I +love her, and what a new thing this love is to me!" + +He took heed of his future father-in-law's counsel, and said nothing more +about his hopes to Clarissa just yet awhile. It was only by an undefinable +change in his manner--a deeper graver tenderness in his tone--that she +guessed her father must have told him her decision. + +From this day forth all clouds vanished from the domestic sky at Mill +Cottage. Mr. Lovel's debts were paid; no more threatening letters made his +breakfast-table a terror to him; there were only agreeable-looking stamped +documents in receipt of payment, with little apologetic notes, and +entreaties for future favours. + +Mr. Granger's proposals respecting a settlement were liberal, but, taking +into consideration the amount of his wealth, not lavish. He offered to +settle a thousand a year upon his wife--five hundred for her own use as +pin-money, five hundred as an annuity for her father. He might as easily +have given her three thousand, or six thousand, as it was for no lack of +generous inclination that he held his hand; but he did not want to do +anything that might seem like buying his wife. Nor did Marmaduke Lovel +give the faintest hint of a desire for larger concessions from his future +son-in-law: he conducted the business with the lofty air of a man above the +consideration of figures. Five hundred a year was not much to get from a +man in Granger's position; but, added to his annuity of three hundred, it +would make eight--a very decent income for a man who had only himself to +provide for; and then of course there would be no possibility of his ever +wanting money, with such a son-in-law to fall back upon. + +Mr. Granger did not lose any time in making his daughter acquainted with +the change that was about to befall her. He was quite prepared to find her +adverse to his wishes, and quite prepared to defend his choice; and yet, +little subject as he was to any kind of mental weakness, he did feel rather +uncomfortable when the time came for addressing Miss Granger. + +It was after dinner, and the father and daughter were sitting alone in the +small gothic dining-room, sheltered from possible draughts by mediaeval +screens of stamped leather and brazen scroll-work, and in a glowing +atmosphere of mingled fire and lamp light, making a pretty cabinet-picture +of home life, which might have pleased a Flemish painter. + +"I think, Sophia," said Mr. Granger,--"I think, my dear, there is no +occasion for me to tell you that there is a certain friend and neighbour of +yours who is something more to me than the ordinary young ladies of your +acquaintance." + +Miss Granger seemed as if she were trying to swallow some hard +substance--a knotty little bit of the pineapple she had just been eating, +perhaps--before she replied to this speech of her father's. + +"I am sure, papa, I am quite at a loss to comprehend your meaning," she +said at last. "I have no near neighbour whom I can call my friend, unless +you mean Mrs. Patterly, the doctor's wife, who has taken such a warm +interest in my clothing-club, and who has such a beautiful mind. But you +would hardly call her a young lady." + +"Patterly's wife! no, I should think not!" exclaimed Mr. Granger +impatiently: "I was speaking of Clarissa Lovel." + +Miss Granger drew herself up suddenly, and pinched her lips together as if +they were never to unclose again. She did open them nevertheless, after a +pause, to say in an icy tone,-- + +"Miss Lovel is my acquaintance, but not my friend." + +"Why should she not be your friend? She is a very charming girl." + +"Oh, yes, I have no doubt of that, papa, from your point of view; that is +to say, she is very pretty, and thinks a great deal of dress, and is quite +ready to flirt with any one who likes to flirt with her--I'm sure you must +have seen _that_ at Hale Castle--and fills her scrap-book with portraits of +engaged men; witness all those drawings of Mr. Fairfax. I have no doubt she +is just the kind of person gentlemen call charming; but she is no friend of +mine, and she never will be." + +"I am sorry to hear that," said her father sternly; "for she is very likely +to be your stepmother." + +It was a death-blow, but one that Sophia Granger had anticipated for a long +time. + +"You are going to marry Miss Lovel, papa--a girl two years younger than I +am?" + +"Yes, I am going to marry Miss Lovel, and I am very proud of her youth +and beauty; but I do not admit her want of more solid charms than those, +Sophia. I have watched her conduct as a daughter, and I have a most perfect +faith in the goodness and purity of her heart." + +"Oh, very well, papa. Of course you know what is best for your own +happiness. It is not for me to presume to offer an opinion; I trust I have +too clear a sense of duty for that." And here Miss Granger gave a sigh +expressive of resignation under circumstances of profound affliction. + +"I believe you have, Sophy," answered her father kindly. "I believe that, +however unwelcome this change may be to you at first--and I suppose it is +only natural that it should be unwelcome--you will reconcile your mind to +it fully when you discover that it is for my happiness. I am not ashamed to +confess to you that I love Clarissa very fondly, and that I look forward +to a happy future when she is my wife." + +"I hope, papa, that your life has not been unhappy hitherto--that I have +not in any manner failed in my duties as a daughter." + +"Oh, dear no, child; of course not. That has nothing to do with the +question." + +"Will it--the marriage--be very soon, papa?" asked Miss Granger, with +another gulp, as if there were still some obstructive substance in her +throat. + +"I hope so, Sophy. There is no reason, that I can see, why it should not be +very soon." + +"And will Mr. Lovel come to live with us?" + +"I don't know; I have never contemplated such a possibility. I think Mr. +Lovel is scarcely the kind of person who would care to live in another +man's house." + +"But this has been his own house, you see, papa, and will seem to belong to +him again when his daughter is the mistress of it. I daresay he will look +upon us as interlopers." + +"I don't think so, Sophia. Mr. Lovel is a gentleman, and a sensible man +into the bargain. He is not likely to have any absurd ideas of that kind." + +"I suppose he is very much pleased at having secured such a rich husband +for his daughter," Miss Granger hazarded presently, with the air of saying +something agreeable. + +"Sophia!" exclaimed her father angrily, "I must beg that the question of +money may never be mooted in relation to Miss Lovel and myself--by you +above all people. I daresay there may be men and women in the world +malignant enough to say--mean enough to suppose--that this dear girl can +only consent to marry me because I am a rich man. It is my happiness to +know her to be much too noble to yield to any sordid consideration of that +kind. It is my happiness to know that her father has done nothing to urge +this marriage upon her. She gives herself to me of her own free-will, not +hurried into a decision by any undue persuasion of mine, and under no +pressure from outer circumstances." + +"I am very glad to hear it, papa. I think I should have broken my heart, if +I had seen you the dupe of a mercenary woman." + +Mr. Granger got up from his seat with an impatient air, and began to pace +the room. His daughter had said very little, but that little had been +beyond measure irritating to him. It galled him to think that this marriage +should seem to her an astonishing--perhaps even a preposterous--thing. True +that the woman he was going to marry was younger, by a year or two, than +his own daughter. In his own mind there was so little sense of age, that he +could scarcely understand why the union should seem discordant. He was not +quite fifty, an age which he had heard men call the very meridian of life; +and he felt himself younger now than he had ever been since he first +assumed the cares of manhood--first grew grave with the responsibilities +involved in the disposal of a great fortune. Was not this newly-born love, +this sudden awakening of a heart that had slumbered so long, a renewal of +youth? Mr. Granger glanced at his own reflection in a glass over a buffet, +as he paced to and fro. The figure that he saw there bore no sign of age. +It was a relief to him to discover that--a thing he had never thought of +till that moment. + +"Why should she not love me?" he asked himself. "Are youth and a handsome +face the only high-road to a woman's heart? I can't believe it. Surely +constancy and devotion must count for something. Is there another man in +the world who would love her as well as I? who could say, at fifty years of +age, This is my first love?" + +"I am to give up the housekeeping, of course, papa, when you are married," +Miss Granger said presently, with that subdued air of resignation in which +she had wrapped herself as in a garment since her father's announcement. + +"Give up the housekeeping!" he echoed a little impatiently; "I don't see +the necessity for that. Clarissa"--oh, how sweet it was to him to pronounce +her name, and with that delicious sense of proprietorship!--"Clarissa is +too young to care much for that sort of thing--dealing out groceries, and +keeping account-books, as you do. Very meritorious, I am sure, my dear, and +no doubt useful. No, I don't suppose you'll be interfered with, Sophy. In +all essentials you will still be mistress. If Clarissa is queen, you will +be prime minister; and you know it is the minister who really pulls the +strings. And I do hope that in time you two will get to love each other." + +"I shall endeavour to do my duty, papa," Miss Granger answered primly. "We +cannot command our feelings." + +It was some feeble relief to her to learn that her grocery-books, her +day-books by double-entry, and all those other commercial volumes dear to +her heart, were not to be taken away from her; that she was still to retain +the petty powers she had held as the sole daughter of Daniel Granger's +house and heart. But to resign her place at the head of her father's table, +to see Clarissa courted and caressed, to find faltering allegiance perhaps +even among her model poor--all these things would be very bitter, and in +her heart Sophia Granger was angry with her father for a line of conduct +which she considered the last stage of folly. She loved him, after her +own precise well-regulated fashion--loved him as well as a creature so +self-conscious could be expected to love; but she could not easily forgive +him for an act which seemed, in some sort, a fraud upon herself. She had +been brought up to believe herself his sole heiress, to look upon his +second marriage as an utter impossibility. How often had she heard +him ridicule the notion when it was suggested to him by some jocose +acquaintance! and it did seem a very hard thing that she should be pushed +all at once from this lofty stand-point, and levelled to the very dust. +There would be a new family, of course; a brood of sons and daughters to +divide her heritage. Hannah Warman had suggested as much when discussing +the probability of the marriage, with that friendly candour, and +disposition to look at the darker side of the picture, which are apt to +distinguish confidantes of her class. + +"I am sure, papa," Miss Granger whimpered by-and-by, not quite able to +refrain from some expression of ill-temper, "I have scarcely had a pleasant +evening since you have known the Lovels. You are always there, and it is +very dull to be alone every night." + +"It has been your own fault in some measure, Sophy. You might have had +Clarissa here, if you'd chosen to cultivate her friendship." + +"Our inclinations are beyond our control, papa. Nothing but your express +commands, and a sense of duty, would induce me to select Miss Lovel for a +companion. There is no sympathy between us." + +"Why should there not be? You cannot think her unamiable, nor question her +being highly accomplished." + +"But it is not a question of playing, or singing, or painting, or talking +foreign languages, papa. One selects a friend for higher qualities than +those. There is Mary Anne Patterly, for instance, who can scarcely play +the bass in a set of quadrilles, but whose admirable gifts and Christian +character have endeared her to me. Miss Lovel is so frivolous. See how +stupid and listless she seemed that day we took her over the schools and +cottages. I don't believe she was really interested in anything she saw. +And, though she has been at home a year and a half, she has not once +offered to take a class in either of the schools." + +"I daresay she sees the schools are well officered, my dear, and doesn't +like to interfere with your functions." + +"No, papa, it is not that. She has no vocation for serious things. Her mind +is essentially frivolous; you will discover that for yourself by-and-by. I +speak in perfect candour, you know, papa. Whatever your feelings about Miss +Lovel may be, I am above concealing mine. I believe I know my duty; but I +cannot stoop to hypocrisy." + +"I suppose not. But I must say, you might have taken this business in a +pleasanter spirit, Sophia. I shall expect, however, to see you take more +pains to overcome your prejudice against the young Indy I have chosen for +my wife; and I shall be rather slow to believe in your affection for myself +unless it shows itself in that manner." + +Miss Granger covered her face with her handkerchief, and burst into a flood +of tears. + +"Oh, papa, papa, it only needed that! To think that any one's influence can +make my father doubt my affection for him, after all these years of duty +and obedience!" + +Mr. Granger muttered something about "duty," which was the very reverse of +a blessing, and walked out of the room, leaving Sophia to her tears. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXV. + +WEDDING BELLS. + + +There was no reason why the marriage should not take place very soon. Mr. +Granger said so; Mr. Lovel agreed with him, half reluctantly as it were, +and with the air of a man who is far from eager to precipitate events. +There was no imaginable reason for delay. + +Upon this point Mr. and Mrs. Oliver were as strong as Daniel Granger +himself. A union in every way so propitious could not be too speedily made +secure. Matthew Oliver was full of demonstrative congratulation now when he +dined at Mill Cottage. + +"Who would have guessed when I brought you home from the station that +morning, and we drove through the park, that you were going to be mistress +of it so soon, Clary?" he exclaimed triumphantly. "Do you remember crying +when you heard the place was sold? I do, poor child; I can see your piteous +face at this moment. And now it is going to be yours again. Upon my word, +Providence has been very good to you, Clarissa." + +Providence had been very good to her. They all told her the same story. +Amongst her few friends there was not one who seemed to suspect that this +marriage might be a sacrifice; that in her heart of hearts there might be +some image brighter than Daniel Granger's. + +She found herself staring at these congratulatory friends in blank +amazement sometimes, wondering that they should all look at this engagement +of hers from the same point of view, all be so very certain of her +happiness. + +Had she not reason to be happy, however? There had been a time when she had +talked and thought of her lost home almost as Adam and Eve may have done +when yet newly expelled from Paradise, with the barren world in all its +strangeness before them. Was it not something to win back this beloved +dwelling-place--something to obtain comfort for her father's age--to secure +an income which might enable her to help her brother in the days to come? +Nor was the man she had promised to marry obnoxious to her. He had done +much towards winning her regard in the patient progress of his wooing. She +believed him to be a good and honourable man, whose affection was something +that a woman might be proud of having won--a man whom it would be a bitter +thing to offend. She was clear-sighted enough to perceive his superiority +to her father--his utter truthfulness and openness of character. She did +feel just a little proud of his love. It was something to see this big +strong man, vigorous in mind as in body, reduced to so complete a bondage, +yet not undignified even in his slavery. + +What was it, then, which came between her and the happiness which that +congratulatory chorus made so sure of? Only the image of the man she +had loved--the man she had rejected for honour's sake one bleak October +evening, and whom she had never ceased to think of since that time. She +knew that Daniel Granger was, in all likelihood, a better and a nobler +man than George Fairfax; but the face that had been with her in the +dimly-lighted railway-carriage, the friendly voice that had cheered her on +the first night of her womanhood, were with her still. + +More than once, since that wintry afternoon when Mr. Granger had claimed +her as his own for the first time--taking her to his breast with a grave +and solemn tenderness, and telling her that every hope and desire of his +mind was centred in her, and that all his life to come would be devoted to +securing her happiness--more than once since that day she had been tempted +to tell her lover all the truth; but shame kept her silent. She did not +know how to begin her confession. On that afternoon she had been strangely +passive, like a creature stunned by some great surprise; and yet, after +what she had said to her father, she had expected every day that Mr. +Granger would speak. + +After a good deal of discussion among third parties, and an undeviating +urgency on the part of Mr. Granger himself, it was arranged that the +wedding should take place at the end of May, and that Clarissa should see +Switzerland in its brightest aspect. She had once expressed a longing for +Alpine peaks and glaciers in her lover's presence, and he had from that +moment, determined that Switzerland should be the scene of his honeymoon. +They would go there so early as to avoid the herd of autumnal wanderers. He +knew the country, and could map out the fairest roads for their travels, +the pleasantest resting-places for their repose. And if Clarissa cared to +explore Italy afterwards, and spend October and November in Rome, she +could do so. All the world would be bright and new to him with her for his +companion. He looked forward with boyish eagerness to revisiting scenes +that he had fancied himself weary of until now. Yes; such a love as this +was indeed a renewal of youth. + +To all arrangements made on her behalf Clarissa was submissive. What could +a girl, not a quite twenty, urge against the will of a man like Daniel +Granger, supported by such powerful allies as father, and uncle and aunt, +and friends? She thanked him more warmly than usual when he proposed the +Swiss tour. Yes; she had wished very much to see that country. Her brother +had gone there on a walking expedition when he was little more than a boy, +and had very narrowly escaped with his life from the perils of the road. +She had some of his Alpine sketches, in a small portfolio of particular +treasures, to this day. + +Mrs. Oliver revelled in the business of the trosseau. Never since the +extravagant days of her early youth had she enjoyed such a feast of +millinery. To an aunt the provision of a wedding outfit is peculiarly +delightful. She has all the pomp and authority of a parent, without a +parent's responsibility. She stands _in loco parentis_ with regard +to everything except the bill. No uneasy twinge disturbs her, as the +glistening silk glides through the shopman's hands, and ebbs and flows in +billows of brightness on the counter. No demon of calculation comes between +her and the genius of taste, when the milliner suggests an extra flounce of +Marines, or a pelerine of Honiton. + +A trip to London, and a fortnight or so spent in West-end shops, would have +been very agreeable to Mrs. Oliver; but on mature reflection she convinced +herself that to purchase her niece's trosseau in London would be a foolish +waste of power. The glory to be obtained in Wigmore or Regent-street was +a small thing compared with the _kudos_ that would arise to her from the +expenditure of a round sum of money among the simple traders of Holborough. +Thus it was that Clarissa's wedding finery was all ordered at Brigson and +Holder's, the great linendrapers in Holborough market-place, and all made +by Miss Mallow, the chief milliner and dressmaker of Holborough, who was in +a flutter of excitement from the moment she received the order, and held +little levees amongst her most important customers for the exhibition of +Miss Lovel's silks and laces. + +Towards the end of April there came a letter of congratulation from Lady +Laura Armstrong, who was still in Germany; a very cordial and affectionate +letter, telling Clarissa that the tidings of her engagement had just +reached Baden; but not telling her how the news had come, and containing +not a word of allusion to Lady Geraldine or George Fairfax. + + "Now that everything is so happily settled, Clary," wrote my lady, + "without any finesse or diplomacy on my part, I don't mind telling + you that I have had this idea in my head from the very first day I + saw you. I wanted you to win back Arden Court, the place you love so + dearly; and as Mr. Granger, to my mind, is a very charming person, + nothing seemed more natural than that my wishes should be realised. + But I really did not hope that matters would arrange themselves so + easily and so speedily. A thousand good wishes, dear, both for + yourself and your papa. We hope to spend the autumn at Hale, and I + suppose I shall then have the pleasure of seeing you begin your + reign as mistress of Arden Court. You must give a great many + parties, and make yourself popular in the neighbourhood at once. + _Entre nous_, I think our friend Miss Granger is rather fond of + power. It will be wise on your part to take your stand in the + beginning of things, and then affairs are pretty sure to go + pleasantly. Ever your affectionate + + "LAURA ARMSTRONG." + +Not a word about George Fairfax. Clarissa wondered where he was; whether +he was still angry with her, or had forgotten her altogether. The latter +seemed the more likely state of affairs. She wondered about him and then +reminded herself that she had no right even to wonder now. His was an image +which must be blotted out of her life. She cut all those careless sketches +out of her drawing-book. If it had only been as easy to tear the memory of +him out of her mind! + +The end of May came very quickly, and with it Clarissa's wedding-day. +Before that day Miss Granger made a little formal address to her future +stepmother--an address worded with studious humility--promising a strict +performance of duty on Miss Granger's part in their new relations. + +This awful promise was rather alarming to Clarissa, in whose mind Sophia +seemed one of those superior persons whom one is bound to respect and +admire, yet against whom some evil spark of the old Adam in our degraded +natures is ever ready to revolt. + +"Pray don't talk of duty, my dear Sophia," she answered in a shy tremulous +way, clinging a little closer to Mr. Granger's arm. It was at Mill Cottage +that this conversation took place, a few days before the wedding. "There +can scarcely be a question of duty between people of the same age, like +you and me. But I hope we shall get to love each other more and more every +day." + +"Of course you will," cried Daniel Granger heartily. "Why should you not +love each other? If your tastes don't happen to be exactly the same just +now, habitual intercourse will smooth down all that, and you'll find all +manner of things in which you _can_ sympathise. I've told Sophy that I +don't suppose you'll interfere much with her housekeeping, Clarissa. That's +rather a strong point with her, and I don't think it's much in your line." + +Miss Granger tightened her thin lips with a little convulsive movement. +This speech seemed to imply that Miss Lovel's was a loftier line than hers. + +Clarissa remembered Lady Laura's warning, and felt that she might be doing +wrong in surrendering the housekeeping. But then, on the other hand, she +felt herself quite unable to cope with Miss Granger's account-books. + +"I have never kept a large house," she said. "I should be very sorry to +interfere." + +"I was sure of it," exclaimed Mr. Granger; "and you will have more time to +be my companion, Clarissa, if your brain is not muddled with groceries and +butcher's-meat. You see, Sophia has such a peculiarly business-like mind." + +"However humble my gifts may be, I have always endeavoured to employ them +for your benefit, papa," Miss Granger replied with a frosty air. + +She had come to dine at Mill Cottage for the first time since she had known +of her father's engagement. She had come in deference to her father's +express desire, and it was a hard thing for her to offer even this small +tribute to Clarissa. It was a little family dinner--the Olivers, Mr. +Padget, the rector of Arden, who was to assist cheery Matthew Oliver in +tying the fatal knot, and Mr. and Miss Granger--a pleasant little party of +seven, for whom Mr. Lovel's cook had prepared quite a model dinner. She +had acquired a specialty for about half-a-dozen dishes which her master +affected, and in the preparation of these could take her stand against the +pampered matron who ruled Mr. Granger's kitchen at a stipend of seventy +guineas a year, and whose subordinate and assistant had serious thoughts +of launching herself forth upon the world as a professed cook, by +advertisement in the _Times_--"clear soups, entrees, ices, &c." + +The wedding was to be a very quiet one. Mr. Lovel had expressed a strong +desire that it should be so; and Mr. Granger's wishes in no way clashed +with those of his father-in-law. + +"I am a man of fallen fortunes," said Mr. Lovel, "and all Yorkshire knows +my history. Anything like pomp or publicity would be out of place in the +marriage of my daughter. When she is your wife it will be different. Her +position will be a very fine one; for she will have some of the oldest +blood in the county, supported by abundance of money. The Lycians used to +take their names from their mothers. I think, if you have a son. Granger, +you ought to call him Lovel." + +"I should be proud to do so," answered Mr. Granger. "I am not likely to +forget that my wife is my superior in social rank." + +"A superiority that counts for very little when unsustained by hard cash, +my dear Granger," returned Marmaduke Lovel lightly. He was supremely +content with the state of affairs, and had no wish to humiliate his +son-in-law. + +So the wedding was performed as simply as if Miss Lovel had been uniting +her fortunes with those of some fledgling of the curate species. There +were only two bridesmaids--Miss Granger, who performed the office with an +unwilling heart; and Miss Pontifex, a flaxen-haired young lady of high +family and no particular means, provided for the occasion by Mrs. Oliver, +at whose house she and Clarissa had become acquainted. There was a +breakfast, elegant enough in its way--for the Holborough confectioner had +been put upon his mettle by Mrs. Oliver--served prettily in the cottage +parlour. The sun shone brightly upon Mr. Granger's espousals. The village +children lined the churchyard walk, and strewed spring flowers upon the +path of bride and bridegroom--tender vernal blossoms which scarcely +harmonised with Daniel Granger's stalwart presence and fifty years. +Clarissa, very pale and still, with a strange fixed look on her face, came +out of the little church upon her husband's arm; and it seemed to her in +that hour as if all the life before her was like an unknown country, hidden +by a great cloud. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. + +COMING HOME. + + +The leaves were yellowing in the park and woods round Arden Court, and +the long avenue began to wear a somewhat dreary look, before Mr. Granger +brought his young wife home. It was October again, and the weather bleaker +and colder than one had a right to expect in October. Mr. Lovel was at Spa, +recruiting his health in the soft breezes that blow across the pine-clad +hills, and leading a pleasant elderly-bachelor existence at one of the best +hotels in the bright little inland watering-place. The shutters were closed +at Mill Cottage, and the pretty rustic dwelling was left in the care of the +honest housekeeper and her handmaiden, the rosy-faced parlour-maid, who +dusted master's books and hung linen draperies before master's bookcases +with a pious awe. + +Miss Granger had spent some part of her father's honeymoon in paying visits +to those friends who were eager to have her, and who took this opportunity +of showing special attention to the fallen heiress. The sense of her lost +prestige was always upon her, however, and she was scarcely as grateful +as she might have been for the courtesy she received. People seemed never +weary of talking about her father's wife, whose sweetness, and beauty, and +other interesting qualities, Miss Granger found herself called upon to +discuss continually. She did not bow the knee to the popular idol, however, +but confessed with a charming candour that there was no great sympathy +between her stepmother and herself. + +"Her education has been so different from mine," she said, "that it is +scarcely strange if all our tastes are different. But, of course, I shall +do my duty towards her, and I hope and pray that she may make my father +happy." + +But Miss Granger did not waste all the summer months in visiting. She was +more in her element at the Court. The model children in the new Arden +poor-schools had rather a hard time of it during Mr. Granger's honeymoon, +and were driven through Kings and Chronicles at a more severe pace than +usual. The hardest and driest facts in geography and grammar were pelted +like summer hail upon their weak young brains, and a sterner demand was +made every day upon their juvenile powers of calculation. This Miss Granger +called giving them a solid foundation; but as the edifice destined to be +erected upon this educational basis was generally of the humblest--a career +of carpentering, or blacksmithing, or housemaiding, or plain-cooking, +for the most part--it is doubtful whether that accurate knowledge of the +objective case or the longitude of the Sandwich Islands which Miss Granger +so resolutely insisted upon, was ever of any great service to the grown-up +scholar. + +In these philanthropic labours she had always an ardent assistant in the +person of Mr. Tillott, whose somewhat sandy head and florid complexion used +to appear at the open door of the schoolroom very often when Sophia was +teaching. He did really admire her, with all sincerity and singleness of +heart; describing her, in long confidential letters to his mother, as a +woman possessed of every gift calculated to promote a man's advancement in +this world and the next. He knew that her father's second marriage must +needs make a considerable change in her position. There would be an heir, +in all probability, and Sophia would no longer be the great heiress she had +been. But she would be richly dowered doubtless, come what might; and she +was brought nearer to the aspirations of a curate by this reduction of her +fortune. + +Miss Granger accepted the young priest's services, and patronised him with +a sublime unconsciousness of his aspirations. She had heard it whispered +that his father had been a grocer, and that he had an elder brother who +still carried on a prosperous colonial trade in the City. For anything like +retail trade Miss Granger had a profound contempt. She had all the pride of +a parvenu, and all the narrowness of mind common to a woman who lives in a +world of her own creation. So while Mr. Tillott flattered himself that he +was making no slight impression upon her heart, Miss Granger regarded him +as just a little above the head gardener and the certificated schoolmaster. + +October came, and the day appointed for the return of the master of Arden +Court; rather a gloomy day, and one in a succession of wet and dismal days, +with a dull gray sky that narrowed the prospect, and frequent showers of +drizzling rain. Miss Granger had received numerous letters from her father +during his travels, letters which were affectionate if brief; and longer +epistles from Clarissa, describing their route and adventures. They had +done Switzerland thoroughly, and had spent the last month in Rome. + +The interior of the old house looked all the brighter, perhaps, because +of that dull sky and, and those sodden woods without. Fires were blazing +merrily in all the rooms; for, whatever Miss Granger's secret feelings +might be, the servants were bent on showing allegiance to the new power, +and on giving the house a gala aspect in honour of their master's return. +The chief gardener, with a temporary indifference to his own interests, had +stripped his hothouses for the decoration of the rooms, and great vases of +exotics made the atmosphere odorous, and contrasted pleasantly with the +wintry fires. + +Miss Granger sat in the principal drawing-room, with her embroidery-frame +before her, determined not to be flurried or disturbed by the bride's +return. She sat at a respectful distance from the blazing logs, with a +screen interposed carefully between her complexion and the fire, the very +image of stiffness and propriety; not one of her dull-brown hairs ruffled, +not a fold of her dark green-silk dress disarranged. + +The carriage was to meet the London express at Holborough station at +half-past four, and at a little before five Miss Granger heard the sound of +wheels in the avenue. She did not even rise from her embroidery-frame to +watch the approach of the carriage, but went on steadily stitch by stitch +at the ear of a Blenheim spaniel. In a few minutes more she heard the clang +of doors thrown open, then the wheels upon the gravel in the quadrangle, +and then her father's voice, sonorous as of old. Even then she did not +fly to welcome him, though her heart beat a little faster, and the colour +deepened in her cheeks. + +"I am nothing to him now," she thought. + +She began to lay aside her wools, however, and rose as the drawing-room +door opened, to offer the travellers a stately welcome. + +Clarissa was looking her loveliest, in violet silk, with a good deal of fur +about her, and with an air of style and fashion which was new to her, Miss +Granger thought. The two young women kissed each other in a formal way, and +then Mr. Granger embraced his daughter with some show of affection. + +"How lovely the dear old place looks!" cried Clarissa, as the one triumph +and glory of her marriage came home to her mind: she was mistress of Arden +Court. "Everything is so warm and bright and cheerful, such an improvement +upon foreign houses. What a feast of fires and flowers you have prepared to +welcome us, Sophia!" + +She wished to say something cordial to her step-daughter, and she did +really believe that the festive aspect of the house was Miss Granger's +work. + +"I have not interfered with the servants' arrangements," that young lady +replied primly; "I hope you don't find so many exotics oppressive in these +hot rooms? _I_ do." + +"O dear, no; they are so lovely," answered Clarissa, bending over a pyramid +of stephanotis, "one can scarcely have too many of them. Not if the perfume +makes your head ache, however; in that case they had better be sent away at +once." + +But Miss Granger protested against this with an air of meek endurance, and +the flowers were left undisturbed. + +"Well, Sophy, what have you been doing with yourself all this time?" Mr. +Granger asked in a cheerful voice; "gadding about finely, according to your +letters." + +"I spent a week with the Stapletons, and ten days with the Trevors, and +I went to Scarborough with the Chesneys, as you expressed a wish that I +should accept their invitation, papa," Miss Granger replied dutifully; "but +I really think I am happier at home." + +"I'm very glad to hear it, my dear, and I hope you'll find your home +pleasanter than ever now.--So you like the look of the old place, do you, +Clary?" he went on, turning to his wife; "and you don't think we've quite +spoilt it by our renovation?" + +"O no, indeed. There can be no doubt as to your improvements. And yet, do +you know, I was so fond of the place, that I am almost sorry to miss its +old shabbiness--the faded, curtains, and the queer Indian furniture which +my great-uncle Colonel Radnor, brought home from Bombay. I wonder what +became of those curious old cabinets?" + +"I daresay they are still extant in some lumber-room in the roof, my dear. +Your father took very little of the old furniture away with him, and there +was nothing sold. We'll explore the garrets some day, and look for your +Indian cabinets.--Will you take Clarissa to her rooms, Sophy, and see what +she thinks of our arrangements?" + +Miss Granger would gladly have delegated this office to a servant; but her +father's word was law; so she led the way to a suite of apartments which +Daniel Granger had ordered to be prepared for his young wife, and which +Clarissa had not yet been allowed to see. They had been kept as a pleasant +surprise for her coming home. + +Had she been a princess of the blood royal, she could not have had finer +rooms, or a more perfect taste in the arrangement of them. Money can do so +much, when the man who dispenses it has the art of intrusting the carrying +out of his desires to the best workmen. + +Clarissa was delighted with everything, and really grateful for the +generous affection which had done so much to gratify her. + +"It is all a great deal too handsome," she said. + +"I am glad you like the style in which they have carried out papa's ideas," +replied Miss Granger; "for my own part, I like plainer furniture, and more +room for one's work; but it is all a matter of taste." + +They were in the boudoir, a perfect gem of a room, with satin-wood +furniture and pale green-silk hangings; its only ornaments a set +of priceless Wedgwood vases in cream colour and white, and a few +water-coloured sketches by Turner, and Creswick, and Stanfield. The +dressing-room opened out of this and was furnished in the same style, with +a dressing-table that was a marvel of art and splendour, the looking-glass +in a frame of oxydised silver, between two monster jewel-cases of ebony and +malachite with oxydised silver mouldings. One entire side of this room was +occupied by an inlaid maple wardrobe, with seven doors, and Clarissa's +monogram on all of them--a receptacle that might have contained the +multifarious costumes of a Princess Metternich. + +It would have been difficult for Clarissa not to be pleased with such +tribute, ungracious not to have expressed her pleasure; so when Daniel +Granger came presently to ask how she liked the rooms, she was not slow to +give utterance to her admiration. + +"You give me so much more than I deserve, Mr. Granger," she said, after +having admired everything; "I feel almost humiliated by your generosity." + +"Clarissa," exclaimed her husband, putting his two hands upon her +shoulders, and looking gravely down at her, "when will you remember that +I have a Christian name? When am I to be something more to you than Mr. +Granger?" + +"You are all that is good to me, much too good," she faltered. "I will call +you Daniel, if you like. It is only a habit." + +"It has such a cold sound, Clary. I know Daniel isn't a pretty name; but +the elder sons of Grangers have been Daniels for the last two centuries. We +were stanch Puritans, you know, in the days of old Oliver, and scriptural +names became a fashion with us. Well, my dear, I'll leave you to dress +for dinner. I'm very glad you like the rooms. Here are the keys of your +jewel-cases; we must contrive to fill them by and by. You see I have no +family diamonds to reset for you." + +"You have given me more than enough jewelry already," said Clarissa. And +indeed Mr. Granger had showered gifts upon her with a lavish hand during +his brief courtship. + +"Pshaw, child! only a few trinkets bought at random. I mean to fill those +cases with something better. I'll go and change my coat. We dine half an +hour earlier than usual to-day, Sophia tells me." + +Mr. Granger retired to his dressing-room on the other side of the spacious +bed-chamber, perhaps the very plainest apartment in the house, for he was +as simple in his habits as the great Duke of Wellington; a room with a +monster bath on one side, and a battered oak office-desk on the other--a +desk that had done duty for fifty years or so in an office at Leeds--in +one corner a well-filled gunstand, in another a rack of formidable-looking +boots--boots that only a strong-minded man could wear. + +When she was quite alone, Clarissa sat down in one of the windows of her +boudoir, and looked out at the park. How well she remembered the prospect! +how often she had looked at it on just such darksome autumnal evenings long +ago, when she was little more than a child! This very room had been her +mother's dressing-room. She remembered it deserted and tenantless, the +faded finery of the furniture growing dimmer and duller year by year. She +had come here in an exploring mood sometimes when she was quite a child, +but she never remembered the room having been put to any use; and as she +had grown older it had come to have a haunted air, and she had touched the +inanimate things with a sense of awe, wondering what her mother's life had +been like in that room--trying to conjure up the living image of a lovely +face, which was familiar to her from more than one picture in her father's +possession. + +She knew more about her mother's life now; knew that there had been a +blight upon it, of which a bad unscrupulous man had been the cause. And +that man was the father of George Fairfax. + +"Papa had reason to fear the son, having suffered so bitterly from the +influence of the father," she said to herself; and then the face that she +had first seen in the railway carriage shone before her once more, and her +thoughts drifted away from Arden Court. + +She remembered that promise which George Fairfax had made her--the promise +that he would try and find out something about her brother Austin. + +He had talked of hunting up a man who had been a close friend of the absent +wanderer's; but it seemed as if he had made no effort to keep his word. +After that angry farewell in the orchard, Clarissa could, of course, expect +no favour from him; but he might have done something before that. She +longed so ardently to know her brother's fate, to find some means of +communication with him, now that she was rich, and able to help him in +his exile. He was starving, perhaps, in a strange land, while she was +surrounded by all this splendour, and had five hundred a year for +pocket-money. + +Her maid came in to light the candles, and remind her of the dinner-hour, +while she was still looking out at the darkening woods. The maid was an +honest country-bred young woman, selected for the office by Mrs. Oliver. +She had accompanied her mistress on the honeymoon tour, and had been dazed +and not a little terrified by the wonders of Swiss landscape and the +grandeurs of fallen Rome. + +"I've been listening for your bell ever so long, ma'am," said the girl; +"you'll scarcely have time to dress." + +There was time, however, for Mrs. Granger's toilet, which was not an +elaborate one; and she was seated by the drawing-room fire talking to her +husband when the second dinner-bell rang. + +They were not a very lively party that evening. The old adage about three +not being company went near to be verified in this particular case. The +presence of any one so thoroughly unsympathetic as Sophia Granger was in +itself sufficient to freeze any small circle. But although they did not +talk much, Clarissa and her husband seemed to be on excellent terms. +Sophia, who watched them closely during that initiatory evening, perceived +this, and told herself that her father had not yet discovered the mistake +which he had made. That he would make such a discovery sooner or later was +her profound conviction. It was only a question of time. + +Thus it was that Clarissa's new life began. She knew herself beloved by +her husband with a quiet unobtrusive affection, the depth and wide measure +whereof had come home to her very often since her marriage with a sense +of obligation that was almost a burden. She knew this, and, knew that she +could give but little in return for so much--the merest, coldest show of +duty and obedience in recompense for all the love of this honest heart. If +love had been a lesson to be learnt, she would have learned it, for she was +not ungrateful, not unmindful of her obligations, or the vow that she +had spoken in Arden Church; but as this flower called love must spring +spontaneous in the human breast, and is not commonly responsive to the +efforts of the most zealous cultivator, Clarissa was fain to confess to +herself after five months of wedded life that her heart was still barren, +and that her husband was little more to her than he had been at the very +first, when for the redemption Of her father's fortunes she had consented +to become his wife. + +So the time went on, with much gaiety in the way of feasting and company at +Arden Court, and a palpable dulness when there were no visitors. Mr. +and Mrs. Granger went out a good deal, sometimes accompanied by Sophia, +sometimes without her; and Clarissa was elected by the popular voice the +most beautiful woman in that part of the country. The people who knew her +talked of her so much, that other people who had not met her were eager to +see her, and made quite a favour of being introduced to her. If she knew of +this herself, it gave her no concern; but it was a matter of no small pride +to Daniel Granger that his young wife should be so much admired. + +Was he quite happy, having won for himself the woman he loved, seeing +her obedient, submissive, always ready to attend his pleasure, to be his +companion when he wanted her company, with no inclination of her own +which she was not willing to sacrifice at a moment's notice for his +gratification? Was he quite happy in the triumph of his hopes? Well, not +quite. He knew that his wife did not love him. It might come some day +perhaps, that affection for which he still dared to hope, but it had not +come yet. He watched her face sometimes as she sat by his hearth on those +quiet evenings when they were alone, and he knew that a light should have +shone upon it that was not there. He would sigh sometimes as he read his +newspaper by that domestic hearth, and his wife would wonder if he were +troubled by any business cares--whether he were disturbed by any abnormal +commotion among those stocks or consols or other mysterious elements of the +financial world in which all rich men seemed more or less concerned. She +did not ever venture to question him as to those occasional sighs; but she +would bring the draught-board and place it at his elbow, and sit meekly +down to be beaten at a game she hated, but for which Mr. Granger had a +peculiar affection. + +It will be seen, therefore, that Clarissa was at least a dutiful wife, +anxious to give her husband every tribute that gratitude and a deep sense +of obligation could suggest. Even Sophia Granger, always on the watch +for some sign of weariness or shortcoming, could discover no cause for +complaint in her stepmother's conduct. + +Mr. Lovel came back to Mill Cottage in December, much improved and +renovated by the Belgian waters or the gaieties of the bright little +pleasure place. The sense of having made an end of his difficulties, and +being moored in a safe harbour for the rest of his life, may have done much +towards giving him a new lease of existence. Whatever the cause may have +been, he was certainly an altered man, and his daughter rejoiced in the +change. To her his manner was at once affectionate and deferential, as +if there had been lurking in his breast some consciousness that she had +sacrificed herself for his welfare. She felt this, and felt that her +marriage had given her something more than Arden Court, if it had won for +her her father's love. He spent some time at the Court, in deference to her +wishes, during those dark winter months; and they fell hack on their old +readings, and the evenings seemed gayer and happier for the introduction +of this intellectual element, which was not allowed to prevail to such an +extant as to overpower the practical Daniel Granger. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. + +IN THE SEASON. + + +In the spring Mr. Granger took his wife and daughter to London, where they +spent a couple of months in Clarges-street, and saw a good deal of society +in what may he called the upper range of middle-class life--rich merchants +and successful professional men living in fine houses at the West-end, +enlivened with a sprinkling from the ranks of the baronetage and lesser +nobility. In this circle Mr. Granger occupied rather a lofty standing, as +the owner of one of the finest estates in Yorkshire, and of a fortune which +the common love of the marvellous exalted into something fabulous. He found +himself more popular than ever since his marriage, as the husband of one of +the prettiest women who had appeared that season. So, during the two months +of their London life, there was an almost unbroken succession of gaieties, +and Mr. Granger found himself yearning for the repose of Arden Court +sometimes, as he waited in a crowded ball-room while his wife and daughter +danced their last quadrille. It pleased him that Clarissa should taste this +particular pleasure-cup--that she should have every delight she had a right +to expect as his wife; but it pleased him not the less when she frankly +confessed to him one day that this brilliant round of parties and +party-giving had very few charms for her, and that she would be glad to go +back to Arden. + +In London Clarissa met Lady Laura Armstrong; for the first time since +that September afternoon in which she had promised that no arts of George +Fairfax's should move her to listen to him. Lord Calderwood had been dead a +year and a half, and my lady was resplendent once more, and giving weekly +receptions in Mr. Armstrong's great house in Portland-place--a corner +house, with about a quarter of a mile of drawing-rooms, stretching back +into one of the lateral streets. For Mr. and Mrs. Granger she gave a +special dinner, with an evening party afterwards; and she took up a good +deal of Clarissa's time by friendly morning calls, and affectionate +insistance upon Mrs. Granger's company in her afternoon drives, and at her +daily kettle-drums--drives and kettle-drums from which Miss Granger felt +herself more or less excluded. + +It was during one of these airings, when they had left the crowd and +splendour of the Park, and were driving to Roehampton, that Clarissa heard +the name of George Fairfax once more. Until this afternoon, by some strange +accident as it seemed, Lady Laura had never mentioned her sister's lover. + +"I suppose you heard that it was all broken off?" she said, rather +abruptly, and apropos to nothing particular. + +"Broken off, Lady Laura?" + +"I mean Geraldine's engagement. People are so fond of talking about those +things; you must have heard, surely, Clary." + +"No, indeed, I have heard nothing. + +"That's very curious. It has been broken off ever so long--soon after poor +papa's death, in fact. But you know what Geraldine is--so reserved--almost +impenetrable, as one may say. I knew nothing of what had happened myself +till one day--months after the breach had occurred, it seems--when I made +some allusion to Geraldine's marriage, she stopped me, in her cold, proud +way, saying, 'It's just as well I should tell you that that affair is all +off, Laura. Mr. Fairfax and I have wished each other good-bye for ever.' +That's what I call a crushing blow for a sister, Clarissa. You know how I +had set my heart upon that marriage." + +"I am very sorry," faltered Clarissa. "They had quarrelled, I suppose." + +"Quarrelled! O, dear no; she had not seen him since she left Hale with +Frederick and me, and they parted with every appearance of affection. No; +there had been some letters between them, that was all. I have never been +able to discover the actual cause of their parting. Geraldine refused to +answer any questions, in a most arbitrary manner. It is a hard thing, +Clarissa; for I know that she loved him." + +"And where is Lady Geraldine now?" + +"At Hale, with my children. She has no regular home of her own now, you +see, poor girl, and she did not care about another season in London--she +has had enough of that kind of thing--so she begged me to let her stay at +the Castle, and superintend the governesses, and amuse herself in her own +way. Life is full of trouble, Clary!" and here the mistress of Hale Castle, +and of some seventy thousand per annum, gave a despondent sigh. + +"Have you seen Mr. Fairfax since you came from Germany?" asked Clarissa. + +"Yes, I have met him once--some months ago. You may be sure that I was +tolerably cool to him. He has been very little in society lately, and has +been leading rather a wild life in Paris, I hear. A prudent marriage would +have been his redemption; but I daresay it will end in his throwing himself +away upon some worthless person." + +It was a relief to Clarissa to hear that George Fairfax was in Paris, +though that was very near. But in her ignorance of his whereabouts she +had fancied him still nearer, and in all her London festivities had been +tormented by a perpetual dread of meeting him. Many times even she had +imagined that she saw his face across the crowd, and had been relieved to +find it was only a face that bore some faint resemblance to his. + +He had kept his word, then, so far as the breaking of his engagement +to Geraldine Challoner. He had been more in earnest than Clarissa had +believed. She thought that she was sorry for this; but it is doubtful +whether the regretful feeling in her heart was really sorrow for +Lady Geraldine. She thought of George Fairfax a good deal after this +conversation with Lady Laura--alas, when had she ceased to think of +him!--and all the splendours and pleasures of her married life seemed to +her more than ever worthless. What a hopeless entanglement, what a dismal +mistake, her existence was! Had she sold herself for these things--for +Arden Court and a town house, and unlimited millinery? No; again and again +she told herself she had married Daniel Granger for her father's sake, and +perhaps a little from a desire to keep faith with Lady Laura. + +This marriage had seemed to her the only perfect fulfilment of her promise +that nothing should induce her to marry George Fairfax. But the sacrifice +had been useless, since he had broken his engagement to Geraldine +Challoner. + +Sophia Granger's lynx eyes perceived a change in her step mother about this +time. Clarissa had never appeared especially enraptured by the gaieties +of fashionable London; but then had come upon her of late a languor and +weariness of spirit which she tried in vain to disguise by an assumed air +of enjoyment. That simulated gaiety deluded her husband, but it could not +deceive Miss Granger. + +"She's getting tired of her life already, even here where we have a +perpetual round of amusements," Sophia said to herself. "What will she be +when we go back to Yorkshire?" + +The time was close at hand for the return to Arden, when the thing which +Clarissa had feared came to pass, and the hazard of London life brought her +face to face with George Fairfax. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. + +MR. WOOSTER. + + +The season was at its height, and the Grangers found every available hour +of their existence engaged in visiting and receiving visitors. There were +so many people whom Lady Laura insisted upon introducing to her dear +Clarissa--there was so much in the way of party-giving that Lady Laura +wanted her sweet Mrs. Granger to do. Now it was a morning concert of my +lady's planning, at which weird and wonderful-looking denizens of the +Norseland--Poles, Hungarians, Danes, and Swedes--with unkempt hair and +fierce flashing eyes, performed upon every variety of native instrument, or +sang wild national songs in some strange language--concerts to which Lady +Laura brought herds of more or less fashionable people, all of whom were +languishing to know "that sweet Mrs. Granger." My lady had taken pains to +advertise her share in the manufacturer's marriage. Every one belonging to +her set knew that the match was her contriving, and that Clarissa had to +thank the mistress of Hale Castle for her millionaire husband. She was +really proud of her protegee's success, and was never tired of praising her +and "that admirable Granger." + +That admirable Granger endured the accession of party-giving with a very +good grace. It pleased him to see his wife admired; it pleased him still +more to see her happy; and he was single-minded enough to believe her +increased volatility a symptom of increased happiness. Whatever undefined +regrets and dim forebodings there might be lurking in his own mind, he had +no doubt of his wife's integrity--no fear of hidden perils in this ordeal +of fashionable life. + +She would come to love him in time, he said to himself, trusting as blindly +in the power of time to work this wonder for him as Clarissa herself had +trusted when she set herself to win her father's affection. He believed +this not so much because the thing was probable or feasible, as because he +desired it with an intensity of feeling that blinded him to the force +of hard facts. He--the man who had never made a false reckoning in the +mathematics of business-life--whose whole career was unmarred by a +mistake--whose greatest successes had been the result of unrivalled +coolness of brain and unerring foresight--he, the hard-headed, far-seeing +man of the world--was simple as a child in this matter, which involved the +greater hazard of his heart. + +But while Clarissa's husband trusted her with such boundless confidence, +Clarissa's stepdaughter watched her with the vigilant eyes of prejudice, +not to say hatred. That a young lady so well brought up as Miss Granger--so +thoroughly grounded in Kings and Chronicles--should entertain the vulgar +passion of hate, seemed quite out of the question; but so far as a +ladylike aversion may go, Miss Granger certainly went in relation to her +step-mother. In this she was sustained by that model damsel Hannah Warman, +who, not having made much progress in Mrs. Granger's liking, had discovered +that she could not "take to" that lady, and was always ready to dilate upon +her shortcomings, whenever her mistress permitted. Sophia was capricious in +this, sometimes listening eagerly, at other times suppressing Miss Warman +with a high hand. + +So Clarissa had, unawares, an enemy within her gates, and could turn +neither to the right nor to the left without her motives for so turning +becoming the subject of a close and profound scrutiny. It is hard to say +what shape Miss Granger's doubts assumed. If put into the witness-box and +subjected to the cross-examination of a popular queen's-counsel, she +would have found it very difficult to give a substance or a form to her +suspicions. She could only have argued in a general way, that Mrs. Granger +was frivolous, and that any kind of wrong-doing might be expected from so +light-minded a person. + +It was the beginning of June, and West-end London was glorious with the +brief brilliancy of the early summer. All the Mayfair balconies were bright +with, flowers, and the Mayfair knockers resounded perpetually under the +hand of the archetypal Jeames. The weather was unusually warm; the most +perfect weather for garden-parties, every one declared, and there were +several of these _al fresco_ assemblies inscribed in Mrs. Granger's +visiting-book: one at Wimbledon; another as far afield as Henley-on-Thames, +at a villa whose grounds sloped down to the river. + +This Henley party was an affair in which Lady Laura Armstrong was +particularly interested. It was given by a bachelor friend of her +husband's, a fabulously rich stockbroker; and it was Lady Laura who had +brought the proprietor of the villa to Clarges-street, and who had been +instrumental in the getting-up of the fete. + +"You must really give us some kind of a party at your Henley place this +year, Mr. Wooster," she said. "There is the regatta now; I have positively +not seen the Henley regatta for three years. The Putney business is all +very well--supremely delightful, in short, while it lasts--but such a mere +lightning flash of excitement. I like a long day's racing, such as one gets +at Henley." + +"Lady Laura ought to be aware that my house is at her disposal all the year +round, and that she has only to signify her pleasure to her most devoted +slave." + +"O, that's all very well." replied my lady. "Of course, I know that if +Frederick and I were to come down, you would give us luncheon or dinner, +and let us roam about the gardens as long as we liked. But that's not what +I want. I want you to give a party on one of the race days, and invite all +the nice people in London." + +"Are there any nasty people on this side of Temple-bar, Lady Laura, before +the closing of Parliament? I thought, in the season everybody was nice." + +"You know what I mean, sir. I want the really pleasant people. Half-a-dozen +painters or so, and some of the nicest literary men--not the men who write +the best books, but the men who talk cleverly; and, of course, a heap of +musical people--they are always nice, except to one another. You must have +marquees on the lawn for the luncheon--your house is too small for anything +more than tea and coffee; and for once let there be no such thing as +croquet--that alone will give your party an air of originality. I +suppose you had better put yourself entirely into Gunter's hands for the +commissariat, and be sure you tell him you want novelty--no hackneyed +ideas; sparkle and originality in everything, from the eggs to the apples. +I should ask you to give us a dance in the evening, with coloured lamps, +if that were practicable, but there is the coming back to town; and if we +carried the business on to a breakfast next morning, some of the people +might begin to be tired, and the women would look faded and limp. So I +think we had better confine ourselves to a mere garden-party and luncheon, +without any dancing," Lady Laura concluded with a faint sigh. + +"Will you send out the invitations, Lady Laura?" + +"O, no; I leave all that to you. You really know everybody--or everybody we +need care about." + +In this manner Mr. Wooster's party had been arranged, and to this party the +Grangers were bidden. Even the serious Sophia was going; indeed, it is to +be observed that this young lady joined in all mundane gaieties, under +protest as it were. + +"I go out, my dear, but I never enjoy myself," she would say to a serious +friend, as if that were a kind of merit. "Papa wishes me to go, and I have +no desire to withdraw myself in any way from Mrs. Granger's amusements, +however little sympathy there may be between us. I endeavour to do _my_ +duty, whatever the result may be." + +Mr. Wooster did know a great many people. His abnormal wealth, and a +certain amount of cleverness, had been his sole passports to society. Among +Burke's _Landed Gentry_ there was no trace of the Wooster family, nor +had Mr. Wooster ever been heard to allude to a grandfather. He had begun +stockjobbing in the smallest way, but had at a very early stage of his +career developed a remarkable genius for this kind of traffic. Those of +his own set who had watched his steady ascent declared him to be a very +remarkable man; and the denizens of the West-end world, who knew nothing of +stockjobbing or stockbroking, were quite ready to receive him when he came +to them laden with the gold of Ophir, and with a reputation, of being +something distinguished upon 'Change. + +Time had begun to thin Mr. Wooster's flowing locks before he landed +himself safely upon the shores of fashionable life, and Mr. Wooster's +carefully-trained moustache and whiskers had a purplish tinge that +looked more like art than nature. He was short and stout, with a florid +complexion, sharp black eyes, and a large aquiline nose, and considered +himself eminently handsome. He dressed with elaborate splendour--"dressed +for two," as some of his less gorgeous friends were wont to say--and was +reputed to spend a small fortune annually in exotics for his buttonhole, +and in dress boots. + +His chief merits in the estimation of the polite world lay in the +possession of a perfectly-appointed town house, the villa at Henley, +another villa at Cowes, and a couple of magnificent yachts. He was a +perpetual giver of dinners, and spent his existence between the Stock +Exchange and the dinner-table, devoting whatever mental force remained +to him after his daily traffic to the study of menus, and the grave +consideration of wine-lists. + +To dine with Wooster was one of the right things to do once or twice in the +course of a season; and Wooster's steam yacht was a pleasant place of rest +and haven of safety for any juvenile member of the peerage who had been +plunging heavily, and went in fear of the Bankruptcy-court. + +So, on a brilliant June morning, the Grangers left the Great Western +station by special train, and sped through the summer landscape to Henley. +This garden-party at Mr. Wooster's villa was almost their last engagement. +They were to return to Arden in two days; and Clarissa was very glad that +it was so. That weariness of spirit which had seemed to her so strange in +some of the young ladies at Hale Castle had come upon herself. She longed +for Arden Court and perfect rest; and then she remembered, with something +like a shudder, that there were people invited for the autumn, and that +Lady Laura Armstrong had promised to spend a week with her dearest +Clarissa. + +"I want to put you into the way of managing that great house, Clary," said +my lady, brimming over with good-nature and officiousness. "As to leaving +the housekeeping in Miss Granger's hands, that's not to be dreamt of. It +might do very well for the first six months--just to let her down gently, +as it were--but from henceforth you must hold the reins yourself, Clary, +and I'll teach you how to drive." + +"But, dear Lady Laura, I don't want the trouble and responsibility of +housekeeping. I would much rather leave all that in Sophy's hands," +protested Clarissa. "You have no idea how clever she is. And I have my own +rooms, and my painting." + +"Yes," exclaimed Lady Laura, "and you will mope yourself to death in your +own rooms, with your painting, whenever you have no company in the house. +You are not going to become a cipher, surely, Clarissa! What with Miss +Granger's schools, and Miss Granger's clothing-club, and Miss Granger's +premiums and prizes for this, that, and the other, you stand a fair chance +of sinking into the veriest nobody, or you would, if it were not for your +pretty face. And then you really must have employment for your mind, Clary. +Look at me; see the work I get through." + +"But you are a wonder, dear Lady Laura, and I have neither your energy nor +your industry." + +Laura Armstrong would not admit this, and held to the idea of putting +Clarissa in the right away. + +"Wait till I come to you in the autumn," she said. And in that depression +of spirit which had grown upon her of late, Mrs. Granger found it a hard +thing to say that she should be rejoiced when that time came. + +She wanted to get back to Arden Court, and was proud to think of herself as +the mistress of the place she loved so dearly; but it seemed to her that +an existence weighed down at once by the wisdom of Sophia Granger and the +exuberant gaiety of Lady Laura would be barely endurable. She sighed for +Arden Court as she remembered it in her childhood--the dreamy quiet of the +dull old house, brightened only by her brother's presence; the perfect +freedom of her own life, so different from the life whose every hour was +subject to the claims of others. + +She had changed very much since that visit to Hale Castle. Then all the +pleasures of life were new to her--to-day they seemed all alike flat, +stale, and unprofitable. She had been surfeited with splendours and +pleasures since her marriage. The wealth which Daniel Granger so freely +lavished upon her had rendered these things common all at once. She looked +back and wondered whether she had really ever longed for a new dress, and +been gladdened by the possession of a five-pound note. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. + +"IF I SHOULD MEET THEE--" + + +Mr. Wooster's villa was almost perfection in its way; but there was +something of that ostentatious simplicity whereby the parvenu endeavours +sometimes to escape from the vulgar glitter of his wealth. The chairs and +tables were of unpolished oak, and of a rustic fashion. There were no +pictures, but the walls of the dining-room were covered with majolica +panels of a pale gray ground, whereon sported groups of shepherds and +shepherdesses after Boucher, painted on the earthenware with the airiest +brush in delicate rose-colour; the drawing-room and breakfast-room were +lined with fluted chintz, in which the same delicate grays and rose-colours +were the prevailing hues. The floors were of inlaid woods, covered only by +a small Persian carpet here and there. There was no buhl or marquetery, not +a scrap of gilding or a yard of silk or satin, in the house; but there +was an all-pervading coolness, and in every room the perfume of +freshly-gathered flowers. + +Mr. Wooster told his fashionable acquaintance that in winter the villa was +a howling wilderness by reason of damp and rats; but there were those of +his Bohemian friends who could have told of jovial parties assembled there +in November, and saturnalias celebrated there in January; for Mr. Wooster +was a bachelor of very liberal opinions, and had two sets of visitors. + +To-day the villa was looking its best and brightest. The hothouses had been +almost emptied of their choicest treasures in order to fill jardinieres and +vases for all the rooms. Mr. Wooster had obeyed Lady Laura, and there was +nothing but tea, coffee, and ices to be had in the house; nor were the +tea and coffee dispensed in the usual business-like manner, which reduces +private hospitality to the level of a counter at a railway station. Instead +of this, there were about fifty little tables dotted about the rooms, each +provided with a gem of a teapot and egg-shell cups and saucers for three +or four, so that Mr. Wooster's feminine visitors might themselves have the +delight of dispensing that most feminine of all beverages. This contrivance +gave scope for flirtation, and was loudly praised by Mr. Wooster's guests. + +The gardens of the villa were large--indeed, the stockbroker had pulled +down a fine old family mansion to get a site for his dainty little +dwelling. There was a good stretch of river-frontage, from which the crowd +could watch the boats flash by; now the striped shirts shooting far ahead +to the cry of "Bravo, Brazenose!" anon the glitter of a line of light-blue +caps, as the Etonian crew answered to the call of their coxswain, and +made a gallant attempt to catch their powerful opponents; while Radley, +overmatched and outweighted, though by no means a bad crew, plodded +hopelessly but pluckily in the rear. Here Clarissa strolled for some time, +leaning on her husband's arm, and taking a very faint interest in the +boats. It was a pretty sight, of course; but she had seen so many pretty +sights lately, and the brightness of them had lost all power to charm her. +She looked on, like a person in a picture-gallery, whose eyes and brain +are dazed by looking at too many pictures. Mr. Granger noticed her +listlessness, and was quick to take alarm. She was paler than usual, he +thought. + +"I'm afraid you've been overdoing it with so many parties, Clary," he said; +"you are looking quite tired to-day." + +"I am rather tired. I shall be glad to go back to Arden." + +"And I too, my dear. The fact is, there's nothing in the world I care less +for than this sort of thing: but I wanted you to have all the enjoyment to +be got out of a London season. It is only right that you should have any +pleasure I can give you." + +"You are too good to me," Clarissa answered with a faint sigh. + +Her husband did not notice the sigh; but he did remark the phrase, which +was one she had used very often--one that wounded him a little whenever he +heard it. + +"It is not a question of goodness, my dear," he said. "I love you, and I +want to make you happy." + +Later in the afternoon, when the racing was at its height, and almost all +Mr. Wooster's visitors had crowded to the terrace by the river, Clarissa +strolled into one of the shrubbery walks, quite alone. It was after +luncheon; and the rattle of plates and glasses, and the confusion of +tongues that had obtained during the banquet, had increased the nervous +headache with which she had begun the day. This grove of shining laurel +and arbutus was remote from the river, and as solitary just now as if Mr. +Wooster's hundred or so of guests had been miles away. There were rustic +benches here and there: and Clarissa seated herself upon one of them, which +was agreeably placed in a recess amongst the greenery. She was more than +usually depressed to-day, and no longer able to maintain that artificial +vivacity by which she had contrived to conceal her depression. Her sin had +found her out. The loveless union, entered upon so lightly, was beginning +to weigh her down, as if the impalpable tie that bound her to her husband +had been the iron chain that links a galley-slave to his companion. + +"I have been very wicked," she said to herself; "and he is so good to me! +If I could only teach myself to love him." + +She knew now that the weakness which had made her so plastic a creature in +her father's hands had been an injustice to her husband; that it was not +herself only she had been bound to consider in this matter. It was one +thing to fling away her own chances of happiness; but it was another thing +to jeopardise the peace of the man she married. + +She was meditating on these things with a hopeless sense of confusion--a +sense that her married life was like some dreadful labyrinth, into which +she had strayed unawares, and from which there was no hope of escape--when +she was startled by an approaching footstep, and, looking up suddenly, +saw George Fairfax coming slowly towards her, just as she had seen him in +Marley Wood that summer day. How far away from her that day seemed now! + +They had not met since that night in the orchard, nearly two years ago. +She felt her face changing from pale to burning red, and then growing pale +again. But by a great effort she was able to answer him in a steady voice +presently when he spoke to her. + +"What a happiness to see you again, my dear Mrs. Granger!" he said in his +lightest tone, dropping quietly down into the seat by her side. "I was told +you were to be here to-day, or I should not have come; I am so heartily +sick of all this kind of thing. But I really wanted to see you." + +"You were not at the luncheon, were you?" asked Clarissa, feeling that she +must say something, and not knowing what to say. + +"No; I have only been here half-an-hour or so. I hunted for you amongst +that gaping crowd by the river, and then began a circuit of the grounds. I +have been lucky enough to find you without going very far. I have some news +for you, Mrs. Granger." + +"News for me?" + +"Yes; about your brother--about Mr. Austin Lovel." + +That name banished every other thought. She turned to the speaker eagerly. + +"News of him--of my dear Austin? O, thank you a thousand times, Mr. +Fairfax! Have you heard where he is, and what he is doing? Pray, pray tell +me quickly!" she said, tremulous with excitement. + +"I have done more than that: I have seen him." + +"In England--in London?" cried Clarissa, making a little movement as if she +would have gone that moment to find him. + +"No, not in England. Pray take things quietly, my dear Mrs. Granger. I have +a good deal to tell you, if you will only listen calmly." + +"Tell me first that my brother is well--and happy, and then I will listen +patiently to everything." + +"I think I may venture to say that he is tolerably well; but his happiness +is a fact I cannot vouch for. If he does find himself in a condition so +unusual to mankind, he is a very lucky fellow. I never met a man yet who +owned to being happy; and my own experience of life has afforded me only +some few brief hours of perfect happiness." + +He looked at her with a smile that said as plainly as the plainest words, +"And those were when I was with you, Clarissa." + +She noticed neither the look nor the words that went before it. She was +thinking of her brother, and of him only. + +"But you have seen him," she said. "If he is not in England, he must be +very near--in Paris perhaps. I heard you were in Paris." + +"Yes; it was in Paris that I saw him." + +"So near! O, thank God, I shall see my brother again! Tell me everything +about him, Mr. Fairfax--everything." + +"I will. It is best you should have a plain unvarnished account. You +remember the promise I made you at Hale? Well, I tried my utmost to keep +that promise. I hunted up the man I spoke of--a man who had been +an associate of your brother's; but unluckily, there had been no +correspondence between them after Mr. Lovel went abroad; in short, he could +tell me nothing--not even where your brother went. He had only a vague +idea that it was somewhere in Australia. So, you see, I was quite at a +standstill here. I made several attempts in other directions, but all with +the same result; and at last I gave up all hope of ever being of any use to +you in this business." + +"You were very kind to take so much trouble." + +"I felt quite ashamed of my failure; I feel almost as much ashamed of +my success; for it was perfectly accidental. I was looking at some +water-coloured sketches in a friend's rooms in the Rue du Faubourg St. +Honore--sketches of military life, caricatures full of dash and humour, in +a style that was quite out of the common way, and which yet seemed in some +manner familiar to me. My friend saw that I admired the things. 'They are +my latest acquisitions in the way of art,' he said; they are done by a poor +fellow who lives in a shabby third-floor near the Luxembourg--an Englishman +called Austin. If you admire them so much, you might as well order a set +of them. It would be almost an act of charity.' The name struck me at +once--your brother's Christian name; and then I remembered that +I had been shown some caricature portraits which he had done of his +brother-officers--things exactly in the style of the sketches I had been +looking at. I asked for this Mr. Austin's address, and drove off at once +to find him, with a few lines of introduction from my friend. 'The man is +proud,' he said, 'though he carries his poverty lightly enough.'" + +"Poor Austin!" sighed Clarissa. + +"I need not weary you with minute details. I found this Mr. Austin, and at +once recognized your brother; though he is much altered--very much altered. +He did not know me until afterwards, when I told him my name, and recalled +our acquaintance. There was every sign of poverty: he looked worn and +haggard; his clothes were shabby; his painting-room was the common +sitting-room; his wife was seated by the open window patching a child's +frock; his two children were playing about the room." + +"He is married, then? I did net even know that." + +"Yes, he is married; and I could see at a glance that an unequal +marriage has been one among the causes of his ruin. The woman is well +enough--pretty, with a kind of vulgar prettiness, and evidently fond of +him. But such a marriage is moral death to any man. I contrived to get a +little talk with him alone--told him of my acquaintance with you and of +the promise that I had made to you. His manner had been all gaiety and +lightness until then; but at the mention of your name he fairly broke down. +'Tell her that I have never ceased to love her,' he said; 'tell her there +are times when I dare not think of her.'" + +"He has not forgotten me, then. But pray go on; tell me everything." + +"There is not much more to tell. He gave me a brief sketch of his +adventures since he sold out. Fortune had gone against him. He went to +Melbourne, soon after his marriage, which he confessed was the chief +cause of his quarrel with his father; but in Melbourne, as in every other +Australian city to which he pushed his way, he found art at a discount. +It was the old story: the employers of labour wanted skilled mechanics or +stalwart navigators; there was no field for a gentleman or a genius. Your +brother and his wife just escaped starvation in the new world, and just +contrived to pay their way back to the old world. There were reasons why he +should not show himself in England, so he shipped himself and his family in +a French vessel bound for Havre, and came straight on to Paris, where he +told me he found it tolerably easy to get employment for his pencil. 'I +give a few lessons,' he said, 'and work for a dealer; and by that means we +just contrive to live. We dine every day, and I have a decent coat, though +you don't happen to find me in it. I can only afford to wear it when I go +to my pupils. It is from-hand-to-mouth work; and if any illness should +strike me down, the wife and little ones must starve.'" + +"Poor fellow! poor fellow! Did you tell him that I was rich, that I could +help him?" + +"Yes," answered Mr. Fairfax, with an unmistakable bitterness in his tone; +"I told him that you had married the rich Mr. Granger." + +"How can I best assist him?" asked Clarissa eagerly. "Every penny I have in +the world is at his disposal. I can give him three or four hundred a year. +I have five hundred quite in my own control, and need not spend more than +one. I have been rather extravagant since my marriage, and have not much +money by me just now, but I shall economise from henceforward; and I do not +mind asking Mr. Granger to help my brother." + +"If you will condescend to take my advice, you will do nothing of that +kind. Even my small knowledge of your brother's character is sufficient to +make me very certain that an appeal to Mr. Granger is just the very last +thing to be attempted in this case." + +"But why so? my husband is one of the most generous men in the world, I +think." + +"To you, perhaps, that is very natural. To a man of Mr. Granger's wealth a +few thousands more or less are not worth consideration; but where there is +a principle or a prejudice at stake, that kind of man is apt to tighten his +purse-strings with a merciless hand. You would not like to run the risk of +a refusal?" + +"I do not think there is any fear of that." + +"Possibly not; but there is your brother to be considered in this matter. +Do you think it would be pleasant for him to know that his necessities were +exposed to such a--to a brother-in-law whom he had never seen?" + +"I do not know," said Clarissa thoughtfully; "I fancied that he would be +glad of any helping hand that would extricate him from his difficulties. I +should be so glad to see him restored to his proper position in the world." + +"My dear Mrs. Granger, it is better not to think of that. There is a kind +of morass from which no man can be extricated. I believe your brother has +sunk into that lower world of Bohemianism from which a man rarely cares to +emerge. The denizens of that nethermost circle lose their liking for the +upper air, can scarcely breathe it, in fact. No, upon my word, I would +not try to rehabilitate him; least of all through the generosity of Mr. +Granger." + +"If I could only see him," said Clarissa despondingly. + +"I doubt whether he would come to England, even for the happiness of seeing +you. If you were in Paris, now, I daresay it might be managed. We could +bring about a meeting. But I feel quite sure that your brother would not +care to make himself known to Mr. Granger, or to meet your father. There is +a deadly feud between those two; and I should think it likely Mr. Lovel has +prejudiced your husband against his son." + +Clarissa was fain to admit that it was so. More than once she had ventured +to speak of her brother to Daniel Granger, and on each occasion had quickly +perceived that her husband had some fixed opinion about Austin, and was +inclined to regard her love for him as an amiable weakness that should be +as far as possible discouraged. + +"Your father has told me the story of his disagreement with his son, my +dear Clarissa," Daniel Granger had said in his gravest tone, "and after +what I have heard, I can but think it would be infinitely wise in you to +forget that you had ever had a brother." + +This was hard; and Clarissa felt her husband's want of sympathy in this +matter as keenly as she could have felt any overt act of unkindness. + +"Will you give me Austin's address" she asked, after a thoughtful pause. "I +can write to him, at least, and send him some money, without consulting any +one. I have about thirty pounds left of my last quarter's money, and even +that may be of use to him." + +"Most decidedly. The poor fellow told me he had been glad to get ten +napoleons for half-a-dozen sketches: more than a fortnight's hard work. +Would it not be better, by the way, for you to send your letter to me, and +allow me to forward it to your brother? and if you would like to send him +fifty pounds, or a hundred, I shall be only too proud to be your banker." + +Clarissa blushed crimson, remembering that scene in the orchard, and her +baffled lover's menaces. Had he forgiven her altogether, and was this kind +interest in her affairs an unconscious heaping of coals of fire on her +head? Had he forgiven her so easily? Again she argued with herself, as she +had so often argued before, that his love had never been more than a truant +fancy, a transient folly, the merest vagabondage of an idle brain. + +"You are very good," she said, with a tinge of hauteur, "but I could not +think of borrowing money, even to help my brother. If you will kindly tell +me the best method of remitting money to Paris." + +Here, Mr. Fairfax said, there was a difficulty; it ought to be remitted +through a banker, and Mrs. Granger might find this troublesome to arrange, +unless she had an account of her own. Clarissa said she had no account, but +met the objection by suggesting bank notes; and Mr. Fairfax was compelled +to own that notes upon the Bank of England could be converted into French +coin at any Parisian money-changer's. + +He gave Clarissa the address, 13, Rue du Chevalier Bayard, near the +Luxembourg. + +"I will write to him to-night," she said, and then rose from the rustic +bench among the laurels. "I think I must go and look for my husband now. I +left him some time ago on account of a headache. I wanted to get away from +the noise and confusion on the river-bank." + +"Is it wise to return to the noise and confusion so soon?" asked Mr. +Fairfax, who had no idea of bringing this interview to so sudden a close. + +He had been waiting for such a meeting for a long time; waiting with a kind +of sullen patience, knowing that it must some sooner or later, without +any special effort of his; waiting with a strange mixture of feelings and +sentiments--disappointed passion, wounded pride, mortified vanity, an angry +sense of wrong that had been done to him by Clarissa's marriage, an eager +desire to see her again, which was half a lover's yearning, half an enemy's +lust of vengeance. + +He was not a good man. Such a life as he had led is a life that no man can +lead with impunity. To say that he might still be capable of a generous +action or unselfish impulse, would be to say much for him, given the story +of his manhood. A great preacher of to-day has declared, that he could +never believe the man who said he had never been tempted. For George +Fairfax life had been crowded with temptations; and he had not made even +the feeblest stand against the tempter. He had been an eminently fortunate +man in all the trifles which make up the sum of a frivolous existence; and +though his successes had been for the most part small social triumphs, they +had not been the less agreeable. He had never felt the sting of failure +until he stood in the Yorkshire orchard that chill October evening, and +pleaded in vain to Clarissa Lovel. She was little more than a schoolgirl, +and she rejected him. It was us if Lauzun, after having played +fast-and-loose with that eldest daughter of France who was afterwards his +wife, had been flouted by some milliner's apprentice, or made light of by +an obscure little soubrette in Moliere's troop of comedians. He had neither +forgotten nor forgiven this slight; and mingled with that blind unreasoning +passion, which he had striven in vain to conquer, there was an ever-present +sense of anger and wrong. + +When Clarissa rose from the bench, he rose too, and laid his hand lightly +on her arm with a detaining gesture. + +"If you knew how long; I have been wishing for this meeting, you would not +be so anxious to bring it to a close," he said earnestly. + +"It was very good of you to wish to tell me about poor Austin," she said, +pretending to misunderstand him, "and I am really grateful. But I must not +stay any longer away from my party." + +"Clarissa--a thousand pardons--Mrs. Granger"--there is no describing the +expression he gave to the utterance of that last name--a veiled contempt +and aversion that just stopped short of actual insolence, because it seemed +involuntary--"why are you so hard upon me? You have confessed that you +wanted to escape the noise yonder, and yet to avoid me you would go back to +that. Am I so utterly obnoxious to you?" + +"You are not at all obnoxious to me; but I am really anxious to rejoin my +party. My husband will begin to wonder what has become of me. Ah, there is +my stepdaughter coming to look for me." + +Yes, there was Miss Granger, slowing advancing towards them. She had been +quite in time to see George Fairfax's entreating gestures, his pleading +air. She approached them with a countenance that would have been quite as +appropriate to a genteel funeral--where any outward demonstration of grief +would be in bad taste--as it was to Mr. Wooster's fete, a countenance +expressive of a kind of dismal resignation to the burden of existence in a +world that way unworthy of her. + +"I was just coming back to the river, Sophia," Mrs. Granger said, not +without some faint indications of embarrassment. "I'm afraid Mr.--I'm +afraid Daniel must have been looking for me." + +"Papa _has_ been looking for you," Miss Granger replied, with unrelenting +stiffness.--"How do you do, Mr. Fairfax?" shaking hands with him in a +frigid manner.--"He quite lost the last race. When I saw that he was +growing really anxious, I suggested that he should go one way, and I the +other, in search of you. That is what brought me here." + +It was as much as to say, Pray understand that I have no personal interest +in your movements. + +"And yet I have not been so very long away," Clarissa said, with a +deprecating smile. + +"You may not have been conscious of the lapse of time You have been long. +You said you would go and rest for a quarter of an hour or so; and you have +been resting more than an hour." + +"I don't remember saying that; but you are always so correct, Sophia." + +"I make a point of being exact in small things. We had better go round the +garden to look for papa.--Good-afternoon, Mr. Fairfax." + +"Good-afternoon, Miss Granger." + +George Fairfax shook hands with Clarissa. + +"Good-bye, Mrs. Granger." + +That was all, but the words were accompanied by a look and a pressure of +the hand that brought the warm blood into Clarissa's cheeks. She had made +for herself that worst enemy a woman can have--a disappointed lover. + +While they were shaking hands, Mr. Granger came in sight at the other +end of the walk; so it was only natural that Mr. Fairfax, who had been +tolerably intimate with him at Hale Castle, should advance to meet him. +There were the usual salutations between the two men, exchanged with that +stereotyped air of heartiness which seems common to Englishmen. + +"I think we had better get home by the next train, Clarissa," said Mr. +Granger; "5.50. I told them to have the brougham ready for us at Paddington +from half-past six." + +"I am quite ready to go," Clarissa said. + +"Your headache is better, I hope." + +"Yes; I had almost forgotten it." + +Miss Granger gave an audible sniff, which did not escape George Fairfax. + +"What! suspicious already?" he said to himself. + +"You may as well come and dine with us, Mr. Fairfax, if you have nothing +better to do," said Mr. Granger, with his lofty air, as much as to say, "I +suppose I ought to be civil to this young man." + +"It is quite impossible that I could have anything better to do," replied +Mr. Fairfax. + +"In that case, if you will kindly give your arm to my daughter, we'll move +off at once. I have wished Mr. Wooster good-afternoon on your part, Clary. +I suppose we may as well walk to the station." + +"If you please." + +And in this manner they departed, Miss Granger just touching George +Fairfax's coat-sleeve with the tips of her carefully-gloved fingers; +Clarissa and her husband walking before them, arm in arm. Mr. Fairfax did +his utmost to make himself agreeable during that short walk to the station; +so much so that Sophia unbent considerably, and was good enough to inform +him of her distaste for these frivolous pleasures, and of her wonder that +other people could go on from year to year with an appearance of enjoyment. + +"I really don't see what else one can do with one's life, Miss Granger," +her companion answered lightly. "Of course, if a man had the genius of a +Beethoven, or a Goethe, or a Michael Angelo--or if he were 'a heaven-born +general,' like Clive, it would be different; he would have some purpose and +motive in his existence. But for the ruck of humanity, what can they do but +enjoy life, after their lights?" + +If all the most noxious opinions of Voltaire, and the rest of the +Encyclopedists, had been expressed in one sentence, Miss Granger could not +have looked more horrified than she did on hearing this careless remark of +Mr. Fairfax's. + +She gave a little involuntary shudder, and wished that George Fairfax had +been one of the model children, so that she might have set him to learn the +first five chapters in the first book of Chronicles, and thus poured the +light of what she called Biblical knowledge upon his benighted mind. + +"I do not consider the destiny of a Michael Angelo or a Goethe to be +envied," she said solemnly. "Our lives are given us for something better +than painting pictures or writing poems." + +"Perhaps; and yet I have read somewhere that St. Luke was a painter," +returned George Fairfax. + +"Read somewhere," was too vague a phrase for Miss Granger's approval. + +"I am not one of those who set much value on tradition," she said with +increased severity. "It has been the favourite armour of our adversaries." + +"Our adversaries?" + +"Yes, Mr. Fairfax. Of ROME!" + +Happily for George Fairfax, they were by this time very near the station. +Mr. and Mrs. Granger had walked before them, and Mr. Fairfax had been +watching the tall slender figure by the manufacturer's side, not +ill-pleased to perceive that those two found very little to say to each +other during the walk. In the railway-carriage, presently, he had the seat +opposite Clarissa, and was able to talk to her as much as he liked; for +Mr. Granger, tired with staring after swift-flashing boats in the open +sunshine, leaned his head back against the cushions and calmly slumbered. +The situation reminded Mr. Fairfax of his first meeting with Clarissa. But +she was altered since then: that charming air of girlish candour, which he +had found so fascinating, had now given place to a womanly self-possession +that puzzled him not a little. He could make no headway against that calm +reserve, which was yet not ungracious. He felt that from first to last in +this business he had been a fool. He had shown his cards in his anger, and +Clarissa had taken alarm. + +He was something less than a deliberate villain: but he loved her; he loved +her, and until now fate had always given him the thing that he cared for. +Honest Daniel Granger, sleeping the sleep of innocence, seemed to him +nothing more than a gigantic stumbling-block in his way. He was utterly +reckless of consequences--of harm done to others, above all--just as his +father had been before him. Clarissa's rejection had aroused the worst +attributes of his nature--an obstinate will, a boundless contempt for any +human creature not exactly of his own stamp--for that prosperous trader, +Daniel Granger, for instance--and a pride that verged upon the diabolic. + +So, during that brief express journey, he sat talking gaily enough to +Clarissa about the Parisian opera-houses, the last new plays at the Gymnase +and the Odeon, the May races at Chantilly, and so on; yet hatching his +grand scheme all the while. It had taken no definite shape as yet, but it +filled his mind none the less." + +"Strange that this fellow Granger should have been civil," he said to +himself. "But that kind of man generally contrives to aid and abet his own +destruction." + +And then he glanced at this fellow Granger, sleeping peacefully with his +head in an angle of the carriage, and made a contemptuous comparison +between himself and the millionaire. Mr. Granger had been all very well in +the abstract, before he became an obstacle in the path of George Fairfax. +But things were altered now, and Mr. Fairfax scrutinized him with the eyes +of an enemy. + +The dinner in Clarges-street was a very quiet affair. George Fairfax was +the only visitor, and the Grangers were "due" at an evening party. He +learned with considerable annoyance that they were to leave London at +the end of that week, whereby he could have little opportunity of seeing +Clarissa. He might have followed her down to Yorkshire, certainly; but such +a course would have been open to remark, nor would it be good taste for +him to show himself in the neighbourhood of Hale Castle while Geraldine +Challoner was there. He had an opportunity of talking confidentially to +Clarissa once after dinner, when Mr. Granger, who had not fairly finished +his nap in the railway-carriage, had retired to a dusky corner of the +drawing-room and sunk anew into slumber, and when Miss Granger seemed +closely occupied in the manufacture of an embroidered pincushion for a +fancy fair. Absorbing as the manipulation of chenille and beads might be, +however, her work did not prevent her keeping a tolerably sharp watch upon +those two figures by the open piano: Clarissa with one hand wandering idly +over the keys, playing some random passage, _pianissimo_, now and then; +George Fairfax standing by the angle of the piano, bending down to talk to +her with an extreme earnestness. + +He had his opportunity, and he knew how to improve it. He was talking of +her brother. That subject made a link between them that nothing else could +have made. She forgot her distrust of George Fairfax when he spoke with +friendly interest of Austin. + +"Is the wife _very_ vulgar?" Clarissa asked, when they had been talking +some time. + +"Not so especially vulgar. That sort of thing would be naturally toned down +by her association with your brother. But she has an unmistakable air of +Bohemianism; looks like a third-rate actress, or dancer, in short; or +perhaps an artist's model. I should not wonder if that were her position, +by the way, when your brother fell in love with her. She is handsome still, +though a little faded and worn by her troubles, poor soul and seems fond of +him." + +"I am glad of that. How I should like to see him, and the poor wife, and +the children--my brother's children! I have never had any children fond of +me." + +She thought of Austin in his natural position, as the heir of Arden Court, +with his children playing in the old rooms--not as they were now, in +the restored splendour of the Middle Ages, but as they had been in her +childhood, sombre and faded, with here and there a remnant of former +grandeur. + +Mr. Granger woke presently, and George Fairfax wished him good-night. + +"I hope we shall see you at the Court some day," Clarissa's husband said, +with a kind of stately cordiality. "We cannot offer you the numerous +attractions of Hale Castle, but we have good shooting, and we generally +have a houseful in September and October." + +"I shall be most happy to make one of the houseful," Mr. Fairfax said, with +a smile--that winning smile which had helped him to make so many friends, +and which meant so little. He went away in a thoughtful spirit. + +"Is she happy?" he asked himself. "She does not seem unhappy; but then +women have such a marvellous power of repression, or dissimulation, one can +never be sure of anything about them. At Hale I could have sworn that she +loved me. Could a girl of that age be absolutely mercenary, and be caught +at once by the prospect of bringing down such big game as Daniel Granger? +Has she sold herself for a fine house and a great fortune, and is she +satisfied with the price? Surely no. She is not the sort of woman to be +made happy by splendid furniture and fine dresses; no, nor by the common +round of fashionable pleasures. There was sadness in her face when I came +upon her unawares to-day. Yes, I am sure of that. But she has schooled +herself to hide her feelings." + +"I wonder you asked Mr. Fairfax to Arden, papa," said Miss Granger, when +the visitor had departed. + +"Why, my dear? He is a very pleasant young man; and I know he likes our +part of the country. Besides, I suppose he will be a good deal at Hale this +year, and that his marriage will come off before long. Lord Calderwood must +have been dead year." + +"Lord Calderwood has been dead nearly two years," replied Miss Granger. "I +fancy that engagement between Mr. Fairfax and Lady Geraldine must have been +broken off. If it were not so, they would surely have been married before +now. And I observed that Mr. Fairfax was not with Lady Laura to-day. I do +not know how long he may have been in the gardens," Miss Granger added, +with a suspicious glance at her stepmother, "but he certainly was not with +Lady Laura during any part of the time." + +Clarissa blushed when Lady Geraldine's engagement was spoken of. She felt +as if she had been in some manner guilty in not having communicated the +intelligence Lady Laura had given her. It seemed awkward to have to speak +of it now. + +"Yes," she said, with a very poor attempt at carelessness, "the engagement +is broken off. Lady Laura told me so some time ago." + +"Indeed!" exclaimed Sophia. "How odd that you should not mention it!" + +Daniel Granger looked first at his daughter, and then at his wife. There +was something in this talk, a sort of semi-significance, that displeased +him. What was George Fairfax, that either his wife or his daughter should +be interested in him? + +"Clarissa may not have thought the fact worth mentioning, my dear," he said +stiffly. "It is quite unimportant to us." + +He waived the subject away, as he might have done if it had been some small +operation in commerce altogether unworthy of his notice; but in his secret +heart he kept the memory of his wife's embarrassed manner. He had not +forgotten the portfolio of drawings among which the likeness of George +Fairfax figured go prominently. It had seemed a small thing at the +time--the merest accident; one head was as good to draw as another, and so +on--he had told himself; but he knew now that his wife did not love him, +and he wanted to know if she had ever loved any one else. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXX. + +THE HEIR OF ARDEN. + + +Clarissa wrote to her brother--a long letter full of warmth and tenderness, +with loving messages for his children, and even for the wife who was so +much beneath him. She enclosed three ten-pound notes, all that remained +to her of a quarter's pin-money; and O, how bitterly she regretted the +frivolous extravagances that had reduced her exchequer to so low a +condition! Toward the close of her letter she came to a standstill. She had +begged Austin to write to her, to tell her all he could about himself, +his hopes, his plans for the future; but when it came to the question of +receiving a letter from him she was puzzled. From the first day of her +married life she had made a point of showing all her letters to her +husband, as a duty, just as she had shown them to her father; who had very +rarely taken the trouble to read them, by the way. But Daniel Granger did +read his wife's letters, and expected that they should be submitted to him. +It would be impossible to reserve from him any correspondence that came to +her in the common way. So Clarissa, though not given to secrecy, was on +this occasion fain to be secret. After considerable deliberation, she told +her brother to write to her under cover to her maid, Jane Target, at Arden +Court. The girl seemed a good honest girl, and Mrs. Granger believed that +she could trust her. + +They went back to Arden a day or two afterwards; and Miss Granger returned +with rapture to her duties as commander-in-chief of the model villagers. No +martinet ever struck more terror into the breasts of rank and file than +did this young lady cause in the simple minds of her prize cottagers, +conscience-stricken by the knowledge that stray cobwebs had flourished +and dust-bins run to seed during her absence. There was not much room for +complaint, however, when she did arrive. The note of warning had been +sounded by the servants of the Court, and there had been a general +scrubbing and cleansing in the habitations of New Arden--that particular +Arden which Mr. Granger had built for himself, and the very bricks whereof +ought to have been stamped with his name and titles, as in the case of +Nebuchadnezzar, son of Nabopolassar, king of Babylon. For a week before +Miss Granger's coming there had been heard the splashing of innumerable +pails of water, and the scrubbing of perpetual scrubbing-brushes; windows +had been polished to the highest degree of transparency; tin tea-kettles +had been sandpapered until they became as silver; there had been quite a +run upon the village chandler for mottled soap and hearthstone. + +So, after a rigorous inspection, Miss Granger was obliged to express her +approval--not an unqualified approval, by any means. Too much praise would +have demoralized the Ardenites, and lowered the standard of perfection. + +"I like to be able to say that my papa's village is the cleanest village in +England," she said; "not one of the cleanest, but _the_ cleanest. Why have +you turned the back of that tea-kettle to the wall, Mrs. Binks? I'm afraid +it's smoky. Now there never need be a smoky kettle. Your place looks very +nice, Mrs. Binks; but from the strong smell of soap, I fancy it must have +been cleaned _very lately_. I hope you have not been neglecting things +while I've been away. That sort of thing would militate against your +obtaining my prize for domestic cleanliness next Christmas." + +Mrs. Binks did not know what "militate" meant, unless it might be something +in connection with the church militant, of which she had heard a great +deal; but she was not a mild-tempered woman, and she grew very red in the +face at this reproof." + +"Well, miss, if to toil and scrub early and late, with a husband and five +children to do for, and to keep the place pretty much as you see it now, +though I don't say as it ain't a little extry perhaps, in honour of your +coming back--if that ain't hard work and cleanliness, and don't deserve +a prize of two pound at the year's end, I don't know what do. It's +hard-earned money, Miss Granger, when all's said and done." + +Sophia turned the eyes of reproof upon Mrs. Binks. + +"I did not think it was the money you cared for," she said; "I thought it +was the honour you valued most." + +She pointed to a card framed and glazed over the mantelpiece--a card upon +which, with many nourishes and fat initial letters in red ink, the model +schoolmaster had recorded the fact, that Mrs. Binks, at the preceding +Christmas distributions, had obtained Miss Granger's annual reward for +domestic cleanliness. + +"Well, of course, miss, I set store by the card. It's nice to see one's +name wrote out like that, and any strangers as chance to come in the summer +time, they takes notice; but to a hard-working man's wife two pound is a +consideration. I'm sure I beg your parding humbly, miss, if I spoke a bit +short just now; but it is trying, when one has worked hard, to have one's +work found fault with." + +"I am not aware that I found fault with your work, Mrs. Sinks," Sophia +replied with supreme dignity; "I merely remarked that it appeared to have +been done hastily. I don't approve of spasmodic industry." + +And with this last crushing remark, Miss Granger sailed out of the cottage, +leaving the luckless Mrs. Binks to repent her presumption at leisure, and +to feel that she had hazarded her hopes of Christmas bounties, and enhanced +the chances of her detested rival of three doors off, Mrs. Trotter, a +sanctimonious widow, with three superhuman children, who never had so much +as a spot on their pinafores, and were far in advance of the young Binkses +in Kings and Chronicles; indeed the youngest Trotter had been familiar with +all the works of Hezekiah before the eldest Binks had grasped the abstract +idea of Saul. + +For Clarissa the change to Arden Court was a pleasant one. That incessant +succession of London gaieties had wearied her beyond measure. Here, for a +little time before her visitors began to arrive, she lived her own life, +dreaming away a morning over a sketch-book, or reading some newly-published +volume in a favourite thicket in the park. There was a good deal of time, +of course, that she was obliged to devote to her husband, walking or +driving or riding with him, in rather a ceremonial manner, almost as she +might have done had she belonged to that charmed circle whose smallest walk +or drive is recorded by obsequious chroniclers in every journal in the +united kingdom. Then came six brilliant weeks in August and September, +when Arden Court was filled with visitors, and Clarissa began to feel how +onerous are the duties of a chatelaine. She had not Lady Laura Armstrong's +delight in managing a great house. She was sincerely anxious that her +guests might be pleased, but somewhat over-burdened by the responsibility +of pleasing them. It was only after some experience that she found there +was very little to be done, after all. With a skilful combination of +elements, the result was sure to be agreeable. Morning after morning the +cheerful faces gathered round the breakfast-table; and morning after +morning vast supplies of dried salmon, fresh trout, grilled fowl, and +raised pie--to say nothing of lighter provender, in the way of omelets, +new-laid eggs, hot buttered cakes of various descriptions, huge wedges of +honeycomb, and jars of that Scotch marmalade, so dear to the hearts of +boating-men--vanished like smoke before a whirlwind. Whatever troubles +these nomads may have had were hidden in their hearts for the time being. +A wise custom prevailed in Mr. Granger's establishment with regard to the +morning letters, which were dealt out to each guest with his or her early +cup of tea, and not kept back for public distribution, to the confusion of +some luckless recipient, who feels it difficult to maintain an agreeable +smirk upon his countenance while he reads, that unless such or such an +account is settled immediately, proceedings will be taken without delay. + +Lady Laura came, as she had promised, and gave her dearest Clarissa lessons +in the art of presiding over a large establishment, and did her utmost +to oust Miss Granger from her position of authority in the giving out of +stores and the ordering of grocery. This, however, was impossible. Sophia +clung to her grocer's book as some unpopular monarch tottering on his +insecure throne might cling to his sceptre. If she could not sit in the +post of honour at her father's dinner-table, as she had sat so long, it +was something to reign supreme in the store-room; if she found herself a +secondary person in the drawing-room, and that unpunctilious callers were +apt to forget the particular card due to her, she could at least hold on +by the keys of those closets in which the superfine china services for Mr. +Granger's great dinners were stored away, with chamois leather between all +the plates and dishes. She had still the whip-hand of the housekeeper, and +could ordain how many French plums and how many muscatel raisins were to +be consumed in a given period. She could bring her powers of arithmetic to +bear upon wax-candles, and torment the souls of hapless underlings by the +precision of her calculations. She had an eye to the preserves; and if +awakened suddenly in the dead of the night could have told, to a jar, how +many pots of strawberry, and raspberry, and currant, and greengage were +ranged on the capacious shelves of that stronghold of her power, the +store-room. + +Even Lady Laura's diplomacy failed here. The genius of a Talleyrand would +not have dislodged Miss Granger. + +"I like to feel that I am of _some_ use to papa," she remarked very often, +with the air of a household Antigone. "He has new outlets for his money +now, and it is more than ever my duty as a daughter to protect him from the +wastefulness of servants. With all my care, there are some things in Mrs. +Plumptree's management which I do not understand. I'm sure what becomes of +all the preserved-ginger and crystallized apricots that I give out, is a +mystery that no one could fathom. Who ever eats preserved-ginger? I have +taken particular notice, and could never see any one doing it. The things +are not eaten; _they disappear_." + +Lady Laura suggested that, with such a fortune as Mr. Granger's, a little +waste more or less was hardly worth thinking of. + +"I cannot admit that," Miss Granger replied solemnly. "It is the abstract +sinfulness of waste which I think of. An under-butler who begins by wasting +preserved-ginger may end by stealing his master's plate." + +The summer went by. Picnics and boating parties, archery meetings and +flower-shows, and all the familiar round of country pleasures repeated +themselves just as they had done at Hale Castle two years ago; and Clarissa +wondered at the difference in her own mind which made these things so +different. It was not that all capacity for enjoyment was dead in her. +Youth is too bright a thing to be killed so easily. She could still delight +in a lovely landscape, in exquisite flowers, in that art which she had +loved from her childhood--she could still enjoy good music and pleasant +society; but that keen sense of happiness which she had felt at Hale, that +ardent appreciation of small pleasures, that eager looking forward to the +future--these were gone. She lived in the present. To look back to the past +was to recall the image of George Fairfax, who seemed somehow interwoven +with her girlhood; to look forward to the future was to set her face +towards a land hidden in clouds and darkness. She had positively nothing to +hope for. + +Mr. Granger took life very calmly. He knew that his wife did not love him; +and he was too proud a man to lay himself out to win her love, even if he +had known how to set about a task so incongruous with the experience of his +life. He was angry with himself for having ever been weak enough to think +that this girlish creature--between whom and himself there stretched a gulf +of thirty years--could by any possibility be beguiled into loving him. Of +course, she had married him for his money. There was not one among his +guests who would not have thought him a fool for supposing that it could be +otherwise, or for expecting more from her than a graceful fulfilment of the +duties of her position. + +He had little ground for complaint. She was gentle and obedient, +deferential in her manner to him before society, amiable always; he only +knew that she did not love him--that was all. But Daniel Granger was a +proud man, and this knowledge was a bitter thing to him. There were hours +in his life when he sat alone in his own room--that plainly-furnished +chamber which was half study, half dressing-room--withdrawing himself from +his guests under pretence of having business-letters to write to his people +at Bradford and Leeds; sat with his open desk before him, and made no +attempt to write; sat brooding over thoughts of his young wife, and +regretting the folly of his marriage. + +Was it true that she had never cared for any one else? He had her father's +word for that; but he know that Marmaduke Lovel was a selfish man, who +would be likely enough to say anything that would conduce to his own +advantage. Had her heart been really true and pure when he won her for his +wife? He remembered those sketches of George Fairfax in the portfolio, and +one day when he was waiting for Clarissa in her morning-room he took the +trouble to look over her drawings. There were many that he recollected +having seen that day at Mill Cottage, but the portraits of Mr. Fairfax were +all gone. He looked through the portfolio very carefully, but found none of +those careless yet life-like sketches which had attracted the attention of +Sophia Granger. + +"She has destroyed them, I suppose," he said to himself; and the notion of +her having done so annoyed him a little. He did not care to question her +about them. There would have been an absurdity in that, he thought: as +if it could matter to him whose face she chose for her unstudied +sketches--mere vagabondage of the pencil. + +Upon rare occasions Marmaduke Lovel consented to take a languid share in +the festivities at Arden. But although he was very well pleased that his +daughter should be mistress of the house that he had lost, he did not +relish a secondary position in the halls of his forefathers; nor had the +gaieties of the place any charm for him. He was glad to slip away quietly +at the beginning of September, and to go back to Spa, where the waters +agreed with his rheumatism--that convenient rheumatism which was an excuse +for anything he might choose to do. + +As for his daughter, he washed his hands of all responsibility in +connection with her. He felt as if he had provided for her in a most +meritorious manner by the diplomacy which had brought about her marriage. +Whether she was happy in her new life, was a question which he had never +asked himself; but if any one else had propounded such a question, he would +have replied unhesitatingly in the affirmative. Of course Clarissa was +happy. Had she not secured for herself all the things that women most +value? could she not run riot in the pleasures for which women will imperil +their souls? He remembered his own wife's extravagance, and he argued with +himself, that if she could have had a perennial supply of fine dresses, and +a perpetual round of amusement, she would speedily have forgotten Colonel +Fairfax. It was the dulness of her life, and the dismal atmosphere of +poverty, that had made her false. + +So he went back to Spa, secure in the thought that he could make his home +at Arden whenever he pleased. Perhaps at some remote period of old age, +when his senses were growing dim, he might like to inhabit the familiar +rooms, and feel no sting in the thought that he was a guest, and not the +master. It would be rather pleasant to be carried to his grave from Arden +Court, if anything about a man's burial could be pleasant. He went back to +Spa and led his own life, and in a considerable measure forgot that he had +ever had a son and a daughter. + +With September and October there came guests for the shooting, but George +Fairfax was not among them. Mr. Granger had not renewed that careless +invitation of his in Clarges-street. After supervising Clarissa's existence +for two or three weeks, Lady Laura had returned to Hale, there to reign in +all her glory. Mr. and Mrs. Granger dined at the castle twice in the course +of the autumn, and Clarissa saw Lady Geraldine for the first time since +that fatal wedding-day. + +There was very little alteration in the fair placid face. Geraldine +Challoner was not a woman to wear the willow in any obvious manner. She +was still coldly brilliant, with just a shade more bitterness, perhaps, in +those little flashes of irony and cynicism which passed for wit. She talked +rather more than of old, Clarissa thought; she was dressed more elaborately +than in the days of her engagement to George Fairfax, and had altogether +the air of a woman who means to shine in society. To Mrs. Granger she was +polite, but as cold as was consistent with civility. + +After a fortnight's slaughter of the pheasants, there was a lull in the +dissipations of Arden Court. Visitors departed, leaving Mr. Granger's +gamekeepers with a plethora of sovereigns and half-sovereigns in their +corduroy pockets, and serious thoughts of the Holborough Savings Bank, and +Mr. Granger's chief butler with views that soared as high as Consols. +All the twitter and cheerful confusion of many voices in the rooms and +corridors of the grand old house dwindled and died away, until Mr. Granger +was left alone with his wife and daughter. He was not sorry to see his +visitors depart, though he was a man who, after his own fashion, was fond +of society. But before the winter was over, an event was to happen at Arden +which rendered quiet indispensable. + +Late in December, while the villagers were eating Mr. Granger's beef, and +warming themselves before Mr. Granger's coals, and reaping the fruit of +laborious days in the shape of Miss Granger's various premiums for humble +virtue--while the park and woodland were wrapped in snow, and the Christmas +bells were still ringing in the clear crisp air, God gave Clarissa a +son--the first thing she had ever held in her arms which she could and +might love with all her heart. + +It was like some strange dream to her, this holy mystery of motherhood. She +had not looked forward to the child's coming with any supreme pleasure, or +supposed that her life would be altered by his advent. But from the moment +she held him in her arms, a helpless morsel of humanity, hardly visible to +the uninitiated amidst his voluminous draperies, she felt herself on the +threshold of a new existence. With him was born her future--it was a most +complete realization of those sweet wise words of the poet,-- + + "a child, more than all other gifts + That earth can offer to declining man, + Brings hope with it, and forward-looking thoughts." + +Mr. Granger was enraptured. For him, too, even more than for his wife, this +baby represented the future. Often and often, after some brilliant stroke +of business which swelled the figures upon the left side of his bank-book +to an abnormal amount, he had felt a dismal sense of the extinction that +must befall his glory by-and-by. There was no one but Sophia. She would +inherit a fortune thrice as large as any woman need desire, and would +in all likelihood marry, and give her wealth to fill the coffers of a +stranger, whose name should wipe out the name of Granger--or preserve it +in a half-and-half way in some inane compound, such, as Granger-Smith, +or Jones-Granger, extended afterwards into Jones-Granger-Jones, or +Granger-Smith-Granger. + +Perhaps those wintry days that began the new year were the purest, happiest +of Daniel Granger's life. He forgot that his wife did not love him. She +seemed so much more his wife, seated opposite to him beside that quiet +hearth, with her baby in her arms. She made such a lovely picture, bending +over the child in her unconscious beauty. To sit and watch the two was an +all-sufficient delight for him--sometimes withdrawing his mind from the +present, to weave the web of his boy's future. + +"I shall send him to Westminster, Clary," he said--it was a long time, by +the way, since he had called his wife Clary, though she herself was hardly +aware of the fact. "I shall certainly send him to Westminster. A provincial +public school is all very well--my father sent me to one--but it's not +_quite_ up to the mark. I should like him to be a good classical scholar, +which I never was, though I was a decent mathematician. I used to do my +Virgil with a crib--a translation, you know--and I never could get on with +Greek. I managed to struggle through the New Testament, but stuck in the +first book of Thucydides. What dreary work it was! I was glad when it was +all over, and my father let me come into his office. But with this fellow +it will be different. He will have no occasion to soil his hands with +trade. He will be a country gentleman, and may distinguish himself in the +House of Commons. Yes, Clary, there may be the material for a great man in +him," Mr. Granger concluded, with an almost triumphant air, as he touched +the soft little cheek, and peered curiously into the bright blue eyes. They +were something like his own eyes, he thought; Clarissa's were hazel. + +The mother drew the soft mass of muslin a little nearer to her heart. She +did not care to think of her baby as a man, addressing a noisy constituency +in Holborough market-place, nor even, as a Westminster boy, intent upon +Virgil and cricket, Euclid and football. She liked to think of him as he +was now, and as he would be for the next few years--something soft and warm +and loving, that she could hold in her arms; beside whose bed she could +watch and pray at night. Her future was bounded by the years of her son's +childhood. She thought already, with a vague pang, of the time when he +should go out into the world, and she be no longer necessary to him. + +The day came when she looked back to that interval of perfect quiet--the +dimly-lighted rooms, the low wood fire, and her husband's figure seated by +the hearth--with a bitter sense of regret. Daniel Granger was so good to +her in those days--so entirely devoted, in a quiet unobtrusive way--and she +was so selfishly absorbed by the baby as to be almost unconscious of his +goodness at the time. She was inclined to forget that the child belonged to +any one but herself; indeed, had the question been brought home to her, she +would have hardly liked to admit his father's claim upon him. He was her +own--her treasure beyond all price--given to her by heaven for her comfort +and consolation. + +Not the least among the tranquil pleasures of that period of +retirement--which Clarissa spun out until the spring flowers were blooming +in the meadows about Arden--was a comparative immunity from the society of +Miss Granger. That young lady made a dutiful call upon her stepmother +every morning, and offered a chilling forefinger--rather a strong-minded +forefinger, with a considerable development of bone--to the infant. On the +child not receiving this advance with rapture, Miss Granger was wont to +observe that he was not so forward in taking notice as some of her model +children; at which the young mother flamed up in defence of her darling, +declaring that he did take notice, and that it was a shame to compare him +to "nasty village children." + +"The 'nasty village children' have immortal souls," Sophia replied +severely. + +"So they may; but they don't take notice sooner than my baby. I would never +believe that. He knows me, the precious darling;" and the little soft warm +thing in voluminous muslin was kissed and squeezed about to extinction. + +Miss Granger was great upon the management of infancy, and was never tired +of expounding her ideas to Clarissa. They were of a Spartan character, not +calculated to make the period of babyhood a pleasant time to experience or +to look back upon. Cold water and nauseous medicines formed a conspicuous +part of the system, and where an ordinary nurse would have approached +infancy with a sponge, Miss Granger suggested a flesh-brush. The hardest, +most impracticable biscuits, the huskiest rusks, constituted Miss Granger's +notion of infant food. She would have excluded milk, as bilious, and would +have forbidden sugar, as a creator of acidity; and then, when the little +victim was about one and a half, she would have seated it before the most +dry-as-dust edition of the alphabet, and driven it triumphantly upon the +first stage on the high-road to Kings and Chronicles. + +Among the model villagers Miss Granger had ample opportunity of offering +advice of this kind, and fondly believed that her counsel was acted upon. +Obsequious matrons, with an eye to Christmas benefactions, pretended to +profit by her wisdom; but it is doubtful whether the model infants were +allowed to suffer from a practical exposition of her Spartan theories. + +Clarissa had her own ideas about the heir of the Grangers. Not a crumpled +rose-leaf--had rose-leaves been flying about just then--must roughen her +darling's bed. The softest lawn, the downiest, most delicate woollens, were +hardly good enough to wrap her treasure. She had solemn interviews with a +regiment of nurses before she could discover a woman who seemed worthy to +be guardian of this infant demigod. And Mr. Granger showed himself scarcely +less weak. It almost seemed as if this boy was his first child. He had +been a busy man when Sophia was born--too entirely occupied by the grave +considerations of commerce to enter into the details of the nursery--and +the sex of the child had been something of a disappointment to him. He +was rich enough even then to desire an heir to his wealth. During the few +remaining years of his first wife's life, he had hoped for the coming of a +son; but no son had been given to him. It was now, in his sober middle age, +that the thing he had longed for was granted to him, and it seemed all the +more precious because of the delay. So Daniel Granger was wont to sit and +stare at the infant as if it had been something above the common clay of +which infancy is made. He would gaze at it for an hour together, in a dumb +rapture, fully believing it to be the most perfect object in creation; and +about this child there sprung up between his wife and himself a sympathy +that had never been before. Only deep in Clarissa's heart there was a vague +jealousy. She would have liked her baby to be hers alone. The thought of +his father's claim frightened her. In the time to come her child might grow +to love his father better than her. + +Finding her counsel rejected, Miss Granger would ask in a meek voice if she +might be permitted to kiss the baby, and having chilled his young blood by +the cool and healthy condition of her complexion, would depart with an air +of long-suffering; and this morning visit being over, Clarissa was free of +her for the rest of the day. Miss Granger had her "duties." She devoted her +mornings to the regulation of the household, her afternoons to the drilling +of the model villagers. In the evening she presided at her father's dinner, +which seemed rather a chilling repast to Mr. Granger, in the absence of +that one beloved face. He would have liked to dine off a boiled fowl in +his wife's room, or to have gone dinnerless and shared Clarissa's +tea-and-toast, and heard the latest wonders performed by the baby, but he +was ashamed to betray so much weakness. + +So he dined in state with Sophia, and found it hard work to keep up a +little commonplace conversation with her during the solemn meal--his heart +being elsewhere all the time. + +That phase of gloom and despondency, through which, his mind had passed +during the summer that was gone, had given place to brighter thoughts. A +new dawn of hope had come for him with the birth of his child. + +He told himself again, as he had so often told himself in the past, that +his wife would grow to love him--that time would bring him the fruition +of his desires. In the meanwhile he was almost entirely happy in the +possession of this new blessing. All his life was coloured by the existence +of this infant. He had a new zest in the driest details of his position +as the master of a great estate. He had bought some two thousand acres of +neighbouring land at different times since his purchase of Arden Court; and +the estate, swollen by these large additions, was fast becoming one of the +finest in the county. + +There was not a tree he planted in the beginning of this new year which +he did not consider with reference to his boy; and he made extensive +plantations on purpose that he might be able to point to them by-and-by +and say, "These trees were planted the year my son was born." When he went +round his stables, he made a special survey of one particularly commodious +loose-box, which would do for his boy's pony. He fancied the little fellow +trotting by his side across farms and moorlands, or deep into the woods to +see the newly-felled timber, or to plan a fresh clearing. + +It was a pleasant day dream. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. + +THE NEAREST WAY TO CARLSRUHE. + + +A great event befell George Fairfax in the spring of the new year. He +received a summons to Lyvedon, and arrived there only in time to attend +his uncle's death bed. The old man died, and was buried in the tomb of his +forefathers--a spacious vaulted chamber beneath Lyvedon church--and George +Fairfax reigned in his stead. Since his brother's death he had known that +this was to be, and had accepted the fact as a matter of course. His +succession caused him very little elation. He was glad to have unlimited +ready-money, but, in the altered aspect of his life, Le did not care much +for the estate. With Geraldine Challoner for his wife, the possession of +such a place as Lyvedon would have been very agreeable to him. He could +have almost resigned himself to the ordinary country gentleman's life: to +be a magnate in the county; to attend at petty sessions, and keep himself +well posted in parochial questions; to make himself a terror to the soul of +poachers, and to feel that his youth was over. But now it was different. He +had no wife, nor any prospect of a wife. He had no definite plans for his +future. For a long time he had been going altogether the wrong way; leading +a roving, desultory kind of existence; living amongst men whose habits and +principles were worse than his own. + +He sent for his mother, and installed her as mistress of Lyvedon. The place +and the position suited her to admiration. He spent a month in dawdling +about the neighbourhood, taking stock of his new possessions, now and then +suggesting some alteration or improvement, but always too lazy to carry +it out; strolling in the park with a couple of dogs and a cigar, or going +fly-fishing along the bank of a little winding river; driving in an open +carriage with his mother; yawning over a book or a newspaper all the +evening, and then sitting up till late into the night, writing letters +which might just as easily have been written in the day. His manner made +his mother anxious. Once, with a sigh, she ventured to say how much she +regretted the breaking-off his engagement to Lady Geraldine. + +"You were so admirably adapted for each other," she said. + +"Yes, mother, admirably adapted, no doubt; but you see we did not love each +other." He felt a little pang of remorse as he said this, for it misgave +him that Geraldine _had_ loved him. "It would have been like those chestnut +ponies you drive; they go very well together, and look superb, but they are +always snapping at each other's heads. I don't mean to say that Geraldine +and I would have quarrelled--one might as well try to quarrel with a +rock--but we shouldn't have got on. In short, I have a prejudice in favour +of marrying a woman I could love." + +"And yet I thought you were so much attached to her." + +"I was--in the way of friendship. Her society had become a kind of habit +with me. I do really like her, and shall always consider her one of the +handsomest and cleverest women I know; but it was a mistake to ask her to +marry me, and might have been a fatal one. You will say, of course, that a +man ought not to make that kind of mistake. I quite agree with you there; +but I made it, and I think it infinitely better to pull up even at an +awkward point than to make two lives miserable." + +Mrs. Fairfax sighed, and shook her head doubtfully. + +"O, George, George, I'm afraid there was some newer fancy--some secret +reason for your conduct to poor Geraldine," she said in a reproachful tone. + +"My dear mother, I have a dozen fancies in a month, and rarely know my +own mind for a week at a stretch; but I do know that I never really loved +Geraldine Challoner, and that it is better for me to be free from an +ill-advised engagement." + +Mrs. Fairfax did not venture to press the question any farther. She had her +suspicions, and her suspicions pointed to Clarissa. But Clarissa now being +married and fairly out of the way, she had some faint hope that her son +would return to his old allegiance, and that she might even yet have +Geraldine Challoner for her daughter. In the meantime she was fain to be +patient, and to refrain from any irritating persistence upon a subject that +was very near to her heart. + +So far as her own interests were concerned, it would have been a pleasant +thing for Mrs. Fairfax that her son should remain a bachelor. The +sovereignty of Lyvedon was a pure and perfect delight to her. The place was +the home of her childhood; and there was not a thicket in the park, or a +flower-bed in the garden, that was not familiar and dear to her. Every +corner of the sombre old rooms--in which the furniture had been unchanged +for a century--had its tender associations. All the hopes and dreams of her +long-vanished youth came back to her, faint and pale, like faded flowers +shut in the leaves of a book. And in the event of her son's marriage, she +must of course resign all this--must make a new home for herself outside +the walls of Lyvedon; for she was not a woman to accept a secondary place +in any household. Considering the question merely from a selfish point +of view, she had every reason to be satisfied with the existing state of +things; but it was not of herself she thought. She saw her son restless and +unsettled, and had a secret conviction that he was unhappy. There had been +much in the history of his past life that had troubled her; and for his +future her chief hope had been in the security of a judicious marriage. She +was a woman of strong religious feeling, and had shed many bitter tears and +prayed many prayers on account of this beloved son. + +The beloved son in the meanwhile dawdled away life in a very unsatisfactory +manner. He found the roads and lanes about Lyvedon remarkable for nothing +but their dust. There were wild flowers, of course--possibly nightingales +and that sort of thing; but he preferred such imported bouquets, grown on +the flowery slopes of the Mediterranean, as he could procure to order at +Covent Garden; and the song of nightingales in the dusky after dinner-time +made him melancholy. The place was a fine old place and it was undoubtedly +a good thing to possess it; but George Fairfax had lived too wild a life +to find happiness in the simple pleasures of a Kentish squire. So, after +enduring the placid monotony of Lyvedon for a couple of months, he grew +insufferably weary all at once, and told his mother that he was going to +the Black Forest. + +"It's too early to shoot capercailzies," he said; "but I daresay I shall +find something to do. I am nothing but a bore to you here, mother; and you +can amuse yourself, while I'm gone, in carrying out any of the improvements +we've discussed." + +Mrs. Fairfax assured her son that his presence was always a delight to her, +but that, of course, there was nothing in the world she desired so much as +his happiness, and that it had been a pain to her to see him otherwise than +happy. + +"I had hoped that the possession of this place would have given you so much +occupation," she said, "that you would have gone into parliament and made a +position for yourself." + +"My dear mother, I never had any affection for politics; and unless a man +could be a modern Pitt, I don't see the use of that kind of thing. Every +young Englishman turns his face towards the House of Commons, as the +sunflower turns to the sun-god; and see what a charming level of mediocrity +we enjoy in consequence thereof." + +"Anything that would occupy your mind, George," remonstrated Mrs. Fairfax. + +"The question is, whether I have any mind to be occupied, mother," replied +the young man with a laugh. "I think the average modern intellect, when it +knows its own capacity, rarely soars above billiards. That is a science; +and what can a man be more than scientific?" + +"It is so easy to laugh the subject down in that way, George," returned the +mother with a sigh. "But a man has duties to perform." + +"Surely not a man with an estate like this, mother! I can never understand +that talk about the duties of a rich man, except to pay his income-tax +properly. A fellow with a wife and children, and no income to speak of, has +duties, of course--imprimis, the duty of working for his belongings; +but what are the privileges of wealth, if one may not take life as one +pleases?" + +"Oh, George, George, I used to hope such great things of you!" + +"The fond delusion common to maternity, my dearest mother. A brat learns +his A B C a shade quicker than other children, or construes _Qui fit +Maecenas_ with tolerable correctness; and straightway the doting mother +thinks her lad is an embryo Canning. You should never have hoped anything +of me, except that I would love you dearly all my life. You have made that +very easy to me." + +Mr. Fairfax took his portmanteau and departed, leaving his servant to carry +the rest of his luggage straight to Paris, and await his master's arrival +at one of the hotels in the Rue de Rivoli. The master himself took a +somewhat circuitous route, and began his journey to the Black Forest by +going down to Holborough. + +"I can take a steamer from Hull to Hamburg," he said to himself, "and push +on from there to Carlsruhe." + +He wanted to see Clarissa again. He knew that she was at Arden Court, and +that Lady Laura Armstrong was not at Hale Castle. He wanted to see her; his +ulterior views were of the vaguest; but that passionate yearning to see +her, to hear the sweet winning voice, to look into the soft hazel eyes, was +strong upon him. It was a year since the day he dined in Clarges-street; +and in all that year he had done his uttermost to forget her, had hated +himself for the weakness which made her still dearer to him than any other +woman; and then, alike angry with her and with himself, had cried, with +Wilmot Earl of Rochester,-- + + "Such charms by nature you possess, + 'Twere madness not to love you." + +He went up to London early one morning, and straight from London to +Holborough, where he arrived late in the evening. He slept at the chief +inn of the place; and in the golden summer noontide set out for Arden +Court--not to make a formal visit, but rather to look about him in a +somewhat furtive way. He did not care to make his advent known to Daniel +Granger just yet; perhaps, indeed, he might find it expedient to avoid any +revelation of himself to that gentleman. He wanted to find out all he could +of Clarissa's habits, so that he might contrive an interview with her. He +had seen the announcement of the baby's birth, and oh, what a bitter pang +the commonplace paragraph had given him! Never before had the fact that +she was another man's wife come home to him so keenly. He tried to put the +subject out of his thoughts, to forget that there had been a son born to +the house of Granger; but often in the dreary spring twilight, walking +among the oaks of Lyvedon, he had said to himself, "_Her_ child ought to +have been heir to this place." + +He went in at the lodge gate, and strolled idly into the park, not being at +all clear as to how he was to bring about what he wanted. The weather was +lovely--weather in which few people, untrammelled by necessity, would have +cared to remain indoors. There was just the chance that Mrs. Granger might +be strolling in the park herself, and the still more remote contingency +that she might be alone. He was quite prepared for the possibility of +meeting her accompanied by the lynx-eyed Miss Granger; and was not a man to +be thrown off his guard, or taken at a disadvantage, come what might. + +The place wore its fairest aspect: avenues of elms, that had begun to +grow when England was young; gigantic oaks dotted here and there upon +the undulating open ground, reputed a thousand years old; bright young +plantations of rare fir and pine, that had a pert crisp newness about them, +like the air of a modern dandy; everywhere the appearance of that perfect +care and culture which is the most conclusive evidence of unlimited wealth. + +George Fairfax looked round him with a sigh. The scene he looked upon was +very fair. It was not difficult to understand how dear association might +have made so beautiful a spot to such a girl as Clarissa. She had told +him she would give the world to win back her lost home; and she had +given--something less than the world--only herself. "Paris is worth a +mass," said the great Henry; and Clarissa's perjury was only one more of +the many lies which men and women have told to compass their desires. + +He kept away from the carriage-roads, loitering in the remoter regions of +the park, and considering what he should do. He did not want to present +himself at the Court as a formal visitor. In the first place, it would +have been rather difficult to give any adequate reason for his presence +in Holborough; and in the second, he had an unspeakable repugnance to any +social intercourse with Clarissa's husband. + +How he was ever to see her in the future without that hideous hypocrisy of +friendliness towards Daniel Granger, he knew not; but he knew that it would +cost him dearly to take the hand of the man who had supplanted him. + +He wandered on till he came to a dell where the ground was broken a good +deal, and where the fern seemed to grow more luxuriantly than in any other +part of the park. There was a glimpse of blue water at the bottom of the +slope--a narrow strip of a streamlet running between swampy banks, where +the forget-me-nots and pale water-plants ran riot. This verdant valley +was sheltered by some of the oldest hawthorns George Fairfax had ever +seen--very Methuselahs of trees, whose grim old trunks and crooked branches +time had twisted into the queerest shapes, and whose massive boles +and strange excrescences of limb were covered with the moss of past +generations. It was such a valley as Gustave Dore would love to draw; a +glimpse of wilderness in the midst of cultivation. + +There were not wanted figures to brighten the landscape. A woman dressed +in white sat under one of the hawthorns, with a baby on her lap; and a +nursemaid, in gayer raiment, stood by, looking down at the child. + +How well George Fairfax remembered the slight girlish figure, and the day +when he had come upon it unawares in Marley Wood! He stood a few paces off, +and listened to the soft sweet voice. + +Clarissa was talking to her baby in the unintelligible mother-language +inspired by the occasion. A baby just able to smile at her, and coo and +crow and chuckle in that peculiarly unctious manner common to babies of +amiable character; a fair blue-eyed baby, big and bonny, with soft rings of +flaxen hair upon his pink young head, and tender little arms that seemed +meant for nothing so much as to be kissed. + +After a good deal of that sweet baby-talk, there was a little discussion +between the mistress and maid; and then the child was wrapped up as +carefully as if destruction were in the breath of the softest June zephyr. +Mr. Fairfax was afraid the mother was going away with the child, and that +his chance would be lost; but it was not so. The maid tripped off with +the infant, after it had been brought back two or three times to be half +smothered with kisses--kisses which it seemed to relish in its own peculiar +way, opening its mouth to receive them, as if they had been something +edible. The baby was carried away at last, and Clarissa took up a book and +began to read. + +George Fairfax waited till the maid had been gone about ten minutes, and +then came slowly down the hollow to the spot where Clarissa was seated. The +rustle of the fern startled her; she looked up, and saw him standing by her +side. It was just a year since he had surprised her in Mr. Wooster's garden +at Henley. She had thought of him very much in that time, but less since +the birth of her boy. She turned very pale at sight of him; and when she +tried to speak, the words would not come: her lips only moved tremulously. + +"I hope I did not alarm you very much," he said, "by the suddenness of +my appearance. I thought I heard your voice just now, speaking to some +one"--he had not the heart to mention her baby--"and came down here to look +for you. What a charming spot it is!" + +She had recovered her self-possession by this time, and was able to answer +him quite calmly. "Yes, it is very pretty. It was a favourite spot of +Austin's. I have at least a dozen sketches of it done by him. But I did not +know you were in Yorkshire, Mr. Fairfax." + +She wondered whether he was staying at Hale; and then it flashed upon her +that there had been a reconciliation between him and Lady Geraldine. + +"I have not been long in Yorkshire. I am merely here _en passant_, in +short. My only excuse for approaching you lies in the fact that I have come +to talk to you about your brother." + +"About Austin!" exclaimed Clarissa, with a look of alarm. "There is nothing +wrong--he is well, I hope?" + +"Pray don't alarm yourself. Yes, he is tolerably well, I believe; and there +is nothing wrong--nothing that need cause you any immediate concern at +least. I am going to Paris, and I thought you might be glad to send some +message." + +"You are very kind to think of that; yes, I shall be glad to send to him. +He is not a good correspondent, and I get very anxious about him sometimes. +What you said just now seemed to imply that there was something wrong. Pray +be candid with me, Mr. Fairfax." + +He did not answer her immediately; in fact, for the moment he scarcely was +conscious of her words. He was looking at the beautiful face--looking at it +with a repressed passion that was deeper and more real than any he had ever +felt in his life. His thoughts wandered away from Austin Level. He was +thinking what he would have given, what peril he would have dared, to call +this woman his own. All this lower world seemed nothing to him when weighed +against her; and in such a moment a man of his stamp rarely remembers any +other world. + +"There is something wrong," repeated Clarissa with increasing anxiety. "I +entreat you to tell me the truth!" + +"Yes, there is something wrong," he answered vaguely; and then, wrenching +his mind away from those wild speculations as to what he would or would not +do to win Daniel Granger's wife, he went on in another tone: "The truth is, +my dear Mrs. Granger, I was in Paris last winter, and saw something of your +brother's mode of life; and I cannot say that I consider it a satisfactory +one. You have sent him a good deal of money since I saw you last, I +daresay? Pray understand that there is nothing intrusive or impertinent in +my question. I only wish to be some use to you, if I can." + +"I am sure of that. Yes; I have sent him what I could--about four hundred +pounds--since last June; and he has been very grateful, poor fellow! He +ought to know that he is welcome to every shilling I have. I could send him +much more, of course, if I cared to ask my husband for money." + +"It is wiser to trust to your own resources. And I doubt if the command of +much money would be a positive benefit to your brother. You have asked me +to be candid; and I shall obey you, even at the hazard of giving you pain. +There is a kind of constitutional weakness in your brother's nature. He +is a man open to every influence, and not always governed by the best +influences. I saw a good deal of him when I was last in Paris, and I saw +him most in the fastest society, amongst people who petted him for the +sake of his genius and vivacity, but who would turn their backs upon him +to-morrow if he were no longer able to amuse them; the set into which an +artist is so apt to fall when his home influences are not strong enough to +keep him steady, and when he has that lurking disposition to Bohemianism +which has been the bane of your brother's life. I speak entirely without +reserve, you see." + +"I am grateful to you for doing so. Poor Austin! if he had only chosen more +wisely! But his wife is fond of him, you say?" + +"Too fond of him, perhaps; for she is very much given to torment him +with jealous outbreaks; and he is not a man to take that sort of thing +pleasantly. She does not go into society with him: indeed, I doubt if +half-a-dozen out of the people whom he lives amongst know that he has a +wife. I found his social position considerably improved; thanks to your +remittances, no doubt. He was still in the Rue du Chevalier Bayard--as, of +course, you know--but had moved a stage lower down, and had furnished a +painting-room in the stereotyped style--Flemish carved buffets, dingy +tapestry from a passage behind the Rue Richelieu, and a sprinkling of +bric-a-brac from the Quai Voltaire. The poor little woman and her children +were banished; and he had a room full of visitors chattering round him +while he painted. You know his wonderful facility. The atmosphere was +cloudy with tobacco-smoke; and the men were drinking that abominable +concoction of worm-wood with which young France cultivates madness and +early doom." + +"It is not a pleasant picture," said Clarissa with a profound sigh. + +"No, my dear Mrs. Granger; but it is a faithful one. Mr. Lovel had won a +certain reputation for his airy style of art, and was beginning to get +better prices for his pictures; but I fancy he has a capacity for spending +money, and an inability to save it, which would bring him always to the +same level of comparative insolvency. I have known so many men like that; +and a man who begins in that way so rarely ends in any other way." + +"What am I to do!" exclaimed Clarissa piteously; "what can I do to help +him?" + +"I am almost at a loss to suggest anything. Perhaps if you were on the +spot, your influence might do something. I know he loves you, and is more +moved by the mention of your name than by any sermon one could preach to +him. But I suppose there is no chance of your being in Paris." + +"I don't know. Mr. Granger talked some time ago of spending the autumn +abroad, and asked me if I should like to see a New-Year's day in Paris. I +think, if I were to express a wish about it, he would take me there; and it +would be such happiness to me to see Austin!" And then Mrs. Granger +thought of her baby, and wondered whether the atmosphere of Paris would be +favourable to that rare and beauteous blossom; whether the tops-and-bottoms +of the French capital would agree with his tender digestive machinery, +and if the cowkeepers of the Faubourg St. Honore were an honest and +unadulterating race. The very notion of taking the treasure away from his +own nurseries, his own cow, his own goat-chaise, was enough to make her +shudder. + +"It would be the best chance for his redemption. A little womanly kindness +and counsel from you to the wife might bring about a happier state of +things in his home; and a man who can be happy at home is in a measure +saved. It is hardly possible for your brother to mix much with the people +amongst whom I saw him without injury to himself. They are people to whom +dissipation is the very salt of life; people who breakfast at the Moulin +Rouge at three o'clock in the afternoon, and eat ices at midnight to the +music of the cascade in the Bois; people to be seen at every race-meeting; +men who borrow money at seventy-five per cent to pay for opera-boxes and +dinners at the Cafe Riche, and who manage the rest of their existence on +credit." + +"But what could my influence do against such friends as these?" asked +Clarissa in a hopeless tone. + +"Who can say? It might do wonders. I know your brother has a heart, and +that you have power to touch it. Take my advice, Mrs. Granger, and try to +be in Paris as soon as you can." + +"I will," she answered fervently. "I would do anything to save him." She +looked at her watch, and rose from the seat under the hawthorn. "It is +nearly two o'clock," she said, "and I must go back to the house. You will +come to luncheon, of course?" + +"Thanks--no. I have an engagement that will take me back to the town +immediately." + +"But Mr. Granger will be surprised to hear that you have been here without +calling upon him." + +"Need Mr. Granger hear of my coming?" George Fairfax asked in a low tone. + +Clarissa flushed scarlet. + +"I have no secrets from my husband, Mr. Fairfax," she said, "even about +trifles." + +"Ten thousand pardons! I scarcely want to make my presence here a secret; +but, in short, I came solely to speak to you about a subject in which I +knew you were deeply interested, and I had not contemplated calling upon +Mr. Granger." + +They were walking slowly up the grassy slope as they talked; and after this +there came a silence, during which Clarissa quickened her pace a little, +George Fairfax keeping still by her side. Her heart beat faster than its +wont; and she had a vague sense of danger in this man's presence--a sense +of a net being woven round her, a lurking suspicion that this apparent +interest in her brother veiled some deeper feeling. + +They came out of the hollow, side by side, into a short arcade of flowering +limes, at the end of which there was a broad sweep of open grass. A man +on a deep-chested strong-limbed gray horse was riding slowly towards them +across the grass--Daniel Granger. + +That picture of his wife walking in the little avenue of limes, with George +Fairfax by her side, haunted Mr. Granger with a strange distinctness in +days to come,--the slight white-robed figure against the background of +sunlit greenery; the young man's handsome head, uncovered, and stooping a +little as he spoke to his companion. + +The master of Arden Court dismounted, and led his horse by the bridle as +he came forward to meet Mr. Fairfax. The two men shook hands; but not very +warmly. The encounter mystified Daniel Granger a little. It was strange to +find a man he had supposed to be at the other end of England strolling in +the park with his wife, and that man the one about whom he had had many +a dreary half-hour of brooding. He waited for an explanation, however, +without any outward show of surprise. The business was simple and natural +enough, no doubt, he told himself. + +"Have you been to the house?" he asked; "I have been out all the morning." + +"No; I was on my way there, when I came upon Mrs. Granger in the most +romantic spot yonder. I felt that I was rather early for a morning-call +even in the depths of the country, and had strolled out of the beaten path +to get rid of an hour or so." + +"I did not know you were in Yorkshire," said Mr. Granger, not in the most +cordial tone. "You are staying at Hale, I suppose?" + +"No; Lady Laura is away, you know." + +"Ah--to be sure; I had forgotten." + +"I am spending a few days with a bachelor friend in Holborough. I am off to +Germany before the week is out." + +Mr. Granger was not sorry to hear this. He was not jealous of George +Fairfax. If anybody had suggested the possibility of his entertaining such +a sentiment, that person would have experienced the full force of Daniel +Granger's resentment; but this was just the one man whom he fancied his +wife might have cared for a little before her marriage. He was not a man +given to petty jealousies; and of late, since the birth of his son, +there had been growing up in his mind a sense of security in his wife's +fidelity--her affection even. The union between them had seemed very +perfect after the advent of the child; and the master of Arden Court felt +almost as if there were nothing upon this earth left for him to desire. But +he was a little puzzled by the presence of George Fairfax, nevertheless. + +Holborough was a small place; and he began to speculate immediately upon +the identity of this bachelor friend of Mr. Fairfax's. It was not a +garrison town. The young men of the place were for the most part small +professional men--half-a-dozen lawyers and doctors, two or three curates, a +couple of bankers' sons, an auctioneer or two, ranking vaguely between the +trading and professional classes, and the sons of tradesmen. Among them all +Mr. Granger could remember no one likely to be a friend of George Fairfax. +It might possibly be one of the curates; but it seemed scarcely probable +that Mr. Fairfax would come two hundred and fifty miles to abide three days +with a curate. Nor was it the season of partridges. There was no shooting +to attract Mr. Fairfax to the neighbourhood of Holborough. There was trout, +certainly, to be found in abundance in brooks, and a river within a walk of +the town; and Mr. Fairfax might be passionately fond of fly-fishing. + +"You will come in and have some luncheon, of course," Mr. Granger said, +when they came to the gateway, where George Fairfax pulled up, and began to +wish them good-bye. Not to ask the man to eat and drink would have seemed +to him the most unnatural thing in the world. + +"Thanks. I think I had better deny myself that pleasure," Mr. Fairfax said +doubtfully. "The day is getting on, and--and I have an engagement for the +afternoon." ("Trout, no doubt," thought Mr. Granger.) "I have seen you, +that is the grand point. I could not leave Yorkshire without paying my +respects to you and Mrs. Granger." + +"Do you leave so soon?" + +"To-morrow, I think." + +"A hurried journey for trout," thought Mr. Granger. + +He insisted upon the visitor coming in to luncheon. George Fairfax was not +very obdurate. It was so sweet to be near the woman he loved, and he had +not the habit of refusing himself the things that were sweet to him. They +went into the small dining-room. The luncheon bell had rung a quarter of +an hour ago, and Miss Granger was waiting for her parents, with an air of +placid self-abnegation, by an open window. + +There was a good deal of talk during luncheon, but the chief talker was +George Fairfax. Clarissa was grave and somewhat absent. She was thinking of +her brother Austin, and the gloomy account of him which she had just heard. +It was hardly a surprise to her. His letters had been few and far between, +and they had not been hopeful, or, at the best, brightened by only a flash +of hopefulness, which was more like bravado, now and then. His necessity +for money, too, had seemed without limit. She was planning her campaign. +Come what might, she must contrive some means of being in Paris before +long. Mr. Fairfax was going on to Carlsruhe, that was an advantage; for +something in his manner to-day had told her that he must always be more or +less than her friend. She had a vague sense that his eagerness to establish +a confidence between her and himself was a menace of danger to her. + +"If I can only go to Austin myself," she thought, "there need be no +intermediary." + +Luncheon was over, and still Mr. Fairfax lingered--strangely indifferent +to the waning of an afternoon which seemed peculiarly advantageous for +fly-fishing, Mr. Granger thought. They went into the drawing-room, and Mr. +Fairfax dawdled an hour away talking of Lyvedon, and giving a serio-comic +description of himself in the novel character of a country gentleman. +It was not till Mr. Granger had looked at his watch once or twice in a +surreptitious manner, thinking of an engagement to meet his architect for +the inspection of some dilapidated cottages on the newest part of his +estate, that the visitor rose to depart. Daniel Granger had quite warmed to +him by this time. His manner was so natural in its pleasant airiness: it +was not easy to think there could be any lurking evil beneath such a show +of candour. + +"Can't you stay and dine with us?" asked Mr. Granger; "or will you go back +to Holborough and fetch your friend? We shall be very glad to know him, if +we don't know him already." + +If a blush had been possible to George Fairfax, this friendly speech would +have raised it; but the capacity had departed from him before he left Eton. +He did feel ashamed of himself, nevertheless. + +"You are more than good," he said, "but my friend seldom goes anywhere. +Good-bye." + +He made his adieux with an agreeable abruptness, not caring to prolong the +dinner question. Such men as he tell lies without stint upon occasion; but +the men are few to whom it is actually congenial to lie. He was glad to get +away even from the woman he loved, and the sense of shame was strong upon +him as he departed. + +If his mother, who was anxiously awaiting a letter from Paris or Carlsruhe, +could have known of his presence here in this place, to which his father +had come years ago to betray her! If she who loved him so fondly, and was +so full of prayers and hopes for his future, could have seen him so utterly +on the wrong road, what bitter shame and lamenting there would have been in +the halls of Lyvedon that day--those deserted halls in which the lady sat +alone among the sombre old-world grandeurs of oak and tapestry, and sighed +for her absent son! + + * * * * * + +Instead of going straight back to the Holborough high-road, Mr. Fairfax +struck across the woods by that path which led to the mill-stream and the +orchard, where he had parted from Clarissa on that cheerless October night +nearly three years ago. He knew that Mr. Lovel was away, and the cottage +only tenanted by servants, and he had a fancy for looking at the place +where he had been so angry and so miserable--the scene of that one +rejection which had stung him to the very quick, the single humiliation of +his successful career. It was only the morbid fancy of an idle man, who had +an afternoon to dispose of somehow. + +Half-way between the Court and the cottage, he heard the jingling of +bells, and presently, flashing and gleaming among the trees, he saw a +gaily-painted carriage drawn by a pair of goats, with plated harness that +shone in the sun. Mixed with the joyous jingle of the bells, there came +the sound of an infant's laughter. It was the baby taking his after-dinner +airing, attended by a couple of nurses. A turn in the path brought George +Fairfax and the heir of Arden face to face. + +A sudden impulse seized him--a sudden impulse of tenderness for _her_ +child. He took the little bundle of rosy babyhood and lace and muslin in +his arms, and kissed the soft little face as gently as a woman, and looked +into the innocent blue eyes, dilated to an almost impossible extent in a +wondering stare, with unspeakable love and melancholy in his own. Great +Heaven! if Clarissa had been his wife, this child his son, what a happy +man he might have been, what a new charm there would have been in the +possession of a fine estate, what a new zest in life, the savour of which +seemed to have departed altogether of late! + +He put the little one back into his cushioned seat in the goat-chaise with +supreme care and gentleness, not ruffling so much as a plume in his dainty +white satin hat. + +"A fine boy, Mrs. Nurse," he said, feeling in his waistcoat-pocket for +bacsheesh; to which proposition the portly head-nurse, who had stared +at him, aghast with horror, while had handled the infant, assented with +enthusiasm. + +"I never nursed a finer, sir; and I was head-nurse to Lady Fitz-Lubin, +which my lady had five boys, and not a girl between them; and Mrs. Granger +does dote on him so. I never see a ma that rapt up in her child." + +Mr. Fairfax gave her half-a-sovereign, stooped down to kiss the baby +again--it is doubtful if he had ever kissed a baby before--and then walked +on, wondering at the new sensation. Such a little soft thing, that opened +its mouth to be kissed, like a petted bird! And yet he could contemplate a +future in which he should come between Clarissa and this child; he could +dream of a possibility which should make its mother's name a shame to this +little one. + + * * * * * + +Mr. Granger kept his appointment with the architect, and came to the +natural conclusion of a rich roan upon the subject of dilapidated +buildings. After inspecting the lop-sided old cottages, with their deep +roomy chimneys, in which the farm labourer loved to sit of a night, +roasting his ponderous boots, and smoking the pipe of meditation, and their +impossible staircases, which seemed to have been designed with a deliberate +view to the breaking of legs and endangerment of spines, Mr. Granger made a +wry face, and ordered that rubbish to be swept away. + +"You can build me half-a-dozen upon the new Arden design," he said; "red +brick, with stone dressings; and be sure you put a tablet with the date in +front of each." + +He was thinking of his son, anxious that there should be some notable +improvement, some new building every year, to mark the progress of his +boy's existence. + +The farm-labourers and their wives did not look so delighted as they might +have been by this edict. These benighted souls liked the old cottages, +lop-sided as they were--liked the crooked staircase squeezed into a corner +of the living room below, the stuffy little dens above, with casement +windows which only opened on one side, letting in the smallest modicum of +air, and were not often opened at all. Cottages on the Now Arden model +meant stone floors below and open rafters above, thorough draughts +everywhere, and, worst of all, they meant weekly inspection by Miss +Granger. The free sons and daughters of Hickly-on-the-Hill--this little +cluster of houses which formed a part of Mr. Granger's new estate--had +rejoiced that they were not as the Ardenites; that they could revel in +warmth and dirt, and eat liver-and-bacon for supper on a Saturday night, +without any fear of being lectured for their extravagance by the omniscient +Sophia on the following Monday, convicted of their guilt by the evidence of +the grease in an unwashed frying-pan; that their children could sport on +the hillside in garments that were guiltless of strings; that, in short, +they were outside the circle of Miss Granger's sympathies and could live +their own lives. But that sweet liberty was all over now: with the red +brick and stone dressings would come the Draconian laws of New Arden; no +more corners for the comfortable accumulation of dirt, no more delicious +little cupboards for the stowing away of rubbish. Everything was to be +square and solid and stony. They heard Mr. Granger giving orders that the +chimney was to be flush with the wall, and so on; the stove, an "Oxford +front," warranted to hold not more than a pound and a half of coal; no +recesses in which old age could sit and croon, no cosy nook for the cradle +of infancy. + +After this interview with the architect, Mr. Granger rode home through +Holborough. His way took him past that very hotel where George Fairfax was +staying--the chief inn of the town, a fine old red-brick building that +filled nearly one side of the market-place. + +It happened that just as Mr. Granger rode along the High-street, where +there were some half-a-dozen stragglers visible upon a wide expanse of +pavement, and one carriage waiting at the draper's, Mr. Fairfax walked up +the broad steps of the hotel and entered--entered with the air of a man who +lived there, Daniel Granger thought. And he had said that he was staying +with a bachelor friend. Mr. Granger rode slowly past the principal part of +the hotel to an archway at the end--an archway leading to livery stables, +where the ostler was lounging. He stopped opposite this archway, and +beckoned the man over to him. + +"There was a gentleman went into the hotel just now," he said; "did you see +him?" + +"Yes, sir, I seed him. Mr. Fairfax; him as was to have married Lady Laura +Armstrong's sister." + +"Is he staying in the house, do you know?" + +"Yes, sir; came last night, down from London. Shall I take him your card, +sir?" + +"No, thank you, Giles; I won't call upon him this afternoon, I only wanted +to be sure. Good-day." + +He rode on. What was the meaning of this lie which George Fairfax had told +him? Had it any meaning which it behoved him to fathom? It was strange, at +the least--strange enough to make Mr. Granger very uncomfortable as he rode +slowly back to the Court. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. + +AUSTIN. + + +Late in the autumn of that year, Mr. Granger and his household took up +their abode in Paris. Clarissa had expressed a wish to winter in that +brilliant city, and Daniel Granger had no greater desire than to please +her. But, in making any concession of this kind, he did it in such a quiet +unobtrusive way, that his wife was scarcely aware how entirely her wishes +had been studied. He was too proud a man to parade his affection for her; +he kept a check upon himself rather, and in a manner regulated his own +conduct by the standard of hers. There was never any show of devotion on +his part. The world might have taken them for a couple brought together by +convenience, and making the best of their loveless union. + +So, with regard to the gratification of her wishes, it seemed always that +the thing which Clarissa desired, happened to suit his own humour, rather +than that he sacrificed all personal feeling for her pleasure. In this +Parisian arrangement it had been so, and his wife had no idea that it was +entirely on her account that Daniel Granger set up his tent in the Faubourg +St. Honore. + +The fair Sophia had, however, a very shrewd suspicion of the fact, and +for some weeks prior to the departure from Arden, existed in a state of +suppressed indignation, which was not good for the model villagers; her +powers of observation were, if possible, sharpened in the matter of +cobwebs; her sense of smell intensified in relation to cabbage-water. +Nor did she refrain from making herself eminently disagreeable to her +stepmother. + +"I should not have supposed you would so soon be tired of Arden Court," she +remarked pleasantly, during that dreary quarter of an hour after dinner +which Mr. Granger and his wife and daughter were wont to pass in the +contemplation of crystallized apricots and hothouse grapes, and the +exchange of the baldest commonplaces in the way of conversation; Perhaps +if Clarissa and her husband had been alone on such occasions that air of +ceremony might have vanished. The young wife might have drawn her chair a +little nearer her husband's, and there might have been some pleasant talk +about that inexhaustible source of wonder and delight, the baby. But with +Miss Granger always at hand, the dessert was as ceremonious as if there had +been a party of eighteen, and infinitely more dreary, lacking the cheery +clatter and buzz of company. She ate five hothouse grapes, and sipped +half a glass of claret, with as solemn an air as if she had been making a +libation to the gods. + +Mr. Granger looked up from his plate when his daughter made this remark +about Arden, and glanced inquiringly at his wife, with a shadow of +displeasure in his face. Yielding and indulgent as he had been to her, +there was in his composition something of the stuff that makes a tyrant. +His wife must love the things that he loved. It would have been intolerable +to him to suppose that Mrs. Granger could grow weary of the house that he +had beautified. + +"I am not tired of the Court," Clarissa answered with a sad smile. "There +are too many recollections to make it dear to me." + +Daniel Granger's face flushed ever so slightly at this speech. + +It was the past, then, and not the present, that rendered the place dear to +her. + +"I could never grow tired of Arden," she went on; "but I think it will be +very nice to spend a winter in Paris." + +"Lady Laura Armstrong has put that notion into your head, no doubt," said +Miss Granger, with the faintest suspicion of a sneer. She was not very +warmly attached to the lady of Hale Castle nowadays, regarding her as the +chief promoter of Mr. Granger's marriage. + +"Lady Laura has said that they enjoyed themselves very much in Paris the +winter before last," Clarissa answered frankly; "and has promised me plenty +of introductions. She even promises that she and Mrs. Armstrong will come +over for a week or two, while we are there." + +"And poor Lady Geraldine Challoner?" + +Miss Granger always exhibited a profound pity for Lady Geraldine, and never +lost any opportunity of dwelling upon Mr. Fairfax's bad conduct. + +"No; I don't suppose Lady Geraldine would go with them," Clarissa answered, +colouring a little. The name of Geraldine Challoner was always painful to +her. "She doesn't care about going anywhere." + +"Perhaps she would not care to run the risk of meeting Mr. Fairfax," +suggested Sophia. + +Mr. Granger looked up again, with that shadow of displeasure upon his +countenance. + +"She would not be more likely to meet him in Paris than at Hale," replied +Clarissa. "He has gone to Germany." + +"Yes, for the autumn, he said. Depend upon it, he will spend the winter +in Paris. I have always observed that those dissipated kind of men prefer +Paris to London." + +"I don't think you have any right to call Mr. Fairfax dissipated, Sophia," +said her father, with an offended air; "and I don't think that his +movements can be of the smallest consequence to you, nor those of the Hale +Castle people either? Clarissa and I have determined to spend two or three +months in Paris, and we are not in the slightest degree dependent upon +our English friends for our enjoyment there. If you are disinclined to +accompany us, and would rather remain at Arden----" + +"O, papa, papa!" cried Sophia, with an injured look, "don't say that; don't +allow me to think I have grown quite indifferent to you." + +"You have not grown indifferent to me; but I don't want to take you away +from home against your wish." + +"My wish is to be anywhere with you, papa; _anywhere_--even though you may +feel me an incumbrance. I could endure the humiliation of feeling that, so +long as I was allowed to remain with you." + +Mr. Granger gave a sigh that was almost a groan, and, for perhaps the first +time in his life, it occurred to him that it would be a pleasant thing +if his only daughter were to fall in love with some fortunate youth, and +desire to marry him. A curate even. There was Tillott. Why shouldn't she +marry Tillott? He, Daniel Granger, would give his child a handsome portion, +and they could go through life inspecting model cottages, and teaching +village children the works and ways of all those wicked kings of Israel, +who made groves and set up the idols of their heathen neighbours; a pure +and virtuous and useful life, without question, if tempered with come +consideration for the feelings of the model cottagers, and some mercy for +the brains of the humble scholars. + +In the interval between this little after-dinner scene and the departure +from Arden, Mr. Granger invited Mr. Tillott to dinner two or three times, +and watched him with the eyes of anxiety as he conversed with Sophia. But +although the curate was evidently eager to find favour in the sight of the +damsel, the damsel herself showed no sign of weakness. Mr. Granger sighed, +and told himself that the lamp of hope burned dimly in this quarter. + +"She really ought to marry," he said to himself. "A girl of her energetic +indefatigable nature would be a treasure to some man, and she is only +wasting herself here. Perhaps in Paris we shall meet some one;" and then +there arose before Mr. Granger the vision of some foreign adventurer, +seeking to entangle the wealthy English "meess" in his meshes. Paris might +be a dangerous place; but with such, a girl as Sophia, there could be no +fear; she was a young woman who might be trusted to walk with unfaltering +steps through the most tortuous pathways of this life, always directing +herself aright, and coming in at the finish just at that very point at +which a well brought-up young person should arrive. + +Mr. Granger made his Parisian arrangements on the large scale which became +him as a landed gentleman of unlimited wealth. A first floor of some ten +spacious rooms was selected in one of the bran-new stone mansions in a +bran-new street in the fashionable Faubourg; a house that seemed to have +been built for the habitation of giants; a house made splendid by external +decoration in carved stonework, garlands of stone-fruit and flowers, +projecting lion-heads, caryatides, and so on: no gloomy _porte-cochere_, +but a street-door, through which a loaded drag might have been driven +without damage to the hats of the outside passengers. A house glorified +within by egg-and-dart mouldings, white enamelled woodwork and much +gilding; but a house in which the winter wind howled as in a primeval +forest, and which required to be supplied with supplementary padded +crimson-velvet doors before the spacious chambers could be made +comfortable. Here Mr. Granger took up his abode, with ten of his Arden +Court servants quartered on a floor above. The baby had a nursery loosing +into the broad bare street, where some newly-planted sticks of the sycamore +species shivered in the north-east wind; and the baby took his matutinal +airings in the Tuileries Gardens, and his afternoon drives in the Bois, +while every movement of his infant existence was watched or directed by the +tenderest of mothers. The chief nurse, who had lived with more fashionable +mistresses, for whom the duties of the nursery were subordinate to the +business of society, pronounced Mrs. Granger "fidgety"; a very sweet lady, +but too fond of interfering about trifles, and not reposing boundless +confidence in the experience of her nurse. + +There were a good many English people in Paris this year whom the Grangers +knew, and Lady Laura had insisted upon giving Clarissa introductions to +some of her dearest friends among the old French nobility--people who had +known Lord Calderwood in their days of exile--and more than one dearest +friend among the newer lights of the Napoleonic firmament. Then there were +a Russian princess and a Polish countess or so, whom Lady Laura had brought +to Mrs. Granger's receptions in Clarges-street: so that Clarissa and her +husband found themselves at once in the centre of a circle, from the +elegant dissipations whereof there was no escape. The pretty Mrs. Granger +and the rich Mr. Granger were in request everywhere; nor was the stately +Sophia neglected, although she took her share in all festivities with the +familiar Sunday-school primness, and seemed to vivacious Gaul the very +archetype of that representative young English lady who is always +exclaiming "Shocking!" Even after her arrival in Paris, when she felt +herself so very near him, after so many years of severance, Clarissa did +not find it the easiest thing in the world to see her brother. Mr. and Mrs. +Granger had only spent a couple of days in Paris during their honeymoon, +and Daniel Granger planned a round of sight-seeing, in the way of churches, +picture-galleries, and cemeteries, which fully occupied the first four or +five days after their arrival. Clarissa was obliged to be deeply interested +in all the details of Gothic architecture--to appreciate Ingres, to give +her mind to Gerome--when her heart was yearning for that meeting which he +had waited so long to compass. Mr. Granger, as an idle man, with no +estate to manage--no new barns being built within his morning's ride--no +dilapidated cottages to be swept away--was not easily to be got rid of. +He devoted his days to showing his wife the glories of the splendid city, +which he knew by heart himself, and admired sufficiently in a sober +business-like way. The evenings were mortgaged to society. Clarissa had +been more than a week in Paris before she had a morning to herself; and +even then there was Miss Granger to be disposed of, and Miss Granger's +curiosity to be satisfied. + +Mr. Granger had gone to breakfast at the Maison Doree with a mercantile +magnate from his own country--a solemn commercial breakfast, whereat all +the airy trifles and dainty compositions of fish, flesh, and fowl with +which the butterfly youth of France are nourished, were to be set before +unappreciative Britons. At ten o'clock Clarissa ordered her carriage. +It was best to go in her own carriage, she thought, even at the risk of +exciting the curiosity of servants. To send for a hired vehicle would have +caused greater wonder; to walk alone was impossible; to walk with her nurse +and child might have been considered eccentric. + +She could not even take an airing, however, without some discussion with +Miss Granger. That young lady was established in the drawing-room--the vast +foreign chamber, which never looked like a home--illuminating a new set +of Gothic texts for the adornment of her school. She sorely missed the +occupation and importance afforded her by the model village. In Paris there +was no one afraid of her; no humble matrons to quail as her severe eyes +surveyed wall and ceiling, floor and surbase. And being of a temperament +which required perpetual employment, she was fain to fall back upon +illumination, Berlin-wool work, and early morning practice of pianoforte +music of the most strictly mathematical character. It was her boast that +she had been thoroughly "grounded" in the science of harmony; but although +she could have given a reason for every interval in a sonata, her playing +never sparkled into brilliancy or melted into tenderness, and never had her +prim cold fingers found their way to a human soul. + +"Are you going out so early?" this wise damsel asked wonderingly, as +Clarissa came into the drawing-room in her bonnet and shawl. + +"Yes, it is such a fine morning, and I think baby will enjoy it. I have not +had a drive with him since we have been here." + +"No," replied Sophia, "you have only had papa. I shouldn't think he would +be very much flattered if he heard you preferred baby." + +"I did not say that I preferred baby, Sophia. What a habit you have of +misrepresenting me!" + +The nurse appeared at this moment, carrying the heir of the Grangers, +gloriously arrayed in blue velvet, and looking fully conscious of his +magnificence. + +"But I do like to have a drive with my pet-lamb, don't I, darling?" said +the mother, stooping to kiss the plump rosy cheek. And then there followed +some low confidential talk, in the fond baby language peculiar to young +mothers. + +"I should have thought you would have been glad to get a morning alone, for +once in a way," remarked Sophia, coming over to the baby, and giving him +a stately kiss. She liked him tolerably well in her own way, and was not +angry with him for having come into the world to oust her from her proud +position as sole heiress to her father's wealth. The position had been very +pleasant to her, and she had not seen it slip away from her without many a +pang; but, however she might dislike Clarissa, she was not base enough to +hate her father's child. If she could have had the sole care and management +of him, physicked and dieted him after her own method, and developed the +budding powers of his infant mind by her favourite forcing system--made a +model villager of him, in short--she might have grown even to love him. But +these privileges being forbidden to her--her wisdom being set at naught, +and her counsel rejected--she could not help regarding Lovel Granger as +more or less an injury. + +"I should have thought you would have been glad of a morning at home, +Clarissa," she repeated. + +"Not such a fine morning as this, Sophy. It would be such a pity for baby +to lose the sunshine; and I have really nothing to do." + +"If I had known a little sooner that you were going, I would have gone with +you," said Miss Granger. + +Clarissa's countenance fell. She could not help that little troubled look, +which told Miss Granger that her society would not have been welcome. + +"You would have had no objection to my coming with you, I suppose?" the +fair Sophia said sharply. "Baby is not quite a monopoly." + +"Of course not. If you'll put on your things now, Sophia, I'll wait for +you." + +It was a hard thing for Clarissa to make the offer, when she had been +waiting so anxiously for this opportunity of seeing her brother. To be +in the same city with him, and not see him, was more painful than to be +divided from him by half the earth, as she had been. It was harder still to +have to plot and plan and stoop to falsehood in order to compass a meeting. +But she remembered the stern cold look in her husband's face when she had +spoken of Austin, and she could not bring herself to degrade her brother +by entreating Daniel Granger's indulgence for his past misdeeds, or Daniel +Granger's interest in his future fortunes. + +Happily Sophia had made elaborate preparations for the Gothic texts, and +was not inclined to waste so much trouble. + +"I have got my colours all ready," she said, "and have put everything out, +you see. No, I don't think I'll go to-day. But another time, if you'll be +so kind as to let me know _beforehand_, I shall be pleased to go with my +brother. I suppose you know there's an east wind to-day, by-the-bye." + +The quarter whence the wind came, was a subject about which Clarissa had +never concerned herself. The sun was shining, and the sky was blue. + +"We have plenty of wraps," she said, "and we can have the carriage closed +if we are cold." + +"It is not a day upon which _I_ should take an infant out," Miss Granger +murmured, dipping her brush in some Prussian-blue; "but of course you know +best." + +"O, we shall take care of baby, depend upon it. Good-bye, Sophy." + +And Clarissa departed, anxious to avoid farther remonstrance on the part +of her step-daughter. She told the coachman to drive to the Luxembourg +Gardens, intending to leave the nurse and baby to promenade that favourite +resort, while she made her way on foot to the Rue du Chevalier Bayard. She +remembered that George Fairfax had described her brother's lodging as near +the Luxembourg. + +They drove through the gay Parisian streets, past the pillar in the Place +Vendome, and along the Rue de la Paix, all shining with jewellers' ware, +and the Rue de Rivoli, where the chestnut-trees in the gardens of the +Tuileries were shedding their last leaves upon the pavement, past the airy +tower of St. Jacques, and across the bridge into that unknown world on +the other side of the Seine. The nurse, who had seen very little of that +quarter of the town, wondered what obscure region she was traversing, and +wondered still more when they alighted at the somewhat shabby-looking +gardens. + +"These are the Luxembourg Gardens," said Clarissa. "As you have been to the +Tuileries every day, I thought it would be a change for you to come here." + +"Thank you, ma'am," replied Mrs. Brobson, the chief nurse; "but I don't +think as these gardings is anyways equal to the Tooleries--nor to Regent's +Park even. When I were in Paris with Lady Fitz-Lubin we took the children +to the Tooleries or the Bore de Boulong every day--but, law me! the Bore de +Boulong were a poor place in those days to what it is now." + +Clarissa took a couple of turns along one of the walks with Mrs. Brobson, +and then, as they were going back towards the gate, she said, as carelessly +as she could manage to say: "There is a person living somewhere near here +whom I want to see, Mrs. Brobson. I'll leave you and baby in the gardens +for half an hour or so, while I go and pay my visit." + +Mrs. Brobson stared. It was not an hour in the day when any lady she had +ever served was wont to pay visits; and that Mrs. Granger of Arden Court +should traverse a neighbourhood of narrow streets and tall houses, on foot +and alone, to call upon her acquaintance at eleven o'clock in the morning, +seemed to her altogether inexplicable. + +"You'll take the carriage, won't you, ma'am?" she said, with undisguised +astonishment. + +"No, I shall not want the carriage; it's very near. Be sure you keep baby +warm, Mrs. Brobson." + +Clarissa hurried out into the street. The landau, with its pair of +Yorkshire-bred horses, was moving slowly up and down, to the admiration of +juvenile Paris, which looked upon Mr. Granger's deep-chested, strong-limbed +bays almost as a new order in the animal creation. Mrs. Granger felt that +the eyes of coachman and footman were upon her as she turned the first +corner, thinking of nothing for the moment, but how to escape the +watchfulness of her own servants. She walked a little way down the street, +and then asked a sleepy-looking waiter, who was sweeping the threshold of a +very dingy restaurant, to direct her to the Rue du Chevalier Bayard. It was +_tous pres_, the man said; only a turn to the right, at that corner yonder, +and the next turning was the street she wanted. She thanked him, and +hurried on, with her heart beating faster at every step. Austin might be +out, she thought, and her trouble wasted; and there was no knowing when she +might have another opportunity. Even if he were at home, their interview +must needs be brief: there was the nurse waiting and wondering; the baby +exposed to possible peril from east winds. + +The Rue du Chevalier Bayard was a street of tall gaunt houses that had seen +better days--houses with _porte-cocheres_, exaggerated iron knockers, and +queer old lamps; dreary balconies on the first floor, with here and there a +plaster vase containing some withered member of the palm tribe, or a faded +orange-tree; everywhere and in everything an air of dilapidation and decay; +faded curtains, that had once been fine, flapping in the open windows; +Venetian shutters going to ruin; and the only glimpse of brightness or +domestic comfort confined to the humble parlour of the portress, who kept +watch and ward over one of the dismal mansions, and who had a birdcage +hanging in her window, an Angora cat sunning itself on the stone sill, and +a row of scarlet geraniums in the little iron balcony. + +But this model portress did not preside over the house inhabited by Austin +Lovel. There Clarissa found only a little deaf old man, who grinned and +shook his head helplessly when she questioned him, and shrugged his +shoulders and pointed to the staircase--a cavernous stone staircase, with +an odour as of newly opened graves. She went up to the first-floor, past +the _entresol_, where the earthy odour was subjugated by a powerful smell +of cooking, in which garlic was the prevailing feature. One tall door +on the first-floor was painted a pale pink, and had still some dingy +indications of former gilding upon its mouldings. On this pink door was +inscribed the name of Mr. Austin, Painter. + +Clarissa rang a bell, and a tawdry-looking French servant, with big +earrings and a dirty muslin cap, came to answer her summons. Mr. Austin +was at home; would madame please to enter. Madame, having replied in +the affirmative, was shown into a small sitting-room, furnished with a +heterogeneous collection of cabinets, tables, and sofas, every one of which +bore the stamp of the broker's shop--things which had been graceful and +pretty in their day, but from which the ormolu-moulding had been knocked +off here, and the inlaid-wood chipped away there, and the tortoiseshell +cracked in another place, until they seemed the very emblems of decay. It +was as if they had been set up as perpetual monitors--monuments of man's +fragility. "This is what life comes to," they said in their silent fashion. +This faded rubbish in buhl and marqueterie was useful enough to Mr. Lovel, +however; and on his canvas the faded furniture glowed and sparkled with all +its original brightness, fresh as the still-life of Meissonier. There were +a child's toys scattered on the floor; and Clarissa heard a woman's voice +talking to a child in an adjoining room, on the other side of a pair +of tall pink folding-doors. Then she heard her brother's voice saying +something to the servant; and at the sound she felt as if she must have +fallen to the ground. Then one of the doors was opened, and a woman came +in; a pretty, faded-looking woman, dressed in a light-blue morning wrapper +that might very well have been cleaner; a woman with a great deal of dyed +hair in an untidy mass at the back of her head; a woman whom Clarissa felt +it must be a difficult thing to like. + +This was her brother's wife, of course. There was a boy of four or five +years old clinging to his mother's gown, and Clarissa's heart yearned +to the child. He had Austin's face. It would be easy to love _him_, she +thought. + +"Mr. Austin is in his paintin'-room, madame," said the wife, putting on a +kind of company manner. "Did you wish to see him about a picture? Je parle +tres poo de Francais, mais si----" + +"I am English," Clarissa answered, smiling; "if you will kindly tell Mr. +Austin a lady from England wishes to see him. What a, dear little boy! May +I shake hands with him?" + +"Give the lady your hand, Henery," said the mother. "Not that one," as the +boy, after the invariable custom of childhood, offered his left--"the right +hand." + +Clarissa took the sticky little paw tenderly in her pearl-gray glove. To +think that her brother Austin Lovel should have married a woman who could +call her son "Henery," and who had such an unmistakable air of commonness! + +The wife went back to the painting-room; and returned the next minute to +beg the visitor to "step this way, if you please, ma'am." She opened one of +the folding-doors wide as she spoke, and Clarissa went into a large room, +at the other end of which there stood a tall slim young man, in a short +velvet coat, before a small easel. + +It was her brother Austin; pale and a trifle haggard, too old in looks for +his years, but very handsome--a masculine edition of Clarissa herself, in +fact: the same delicate clearly-cut features, the same dark hazel eyes, +shaded by long brown lashes tinged with gold. This was what Mrs. Granger +saw in the broad noonday sunshine; while the painter, looking up from his +easel, beheld a radiant creature approaching him, a woman in pale-gray +silk, that it would have been rapture to paint; a woman with one of the +loveliest faces he had ever seen, crowned with a broad plait of dark-brown +hair, and some delicate structure of point-lace and pink roses, called by +courtesy a bonnet. + +He laid down his mahl-stick, and came to meet her, with a puzzled look on +his face. Her beauty seemed familiar to him somehow, and yet he had no +recollection of ever having seen her before. He saw the faded counterpart +of that bright face every morning in his looking-glass. + +She held out both her hands. + +"Austin, don't you know me?" + +He gave a cry of pleased surprise, and caught her in his arms. + +"Clarissa!" he exclaimed; "why, my darling, how lovely you have grown! My +dear little Clary! How well I remember the sweet young face, and the tears, +and kisses, and the slender little figure in its childish dress, that +day your father carried you off to school! My own little Clary, what a +happiness to see you! But you never told me you were coming to Paris." + +"No, dear, I kept that for a surprise. And are you really glad to see me, +Austin?" + +"Really glad! Is there any one in the world could make me gladder?" + +"I am so happy to hear that. I was almost afraid you had half forgotten me. +Your letters were so few, and so short." + +"Letters!" cried Austin Lovel, with a laugh; "I never was much of a hand at +letter-writing; and then I hadn't anything particularly pleasant to write +about. You mustn't gauge my affection by the length of my letters, Clary. +And then I have to work deucedly hard when I am at home, and have very +little time for scribbling." + +Clarissa glanced round the room while he was speaking. Every detail in +her brother's surroundings had an interest for her. Here, as in the +drawing-room, there was an untidy air about everything--a want of harmony +in all the arrangements. There were Flemish carved-oak cabinets, and big +Japan vases; a mantelpiece draped with dusty crimson velvet, a broken +Venetian glass above it, and a group of rusty-looking arms on each side; +long limp amber curtains to the three tall windows, with festooned valances +in an advanced state of disarrangement and dilapidation. There were some +logs burning on the hearth, a pot of chocolate simmering among the ashes, +and breakfast laid for one person upon a little table by the fire--the +remnant of a perigord pie, flanked by a stone bottle of curacoa. + +She looked at her brother with anxious scrutinising eyes. No, George +Fairfax had not deceived her. He had the look of a man who was going the +wrong way. There were premature lines across the forehead, and about the +dark brilliant eyes; a nervous expression in the contracted lips. It was +the face of a man who burns the candle of life at both ends. Late hours, +anxiety, dissipation of all kinds, had set their fatal seal upon his +countenance. + +"Dear Austin, you are as handsome as ever; but I don't think you are +looking well," she said tenderly. + +"Don't look so alarmed, my dear girl," he answered lightly; "I am well +enough; that is to say, I am never ill, never knock under, or strike work. +There are men who go through life like that--never ill, and never exactly +well. I rarely get up in the morning without a headache; but I generally +brighten considerably as the sun goes down. We move with a contrary motion, +Helios and I." + +"I am afraid you work too hard, and sit up too late." + +"As to working hard, my dear, that is a necessity; and going out every +night is another necessity. I get my commissions in society." + +"But you must have a reputation by this time, Austin; and commissions would +come to you, I should think, without your courting them." + +"No, child; I have only a reputation _de salon_, I am only known in a +certain set. And a man must live, you see. To a man himself that is the +primary necessity. Your _generosity_ set me on my legs last year, and +tempted me to take this floor, and make a slight advance movement +altogether. I thought better rooms would bring me better work--sitters for +a new style of cabinet-portraits, and so on. But so far the rooms have been +comparatively a useless extravagance. However, I go out a good deal, and +meet a great many influential people; so I can scarcely miss a success in +the end." + +"But if you sacrifice your health in the meantime, Austin." + +"Sacrifice my health! That's just like a woman. If a man looks a trifle +pale, and dark under the eyes, she begins to fancy he's dying. My poor +little wife takes just the same notions into her head, and would like me to +stop at home every evening to watch her darn the children's stockings." + +"I think your wife is quite right to be anxious, Austin; and it would be +much better for you to stay at home, even to see stockings darned. It must +be very dull for her too when you are out, poor soul." + +Mr. Lovel shrugged his shoulders with a deprecating air. + +"_C'est son metier,_" he said. "I suppose she does find it rather dismal at +times; but there are the children, you see--it is a woman's duty to find +all-sufficient society in her children. And now, Clary, tell me about +yourself. You have made a brilliant match, and are mistress of Arden Court. +A strange stroke of fortune that. And you are happy, I hope, my dear?" + +"I ought to be very happy," Clarissa answered, with a faint sigh, thinking +perhaps that, bright as her life might be, it was not quite the fulfilment +of her vague girlish dreams--not quite the life she had fancied lying +before her when the future was all unknown; "I ought to be very happy and +very grateful to Providence; and, O Austin, my boy is the sweetest darling +is the world!" + +Austin Lovel looked doubtful for a moment, half inclined to think "my boy" +might stand for Daniel Granger. + +"You must see him, Austin," continued his sister; "he is nearly ten months +old now, and such a beauty!" + +"O, the baby!" said Austin, rather coolly. "I daresay he's a nice little +chap, and I should like to see him very much, if it were practicable. But +how about Granger himself? He is a good sort of fellow, I hope." + +"He is all goodness to me," Clarissa answered gravely, casting down her +eyes as she spoke; and Austin Lovel knew that the marriage which had given +his sister Arden Court had been no love-match. + +They talked for some time; talked of the old days when they had been +together at Arden; but of the years that made the story of his life, Austin +Lovel spoke very little. + +"I have always been an unlucky beggar," he said, in his careless way. +"There's very little use in going over old ground. Some men never get +fairly on the high-road of life. They spend their existence wading across +swamps, and scrambling through bushes, and never reach any particular point +at the end. My career has been that sort of thing." + +"But you are so young, Austin," pleaded Clarissa, "and may do so much yet." + +He shook his head with an air of hopelessness that was half indifference. + +"My dear child, I am neither a Raffaelle nor a Dore," he said, "and I need +be one or the other to redeem my past But so long as I can pick up enough +to keep the little woman yonder and the bairns, and get a decent cigar and +an honest bottle of Bordeaux, I'm content. Ambition departed from me ten +years ago." + +"O Austin, I can't bear to hear you say that! With your genius you ought to +do so much. I wish you would be friends with my husband, and that he could +be of use to you." + +"My dear Clarissa, put that idea out of your mind at once and for ever. +There can be no such thing as friendship between Mr. Granger and me. Do +you remember what Samuel Johnson said about some one's distaste for clean +linen--'And I, sir, have no passion for it!' I confess to having no passion +for respectable people. I am very glad to hear Mr. Granger is a good +husband; but he's much too respectable a citizen for my acquaintance." + +Clarissa sighed; there was a prejudice here, even if Daniel Granger could +have been induced to think kindly of his brother-in-law. + +"Depend upon it, the Prodigal Son had a hard time of it after the fatted +calf had been eaten, Clary, and wished himself back among the swine. Do you +think, however lenient his father might be, that his brother and the +friends of the family spared him? His past was thrown in his face, you may +be sure. I daresay he went back to his evil ways after a year or so. Good +people maintain their monopoly of virtue by making the repentant sinner's +life a burden to him." + +Clarissa spoke of his wife presently. + +"You must introduce me to her, Austin. She took me for a stranger just now, +and I did not undeceive her." + +"Yes I'll introduce you. There's not much in common between you; but she'll +be very proud of your acquaintance. She looks upon my relations as an +exalted race of beings, and myself as a kind of fallen angel. You mustn't +be too hard upon her, Clary, if she seems not quite the sort of woman you +would have chosen for your sister-in-law. She has been a good wife to me, +and she was a good daughter to her drunken old father--one of the greatest +scamps in London, who used to get his bread--or rather his gin--by standing +for Count Ugolino and Cardinal Wolsey, or anything grim and gray and +aquiline-nosed in the way of patriarchs. The girl Bessie was a model too in +her time; and it was in Jack Redgrave's painting-room--the pre-Raphaelite +fellow who paints fearfully and wonderfully made women with red hair and +angular arms--I first met her. Jack and I were great chums at that time--it +was just after I sold out--and I used to paint at his rooms. I was going in +for painting just then with a great spurt, having nothing but my brush to +live upon. You can guess the rest. As Bessie was a very pretty girl, and +neither she nor I had a sixpence wherewith to bless ourselves, of course +we fell in love with each other. Poor little thing, how pretty she used +to look in those days, standing on Jack's movable platform, with her hair +falling loose about her face, and a heap of primroses held up in her +petticoat!--such a patient plaintive look in the sweet little mouth, as +much as to say, 'I'm very tired of standing here; but I'm only a model, to +be hired for eighteenpence an hour; go on smoking your cigars, and talking +your slangy talk about the turf and the theatres, gentlemen. I count for +nothing.' Poor little patient soul! she was so helpless and so friendless, +Clary. I think my love for her was something like the compassion one feels +for some young feeble bird that has fallen out of its nest. So we were +married one morning; and for some time lived in lodgings at Putney, where +I used to suffer considerable affliction from Count Ugolino and two bony +boys, Bessie's brothers, who looked as if the Count had been acting up +to his character with too great a fidelity. Ugolino himself would come +prowling out of a Saturday afternoon to borrow the wherewithal to pay his +week's lodging, lest he should be cast out into the streets at nightfall; +and it was a common thing for one of the bony boys to appear at +breakfast-time with a duplicate of his father's coat, pledged over-night +for drink, and without the means of redeeming which he could not pursue his +honourable vocation. In short, I think it was as much the affliction of the +Ugolino family as my own entanglements that drove me to seek my fortunes on +the other side of the world." + +Austin Lovel opened one of the doors, and called his wife "Come here, +Bessie; I've a pleasant surprise for you." + +Mrs. Lovel appeared quickly in answer to this summons. She had changed her +morning dress for a purple silk, which was smartly trimmed, but by no means +fresh, and she had dressed her hair, and refreshed her complexion by a +liberal application of violet powder. She had a look which can only be +described as "flashy"--a look that struck Clarissa unpleasantly, in spite +of herself. + +Her expressions of surprise did not sound quite so natural as they might +have done--for she had been listening at the folding-doors during a +considerable part of the interview; but she seemed really delighted by Mrs. +Granger's condescension, and she kissed that lady with much affection. + +"I'm sure I do feel proud to know any relation of Austin's," she said, "and +you most of all, who have been so kind to him. Heaven knows what would have +become of us last winter, if it hadn't been for your generosity." + +Clarissa laid her hand upon Bessie Lovel's lips. + +"You mustn't talk of generosity between my brother and me," she said; "all +I have in the world is at his service. And now let me see my nephews, +please; and then I must run away." + +The nephews were produced; the boy Clarissa had seen, and another of +smaller growth--pale-faced, bright-eyed little fellows; They too had been +subjected to the infliction of soap-and-water and hair-brushes, clean +pinafores, and so on, since Mrs. Granger's arrival. + +She knelt down and kissed them both, with real motherly tenderness, +thinking of her own darling, and the difference between his fortunes and +theirs; and then, after a warm caress, she slipped a napoleon into each +little warm hand, "to buy toys," and rose to depart. + +"I must hurry away now, Austin," she said; "but I shall come again very +soon, if I may. Good-bye, dear, and God bless you." + +The embrace that followed was a very fervent one. It had been sweet to meet +again after so many years, and it was hard to leave him so soon--to leave +him with the conviction that his life was a wreck. But Clarissa had no +time to linger. The thought of the baby in the Luxembourg Gardens had been +distracting her for ever so long. These stolen meetings must needs be +short. + +She looked at her watch when she got back to the street, and found, to her +horror, that she had been very nearly an hour away from the nurse and her +charge. The carriage was waiting at the gate, and she had to encounter the +full fire of her servants' gaze as she crossed the road and went into the +gardens. Yes, there was the baby's blue-velvet pelisse resplendent at the +end of an avenue, Clarissa walked quickly to meet him. + +"My darling!" she cried. "Has he been waiting for his mamma? I hope he has +not been tired of the gardens, nurse?" + +"Yes, ma'am, he have been tired," replied Mrs. Brobson, with an outraged +air. "There ain't much in these gardens to keep a baby of his age amused +for an hour at a stretch; and in a east wind too! It's right down cutting +at that corner." + +"Why didn't you take him home in the carriage, nurse? It would have been +better than running any risk of his catching cold." + +"What, and leave you without a conveyance, ma'am? I couldn't have done +that!" + +"I was detained longer than I expected to stay. O, by the bye, you need not +mention to Miss Granger that I have been making a call. The people I have +been to see are--are in humble circumstances; and I don't want her to know +anything about it." + +"I hope I know my duty, ma'am," replied Mrs. Brobson stiffly. That hour's +parading in the gardens, without any relief from her subordinate, had +soured her temper, and inclined her to look with unfavourable eyes upon the +conduct of her mistress. Clarissa felt that she had excited the suspicion +of her servant, and that all her future meetings with her brother would +involve as much plotting and planning as would serve for the ripening of a +political conspiracy. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. + +ONLY A PORTRAIT-PAINTER. + + +While Clarissa was pondering on that perplexing question, how she was to +see her brother frequently without Mr. Granger's knowledge, fortune had +favoured her in a manner she had never anticipated. After what Mr. Fairfax +had said to her about Austin Lovel's "set," the last thing she expected +was to meet her brother in society--that fast Bohemian world in which she +supposed him to exist, seemed utterly remote from the faultless circle +of Daniel Granger's acquaintance. It happened, however, that one of the +dearest friends to whom Lady Laura Armstrong had introduced her sweet +Clarissa was a lady of the Leo-Hunter genus--a certain Madame Caballero, +_nee_ Bondichori, a little elderly Frenchwoman, with sparkling black eyes +and inexhaustible vivacity; the widow of a Portuguese wine-merchant; a lady +whose fortune enabled her to occupy a first floor in one of the freestone +palaces of the Champs Elysees, to wear black velvet and diamonds in +perpetuity, and to receive a herd of small lions and a flock of admiring +nobodies twice a-week. The little widow prided herself on her worship +of genius. All members of the lion tribe came alike to her: painters, +sculptors, singers; actors, and performers upon every variety of known +and unknown musical instruments; budding barristers, who had won forensic +laurels by the eloquent defence of some notorious criminal; homoeopathic +doctors, lady doctresses, or lawyeresses, or deaconesses, from America; and +pretty women who had won a kind of renown by something special in the way +of eyebrows, or arms, or shoulders. + +To these crowded saloons Mr. Granger brought his wife and daughter one +evening. They found a great many people assembled in three lofty rooms, +hung with amber satin, in the remotest and smallest of which apartments +Madame Caballero made tea _a l'anglaise_, for her intimates; while, in the +largest, some fearful and wonderful instrumental music was going on, with +the very smallest possible amount of attention from the audience. There was +a perpetual buzz of conversation; and there was a considerable sprinkling +of curious-looking people; weird men with long unkempt hair, strong-minded +women, who counterbalanced these in a manner by wearing their hair +preternaturally short. Altogether, the assembly was an usual one; but +Madame Caballero's guests seemed to enjoy themselves very much. Their good +spirits may have been partly due to the fact that they had the pleasing +anticipation of an excellent supper, furnished with all the choicest +dainties that Chevet can provide; for Madame Caballero's receptions were +of a substantial order, and she owed a good deal of her popularity to the +profusion that distinguished the commissariat department. + +Mr. and Mrs. Granger made their way to the inner room by and by. It was the +prettiest room of the three, with a great semi-circular window overlooking +nothing particular in the daytime, but making a handsome amber-hung recess +at night. Here there was a sea-coal fire _a l'anglaise_, and only a subdued +glimmering of wax candles, instead of the broad glare in the larger +saloons. Here, too were to be found the choicest of Madame Caballero's +guests; a cabinet minister, an ambassador, a poet of some standing, and one +of the most distinguished soprano's of the season, a fair-haired German +girl, with great pathetic blue eyes. + +Even in this society Madame Caballero was rejoiced to see her sweet Mrs. +Granger and her charming Miss Granger, who was looking unutterably stiff, +in mauve silk and white lace. The lady and her friends had been talking of +some one as the Grangers entered, talking rapturously. + +"_J'en raffole!_" exclaimed Madame; "such a charming young man, gifted with +talents of the most original order." + +The ambassador was looking at a portrait--the likeness of Madame Caballero +herself--a mere sketch in oils, with a mark of the brush upon it, but +remarkable for the _chic_ and daring of the painter's style, and for that +idealised resemblance which is always so agreeable to the subject. + +Clarissa's heart gave a little throb. The picture was like one she had seen +on the easel in the Rue du Chevalier Bayard. + +"_Mais c'est charmant!_" exclaimed the ambassador; and the adjective was +echoed in every key by the rest of the little coterie. + +"I expect him here this evening," said Madame; "and I shall be very much +gratified if you will permit me to present him to your excellency." + +The ambassador bowed. "Any _protegee_ of Madame's," he said, and so on. + +Mr. Granger, who was really a judge of art, fastened on to the picture +immediately. + +"There's something fresh in the style, Clary," he said. "I should like this +man to paint your portrait. What's the signature? Austin! That's hardly a +French name, I should think--eh, Madame Caballero?" + +"No," replied Madame; "Mr. Austin is an Englishman. I shall be charmed if +you will allow him to paint Mrs. Granger; and I'm sure he will be delighted +to have such a subject." + +There was a good deal of talk about Mr. Austin's painting, and art in +general. There were some half dozen pictures of the modern French school +in this inner room, which helped to sustain the conversation. Mr. Granger +talked very fair French, of a soundly grammatical order; and Clarissa's +tongue ran almost as gaily as in her schoolgirl days at Belforet. She was +going to see her brother--to see him shining in good society, and not in +the pernicious "set" of which George Fairfax had spoken. The thought was +rapture to her. They might have a few minutes' talk to themselves, perhaps, +before the evening was over. That interview in the Rue du Chevalier Bayard +had been so sadly brief, and her heart too full for many words. + +Austin Lovel came in presently, looking his handsomest, in his careful +evening-dress, with a brilliant light in his eyes, and that appearance of +false brightness which is apt to distinguish the man who is burning the +candle of life at both ends. Only by just the faintest elevation of his +eyebrows did he betray his surprise as he looked at his sister; and his +air, on being presented to her a few moments afterwards, was perfect in its +serene unconsciousness. + +Mr. Granger talked to him of his picture pleasantly enough, but very much +as he would have talked to his architect, or to one of his clerks in the +great Bradford establishment. There was a marked difference between +the tone of the rich English trader and the German ambassador, when he +expressed himself on the subject of Mr. Austin's talent; but then the +Englishman intended to give the painter a commission, and the German did +not. + +"I should like you to paint my wife--and--and--my daughter," said Mr. +Granger, throwing in Sophia as an after-thought. It would be only civil to +have his daughter's portrait painted, he thought. + +Mr. Austin bowed. "I shall be most happy," he said. Clarissa's eyes +sparkled with delight. Sophia Granger saw the pleased look, and thought, +"O, the vanity of these children of perdition!" But she did not offer any +objection to the painting of her own likeness. + +"When shall we begin?" asked Mr. Granger. + +"My time is entirely at your disposal." + +"In that case, the sooner the thing is done the better. My wife cannot come +to your studio--she has so many claims upon her time--but that would make +no difficulty, I suppose?" + +"Not at all. I can paint Mrs. Granger in her own rooms as well as in mine, +if the light will serve." + +"One of our drawing-rooms faces the north," answered Mr. Granger, "and +the windows are large--larger than I like. Any loss of time which you may +suffer in accommodating Mrs. Granger must, of course, be considered in the +price of your pictures." + +"I have only one price for my pictures," replied Mr. Austin, with a +loftiness that astonished his patron. "I charge fifty guineas for a +portrait of that kind--whether it is painted for a duke or a grocer in the +Rue St. Honore." + +"I will give you a hundred guineas for each of the pictures, if they are +successes," said Mr. Granger. "If they are failures, I will give you your +own price, and make you a present of the canvasses." + +"I am not a stoic, and have no objection to accept a premium of a hundred +guineas from so distinguished a capitalist as Mr. Granger," returned Austin +Lovel, smiling. "I don't think Mrs. Granger's portrait will be a failure," +he added confidently, with a little look at Clarissa. + +Sophia Granger saw the look, and resented it. The painter had said nothing +of her portrait. It was of Clarissa's only that he thought. It was a very +small thing; but when her father's wife was concerned, small things were +great in the eyes of Miss Granger. + +There was no opportunity for confidential talk between Austin Lovel and his +sister that evening; but Clarissa went home happy in the expectation of +seeing her brother very often in the simplest, easiest way. The portraits +would take some time to paint, of course; indeed Austin might make the +business last almost as long as he liked. + +It was rather hard, however, to have to discuss her brother's merits with +Mr. and Miss Granger as if he had been a stranger; and Clarissa had to do +this going home in the carriage that night, and at breakfast next morning. +The young man was handsome, Mr. Granger remarked, but had rather a worn +look--a dissipated look, in point of fact. That sort of people generally +were dissipated. + +Mrs. Granger ventured to say that she did not think Mr. Austin looked +dissipated--a little worn, perhaps, but nothing more; and that might be the +effect of hard work. + +"My dear Clary, what can you know of the physiology of dissipation? I +tell you that young man is dissipated. I saw him playing _ecarte_ with +a Frenchman just before we left Madame Caballero's; and, unless I am +profoundly mistaken, the man is a gambler." + +Clarissa shuddered. She could not forget what George Fairfax had said to +her about her brother's ways, nor the fact that her remittances had seemed +of so little use to him. He seemed in good repute too, and talked of fifty +guineas for a picture with the utmost coolness. He must have earned a good +deal of money, and the money must have gone somewhere. In all the details +of his home there was evidence of extravagance in the past and poverty in +the present. + +He came at eleven o'clock on the second morning after Madame Caballero's +reception; came in a hired carriage, with his easel and all the +paraphernalia of his art. Mr. Granger had made a point of being present at +this first sitting, much to the discomfiture of Clarissa, who was yearning +for a long uninterrupted talk with her brother. Even when Mr. Granger +was absent, there would be Miss Granger, most likely, she thought, with +vexation; and, after all, these meetings with Austin would be only half +meetings. It would be pleasant only to see him, to hear his voice; but she +was longing to talk freely of the past, to give him counsel for the future. + +The drawing-room looking north was rather a dreary apartment, if any +apartment furnished with blue-satin damask and unlimited gilding can be +called dreary. There was splendour, of course, but it was a chilling kind +of splendour. The room was large and square, with two tall wide windows +commanding a view of one of the dullest streets in new Paris--a street at +the end of which workmen were still busy cutting away a hill, the removal +whereof was necessary for the realisation of the Augustan idea of that +archetypal city, which was to be left all marble. Mr. Granger's apartments +were in a corner house, and he had the advantage of this side view. There +was very little of what Mr. Wemmick called "portable property" in this +northern drawing-room. There were blue-satin divans running along the +walls, a couple of blue-satin easy-chairs, an ormolu stand with a monster +Sevres dish for cards, and that was all--a room in which one might, +"receive," but could scarcely live. + +The light was capital, Mr. Austin said. He set up his easel, settled the +position of his sister, after a little discussion with Mr. Granger, and +began work. Clarissa's was to be the first portrait. This being arranged, +Mr. Granger departed to write letters, leaving Sophia established, with her +Berlin-wool work, at one of the windows. Clarissa would not, of course, +like to be left _tete-a-tete_ for two or three hours with a strange +painter, Miss Granger opened. + +Yes, it was very pleasant to have him there, even though their talk was +restrained by the presence of a third person, and they could only speak of +indifferent things. Perhaps to Austin Lovel himself it was pleasanter to +have Miss Granger there than to be quite alone with his sister. He was very +fond of Clarissa, but there was much in his past life--some things in his +present life even--that would not bear talking of, and he shrank a little +from his sister's tender questioning. Protected by Miss Granger and her +Berlin-wool spaniels, he was quite at his ease, and ran gaily on about all +manner of things as he sketched his outline and set his palette. He gave +the two ladies a lively picture of existing French art, with little +satirical touches here and there. Even Sophia was amused, and blushed to +find herself comparing the social graces of Mr. Austin the painter with +those of Mr. Tillott the curate, very much to the advantage of the +former--blushed to find herself so much interested in any conversation that +was not strictly utilitarian or evangelical in its drift. Once or twice +Austin spoke of his travels, his Australian experiences; and at each +mention, Clarissa looked up eagerly, anxious to hear more. The history of +her brother's past was a blank to her, and she was keenly interested by the +slightest allusion that cast a ray of light upon it. Mr. Austin did not +care, however, to dwell much upon his own affairs. It was chiefly of +other people that he talked. Throughout that first sitting Miss Granger +maintained a dignified formality, tempered by maidenly graciousness. +The young man was amusing, certainly, and it was not often Miss Granger +permitted herself to be amused. She thought Clarissa was too familiar +with him, treated him too much with an air of perfect equality. A man who +painted portraits for hire should be received, Miss Granger thought, as one +would receive a superior kind of bootmaker. + +More than once, in fact, in the course of that agreeable morning, Clarissa +had for a moment forgotten that she was talking to Mr. Austin the painter, +and not to her brother Austin Lovel. More than once an unconscious +warmth or softness in her tone had made Miss Granger look up from her +embroidery-frame with the eyes of wonder. + +Mr. Granger came back to the drawing-room, having finished his +letter-writing just as the sitting concluded, and, luncheon being announced +at the same time, asked Mr. Austin to stay for that meal. Austin had no +objection to linger in his sister's society. He wanted to know what kind +of man this Daniel Granger was; and perhaps wanted to see what probability +there was of Daniel Granger's wife being able to supply him with money in +the future. Austin Lovel had, from his earliest boyhood, possessed a fatal +capacity for getting rid of money, and for getting into debt; not common +plain-sailing debt, which would lead at the worst to the Bankruptcy Court, +but liability of a more disreputable and perilous character, involving the +terror of disgrace, and entanglements that would have to be unravelled by a +police-magistrate. + +Racing debts, gambling debts, and bill-discounting transactions, had been +the agreeable variety of difficulties which had beset Austin Level's +military career; and at the end there had been something--something fully +known to a few only--which had made the immediate sale of his commission +a necessity. He was _allowed_ to sell it; and that was much, his friends +said. If his commanding officer had not been an easy-going kind of man, he +would scarcely have got off so cheaply. + +"I wonder how this fellow Granger would treat me, if he knew who I was?" he +thought to himself. "He'd inaugurate our acquaintance by kicking me out of +his house most likely, instead of asking me to luncheon." Notwithstanding +which opinion Mr. Austin sat down to share the sacred bread and salt with +his brother-in-law, and ate a cutlet _a la Maintenon_, and drank half a +bottle of claret, with a perfect enjoyment of the situation. He liked +the idea of being patronised by the man who would not have tolerated his +society for a moment, had he been aware of his identity. + +He talked of Parisian life during luncheon, keeping carefully clear of all +subjects which the "young person," as represented by Miss Granger, might +blush to hear; and Mr. Granger, who had only an Englishman's knowledge of +the city, was amused by the pleasant gossip. The meal lasted longer than +usual, and lost all its wonted formality; and the fair Sophia found herself +more and more interested in this fascinating painter, with his brilliant +dark eyes, and sarcastic mouth, and generally agreeable manner. She +sat next him at luncheon, and, when there came a little pause in the +conversation, began to question him about the state of the Parisian poor. +It was very bad, was it not? + +Mr. Austin shrugged his shoulders. + +"I don't know," he said, "but I don't think it would be possible for a man +to starve to death in Paris under the Imperial regime; and it seems very +easy for an Englishman to do it in Spitalfields or Mile-end New Town. You +don't hear of men and women found dead in their garrets from sheer hunger. +But of course there is a good deal of poverty and squalor to be found in +the city." + +And then Mr. Austin launched into a graphic description of some interesting +phases of life among the lower classes, borrowed from a novel that had been +recently delighting the reading public of France, but appropriated with +such an air of reality, that Miss Granger fancied this delightful painter +must spend some considerable part of his existence as a district visitor or +city missionary. + +"What a pity that Mr. Tillott has not his persuasive powers!" she thought; +Mr. Tillott's eloquence being, in fact, of a very limited order, chiefly +exhibiting itself in little jerky questions about the spiritual and +temporal welfare of his humble parishioners--questions which, in the +vernacular language of agricultural labourers, "put a chap's back up, +somehow." + +"I should like to show Mr. Austin the baby, Daniel," Clarissa said to her +husband shyly, while Miss Granger was keeping Austin hard and fast to the +amelioration of the working classes; "he would make such a lovely picture." + +Mr. Granger smiled, a quiet well-satisfied smile. He, the strong man, the +millowner and millionaire, was as weak as the weakest woman in all things +concerning the child of his mature age. + +"Yes," he said, with some affectation of indifference; "Lovel would make a +nice picture enough. We'll have him painted if you like, Clary, some day. +Send for him, my dear." + +She had her hand upon the bell directly. + +"Yes," she cried, "he would make the sweetest picture in the world, and +Austin shall paint him." + +The familiar mention of the name Austin, _tout court_, scared Mr. Granger +almost as much as a cannon fired close at his elbow might have done. He +stared at his wife with grave displeasure. + +"_Mr_. Austin can paint him some day, if you wish it, Clarissa," he said. + +Mrs. Granger blushed crimson; again she remembered that this brother she +loved so dearly was only a strange painter of portraits, whom it behoved +her to treat with only the most formal courtesy. She hated the deception; +and having a strong faith in her husband's generosity, was sorely tempted +to put an end to this acted lie on the spot, and to tell him who his guest +was; but fear of her brother's anger stopped her. She had no right to +betray him; she must wait his permission to tell the secret. + +"Even Sophia seems to like him," she thought; "and I don't think Daniel +could help being pleased with him, in spite of anything papa may have said +to his prejudice." + +The baby was brought, and, being in a benignant humour, was graciously +pleased to look his brightest and prettiest, and in nurse's phraseology, to +"take to" his unknown uncle. The unknown uncle kissed him affectionately, +and said some civil things about the colour of his eyes, and the plumpness +of his limbs--"quite a Rubens baby," and so on, but did not consider a +boy-baby an especially wonderful creature, having had two boy-babies of his +own, and not having particularly wanted them. He looked upon them rather as +chronic perplexities, like accommodation bills that had matured unawares. + +"And this is the heir of Arden," he said to himself, as he looked down at +the fat blue-eyed thing struggling in Clarissa's arms, with that desperate +desire to get nowhere in particular, common to infancy. "So this little +lump of humanity is the future lord of the home that should have been mine. +I don't know that I envy him. Country life and Arden would hardly have +suited me. I think I'd rather have an _entresol_ in the Champs Elysees, +and the run of the boulevards, than the gray old Court and a respectable +position. Unless a man's tastes are 'horsey' or agricultural, country life +must be a bore." + +Mr. Austin patted the plump young cheeks without any feeling of enmity. + +"Poor little beggar! What ghosts will haunt him in the old rooms by-and-by, +I wonder?" he said to himself, smiling down at the child. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. + +AUSTIN'S PROSPECTS. + + +The picture made rapid progress. For his very life--though the finishing of +his work had been the signal of his doom, and the executioner waiting to +make a sudden end of him when the last touch was laid upon the canvas, +Austin Lovel could not have painted slowly. The dashing offhand brush was +like a young thoroughbred, that could not be pulled, let the jockey saw at +his mouth as he might. And yet the painter would have liked much to prolong +this easy intercourse with his sister. But after Clarissa's portrait was +finished, there was Miss Granger to be painted; and then they would want a +picture of that unapproachable baby, no doubt; and after that, perhaps, +Mr. Granger might consent to have his massive features perpetuated. Austin +considered that the millionaire should be good for three hundred guineas or +so; he had promised two hundred, and the painter was spending the money by +anticipation as fast as he could. + +He came every other morning to the Rue de Morny, and generally stayed to +luncheon; and those mornings spent in his company were very pleasant to +Clarissa--as pleasant as anything could be which involved deception; there +was always the sting of that fact. Miss Granger was rarely absent for ten +minutes together on these occasions; it was only some lucky chance which +took her from the room to fetch some Berlin wool, or a forgotten skein of +floss silk for the perennial spaniels, and afforded the brother and sister +an opportunity for a few hurried words. The model villagers almost faded +out of Miss Granger's mind in this agreeable society. She found herself +listening to talk about things which were of the earth earthy, and was fain +to confess herself interested in the conversation. She dressed as +carefully to receive the painter as if he had been, to use her particular +phraseology, "a person in her own sphere;" and Mr. Tillott would have +thought his chances of success at a very low point, if he could have seen +her in Austin Lovel's presence. + +That gentleman himself was not slow to perceive the impression he had made. + +"It's rather a pity I'm married, isn't it, Clary?" he said to his sister +one day, when Sophia, whose habits had not been quite so methodical of +late, had gone in search of some white beads for the spaniels, some of +which were of a beady nature. "It would have been a great chance for me, +wouldn't it?" + +What do you mean, Austin?" + +"Miss Granger," answered the painter, without looking up from his work, "I +think she rather likes me, do you know; and I suppose her father will give +her fifty thousand or so when she marries, in spite of young Lovel. He +seems to have no end of money. It would have been an uncommonly good thing, +wouldn't it?" + +"I don't think it's any use talking of it, Austin, however good it might +have been; and I don't think Sophia would have suited you as a wife." + +"Not suited me--bosh! Any woman with fifty thousand pounds would have +suited me. However, you're right--there's no good in talking of _that_. I'm +booked. Poor little woman, she's a good wife to me; but it's rather a +pity. You don't know how many chances I might have had but for that +entanglement." + +"I wish, Austin, for your poor wife's sake, you'd let me tell my husband +who you are. This concealment seems so hard upon her, as well as a kind of +wrong to Daniel. I can do so little to serve her, and I might do so much, +if I could own her as my sister-in-law. I don't think Daniel could help +liking you, if he knew everything." + +"Drop that, if you please, Clarissa," said Austin, with a darkening +countenance. "I have told you that your husband and I can never be friends, +and I mean it. I don't want to be degraded by any intercession of yours. +_That's_ a little too much even for me. It suits my purpose well enough to +accept Mr. Granger's commissions; and of course it's very agreeable to see +you; but the matter must end there." + +Miss Granger returned at this moment; but had she stayed away for an hour, +Clarissa could scarcely have pressed the question farther. In the old days +when they had been boy and girl together, Austin seven years her senior, +Clarissa had always been just a little afraid of her brother; and she was +afraid of him now. + +The very fact of his somewhat dependent position made her more fearful +of offending him. She was anxious about his future anxious too about his +present mode of life; but she dared not question closely upon either +subject. Once, when she had ventured to ask him about his plan of life, he +answered in his careless off-hand way,-- + +"My dearest Clary, I have no plans. I like Paris; and if I am not +particularly successful here, I don't suppose I should be more successful +anywhere else. I mean to stay here as long as I can hold out. I know a good +many people, and sometimes get a stroke of luck." + +"But you are ruining your health. Austin, I fear, with--late hours, +and--and--parties." + +"Who told you I keep late hours? The Parisians, as a rule, don't go to bed +at curfew. I don't suppose I'm worse than my neighbours. If I didn't go +out, Clary, and keep myself in the minds of my patrons, I might rot in a +garret. You don't know how soon a man is forgotten--even a man who has made +his mark more positively than I have; and then you see, my dear, I like +society, and have no taste for the domestic hearth, except for variety, +once in a way, like dining on a bouillon after a week's high feeding. Yes, +come what may, I shall stay in Paris--as long as I can." + +There was something in the tone of the last words that alarmed Clarissa. + +"You--you--are not in debt, are you, Austin?" she asked timidly. + +"No--no--I'm not in debt; but I owe a good deal of money." + +Clarissa looked puzzled. + +"That is to say, I have no vulgar debts--butcher and baker, and so on; but +there are two or three things, involving some hundreds, which I shall have +to settle some of these days or else----" + +"Or else what, Austin?" + +"Cut Paris, Clary, that's all." + +Clarissa turned pale. Austin began to whistle a popular _cafe-chantant_ +air, as he bent over his palette, squeezing little dabs of Naples yellow +out of a leaden tube. Some hundreds!--that was a vague phrase, which might +mean a great deal of money; it was a phrase which alarmed Clarissa; but she +was much more alarmed by the recklessness of her brother's tone. + +"But if you owe money, you must pay it, Austin," she said; "you can't leave +a place owing money." + +The painter shrugged his shoulders. + +"It's not an agreeable thing to do," he said, "but it has been done. Of the +two, it's pleasanter than staying in a place where you owe money." + +"Of course I shall do all I can to help you, dear," said his sister. "There +will be a hundred and twenty-five pounds due to me at Christmas, and I'll +give you the hundred." + +"You're a first-rate girl, Clary, but I think that fellow Granger might +give you more pin-money. Five hundred a year is a beggarly pittance for a +man of his means." + +"It is more than I fancied I could ever want; and Daniel allows papa five +hundred a year, you know Austin." + +"Humph! that makes a thousand--no great things for a millionaire. A pretty +girl, married to a man of that stamp, ought to have unlimited command of +money," replied her brother. "It's the only compensation," he said to +himself afterwards. + +"I don't like to hear you say these things, Austin. My husband is very kind +to me. I'm afraid I'm not half as grateful as I ought to be." + +"Gratitude be----!" He did not finish the ejaculation. + +"Gratitude from a Lovel of twenty to a Granger of fifty! My dear Clary, +that's too good a joke! The man is well enough--better than I expected to +find him: but such a girl as you is a prize for which such a man could not +pay too highly." + +It was rarely they had the opportunity for so long a conversation as this; +and Austin was by no means sorry that it was so. He had very pressing need +of all the money his sister could give him; but he did not care to enter +into explanations about the state of his affairs. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. + +SISTERS-IN-LAW. + + +Clarissa did not forget the existence of the poor little wife in the Rue du +Chevalier Bayard; and on the very first afternoon which she had to herself, +Mr. Granger having gone to see some great cattle-fair a few miles from +Paris, and Miss Granger being afflicted with a headache, she took courage +to order her coachman to drive straight to the house where her brother +lived. + +"It is much better than making a mystery of it," she thought. + +"The man will think that I have come to see a milliner or some one of that +kind." + +The footman would fain have escorted Mrs. Granger the way she should go, +and held himself in readiness to accompany her into the house; but she +waved him aside on the threshold of the darksome _porte-cochere_, out of +which no coach ever came nowadays. + +"I shan't want you, Trotter," she said. "Tell Jarvis to walk the horses +gently up and down. I shall not be very long." + +The man bowed and obeyed, wondering what business his mistress could have +in such a dingy street, "on the Surrey side of the water, too," as he said +to his comrade. + +Austin was out, but Mrs. Lovel was at home, and it was Mrs. Lovel whom +Clarissa had come chiefly to see. The same tawdrily-dressed maid admitted +her to the same untidy sitting-room, a shade more untidy to-day, where +Bessie Lovel was dozing in an easy-chair by the fire, while the two boys +played and squabbled in one of the windows. + +Mrs. Granger, entering suddenly, radiant in golden-brown moire and sables, +seemed almost to dazzle the eyes of Austin's wife, who had not seen much +of the brighter side of existence Her life before her marriage had been +altogether sordid and shabby, brightness or luxury of any kind for her +class being synonymous with vice; and Bessie Stanford the painter's model +had never been vicious. Her life since her marriage had been a life of +trouble and difficulty, with only occasional glimpses of spurious kind of +brilliancy. She lived outside her husband's existence, as it were, and felt +somehow that she was only attached to him by external links, as a dog might +have been. He had a certain kind of affection for her, was conscious of +her fidelity, and grateful for her attachment; and there an end. Sympathy +between them there was none; nor had he ever troubled himself to cultivate +her tastes, or attempted in the smallest degree to bring her nearer to him. +To Bessie Lovel, therefore, this sister of her husband's, in all the glory +of her fresh young beauty and sumptuous apparel, seemed a creature of +another sphere, something to be gazed upon almost in fear and trembling. + +"I beg your parding!" she faltered, rubbing her eyes. She was apt, when +agitated, to fall back upon the pronunciation of her girlhood, before +Austin Lovel had winced and ejaculated at her various mutilations of the +language. "I was just taking forty winks after my bit of dinner." + +"I am so sorry I disturbed you," said Clarissa, in her gracious way. "You +were tired, I daresay." + +"O, pray don't mention it! I'm sure I feel it a great compliment your +comin'. It must seem a poor place to you after your beautiful house in the +Roo de Morny. Austin told me where you lived; and I took the liberty of +walking that way one evening with a lady friend. I'm sure the houses are +perfect palaces." + +"I wish you could come to my house as my sister-in-law ought," replied +Clarissa. "I wanted to confide in my husband, to bring about a friendship +between him and my brother, if I could; but Austin tells me that is +impossible. I suppose he knows best. So, you see, I am obliged to act in +this underhand way, and to come to see you by stealth, as it were." + +"It's very good of you to come at all," answered the wife with a sigh. "It +isn't many of Austin's friends take any notice of me. I'm sure most of 'em +treat me as if I was a cipher. Not that I mind that, provided he could +get on; but it's dinners there, and suppers here, and never no orders for +pictures, as you may say. He had next to nothing to do all the autumn; +Paris being so dull, you know, with all the high people away at the sea. He +painted Madame Caballero for nothing, just to get himself talked of among +her set; and if it wasn't for Mr. Granger's orders, I don't know where +we should be.--Come and speak to your aunt, Henery and Arthur, like good +boys." + +This to the olive-branches in the window, struggling for the possession of +a battered tin railway-engine with a crooked chimney. + +"She ain't my aunt," cried the eldest hope. "I haven't got no aunt." + +"Yes, this is your aunt Clarissa. You've heard papa talk of her." + +"Yes, I remember," said the boy sharply. "I remember one night when he +talked of Arden Court and Clarissa, and thumped his forehead on the +mantelpiece like that;" and the boy pantomimed the action of despair. + +"He has fits of that kind sometimes," said Bessie Lovel, "and goes on about +having wasted his life, and thrown away his chances, and all that. He used +to go on dreadful when we were in Australia, till he made me that nervous I +didn't know what to do, thinking he'd go and destroy himself some day. But +he's been better since we've been in Paris. The gaiety suits him. He says +he can't live without society." + +Clarissa sighed. Little as she knew of her brother's life, she knew enough +to be very sure that love of society had been among the chief causes of his +ruin. She took one of her nephews on her lap, and talked to him, and let +him play with the trinkets on her chain. Both the children were bright and +intelligent enough, but had that air of premature sharpness which comes +from constant intercourse with grown-up people, and an early initiation in +the difficulties of existence. + +She could only stay half an hour with her sister-in-law; but she could see +that her visit of duty had gratified the poor little neglected wife. She +had not come empty-handed, but had brought an offering for Bessie Lovel +which made the tired eyes brighten with something of their old light--a +large oval locket of massive dead gold, with a maltese cross of small +diamonds upon it; one of the simplest ornaments which Daniel Granger had +given her, and which she fancied herself justified in parting with. She had +taken it to a jeweller in the Palais Royal, who had arranged a lock of her +dark-brown hair, with a true-lover's knot of brilliants, inside the locket, +and had engraved the words "From Clarissa" on the back. + +Mrs. Lovel clasped her hands in rapture as Clarissa opened the morocco case +and showed her this jewel. + +"For me!" she cried. "I never had anything half as beautiful in my life. +And your 'air, too!" She said "'air" in her excitement. "How good of you to +give it to me! I don't know how to thank you." + +And the poor little woman made a rapid mental review of her wardrobe, +wondering if she had any gown good enough to wear with that splendid jewel. +Her purple silk--the one silk dress she possessed--was a little shiny +and shabby by daylight, but looked very well by candle-light still, she +thought. She was really delighted with the locket. In all her life she had +had so few presents; and this one gift was worth three times the sum of +them. But Clarissa spoke of it in the lightest, most careless way. + +"I wanted to bring you some little souvenir," she said, "and I thought +you might like this. And now I must say good-bye, Bessie. I may call you +Bessie, mayn't I? And remember, you must call me Clarissa. I am sorry I +am obliged to hurry away like this; but I expect Mr. Granger back rather +early, and I want to be at home when he returns. Good-bye, dear!" + +She kissed her brother's wife, who clung to her affectionately, touched by +her kindness; kissed the two little nephews also, one of whom caught hold +of her dress and said,-- + +"You gave me that money for toys the other day, didn't you, aunt Clarissa?" + +"Yes, darling." + +"But I didn't have it to spend, though. Pa said he'd lay it out for me; +and he brought me home a cart from the Boulevard; but it didn't cost two +napoleons. It was a trumpery cart, that went smash the first time Arthur +and I stood in it." + +"You shouldn't stand in a toy-cart, dear. I'll bring you some toys the next +time I come to see mamma." + +They were out on the landing by this time. Clarissa disengaged herself from +the little fellow, and went quickly down the darksome staircase. + +"Will that be soon?" the boy called over the banisters. + +"I do hope I shall be able to keep it," said Bessie Lovel presently, as she +stood in the window gloating over her locket; whereby it will be seen +that Austin's wife did not feel so secure as she might have done in the +possession of her treasure. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. + +"AND THROUGH THY LIFE HAVE I NOT WRIT MY NAME?" + + +Mid-Winter had come, and the pleasures and splendours of Paris were at +their apogee. The city was at its gayest--that beautiful city, which we +can never see again as we have seen it; which we lament, as some fair and +radiant creature that has come to an untimely death. Paris the beautiful, +Paris the beloved, imperial Paris, with her air of classic splendour, like +the mistress of a Caesar, was in these days overshadowed by no threatening +thundercloud, forerunner of the tempest and earthquake to come. The winter +season had begun; and all those wanderers who had been basking through +the autumn under the blue skies that roof the Pyrenees, or dawdling away +existence in German gambling-saloons, or climbing Alpine peaks, or paddling +down the Danube, flocked back to the central city of civilization in time +to assist at Patti's reappearance in the Rue Lepelletier, or to applaud a +new play of Sardou's at the Gymnase. + +Amongst this flock of returning pilgrims came George Fairfax, very much the +worse for two or three months spent in restless meanderings between Baden +and Hombourg, with the consciousness of a large income at his disposal, and +a certain reckless indifference as to which way his life drifted, that had +grown upon him of late years. + +He met Mr. and Mrs. Granger within twenty-four hours of his arrival in +Paris, at a ball at the British embassy--the inaugural fete of the season, +as it were, to which the master of Arden Court, by right of his wealth and +weight in the North Riding, had been bidden. The ambassadorial card had +ignored Miss Granger, much to the damsel's dissatisfaction. + +Clarissa came upon Mr. Fairfax unawares in the glazed colonnade upon which +the ball-room opened, where he was standing alone, staring moodily at a +tall arum lily shooting up from a bed of ferns, when she approached on +her partner's arm, taking the regulation promenade after a waltz. The +well-remembered profile, which had grown sharper and sterner since she had +seen it for the first time, struck her with a sudden thrill, half pleasure, +half terror. Yes; she was pleased to see him; she, the wife of Daniel +Granger, felt her heart beating faster, felt a sense of joy strangely +mingled with fear. In all the occupations of her life, even amidst the +all-absorbing delight of her child's society, she had not been able quite +to forget this man. The one voice that had touched her heart, the one face +that had haunted her girlish dream, came back to her again and again in +spite of herself. In the dead of the night she had started up from her +pillow with the sound of George Fairfax's familiar tones in her ears; in +too many a dream she had acted over again the meeting in the orchard, and +heard his voice upbraiding her, and had seen his face dark and angry in +the dim light. She had done her duty to Daniel Granger; but she had not +forgotten the man she had loved, and who had loved her after his fashion; +and often in her prayers she had entreated that she might never see him +again. + +Her prayers had not been granted--perhaps they did not come so entirely +from the heart, as prayers should, that would fain bring a blessing. He was +here; here to remind her how much she had loved him in the days gone by--to +bewilder her brain with conflicting thoughts. He turned suddenly from that +gloomy contemplation of the arum lily, and met her face to face. + +That evening-dress of ours, which has been so liberally abused for its +ugliness, is not without a certain charm when worn by a handsome man. +A tall man looks taller in the perfect black. The broad expanse of +shirt-front, with its delicate embroidery, not obtrusively splendid, but +minutely elaborate rather, involving the largest expenditure of needlework +to produce the smallest and vaguest effect--a suspicion of richness, as it +were, nothing more; the snowy cambric contrasts with the bronzed visage +of the soldier, or blends harmoniously with the fair complexion of the +fopling, who has never exposed his countenance to the rough winds of +heaven; the expanse of linen proclaims the breadth of chest, and gives a +factitious slimness to the waist. Such a costume, relieved perhaps by +the flash of some single jewel, not large, but priceless, is scarcely +unbecoming, and possibly more aesthetic in its simplicity than the +gem-besprinkled brocades and velvets of a Buckingham, in the days when men +wore jewelled cloaks on their shoulders, and point d'Alencon flounces round +their knees. + +George Fairfax, in this evening dress, looked supremely handsome. It is a +poor thing, of course, in man or woman, this beauty; but it has its charm +nevertheless, and in the being who is loved for other and far higher +qualities, the charm is tenfold. Few women perhaps have ever fallen in love +with a man on account of his good looks; they leave such weak worship for +the stronger sex; but having loved him for some other indefinable reason, +are not indifferent to the attraction of splendid eyes or a faultless +profile. + +Clarissa trembled a little as she held out her hand to be clasped in George +Fairfax's strong fingers, the quiet pressure whereof seemed to say, "You +_know_ that you and I are something more to each other than the world +supposes." + +She could not meet him without betraying, by some faint sign, that there +was neither forgetfulness nor indifference in her mind as to the things +that concerned him. + +Her late partner--a youthful secretary of legation, with straw-coloured +hair and an incipient moustache--murmured something civil, and slid away, +leaving those two alone beside the arum lily, or as much alone as they +could be in a place, where the guests were circulating freely, and +about half-a-dozen flirtations ripening amidst the shining foliage of +orange-trees and camellias. + +"I thought I should meet you here to-night," he said. "I came here in the +hope of meeting you." + +She was not an experienced woman of the world, skilled in the art of +warding off such a speech as this. She had never flirted in her life, and +sorely felt the want of that facility which comes from long practice. + +"Have you seen my husband?" she asked, awkwardly enough, in her distress. + +"I did not come to see Mr. Granger. It was the hope of seeing you that +brought me here. I am as great a fool as I was at Hale Castle, you see, +Clarissa. There are some follies of which a man cannot cure himself." + +"Mr. Fairfax!" + +She looked up at him gravely, reproachfully, with as much anger as she +could bring herself to feel against him; but as their eyes met, something +in his--a look that told too plainly of passion and daring--made her +eyelids fall, and she stood before him trembling like a frightened child. +And this moment was perhaps the turning-point in Clarissa's life--the +moment in which she took the first step on the wrong road that was to lead +her so far away from the sacred paths of innocence and peace. + +George Fairfax drew her hand through his arm--she had neither strength nor +resolution to oppose him--and led her away to the quietest corner of the +colonnade--a recess sheltered by orange-trees, and provided with a rustic +bench. + +There is no need to record every word that was spoken there; it was the old +story of a man's selfish guilty love, and a woman's sinful weakness. He +spoke, and Clarissa heard him, not willingly, but with faint efforts of +resistance that ended in nothing. She heard him. Never again could she meet +Daniel Granger's honest gaze as she had done--never, it seemed to her, +could she lose the sense of her sin. + +He told her how she had ruined his life. That was his chief reproach, and a +reproach that a woman can rarely hear unmoved. He painted in the briefest +words the picture of what he might have been, and what he was. If his life +were wrecked utterly--and from his own account of himself it must needs be +so,--the wreck was her fault. He had been ready to sacrifice everything for +her. She had basely cheated him. His upbraiding stung her too keenly; she +could keep her secret no longer. + +"I had promised Laura Armstrong," she said--"I had promised her that no +power on earth should tempt me to marry you--if you should ask me." + +"You had promised!" he cried contemptuously. "Promised that shallow +trickster! I might have known she had a hand in my misery. And you thought +a promise to her more sacred than good faith to me? That was hard, +Clarissa." + +"It was hard," she answered, in a heart-broken voice. + +"My God!" he cried, looking at her with those passionate eyes, "and yet +you loved me all the time?" + +"With all my heart," she faltered, and then hid her face in her hands. + +It seemed as if the confession had been wrung from her somehow. In the next +moment she hated herself for having said the words, and calming herself +with a great effort, said to him quietly. + +"And now that you know how weak I was, when I seemed indifferent to you, +have pity upon me, Mr. Fairfax." + +"Pity!" he exclaimed. "It is not a question of pity; it is a question of +two lives that have been blighted through your foolish submission to that +plotting woman. But there must be some recompense to be found in the future +for all the tortures of the past. I have broken every tie for your sake, +Clarissa; you must make some sacrifice for me." + +Clarissa looked at him wonderingly. Was he so mad as to suppose that she +was of the stuff that makes runaway wives? + +"Your father tempted my mother, Mr. Fairfax," she said, "but I thank Heaven +she escaped him. The role of seducer seems hereditary in your family. +You could not make me break my word when I was free to marry you; do you +believe that you can make me false to my husband?" + +"Yes, Clarissa. I swore as much that night in the orchard--swore that I +would win you, in spite of the world." + +"And my son," she said, with the tone she might have used if he had been +one-and-twenty, "is he to blush for his mother by and by?" + +"I have never found that sons have a faculty for blushing on account of +that kind of thing," Mr. Fairfax answered lightly.--"Egad, there'd be a +great deal of blushing going on at some of the crack clubs if they had!" he +said to himself afterwards. + +Clarissa rose from the seat amongst the orange-trees, and George Fairfax +did not attempt to detain her. + +He offered her his arm to conduct her back to the ball-room; they had been +quite long enough away. He did not want to attract attention; and he had +said as much as he cared to say. + +He felt very sure of his ground now. She loved him--that was the +all-important point. His wounded self-esteem was solaced by this knowledge. +His old sense of power came back to him. He had felt himself all at sea, as +it were, when he believed it possible that any woman he cared to win could +be indifferent to him. + +From the other side of the ball-room Mr. Granger saw his wife re-enter +arm-in-arm with George Fairfax. The sight gave him a little shock. He had +hoped that young man was far enough away, ruining himself in a fashionable +manner somehow; and here he was in attendance upon Clarissa. He remembered +how his daughter had said that George Fairfax was sure to meet them in +Paris, and his own anger at the suggestion. He would be obliged to be civil +to the young man, of course. There was no reason indeed that he should be +otherwise than civil--only that lurking terror in his mind, that this was +the man his wife had loved. _Had_ loved? is there any past tense to that +verb? + +Mrs. Granger dropped Mr. Fairfax's arm directly they came to a vacant seat. + +"I am rather tired," she said, in her coldest voice. "I think I'll rest a +little, if you please. I needn't detain you. I daresay you are engaged for +the next dance." + +"No. I seldom dance." + +He stood by her side. One rapid glance across the room had shown him Daniel +Granger making his way towards them, looking unspeakably ponderous and +British amidst that butterfly crowd. He did not mean to leave her just +yet, in spite of her proprietor's approach. She belonged to him, he told +himself, by right of that confession just now in the conservatory. It was +only a question when he should take her to himself. He felt like some bold +rover of the seas, who has just captured a gallant craft, and carries her +proudly over the ocean chained to his gloomy hull. + +She was his, he told himself; but before he could carry her away from her +present surroundings he must play the base part which he had once thought +he never could play. He must be civil to Daniel Granger, mask his +batteries, win his footing in the household, so that he might have easy +access to the woman he loved, until one day the thunderbolt would descend, +and an honest man be left desolate, "with his household gods shattered." It +was just one of those sins that will not bear contemplation. George Fairfax +was fain to shut his eyes upon the horror and vileness of it, and only to +say to himself doggedly, "I have sworn to win her." + +Mr. Granger greeted him civilly enough presently, and with the stereotyped +cordiality which may mean anything or nothing. Was Mr. Fairfax going to +remain long in Paris? Yes, he meant to winter there, if nothing better +turned up. + +"After all, you see," he said, "there is no place like Paris. One gets +tired of it, of course, in time; but I find that in other places one is +always tired." + +"A very pleasant ball," remarked Mr. Granger, with the air of saying +something original. "You have been dancing, I suppose?" + +"No," replied Mr. Fairfax, smiling; "I have come into my property. I don't +dance. 'I range myself,' as our friends here say." + +He thought, as he spoke, of sundry breakneck gallops and mahlstrom waltzes +danced in gardens and saloons, the very existence whereof was ignored by or +unknown to respectability; and then thought, "If I were safely planted on +the other side of the world with _her_ for my wife, it would cost me no +more to cut all that kind of thing than it would to throw away a handful of +withered flowers." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. + +STOLEN HOURS. + + +Miss Granger's portrait was finished; and the baby picture--a chubby +blue-eyed cherub, at play on a bank of primroses, with a yellowhammer +perched on a blossoming blackthorn above his head, and just a glimpse of +blue April sky beyond; a dainty little study of colour in which the painter +had surpassed himself--was making rapid progress, to the young mother's +intense delight. Very soon Mr. Austin would have no longer the privilege +of coming every other day to the Rue da Morny. Daniel Granger had declined +sitting for his portrait. + +"I did it once," he said. "The Bradford people insisted upon making me a +present of my own likeness, life-size, with my brown cob, Peter Pindar, +standing beside me. I was obliged to hang the picture in the hall at +Arden--those good fellows would have been wounded if I hadn't given it a +prominent position; but that great shining brown cob plays the mischief +with my finest Velasquez, a portrait of Don Carlos Baltazar, in white satin +slashed with crimson. No; I like your easy, dashing style very much, Mr. +Austin; but one portrait in a lifetime is quite enough for me." + +As the Granger family became more acclimatised, as it were, Clarissa found +herself with more time at her disposal. Sophia had attached herself to +a little clique of English ladies, and had her own engagements and her +separate interests. Clarissa's friends were for the most part Frenchwomen, +whom she had known in London, or to whom she had been introduced by Lady +Laura. Mr. Granger had his own set, and spent his afternoons agreeably +enough, drinking soda water, reading _Galignani_, and talking commerce or +politics with his compeers at the most respectable cafe on the Boulevards. +Being free therefore to dispose of her afternoons, Clarissa, when Lovel's +picture was finished, went naturally to the Rue du Chevalier Bayard. Having +once taken her servants there, she had no farther scruples. "They will +think I come to see a dressmaker," she said to herself. But in this she did +not give those domestic officers credit for the sharpness of their class. +Before she had been three times to her brother's lodgings, John Thomas, +the footman, had contrived--despite his utter ignorance of the French +tongue--to discover who were the occupants of No. 7, and had ascertained +that Mr. Austin, the painter, was one of them. + +"Who'd have thought of her coming to see that chap Hostin?" said John +Thomas to the coachman. "That's a rum start, ain't it?" + +"Life is made up of rum starts, John Thomas," replied the coachman +sententiously. "Is there a Mrs. Hostin, do you know?" + +"Yes, he's got a wife. I found that out from the porter, though the blessed +old buffer can't speak anything but his French gibberish. 'Madame?' I said, +bawling into his stupid old ear. 'Mossoo and Madame Hostin? comprenny?' and +he says, 'Ya-ase,' and then bursts out laughing, and looks as proud as a +hen that's just laid a hegg--' Ya-ase, Mossoo et Madame." + +George Fairfax and Clarissa met very frequently after that ball at the +Embassy. It happened that they knew the same people; Mr. Fairfax, indeed, +knew every one worth knowing in Paris; and he seemed to have grown suddenly +fond of respectable society, going everywhere in the hope of meeting Mrs. +Granger, and rarely staying long anywhere, if he did not meet her. There +were those who observed this peculiarity in his movements, and shrugged +their shoulders significantly. It was to be expected, of course, said this +butterfly section of humanity: a beautiful young woman, married to a man +old enough to be her father, would naturally have some one interested in +her. + +Sometimes Clarissa met George Fairfax in her brother's painting-room; +so often, indeed, that she scarcely cared to keep an account of these +meetings. Austin knew a good many clever agreeable Americans and Frenchmen, +and his room was a pleasant lounge for idle young men, with some interest +in art, and plenty to say upon every subject in the universe. If there +were strangers in the painting-room when Mrs. Granger came to the Rue +du Chevalier Bayard, she remained in the little salon, talking to her +sister-in-law and the two precocious nephews; but it happened generally +that George Fairfax, by some mysterious means, became aware of her +presence, and one of the folding-doors would open presently, and the tall +figure appear. + +"Those fellows have fairly smoked me out, Mrs. Austin," he would say.--"Ah, +how do you do, Mrs. Granger? I hope you'll excuse any odour of Victorias +and Patagas I may bring with me. Your brother's Yankee friends smoke like +so many peripatetic furnaces." + +And then he would plant himself against a corner of the mantelpiece, and +remain a fixture till Clarissa departed. It was half-an-hour's talk that +was almost a tete-a-tete. Bessie Lovel counted for so little between those +two. Half-an-hour of dangerous happiness, which made all the rest of Mrs. +Granger's life seem dull and colourless; the thought of which even came +between her and her child. + +Sometimes she resolved that she would go no more to that shabby street on +the "Surrey side"; but the resolve was always broken. Either Austin had +asked her to come for some special reason, or the poor little wife had +begged some favour of her, which required personal attention; there was +always something. + +Those were pleasant afternoons, when the painting-room was empty of +strangers, and Clarissa sat in a low chair by the fire, while George +Fairfax and her brother talked. Austin was never so brilliant as in +George's company; the two men suited each other, had lived in the same +world, and loved the same things. They talked of all things in heaven and +earth, touching lightly upon all, and with a careless kind of eloquence +that had an especial fascination for the listener. It seemed as if she had +scarcely lived in the dull interval between those charmed days at Hale +Castle and these hours of perilous delight; as if she had been half-stifled +by the atmosphere of common-sense which had pervaded her existence--crushed +and borne down by the weight of Daniel Granger's sober companionship. +_This_ was fairyland--a region of enchantment, fall of bright thoughts and +pleasant fancies; _that_ a dismal level drill-ground, upon which all the +world marched in solid squares, to the monotonous cry of a serjeant-major's +word of command. One may ride through a world of weariness in a +barouche-and-pair. Clarissa had not found her husband's wealth by any +means a perennial source of happiness, nor even the possession of Arden an +unfailing consolation. + +It was strange how this untidy painting-room of Austin's, with its tawdry +dilapidated furniture--all of which had struck her with a sense of +shabbiness and dreariness at first--had grown to possess a charm for her. +In the winter gloaming, when the low wood fire glowed redly on the hearth, +and made a flickering light upon the walls, the room had a certain +picturesque aspect. The bulky Flemish cabinets, with their coarse florid +carving, stood boldly out from the background, with red gleams from the +fire reflected on chubby cherub heads and mediaeval monsters. The faded +curtains lost their look of poverty, and had only the sombre air of age; an +old brass chandelier of the Louis Quatorze period, which Austin had hung in +in the centre of his room, flashed and glittered in the uncertain, light; +and those two figures--one leaning against the mantelpiece, the other +prowling restlessly to and fro as he talked, carrying a mahl-stick, which +he waved ever and anon like the rod of a magician--completed the picture. +It was a glimpse of the behind-the-scenes in the great world of art, a peep +into Bohemia; and O, how much brighter a region it seemed to Clarissa than +that well-regulated world in which she dined every day at the same hour, +with four solemn men watching the banquet, and wound up always with the +game dismal quarter of an hour's sitting in state at dessert! + +Those stolen hours in Austin's painting-room had too keen a fascination for +her. Again and again she told herself that she would come no more, and yet +she came. She was so secure of her own integrity, so fenced and defended by +womanly pride, that she argued with herself there could be neither sin nor +danger in these happy respites from the commonplace dreariness of her life. +And yet, so inconsistent is human nature, there were times when this woman +flung herself upon the ground beside her baby's crib, and prayed God to +pardon her iniquities. + +Austin was much too careless to be conscious of his sister's danger. George +Fairfax had made an afternoon lounge of his rooms in the previous winter; +it was no new thing for him to come there three or four times a week; and +Austin did not for a moment suspect that Clarissa's occasional presence had +anything to do with these visits. + +When the three portraits were finished, Mr. Granger expressed himself +highly content with them, and gave Austin Lovel a cheque for three hundred +pounds; a sum which, in the painter's own words, ought to have set him +upon his legs. Unhappily, Austin's legs, from a financial point of view, +afforded only the most insecure basis--were always slipping away from him, +in fact. Three hundred pounds in solid cash did not suffice for even his +most pressing needs. He saw nothing before him but the necessity of an +ignominious flight from Paris. It was only a question of when and where he +should fly; there was no question as to the fact. + +He did not care to tell Clarissa this, however. It would be time enough +when the thing was done, or just about to be done. All his life he had been +in the habit of shirking unpleasant subjects, and he meant to shirk this as +long as he could. He might have borrowed money of George Fairfax, no doubt; +but unfortunately he was already in that gentleman's debt, for money +borrowed during the previous winter; so he scarcely cared to make any new +appeal in that quarter. + +So the unsubstantial Bohemian existence went on; and to Clarissa, for +whom this Bohemia was an utterly new world, it seemed the only life worth +living. Her brother had been pleased to discover the ripening of her +artistic powers, and had given her some rough-and-ready lessons in the art +she loved so well. Sometimes, on a bright wintry morning, when Mr. Granger +was engaged out of doors, she brought her portfolio to the Rue du Chevalier +Bayard, and painted there for an hour or so. At first this had been a +secure hour for unreserved talk with her brother; but after she had been +there two or three mornings in this way, Mr. Fairfax seemed mysteriously +aware of her movements, and happened to drop in while she was taking her +lesson. + +It is not to be supposed that Clarissa could be so much away from home +without attracting the attention of Miss Granger. Whether that young lady +was at home or abroad, she contrived to keep herself always well informed +as to the movements of her stepmother. She speculated, and wondered, and +puzzled herself a good deal about these frequent outings; and finding +Clarissa singularly reticent upon the subject, grew daily more curious and +suspicious; until at last she could endure the burden of this perplexity no +longer, without some relief in words, and was fain to take the judicious +Warman into her confidence. + +"Has Mrs. Granger been out again this afternoon, Warman?" she asked one +evening, when the handmaiden was dressing her hair for dinner. + +"Yes, miss. The carriage came home just now. I heard it Mrs. Granger went +out almost directly after you did." + +"I wonder she can care to waste so much time in calls," said Sophia. + +"Yes, miss, it is odd; and almost always the same place too, as you may +say. But I suppose Mrs. Granger was intimate with Mr. and Mrs. Austin +before her marriage." + +"Mr. and Mrs. Austin! What do you mean, Warman?" + +"Lor', miss, I thought you would know where she went, as a matter of +course. It seems only natural you should. I've heard Jarvis mention it at +supper. Jarvis has his meals at _our_ table, you know, miss. 'We've been +to the Rue du Cavalier Barnard again to-day,' he says, 'which I suppose +is French for Barnard's-inn. Missus and them Austins must be very thick.' +Jarvis has no manners, you know, miss; and that's just his uncultivated way +of speaking. But from what I've heard him remark, I'm sure Mrs. Granger +goes to call upon the Austins as much as three times a week, and seldom +stops less than an hour." + +A deadly coldness had crept over Sophia Granger--a cold, blank feeling, +which had never come upon her until that moment. He had a wife, then, that +dashing young painter with the brilliant brown eyes--the only man who had +ever aroused the faintest interest in her well-regulated soul. He was +married, and any vague day-dream with which she had interwoven his image +was the merest delusion and phantasmagoria. She was unspeakably angry +with herself for this unworthy weakness. A painter--a person paid by her +father--something less than a curate--if it was possible for any creature +to seem less than Mr. Tillott in Sophia's estimation. He was a married +man--a base impostor, who had sailed under false colours--a very pirate. +All those graceful airy compliments, those delicate attentions, which +had exercised such a subtle influence over her narrow mind--had, indeed, +awakened in her something that was almost sentiment--were worse than +meaningless, were the wiles of an adventurer trading on her folly. + +"He wanted to paint papa's picture," she thought, "and I suppose he fancied +my influence might help him." + +But what of Clarissa's visits to the painter's lodgings? what possible +reason could she have for going there? Miss Granger's suspicions were +shapeless and intangible as yet, but she did suspect. More than once--many +times, in fact--during the painting of the portrait, she had seen, or had +imagined she could see, signs and tokens of a closer intimacy between +the painter and her father's wife than was warranted by their ostensible +acquaintance. The circumstances were slight enough in themselves, but these +fragile links welded together made a chain which would have been good +enough evidence in a criminal court, skilfully handled by an Old Bailey +lawyer. Sophia Granger racked her brain to account for this suspected +intimacy. When and where had these two been friends, lovers perhaps? Mr. +Austin had been away from England for many years, if his own statement were +to be believed. It must have been abroad, therefore, that Clarissa had +known him--in her school-days. He had been drawing-master, perhaps, in the +seminary at Belforet. What more likely? + +Miss Granger cherished the peculiar British idea of all foreign schools, +that they were more or less sinks of iniquity. A flirtation between +drawing-master and pupil would be a small thing in such a pernicious +atmosphere. Even amidst the Arcadian innocence of native academies such +weeds have flourished This flirtation, springing up in foreign soil, would +be of course ten times more desperate, secret, jesuitical in fact, than any +purely English product. + +Yes, Miss Granger decided at the end of every silent debate in which she +argued this question with herself--yes, that was the word of the enigma. +These two had been lovers in the days that were gone; and meeting again, +both married, they were more than half lovers still. + +Clarissa made some excuse to see her old admirer frequently. She was taking +lessons in painting, perhaps. Miss Granger observed that she painted more +than usual lately--merely for the sake of seeing him. + +And how about George Fairfax? Well, that flirtation, of course, was of +later date and a less serious affair. Jealousy--a new kind of jealousy, +more bitter even than that which she had felt when Clarissa came between +her and her father--sharpened Miss Granger's suspicions in this case. She +was jealous even of that supposed flirtation at Belforet, four or five +years ago. She was angry with Clarissa for having once possessed this man's +heart; ready to suspect her of any baseness in the past, any treason in the +present. + +The Grangers were at Madame Caballero's two or three evenings after this +revelation of Warman's, and Sophia had an opportunity of gleaning some +scraps of information from the good-natured little lion-huntress. Madame +had been asking her if Mr. Austin's portraits had been a success. + +"Yes; papa thinks they are excellent, and talks about having them exhibited +in the salon. Mr. Austin is really very clever. Do you know, I was not +aware that he was married, till the other day?" Sophia added, with a +careless air. + +"Indeed! Yes, there is a wife, I understand; but she never goes into +society; no one hears of her. For my part I think him charming." + +"Has he been long in Paris?" + +Madame Caballero shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know," she said. "I have +only known of his existence since he became famous--in a small way--a very +small way, of course. He exhibited some military sketches, which attracted +the attention of a friend of mine, who talked to me about him. I said at +once, 'Bring him here. I can appreciate every order of genius, from Ary +Scheffer to Gavarni.' The young man came, and I was delighted with him. I +admitted him among my intimates; and he insisted on painting the picture +which your papa was good enough to admire." + +"Do you know how he lived before he came into notice--if he has ever been a +drawing-master, for instance?" + +"I know that he has given lessons. I have heard him complain of the +drudgery of teaching." + +This sustained Miss Granger's theory. It seemed so likely. No other +hypothesis presented itself to her mind. + +Day by day she watched and waited and speculated, hearing of all Clarissa's +movements from the obsequious Warman, who took care to question Mrs. +Granger's coachman in the course of conversation, in a pleasant casual +manner, as to the places to which he had taken his mistress. She waited and +made no sign. There was treason going on. The climax and explosion would +come in good time. + +In the meanwhile, Clarissa seemed almost entirely free. Mr. Granger, after +living for nearly fifty years of his life utterly unaffected by feminine +influence, was not a man to hang upon his wife's footsteps or to hold her +bound to his side. If she had returned his affection with equal measure, if +that sympathy for which he sighed in secret could have arisen between them, +he might have been as devoted a slave as love could make an honest man. As +it was, his married life at its best was a disappointment. Only in the +fond hopes and airy visions which his son had inspired, did he find the +happiness he had dreamt of when he first tried to win Clarissa for his +wife. Here alone, in his love for his child, was there a pure and perfect +joy. All other dreams ended in bitter waking. His wife had never loved +him, never would love him. She was grateful for his affection, obedient, +submissive; her grace and beauty gave him a reflected lustre in society. +She was a creature to be proud of, and he was proud of her; but she did +not love him. And with this thought there came always a sudden agony of +jealousy. If not him, what other had she loved? Whose image reigned in the +heart so closely shut against him? Who was that man, the mere memory of +whom was more to her than the whole sum of her husband's devotion? + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. + +"FROM CLARISSA." + + +That jewel which Clarissa had given to Bessie Lovel was a treasure of +price, the very possession whereof was almost an oppressive joy to the poor +little woman, whose chief knowledge of life came from the experience of its +debts and difficulties. That the massive gold locket with the diamond cross +would be required of her sooner or later, to be handed into the ruthless +paw of a clerk at the _mont de piete_, she had little doubt. Everything +that she or her husband had ever possessed worth possessing had so +vanished--had been not an absolute property, but a brief fleeting joy, +a kind of supernal visitant, vanishing anon into nothingness, or only a +pawnbroker's duplicate. The time would come. She showed the trinket to her +husband with a melancholy foreboding, and read his thoughts as he weighed +it in his palm, by mere force of habit, speculating what it would fetch, if +in his desperate needs this waif might serve him. + +She was not surprised, therefore--only a little distressed--when Austin +broached the subject one day at his late breakfast--that breakfast at which +it needed nearly a bottle of claret to wash down three or four mouthfuls of +savoury pie, or half a tiny cutlet. She had possessed the bauble more than +a month, holding it in fear and trembling, and only astonished that it had +not been demanded of her. + +"O, by the way, Bess," Austin Lovel said carelessly, "I was abominably +unlucky last night, at Madame Caballero's. I'm generally lugged in for a +game or two at _ecarte there_, you know. One can't refuse in a house of +that kind. And I had been doing wonders. They were betting on my game, and +I stood to win something handsome, when the luck changed all in a moment. +The fellow I was playing against marked the king three times running; and, +in short, I rose a considerable loser--considerable for me, that is to say. +I told my antagonist I should send him the money to-day. He's a kind of man +I can't afford to trifle with; and you know the Caballero connection is of +too much use to be jeopardised. So I've been thinking, Bess, that if you'd +let me have that gimcrack locket my sister gave you, I could raise a tenner +on it. Clary can afford to give you plenty of such things, even if it were +lost, which it need not be." + +Of course not. Mrs. Lovel had been told as much about the little Geneva +watch which her husband had given her a few days after her marriage, and +had taken away from her six weeks later. But the watch had never come back +to her. She gave a faint sigh of resignation. It was not within the compass +of her mind to oppose him. + +"We shall never get on while you play cards, Austin," she said sadly. + +"My dear Bessie, a man may win as well as lose. You see when I go into +society there are certain things expected of me; and my only chance of +getting on is by making myself agreeable to the people whose influence is +worth having." + +"But I can't see that card-playing leads to your getting commissions for +pictures, Austin, no more than horseracing nor billiards. It all seems to +end the same--in your losing money." + +The painter pushed away his plate with an impatient gesture. He was taking +his breakfast in his painting-room, hours after the family meal, Bessie +waiting upon him, and cobbling some juvenile garment during the intervals +of her attendance. He pushed his plate aside, and got up to pace the room +in the restless way that was common to him on such occasions. + +"My dear child, if you don't want to give me the locket, say so," he said, +"but don't treat me to a sermon. You can keep it if you like, though I +can't conceive what use the thing can be to you. It's not a thing you can +wear." + +"Not at home, dear, certainly; and I never go out," the wife answered, with +the faintest touch of reproachfulness. "I am very fond of it, though, for +your sister's sake. It was so kind of her to bring it to me, and such a new +thing for me to have a present. But you are welcome to it, Austin, if you +really want it." + +"If I really want it! Do you suppose I should be mean enough to ask you for +it if I didn't? I shouldn't so much care about it, you see, only I am to +meet the man to-morrow evening at dinner, and I can't face him without the +money. So if you'll look the thing out some time to-day, Bess, I'll take it +down to the Quai between this and to-morrow afternoon, and get the business +over." + +Thus it was that George Fairfax, strolling into Mrs. Lovel's sitting-room +that afternoon while Austin was out, happened to find her seated in a +pensive attitude, with an open work-box before her and Clarissa's locket +in her hand. It was a shabby battered old box, but had been for years the +repository of all Bessie's treasures. + +She had kept the locket there, looking at it very often, and wondering if +she would ever be able to wear it--if Austin would take her to a theatre, +for instance, or give a little dinner at home instead of abroad, for once +in a way, to some of the men whose society absorbed so much of his time. + +There was no hope of this now. Once gone from her hand; the treasure would +return no more. She knew that very well and was indulging her grief by a +farewell contemplation of the trinket, when Mr. Fairfax came into the room. + +The flash of the diamonds caught his quick eye. + +"What a pretty locket you've got there, Mrs. Austin!" he said, as he shook +hands with her. "A new-year's gift from Austin, I suppose." + +"No, it was my sister-in-law, Mrs. Granger, who gave it me," Bessie +answered, with a sigh. + +He was interested in it immediately, but was careful not to betray his +interest. Mrs. Lovel put it into his hands. She was proud of it even in +this last hour of possession. "Perhaps you'd like to look at it," she said. +"It's got her 'air inside." + +Yes, there was a circlet of the dark brown hair he knew so well, and the +two works, "From Clarissa." + +"Upon my word, it's very handsome," he said, looking at the diamond cross +outside, but thinking of the love-lock within. "I never saw a locket +I liked better. You are very fond of it, I daresay?" he added +interrogatively. + +"O, yes, I like it very much! I can't bear to part with it." + +And here Bessie Lovel, not being gifted with the power of concealing her +emotions, fairly broke down and cried like a child. + +"My dear Mrs. Austin," exclaimed George Fairfax, "pray don't distress +yourself like that. Part with it? Why should you part with your locket?" + +"O, Mr. Fairfax, I oughtn't to have told you--Austin would be so angry if +he knew--but he has been losing money at that horrid ecarty, and he says +he must have ten pounds to-morrow; so my beautiful locket must go to the +pawnbroker's." + +George Fairfax paused. His first impulse was to lend the poor little woman +the money--the veriest trifle, of course, to the lord of Lyvedon. But the +next moment another idea presented itself to him. He had the locket lying +in the open palm of his hand. It would be so sweet to possess that lock of +hair--to wear so dear a token of his mistress. Even those two words, "From +Clarissa," had a kind of magic for him. It was a foolish weakness, of +course; but then love is made up of such follies. + +"If you really mean to part with this," he said, "I should be very glad to +have it. I would give you more than any pawnbroker--say, twenty instead of +ten pounds, for instance--and a new locket for yourself into the bargain. I +shouldn't like to deprive you of an ornament you valued without some kind +of compensation. I have taken a fancy to the design of the thing, and +should really like to have it. What do you say now, Mrs. Austin--shall that +be a transaction between you and me, without any reference to your husband, +who might be angry with you for having let me into domestic secrets? You +can tell him you got the money from the _mont de piete_. Look here, now; +let's settle the business at once." + +He opened his purse, and tumbled the contents out upon the table. Bessie +Lovel thought what a blessed state of existence that must be in which +people walked this world with all that ready money about them. + +"There are just four-and-twenty pounds here," he said cheerily; "so we'll +say four-and-twenty." + +He saw that she was yielding. + +"And would you really give me a locket for myself," she said, almost +incredulously, "as well as this money?" + +"Unquestionably. As good a one as I can find in the Rue de la Paix. This +has diamonds, and that shall have diamonds. It's the design, you see," he +added persuasively, "that has taken my fancy." + +"I'm sure you are very generous," Bessie murmured, still hesitating. + +"Generous! Pshaw, not at all. It's a caprice; and I shall consider myself +under an obligation to you if you gratify it." + +The temptation was irresistible. To obtain the money that was +required--more than double the sum her husband had wanted--and to have +another locket as well! Never, surely, had there been such a bargain since +the famous magician offered new lamps for old ones. Of course, it was only +Mr. Fairfax's delicate way of doing them a kindness; his fancy for the +locket was merely a benevolent pretence. What could he care for that +particular trinket; he who might, so to speak, walk knee-deep in diamonds, +if he pleased? + +She took the twenty-four pounds--an English ten-pound note, and the rest in +new glittering napoleons--and then began to speculate upon the possibility +of giving Austin twenty pounds, and appropriating the balance to her own +uses. The children wanted so many things--that perpetual want of the +juvenile population above all, shoe-leather; and might she not even screw +some cheap dress for herself out of the sum? while if it were all given +to Austin, it would vanish, like smoke before the wind, leaving no trace +behind. + +So George Fairfax put the bauble in his waistcoat-pocket, and whatever +sentimental pleasure might be derived from such a talisman was his. There +are those among our disciples of modern magic who believe there is a subtle +animal magnetism in such things; that the mere possession of such a token +constitutes a kind of spiritual link between two beings. Mr. Fairfax had no +such fancy; but it pleased him to have obtained that which no prayers of +his could have won from Clarissa herself. Not at present, that is to say. +It would all come in good time. She loved him; secure of that one fact, he +believed all the rest a mere question of patience and constancy. + +"And she is worth the winning," he said to himself. "A man might serve for +a longer slavery than Jacob's, and yet be rewarded by such a conquest. I +think, by the way, that Rachel must have been just a trifle faded when the +patriarch was out of his time." + +He dawdled away an hour or so in Bessie's salon--telling the poor little +woman the news of the day, and playing with the two boys, who regarded +him as a beneficent being, from whose hands flowed perpetual toys and +sweetmeats. He waited as long as he could without making his motive +obvious; waited, in the hope that Clarissa would come; and then, as there +was no sign of her coming, and Austin was still out, he wished Bessie +good-bye. + +"I shan't forget the locket," he said, as he departed. + +Austin came in five minutes afterwards. The boys had been scuttled off to +take their evening meal in the kitchen--a darksome cupboard about eight +feet square--where the tawdry servant was perpetually stewing savoury +messes upon a small charcoal stove. + +Bessie handed her husband the ten-pound note, and twelve bright napoleons. + +"Why, what's this?" he asked. + +"The--the money for the locket, Austin. I thought you might be late home; +so I ran round to the Quai with it myself. And I asked for twenty pounds, +and the man gave it to me." + +"Why, that's a brave girl!" cried Austin, kissing the pleading face +uplifted to his. "I don't believe they'd have given me as much. An English +tenner, though; that's odd!" he added carelessly, and then slipped the cash +loose into his pocket, with the air of a man for whom money is at best a +temporary possession. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. + +THAT IS WHAT LOVE MEANS. + + +The Grangers and Mr. Fairfax went on meeting in society; and Daniel +Granger, with whom it was a kind of habit to ask men to dinner, could +hardly avoid inviting George Fairfax. It might have seemed invidious to do +so; and for what reason should he make such a distinction? Even to himself +Mr. Granger would not be willing to confess that he was jealous of this +man. So Mr. Fairfax came with others of his species to the gorgeous +caravanserai in the Rue de Morny, where the rooms never by any chance +looked as if people lived in them, but rather as if they were waiting-rooms +at some railway station got up with temporary splendour for the reception +of royalty. + +He came; and though Clarissa sometimes made feeble efforts to avoid him, it +happened almost always, that before the evening was out he found some few +minutes for unreserved talk with her. There is little need to record such +brief stolen interviews--a few hurried words by the piano, a sentence +or two in a lowered voice at parting. There was not much in the words +perhaps--only very common words, that have done duty between thousands of +men and women--a kind of signal code, as it were; and yet they had power +to poison Clarissa's life, to take the sweetness out of every joy, even a +mother's innocent idolatry of her child. + +The words were spoken; but so carefully did George Fairfax play his part, +that not even Sophia's sharp eyes could perceive more than was correct in +the conduct of her stepmother. No, she told herself, that other flirtation +was the desperate one. Clarissa might have had some preference for George +Fairfax; there had been occasional indications of such a feeling in her +manner at Hale Castle; but the dark spot of her life, the secret of her +girlhood, was a love affair with Mr. Austin. + +By way of experiment, one day she asked her father's wife a question about +the painter. + +"You seemed to admire Mr. Austin very much, Clarissa," she said, "and I +admit that he is remarkably clever; but he appears such a waif and stray. +In all his conversation with us he never threw much light upon his own +history. Do you know anything of his antecedents?" + +Clarissa blushed in spite of herself. The deception she had sustained so +long was unspeakably distasteful her. Again and again she had been tempted +to hazard everything, and acknowledge Austin as her brother, whether he +liked or not that she should do so. It was only his peremptory tone that +had kept her silent. + +"What should I know of his antecedents more than you, Sophy?" she said, +avoiding a more direct reply. "It is quite enough for me to know that he +has undeniable genius." + +The blush, and a certain warmth in her tone, seemed to Sophia conclusive +evidence of her hidden regard for this man. Miss Granger's heart beat a +good deal faster than usual, and little jealous sparkles shone in her cold +gray eyes. She had never admired any man so much as she had admired this +brilliant young painter. Many men had paid her compliments; as the rich Mr. +Granger's sole daughter and heiress, she had been gratified with no meagre +share of mankind's worship; but no words ever spoken had sounded so sweet +in her ears as those few civil speeches that Mr. Austin had found time to +address to her during his visits to the Rue de Morny. And after having +taken so much pleasure in his converse, and thought so much more about him +than she would have considered it proper for any model villager to +think about an individual of the opposite sex, it was a hard thing to +find--first, that the base impostor had a wife; and secondly, that whatever +illegitimate worship he might have to render, was to be offered at the +shrine of Clarissa. + +"Indeed!" she exclaimed, with an air of extreme surprise. "You seemed on +such very friendly terms with him, that I fancied you must really have +known each other before, and that you had some motive for concealing the +fact from papa." + +Clarissa blushed a deeper crimson at this homethrust, and bent a little +lower over her drawing-board. It seemed a fortunate thing that she happened +to be painting when Miss Granger opened her guns upon her in this manner. + +"He gives lessons, I believe; does he not?" asked Sophia. + +"Yes--I--I believe--I have heard so." + +"Do you know, I took it into my head that he might have been your +drawing-master at Belforet." + +Clarissa laughed aloud at this suggestion. Miss Granger's persistent +curiosity amused her a little, dangerous as the ground was. + +"Oh dear no, he was not our master at Belforet," she said. "We had a little +old Swiss--such an ancient, ancient man--who took snuff continually, and +was always talking about his _pays natal_ and Jean Jacques Rousseau. I +think he had known Rousseau; and I am sure he was old enough to remember +the night they locked him out of Geneva." + +Sophia was fairly posed; she had been on a false scent evidently, and yet +she was sure there was something. That is how she shaped her doubts in her +own mind--there was _something_. Warman thought so, she knew; and Warman +was gifted with no ordinary amount of penetration. + +So Mrs. Granger went her way, with suspicion around and about her, and +danger ahead. Whatever peace had been hers in the brief period of her +married life--and the quiet spring-time and summer that came after her +baby's birth had been very peaceful--had vanished now. A cloud of fear +encompassed her; a constant melancholy possessed her; a pleading voice, +which she ought never to have heard, was always in her ears--a voice that +charged her with the burden of a broken life--a voice that told her it was +only by some sacrifice of her own she could atone for the sacrifice that +had been made for her--a too persuasive voice, with a perilous charm in its +every accent. + +She loved him. That she could ever be weak enough, or vile enough, to sink +into that dread abyss, whereto some women have gone down for the love of +man, was not within the compass of her thought. But she knew that no day in +her life was sinless now; that no pure and innocent joys were left to her; +that her every thought of George Fairfax was a sin against her husband. + +And yet she went on loving him. Sometimes, when the dense of her guilt was +strongest, she would fain have asked her husband to take her back to Arden; +which must needs be a kind of sanctuary, as it were, she thought. Nay, +hardly so; for even in that tranquil retreat Temple Fairfax had contrived +to pursue her mother, with the poison of his influence and his presence. +Very often she felt inclined to ask her husband this favour; but she could +not do so without running some risk of betraying herself--Heaven knows how +much she might betray--unawares. Again, their sojourn in the Rue de Morny +was not to endure for ever. Already Mr. Granger had expressed himself +somewhat tired of Paris; indeed, what denizen of that brilliant city does +not become a little weary of its brightness, sooner or later, and fall +sick of the Boulevard-fever--a harassing sense of all-pervading glare and +confusion, a sensation of Paris on the brain? + +There was some talk of returning to Arden at the end of a month. They were +now at the close of January; by the first of March Mr. Granger hoped to be +at the Court. His architect and his head-bailiff were alike eager for his +return; there were more pullings down and reconstructions required on the +new estate; there were all manner of recondite experiments to be tried +in scientific farming: there were new leases to be granted, and expiring +leases, the covenants whereof must be exacted. + +Since they were likely to leave Paris so soon, it would be foolish to +excite wonder by asking to leave sooner, Mrs. Granger thought. It mattered +so little, after all, she told herself sometimes. It mattered this much +only--that day by day her feet were straying farther from the right road. + +O those happy winter afternoons in the Rue du Chevalier Bayard! Such +innocent happiness, too, in all seeming--only a little animated rambling +talk upon all manner of subjects, from the loftiest problems in philosophy +to the frothiest gossip of the Faubourg St. Honore; only the presence of +two people who loved each other to distraction. A dim firelit room; a +little commonplace woman coming in and out; two young men disputing in the +dusk; and Clarissa in her low chair by the fire, listening to the magical +voice that was now the only music of her dreams. If it could have gone on +for ever thus--a sweet sentimental friendship like that which linked Madame +Roland and Brissot, Madame Recamier and Chateaubriand--there would surely +have been no harm, Clarissa sometimes argued with herself. She was married +to a man whom she could respect for many qualities of his heart and mind, +against whom she could never seriously offend. Was it so great a sin if the +friendship of George Fairfax was dear to her? if the few happy hours of her +life were those she spent in his company? But such special pleading as this +was the poorest sophistry; at heart she was conscious that it was so. A +woman has a double conscience, as it were--a holy of holies within the +temple of her mind, to which falsehood cannot enter. She may refuse to lift +the screen, and meet the truth face to face; but it is there--not to be +extinguished--eternal, immutable; the divine lamp given for her guidance, +if only she will not withdraw herself from its light. + +Just a little less than a month before his intended departure, Mr. Granger +had a letter from that exacting bailiff, entreating his return. Something +in the scientific farming had gone wrong, some great sewage question was at +issue, and none but the lord of the soil himself could settle the matter. +Very dear to Daniel Granger were those lands of Arden, that Arden-Court +estate which he had made to spread itself so far over the face of the +county. Sweet are ancestral domains, no doubt; dear by association, made +holy by the pride of the race; but perhaps sweeter to the soul of man are +those acres he has won by the work of his own strong hand, or his own +steadfast brain. Next to his wife and children, in Mr. Granger's regard, +were the lands of Arden: the farms and homesteads, in valleys and on +hill-tops; the cottages and school-houses, which he had built for the +improvement of his species; the bran-new slack-baked gothic church in an +outlying village, where the church had never been before his coming. + +He was very sorry to leave his wife; but the question at stake was an +important one. If he could have carried his household away with him at an +hour's notice, he would gladly have done so; but to move Clarissa and +the nurse, and the baby, and Miss Granger, would be rather a formidable +business--in fact, not to be done without elaborate preparation. He had the +apartments in the Rue du Morny on his hands, too, until the beginning +of March; and even a millionaire seldom cares to waste such a rental as +Parisian proprietors exact for houseroom in a fashionable quarter. So he +decided upon going to Arden at once--which was essential--and returning +directly he had adjusted matters with his bailiff, and done a morning's +work with his architect. + +He told Clarissa of his intention one evening when they had returned from a +dinner-party, and she was seated before her dressing-table, taking off her +jewels in a slow, absent way. She looked up with a start as her husband +came into the room, and planted himself on the white sheepskin rug, with +his back against the mantelpiece. + +"I am obliged to go back to Yorkshire, Clary," he said. + +She thought he meant they were all going back--that it was an interposition +of Providence, and she was to be taken away from sin and danger. But O, how +hard it seemed to go--never again to look forward to those stolen twilights +in her brother's painting-room! + +"I am glad!" she exclaimed. "I shall be very glad to go back to Arden." + +"You, my dear!" said her husband; "it is only I who am going. There is some +hitch in our experiments on the home farm, and Forley knows how anxious I +am about making a success this year. So he wants me to run over and see +to things; he won't accept the responsibility of carrying on any longer +without me. I needn't be away above two or three days, or a week at most. +You can get on very well without me." + +Clarissa was silent, looking down at a bracelet which she was turning idly +round her arm. Get on without him! Alas, what part had Daniel Granger +played in her life of late beyond that of some supernumerary king in a +stage-play?--a person of importance by rank and title in the play-bill, but +of scarcely any significance to the story. Her guilty heart told her how +little he had ever been to her; how, day by day, he had been growing less +and less. And while he was away, she might go to the Rue du Chevalier +Bayard every day. There would be nothing to prevent her so doing if she +pleased. The carriage was nominally and actually hers. There was a brougham +at Miss Granger's disposal; but the landau was essentially Clarissa's +carriage. + +"You can get on very well without me," repeated Mr. Granger. "I do not +think my presence or absence makes very much difference to you, Clarissa," +he added, in a grave displeased tone. + +It was almost his first hint of a reproach. To his wife's guilty heart it +struck sharply home, like an unexpected blow. She looked up at him with a +pale conscience-stricken face, in which he might have read much more +than he did read there. He only thought that he had spoken a shade too +severely--that he had wounded her. + +"I--I don't know what you mean by that," she faltered helplessly, "I always +try to please you." + +"Try to please me!" he repeated passionately. "Yes, Clary, as a child tries +to please a schoolmaster. Do you know, that when I married you I was mad +enough to hope the day would come when you would love me--that you loved me +a little even then? Do you know how I have waited for that day, and have +learned to understand, little by little, that it never can dawn for me +upon this earth? You are my wife, and the mother of my child; and yet, +God knows, you are no nearer to me than the day I first saw you at Hale +Castle--a slim, girlish figure in a white dress, coming in at the door of +the library. Not a whit nearer," he went on, to himself rather than to +Clarissa; "but so much more dear." + +There was a passion in his words which touched his wife. If it had only +been possible for her to love him! If gratitude and respect, joined +together, could have made up the sum of love; but they could not. She knew +that George Fairfax was in all moral qualities this man's inferior; yet, +for some indefinable charm, some trick of tone or manner, some curious +magic in a smile or a glance, she loved him. + +She was silent. Perhaps the sense of her guilt came more fully home to her +in this moment than it had ever done before. What words could she speak to +bring comfort to her husband's soul--she whose whole life was a lie? + +Daniel Granger wandered up and down the room for some minutes in a vague +restless way, and then came to his wife's chair, and looked down at her +very tenderly. + +"My dear, I do wrong to worry you with reproaches," he said. "The mistake +has been mine. From first to last, I have been to blame. I suppose in the +wisest life there must always be some folly. Mine has been the hope that I +could win your love. It has gone now, Clarissa; it is quite gone. Not even +my child has given me a place in your heart." + +She looked up at him again, with that look which expressed such a depth of +remorse. + +"I am very wicked," she said, "I am utterly unworthy of all you have done +for me. It would have been better for you never to have seen my face." + +"Wicked! no, Clary. Your only sin has been to have disappointed a foolish +fancy. What right had I to suppose you loved me? Better never to have seen +your face?--yes, perhaps that might have been better. But, once having seen +you, I would rather be wretched with you than happy with any other woman in +the world. That is what love means, Clary." + +He stooped down to kiss her. + +"Say no more, dear," he said, "I never meant to speak as I have spoken +to-night. I love you for ever." + +The day came when she remembered those words, "I love you for ever." + +If she could have thrown herself upon his breast and acknowledged all her +weakness, beseeching him to shield her from herself in obedience to the +impulse of that moment, what a world of anguish might have been spared to +these two! But she let the impulse pass, and kept silence. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XL. + +LYING IN WAIT. + + +Mr. Granger went back to Yorkshire; and Clarissa's days were at her own +disposal. They were to leave Paris at the beginning of March. She knew it +was only for a very short time that she would be able to see her brother. +It was scarcely natural, therefore, that she should neglect such an +opportunity as this. There was so much in Austin's life that caused her +uneasiness; he seemed in such sore need of wiser counsel than his poor +empty-headed little wife could give him; and Clarissa believed that she had +some influence with him: that if he would be governed by the advice of any +creature upon earth, that counsellor was herself. + +So she spent her mornings in baby-worship, and went every afternoon to the +Rue du Chevalier Bayard, where it happened curiously that Mr. Fairfax came +even oftener than usual just at this time. In the evening she stayed at +home--not caring to keep her engagements in society without her husband's +escort--and resigned herself to the edifying companionship of Miss Granger, +who was eloquent upon the benighted condition of the Parisian poor as +compared with her model villagers. She described them sententiously as a +people who put garlic in everything they ate, and never read their Bibles. + +"One woman showed me a book with little pictures of saints printed upon +paper with lace edges," said Sophia, "as if there were any edification to +be derived from lace edges; and such a heathen book too--Latin on one side +and French on the other. And there the poor forsaken creatures sit in their +churches, looking at stray pictures and hearing a service in an unknown +tongue." + +Daniel Granger had been away nearly a week; and as yet there was no +announcement of his return; only brief business-like letters, telling +Clarissa that the drainage question was a complicated one, and he should +remain upon the spot till he and Forley could see their way out of the +difficulty. He had been away nearly a week, when George Fairfax went to the +Rue du Chevalier Bayard at the usual hour, expecting to find Austin Lovel +standing before his easel with a cigar in his mouth, and Clarissa sitting +in the low chair by the fire, in the attitude he knew so well, with the red +glow of the embers lighting up gleams of colour in her dark velvet dress, +and shining on the soft brown hair crowned with a coquettish little +seal-skin hat--a _toque_, as they called it on that side of the Channel. + +What was his astonishment to find a pile of trunks and portmanteaus on the +landing, Austin's easel roughly packed for removal, and a heap of that +miscellaneous lumber without which even poverty cannot shift its dwelling! +The door was open; and Mr. Fairfax walked straight into the sitting-room, +where the two boys were eating some extemporised meal at a side-table under +their mother's supervision; while Austin lounged with his back against +the chimney-piece, smoking. He was a man who would have smoked during the +culminating convulsions of an earthquake. + +"Why, Austin, what the--I beg your pardon, Mrs. Austin--what _does_ this +mean?" + +"It means Brussels by the three-fifteen train, my dear Fairfax, that's +all." + +"Brussels? With those children and that luggage? What, in Heaven's name, +induces you to carry your family off like this, at an hour's notice?" + +"It is not an hour's notice; they've had an hour and three-quarters. As to +my reasons for this abrupt hegira--well, that involves rather a long story; +and I haven't time to tell it to-day. One thing is pretty clear--I can't +live in Paris. Perhaps I may be able to live in Brussels. I can't very well +do worse than I've done here--that's _one_ comfort." + +At this Bessie Lovel began to cry--in a suppressed kind of way, like a +woman who is accustomed to cry and not to be taken much notice of. George +Fairfax flung himself into a chair with an impatient gesture. He was at +once sorry for this man and angry with him; vexed to see any man go to ruin +with such an utter recklessness, with such a deliberate casting away of +every chance that might have redeemed him. + +"You have got into some scrape, I suppose," he said presently. + +"Got into a scrape!" cried Austin with a laugh, tossing away the end of one +cigar and preparing to light another. "My normal condition is that of being +in a scrape. Egad! I fancy I must have been born so.--For God's sake don't +whimper, Bessie, if you want to catch the three-fifteen train! _I_ go by +that, remember, whoever stays behind.--There's no occasion to enter into +explanations, Fairfax. If you could help me I'd ask you to do it, in +spite of former obligations; but you can't. I have got into a +difficulty--pecuniary, of course; and as the law of liability in this city +happens to be a trifle more stringent than our amiable British code, I have +no alternative but to bid good-bye to the towers of Notre Dame. I love the +dear, disreputable city, with her lights and laughter, and music and mirth; +but she loves not me.--When those boys have done gorging themselves, +Bessie, you had better put on your bonnet." + +"His wife cast an appealing glance at George Fairfax, as if she felt she +had a friend in him who would sustain her in any argument with her husband. +Her face was very sad, and bore the traces of many tears. + +"If you would only tell me why we are going, Austin," she pleaded, "I could +bear it so much better." + +"Nonsense, child! Would anything I could tell you alter the fact that we +are going? Pshaw, Bessie! why make a fuss about trifles? The packing is +over: that was the grand difficulty, I thought. I told you we could manage +that." + +"It seems so hard--running away like criminals." + +Austin Lovel's countenance darkened a little. + +"I can go alone," he said. + +"No, no," cried the wife piteously: "I'll go with you. I don't want to vex +you, Austin. Haven't I shared everything with you--everything? I would go +with you if it was to prison--if it was to death. You know that." + +"I know that we shall lose the three-fifteen train if you don't put on your +bonnet." + +"Very well, Austin; I'm going. And Clarissa--what will she think of us? I'm +so sorry to leave her." + +"O, by the way, George," said Austin, "you might manage that business for +me. My sister was to be here at five o'clock this afternoon. I've written +her a letter telling her of the change in my plans. She was in some measure +prepared for my leaving Paris; but not quite so suddenly as this. I was +going to send the letter by a commissionnaire; but if you don't mind taking +it to the Rue de Morny, I'd rather trust it to you. I don't want Clary to +come here and find empty rooms." + +He took a sealed letter from the mantelpiece and handed it to George +Fairfax, who received it with somewhat of a dreamy air, as of a man who +does not quite understand the mission that is intrusted to him. It was a +simple business enough, too--only the delivery of a letter. + +Mrs. Lovel came out of the adjoining room dressed for the journey, and +carrying a collection of wraps for the children. It was wonderful to behold +what comforters, and scarves, and gaiters, and muffetees those juvenile +individuals required for their equipment. + +"Such a long cold journey!" the anxious mother exclaimed, and went on +winding up the two children in woollen stuffs, as if they had been +royal mummies. She pushes little papers of sandwiches into their +pockets--sandwiches that would hardly be improved by the squeezing and +sitting upon they must need undergo in the transit. + +When this was done, and the children ready, she looked into the +painting-room with a melancholy air. + +"Think of all the furniture, Austin," she exclaimed; "the cabinets and +things!" + +"Yes; there's a considerable amount of money wasted there Bess; for I don't +suppose we shall ever see the things again, but there's a good many of them +not paid for. There's comfort in that reflection." + +"You take everything go lightly," she said with a hopeless sigh. + +"There's nothing between that and the Morgue, my dear. You'd scarcely like +to see me framed and glazed _there_, I think." + +"O, Austin!" + +"Precisely. So let me take things lightly, while I can. Now, Bess, the time +is up. Good-bye, George." + +"I'll come downstairs with you," said Mr. Fairfax, still in a somewhat +dreamy state. He had put Austin's letter into his pocket, and was standing +at a window looking down into the street, which had about as much life +or traffic for a man to stare at as some of the lateral streets in the +Bloomsbury district--Caroline-place, for instance, or Keppel-street. + +There was a great struggling and bumping of porters and coachman on the +stairs, with a good deal more exclamation than would have proceeded from +stalwart Englishmen under the same circumstances; and then Austin went down +to the coach with his wife and children, followed by George Fairfax. The +painter happened not to be in debt to his landlord--a gentleman who gave +his tenants small grace at any time; so there was no difficulty about the +departure. + +"I'll write to Monsieur Meriste about my furniture," he said to the +guardian of the big dreary mansion. "You may as well come to the station +with us, George," he added, looking at Mr. Fairfax, who stood irresolute on +the pavement, while Bessie and the boys were being packed into the vehicle, +the roof of which was laden with portmanteaus and the painter's "plant." + +"Well--no; I think not. There's this letter to be delivered, you see. I had +better do that at once." + +"True; Clarissa might come. She said five o'clock, though; but it doesn't +matter. Good-bye, old fellow. I hope some of these days I may be able to +make things square with you. Good-bye, Tell Clary I shall write to her from +Brussels, under cover to the maid as usual." + +He called out to the coachman to go on; and the carriage drove off, +staggering under its load. George Fairfax stood watching it till it was out +of sight, and then turned to the porter. + +"Those rooms up-stairs will be to let, I suppose?" he said. + +"But certainly, monsieur." + +"I have some thoughts of taking them for--for a friend. I'll just take +another look round them now they're empty. And perhaps you wouldn't mind my +writing a letter up-stairs--eh?" + +He slipped a napoleon into the man's hand--by no means the first that he +had given him. New-Year's day was not far past; and the porter remembered +that Mr. Fairfax had tipped him more liberally than some of the lodgers in +the house. If monsieur had a legion of letters to write, he was at liberty +to write them. The rooms up yonder were entirely at his disposal; the +porter laid them at his feet, as it were. He might have occupied them +rent-free for the remainder of his existence, it would have been supposed +from the man's manner. + +"If madame, the sister of Monsieur Austin, should come by-and-by, you will +permit her to ascend," said Mr. Fairfax. "I have a message for her from her +brother." + +"Assuredly, monsieur." + +The porter retired into his den to meditate upon his good fortune. It was +a rendezvous, of course, cunningly arranged on the day of the painter's +departure. It seemed to him like a leaf out of one of those flabby novels +on large paper, with a muddy wood-cut on every sixteenth page, which he +thumbed and pored over now and then of an evening. + +George Fairfax went up-stairs. How supremely dismal the rooms looked in +their emptiness, with the litter of packing lying about!--old boots and +shoes in one corner; a broken parasol in another; battered fragments of +toys everywhere; empty colour-tubes; old newspapers and magazines; a +regiment of empty oil-flasks and wine-bottles in the den of a kitchen--into +which Mr. Fairfax peered curiously, out of very weariness. It was only +half-past three; and there was little hope of Clarissa's arrival until +five. He meant to meet her there. In the moment that Austin put the letter +in his hand some such notion flashed into his mind. He had never intended +to deliver the letter. How long he had waited for this chance--to see her +alone, free from all fear of interruption, and to be able to tell his story +and plead his cause, as he felt that he could plead! + +He walked up and down the empty painting-room, thinking of her coming, +meditating what he should say, acting the scene over in his brain. He had +little fear as to the issue. Secure as she seemed in the panoply of her +woman's pride, he knew his power, and fancied that it needed only time and +opportunity to win her. This was not the first time he had counted his +chances and arranged his plan of action. In the hour he first heard of her +marriage he had resolved to win her. Outraged love transformed itself into +a passion that was something akin to revenge. He scarcely cared how low +he might bring her, so long as he won her for his own. He did not stop to +consider whether hers was a mind which could endure dishonour. He knew that +she loved him, and that her married life had been made unhappy because of +this fatal love. + +"I will open the doors of her prison-house," he said to himself, "poor +fettered soul! She shall leave that dreary conventional life, with its +forms and ceremonies of pleasure; and we will wander all over the earth +together, only to linger wherever this world is brightest. What can she +lose by the exchange? Not wealth. For the command of all that makes life +delightful, I am as rich a man as Daniel Granger, and anything beyond +that is a barren surplus. Not position; for what position has she as Mrs. +Granger? I will take her away from all the people who ever knew her, and +guard her jealously from the hazard of shame. There will only be a couple +of years in her life which she will have to blot out--only a leaf torn out +of her history." + +And the child? the blue-eyed boy that George Fairfax had stopped to kiss in +Arden Park that day? It is one thing to contemplate stealing a wife from +her husband--with George Fairfax's class there is a natural antipathy to +husbands, which makes that seem a fair warfare, like fox-hunting--but it is +another to rob a child of its mother. Mr. Fairfax's meditations came to a +standstill at this point--the boy blocked the line. + +There was only one thing to be done; put on the steam, and run down the +obstacle, as Isambard Brunel did in the Box-tunnel, when he saw a stray +luggage-truck between him and the light. + +"Let her bring the boy with her, and he shall be my son," he thought. + +Daniel Granger would go in for a divorce, of course. Mr. Fairfax thought of +everything in that hour and a half of solitary reflection. He would try for +a divorce, and there would be no end of scandal--leading articles in some +of the papers, no doubt, upon the immorality of the upper middle classes; a +full-flavoured essay in the Saturday, proving that Englishwomen were in the +habit of running away from their husbands. But she should be far away from +the bruit of that scandal. He would make it the business of his life to +shield her from the lightest breath of insult. It could be done. There were +new worlds, in which men and women could begin a fresh existence, under new +names; and if by chance any denizen of the old world should cross their +path untimely--well, such unwelcome wanderers are generally open to +negotiation. There is a good deal of charity for such offenders among the +travelled classes, especially when the chief sinner is lord of such an +estate as Lyvedon. + +Yet, varnish the picture how one will, dress up the story with what flowers +of fancy one may, it is at best but a patched and broken business. The +varnish brings out dark spots in the picture; the flowers have a faded +meretricious look, not the bloom and dew of the garden; no sophistry +can overcome the inherent ugliness of the thing--an honest man's name +dishonoured; two culprits planning a future life, to be spent in hiding +from the more respectable portion of their species; two outcasts, trying +to make believe that the wildernesses beyond Eden are fairer than that +paradise itself. + +His mother--what would she feel when she came to know what he had done +with his life? It would be a disappointment to her, of course; a grief, no +doubt; but she would have Lyvedon. He had gone too far to be influenced +by any consideration of that kind; he had gone so far that life without +Clarissa seemed to him unendurable. He paced the room, contemplating this +crisis of his existence from every point of view, till the gray winter sky +grew darker, and the time of Clarissa's coming drew very near. There had +been some logs smouldering on the hearth when he came, and these he had +replenished from time to time. The glow of the fire was the only thing that +relieved the dreariness of the room. + +Nothing could be more fortunate, he fancied, than the accident which had +brought about this meeting. Daniel Granger was away. The flight, which was +to be the preface of Clarissa's new existence, could not take place too +soon; no time need be wasted on preparations, which could only serve +to betray. Her consent once gained, he had only to put her into a +hackney-coach and drive to the Marseilles station. Why should they not +start that very night? There was a train that left Paris at seven, he knew; +in three days they might be on the shores of the Adriatic. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XLI. + +MR. GRANGER'S WELCOME HOME. + + +Clarissa left the Rue de Morny at three o'clock that day. She had a round +of calls to make, and for that reason had postponed her visit to her +brother's painting-room to a later hour than usual. The solemn dinner, +which she shared with Miss Granger in stately solitude, took place at +half-past seven, until which hour she considered her time at her own +disposal. + +Sophia spent that particular afternoon at home, illuminating the new gothic +texts for her schoolrooms at Arden. She had been seated at her work about +an hour after Clarissa's departure, when the door opened behind her, and +her father walked into the room. + +There had been no word of his return in his latest letter; he had only said +generally in a previous epistle, that he should come back directly the +business that had called him to Yorkshire was settled. + +"Good gracious me, papa, how you startled me!" cried Miss Granger, dabbing +at a spot of ultramarine which had fallen upon her work. It was not a very +warm welcome; but when she had made the best she could of that unlucky blue +spot, she laid down her brush and came over to her father, to whom she +offered a rather chilly kiss. "You must be very tired, papa," she remarked, +with striking originality. + +"Well, no; not exactly tired. We had a very fair passage; but the journey +from Calais is tedious. It seems as if Calais oughtn't to be any farther +from Paris than Dover is from London. There's something lop-sided in it. I +read the papers all the way. Where's Clarry?" + +"Clarissa has gone to pay some visits." + +"Why didn't you go with her?" + +"I rarely do go with her, papa. Our sets are quite different; and I have +other duties." + +"Duties, pshaw! Messing with those paint-brushes; you don't call that duty, +I hope? You had much better have gone out with your stepmother." + +"I was not wanted, papa. Mrs. Granger has engagements which do not in the +least concern me. I should only be in the way." + +"What do you mean by that, Sophia?" asked her father sternly. "And what do +you mean by calling my wife Mrs. Granger?" + +"There are some people so uncongenial to each other, papa, that any +pretence of friendship can be only the vilest hypocrisy," replied Sophia, +turning very pale, and looking her father full in the face, like a person +prepared to do battle. + +"I am very sorry to hear this, Sophia," said Mr. Granger. "for if this is +really the case, it will be necessary for you to seek some other home. I +will have no one in my house who cannot value my wife." + +"You would turn me out of doors, papa?" + +"I should certainly endeavour to provide you with a more +congenial--congenial, that was the word you used, I think--more congenial +home." + +"Indeed!" exclaimed Sophia. "Then I suppose you quite approve of all my +stepmother's conduct--of her frequent, almost daily visits to such a person +as Mr. Austin?" + +"Clarissa's visits to Austin! What, in heaven's name, do you mean?" + +"What, papa! is it possible you are ignorant of the fact? I thought that, +though my stepmother never talked to _me_ of her visits to the Rue du +Chevalier Bayard, you of course knew all about them. Though I hardly +supposed you would encourage such an intimacy." + +"Encourage such an intimacy! You must be dreaming, girl. My wife visit a +portrait-painter--a single man?" + +"He is not a single man, papa. There is a wife, I understand; though he +never mentioned her to us. And Clarissa visits them almost every day." + +"I don't believe it. What motive could she have for cultivating such +people?" + +"I can't imagine--except that she is fond of that kind of society, and of +painting. She may have gone to take lessons of Mr. Austin. He teaches, I +know." + +Daniel Granger was silent. It was not impossible; and it would have been no +crime on his wife's part, of course. But the idea that Clarissa could have +done such a thing without his knowledge and approval, offended him beyond +measure. He could hardly realize the possibility of such an act. + +"There is some misapprehension on your part, Sophia, I am convinced," he +said. "If Clarissa had wished to take drawing lessons from Austin, she +would have told me so." + +"There is no possibility of a mistake on my part, papa. I am not in the +habit of making statements which I cannot support." + +"Who told you of these visits? Clarissa herself?" + +"O dear, no; Clarissa is not in the habit of telling me her affairs. I +heard it from Warman; not in reply to any questioning of mine, I can assure +you. But the thing has been so frequent, that the servants have begun +to talk about it. Of course, I always make a point of discouraging any +speculations upon my stepmother's conduct." + +The servants had begun to talk; his wife's intimacy with people of whom he +knew scarcely anything had been going on so long as to provoke the gossip +of the household; and he had heard nothing of it until this moment! The +thought stung him to the quick. That domestic slander should have been busy +with her name already; that she should have lived her own life so entirely +without reference to him! Both thoughts were alike bitter. Yet it was no +new thing for him to know that she did not love him. + +He looked at his watch meditatively. + +"Has she gone there this afternoon, do you think?" he asked. + +"I think it is excessively probable. Warman tells me she has been there +every afternoon during your absence." + +"She must have taken a strange fancy to these people. Austin's wife is some +old schoolfellow of Clary's perhaps." + +Miss Granger shook her head doubtfully. + +"I should hardly think that," she said. + +"There must be some reason--something that we cannot understand. She may +have some delicacy about talking to me of these people; there may be +something in their circumstances to--" + +"Yes," said Miss Granger, "there is _something_, no doubt. I have been +assured of that from the first." + +"What did you say the address was?" + +"The Rue du Chevalier Bayard, Number 7." + +Mr. Granger left the room without another word. He was not a man to +remain long in doubt upon any question that could be solved by prompt +investigation. He went out into the hall, where a footman sat reading +_Galignani_ in the lamplight. + +"Has Mrs. Granger's carriage come back, Saunders?" he asked. + +"Yes, sir; the carriage has been back a quarter of an hour. I were out with +my mistress." + +"Where is Mrs. Granger? In her own rooms?" + +"No, sir; Mrs. Granger didn't come home in the carriage. We drove her to +the Shangs Elysy first, sir, and afterwards to the Rue du Cavalier Baynard; +and Mr. Fairfax, he came down and told me my mistress wouldn't want the +carriage to take her home." + +"Mr. Fairfax--in the Rue du Chevalier Bayard!" + +"Yes, sir; he's an intimate friend of Mr. Hostin's, I believe. Leastways, +we've seen him there very often." + +George Fairfax! George Fairfax a frequent guest of those people whom +she visited! That slumbering demon, which had been sheltered in Daniel +Granger's breast so long, arose rampant at the sound of this name. George +Fairfax, the man he suspected in the past; the man whom he had done his +best to keep out of his wife's pathway in the present, but who, by some +fatality, was not be avoided. Had Clarissa cultivated an intimacy with this +Bohemian painter and his wife only for the sake of meeting George Fairfax +without her husband's knowledge? To suppose this was to imagine a depth of +depravity in the heart of the woman he loved. And he had believed her so +pure, so noble a creature. The blow was heavy. He stood looking at his +servant for a moment or so, paralysed; but except that one blank gaze, he +gave no sign of his emotion. He only took up his hat, and went quietly out. +"His looks was orful!" the man said afterwards in the servants' hall. + +Sophia came out of the drawing-room to look for her father, just a little +disturbed by the thought of what she had done. She had gone too far, +perhaps. There had been something in her father's look when he asked her +for that address that had alarmed her. He was gone; gone _there_, no doubt, +to discover his wife's motives for those strange visits. Miss Granger's +heart was not often fluttered as it was this evening. She could not "settle +to anything," as she said herself, but wandered up into the nursery, and +stood by the dainty little cot, staring absently at her baby brother as he +slept. + +"If anything should happen," she thought--and that event which she vaguely +foreshadowed was one that would leave the child motherless--"I should make +it _my_ duty to superintend his rearing. No one should have power to say +that I was jealous of the brother who has robbed me of my heritage." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XLII. + +CAUGHT IN A TRAP. + + +It was dusk when Clarissa's carriage drove into the Rue du Chevalier +Bayard--the dull gray gloaming of February--and the great bell of Notre +Dame was booming five. She had been paying visits of duty, talking +banalities in fashionable drawing-rooms, and she was weary. She seemed to +breathe a new life as she approached her brother's dwelling. Here there +would be the free reckless utterance of minds that harmonised, of souls +that sympathised:--instead of stereotyped little scraps of gossip about the +great world, or arid discussion of new plays and famous opera-singers. + +She did not stop to ask any questions of the complacent porter. It was not +her habit to do so. She had never yet failed to find Austin, or Austin's +wife, at home at this hour. She went swiftly up the darksome staircase, +where never a lamp was lighted to illumine the stranger, only an occasional +candle thrust out of a doorway by some friendly hand. In the dusk of this +particular evening there was not so much as a glimmer. + +The outer door was ajar--not such an uncommon thing as to occasion any +surprise to Clarissa. She pushed it open and went in, across a dingy lobby +some four feet square, on which abutted the kitchen, and into the salon. +This was dark and empty; but one of the folding-doors leading into the +painting-room was open, and she saw the warm glow of the fire shining on +the old Flemish cabinets and the brazen chandelier. That glow of firelight +had a comfortable look after the desolation and darkness of the salon. + +She went into the painting-room. There was a tall figure standing by one of +the windows, looming gigantic through the dusk--a figure she knew very +well, but not Austin's. She looked quickly round the room, expecting to see +her brother lounging by the chimney-piece, or wandering about somewhere in +his desultory way; but there was no one else, only that tall figure by the +window. + +The silence and emptiness of the place, and _his_ presence, startled her a +little. + +"Good-evening, Mr. Fairfax," she said. "Isn't Austin here?" + +"Not at this moment. How do you do, Mrs. Granger?" and they shook hands. +So commonplace a meeting might almost have disappointed the sentimental +porter. + +"And Bessie?" Clarissa asked. + +"She too is out of the way for the moment," replied George Fairfax, +glancing out of the window. "You came in your carriage, I suppose, Mrs. +Granger? If you'll excuse me for a moment, I'll just ran and see if--if +Austin has come in again." + +He went quickly out of the room and downstairs, not to look for Austin +Lovel, who was on his way to Brussels by this time, but to tell Mrs. +Granger's coachman she had no farther use for the carriage, and would not +be home to dinner. The man looked a little surprised at this order, but Mr. +Fairfax's tone was too peremptory to be unauthorised; so he drove homeward +without hesitation. + +Clarissa was seated in her favourite easy-chair, looking pensively at +the wood-fire, when George Fairfax came back. She heard his returning +footsteps, and the sharp click of a key turning in the outer door. This +sound set her wondering. What door was that being locked, and by whom? + +Mr. Fairfax came into the painting-room. It was the crisis of his life, he +told himself. If he failed to obtain some promise from her to-night--some +definite pledge of his future happiness--he could never hope to succeed. + +"Time and I against any two," he had said to himself sometimes in relation +to this business. He had been content to bide his time; but the golden +opportunity had come at last. If he failed to-night, he failed forever. + +"Is he coming?" Clarissa asked, rather anxiously. There was something +ominous in the stillness of the place, and the absence of any sign of life +except George Fairfax's presence. + +"Not immediately. Don't alarm yourself," he said hurriedly, as Clarissa +rose with a frightened look. "There is nothing really wrong, only there are +circumstances that I felt it better to break to you gently. Yet I fear I am +an awkward hand at doing that, at the best. The fact is, your brother has +left Paris." + +"Left Paris!" + +"Yes, only a couple of hours ago." And then Mr. Fairfax went on to tell the +story of Austin's departure, making as light of it as he could, and with no +word of that letter which had been given him to deliver. + +The news was a shock to Clarissa. Very well did she remember what her +brother had told her about the probability of his being compelled to "cut +Paris." It had come, then, some new disgrace, and banished him from the +city he loved--the city in which his talents had won for him a budding +reputation, that might have blossomed into fame, if he had only been a +wiser and a better man. She heard George Fairfax in silence, her head bowed +with shame. This man was her brother, and she loved him so dearly. + +"Do you know where they have gone?" she asked at last. + +"To Brussels. He may do very well there, no doubt, if he will only keep +himself steady--turn his back upon the rackety society he is so fond +of--and work honestly at his art. It is a place where they can live more +cheaply, too, than they could here." + +"I am so sorry they are gone without a word of parting. It must have been +very sudden." + +"Yes. I believe the necessity for the journey arose quite suddenly; or it +may have been hanging over your brother for a long time, and he may have +shut his eyes to the fact until the last moment. He is such a fellow for +taking things easily. However, he did not enter into explanations with me." + +"Poor Austin! What a wretched life!" + +Clarissa rose and moved slowly towards the folding-doors. George Fairfax +stopped her at the threshold, and quietly closed the door. + +"Don't go yet, Clarissa. I want to speak to you." + +His tone told her what was coming--the scene in the conservatory was to +be acted over again. This was the first time they had been actually alone +since that too-well-remembered night. + +She drew herself up haughtily. A woman's weakness makes her desperate in +such a case as this. + +"I have no time to talk now, Mr. Fairfax. I am going home." + +"Not yet, Clarissa. I have waited a long time for this chance. I am +determined to say my say." + +"You will not compel me to listen to you?" + +"Compel is a very hard word. I beseech you to hear me. My future life +depends on what I have to say, and on your answer." + +"I cannot hear a word! I will not remain a moment!" + +"The door yonder is locked, Clarissa, and the key in my pocket. Brutal, you +will say. The circumstances of our lives have left me no option. I have +watched and waited for such an opportunity as this; and now, Clarissa, you +shall hear me. Do you remember that night in the orchard, when you drove me +away by your coldness and obstinacy? And yet you loved me! You have owned +it since. Ah, my darling, how I have hated myself for my dulness that +night!--hated myself for not having seized you in my arms, if need were, +and carried you off to the end of the world to make you my wife. What a +fool and craven I must have been to be put off so easily!" + +"Nothing can be more foolish than to discuss the past, Mr. Fairfax," +replied Clarissa, in a low voice that trembled a little. "You have made +me do wrong more than once in my life. There must be an end of this. What +would my husband think, if he could hear you? what would he think of me for +listening to you? Let me pass, if you please; and God grant that we may +never meet again after to-night!" + +"God grant that we may never part, Clarissa! O, my love, my love, for +pity's sake be reasonable! We are not children to play fast and loose with +our lives. You love me, Clary. No sweet-spoken pretences, no stereotyped +denials, will convince me. You love me, my darling, and the world is all +before us. I have mapped-out our future; no sorrow or discredit shall ever +come nigh you--trust a lover's foresight for that. Whatever difficulties +may lie in our pathway are difficulties that I will face and +conquer--alone. You have only to forget that you have ever been Daniel +Granger's wife, and leave Paris with me to-night." + +"Mr. Fairfax! are you mad?" + +"Never more reasonable--never so much in earnest. Come with me, Clarissa. +It is not a sacrifice that I ask from you: I offer you a release. Do you +think there is any virtue or beauty in your present life, or any merit in +continuing it? From first to last, your existence is a lie. Do you think +a wedding-ring redeems the honour of a woman who sells herself for money? +There is no slavery more degrading than the bondage of such an alliance." + +"Open the door, Mr. Fairfax, and let me go!" + +His reproaches stung her to the quick; they were so bitterly true. + +"Not till you have heard me, my darling--not till you have heard me out." + +His tone changed all at once, softening into ineffable tenderness. He +told her of his love with words of deeper passion than he had ever spoken +yet--words that went home to the heart that loved him. For a moment, +listening to that impassioned pleading, it seemed to Clarissa that this +verily was life indeed--that to be so loved was in itself alone the perfect +joy and fulness of existence, leaving nothing more to be desired, making +shame as nothing in the balance. In that one moment the guilty heart was +well-nigh yielding; the bewildered brain could scarcely maintain the +conflict of thought and feeling. Then suddenly this mental agony changed to +a strange dulness, a mist rose between Clarissa and the eager face of her +lover. She was nearer fainting than she had ever been in her life before. + +George Fairfax saw her face whiten, and the slender figure totter ever so +slightly. In a moment a strong arm was round her. The weary head sank on +his shoulder. + +"My darling," he whispered, "why not leave Paris to-night? It cannot be too +soon. Your husband is away. We shall have a start of two or three days, and +avoid all risk of pursuit." + +"Not quite," said a voice close behind him; and looking round, George +Fairfax saw one of the folding-doors open, and Daniel Granger standing on +the threshold. The locked outer door had availed the traitor nothing. Mr. +Granger had come upstairs with the porter, who carried a bunch of duplicate +keys in his pocket. + +Clarissa gave a sudden cry, which rose in the next instant to a shrill +scream. Two men were struggling in the doorway, grappling each other +savagely for one dreadful minute of confusion and agony. Then one fell +heavily, his head crashing against the angle of the doorway, and lay at +full length, with his white face looking up to the ceiling. + +This was George Fairfax. + +Clarissa threw herself upon her knees beside the prostrate figure. + +"George! George!" she cried piteously. + +It was the first time she had ever uttered his Christian name, except in +her dreams; and yet it came to her lips as naturally in that moment of +supreme agony as if it had been their every-day utterance. + +"George! George!" she cried again, bending down to gaze at the white +blank face dimly visible in the firelight; and then, with a still sharper +anguish, "He is dead!" + +The sight of that kneeling figure, the sound of that piteous imploring +voice, was well-nigh maddening to Daniel Granger. He caught his wife by the +arm, and dragged her up from her knees with no tender hand. + +"You have killed him," she said. + +"I hope I have." + +Whatever latent passion there was in this man's nature was at white heat +now. An awful fury possessed him. He seemed transformed by the intensity of +his anger. His bulky figure rose taller; his full gray eyes shone with a +pitiless light under the straight stern brows. + +"Yes," he said, "I hope I have killed your lover." + +"My lover!" + +"Your lover--the man with whom you were to have left Paris to-night. Your +lover--the man you have met in this convenient rendezvous, day after day +for the last two months. Your lover--the man you loved before you did me +the honour to accept the use of my fortune, and whom you have loved ever +since." + +"Yes," cried Clarissa, with a wild hysterical laugh, "my lover! You are +right. I am the most miserable woman upon earth, for I love him." + +"I am glad you do not deny it. Stand out of the way, if you please, and let +me see if I have killed him." + +There were a pair of half-burned wax candles on the mantelpiece. Mr. +Granger lighted one of them, and then knelt down beside the prostrate +figure with the candle in his hand. George Fairfax had given no sign of +life as yet. There had not been so much as a groan. + +He opened his enemy's waistcoat, and laid his hand above the region of the +heart. Yes, there was life still--a dull beating. The wretch was not dead. + +While he knelt thus, with his hand upon George Fairfax's heart, a massive +chain, loosened from its moorings, fell across his wrist. Attached to the +chain there was a locket--a large gold locket with a diamond cross--one of +the ornaments that Daniel Granger had given to his wife. + +He remembered it well. It was a very trifle among the gifts be had showered +upon her; but he remembered it well. If this had been the one solitary gem +he had given to his wife, he could not have been quicker to recognise it, +or more certain of its identity. + +He took it in the palm of his hand and touched the spring, holding the +candle still in the other hand. The locket flew open, and he saw the ring +of silky brown hair and the inscription, "From Clarissa." + +He looked up at his wife with a smile--such a smile! "You might have +afforded your lover something better than a secondhand _souvenir_," he +said. + +Clarissa's eyes wandered from the still white face, with its awful closed +eyes, only to rest for a moment on the unlucky locket. + +"I gave that to my sister-in-law," she said indifferently. "Heaven only +knows how he came by it." And then, in a different tone, she asked, "Why +don't you do something for him? Why don't you fetch some one? Do you want +him to die?" + +"Yes. Do you think anything less than his death would satisfy me? Don't +alarm yourself; I am not going to kill him. I was quite ready to do it just +now in hot blood. But he is safe enough now. What good would there be in +making an end of him? There are two of you in it." + +"You can kill me, if you like," said Clarissa "Except for my child's sake, +I have little wish to live." + +"For your child's sake!" echoed her husband scornfully. "Do you think there +is anything in common between my son and you, after to-night." + +He dropped the locket on George Fairfax's breast with a contemptuous +gesture, as if he had been throwing away a handful of dirt. _That_ folly +had cost dearly enough. + +"I'll go and fetch some one," he said. "Don't let your distraction make you +forget that the man wants all the air he can get. You had better stand away +from him." + +Clarissa obeyed mechanically. She stood a little way off, staring at that +lifeless figure, while Daniel Granger went to fetch the porter. The house +was large, and at this time in the evening for the most part untenanted, +and Austin's painting-room was over the arched carriage-way. Thus it +happened that no one had heard that fall of George Fairfax's. + +Mr. Granger explained briefly that the gentleman had had a fall, and was +stunned--would the porter fetch the nearest doctor? The man looked a him +rather suspiciously. The lovely lady's arrival in the gloaming; a locked +door; this middle-aged Englishman's eagerness to get into the rooms; and +now a fall and the young Englishman is disabled. The leaf out of a romance +began to assume a darker aspect. There had been murder done, perhaps, up +yonder. The porter's comprehensive vision surveyed the things that might +be--the house fallen into evil repute by reason of this crime, and bereft +of lodgers. The porter was an elderly man, and did not care to shift his +household gods. + +"What have they come to do up there?" he asked. "I think I had better fetch +the _sergent de ville_." + +"You are quite at liberty to do that, provided you bring a doctor along +with him," replied Daniel Granger coolly, and then turned on his heel and +walked upstairs again. + +He roamed through the empty rooms with a candle in his hand until he found +a bottle of water, some portion of which he dashed into his enemy's face, +kneeling by his side to do it, but with a cool off-hand air, as if he were +reviving a dog, and that a dog upon, which he set no value. + +George Fairfax opened his eyes, very slowly, and groaned aloud. + +"O God, my head!" he said. "What a blow!" + +He had a sensation of lying at the bottom of a steep hill--on a sharp +inclined plane, as it were, with his feet uppermost--a sense of +suffocation, too, as if his throat had been full of blood. There seemed to +him to be blood in his eyes also; and he could only see things in a dim +cloudy way--a room--what room he could not remember--one candle flaring on +the mantelpiece, and the light of an expiring fire. + +Of the things that had happened to him immediately before that struggle and +that fall, he had, for the time being, no memory. But by slow degrees it +dawned upon him that this was Austin Lovel's painting-room. + +"Where the devil are you, Austin?" he asked impatiently. + +"Can't you pick a fellow up?" + +A grasp stronger than ever Austin Lovel's had been, dragged him to his +feet, and half led, half pushed him into the nearest chair. He sat there, +staring blankly before him. Clarissa had moved away from him, and stood +amid the deep shadows at the other end of the studio, waiting for her doom. +It seemed to her to matter very little what that doom should be. Perfect +ruin had come upon her. The porter came in presently with a doctor--a +little old grey-headed man, who wore spectacles, and had an ancient +doddering manner not calculated to inspire beholders with any great belief +in his capacity. + +He bowed to Mr. Granger in on old-fashioned ceremonious way, and went over +to the patient. + +"A fall, I believe you say, monsieur!" he said. + +"Yes, a fall. He struck his head against the angle of that doorway." + +Mr. Granger omitted to state that it was a blow between the eyes from his +clenched fist which had felled George Fairfax--a blow sent straight out +from the powerful shoulder. + +"There was no seizure--no fit of any kind, I hope?" + +"No." + +The patient had recovered himself considerably by this time, and twitched +his wrist rather impatiently from the little doctor's timid grasp. + +"I am well enough now," he said in a thick voice. "There was no occasion to +send for a medical man. I stumbled at the doorway yonder, and knocked my +head in falling--that's all." + +The Frenchman was manipulating Mr. Fairfax's cranium with cautious fingers. + +"There is a considerable swelling at the back of the skull," he said. +"But there appears to have been another blow on the forehead. There is a +puffiness, and a slight abrasion of the skin." + +Mr. Fairfax extricated his head from this investigation by standing up +suddenly out of reach of the small doctor. He staggered a little as he rose +to his feet, but recovered himself after a moment or so, and stood firmly +enough, with his hand resting on the back of the chair. + +"If you will be good enough to accept this by way of fee," he said, +slipping a napoleon into the doctor's hand, "I need give you no farther +trouble." + +The old man looked rather suspiciously from Mr. Fairfax to Mr. Granger and +then back again. There was something queer in the business evidently, but a +napoleon was a napoleon, and his fees were neither large nor numerous. He +coughed feebly behind his hand, hesitated a little, and then with a sliding +bow slipped from the room. + +The porter lingered, determined to see the end of the romance, at any rate. + +It was not long. + +"Are you ready to come away?" Daniel Granger asked his wife, in a cold +stern voice. And then, turning to George Fairfax, he said, "You know where +to find me, sir, when you wish to settle the score between us." + +"I shall call upon you to-morrow morning, Mr. Granger." + +Clarissa looked at George Fairfax piteously for a moment, wondering if he +had been much hurt--if there were any danger to be feared from the effects +or that crushing fall. Never for an instant of her life had she meant to +be false to her husband; but she loved this man; and her secret being +discovered now, she deemed that the bond between her and Daniel Granger was +broken. She looked at George Fairfax with that brief yearning look, just +long enough to see that he was deadly pale; and then left the room with her +husband, obeying him mechanically They went down the darksome staircase, +which had grown so familiar to Clarissa, out into the empty street. There +was a hackney carriage waiting near the archway--the carriage that had +brought Mr. Granger. He put his wife into it without a word, and took his +seat opposite to her; and so they drove home in profound silence. + +Clarissa went straight to her room--the dressing-room in which Daniel +Granger had talked to her the night before ha went to England. How well she +remembered his words, and her own inclination to tell him everything! If +she had only obeyed that impulse--if she had only confessed the truth--the +shame and ignominy of to-night would have been avoided. There would have +been no chance of that fatal meeting with George Fairfax; her husband would +have sheltered her from danger and temptation--would have saved her from +herself. + +Vain regrets. The horror of that scene was still present with her--must +remain so present with her till the end of her life, she thought. Those two +men grappling each other, and then the fall--the tall figure crashing +down with the force of a descending giant, as it had seemed to that +terror-stricken spectator. For a long time she sat thinking of that awful +moment--thinking of it with a concentration which left no capacity for +any other thought in her mind. Her maid had come to her, and removed her +out-of-door garments, and stirred the fire, and had set out a dainty little +tea-tray on a table close at hand, hovering about her mistress with a +sympathetic air, conscious that there was something amiss. But Clarissa had +been hardly aware of the girl's presence. She was living over again the +agony of that moment in which she thought George Fairfax was dead. + +This could not last for ever. She awoke by and by to the thought of her +child, with her husband's bitter words ringing in her ears,-- + +"Do you think there is anything in common between my son and you, after +to-night?" + +"Perhaps they will shut me out of my nursery," she thought. + +The rooms sacred to Lovel Granger were on the same floor as her own--she +had stipulated that it should be so. She went out into the corridor from +which all the rooms opened. All was silent. The boy had gone to bed, of +course, by this time; very seldom had she been absent at the hour of his +retirement. It had been her habit to spend a stolen half-hour in the +nursery just before dressing for dinner, or to have her boy brought to her +dressing-room--one of the happiest half-hours in her day. No one barred +her entrance to the nursery. Mrs. Brobson was sitting by the fire, +making-believe to be busy at needlework, with the under-nurse in +attendance--a buxom damsel, whose elbows rested on the table as she +conversed with her superior. Both looked up in some slight confusion at +Clarissa's entrance. They had been talking about her, she thought, but with +a supreme indifference. No petty household slander could trouble her in her +great sorrow. She went on towards the inner room, where her darling slept, +the head-nurse following obsequiously with a candle. In the night-nursery +there was only the subdued light of a shaded lamp. + +"Thank you, Mrs. Brobson, but I don't want any more light," Clarissa said +quietly. "I am going to sit with baby for a little while. Take the candle +away, please; it may wake him." + +It was the first time she had spoken since she had left the Rue du +Chevalier Bayard. Her own voice sounded strange to her; and yet its tone +could scarcely have betrayed less agitation. + +"The second dinner-bell has rung, ma'am," Mrs. Brobson said, with a +timorously-suggestive air; "I don't know whether you are aware." + +"Yes, I know, but I am not going down to dinner; I have a wretched +headache. You can tell Target to say so, if they send for me." + +"Yes, ma'am; but you'll have something sent up, won't you?" + +"Not yet; by and by, perhaps, I'll take a cup of tea in my dressing-room. +Go and tell Target, please, Mrs. Brobson; Mr. Granger may be waiting +dinner." + +She was so anxious to get rid of the woman, to be alone with her baby. She +sat down by the cot. O, inestimable treasure! had she held him so lightly +as to give any other a place in her heart? To harbour any guilty thought +was to have sinned against this white-souled innocent. If those clear eyes, +which looked up from her breast sometimes with such angelic tenderness, +could have read the secrets of her sinful heart, how could she have dared +to meet their steadfast gaze? To-night that sleeping baby seemed something +more to her than her child; he was her judge. + +"O, my love, my love, I am not good enough to have you for my son!" she +murmured, sobbing, as she knelt by his side, resting her tired head upon +his pillow, thinking idly how sweet it would be to die thus, and make an +end of all this evil. + +She stayed with her child for more than an hour undisturbed, wondering +whether there would be any attempt to take him away from her--whether there +was any serious meaning in those pitiless words of Daniel Granger's. Could +he think for a moment that she would surrender him? Could he suppose that +she would lose this very life of her life, and live? + +At a little after nine o'clock, she heard the door of the outer nursery +open, and a masculine step in the room--her husband's. The door between the +two nurseries was half open. She could hear every word that was spoken; she +could see Daniel Granger's figure, straight and tall and ponderous, as he +stood by the table talking to Mrs. Brobson. + +"I am going back to Arden the day after to-morrow, Brobson," he said; "you +will have everything ready, if you please." + +"O, certainly, sir; we can be ready. And I'm sure I shall rejoice to see +our own house again, after all the ill-conveniences of this place." And +Mrs. Brobson looked round the handsomely-furnished apartment as if it had +been a hovel. "Frenchified ways don't suit me," she remarked. "If, when +they was furnishing their houses, they laid out more money upon water-jugs +and wash-hand basins, and less upon clocks and candelabras, it would do +them more credit; and if there was a chair to be had not covered with red +velvet, it would be a comfort. Luxury is luxury; but you may overdo it." + +This complaint, murmured in a confidential tone, passed unnoticed by Daniel +Granger. + +"Thursday morning, then, Mrs. Brobson, remember; the train leaves at seven. +You'll have to be very early." + +"It can't be too early for me." + +"I'm glad to hear that; I'll go in and take a look at the child--asleep, I +suppose?" + +"Yes, sir; fast asleep." + +He went into the dimly-lighted chamber, not expecting to see that kneeling +figure by the cot. He gave a little start at seeing it, and stood aloof, as +if there had been infection that way. Whatever he might feel or think, he +could scarcely order his wife away from her son's bedside. Her son! Yes, +there was the sting. However he might put her away from himself, he could +not utterly sever _that_ bond. He would do his best; but in the days to +come his boy might revolt against him, and elect to follow that guilty +mother. + +He had loved her so fondly, he had trusted her so completely; and his anger +against her was so much the stronger because of this. He could not forgive +her for having made him so weak a dupe. Her own ignominy--and he deemed her +the most shameful of women--was not so deep as his disgrace. + +He stood aloof, looking at his sleeping boy, looking across the kneeling +figure as if not seeing it, but with a smouldering anger in his eyes that +betrayed his consciousness of his wife's presence. She raised her haggard +eyes to his face. The time would come when she would have to tell him her +story--to make some attempt to justify herself--to plead for his pardon; +but not yet. There was time enough for that. She felt that the severance +between them was utter. He might believe, he might forgive her; but he +would never give her his heart again. She felt that this was so, and +submitted to the justice of the forfeiture. Nor had she loved him well +enough to feel this loss acutely. Her one absorbing agony was the fear of +losing her child. + +Daniel Granger stood for a little while watching his son's placid slumber, +and then left the room without a word. What could he say to his wife? His +anger was much too great for words; but there was something more than +anger: there was a revulsion of feeling, that made the woman he had loved +seem hateful to him--hateful in her fatal beauty, as a snake is hateful +in its lithe grace and silvery sheen. She had deceived him so completely; +there was something to his mind beyond measure dastardly in her stolen +meetings with George Fairfax; and he set down all her visits to the Rue du +Chevalier Bayard to that account. She had smiled in his face, and had gone +every other day to meet her lover. + +Clarissa stayed with her child all that night. The servants would wonder +and speculate, no doubt. She knew that; but she could not bring herself +to leave him. She had all manner of fantastic fears about him. They would +steal him from her in the night, perhaps. That order of Daniel Granger's +about Thursday morning might be only a ruse. She laid herself down upon a +sofa near the cot, and pretended to sleep, until the nurse had gone to bed, +after endless fussings and rustlings and movings to and fro, that were +torture to Mrs. Granger's nerves; and then listened and watched all the +night through. + +No one came. The wintry morning dawned, and found her child still +slumbering sweetly, the rosy lips ever so slightly parted, golden-tinted +lashes lying on the round pink cheeks. She smiled at her own folly, as she +sat watching him in that welcome daylight. What had she expected? Daniel +Granger was not an ogre. He could not take her child from her. + +_Her_ child! The thought that the boy was _his_ child very rarely presented +itself to her. Yet it had been suggested rather forcibly by those bitter +words of her husband's: "Do you think there is anything in common between +my son and you, after to-night?" + +For Daniel Granger and herself there might be parting, an eternal +severance; but there could be no creature so cruel as to rob her of her +child. + +She stayed with him during his morning ablutions; saw him splash and kick +in the water with the infantine exuberance that mothers love to behold, +fondly deeming that no baby ever so splashed or so kicked before; saw him +arrayed in his pretty blue-braided frock, and dainty lace-bedizened cambric +pinafore. What a wealth of finery and prettiness had been lavished upon the +little mortal, who would have been infinitely happier dressed in rags +and making mud-pies in a gutter, than in his splendid raiment and +well-furnished nursery; an uninteresting nursery, where there were no +cupboards full of broken wagons and head-less horses, flat-nosed dolls and +armless grenadiers, the cast-off playthings of a flock of brothers and +sisters--a very chaos of rapture for the fingers of infancy! Only a few +expensive toys from a fashionable purveyor--things that went by machinery, +darting forward a little way with convulsive jerks and unearthly choking +noises, and then tumbling ignominiously on one side. + +Clarissa stayed with the heir of Arden until the clock in the day-nursery +struck nine, and then went to her dressing-room, looking very pale and +haggard after her sleepless night. In the corridor she met her husband. He +bent his head gravely at sight of her, as he might have saluted a stranger +whom he encountered in his own house. + +"I shall be glad to speak to you for a quarter of an hour, by and by," he +said. "What time would suit you best?" "Whenever you please. I shall be in +my dressing-room," she answered quietly; and then, growing desperate in her +desire to know her fate, she exclaimed, "But O, Daniel, are we really to go +back to Arden to-morrow?" + +"We are not," he said, with a repelling look. "My children are going back +to-morrow. I contemplate other arrangements for you." + +"You mean to separate my baby and me?" she cried incredulously. + +"This is neither the place nor the time for any discussion about that. I +will come to your dressing-room by and by." + +"I will not be parted from my child!" + +"That is a question which I have to settle." + +"Do not make any mistake, Mr. Granger," Clarissa said firmly, facing him +with a dauntless look that surprised him a little--yet what cannot a woman +dare, if she can betray the man who has loved and trusted her? "You may do +what you please with me; but I will not submit to have my child taken from +me." + +"I do not like talking in passages," said her husband; "if you insist upon +discussing this matter now, we had better go into your room." + +They were close to the dressing-room door. He opened it, and they went in. +The fire was burning brightly, and the small round table neatly laid for +breakfast. Clarissa had been in the habit of using this apartment as her +morning-room. There were books and drawing-materials, a table with a +drawing-board upon it, and a half-finished sketch. + +She sank down into a chair near the fire, too weak to stand. Her husband +stood opposite to her. She noticed idly that he was dressed with his usual +business-like neatness, and that there was no sign of mental anguish in +his aspect. He seemed very cold and hard and cruel as he stood before her, +strong in his position as an injured man. + +"I am not going to talk about last night any more than I am positively +obliged," he said; "nothing that I or you could say would alter the facts +of the case, or my estimation of them. I have made my plans for the future. +Sophia and Lovel will go back to Yorkshire to-morrow. You will go with me +to Spa, where I shall place you under your father's protection. Your future +life will be free from the burden of my society." + +"I am quite willing to go back to my father," replied Clarissa, in a voice +that trembled a little. She had expected him to be very angry, but not so +hard and cold as this--not able to deal with her wrong-doing in such a +business-like manner, to dismiss her and her sin as coolly as if he had +been parting with a servant who had offended him. + +"I am ready to go to my father," she repeated, steadying her voice with an +effort; "but I will go nowhere without my child." + +"We will see about that," said Mr. Granger, "and how the law will treat +your claims; if you care to advance them--which I should suppose unlikely. +I have no compunction about the justice of my decision. You will go nowhere +without your child, you say? Did you think of that last night when your +lover was persuading you to leave Paris?" + +"What!" cried Clarissa aghast. "Do you imagine that I had any thought of +going with him, or that I heard him with my free will?" + +"I do not speculate upon that point; but to my mind the fact of his asking +you to run away with him argues a foregone conclusion. A man rarely comes +to that until he has established a right to make the request. All I know +is, that I saw you on your knees by your lover, and that you were candid +enough to acknowledge your affection for him. This knowledge is quite +sufficient to influence my decision as to my son's future--it must not be +spent with Mr. Fairfax's mistress." + +Clarissa rose at the word, with a shrill indignant cry. For a few moments +she stood looking at her accuser, magnificent in her anger and surprise. + +"You dare to call me _that_!" she exclaimed. + +"I dare to call you what I believe you to be. What! I find you in an +obscure house, with locked doors; you go to meet your lover alone; and I am +to think nothing!" + +"Never alone until last night, and then not with my consent, I went to see +Mr. and Mrs. Austin--I did not know they had left Paris." + +"But their departure was very convenient, was it not? It enabled your lover +to plead his cause, to make arrangements for your flight. You were to +have three days' start of me. Pshaw! why should we bandy words about the +shameful business? You have told me that you love him--that is enough." + +"Yes," she said, with the anger and defiance gone out of her face and +manner, "I have been weak and guilty, but not as guilty as you suppose. I +have done nothing to forfeit my right to my son. You shall not part us!" + +"You had better tell your maid you are going on a journey to-morrow. She +will have to pack your things--your jewels, and all you care to take." + +"I shall tell her nothing. Remember what I have said--I will not be +separated from Lovel!" + +"In that case, I must give the necessary orders myself," said Mr. Granger +coolly, and saying this he left the room to look for his wife's maid. + +Jane Target, the maid, came in presently. She was the young woman chosen +for Clarissa's service by Mrs. Oliver; a girl whose childhood had been +spent at Arden, and to whose childish imagination the Levels of Arden Court +had always seemed the greatest people in the world. The girl poured out her +mistress's tea, and persuaded her to take something. She perceived that +there was something amiss, some serious misunderstanding between Clarissa +and her husband. Had not the business been fully discussed in the Areopagus +downstairs, all those unaccountable visits to the street near the +Luxembourg, and Mr. Fairfax's order to the coachman? + +"Nor it ain't the first time I've seen him there neither," Jarvis had +remarked; "me and Saunders have noticed him ever so many times, dropping in +promiscuous like while Mrs. G. was there, Fishy, to say the least of it!" + +Jane Target was very fond of her mistress, and would as soon have doubted +that the sun was fire as suspected any flaw in Clarissa's integrity. She +had spoken her mind more than once upon this subject in the servants' hall, +and had put the bulky Jarvis to shame. + +"Do, ma'am, eat something!" she pleaded, when she had poured out the tea. +"You had no dinner yesterday, and no tea, unless you had it in the nursery. +You'll be fit for nothing, if you go on like this." + +Fit for nothing! The phrase roused Clarissa from her apathy. Too weak to +do battle for her right to the custody of her child, she thought; and +influenced by this idea, she struggled through a tolerable breakfast, +eating delicate _petite pains_ which tasted like ashes, and drinking strong +tea with a feverish eagerness. + +The tea fortified her nerves; she got up and paced her room, thinking what +she ought to do. + +Daniel Granger was going to take her child from her--that was +certain--unless by some desperate means she secured her darling to herself. +Nothing could be harder or more pitiless than his manner that morning. The +doors of Arden Court were to be shut against her. + +"And I sold myself for Arden!" she thought bitterly. She fancied how the +record of her life would stand by-and-by, like a verse in those Chronicles +which Sophia was so fond of: "And Clarissa reigned a year and a half, and +did that which was evil"--and so on. Very brief had been her glory; very +deep was her disgrace. + +What was she to do? Carry her child away before they could take him from +her--secure him to herself somehow. If it were to be done at all, it must +be done quickly; and who had she to help her in this hour of desperate +need. + +She looked at Jane Target, who was standing by the dressing-table dusting +the gold-topped scent-bottles and innumerable prettinesses scattered +there--the costly trifles with which women who are not really happy strive +to create for themselves a factitious kind of happiness. The girl was +lingering over her work, loth to leave her mistress unless actually +dismissed. + +Jane Target, Clarissa remembered her a flaxen-haired cottage girl, with an +honest freckled face and a calico-bonnet; a girl who was always swinging on +five-barred gates, or overturning a baby brother out of a primitive wooden +cart--surely this girl was faithful, and would help her in her extremity. +In all the world, there was no other creature to whom she could appeal. + +"Jane," she said at last, stopping before the girl and looking at her with +earnest questioning eyes, "I think I can trust you." "Indeed you can, +ma'am," answered Jane, throwing down her feather dusting-brush to clasp her +hands impetuously. "There's nothing in this world I would not do to prove +myself true to you." + +"I am in great trouble, Jane." + +"I know that, ma'am," the girl answered frankly. + +"I daresay you know something of the cause. My husband is angry +about--about an accidental meeting which arose between a gentleman and me. +It was entirely accidental on my part; but he does not choose to believe +this, and----" The thought of Daniel Granger's accusation flashed +upon her in this moment in all its horror, and she broke down, sobbing +hysterically. + +The girl brought her mistress a chair, and was on her knees beside her in a +moment, comforting her and imploring her to be calm. + +"The trouble will pass away, ma'am," said the maid, soothingly. "Mr. +Granger will come to see his mistake. He can't be angry with you long, I'm +sure; he loves you so." + +"Yes, yes, he has been very good to me--better than I have ever deserved; +but that is all over now. He won't believe me--he will hardly listen to me. +He is going to take away my boy, Jane." + +"Going to take away Master Lovel?" + +"Yes; my darling is to go back to Arden, and I am to go to papa." + +"What!" cried Jane Target, all the woman taking fire in her honest +heart. "Part mother and child! He couldn't do that; or if he could, he +_shouldn't_, while I had the power to hinder him." + +"How are we to prevent him, Jane--you and I?" + +"Let's take the darling away, ma'am, before he can stop us." + +"You dear good soul!" cried Clarissa. "It's the very thing I've been +thinking of. Heaven knows how it is to be done; but it must be done +somehow. And you will come with me, Jane? and you will brave all for me, +you good generous girl?" + +"Lor, ma'am, what do you think I'm frightened of? Not that stuck-up Mrs. +Brobson, with her grand airs, and as lazy as the voice of the sluggard into +the bargain. Just you make up your mind, mum, where you'd like to go, and +when you'd like to start, and I shall walk into the nursery as bold as +brass, and say I want Master Lovel to come and amuse his mar for half an +hour; and once we've got him safe in this room, the rest is easy. Part +mother and child indeed! I should like to see him do it! I warrant we'll +soon bring Mr. Granger to his senses." + +Where to go? yes, there was the rub. What a friendless creature Clarissa +Granger felt, as she pondered on this serious question! To her brother? +Yes, he was the only friend she would care to trust in this emergency. But +how was she to find him? Brussels was a large place, and she had no clue to +his whereabouts there. Could she feel even sure that he had really gone to +Brussels? + +Somewhither she must go, however--that was certain. It could matter very +little where she found a refuge, if only she had her darling with her. So +the two women consulted together, and plotted and planned in Clarissa's +sanctum; while Daniel Granger paced up and down the great dreary +drawing-room, waiting for that promised visit from George Fairfax. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. + +CLARISSA'S ELOPEMENT. + + +Mr. Fairfax came a little after noon--came with a calm grave aspect, as of +a man who had serious work before him. With all his heart he wished that +the days of duelling had not been over; that he could have sent his best +friend to Daniel Granger, and made an end of the quarrel in a gentlemanlike +way, in some obscure alley at Vincennes, or amidst the shadowy aisles of +St. Germains. But a duel nowadays is too complete an anachronism for an +Englishman to propose in cold blood. Mr. Fairfax came to his enemy's house +for one special purpose. The woman he loved was in Daniel Granger's power; +it was his duty to explain that fatal meeting in Austin's rooms, to justify +Clarissa's conduct in the eyes of her husband. It was not that he meant to +surrender his hope of their future union--indeed, he hoped that the scene +of the previous evening would bring about a speedy separation between +husband and wife. But he had placed her in a false position; she was +innocent, and he was bound to assert her innocence. + +He found Daniel Granger like a man of iron, fully justifying that phrase of +Lady Laura's--"_Carre par la base_." The ignominy of his own position came +fully home to him at the first moment of their meeting. He remembered the +day when he had liked and respected this man: he could not despise him now. + +He was conscious that he carried the mark of last night's skirmish in an +unpleasantly conspicuous manner. That straight-out blow of Daniel Granger's +had left a discoloration of the skin--what in a meaner man might have been +called a black eye. He, too, had hit hard in that brief tussle; but no +stroke of his had told like that blow of the Yorkshireman's. Mr. Granger +bore no trace of the encounter. + +The two men met with as serene an air as if they had never grappled each +other savagely in the twilight. + +"I considered it due to Mrs. Granger that I should call upon you," George +Fairfax began, "in order to explain her part in the affair of last night." + +"Go on, sir. The old story, of course--Mrs. Granger is spotless; it is only +appearances that are against her." + +"So far as she is concerned, our meeting yesterday afternoon was an +accident. She came there to see another person." + +"Indeed I Mr. Austin the painter, I suppose?--a man who painted her +portrait, and who had no farther acquaintance with her than that. A very +convenient person, it seems, since she was in the habit of going to his +rooms nearly every afternoon; and I suppose the same kind of accident as +that of yesterday generally brought you there at the same time." + +"Mrs. Granger went to see her brother." + +"Her brother?" + +"Yes, Austin Lovel; otherwise Mr. Austin the painter. I have been pledged +to him to keep his identity a secret; but I feel myself at liberty to break +my promise now--in his sister's justification." + +"You mean, that the man who came to this house as a stranger is my wife's +brother?" + +"I do." + +"What duplicity! And this is the woman I trusted!" + +"There was no voluntary duplicity on your wife's part. I know that she was +most anxious you should be told the truth." + +"_You_ know! Yes, of course; _you_ are in my wife's confidence--an honour I +have never enjoyed." + +"It was Austin who objected to make himself known to you." + +"I scarcely wonder at that, considering his antecedents. The whole thing +has been very cleverly done, Mr. Fairfax, and I acknowledge myself +completely duped. I don't think there is any occasion for us to discuss the +subject farther. Nothing that you could say would alter my estimation of +the events of last night. I regret that I suffered myself to be betrayed +into any violence--that kind of thing is behind the times. We have wiser +remedies for our wrongs nowadays." + +"You do not mean that you would degrade your wife in a law court!" cried +Mr. Fairfax. "Any legal investigation must infallibly establish her +innocence; but no woman's name can escape untainted from such an ordeal." + +"No, I am not likely to do that. I have a son, Mr. Fairfax. As for my wife, +my plans are formed. It is not in the power of any one living to alter +them." + +"Then it is useless for me to say more. On the honour of a gentleman, I +have told you nothing but the truth. Your wife is innocent." + +"She is not guiltless of having listened to you. That is quite enough for +me." + +"I have done, sir," said George Fairfax gravely, and, with a bow and a +somewhat cynical smile, departed. + +He had done what he felt himself bound to do. He had no ardent wish to +patch up the broken union between Clarissa and her husband. From the +first hour in which he heard of her marriage, he had held it in jealous +abhorrence. He had very little compunction about what had happened. It must +bring matters to a crisis, he thought. In the meantime, he would have given +a great deal to be able to communicate with Clarissa, and began accordingly +to deliberate how that might best be done. + +He did not deliberate long; for while he was meditating all manner of +roundabout modes of approach, he suddenly remembered how Austin Lovel had +told him he always wrote to his sister under cover to her maid. All he had +to do, therefore, was to find out the maid's name. + +That would be easy enough, Mr. Fairfax imagined, if his servant was good +for anything. The days of Leporello are over; but a well-bred valet may +still have some little talent for diplomacy. + +"My fellow has only to waylay one of Granger's grooms," Mr. Fairfax said to +himself, "and he can get the information I want readily enough." + +There was not much time to be lost, he thought. Mr. Granger had spoken of +his plans with a certain air of decision. Those plans involved some change +of residence, no doubt. He would take his wife away from Paris; punish +her by swift banishment from that brilliant city; bury her alive at Arden +Court, and watch her with the eyes of a lynx for the rest of his life. + +"Let him watch you never so closely, or shut you in what prison he may, I +will find a door of escape for you, my darling," he said to himself. + +The mistress and maid were busy meanwhile, making arrangements for a sudden +flight. There was very little packing to be done; for they could take +nothing, or scarcely anything, with them. The great difficulty would be, to +get the child out of the house. After a good deal of deliberation they +had decided the manner in which their attempt was to be made. It was dusk +between five and six; and at dusk Jane was to go to the nursery, and in the +most innocent manner possible, carry off the boy for half-an-hour's play in +his mother's dressing-room. It was, fortunately, a usual thing for Clarissa +to have him with her at this time, when she happened to be at home so +early. There was a dingy servants' staircase leading from the corridor to +the ground-floor; and down this they were to make their escape unobserved, +the child bundled up in a shawl, Jane Target having slipped out beforehand +and hired a carriage, which was to wait for them a little way off in a +side-street. There was a train leaving Paris at seven, which would take +them to Amiens, where they could sleep that night, and go on to Brussels in +the morning. Once in Brussels, they must contrive somehow to find Austin +Lovel. + +Of her plans for the future--how she was to live separated from her +husband, and defying him--Clarissa thought nothing. Her mind was wholly +occupied by that one consideration about her child. To secure him to +herself was the end and aim of her existence. + +It was only at Jane's suggestion that she set herself to calculate ways and +means. She had scarcely any ready money--one five-pound note and a handful +of silver comprised all her wealth. She had given her brother every +sixpence she could spare. There were her jewels, it is true; jewels worth +three or four thousand pounds. But she shrank from the idea of touching +these. + +While she sat with her purse in her hand, idly counting the silver, and not +at all able to realise the difficulties of her position, the faithful Jane +came to her relief. + +"I've got five-and-twenty pounds with me, ma'am; saved out of my wages +since I've been in your service; and I'm sure you're welcome to the money." + +Jane had brought her little hoard with her, intending to invest some part +of it in presents for her kindred--a shawl for her mother, and so on; but +had been disappointed, by finding that the Parisian shops, brilliant as +they were, contained very much the same things she had seen in London, and +at higher prices. She had entertained a hazy notion that cashmere shawls +were in some manner a product of the soil of France, and could be bought +for a mere trifle; whereby she had been considerably taken aback when the +proprietor of a plate-glass edifice on the Boulevard des Italiens asked her +a thousand francs for a black cashmere, which she had set her mind upon as +a suitable covering for the shoulders of Mrs. Target. + +"You dear good girl!" said Clarissa, touched by this new proof of fidelity; +"but if I should never be able to pay you the money!" + +"Stuff and nonsense, ma'am! no fear of that; and if you weren't, I +shouldn't care. Father and mother are comfortably off; and I'm not going to +work for a pack of brothers and sisters. I gave the girls new bonnets last +Easter, and sent them a ribbon apiece at Christmas; and that's enough for +_them_. If you don't take the money, ma'am, I shall throw it in the fire." + +Clarissa consented to accept the use of the money. She would be able to +repay it, of course. She had a vague idea that she could earn money as a +teacher of drawing in some remote continental city, where they might live +very cheaply. How sweet it would be to work for her child! much sweeter +than to be a millionaire's wife and dress him in purple and fine linen that +cost her nothing. + +She spent some hours in looking over and arranging her jewels. From all of +these she selected only two half-hoop diamond rings, as a reserve against +the hour of need. These and these only of Daniel Granger's gifts would she +take with her. She made a list of her trinkets, with a _nota bene_ stating +her appropriation of the two rings, and laid it at the top of her principal +jewel-case. After this, she wrote a letter to her husband--a few lines +only, telling him how she had determined to take her child away with her, +and how she should resist to the last gasp any attempt to rob her of him. + +"If I were the guilty wretch you think me," she wrote, "I would willingly +surrender my darling, rather than degrade him by any association with such +a fallen creature. But whatever wrong I have committed against you--and +that wrong was done by my marriage--I have not forfeited the right to my +child's affection." + +This letter written, there was nothing more to be done. Jane packed a +travelling-bag with a few necessary items, and that was all the luggage +they could venture to carry away with them. + +The afternoon post brought a letter from Brussels, addressed to Miss Jane +Target, which the girl brought in triumph to her mistress. + +"There'll be no bother about finding Mr. Austin, ma'am," she cried. "Here's +a letter!" + +The letter was in Austin's usual brief careless style, entering into no +explanations; but it told the quarter in which he had found a lodging; so +Clarissa was at least sure of this friendly shelter. It would be a poor +one, no doubt; nor was Austin Lovel by any means a strong rock upon which +to lean in the hour of trouble. But she loved him, and she knew that he +would not turn his back upon her. + +The rest of the day seemed long and dreary. Clarissa wandered into the +nursery two or three times in order to assure herself, by the evidence of +her own eyes, of her boy's safety. She found the nursemaid busy packing, +under Mrs. Brobson's direction. + +The day waned. Clarissa had not seen her husband since that meeting in the +corridor; nor had she gone into any of the rooms where Miss Granger might +be encountered. + +That young lady, painfully in the dark as to what had happened, sat at her +table in the window, diligently illuminating, and wondering when her father +would take her into his confidence. She had been told of the intended +journey on the next day, and that she and her brother were to go back to +Arden Court, under the protection of the servants, while Mr. Granger and +his wife went elsewhere, and was not a little puzzled by the peculiarity of +the arrangement. Warman was packing, complaining the while at having to do +so much in so short a time, and knew nothing of what had occurred in +the Rue du Chevalier Bayard, after the dismissal of the carriage by Mr. +Fairfax. + +"There must have been something, miss," she said, "or your pa would never +have taken, this freak into his head--racing back as if it was for a wager; +and me not having seen half I wanted to see, nor bought so much as a +pincushion to take home to my friends. I had a clear month before me, I +thought, so where was the use of hurrying; and then to be scampered and +harum-scarumed off like this! It's really too bad." + +"I have no doubt papa has good reasons for what he is doing, Warman," +answered Miss Granger, with dignity. + +"O, of course, miss; gentlefolks has always good reasons for _their_ +goings-on!" Warman remarked snappishly, and then "took it out" of one of +Miss Granger's bonnets during the process of packing. + +Twilight came at last, the longed-for dusk, in which the attempt was to be +made. Clarissa had put on one of her darkest plainest dresses, and borrowed +a little black-straw bonnet of her maid's. This bonnet and her sealskin +jacket she deferred putting on until the last; for there was always the +fear that Mr. Granger might come in at some awkward moment. At half-past +five Jane Target went to the nursery and fetched the year-old heir of Arden +Court. + +He was always glad to go to his mother; and he came to-night crowing and +laughing, and kicking his little blue shoes in boisterous rapture. Jane +kept guard at the door while Clarissa put on her bonnet and jacket, and +wrapped up the baby--first in a warm fur-lined opera-jacket, and then in a +thick tartan shawl. They had no hat for him, but tied up his pretty flaxen +head in a large silk handkerchief, and put the shawl over that. The little +fellow submitted to the operation, which he evidently regarded in the light +of an excellent joke. + +Everything was now ready. Clarissa carried her baby, Jane went before with +the bag, leading the way down the darksome servants' staircase, where at +any moment they might meet one of Mr. Granger's retainers. Luckily, they +met no one; the descent only occupied about two minutes; and at the bottom +of the stairs, Clarissa found herself in a small square stone lobby, +lighted by a melancholy jet of gas, and pervaded by the smell of cooking. +In the next moment Jane--who had made herself mistress of all minor +details--opened a door, and they were out in the dull quiet street--the +side-street, at the end of which workmen were scalping away a hill. + +A few doors off they found the carriage, which Jane had secured half an +hour before, and a very civil driver. Clarissa told the driver where to go, +and then got in, with her precious burden safe in her arms. + +The precious burden set up a wail at this juncture, not understanding or +approving these strange proceedings, and it was as much as his mother could +do to soothe him. A few yards round the corner they passed a man, who +looked curiously at the vehicle. This was George Fairfax, who was pacing +the street in the gloaming in order to reconnoitre the dwelling of the +woman he loved, and who let her pass him unaware. His own man was busy at +the same time entertaining one of Mr. Granger's footmen in a neighbouring +wine-shop, in the hope of extracting the information his master required +about Mrs. Granger's maid. They reached the station just five minutes +before the train left for Amiens; and once seated in the railway-carriage, +Clarissa almost felt as if her victory was certain, so easily had the first +stage been got over. She kissed and blessed Jane Target, whom she called +her guardian angel; and smothered her baby with kisses, apostrophising him +with all manner of fond foolishness. + +Everything favoured her. The flight was not discovered until nearly +three-quarters of an hour after Clarissa had eloped with her baby down that +darksome stair. Mrs. Brobson, luxuriating in tea, toast, and gossip +before the nursery fire, and relieved not a little by the absence of her +one-year-old charge, had been unconscious of the progress of time. It was +only when the little clock upon the chimney-piece chimed the half-hour +after six, that she began to wonder about the baby. + +"His mar's had him longer than ever," she said; "you'd better go and fetch +him, Liza. She'll be wanting to dress for dinner, I dessay. I suppose she's +going down to dinner to-night, though there is something up." + +"She didn't go down to breakfast, nor yet to lunch," said Eliza, who had +her information fresh and fresh from one of the footmen; "and Mr. Granger's +been a-walking up and down the droring-room as if he was a-doing of it for +a wager, William Baker says. Mr. Fairfax come this morning, and didn't stop +above a quarter of a hour; but William was outside the droring-room door +all the time, and there was no loud talking, nor quarrelling, nor nothink." + +"That Fairfax is a villain," replied Mrs. Brobson. "I don't forget the +day he kissed baby in Arden Park. I never see any good come of a single +gentleman kissing a lady's baby, voluntary. It isn't their nature to do it, +unless they've a hankering after the mar." + +"Lor, Brobson, how horful!" cried Eliza. And in this pleasant converse, the +nurse and her subordinate wasted another five minutes. + +The nursemaid frittered away a few more minutes in tapping gingerly at the +dressing-room door, until at last, emboldened by the silence, she opened +it, and, peering in, beheld nothing but emptiness. Mrs. Granger had gone to +the drawing-room perhaps; but where was baby? and where was Jane Target? +The girl went in search of her favourite, William Baker. Were Mrs. Granger +and baby in the drawing-room? No; Mr. Baker had been in attendance all the +afternoon. Mrs. Granger had not left her own apartments. + +"But she's not there," cried Eliza, aghast; "nor Target either. I've been +looking for baby." + +She ran back to the dressing-room; it was still empty, and the bedroom +adjoining. Mr. Granger's dressing-room was beyond that, and he was there +writing letters. At this door--this sacred door, the threshold whereof she +had never crossed--Eliza the nursemaid tapped nervously. + +"O, if you please, sir, have you got Master Lovel?" + +"No," cried Daniel Granger, starting up from his desk. "What made you think +him likely to be here?" + +"I can't find him, please, sir. I've been looking in Mrs. Granger's +dressing-room, and everywhere almost. Jane Target fetched him for his ma +close upon a hour ago; and Mrs. Brobson sent me for him, and I fancied as +you might have got him with you, sir." + +Mr. Granger came out of his room with the lamp in his hand, and came +through the bedroom to his wife's dressing-room, looking with that stern +searching gaze of his into every shadowy corner, as if he thought Clarissa +and her baby might be playing hide-and-seek there. But there was no +one--the cheval-glass and the great glass door of the wardrobe reflected +only his own figure, and the scared nursemaid peering from behind his +elbow. He went on to the nursery, opening the doors of all the rooms as he +passed, and looking in. There are some convictions that come in a minute. +Before that search was finished, Daniel Granger felt very sure that his +wife had left him, and had taken her child away with her. + +In what manner and to what doom had she gone? Was her flight a shameful +one, with George Fairfax for her companion? He knew now, for the first +time, that in the depths of his mind there had been some lurking belief in +her innocence, it was so supreme an agony to him to imagine that she had +taken a step which must make her guilt a certainty. He did not waste much +time in questioning the verbose Brobson. The child was missing--that was +quite clear--and his wife, and his wife's maid. It was some small relief to +him to know that she had taken the honest Yorkshire girl. If she had been +going to ignominy, she would scarcely have taken any one who knew her past +history, above all, one whom she had known in her childhood. + +What was he to do? To follow her, of course, if by any means he could +discover whither she had gone. To set the telegraph wires going, also, with +a view to discovering her destination. He drove off at once to the chief +telegraph office, and wrote a couple of messages, one to Mr. Lovel, at +Spa--the other to Mr. Oliver, at Holborough Rectory; with a brief stern +request to be informed immediately if his wife should arrive at either +place. There was Lady Laura Armstrong, her most intimate friend, with whom +she might possibly seek a refuge in the hour of her trouble; but he did not +care to make any application in that quarter, unless driven to do so. He +did not want to make his wrongs public. + +From the telegraph office he drove to the Northern Railway Station, and +made minute inquiries about the trains. There was a train by which she +might have gone to Calais half an hour before he arrived there. He +enlisted the services of an official, and promenaded the waiting-rooms and +platforms, the dreary chambers in which travellers wait for their luggage, +to and fro between the barriers that torment the soul of the impatient. He +asked this man, and several other men, if a lady, with her baby and maid, +had been observed to take their departure by any train within the last +hour. But the men shrugged their shoulders hopelessly. Ladies and maids and +babies came and went in flocks, and no one noticed them. There were always +babies. Yes; one of the men did remember a stout lady in a red shawl, +with a baby and a birdcage and a crowd of boxes, who had gone by the +second-class. Is it that that was the lady monsieur was looking for, _par +hasard_? + +"She will go to her father," Mr. Granger said to himself again and again; +and this for the moment seemed to him such a certainty, that he had half +made up his mind to start for Spa by the next train that would carry him in +that direction. But the thought of George Fairfax--the possibility that his +wife might have had a companion in her flight--arrested him in the next +moment. "Better that I should stop to make sure of _his_ whereabouts," he +thought; and drove straight to the Champs Elysees, where Mr. Fairfax had +his bachelor quarters. + +Here he saw the valet, who had not long returned from that diplomatic +expedition to the neighbourhood of the Rue de Morny; but who appeared the +very image of unconsciousness and innocence notwithstanding. Mr. Fairfax +was dining at home with some friends. Would Mr. Granger walk in? The dinner +was not served yet. Mr. Fairfax would be delighted to see him. + +Mr. Granger refused to go in; but told the man he should be glad to see Mr. +Fairfax there, in the ante-room, for a moment. He wanted to be quite sure +that the valet was not lying. + +Mr. Fairfax came out, surprised at the visit. + +"I had a special reason for wishing to know if you were at home this +evening," said Daniel Granger. "I am sorry to have disturbed you, and will +not detain you from your friends." + +And then the question flashed upon him--_Was she there?_ No; that would be +too daring. Any other refuge she might seek; but surely not this. + +George Fairfax had flung the door wide open in coming out. Mr. Granger +saw the dainty bachelor room, with its bright pictures shining in the +lamp-light, and two young men in evening-dress lolling against the +mantelpiece. The odours of an elaborate dinner were also perceptible. The +valet had told the truth. Daniel Granger murmured some vague excuse, and +departed. + +"Queer!" muttered Mr. Fairfax as he went back to his friends. + +"I'm afraid the man is going off his head; and yet he seemed cool enough +to-day." + +From the Champs Elysees Mr. Granger drove to the Rue du Chevalier Bayard. +There was another possibility to be considered: if Austin the painter were +indeed Austin Lovel, as George Fairfax had asserted, it was possible that +Clarissa had gone to him; and the next thing to be done was to ascertain +his whereabouts. The ancient porter, whom Mr. Granger had left the night +before in a doubtful and bewildered state of mind, was eating some savoury +mess for his supper comfortably enough this evening, but started up +in surprise, with his spectacles on his forehead, at Mr. Granger's +reappearance. + +"I want to know where your lodger Mr. Austin went when he left here?" Mr. +Granger demanded briefly. + +The porter shrugged his shoulders. + +"Alas, monsieur, that is an impossibility. I know nothing of Mr. Austin's +destination; only that he went away yesterday, at three o'clock, in a +hackney-coach, which was to take him to the Northern Railway." + +"Is there no one who can tell me what I want to know?" asked Mr. Granger. + +"I doubt it, monsieur. Monsieur Austin was in debt to almost every one +except his landlord. He promised to write about his furniture,--some of +the movables in those rooms upstairs are his--cabinets, carved chairs, +tapestries, and so on; but he said nothing as to where he was going." + +"He promised to write," repeated Mr. Granger. "That's an indefinite kind of +promise. You could let me know, I suppose, if you heard anything?" + +"But certainly," replied the porter, who saw Mr. Granger's fingers in his +waistcoat pocket, and scented a fee, "monsieur should know immediately." + +Mr. Granger wrote his address upon a card, and gave it to the porter, with +a napoleon. + +"You shall have another when you bring me any information. Good-night." + +At home, Daniel Granger had to face his daughter, who had heard by this +time of her stepmother's departure and the abstraction of the baby. + +"O, papa," she exclaimed, "I do so feel for you!" and made as if she would +have embraced her parent; but he stood like a rock, not inviting any +affectionate demonstration. + +"Thank you, my dear," he said gravely; "but I can do very well without +pity. It's a kind of thing I'm not accustomed to. I am annoyed that +Clarissa should have acted in--in this ill-advised manner; but I have no +doubt matters will come right in a little time." + +"Lovel--my brother is safe, papa?" inquired Sophia, clasping her hands. + +"I have every reason to believe so. He is with his mother." + +Miss Granger sighed profoundly, as much as to say, "He could not be in +worse hands." + +"And I think, my dear," continued her father, "that the less you trouble +yourself about this business the bettor. Any interference on your part will +only annoy me, and may occasion unpleasantness between us. You will go back +to Arden, to-morrow, as I intended, with Warman, and one of the men to take +care of your luggage. The rest of the establishment will follow in a day or +so." + +"And you, papa?" + +"My plans are uncertain. I shall return to Arden as soon as I can." + +"Dear old Arden!" exclaimed Sophia; "how I wish we had never left it! How +happy I was for the first four years of my life there!" + +This apostrophe Mr. Granger perfectly understood--it meant that, with the +advent of Clarissa, happiness had fled away from Sophia's dwelling-place. +He did not trouble himself to notice the speech; but it made him angry +nevertheless. + +"There is a letter for you, papa," said Miss Granger, pointing to a +side-table; "a letter which Warman found upstairs." + +The lynx-eyed Warman, prying and peering about, had spied out Clarissa's +letter to her husband, half hidden among the frivolities on the +dressing-table. Mr. Granger pounced upon it eagerly, full of hope. It might +tell him all he wanted to know. + +It told him nothing. The words were not consistent with guilt, unless +Clarissa were the very falsest of women. But had she not been the falsest? +Had she not deceived him grossly, unpardonably? Alas, he was already trying +to make excuses for her--trying to believe her innocent, innocent of what +society calls sin--yes, she might be that. But had he not seen her kneeling +beside her lover? Had she not owned that she loved him? She had; and the +memory of her words were poison to Daniel Granger. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. + +UNDER THE SHADOW OF ST. GUDULE. + + +It was about half an hour before noon on the following day when Clarissa +arrived at Brussels, and drove straight to her brother's lodging, which was +in an obscure street under the shadow of St. Gudule. Austin was at work +in a room opening straight from the staircase--a bare, shabby-looking +chamber--and looked up from his easel with profound astonishment on +beholding Mrs. Granger with her maid and baby. + +"Why, Clary, what in the name of all that's wonderful, brings you to +Brussels?" he exclaimed. + +"I have come to live with you for a little while, Austin, if you will let +me," she answered quietly. "I have no other home now." + +Austin Lovel laid down his palette, and came across the room to receive +her. + +"What does it all mean, Clary?--Look here, young woman," he said to Jane +Target; "you'll find my wife in the next room; and she'll help you to make +that youngster comfortable.--Now, Clary," he went on, as the girl curtseyed +and vanished through the door that divided the two rooms, "what does it all +mean?" + +Clarissa told him her story--told it, that is to say, as well as she could +tell a story which reflected so much discredit upon herself. + +"I went to the Rue du Chevalier Bayard at 5 on Tuesday--as I promised, you +know, Austin--and found Mr. Fairfax there. You may imagine how surprised +I was when I heard you were gone. He did not tell me immediately; and he +detained me there--talking to me." + +The sudden crimson which mounted to her very temples at this juncture +betrayed her secret. + +"Talking to you!" cried Austin; "you mean making love to you! The infernal +scoundrel!" + +"It was--very dishonourable!" + +"That's a mild way of putting it. What! he hung about my rooms when I had +gone, to get you into a trap, as it were, at the risk of compromising you +in a most serious manner! You never gave him any encouragement, did you, +Clarissa?" + +"I never meant to do so." + +"You never meant! But a woman must know what she is doing. You used to +meet him at my rooms very often. If I had dreamt there was any flirtation +between you, I should have taken care to put a stop to _that_. Well, go on. +You found Fairfax there, and you let him detain you, and then----?" + +"My husband came, and there was a dreadful scene, and he knocked Mr. +Fairfax down." + +"Naturally. I respect him for doing it." + +"And for a few minutes I thought he was dead," said Clarissa with a +shudder; and then she went on with her story, telling her brother how +Daniel Granger had threatened to separate her from her child. + +"That was hard lines," said Austin; "but I think you would have done better +to remain passive. It's natural that he should take this business rather +seriously at first: but that would wear off in a short time. What you have +done will only widen the breach." + +"I have got my child," said Clarissa. + +"Yes; but in any case you must have had him. That threat of Granger's was +only blank cartridge. He could not deprive you of the custody of your son." + +"He will try to get a divorce, perhaps. He thinks me the vilest creature in +the world." + +"A divorce--bosh! Divorces are not obtained so easily. What a child you +are, Clarissa!" + +"At any rate, he was going to take me back to papa in disgrace. I could not +have endured that. My father would think me guilty, perhaps." + +Again the tell-tale crimson flushed Clarissa's face. The memory of that +September evening at Mill Cottage flashed across her mind, and her father's +denunciation of George Fairfax and his race. + +"Your father would be wise enough to defend his child, I imagine," replied +Austin, "although he is not a person whose conduct I would pretend to +answer for. But this quarrel between you and your husband must be patched +up, Clary." + +"That will never be." + +"It must be--for your son's sake, if not for yours. You pretend to love +that boy, and are yet so blind to his interests? He is not the heir to an +entailed estate, remember. Granger is a self-made man, and if you offend +him, may leave Arden Court to his daughter's children." + +She had robbed her son of his birthright, perhaps. For what? Because she +had not had the strength to shut her heart against a guilty love; because, +in the face of every good resolution she had ever made, she had been weak +enough to listen when George Fairfax chose to speak. + +"It seems very hard," she said helplessly. + +"It would be uncommonly hard upon that child, if this breach were not +healed. But it must be healed." + +"You do not know half the bitter things Mr. Granger said. Nothing would +induce me to humiliate myself to him." + +"Not the consideration of your son's interests?" + +"God will protect my son; he will not be punished for any sin of his +mother's." + +"Come now, Clary, be reasonable. Let me write to Granger in my own proper +character, telling him that you are here." + +"If you do that, I will never forgive you. It would be most dishonourable, +most unkind. You will not do that, Austin?" + +"Of course I will not, if you insist upon it. But I consider that you are +acting very foolishly. There must have been a settlement, by the way, when +you married. Do you remember anything about it?" + +"Very little. There was five hundred a year settled on me for pin money; +and five hundred a year for papa, settled somehow. The reversion to come +to me, I think they said. And--yes, I remember--If I had any children, the +eldest son was to inherit Arden Court." + +"That's lucky! I thought your father would never be such a fool as to let +you marry without some arrangement of that sort." + +"Then my darling is safe, is he not?" + +"Well, yes, I suppose so." + +"And you will not betray me, Austin?" said Clarissa imploringly. + +"Betray you! If you put it in that way, of course not. But I should be +acting more in your interests if I wrote to Granger. No good can come +of the step you have taken. However, we must trust to the chapter of +accidents," added Austin, with a resumption of his habitual carelessness. +"I needn't tell you that you are heartily welcome to my hospitality, such +as it is. Our quarters are rough enough, but Bessie will do what she can to +make you comfortable; and I'll put on a spurt and work hard to keep things +together. I have found a dealer in the Montagne de la Cour, who is willing +to take my sketches at a decent price. Look here, Clary, how do you like +this little bit of _genre?_ 'Forbidden Fruit'--a chubby six-year-old girl, +on tiptoe, trying to filch a peach growing high on the wall; flimsy child, +and pre-Raphaelite wall. Peach, carnation velvet; child's cheek to match +the peach. Rather a nice thing, isn't it?" asked Austin lightly. + +Clarissa made some faint attempt to appear interested in the picture, which +she only saw in a dim far-off way. + +"I shall be very glad to see where you are going to put baby," she said +anxiously. + +The bleak and barren aspect of the painting-room did not promise much for +the accommodation or comfort of Mr. Lovel's domicile. + +"Where I am going to put baby! Ah, to be sure, you will want a room to +sleep in," said Austin, as if this necessity had only just struck him. +"We'll soon manage that; the house is roomy enough,--a perfect barrack, in +fact. There was a lace-factory carried on in it once, I believe. I daresay +there's a room on this floor that we can have. I'll go and see about +that, while you make yourself comfortable with Bessie. We have only two +rooms--this and the next, which is our bedroom; but we shall do something +better by and by, if I find my pictures sell pretty fast." + +He went off whistling an opera air, and by no means oppressed by the idea +that he had a sister in difficulties cast upon his hands. + +There was a room--a darksome chamber at the back of the house--looking into +a narrow alley, where domestic operations of some kind seemed to be going +on in every window and doorway, but sufficiently spacious, and with two +beds. It was altogether homely, but looked tolerably clean; and Clarissa +was satisfied with it, although it was the poorest room that had ever +sheltered her. She had her baby--that was the grand point; and he rolled +upon the beds, and crowed and chattered, in his half inarticulate way, with +as much delight as if the shabby chamber had been an apartment in a palace. + +"If he is happy, I am more than content!" exclaimed Mrs. Granger. + +A fire was lighted in the stove, and Bessie brought them a second breakfast +of coffee and rolls, and a great basin of bread and milk for young Lovel. +The little man ate ravenously, and did not cry for Brobson--seemed indeed +rather relieved to have escaped from the jurisdiction of that respectable +matron. He was fond of Jane Target, who was just one of those plump +apple-cheeked young women whom children love instinctively, and who had +a genius for singing ballads of a narrative character, every verse +embellished with a curious old-fashioned quavering turn. + +After this refreshment--the first that Clarissa had taken with any approach +to appetite since that luckless scene in her brother's painting-room--Jane +persuaded her mistress to lie down and rest, which she did, falling asleep +peacefully, with her boy's bright young head nestling beside her on the +pillow. It was nearly dark when she awoke; and after dinner she went out +for a walk with Austin, in the bright gas-lit streets, and along a wide +boulevard, where the tall bare trees looked grim in the darkness. The +freedom of this new life seemed strange to her, after the forms and +ceremonies of her position as Daniel Granger's wife, and Sophia Granger's +stepmother--strange, and not at all unpleasant. + +"I think I could be very happy with you and Bessie always, Austin," she +said, "if they would only leave me in peace." + +"Could you, Clary? I'm sure I should be very glad to have you; but it would +be rather hard upon Granger." + +"He was going to take me back to papa; he wanted to get rid of me." + +"He was in a passion when he talked about that, rely upon it." + +"He was as cold as ice, Austin. I don't believe he was ever in a passion in +his life." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XLV. + +TEMPTATION. + + +It was Sunday; and Clarissa had been nearly a week in Brussels--a very +quiet week, in which she had had nothing to do but worship her baby, and +tremblingly await any attempt that might be made to wrest him from her. She +lived in hourly fear of discovery, and was startled by every step on the +staircase and fluttered by every sudden opening of a door, expecting to see +Daniel Granger on the threshold. + +She went to church alone on this first Sunday morning. Austin was seldom +visible before noon, dawdling away the bleaker morning hours smoking and +reading in bed. Bessie had a world of domestic business on her hands, and +the two boys to torment her while she attempted to get through it. So +Clarissa went alone to St. Gudule. There were Protestant temples, no doubt, +in the Belgian city wherein she might have worshipped; but that solemn +pile drew her to itself with a magnetic attraction. She went in among +the gay-looking crowd--the old women in wondrous caps, the sprinkling +of soldiers, the prosperous citizens and citizenesses in their Sunday +splendour--and made her way to a quiet corner remote from the great +carved-oak pulpit and the high altar--a shadowy corner behind a massive +cluster of columns, and near a little wooden door in one of the great +portals, that opened and shut with a clanging noise now and then, and +beside which a dilapidated-looking old man kept watch over a shell-shaped +marble basin of holy water, and offered a brush dipped in the sacred fluid +to devout passers-by. Here she could kneel unobserved, and in her ignorant +fashion, join in the solemn service, lifting up her heart with the +elevation of the host, and acknowledging her guiltiness in utter humility +of spirit. + +Yet not always throughout that service could she keep her thoughts from +wandering. Her mind had been too much troubled of late for perfect peace or +abstraction of thought to be possible to her. The consideration of her own +folly was very constantly with her. What a wreck and ruin she had made of +her life--a life which from first to last had been governed by impulse +only! + +"If I had been an honourable woman, I should never have married Daniel +Granger," she said to herself. "What right had I to take so much and give +so little--to marry a man I could not even hope to love for the sake of +winning independence for my father, or for the sake of my old home?" + +Arden Court--was not that the price which had made her sacrifice tolerable +to her? And she had lost it; the gates of the dwelling she loved were +closed upon her once again--and this time for ever. How the memory of the +place came back to her this chill March morning!--the tall elms rocking in +the wind, the rooks' nests tossing in the topmost branches, and the hoarse +cawing of discontented birds bewailing the tardiness of spring. + +"It will be my darling's home in the days to come," she said to herself; +but even this thought brought no consolation. She dared not face her son's +future. Would it not involve severance from her? Now, while he was an +infant, she might hold him; but by-and-by the father's stern claim would +be heard. They would take the boy away from her--teach him to despise and +forget her. She fancied herself wandering and watching in Arden Park, a +trespasser, waiting for a stolen glimpse of her child's face. + +"I shall die before that time comes," she thought gloomily. + +Some such fancy as this held her absorbed when the high mass concluded, and +the congregation began to disperse. The great organ was pealing out one of +Mozart's Hallelujahs. There was some secondary service going on at either +end of the church. Clarissa still knelt, with her face hidden in her hands, +not praying, only conjuring up dreadful pictures of the future. Little by +little the crowd melted away; there were only a few worshippers murmuring +responses in the distance; the last chords of the Hallelujah crashed and +resounded under the vaulted roof; and at last Clarissa looked up and found +herself almost alone. + +She went out, but shrank from returning immediately to her child. Those +agitating thoughts had affected her too deeply. She walked away from the +church up towards the park, hoping to find some quiet place where she might +walk down the disturbance in her mind, so as to return with a calm smiling +face to her darling. It was not a tempting day for any purposeless +pedestrian. The sky had darkened at noon, and there was a drizzling rain +coming down from the dull gray heavens. The streets cleared quickly now the +services were over; but Clarissa went on, scarcely conscious of the rain, +and utterly indifferent to any inconvenience it might cause her. + +She was in the wide open place near the park, when she heard footsteps +following her, rapidly, and with a purpose, as it seemed. Some women have +a kind of instinct about these things. She knew in a moment, as if by some +subtle magnetism, that the man following her was George Fairfax. + +"Clarissa," said a voice close in her ear; and turning quickly, she found +herself face to face with him. + +"I was in the church," he said, "and have followed you all the way here. +I waited till we were clear of the narrow streets and the crowd. O, my +darling, thank God I have found you! I only knew yesterday that you had +left Paris; and some happy instinct brought me here. I felt sure you would +come to Austin. I arrived late last night, and was loafing about the +streets this morning, wondering how I should discover your whereabouts, +when I turned a corner and saw you going into St. Gudule. I followed, +but would not disturb your orisons, fair saint. I was not very far off, +Clarissa--only on the other side of the pillar." + +"Was it kind of you to follow me here, Mr. Fairfax?" Clarissa asked +gravely. "Have you not brought enough trouble upon me as it is?" + +"Brought trouble upon you! Yes, that seems hard; but I suppose it was my +fate to do that, and to make amends for it afterwards, dearest, in a life +that shall know no trouble." + +"I am here with my son, Mr. Fairfax. It was the fear of being separated +from him that drove me away from Paris. If you have one spark of generous +feeling, you will not pursue me or annoy me here. If my husband were to see +us together, or were to hear of our being seen together, he would have just +grounds for taking my child away from me." + +"Clarissa," exclaimed George Fairfax, with intensity, "let us make an end +of all folly and beating about the bush at once and for ever. I do not say +that I am not sorry for what happened the other night--so far as it caused +annoyance to you--but I am heartily glad that matters have been brought to +a crisis. The end must have come sooner or later, Clary--so much the better +if it has come quickly. There is only one way to deal with the wretched +mistake of your marriage, and that is to treat it as a thing that has never +been. There are places enough in the world, Clary, in which you and I are +nameless and unknown, and we can be married in one of those places. I will +run all risks of a criminal prosecution and seven, years at Portland. You +shall be my wife, Clarissa, by as tight a knot as Church and State can +tie." + +She looked at him with a half scornful smile. + +"Do you think you are talking to a child?" she said. + +They had been standing in the chill drizzling rain all this time, +unconscious, and would have so stood, perhaps, if a shower of fire and +brimstone had been descending upon Brussels. But at this juncture Mr. +Fairfax suddenly discovered that it was raining, and that Clarissa's shawl +was growing rapidly damper. + +"Good heavens!" he exclaimed, "what a brute I am. I must find you some kind +of shelter." + +There was a cafe near at hand, the cafe attached to the Theatre du Pare, +with rustic out-of-door constructions for the accommodation of its +customers. Mr. Fairfax conducted Clarissa to one of these wooden arbours, +where they might remain till the rain was over, or till he chose to bring +her a carriage. He did not care to do that very soon. He had a great deal +to say to her. This time he was resolved not to accept defeat. + +A solitary waiter espied them promptly, having so little to do in this +doleful weather, and came for orders. Mr. Fairfax asked for some coffee, +and waited in silence while the man brought a little tray with cups and +saucers and a great copper coffee-pot, out of which he poured the black +infusion with infinite flourish. + +"Bring some cognac," said Mr. Fairfax; and when the spirit had been +brought, he poured half a wine-glassful into a cup of coffee, and entreated +Clarissa to drink it as an antidote to cold. + +"You were walking ever so long in the rain," he said. + +She declined the nauseous dose. + +"I am not afraid of catching cold," she said; "but I shall be very glad if +you will let that man fetch me a fly. I ought to have been at home half an +hour ago." + +"At home! Is it permissible to ask where you live?" + +"I would rather not tell you my address. I hope, if my being here had +anything to with your coming to Brussels, that you will go back to Paris at +once." + +"I shall never go back to Paris unless I enter its gates with you some day. +I am going to the East, Clary; to Constantinople, and Athens, and all the +world of fable and story, and you are going with me--you and young Lovel. +Do you know there is one particular spot in the island of Corfu which I +have pitched upon for the site of a villa, just such a fairy place as you +can sketch for me--your own architecture--neither gothic nor composite, +neither classic nor rustic, only _le style Clarisse_; not for our permanent +dwelling--to my mind, nothing but poverty should ever chain a man to one +habitation--but as a nest to which we might fly now and then, when we were +weary of roaming." + +He was talking lightly, after his nature, which was of the lightest, +but for a purpose, also, trying to beguile Clarissa from serious +considerations, to bring a smile to the pale sad face, if he could. In +vain; the hazel eyes looked straight forward with an unwonted fixedness, +the lips were firmly set, the hands clasped rigidly. + +After this, his tone grew more earnest; again he pleaded, very much as +he had pleaded before, but with a stronger determination, with a deeper +passion, painting the life that might be for those two in the warmest, +brightest colours that his fancy could lend it. What had she to care for? +he argued. Absolutely nothing. She had broken with her husband, whom George +Fairfax knew by his own experience to be implacable in his resentment. And +oh, how much to gain! A life of happiness; all her future spent with the +man who loved her; spent wherever and however she pleased. What was he but +her slave, to obey her? + +She was not unmoved by his pleading. Unmoved? These were words and tones +that went home to her heart of hearts. Yes, she could imagine the life he +painted so well. Yes, she knew what the future would seem to her, if it +were to be spent with him. She loved him dearly--had so loved him ever +since that night in the railway-carriage, she thought. When had his image +really been absent from her since that time? + +He insisted that she should hear him to the end, and she submitted, not +unwillingly, perhaps. She had no thought of yielding; but it was sweet to +her to hear his voice--for the last time, she told herself; this must be +the last time. Even while he pleaded and argued and demonstrated that the +wisest thing in the world she could do was to run away with him, she was +meditating her plan of escape. Not again must they meet thus. She had a +certain amount of strength of mind, but it was not inexhaustible, and she +felt her weakness. + +"You forget that I have a son," she said at last, when he urged her to +speak. + +"He shall be my son. Do you think I do not love that rosy yearling? He +shall inherit Lyvedon, if you like; there is no entail; I can do what I +please with it. Yes, though I had sons of my own he should be first, by +right of any wrong we may do him now. In the picture I have made of our +future life, I never omitted that figure, Clarissa. Forget your son! No, +Clary; when I am less than a father to him, tell me that I never loved +you." + +This was the man's way of looking at the question; the boy's future should +be provided for, he should have a fine estate left him by way of solatium. +The mother thought of what her son would think of _her_, when he grew old +enough to consider her conduct. + +"I must ask you to get me a fly somehow, Mr. Fairfax," she said quietly. +"It is still raining, and I am really anxious to get home to Lovel. I am +sorry you should have taken so much trouble about me; it is quite useless, +believe me. I know that I have been very weak--guilty even--in many ways +since I have known you; but that is all over now. I have paid the penalty +in the loss of my husband's esteem. I have nothing now to live for but my +child." + +"And is that to be the end of everything, Mrs. Granger?" asked George +Fairfax, with an angry look in his eyes. "Are we to part upon that? It is +such an easy thing to lure a man on to a certain point, and then turn upon +him and protest you never meant to go beyond that point. You have paid the +penalty! Do you think I have paid no penalty? Was it a pleasant thing to +me, do you suppose, to jilt Geraldine Challoner? I trampled honour in the +dust for your sake, Clarissa. Do you know that there is a coolness between +my mother and me at this moment, because of my absence from England and +that broken-off marriage? Do you know that I have turned my back for ever +upon a place that any man might be proud to call his home, for the sake of +being near you? I have cast every consideration to the winds; and now that +you have actually broken loose from your bondage, now that there is nothing +to come between us and a happy future, you set up your son as an obstacle, +and"--he concluded with a bitter laugh--"ask me to fetch you a fly!" + +"I am sorry to wound you; but--but--I cannot bring dishonour upon my son." + +"Your son!" cried George Fairfax savagely. "An east wind may blow your +son off the face of the earth to-morrow. Is a one-year-old baby to +stand between a man and his destiny? Come, Clary, I have served my +apprenticeship; I have been very patient; but my patience is exhausted. You +must leave this place with me to-night." + +"Mr. Fairfax, will you get me a fly, or must I walk home?" + +He looked at her fixedly for a few moments, intent upon finding out if she +were really in earnest, if this cold persistence were unconquerable even by +him. Her face was very pale, the eyes downcast, the mouth firm as marble. + +"Clarissa," he cried, "I have been fooled from first to last--you have +never loved me!" + +Those words took her off her guard; she lifted her eyes to meet his, eyes +full of love and despair, and again he told himself success was only a +question of time. His apprenticeship was not finished yet; he must be +content to serve a little longer. When she had tasted the bitterness of her +new life, its helplessness, its desolation, with only such a broken reed as +Austin Lovel to lean upon, she would turn to him naturally for comfort and +succour, as the fledgling flies back to its nest. + +But if in the meantime Daniel Granger should relent and pursue her, and +take her back to his heart with pardon and love? There was the possibility +of that event; yet to press matters too persistently would be foolish, +perilous even. Better to let her have her own way for a little, since he +knew that she loved him. + +He went to look for the depressed waiter, whom he dispatched in quest of a +vehicle, and then returned to the rustic shelter, where Clarissa sat like a +statue, watching the rain pouring down monotonously in a perpetual drizzle. +They heard the wheels of the carriage almost immediately. Mr. Fairfax +offered his arm to Clarissa, and led her out of the garden; the obsequious +waiter on the other side holding an umbrella over her head. + +"Where shall I tell the man to drive?" he asked. + +"To St. Gudule." + +"But you don't live in the cathedral, like Hugo's Esmeralda. Am I not to +know your address?" + +"It is better not. Austin knows that you were the cause of my leaving +Paris. If you came, there might be some misunderstanding." + +"I am not afraid of facing Austin." + +"But I am afraid of any meeting between you. I cannot tell you where I am +living, Mr. Fairfax." + +"That seems rather hard upon me. But you will let me see you again, won't +you, Clary? Meet me here to-morrow at dusk--say at six o'clock. Promise to +do that, and I will let you off." + +She hesitated, looking nervously to the right and left, like a hunted +animal. + +"Promise, Clary; it is not very much to ask." + +"Very well, then, I promise. Only please let the man drive off to St. +Gudule, and pray don't follow me." + +Mr. Fairfax grasped her hand. "Remember, you have promised," he said, and +then gave the coachman his orders. And directly the fly containing Clarissa +had rattled off, he ran to the nearest stand and chartered another. + +"Drive to St. Gudule," he said to the man, "and when you see a carriage +going that way, keep behind it, but not too near." + +It happened, however, that the first driver had the best horse, and, being +eager to earn his fare quickly, had deposited Clarissa in the Place Gudule +before George Fairfax's charioteer could overtake him. She had her money +ready to slip into the man's hand, and she ran across the square and into +the narrow street where Austin lived, and vanished, before Mr. Fairfax +turned the corner of the square. + +He met the empty vehicle, and dismissed his own driver thereupon in a rage. +"Your horse ought to be suppressed by the legal authorities," he said, as +he gave the man his fare. + +She must live very near the cathedral, he concluded, and he spent a dreary +hour patrolling the narrow streets round about in the wet. In which of +those dull-looking houses has she her dwelling? He could not tell. He +walked up and down, staring up at all the windows with a faint hope of +seeing her, but in vain; and at last went home to his hotel crestfallen and +disappointed. + +"She escapes me at every turn," he said to himself. "There is a kind of +fatality. Am I to grow old and gray in pursuing her, I wonder? I feel ten +years older already, since that night when she and I travelled together." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. + +ON THE WING. + + +Clarissa hung over her baby with all manner of fond endearments. + +"My darling! my darling!" she sobbed; "is it a hard thing to resist +temptation for your sake?" + +She had shed many bitter tears since that interview with George Fairfax, +alone in the dreary room, while Level slept the after-dinner sleep of +infancy, and while Mrs. Level and Jane Target gossipped sociably in the +general sitting-room. Austin was out playing dominoes at the cafe of a +Thousand Columns, with some Bohemianishly-disposed Bruxellois. + +She had wept for the life that might have been, but which never could be. +On that point she was decided. Not under the shadow of dishonour could she +spend her days. She had her son. If she had been alone, utterly desolate, +standing on some isolated rock, with nothing but the barren sea around her, +she might perhaps have listened to that voice which was so very sweet to +her, and yielded. But to take this dreadful leap which she was asked to +take, alone, was one thing; to take it with her child in her arms, another. +Her fancy, which was very vivid, made pictures of what her boy's future +might be, if she were to do this thing. She thought of him stung by the +mention of his mother's name, as if it were the foulest insult. She thought +of his agony when he heard other men talk of their mothers, and remembered +the blackness of darkness that shrouded his. She thought of the boyish +intellect opening little by little, first with vague wonder, then fearful +curiosity, to receive this fatal knowledge; and then the shame for that +young innocent soul! + +"O, not for worlds!" she cried, "O, not for worlds! God keep me from any +more temptation!" + +Not with mere idle prayers did she content herself. She knew her danger; +that man was resolute, unscrupulous, revengeful even: and she loved him. +She determined to leave Brussels. She would go and lose herself in the wide +world of London; and then, after a little while, when all possibility of +her movements being traced was over, she would take her child to some +secluded country place, where there were woods and meadows, and where the +little dimpled hands could gather bright spring flowers. She announced her +intention to her brother that evening, when he came home at a latish hour +from the Thousand Columns, elated by having won three francs and a half at +dominoes--an amount which he had expended on cognac and syphons for himself +and his antagonist. + +He was surprised, vexed even, by Clarissa's decision. Why had she come to +him, if she meant to run away directly? What supreme folly to make such a +journey for nothing! Why did she not go from Paris to London at once? + +"I did not think of that, Austin; I was almost out of my senses that day, I +think, after Daniel told me he was going to separate me from my boy; and it +seemed natural to me to fly to you for protection." + +"Then why run away from me? Heaven knows, you are welcome to such a home +as I can give. The quarters are rough, I know; but we shall improve that, +by-and-by." + +"No, no, Austin, it is not that. I should be quite happy with you, +only--only--I have a particular reason for going to London." + +"Clarissa!" cried her brother sternly, "has that man anything to do with +this? Has he tried to lure you away from here, to your destruction?" + +"No, no, no! you ought to know me better than that. Do you think I would +bring dishonour upon my boy?" + +Her face told him that she was speaking the truth. + +"Very well, Clary," he said with a sigh of resignation; "you must do as you +please. I suppose your reason is a good one, though you don't choose to +trust me." + +So, by an early train next morning, Clarissa, with her nurse and child, +left Brussels for Ostend--a somewhat dreary place wherein to arrive in +early spring-time, with March winds blowing bleak across the sandy dunes. + +They had to spend a night here, at a second-rate hotel on the Quay. + +"We must go to humble-looking places, you know, Jane, to make our money +last," Clarissa said on the journey. They had travelled second-class; but +she had given a five-pound note to her brother, by way of recompense for +the brief accommodation he had given her, not telling him how low her stock +was. Faithful Jane's five-and-twenty pounds were vanishing. Clarissa looked +at the two glittering circlets on her wedding finger. + +"We cannot starve while we have these," she thought; and once in London, +she could sell her drawings. Natural belief of the school-girl mind, that +water-coloured sketches are a marketable commodity! + +Again in the dismal early morning--that sunrise of which poets write so +sweetly, but which to the unromantic traveller is wont to seem a dreary +thing--mother and nurse and child went their way in a great black steamer, +redolent of oil and boiled mutton; and at nine o'clock at night--a starless +March night--Clarissa and her belongings were deposited on St. Katharine's +Wharf, amidst a clamour and bustle that almost confused her senses. + +She had meditated and debated and puzzled herself all through the day's +voyage, sitting alone on the windy deck, brooding over her troubles, while +Jane kept young Lovel amused and happy below. Inexperienced in the ways of +every-day life as a child--knowing no more now than she had known in her +school-girl days at Belforet--she had made her poor little plan, such as it +was. + +Two or three times during her London season she had driven through +Soho--those weird dreary streets between Soho Square and Regent Street--and +had contemplated the gloomy old houses, with a bill of lodgings to let +here and there in a parlour-window; anon a working jeweller's humble shop +breaking out of a private house; here a cheap restaurant, there a French +laundress; everywhere the air of a life which is rather a struggle to +live than actual living. In this neighbourhood, which was the only humble +quarter of the great city whereof she had any knowledge, Clarissa fancied +they might find a temporary lodging--only a temporary shelter, for all her +hopes and dreams pointed to some fair rustic retreat, where she might live +happily with her treasure. Once lodged safely and obscurely, where it would +be impossible for either her husband or George Fairfax to track her, she +would spend a few shillings in drawing-materials, and set to work to +produce a set of attractive sketches, which she might sell to a dealer. She +knew her brother's plan of action, and fancied she could easily carry it +out upon a small scale. + +"So little would enable us to live happily, Jane," she said, when she +revealed her ideas to her faithful follower. + +"But O, mum, to think of you living like that, with such a rich husband as +Mr. Granger, and him worshipping the ground you walk upon, as he did up to +the very last; and as to his anger, I'm sure it was only tempory, and he's +sorry enough he drove you away by this time, I'll lay." + +"He wanted to take away my child, Jane." + +They took a cab, and drove from Thames-street to Soho. Clarissa had never +been through the City at night before, and she thought the streets would +never end. They came at last into that quieter and dingier region; but it +was past ten o'clock, and hard work to find a respectable lodging at such +an hour. Happily the cabman was a kindly and compassionate spirit, and +did his uttermost to help them, moving heaven and earth, in the way of +policemen and small shopkeepers, until, by dint of much inquiry, he found +a decent-looking house in a _cul-de-sac_ out of Dean-street--a little +out-of-the-way quadrangle, where the houses were large and stately, and had +been habitations of sweetness and light in the days when Soho was young, +and Monmouth the young man of the period. + +To one of these houses the cabman had been directed by a good-natured +cheesemonger, at a corner not far off; and here Clarissa found a +second-floor--a gaunt-looking sitting-room, with three windows and +oaken window-seats, sparsely furnished, but inexorably clean; a bedroom +adjoining--at a rent which seemed moderate to this inexperienced +wayfarer. The landlady was a widow--is it not the normal state of +landladies?--cleanly and conciliating, somewhat surprised to see travellers +with so little luggage, but reassured by that air of distinction which was +inseparable from Mrs. Granger, and by the presence of the maid. + +The cabman was dismissed, with many thanks and a princely payment; and so +Clarissa began life alone in London. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. + +IN TIME OF NEED. + + +It was a dreary habitation, that London lodging, after the gardens and +woods of Arden, the luxurious surroundings and innumerable prettinesses +which Mr. Granger's wealth had provided for the wife of his love; dreary +after the holiday brightness of Paris; dreary beyond expression to +Clarissa in the long quiet evenings when she sat alone, trying to face the +future--the necessity for immediate action being over, and the world all +before her. + +She had her darling. That was the one fact which she repeated to herself +over and over again, as if the words had been a charm--an amulet to drive +away guilty thoughts of the life that might have been, if she had listened +to George Fairfax's prayer. + +It was not easy for her to shut _that_ image out of her heart, even with +her dearest upon earth beside her. The tender pleading words, the earnest +face, came back to her very often. She thought of him wandering about +those hilly streets in Brussels, disappointed and angry: thought of his +reproaches, and the sacrifices he had made for her. + +And then from such weak fancies she was brought suddenly back by the +necessities of every-day life Her money was very nearly gone; the journeys +had cost so much, and she had been obliged to buy clothing for Jane and +Lovel and herself at Brussels. She had spent a sovereign on colours +and brushes and drawing-paper at Winsor and Newton's--her little +stock-in-trade. She looked at her diamond rings meditatively as she sat +brooding in the March twilight, with as vague an idea of their value as a +child might have had. The time was very near when she would be obliged to +turn them into money. + +Fortunately the woman of the house was friendly, and the rooms were clean. +But the airs of Soho are not as those breezes which come blowing over +Yorkshire wolds and woods, with the breath of the German Ocean; nor had +they the gay Tuileries garden and the Bois for Master Lovel's airings. Jane +Target was sorely puzzled where to take the child. It was a weary long +way to St. James's Park on foot; and the young mother had a horror of +omnibuses--in which she supposed smallpox and fever to be continually +raging. Sometimes they had a cab, and took the boy down to feed the ducks +and stare at the soldiers. But in the Park Clarissa had an ever-present +terror of being seen by some one she knew. Purposeless prowlings with baby +in the streets generally led unawares into Newport-market, from which busy +mart Mrs. Granger fled aghast, lest her darling should die of the odour of +red herrings and stale vegetables. In all the wider streets Clarissa was +afflicted by that perpetual fear of being recognised; and during the +airings which Lovel enjoyed with Jane alone the poor mother endured +unspeakable torments. At any moment Mr. Granger, or some one employed by +Mr. Granger, might encounter the child, and her darling be torn from her; +or some accident might befall him. Clarissa's inexperience exaggerated the +perils of the London streets, until every paving-stone seemed to bristle +with dangers. She longed for the peace and beauty of the country; but not +until she had found some opening for the disposal of her sketches could she +hope to leave London. She worked on bravely for a fortnight, painting half +a dozen hours a day, and wasting the rest of her day in baby worship, or +in profound plottings and plannings about the future with Jane Target. The +girl was thoroughly devoted, ready to accept any scheme of existence which +her mistress might propose. The two women made their little picture of the +life they were to lead when Clarissa had found a kindly dealer to give her +constant employment: a tiny cottage, somewhere in Kent or Surrey, among +green fields and wooded hills, furnished ever so humbly, but with a garden +where Lovel might play. Clarissa sketched the ideal cottage one evening--a +bower of roses and honeysuckle, with a thatched roof and steep gables. +Alas, when she had finished her fortnight's work, and carried half a dozen +sketches to a dealer in Rathbone-place, it was only to meet with a crushing +disappointment. The man admitted her power, but had no use for anything of +that kind. Chromolithographs were cheap and popular--people would rather +buy a lithograph of some popular artist's picture than a nameless +water-colour. If she liked to leave a couple of her sketches, he would try +to dispose of them, but he could not buy them--and giving her permanent +employment was quite out of the question. + +"Do you know anything about engraving?" he asked. + +Clarissa shook her head sadly. + +"Can you draw on the wood?" + +"I have never tried, but I daresay I could do that." + +"I recommend you to turn your attention that way. There's a larger field +for that sort of thing. You might exhibit some of your sketches at the next +Water-Colour Exhibition. They would stand a chance of selling there." + +"Thanks. You are very good, but I want remunerative employment +immediately." + +She wandered on--from dealer to dealer, hoping against hope always with the +same result--from Rathbone-place to Regent-street, and on to Bond-street, +and homewards along Oxford-street, and then back to her baby, +broken-hearted. + +"It is no use, Jane," she sobbed. "I can understand my brother's life now. +Art is a broken reed. We must get away from this dreadful London--how pale +my Lovel is looking!--and go into some quiet country-place, where we can +live very cheaply. I almost wish I had stayed in Belgium--in one of the +small out-of-the-way towns, where we might have been safely hidden. We must +go down to the country, Jane, and I must take in plain needle-work." + +"I'm a good un at that, you know, mum," Jane cried with a delighted grin. + +And then they began to consider where they should go. That was rather +a difficult question. Neither of them knew any world except the region +surrounding Arden Court. At last Clarissa remembered Beckenham. She had +driven through Beckenham once on her way to a garden-party. Why should they +not go to Beckenham?--the place was so near London, could be reached with +so little expense, and yet was rustic. + +"We must get rid of one of the rings, Jane," Clarissa said, looking at it +doubtfully. + +"I'll manage that, mum--don't you fidget yourself about that. There's a +pawnbroker's in the next street. I'll take it round there in the evening, +if you like, mum." + +Clarissa shuddered. Commerce with a pawnbroker seemed to her inexperience a +kind of crime--something like taking stolen property to be melted down. + +But Jane Target was a brave damsel, and carried the ring to the pawnbroker +with so serene a front, and gave her address with so honest an air, that +the man, though at first inclined to be doubtful, believed her story; +namely, that the ring belonged to her mistress, a young married lady who +had suffered a reverse of fortune. + +She went home rejoicing, having raised fifteen pounds upon a ring that +was worth ninety. The pawnbroker had a notice that it would never be +redeemed--young married ladies who suffer reverse of fortune rarely recover +their footing, but generally slide down, down, down to the uttermost deeps +of poverty. + +They were getting ready for that journey to Beckenham, happy in the idea of +escaping from the monotonous unfriendly streets, and the grime and mire +and general dinginess of London life, when an unlooked-for calamity befell +them, and the prospect of release had, for the time at least, to be given +up. Young Lovel fell ill. He was "about his teeth," the woman of the house +said, and tried to make light of the evil. These innocents are subject to +much suffering in this way. He had a severe cold, with a tiresome hacking +cough which rent Clarissa's heart. She sent for a doctor immediately--a +neighbouring practitioner recommended by the landlady--and he came and saw +the child lying in his mother's lap, and the mother young and beautiful +and unhappy, and was melted accordingly, and did all he could to treat the +matter lightly. Yet he was fain, after a few visits, and no progress for +the better, to confess that these little lives hang by a slender thread. + +"The little fellow has a noble frame and an excellent constitution," he +said; "I hope we shall save him." + +Save him! An icy thrill went through Clarissa's veins. Save him! Was there +any fear of losing him? O God, what would her life be without that child? +She looked at the doctor, white to the lips and speechless with horror. + +"I don't wish to alarm you," he said gently, "but I am compelled to admit +that there is danger. If the little one's father is away," he added +doubtfully, "and you would like to summon him, I think it would be as well +to do so." + +"O, my flower, my angel, my life!" she cried, flinging herself down beside +the child's bed; "I cannot lose you!" + +"I trust in God you will not," said the surgeon. "We will make every +effort to save him." And then he turned to Jane Target, and murmured his +directions. + +"Is there any one else," said Clarissa in a hoarse voice, looking up at the +medical man--"anyone I can send for besides yourself--any one who can cure +my baby?" + +"I doubt whether it would be of any use. The case is such a simple one. I +have fifty such in a year. But if you would like a physician to see +the little fellow, there is Dr. Ormond, who has peculiar experience in +children's cases. You might call him in, if you liked." + +"I will send for him this minute.--Jane, dear, will you go?" + +"I don't think it would be any use, just now. He will be out upon his +rounds. There is no immediate danger. If you were to send to him this +evening--a note would do--asking him to call to-morrow--that would be the +best way. Remember, I don't for a moment say the case is hopeless. Only, if +you have any anxiety about the little one's father, and if he is within a +day's journey, I would really advise you to send for him." + +Clarissa did not answer. She was hanging over the bed, watching every +difficult breath with unutterable agony. The child had only begun to droop +a week ago, had been positively ill only four days. + +All the rest of that day Clarissa was in a kind of stupor. She watched the +child, and watched Jane administering her remedies, and the landlady coming +in now and then to look at the boy, or to ask about him with a friendly +anxiety. She tried to help Jane sometimes, in a useless tremulous way, +sometimes sat statue-like, and could only gaze. She could not even +pray--only now and then, she whispered with her dry lips, "Surely God will +not take away my child!" + +At dusk the doctor came again, but said very little. He was leaving the +room, when Clarissa stopped him with a passionate despairing cry. Until +that moment she had seemed marble. + +"Tell me the truth," she cried. "Will he be taken away from me? He is all +the world to me--the only thing on earth I have to love. Surely God will +not be so pitiless! What difference can one angel more make in heaven? and +he is all the world to me." + +"My dear lady, these things are ordered by a Wisdom beyond our +comprehension," the doctor answered gently. That picture of a disconsolate +mother was very common to him--only Clarissa was so much lovelier than most +of the mothers, and her grief had a more romantic aspect and touched him a +little more than usual. "Believe me, I shall make every effort to pull the +little fellow through," he added with the professional air of hopefulness. +"Have you written to Dr. Ormond?" + +"Yes, my letter was posted an hour after you called." + +"Then we shall hear what he says to-morrow. You can have no higher opinion. +And now pray, my dear Mrs. Graham"--Clarissa had called herself Graham in +these Soho lodgings--"pray keep up your spirits; remember your own health +will suffer if you give way--and I really do not think you are strong." + +He looked at her curiously as he spoke. She was deadly pale, and had a +haggard look which aged her by ten years: beauty less perfect in its +outline would have been obscured by that mental anguish--hers shone through +all, ineffaceable. + +"Do not forget what I said about the little one's father," urged the +doctor, lingering for a minute on the threshold. "There is really too great +a responsibility in keeping him ignorant of the case, if he is anywhere +within reach." + +Clarissa smiled for the first time since her boy's illness--a strange +wan smile. She was thinking how Daniel Granger had threatened her with +separation from her child; and now Death had come between them to snatch +him from both. + +"My son!" She remembered the proud serenity, the supreme sense of +possession, with which she had pronounced those words. + +And the child would die perhaps, and Daniel Granger never look upon his +face again. A great terror came into her mind at that thought. What would +her husband say to her if he came to claim his boy, and found him dead? For +the first time since she had left him--triumphant in the thought of having +secured this treasure--the fact that the boy belonged to him, as well as to +herself, came fully home to her. From the day of the baby's birth she had +been in the habit of thinking of him as her own--hers by a right divine +almost--of putting his father out of the question, as it were--only +just tolerating to behold that doating father's fond looks and +caresses--watching all communion between those two with a lurking jealousy. + +Now all at once she began to feel what a sacred bond there was between the +father and son, and how awful a thing it would be, if Daniel Granger should +find his darling dead. Might he not denounce her as the chief cause of his +boy's death? Those hurried journeys by land and sea--that rough shifting to +and fro of the pampered son and heir, whose little life until that time +had been surrounded with such luxurious indulgences, so guarded from the +faintest waft of discomfort--who should say that these things had not +jeopardised the precious creature? And out of her sin had this arisen. In +that dread hour by her darling's sick-bed, what unutterably odious +colours did her flirtation with George Fairfax assume--her dalliance with +temptation, her weak hankering after that forbidden society! She saw, as +women do see in that clear after-light which comes with remorse, all the +guilt and all the hatefulness of her sin. + +"God gave me my child for my redemption," she said to herself, "and I went +on sinning." + +What was it the doctor had said? Again and again those parting words came +back to her. The father should be summoned. But to summon him, to reveal +her hiding-place, and then have her darling taken from her, saved from the +grasp of death only to be torn from her by his pitiless unforgiving father! +No thought of what Daniel Granger had been to her in all the days of her +married life arose to comfort or reassure her. She only thought of him as +he had been after that fatal meeting in her brother's painting-room; and +she hoped for no mercy from him. + +"And even if I were willing to send for him, I don't know where he is," she +said at last helplessly. + +Jane Target urged her to summon him. + +"If you was to send a telegraft to the Court, mum, Miss Granger is pretty +sure to be there, and she'd send to her pa, wherever he was." + +Clarissa shivered. Send to Miss Granger! suffer those cold eyes to see +the depth of her humiliation! That would be hard to endure. Yet what did +anything in the world matter to her when her boy was in jeopardy? + +"We shall save him, Jane," she said with a desperate hopefulness, clasping +her hands and bending down to kiss the troubled little one, who had brief +snatches of sleep now and then in weary hours of restlessness. "We shall +save him. The doctor said so." + +"God grant we may, mum! But the doctor didn't say for certain--he only said +he _hoped_; and it would be so much better to send for master. It seems +a kind of crime not to let him know; and if the poor dear should grow +worse--" + +"He will not grow worse!" cried Clarissa hysterically. "What, Jane! are you +against me? Do you want me to be robbed of him, as his father would rob +me without mercy? No, I will keep him, I will keep him! Nothing but death +shall take him from me." + +Later in the evening, restless with the restlessness of a soul tormented +by fear, Clarissa began to grow uneasy about her letter to Dr. Ormond. It +might miscarry in going through the postoffice. She was not quite sure that +it had been properly directed, her mind had been so bewildered when she +wrote it. Or Dr. Ormond might have engagements next morning, and might not +be able to come. She was seized with a nervous anxiety about this." + +"If there were any one I could send with another note," she said. + +Jane shook her head despondently. In that house there was no messenger to +be procured. The landlady was elderly, and kept no servant--employing only +a mysterious female of the charwoman species, who came at daybreak, dyed +herself to the elbows with blacking or blacklead before breakfast, and so +remained till the afternoon, when she departed to "do for" a husband and +children--the husband and children passing all the earlier part of the day +in a desolate and un-"done-for" condition. + +"There's no one to take a letter, mum," said Jane, looking wistfully at her +mistress, who had been watching without rest or slumber for three days and +three nights. "But why shouldn't you go yourself, mum? Cavendish Square +isn't so very far. Don't you remember our going there one morning with +baby? It's a fine evening, and a little fresh air would do you good." + +Clarissa was quite willing to go on the errand herself. It would be doing +something at least. She might see the physician, and obtain his promise to +come to her early next day; and beside that sick-bed she was of so little +use. She could only hold her darling in her lap, when he grew weary of his +bed, or carry him up and down the room sometimes. Jane, whose nerves were +as steady as a rock, did all the rest. + +She looked at the bed. It was hard to leave that tender little sufferer +even for half an hour. + +"If he should grow worse while I am away?" she said doubtfully. + +"No fear of that," replied Jane. "He's sleeping better now than he has +slept for ever so long. God grant he's upon the turn!" + +"God grant it! And you won't forget the medicine at half-past eight?" + +"Lor', mum, as if I should forget!" + +"Then I'll go," said Clarissa. + +She put on her bonnet and shawl, startled a little by the white face that +looked at her from the glass. The things she had worn when she left Paris +were the darkest and plainest in her wardrobe. They had grown shabby by +this time, and had a very sombre look. Even in these garments the tall slim +figure had a certain elegance; but it was not a figure to be remarked at +nightfall, in the London streets. The mistress of Arden Court might have +been easily mistaken for a sempstress going home from her work. + +Just at first the air made her giddy, and she tottered a little on the +broad pavement of the quiet _cul-de-sac_. It seemed as if she had not been +out of doors for a month. But by degrees she grew more accustomed to the +keen March atmosphere and the noise of Oxford-street, towards which she was +hastening, and so hurried on, thinking only of her errand. She made her way +somehow to Cavendish-square. How well she remembered driving through it in +the summer gloaming, during the brief glory of her one season, on her way +to a commercial magnate's Tusculum in the Regent's-park! It had seemed +remote and out of the world after Mayfair--a locality which one might be +driven by reverse of fortune to inhabit, not otherwise. But to-night the +grave old square had an alarming stateliness of aspect after slipshod Soho. + +She found Dr. Ormond's house, and saw his butler, a solemn bald-headed +personage, who looked wise enough to prescribe for the most recondite +diseases of humanity. The doctor himself was dining out, but the butler +pledged himself for his master's appearance at Clarissa's lodgings between +eleven and two to-morrow. + +"He never disappints; and he draws no distinctions," said the official, +with an evident reference to the humility of the applicant's social status. +"There's not many like him in the medical perfession." + +"And you think he is sure to come?" urged Clarissa anxiously. + +"Don't you be afraid, mum. I shall make a particular pint of it myself. You +may be quite easy about his comin'." + +Clarissa thanked the man, and surprised him with half-a-crown gently +slipped into his fat palm. She had not many half-crowns now; but the butler +seemed to pity her, and might influence his master to come to her a little +sooner than he would come in the ordinary way. + +Her errand being done, she turned away from the house with a strange +sinking at the heart. An ever-present fear of his illness coming to a fatal +end, and a guilty sense of the wrong she was doing to Daniel Granger, +oppressed her. She walked in a purposeless way, took the wrong turning +after coming out of the square, and so wandered into Portland-place. She +came to a full stop suddenly in that wide thoroughfare, and looking +about her like an awakened sleep-walker, perceived that she had gone +astray--recognised the place she was in, and saw that she was within a few +doors of Lady Laura Armstrong's house. + +Although the London season had begun, there was an air of stillness and +solitude in this grave habitation of splendours that have for the most part +vanished. At one door there was a carriage waiting; here and there lighted +windows shone out upon the night; but the general aspect was desolation. If +there were gaiety and carousing anywhere, closed shutters hid the festival +from the outer world. The underground world of Egypt could scarcely have +seemed more silent than Portland-place. + +Clarissa went on to the familiar corner house, which was made conspicuous +to the stranger by encaustic tiled balconies, or glass fern and flower +cases at every available window, and by a certain colour and glitter which +seemed almost a family likeness to Lady Laura herself. There were lights +burning dimly in the two last windows on the drawing-room floor looking +into the side street. Clarissa remembered the room very well--it was +Lady Laura's own especial sanctum, the last and smallest of four +drawing-rooms--a nest lined with crimson silk, and crowded with everything +foolish in the way of ebony and ormolu, Venetian glass and Sevres china, +and with nothing sensible in it except three or four delicious easy-chairs +of the _pouff_ species, immortalised by Sardou. Alas for that age of pouff +which he satirised with such a caustic pen! To what dismal end has it come! +End of powder and petroleum, and instead of beauty, burning! + +The lonely wanderer, so sorely oppressed with cares and perplexities, +looked wistfully up at those familiar windows. How often she had loitered +away the twilight with Lady Laura, talking idly in that flower-laden +balcony! As she looked at it to-night, there came into her mind a foolish +wonder that life could have had any interest for her in those days, before +the birth of her son. + +"If I were to lose him now, I should be no poorer than I was then," she +thought; and then, after a moment's reflection, "O yes, yes, a thousand +times poorer, once having had him." + +She walked a little way down the street, and then came back again and +lingered under those two-windows, with an unspeakable yearning to cast +herself upon her friend in this hour of shipwreck. She had such bitter +need of sympathy from some one nearer her own level than the poor honest +faithful Yorkshire girl. + +"She was once my friend," she said to herself, still hovering there +irresolute, "and seemed very fond of me. She could advise me, knowing the +world so well as she does; and I do not think she would betray me. She owes +me something, too. But for my promise to her, I might have been George +Fairfax's wife, and all this trouble might have been avoided." + +George Fairfax's wife! What a strange dreamlike fancy it seemed! And yet it +might have been; it had needed only one little word from herself to make +the dream a fact. + +"I tried to do my duty," she thought, "and yet ruin and sorrow have come +upon me." And then the small still voice whispered, "Tried to do your duty, +but not always; sometimes you left off trying, and dared to be happy in +your own way. Between the two roads of vice and virtue, you tried to make a +devious pathway of your own, not wholly on one side or the other." + +Once having seen that light, feeling somehow that there was sympathy and +comfort near, she could not go away without making some attempt to see her +friend. She thought with a remorseful pang of times and seasons during her +wedded life when Laura Armstrong's too solicitous friendship had seemed to +her something of a bore. How different was it with her now! + +She summoned up resolution at last, and in a half desperate mood, went +round to the front door and knocked--a tremulous conscience-stricken knock, +as of some milliner's apprentice bringing home a delayed bonnet. The man +who opened the door; looked involuntarily for her basket. + +"What is it?" he asked dubiously, scenting a begging-letter writer in the +tall slim figure and closely-veiled face, and being on principle averse +from gentility that did not ride in its carriage. "What is it, young +woman?" + +"Can I see Lady Laura Armstrong? I want to see her very particularly." + +"Have you got an appointment?" + +"No; but I wish to see her." + +"You're from Madame Lecondre's, I suppose. You can see my lady's maid; but +it's quite out of the question for you to see my lady herself, at this time +of night." + +"Will you take a message to her, on a slip of paper? I am almost sure she +will see me." And again Clarissa opened her slender purse, and slipped a +florin into the man's hand, by way of bribe. + +He was somewhat melted by this, but yet had an eye to the portable property +in the hall. + +"You can come in," he said, pointing with a lofty air to a table whereon +were pens and paper, "and write your message." And then rang an electric +bell, which summons brought a second powdered footman, who was, as it were, +a Corsican Brother or Siamese Twin, without the ligature, to the first. + +Clarissa scrawled a few hasty lines on a sheet of paper, and folded it. + +"Be so kind as to take that to your mistress," she said. "I am sure she +will see me." + +The second footman was that superior young man, Norris, whom Hannah Warman +had praised. He stared aghast, recognising Mrs. Granger's voice and +bearing, in spite of the thick veil folded over her face, in spite of her +shabby garments. + +"My lady shall have your note immediately, ma'am," he said with profound +respect, and sped off as if to carry the message of a cabinet minister, +much to the bewilderment of his brother officer, who did not know Mrs. +Granger. + +He reappeared in about two minutes, and ushered Clarissa duly up the broad +staircase--dimly lighted to-night, the family being in Portland-place, in +a kind of semi-state, only newly arrived, and without so much as a +hall-porter--through the corridor, where there were velvet-cushioned divans +against the walls, whereon many among Lady Laura's guests considered it a +privilege to sit on her great reception nights, content to have penetrated +so far, and with no thought of struggling farther, and on to the +white-and-gold door at the farther end, which admitted the elect into my +lady's boudoir. + +Laura Armstrong was sitting at an ebony writing-table, with innumerable +little drawers pulled out to their utmost extent, and all running over with +papers, a chaotic mass of open letters before her, and a sheet of foolscap +scrawled over with names. She had been planning her campaign for the +season--so many dinners, so many dances, alternate Thursdays in May and +June; and a juvenile fancy ball, at which a Pompadour of seven years of +age could lead off the Lancers with a Charles the Twelfth of ten, with an +eight-year-old Mephistopheles and a six-year-old Anna Boleyn for their +_vis-a-vis_. + +As the footman opened the door, and ushered in Mrs. Granger, there was a +faint rustling of silk behind the _portiere_ dividing Lady Laura's room +from the next apartment; but Clarissa was too agitated to notice this. + +Laura Armstrong received her with effusion. + +"My dearest girl," she exclaimed, rising, and grasping both Clarissa's +hands, as the man closed the door, "how glad I am to see you! Do you know, +something told me you would come to me? Yes, dear; I said to myself ever so +many times, 'That poor misguided child will come to me.' O, Clary, Clary, +what have you been doing! Your husband is like a rock. He was at Arden +for a few days, about a fortnight ago, and I drove over to see him, and +entreated him to confide in me; but he would tell nothing. My poor, poor +child! how pale, how changed!" + +She had thrown back Clarissa's veil, and was scrutinising the haggard face +with very womanly tenderness. + +"Sit down, dear, and tell me everything. You know that you can trust me. If +you had gone ever so wrong--and I don't believe it is in you to do that--I +would still be your friend." + +Clarissa made a faint effort to speak, and then burst into tears. This +loving welcome was quite too much to bear. + +"He told me he was going to take my boy away from me," she sobbed, "so I +ran away from him, with my darling--and now my angel is dying!" + +And then, with many tears, and much questioning and ejaculation from Lady +Laura, she told her pitiful story--concealing nothing, not even her weak +yielding to temptation, not even her love for George Fairfax. + +"I loved him always," she said; "yes--always, always, always--from that +first night when we travelled together! I used to dream of him sometimes, +never hoping to see him again, till that summer day when he came suddenly +upon me in Marley Wood. But I kept my promise; I was true to you, Lady +Laura; I kept my promise." + +"My poor Clary, how I wish I had never exacted that promise! It did no +good; it did not save Geraldine, and it seems to have made you miserable. +Good gracious me," cried Lady Laura with sudden impetuosity, "I have no +patience with the man! What is one man more than another, that there should +be so much fuss about him?" + +"I must go home to Lovel," Clarissa said anxiously. "I don't know how long +I have been away from him. I lost my head, almost; and I felt that I _must_ +come to you." + +"Thank God you did come, you poor wandering creature! Wait a few minutes, +Clary, while I send for a cab, and put on my bonnet. I am coming with you." + +"You, Lady Laura?" + +"Yes, and I too," said a calm voice, that Clarissa remembered very well; +and looking up at the door of communication between the two rooms, she saw +the _portiere_ pushed aside, and Geraldine Challoner on the threshold. + +"Let me come and nurse your baby, Mrs. Granger," she said gently; "I have +had a good deal of experience of that sort of thing." + +"You do not know what an angel she is to the poor round Hale," said Lady +Laura; "especially to the children. And she nursed three of mine, Maud, +Ethel, and Alick--no; Stephen, wasn't it?" she asked, looking at her sister +for correction--"through the scarlatina. Nothing but her devotion could +have pulled them through, my doctor assured me. Let her come with us, +Clary." + +"O, yes, yes! God bless you, Lady Geraldine, for wanting to help my +darling!" + +"Norris, tell Fosset to bring me my bonnet and shawl, and fetch a cab +immediately; I can't wait for the carriage." + +Five minutes afterwards, the three women were seated in the cab, and on +their way to Soho. + +"You have sent for Mr. Granger, of course," said Lady Laura. + +"No, not yet. I trust in God there may be no necessity; my darling will get +well; I know he will! Dr. Ormond is to see him to-morrow." + +"What, Clarissa! you have not sent for your husband, although you say that +his boy is in danger?" + +"If I let Mr. Granger know where I am, he will come and take my son away +from me." + +"Nonsense, Clary; he can't do that. It is very shameful of you to keep him +in ignorance of the child's state." And as well as she could, amidst the +rattling of the cab, Lady Laura tried to awaken Clarissa to a sense of the +wrong she was doing. Jane Target stared in amazement on seeing her mistress +return with these two ladies. + +"O, ma'am, I've been, so frightened!" she exclaimed. "I couldn't think what +was come of you." + +Clarissa ran to the bed. + +"He has been no worse?" she asked eagerly. + +"No, ma'am. I do think, if there's any change, it is for the better." + +"O thank God, thank God!" cried Clarissa hysterically, falling on her knees +by the bed. "Death shall not rob me of him! Nobody shall take him from me!" +And then, turning to Laura Armstrong, she said, "I need not send for my +husband, you see; my darling will recover." + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. + +"STRANGERS YET." + + +Lady Laura went back to Portland-place in an hour; but Geraldine Challoner +stayed all night with the sick child. God was very merciful to Clarissa; +the angel of death passed by. In the night the fever abated, if only ever +so little; and Dr. Ormond's report next day was a cheering one. He did not +say the little one was out of danger; but he did say there was hope. + +Lady Geraldine proved herself an accomplished nurse. The sick child seemed +more tranquil in her arms than even in his mother's. The poor mother felt +a little pang of jealousy as she saw that it was so; but bore the trial +meekly, and waited upon Geraldine with humble submission. + +"How good you are!" she murmured once, as she watched the slim white hands +that had played chess with George Fairfax adjusting poultices--"how good +you are!" + +"Don't say that, my dear Mrs. Granger. I would do as much for any +cottager's child within twenty miles of Hale; it would be hard if I +couldn't do it for my sister's friend." + +"Have you always been fond of the poor?" Clarissa asked wonderingly. + +"Yes," Geraldine answered, with a faint blush; "I was always fond of them. +I can get on with poor people better than with my equals sometimes, I +think; but I have visited more amongst them lately, since I have gone less +into society--since papa's death, in fact. And I am particularly fond of +children; the little things always take to me." + +"My baby does, at any rate." + +"Have you written or telegraphed to Mr. Granger?" Lady Geraldine asked +gravely. + +"No, no, no; there can be no necessity now. Dr. Ormond says there is hope." + +"Hope, yes; but these little lives are so fragile. I implore you to send to +him. It is only right." + +"I will think about it, by and by, perhaps, if he should grow any worse; +but I know he is getting better. O, Lady Geraldine, have some pity upon me! +If my husband finds out where I am, he will rob me of my child." + +The words were hardly spoken, when there was a loud double-knock at the +door below, a delay of some two minutes, and then a rapid step on the +stair--a step that set Clarissa's heart beating tumultuously. She sat down +by the bed, clinging to it like an animal at bay, guarding her cub from the +hunter. + +The door was opened quickly, and Daniel Granger came into the room. He went +straight to the bed, and bent down to look at his child. + +The boy had been light-headed in the night, but his brain was clear enough +now. He recognised his father, and smiled--a little wan smile, that went to +the strong man's heart. + +"My God, how changed he is!" exclaimed Mr. Granger. "How long has he been +ill?" + +"Very little more than a week, sir," Jane Target faltered from the +background. + +"More than a week! and I am only told of his illness to-day, by a telegram +from Lady Laura Armstrong! I beg your pardon, Lady Geraldine; I did not see +you till this moment. I owe it to your sister's consideration that I am +here in time to see my boy before he dies." + +"We have every hope of saving him," said Geraldine. + +"And what a place I find him in! He has had some kind of doctor attending +him, I suppose?" + +"He has had a surgeon from the neighbourhood, who seems both kind and +clever, and Dr. Ormond." + +Mr. Granger seated himself at the foot of the bed, a very little way from +Clarissa, taking possession of his child, as it were. + +"Do you know, Mrs. Granger, that I have scarcely rested night or day since +you left Paris, hunting for my son?" he said. And this was the first time +he acknowledged his wife's presence by word or look. + +Clarissa was silent. She had been betrayed, she thought--betrayed by her +own familiar friend; and Daniel Granger had come to rob her of her child. +Come what might, she would not part with him without a struggle. + +After this, there came a weary time of anxious care and watching. The +little life trembled in the balance; there were harassing fluctuations, a +fortnight of unremitting care, before a favourable issue could be safely +calculated upon. And during all that time Daniel Granger watched his boy +with only the briefest intervals for rest or refreshment. Clarissa watched +too; nor did her husband dispute her right to a place in the sick-room, +though he rarely spoke to her, and then only with the coldest courtesy. + +Throughout this period of uncertainty, Geraldine Challoner was faithful +to the duty she had undertaken; spending the greatest part of her life at +Clarissa's lodgings, and never wearying of the labours of the sick-room. +The boy grew daily fonder of her; but, with a womanly instinct, she +contrived that it should be Clarissa who carried him up and down the room +when he was restless--Clarissa's neck round which the wasted little arm +twined itself. + +Daniel Granger watched the mother and child sometimes with haggard eyes, +speculating on the future. If the boy lived, who was to have him? The +mother, whose guilt or innocence was an open question--who had owned to +being at heart false to her husband--or the father, who had done nothing to +forfeit the right to his keeping? And yet to part them was like plucking +asunder blossom and bud, that had grown side by side upon one common stem. +In many a gloomy reverie the master of Arden Court debated this point. + +He could never receive his wife again--upon that question there seemed to +him no room for doubt. To take back to his home and his heart the woman who +had confessed her affection for another man, was hardly in Daniel Granger's +nature. Had he not loved her too much already--degraded himself almost by +so entire a devotion to a woman who had given him nothing, who had kept her +heart shut against him? + +"She married Arden Court, not me," he said to himself; "and then she tried +to have Arden Court and her old lover into the bargain. Would she have run +away with him, I wonder, if he had had time to persuade her that day? _Can_ +any woman be pure, when a man dares ask her to leave her husband?" + +And then the locket that man wore--"From Clarissa"--was not that damning +evidence? + +He thought of these things again and again, with a weary iteration--thought +of them as he watched the mother walking slowly to and fro with her baby +in her arms. _That_ picture would surely live in his mind for ever, he +thought. Never again, never any more, in all the days to come, could he +take his wife back to his heart; but, O God, how dearly he had loved her, +and how desolate his home would be without her! Those two years of their +married life seemed to be all his existence; looking back beyond that time, +his history seemed, like Viola's, "A blank, my lord." And he was to live +the rest of his life without her. But for that ever-present anxiety about +the child, which was in some wise a distraction, the thought of these +things might have driven him mad. + +At last, after those two weeks of uncertainty, there came a day when Dr. +Ormond pronounced the boy out of danger--on the very high-road to recovery, +in fact. + +"I would say nothing decided till I could speak with perfect certainty," he +said. "You may make yourselves quite happy now." + +Clarissa knelt down and kissed the good old doctor's hand, raining tears +upon it in a passion of gratitude. He seemed to her in that moment +something divine, a supernal creature who, by the exercise of his power, +had saved her child Dr. Ormond lifted her up, smiling at her emotion. + +"Come, come, my dear soul, this is hysterical," he said, in his soothing +paternal way, patting her shoulder gently as he spoke; "I always meant to +save the little fellow; though it has been a very severe bout, I admit, and +we have had a tussle for it. And now I expect to see your roses come back +again. It has been a hard time for you as well as for baby." + +When Mr. Granger went out of the room with the physician presently, Dr. +Ormond said gravely,-- + +"The little fellow is quite safe, Mr. Granger; but you must look to your +wife now." + +"What do you mean?" + +"She has a nasty little hacking cough--a chest cough--which I don't like; +and there's a good deal of incipient fever about her." + +"If there is anything wrong, for God's sake see to her at once!" cried +Daniel Granger. "Why didn't you speak of this before?" + +"There was no appearance of fever until to-day. I didn't wish to worry her +with medicines while she was anxious about the child; indeed, I thought the +best cure for her would be the knowledge of his safety. But the cough is +worse to-day; and I should certainly like to prescribe for her, if you will +ask her to come in here and speak to me for a few minutes." + +So Clarissa went into the dingy lodging-house sitting-room to see the +doctor, wondering much that any one could be interested in such an +insignificant matter as _her_ health, now that her treasure was safe. She +went reluctantly, murmuring that she was well enough--quite well now; and +had hardly tottered into the room, when she sank down upon the sofa in a +dead faint. + +Daniel Granger looked on aghast while they revived her. + +"What can have caused this?" he asked. + +"My dear sir, you are surely not surprised," said Dr. Ormond. "Your wife +has been sitting up with her child every night for nearly a month--the +strain upon her, bodily and mental, has been enormous, and the reaction +is of course trying. She will want a good deal of care, that is all. Come +now," he went on cheerfully, as Clarissa opened her eyes, to find her head +lying on Jane Target's shoulder, and her husband standing aloof regarding +her with affrighted looks--"come now, my dear Mrs. Granger, cheer up; your +little darling is safely over his troubles." + +She burst into a flood of tears. + +"They will take him away from me!" she sobbed. + +"Take him away from you--nonsense! What are you dreaming of?" + +"Death has been merciful; but you will be more cruel," she cried, looking +at her husband. "You will take him away." + +"Come, come, my dear lady, this is a delusion; you really must not give way +to this kind of thing," murmured the doctor, rather complacently. He had +a son-in-law who kept a private madhouse at Wimbledon, and began to think +Mrs. Granger was drifting that way. It was sad, of course, a sweet young +woman like that; but patients are patients, and Daniel Granger's wife would +be peculiarly eligible. + +He looked at Mr. Granger, and touched his forehead significantly. "The +brain has been sorely taxed," he murmured, confidentially; "but we shall +set all that right by-and-by." This with as confident an air as if the +brain had been a clock. + +Daniel Granger went over to his wife, and took her hand--it was the +first time those two hands had met since the scene in Austin's +painting-room--looking down at her gravely. + +"Clarissa," he said, "on my word of honour, I will not attempt to separate +you from your son." + +She gave a great cry--a shriek, that rang through the room--and cast +herself upon her husband's breast. + +"O, God bless you for that!" she sobbed; "God bless--" and stopped, +strangled by her sobs. + +Mr. Granger put her gently back into her faithful hand-maiden's arms. +_That_ was different. He might respect her rights as a mother; he could +never again accept her as his wife. + +But a time came now in which all thought of the future was swept away by +a very present danger. Before the next night, Clarissa was raving in +brain-fever; and for more than a month life was a blank to her--or not a +blank, an age of confused agony rather, to be looked back upon with horror +by-and-by. + +They dared not move her from the cheerless rooms in Soho. Lovel was sent +down to Ventnor with Lady Geraldine and a new nurse. It could do no harm to +take him away from his mother for a little while, since she was past the +consciousness of his presence. Jane Target and Daniel Granger nursed her, +with a nursing sister to relieve guard occasionally, and Dr. Ormond in +constant attendance. + +The first thing she saw, when sense came back to her, was her husband's +figure, sitting a little way from-the bed, his face turned towards her, +gravely watchful. Her first reasonable words--faintly murmured in a +wondering tone--moved him deeply; but he was strong enough to hide all +emotion. + +"When she has quite recovered, I shall go back to Arden," he said to +himself; "and leave her to plan her future life with the help of Lady +Geraldine's counsel. That woman is a noble creature, and the best friend +my wife can have. And then we must make some fair arrangement about the +boy--what time he is to spend with me, and what with his mother. I cannot +altogether surrender my son. In any case he is sure to love her best." + +When Clarissa was at last well enough to be moved, her husband took her +down to Ventnor, where the sight of her boy, bright and blooming, and the +sound of his first syllables--little broken scraps of language, that are +so sweet to mothers' ears--had a better influence than all Dr. Ormond's +medicines. Here, too, came her father, from Nice, where he had been +wintering, having devoted his days to the pleasing duty of taking care of +himself. He would have come sooner, immediately on hearing of Clarissa's +illness, he informed Mr. Granger; but he was a poor frail creature, and to +have exposed himself to the north-cast winds of this most uncertain climate +early in April would have been to run into the teeth of danger. It was +the middle of May now, and May this year had come without her accustomed +inclemency. + +"I knew that my daughter was in good hands," he said. Daniel Granger +signed, and answered nothing. + +Mr. Lovel's observant eyes soon perceived that there was something amiss; +and one evening, when he and Mr. Granger were strolling on the sands +between Ventnor and Shanklin, he plainly taxed his son-in-law with the +fact. + +"There is some quarrel between Clary and you," he said; "I can see that at +a glance. Why, I used to consider you a model couple--perfectly Arcadian in +your devotion--and now you scarcely speak to each other." + +"There is a quarrel that must last our lives," Daniel Granger answered +moodily, and then told his story, without reservation. + +"Good heavens!" cried Mr. Lovel, at the end, "there is a curse upon that +man and his race." + +And then he told his own story, in a very few words, and testified to his +undying hatred of all the house of Fairfax. + +After this there came a long silence, during which Clarissa's father was +meditative. + +"You cannot, of course, for a moment suppose that I can doubt my daughter's +innocence throughout this unfortunate business," he said at last. "I know +the diabolical persistency of that race too well. It was like a Fairfax to +entangle my poor girl in his net--to compromise her reputation, in the hope +of profiting by his treachery. I do not attempt to deny, however, that +Clarissa was imprudent. We have to consider her youth, and that natural +love of admiration which tempts women to jeopardise their happiness and +character even for the sake of an idle flirtation. I do not pretend that my +daughter is faultless; but I would stake my life upon her purity. At +the same time I quite agree with you, Granger, that under existing +circumstances, a separation--a perfectly amicable separation, my daughter +of course retaining the society of her child--would be the wiser course for +both parties." + +Mr. Granger had a sensation as of a volume of cold water dashed suddenly in +his face. This friendly concurrence of his father-in-law's took him +utterly by surprise. He had expected that Mr. Lovel would insist upon a +reconciliation, would thrust his daughter upon her husband at the point of +the sword, as it were. He bowed acquiescence, but for some moments could +find no words to speak. + +"There is no other course open to me," he said at last. "I cannot tell you +how I have loved your daughter--God alone knows that--and how my every +scheme of life has been built up from that one foundation. But that is all +over now. I know, with a most bitter certainty, from her own lips, that I +have never possessed her heart." + +"I can scarcely imagine that to be the case," said Mr. Lovel, "even though +Clarissa may have been betrayed into some passionate admission to that +effect. Women will say anything when they are angry." + +"This was not said in anger." + +"But at the worst, supposing her heart not to have been yours hitherto, it +might not be too late to win it even now. Men have won their wives after +marriage." + +"I am too old to try my hand at that," replied Mr. Granger, with a bitter +smile. He was mentally comparing himself with George Fairfax, the handsome +soldier, with that indescribable charm of youth and brightness about him. + +"If you were a younger man, I would hardly recommend such a separation," +Mr. Lovel went on coolly; "but at your age--well, existence is quite +tolerable without a wife; indeed there is a halcyon calm which descends +upon a man when a woman's influence is taken out of his life, that is, +perhaps, better than happiness. You have a son and heir, and that, I should +imagine, for a man of your position, is the chief end and aim of marriage. +My daughter can come abroad with me, and we can lead a pleasant drowsy life +together, dawdling about from one famous city or salubrious watering-place +to another. I shall, as a matter of course, surrender the income you have +been good enough to allow me; but, _en revanche_, you will no doubt make +Clarissa an allowance suitable to her position as your wife." + +Mr. Granger laughed aloud. + +"Do you think there can ever be any question of money between us?" he +asked. "Do you think that if, by the surrender of every shilling I +possess, I could win back my faith in my wife, I should hold the loss a +heavy one?" + +Mr. Lovel smiled, a quiet, self-satisfied smile, in the gloaming. + +"He will make her income a handsome one," he said to himself, "and I shall +have my daughter--who is really an acquisition, for I was beginning to find +life solitary--and plenty of ready money. Or he will come after her in +three months' time. That is the result I anticipate." + +They walked till a late moon had risen from the deep blue waters, and when +they went back to the house everything was settled. Mr. Lovel answered for +his daughter as freely as if he had been answering for himself. He was to +take her abroad, with his grandson and namesake Lovel, attended by Jane +Target and the new nurse, vice Mrs. Brobson, dismissed for neglect of +her charge immediately after Clarissa's flight. If the world asked any +questions, the world must be told that Mr. and Mrs. Granger had parted +by mutual consent, or that Mrs. Granger's doctor had ordered continental +travel. Daniel Granger could settle that point according to his own +pleasure; or could refuse to give the world any answer at all, if he +pleased. + +Mr. Lovel told his daughter the arrangement that he had made for her next +morning. + +"I am to have my son?" she asked eagerly. + +"Yes, don't I tell you so? You and Lovel are to come with me. You can live +anywhere you please; you will have a fair income, a liberal one, I daresay. +You are very well off, upon my word, Clarissa, taking into consideration +the fact of your supreme imprudence--only you have lost your husband." + +"And I have lost Arden Court. Does not there seem a kind of retribution in +that? I made a false vow for the love of Arden Court--and--and for your +sake, papa." + +"False fiddlestick!" exclaimed Mr. Lovel, impatiently; "any reasonable +woman might have been happy in your position, and with such a man as +Granger; a man who positively worshipped you. However, you have lost all +that. I am not going to lecture you--the penalty you pay is heavy enough, +without any sermonising on my part. You are a very lucky woman to retain +custody of your child, and escape any public exposure; and I consider that +your husband has shown himself most generous." + +Daniel Granger and his wife parted soon after this; parted without any sign +of compunction--there was a dead wall of pride between them. Clarissa felt +the burden of her guilt, but could not bring herself to make any avowal of +her repentance to the husband who had put her away from him,--so easily, as +it seemed to her. _That_ touched her pride a little. + +On that last morning, when the carriage was waiting to convey the +travellers to Ryde, Mr. Granger's fortitude did almost abandon him at +parting with his boy. Clarissa was out of the room when he took the child +up in his arms, and put the little arms about his neck. He had made +arrangements that the boy was to spend so many weeks in every year with +him--was to be brought to him at his bidding, in fact; he was not going to +surrender his treasure entirely. + +And yet that parting seemed almost as bitter as if it had been for ever. It +was such an outrage upon nature; the child who should have been so strong a +link to bind those two hearts, to be taken from him like this, and for +no sin of his. Resentment against his wife was strong in his mind at all +times, but strongest when he thought of this loss which she had brought +upon him. And do what he would, the child would grow up with a divided +allegiance, loving his mother best. + +One great sob shook him as he held the boy in that last embrace, and then +he set him down quietly, as the door opened, and Clarissa appeared in her +travelling-dress, pale as death, but very calm. + +Just at the last she gave her hand to her husband, and said gently,--"I am +very grateful to you for letting me take Lovel. I shall hold him always at +your disposal." + +Mr. Granger took the thin cold hand, and pressed it gently. + +"I am sorry there is any necessity for a divided household," he said +gravely. "But fate has been stronger than I. Good-bye." + +And so they parted; Mr. Granger leaving Ventnor later in the day, +purposeless and uncertain, to moon away an evening at Ryde, trying to +arrive at some decision as to what he should do with himself. + +He could not go back to Arden yet awhile, that was out of the question. +Farming operations, building projects, everything else, must go on without +him, or come to a standstill. Indeed, it seemed to him doubtful whether he +should ever go back to the house he had beautified, and the estate he had +expanded: to live there alone--as he had lived before his marriage, that is +to say, in solitary state with his daughter--must surely be intolerable His +life had been suddenly shorn of its delight and ornament He knew now, even +though their union had seemed at its best so imperfect, how much his wife +had been to him. + +And now he had to face the future without her. Good heavens! what a blank +dismal prospect it seemed! He went to London, and took up his abode at +Claridge's, where his life was unspeakably wearisome to him. He did not +care to see people he knew, knowing that he would have to answer friendly +inquiries about his wife. He had nothing to do, no interest in life; +letters from architect and builder, farm-bailiff and steward, were only a +bore to him; he was too listless even to answer them promptly, but let them +lie unattended to for a week at a time. He went to the strangers' gallery +when there was any debate of importance, and tried to give his mind to +politics, with a faint idea of putting himself up for Holborough at the +next election. But, as Phedre says, "Quand ma bouche implorait le nom de la +deesse, j'adorais Hippolyte;" so Mr. Granger, when he tried to think of the +Irish-Church question, or the Alabama claims, found himself thinking of +Clarissa. He gave lip the idea at last, convinced that public life was, for +the most part, a snare and a delusion; and that there were plenty of men in +the world better able to man the great ship than he. Two years ago he +had been more interested in a vestry meeting than he was now in the most +stirring question of the day. + +Finally, he determined to travel; wrote a brief letter to Sophia, +announcing his intention; and departed unattended, to roam the world; +undecided whether he should go straight to Marseilles, and then to Africa, +or whether he should turn his face northwards, and explore Norway and +Sweden. It ended by his doing neither. He went to Spa to see his boy, from +whom he had been separated something over two months. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER XLIX. + +BEGINNING AGAIN. + + +Mr. Lovel had taken his daughter to Spa, finding that she was quite +indifferent whither she went, so long as her boy went with her. It was a +pleasant sleepy place out of the season, and he liked it; having a fancy +that the mineral waters had done wonders for him. He had a villa on the +skirts of the pine-wood, a little way beyond the town; a villa in which +there was ample room for young Lovel and his attendants, and from which +five minutes' walk took them into shadowy deeps of pine, where the boy +might roll upon the soft short grass. + +By and by, Mr. Lovel told Clarissa they could go farther afield, travel +wherever she pleased, in fact; but, for the present, perfect rest and quiet +would be her best medicine. She was not quite out of the doctor's hands +yet; that fever had tried her sorely, and the remnant of her cough still +clung to her. At first she had a great terror of George Fairfax discovering +her retreat. He had found her at Brussels; why should he not find her +at Spa? For the first month of her residence in the quiet inland +watering-place she hardly stirred out of doors without her father, and sat +at home reading or painting day after day, when she was longing to be out +in the wood with her baby and nurse. + +But when the first four weeks had gone by, and left her unmolested, Mrs. +Granger grew bolder, and wandered out every day with her child, and saw the +young face brighten daily with a richer bloom, as the boy gained strength, +and was almost happy. The pine-wood was very pretty; but those slender +trees, shooting heavenwards, lacked the grandeur of the oaks and beeches of +Arden, and very often Clarissa thought of her old home with a sigh. After +all, it was lost to her; twice lost, by a strange fatality, as it seemed. + +In these days she thought but seldom of George Fairfax. In very truth she +was well-nigh cured of her guilty love for him. Her folly had cost her too +dear; "almost the loss of my child," she said to herself sometimes. + +There are passions that wear themselves out, that are by their very nature +self-destroying--a lighted candle that will burn for a given time, and then +die out with ignominious smoke and sputtering, not the supernal lamp that +shines on, star-like, for ever. Solitude and reflection brought this fact +home to Clarissa, that her love, fatal as it had been, was not eternal. A +woman's heart is scarcely wide enough to hold two great affections; and now +baby reigned supreme in the heart of Clarissa. She had plenty of money now +at her disposal; Mr. Granger having fixed her allowance at three thousand +a year, with extensive powers should that sum prove insufficient; so +the Bohemian household under the shadow of St. Gudule profited by her +independence. She sent her brother a good deal of money, and received very +cheery letters in acknowledgment of her generosity, with sometimes a little +ill-spelt scrawl from Bessie, telling her that Austin was much steadier in +Brussels than he had been in Paris, and was working hard for the dealers, +with whom he was in great favour. English and American travellers, +strolling down the Montagne de la Cour, were caught by those bright +"taking" bits, which Austin Lovel knew so well how to paint. An elderly +Russian princess had bought his Peach picture, and given him a commission +for portraits of a brood of Muscovian bantlings. In one way and another +he was picking up a good deal of money; and, with the help of Clarissa's +remittances, had contrived to arrange some of those awkward affairs in +Paris. + +"Indeed, there is very little in this world that money won't settle," +he wrote to his sister; "and I anticipate that enlightened stage of our +criminal code when wilful murder will be a question of pounds, shillings, +and pence. I fancy it in a police report: 'The fine was immediately paid, +and Mr. Greenacre left the court with his friends.' I have some invitation +to go back to my old quarters in the only city I love; there is a Flemish +buffet in the Rue du Chevalier Bayard that was a fortune to me in my +backgrounds; but the little woman pleads so earnestly against our return, +that I give way. Certainly, Paris is a dangerous place for a man of my +temperament, who has not yet mastered the supreme art of saying no at the +right moment. I am very glad to hear you are happy with your father and the +little one. I wish I had him here for a model; my own boys are nothing but +angles. Yet I would rather hear of you in your right position with your +husband. That fellow Fairfax is a scoundrel; I despise myself for ever +having asked him to put his name to a bill; and, still more, for being +blind to his motives when he was hanging about my painting-room last +winter. You have had a great escape, Clary; and God grant you wisdom to +avoid all such perilous paths in time to come. Preachment of any kind comes +with an ill grace from me, I know; but I daresay you remember what Portia +says: 'If to do were as easy as to know what were good to do, chapels had +been churches, and poor men's cottages princes' palaces;' and every man, +however fallen, has a kind of temple in his breast, wherein is enshrined +the image of his nearest and dearest. Let my garments be never so +besmirched and bedraggled, my sister's robes must be spotless." + +There was comfort in these good tidings of her brother--comfort for which +Clarissa was very grateful to Providence. She would have been glad to go to +Brussels to see him, but had that ever-present terror of coming athwart the +pathway of George Fairfax; nor could she go on such an errand without some +kind of explanation with her father. She was content to abide, therefore, +among the quiet pine-woods and umbrageous avenues, which the holiday world +had not yet invaded, and where she was almost as free to wander with her +boy as amidst the beloved woods of Arden Court. + +Life thus spent was very peaceful--peaceful, and just a little monotonous. +Mr. Lovel sipped his chocolate, and trifled with his maintenon cutlet, at +11 A.M., with an open volume of Burton or Bentley beside his cup, just as +in the old days of Clarissa's girlhood. It was just like the life at Mill +Cottage, with that one ever fresh and delicious element--young Lovel. +That baby voice lent a perpetual music to Clarissa's existence; the +sweet companionship of that restless clambering infant seemed to her the +perfection of happiness. + +And yet--and yet--there were times when she felt that her life was a +failure, and lamented somewhat that she had so wrecked it. She was not hard +of heart; and sometimes she thought of Daniel Granger with a remorseful +pang, that cams upon her sharply in the midst of her maternal joys; thought +of all that he had done for love of her--the sublime patience wherewith +he had endured her coldness, the generous eagerness he had shown in the +indulgence of her caprices; in a word, the wealth of wasted love he had +lavished on an ungrateful woman. + +"It is all over now," she said to herself sadly. "It is not every woman who +in all her lifetime can win so great a love as I have lost." + +The tranquil sensuous life went on. There were hours in it which her child +could not fill--long hours, in which that marvellous blossom folded its +petals, slumbering sweetly through the summer noontide, and was no better +company than a rose-bud. Clarissa tried to interest herself in her old +studies; took up her Italian, and read Dante with her father, who was +a good deal more painstaking in his explanations of obscure idioms and +irregular verbs for the benefit of Mrs. Granger with a jointure of three +thousand per annum, than he had been wont to show himself for the behoof +of Miss Lovel without a sixpence. She drew a great deal; but somehow these +favourite pursuits had lost something of their charm. They could not fill +her life; it seemed blank and empty in spite of them. + +She had her child--the one blessing for which she had prayed--about which +she had raved with such piteous bewailings in her delirium; but there was +no sense of security in the possession. She was full of doubts and fears +about the future. How long would Daniel Granger suffer her to keep her +treasure? Must not the day come when he would put forth his stronger claim, +and she would be left bereaved and desolate? + +Scarcely could she dare to think of the future; indeed, she did her +uttermost to put away all thought of it, so fraught was it with terror and +perplexity; but her dreams were made hideous by scenes of parting--weird +and unnatural situations, such as occur in dreams; and her health suffered +from these shadowy fears. Death, too, had been very near her boy; and she +watched him with a morbid apprehension, fearful of every summer breeze that +ruffled his flaxen hair. + +She was tired of Spa, and secretly anxious to cross the frontier, and +wander through Germany, away to the further-most shores of the Danube; but +was fain to wait patiently till her father's medical adviser--an English +physician, settled at Spa--should pronounce him strong enough to travel. + +"That hurried journey to the Isle of Wight sent me back prodigiously," Mr. +Lovel told his daughter. "It will take me a month or two to recover the +effects of those abominable steamers. The Rhine and the Danube will keep, +my dear Clary. The castled crag of Drachenfels can be only a little +mouldier for the delay, and I believe the mouldiness of these things is +their principal charm." + +So Clarissa waited. She had not the courage to tell her father of those +shapeless terrors that haunted her by day, and those agonising dreams that +visited her by night, which she fancied might be driven away by movement +and change of scene; she waited, and went on suffering, until at last +that supreme egotist, Marmaduke Lovel, was awakened to the fact, that +his daughter was looking no better than when he first brought her to +Belgium--worse rather, incontestably worse. He took alarm immediately. +The discovery moved him more than he could have supposed anything outside +himself could have affected him. + +"What?" he asked himself. "Is my daughter going to languish and fade, as my +wife faded? Is she too to die of a Fairfax?" + +The English physician was consulted; hummed and ha'd a little, prescribed a +new tonic; and finding, after a week or two, that this produced no result, +and that the pulse was weaker and more fitful, recommended change of air +and scene,--a remedy which common-sense might have suggested in the first +instance. + +"We will start for Cologne to-morrow morning. Tell Target to pack, Clary. +You shall sleep under the shadow of the great cathedral to-morrow night." + +Clarissa thanked her father warmly, and then burst into tears. + +"Hysteria," murmured the physician. + +"I shall get away from that dreadful room," she sobbed, "where I have such +hideous dreams;" and then went away to set Jane Target to work. + +"I don't quite like the look of that," the doctor said gravely, when she +was gone. "Those distressing dreams are a bad sign. But Mrs. Granger is yet +very young, and has an excellent constitution, I believe. Change of scene, +and the amusement of travelling, may do all we want." + +He left Mr. Lovel very thoughtful. + +"If she doesn't improve very speedily, I shall telegraph to Granger," he +said to himself. + +He had no occasion to do this. Daniel Granger, after going half way to +Marseilles, with a notion of exploring Algiers and Morocco, had stopped +short, and made his way by road and rail--through sirocco, clouds of dust, +and much inconvenience--to Liege, where he had lingered to recover and calm +himself down a little before going to see his child. + +Going to see his child--that was the sole purpose of his journey; not for a +moment would he have admitted that it mattered anything to him that he was +also going to see his wife. + +It was between seven and eight o'clock, on a bright June evening--a flush +of rosy light behind the wooded hills--and Clarissa was sitting on some +felled timber, with her boy asleep in her arms. He had dropped off to sleep +in the midst of his play; and she had lingered, unwilling to disturb him. +If he went on sleeping, she would be able to carry him home presently, and +put him to bed without awaking him. The villa was not a quarter of a mile +away. + +She was quite alone with her darling, the nurse being engaged in the grand +business of packing. They were all to start the next morning after a very +early breakfast. She was looking down at the young sleeper, singing to him +softly--a commonplace picture perhaps, but a very fair one--a _Madonna aux +champs_. + +So thought Daniel Granger, who had arrived at Spa half an hour ago, made +his inquiries at the villa, and wandered into the wood in quest of his only +son. The mother's face, with its soft smile of ineffable love, lips half +parted, breathing that fragment of a tender song, reminded him of a picture +by Raffaelle. She was nothing to him now; but he could not the less +appreciate her beauty, spiritualised by sorrow, and radiant with the glory +of the evening sunlight. + +He came towards the little group silently, his footfall making no sound +upon the moss-grown earth. He did not approach quite near, however, in +silence, afraid of startling her, but stopped a little way off, and said +gently,-- + +"They told me I should most likely find you somewhere about here, with +Lovel." + +His wife gave a little cry, and looked up aghast. + +"Have you come to take him away from me?" she asked, thinking that her +dreams had been prophetic. + +"No, no, I am not going to do that; though you told me he was to be at my +disposal, remember, and I mean to claim him sometimes. I can't allow him +to grow up a stranger to me.--God bless him, how well he is looking! Pray +don't look so frightened," he went on, in an assuring voice, alarmed by +the dead whiteness of Clarissa's face; "I have only come to see my boy +before----. The fact is, I have some thoughts of travelling for a year or +two. There is a rage for going to Africa nowadays, and I am not without +interest in that sort of thing." + +Clarissa looked at him wonderingly. This sudden passion for foreign +wanderings seemed to her very strange in him. She had been accustomed +to suppose his mind entirely absorbed by new systems of irrigation, and +model-village building, and the extension of his estate. His very dreams, +she had fancied, were of the hedgerows that bounded his lands--boundaries +that vanished day by day, as the lands widened, with now a whole farm +added, and now a single field. Could he leave Arden, and the kingdom that +he had created for himself, to roam in sandy deserts, and hob-and-nob with +Kaffir chiefs under the tropic stars? + +Mr. Granger seated himself upon the timber by his wife's side, and bent +down to look at his son, and to kiss him gently without waking him. After +that fond lingering kiss upon the little one's smooth cheek, he sat for +some minutes in silence, looking at his wife. + +It was only her profile he could see; but he saw that she was looking ill, +worse than she had looked when they parted at Ventnor. The sight of the +pale face, with a troubled look about the mouth, touched him keenly. Just +in that moment he forgot that there was such a being as George Fairfax upon +this earth; forgot the sin that his wife had sinned against him; longed to +clasp her to his breast; was only deterred by a kind of awkward shyness--to +which such strong men as he are sometimes liable--from so doing. + +"I am sorry to see that you are not looking very well," he said at last, +with supreme stiffness, and with that peculiarly unconciliating air which +an Englishman is apt to put on, when he is languishing to hold out the +olive-branch. + +"I have not been very well; but I daresay I shall soon be better, now we +are going to travel." + +"Going to travel!" + +"Yes, papa has made up his mind to move at last. We go to Cologne +to-morrow. I thought they would have told you that at the house." + +"No; I only waited to ask where you--where the boy was to be found. I did +not even stop to see your father." + +After this there came a dead silence--a silence that lasted for about five +minutes, during which they heard the faint rustle of the pine branches +stirred ever so lightly by the evening wind. The boy slept on, unconscious +and serene; the mother watching him, and Daniel Granger contemplating both +from under the shadow of his eyebrows. + +The silence grew almost oppressive at last, and Mr. Granger was the first +to break it. + +"You do not ask me for any news of Arden," he said. + +Clarissa blushed, and glanced at him with a little wounded look. It was +hard to be reminded of the paradise from which she had been exiled. + +"I--I beg your pardon. I hope everything is going on as you wish; the home +farm, and all that kind of thing. Miss Granger--Sophia--is well, I hope?" + +"Sophia is quite well, I believe. I have not seen her since I left +Ventnor." + +"She has been away from Arden, then?" + +"No; it is I who have not been there. Indeed, I doubt if I shall ever go +there again--without you, Clarissa. The place is hateful to me." + +Again and again, with infinite iteration, Daniel Granger had told himself +that reconciliation with his wife was impossible. Throughout his journey +by road and rail--and above all things is a long journey conductive to +profound meditation--he had been firmly resolved to see his boy, and then +go on his way at once, with neither delay nor wavering. But the sight of +that pale pensive face to-night had well-nigh unmanned him. Was this the +girl whose brightness and beauty had been the delight of his life? Alas, +poor child, what sorrow his foolish love had brought upon her! He began +all at once to pity her, to think of her as a sacrifice to her father's +selfishness, his own obstinacy. + +"I ought to have taken my answer that day at the Court, when I first told +her my secret," he said to himself. "That look of pained surprise, which +came into her face when I spoke, might surely have been enough for me. Yet +I persisted, and was not man enough to face the question boldly--whether +she had any heart to give me." + +Clarissa rose, with the child still in her arms. + +"I am afraid the dew is beginning to fall," she said; "I had better take +Lovel home." + +"Let me carry him," exclaimed Mr. Granger; and in the next moment the boy +was in his father's strong arms, the flaxen head nestling in the paternal +waistcoat. + +"And so you are going to begin your travels to-morrow morning," he said, as +they walked slowly homeward side by side. + +"Yes, the train leaves at seven. But you would like to see more of Lovel, +perhaps, having come so far to see him. We can defer our journey for a day +or two." + +"You are very good. Yes, I should like you to do that." + +"And with regard to what you were saying just now," Clarissa said, in a low +voice, that was not quite steady, "I trust you will not let the memory of +any pain I may have given you influence your future life, or disgust you +with a place to which you were so much attached as I know you were to +Arden. Pray put me out of your thoughts. I am not worthy to be regretted by +you. Our marriage was a sad mistake on your part--a sin upon mine. I know +now that it was so." + +"A mistake--a sin! O, Clary, Clary, I could have been so happy, if you had +only loved me a little--if you had only been true to me. + +"I never was deliberately false to you. I was very wicked; yes, I +acknowledge that. I did trifle with temptation. I ought to have avoided the +remotest chance of any meeting with George Fairfax. I ought to have told +you the truth, told you all my weakness; but--but I had not the courage to +do that. I went to the Rue du Chevalier Bayard to see my brother." + +"Was that honest, Clarissa, to allow me to be introduced to your brother as +a stranger?" + +"That was Austin's wish, not mine. He would not let me tell you who he was; +and I was so glad for you to be kind to him, poor fellow! so glad to be +able to see him almost daily; and when the picture was finished, and Austin +had no excuse for coming to us any more, I went to see him very often, and +sometimes met Mr. Fairfax in his painting-room; but I never went with any +deliberate intention of meeting him." + +"No," interjected Mr. Granger bitterly; "you only went, knowing that he was +likely to be there!" + +"And on that unhappy day when you found me there," Clarissa went on, "I had +gone to see my brother, having no idea that he had left Paris. I wanted to +come away at once; but Mr. Fairfax detained me. I was very angry with him." + +"Yes, it appeared so, when he was asking you to run away with him. It is a +hard thing for a man to believe in his wife's honour, when things have come +to such a pass as that, Clarissa." + +"I have told you the truth," she answered gravely; "I cannot say any more." + +"And the locket--the locket I gave you, which I found on that man's +breast?" + +"I gave that locket to my sister-in-law, Bessie Lovel. I wished to give her +something, poor soul; and I had given Austin all my money. I had so many +gifts of yours, Daniel"--that sudden sound of his Christian name sent a +thrill through Mr. Granger's veins--"parting with one of them seemed not to +matter very much." + +There was a pause. They were very near the villa by this time. Mr. Granger +felt as if he might never have an opportunity for speaking to his wife +again, if he lost his chance now. + +"Clarissa," he said earnestly, "if I could forget all that happened in +Paris, and put it out of my mind as if it had never been, could you forget +it too?" + +"With all my heart," she answered. + +"Then, my darling, we will begin the world again--we will begin life over +again, Clarissa!" + +So they went home together reconciled. And Mr. Lovel, looking up from Aime +Martin's edition of Moliere, saw that what he had anticipated had come to +pass. His policy had proved as successful as it had been judicious. In less +than three months Daniel Granger had surrendered. This was what came of Mr. +Granger's flying visit to his boy. + + * * * * * + + + + +CHAPTER L. + +HOW SUCH THINGS END. + + +After that reconciliation, which brought a wonderful relief and comfort +to Clarissa's mind--and who shall say how profoundly happy it made her +husband?--Mr. and Mrs. Granger spent nearly a year in foreign travel. For +his own part, Daniel Granger would have been glad to go back to Arden, now +that the dreary burden was lifted off his mind, and his broken life pieced +together again; but he did not want county society to see his wife till +the bloom and brightness had come back to her face, nor to penetrate the +mystery of their brief severance. To remain away for some considerable time +was the surest way of letting the scandal, if any had ever arisen, die out. + +He wrote to his daughter, telling her briefly that he and his wife had +arranged all their little differences--little differences! Sophia gave a +shrill scream of indignation as she went over this sentence in her father's +letter, scarcely able to believe her eyes at first--and they were going +through Germany together with the intention of wintering at Borne. As +Clarissa was still somewhat of an invalid, it would be best for them to be +alone, he thought; but he was ready to further any plans for his daughter's +happiness during his absence. + +Miss Granger replied curtly, that she was tolerably happy at Arden, with +her "duties," and that she had no desire to go roaming about the world in +quest of that contented mind which idle and frivolous persons rarely found, +go where they might. She congratulated her father upon the termination of +a quarrel which she had supposed too serious to be healed so easily, and +trusted that he would never have occasion to regret his clemency. Mr. +Granger crushed the letter in his hand, and threw it over the side of the +Rhine steamer, on which he had opened his budget of English correspondence, +on that particular morning. + +They had a very pleasant time of it in Germany, moving in a leisurely +way from town to town, seeing everything thoroughly without hurry or +restlessness. Young Lovel throve apace the new nurse adored him; and +faithful Jane Target was a happy as the day was long, amidst all the +foreign wonders that surrounded her pathway. Daniel Granger was contented +and hopeful; happy in the contemplation of his wife's fair young face, +which brightened daily; in the society of his boy, who, with increasing +intelligence, developed an ever-increasing appreciation of his father--the +strong arms, that tossed him aloft and caught him so skilfully; the +sonorous voice, that rang so cheerily upon his ear; the capacious pockets, +in which there was wont to lurk some toy for his delectation. + +Towards the middle of November they took up their winter quarters in +Rome--not the November of fogs and drizzle, known to the denizens of +London, but serene skies and balmy air, golden sunsets, and late-lingering +flowers, that seemed loath to fade and vanish from a scene so beautiful. +Clarissa loved this city of cities, and felt a thrill of delight at +returning to it. She drove about with her two-year-old son, showing him the +wonders and glories of the place as fondly as if its classic associations +had been within the compass of his budding mind. She went on with her +art-studies with renewed vigour, as if there had been a Raffaelle fever in +the very air of the place, and made plans for copying half the pictures in +the Vatican. There was plenty of agreeable society in the city, English and +foreign; and Clarissa found herself almost as much in request as she had +been in Paris. There were art-circles in which she was happiest, and where +Daniel Granger held his own very fairly as a critic and connoisseur. And +thus the first two winter months slipped away very pleasantly, till they +came to January, in which month they were to return to Arden. + +They were to return there to assist at a great event--an event the +contemplation whereof was a source of unmitigated satisfaction to Mr. +Granger, and which was more than pleasing to Clarissa. Miss Granger was +going to be married, blest with her papa's consent and approval, of course, +and in a manner becoming a damsel whose first consideration was duty. After +refusing several very fair offers, during the progress of her girlhood, she +had at last suffered herself to be subjugated by the constancy and devotion +of Mr. Tillott, the curate of New Arden. + +It was not in any sense a good match. Mr. Tillott's professional income was +seventy-five pounds a year; his sole private means an allowance of fifty +from his brother, who, Mr. Tillott admitted, with a blush, was in trade. He +was neither handsome nor accomplished. The most his best friends could say +of him was, that he was "a very worthy young man." He was not an orator: he +had an atrocious delivery, and rarely got through the briefest epistle, +or collect even, without blundering over a preposition. His demeanour in +pulpit and reading-desk was that of a prisoner at the bar, without hope of +acquittal, and yet he had won Miss Granger--that prize in the matrimonial +market, which many a stout Yorkshireman had been eager to win. + +He had flattered her; with a slavish idolatry he followed her footsteps, +and ministered to her caprices, admiring, applauding, and imitating all her +works and ways, holding her up for ever as the pattern and perfection of +womankind. Five times had Miss Granger rejected him; on some occasions with +contumely even, letting him know that there was a very wide gulf between +their social positions, and that although she might be spiritually his +sister, she stood, in a worldly sense, on a very remote platform from that +which it was his mission to occupy. Mr. Tillott swallowed every humiliation +with a lowly spirit, that had in it some leaven of calculation, and bore +up against every repulse; until at last the fair Sophia, angry with her +father, persistently opposed to her stepmother, and out of sorts with +the world in general, consented to accept the homage of this persevering +suitor. He, at least, was true to her; he, at least, believed in her +perfection. The stout country squires, who could have given her houses +and lands, had never stooped to flatter her foibles; had shown themselves +heartlessly indifferent to her dragooning of the model villagers; had even +hinted their pity for the villagers under that martial rule. Tillott alone +could sympathise with her, trudging patiently from cottage to cottage in +bleak Christmas weather, carrying parcels of that uncomfortable clothing +with which Miss Granger delighted to supply her pensioners. + +Nor was the position which this marriage would give her, humble as it might +appear, altogether without its charm. As Mr. Tillott's wife, she would be +a very great lady amongst small people; and Mr. Tillott himself would be +invested with a reflected glory from having married an heiress. The curate +stage would, of course, soon be past. The living of Arden was in Mr. +Granger's gift; and no doubt the present rector could be bought out +somehow, after a year or so, and Mr. Tillott installed in his place. So, +after due deliberation, and after the meek Tillott had been subjected to a +trial of his faith which might have shaken the strongest, but which left +him firm as a rock, Miss Granger surrendered, and acknowledged that she +thought her sphere of usefulness would be enlarged by her union with Thomas +Tillott. + +"It is not my own feelings which, I consider," remarked the maiden, in a +tone which was scarcely flattering to her lover; "I have always held duty +above those. I believe that New Arden is my proper field, and that it is a +Providence that leads me to accept a tie which binds me more closely to the +place. I could never have remained in _this_ house after Mrs. Granger's +return." + +Upon this, the enraptured Tillott wrote a humble and explanatory letter to +Mr. Granger, stating the blessing which had descended upon him in the shape +of Sophia's esteem, and entreating that gentleman's approval of his suit. + +It came by return of post, in a few hearty words. + + "MY DEAR TILLOTT,--Yes; with all my heart! I have always thought you + a good fellow; and I hope and believe you will make my daughter a + good husband. Mrs. Granger and I will be home in three weeks, in + time to make all arrangements for the wedding.--Yours, &c. + + "DANIEL GRANGER." + +"Ah," said Miss Granger, when this epistle was shown her by her triumphant +swain, "I expected as much. I have never been anything to papa since his +marriage, and he is glad to get rid of me." + +The Roman season was at its height, when there arose a good deal of talk +about a lady who did not belong to that world in which Mrs. Granger lived, +but who yet excited considerable curiosity and interest therein. + +She was a Spanish dancer, known as Donna Rita, and had been creating a +_furore_ in St. Petersburg, Paris, Vienna, all over the civilised world, in +fact, except in London, where she was announced as likely to appear during +the approaching season. She had taken the world by storm by her beauty, +which was exceptional, and by her dancing, which made up in _chic_ for +anything it may have lacked in genius. She was not a Taglioni; she was only +a splendid dark-haired woman, with eyes that reminded one of Cleopatra, a +figure that was simply perfection, the free grace of some wild creature of +the forest, and the art of selecting rare and startling combinations of +colour and fabric for her dress. + +She had hired a villa, and sent a small army of servants on before her to +take possession of it--men and women of divers nations, who contrived to +make their mistress notorious by their vagaries before she arrived to +astonish the city by her own eccentricities. One day brought two pair of +carriage horses, and a pair of Arabs for riding; the next, a train of +carriages; a week after came the lady herself; and all Rome--English +and American Rome most especially--was eager to see her. There was an +Englishman in her train, people said. Of course, there was always some +one--_elle en mange cinq comme ca tous les ans_, remarked a Frenchman. + +Clarissa had no curiosity about this person. The idle talk went by her like +the wind, and made no impression; but one sunny afternoon, when she was +driving with her boy, Daniel Granger having an engagement to look at a +new picture which kept him away from her, she met the Senora face to +face--Donna Rita, wrapped in sables to the throat, with a coquettish +little turban-shaped sable hat, a couple of Pomeranian dogs on her +lap--half reclining in her barouche--a marvel of beauty and insolence. She +was not alone. A gentleman--the Englishman, of course--sat opposite to her, +and leant across the white bear-skin carriage-rug to talk to her. They were +both laughing at something he had just said, which the Senora characterised +as "_pas si bete._" + +He looked up as the two carriages passed each other; for just one brief +moment looked Clarissa Granger in the face; then, pale as death, bent down +to caress one of the dogs. + +It was George Fairfax. + +It was a bitter ending; but such stories are apt to end so; and a man with +unlimited means, and nothing particular to do with himself, must find +amusement somehow. Clarissa remained in Rome a fortnight after this, and +encountered the Senora several times--never unattended, but never again +with George Fairfax. + +She heard the story afterwards from Lady Laura. He had been infatuated, and +had spent thousands upon "that creature." His poor mother had been half +broken-hearted about it. + +"The Lyvedon estate spoiled him, my dear," Lady Laura said conclusively. +"He was a very good fellow till he came into his property." + +Mr. Fairfax reformed, however, a couple of years later, and married a +fashionable widow with a large fortune; who kept him in a whirl of society, +and spent their combined incomes royally. He and Clarissa meet sometimes in +society--meet, touch hands even, and know that every link between them is +broken. + +And is Clarissa happy? Yes, if happiness can be found in children's voices +and a good man's unchanging affection. She has Arden Court, and her +children; her father's regard, growing warmer year by year, as with +increasing age he feels increasing need of some one to love him; her +brother's society now and then--for Mr. Granger has been lavish in +his generosity, and all the peccadilloes of Austin's youth have been +extinguished from the memories of money-lenders and their like by means of +Mr. Granger's cheque-book. + +The painter can come to England now, and roam his native woods unburdened +by care; but though this is very sweet to him once in a way, he prefers a +Continental city, with its _cafe_ life, and singing and dancing gardens, +where he may smoke his in the gloaming. He grows steadier as he grows +older, paints better, and makes friends worth making; much to the joy of +poor Bessie, who asks no greater privilege than to stand humbly by, gazing +fondly while he puts on his white cravat, and sallies forth radiant, with a +hot-house flower in his button-hole, to dine in the great world. + +But this is only a glance into the future. The story ends in the orthodox +manner, to the sound of wedding bells--Miss Granger's--who swears to love, +honour, and obey Thomas Tillott, with a fixed intention to keep the upper +baud over the said Thomas in all things. Yet these men who are so slavish +as wooers are apt to prove of sterner mould as husbands, and life is all +before Mrs. Tillott, as she journeys in chariot and posters to Scarborough +for her unpretentious honeymoon, to return in a fortnight to a bran-new +gothic villa on the skirts of Arden, where one tall tree is struggling +vainly to look at home in a barren waste of new-made garden. And in the +servants' hall and housekeeper's room at Arden Court there is rejoicing, +as when the elder Miss Pecksniff went away from the little village near +Salisbury. + +For some there are no marriage bells--for Lady Geraldine, for instance, who +is content to devote herself unostentatiously to the care of her sister's +neglected children--neglected in spite of French and German governesses, +Italian singing masters, Parisian waiting-maids, and half an acre or so +of nursery and schoolroom--and to wider charities: not all unhappy, and +thankful for having escaped that far deeper misery--the fate of an unloved +wife. + + +THE END + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of The Lovels of Arden, by M. E. Braddon + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE LOVELS OF ARDEN *** + +This file should be named 7lvar10.txt or 7lvar10.zip +Corrected EDITIONS of our eBooks get a new NUMBER, 7lvar11.txt +VERSIONS based on separate sources get new LETTER, 7lvar10a.txt + +Produced by Jonathan Ingram and PG Distributed Proofreaders + +Project Gutenberg eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the US +unless a copyright notice is included. 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