1844_Yonge,Charlotte_Abbeychurch

ABBEYCHURCH

OR

SELFCONTROL AND SELFCONCEIT

BY

CHARLOTTE M YONGE

THE AUTHOR OF THE HEIR OF REDCLYFFE

CHAPTER I

One summer afternoon Helen Woodbourne returned from her daily walk with her sisters and immediately repaired to the schoolroom in order to put the finishing touches to a drawing with which she had been engaged during the greater part of the morning She had not been long established there before her sister Katherine came in and taking her favourite station leaning against the window shutter so as to command a good view of the street she began Helen do you know that the Consecration is to be on Thursday the twentyeighth instead of the Tuesday after

I know Lizzie wished that it could be so said Helen because the twentyeighth is St Augustines day but I thought that the Bishop had appointed Tuesday

But Papa wrote to him and he has altered the day as Papa wished I heard Mamma and Mr Somerville talking about it just now when I went into the drawingroom answered Katherine

Will everything be ready in time said Helen

Dear me cried Katherine I wonder if it will What is to be done if that tiresome Miss Dighten does not send home our dresses in time We must go and hurry her tomorrow And I must get Mamma to go to Baysmouth this week to get our ribbons I looked over all Mr Greens on Monday and he has not one bit of pink satin ribbon wide enough or fit to be seen

Oh but I meant the things in the church—the cushions and the carving on the Font said Helen

Oh dear yes the Font is very nearly done we saw today you know and as to the cushions Mrs Webbe may have Sarah to help her and then they will certainly be finished I wonder whether there will be any fun said Katherine

Is a Consecration an occasion for fun asked Helen very gravely

Why no I do not exactly mean that replied Katherine but there will be a great many people and the Mertons staying here and Rupert is always so full of fun

Hm—m said Helen I do not suppose he will be come back from Scotland

And Mrs Turner says continued Katherine that of course as the Bishop is coming to luncheon after Church Mamma must give an elegant dejeuner a la fourchette to everybody Next time I go to St Martins Street Mrs Turner is going to give me a receipt for making blancmanger with some cheap stuff which looks quite as well as isinglass It is made on chemical principles she says for she heard it all explained at the Mechanics Institute And Aunt Anne will be sure to bring us some of their grand fruit from Merton Hall What a setout it will be The old Vicarage will not know itself how delightful it will be

So you think the happiness of the Consecration day depends upon the party and the luncheon said Helen

No no of course I do not said Katherine but we must think about that too or we should not do what is proper

Someone must said Helen but it is happy for us that we are not called upon to do so yet

Why we must help Mamma said Katherine I am sure that is our duty

Certainly said Helen but we need not dwell upon such thoughts for our own pleasure

No I do not I am sure said Katherine I do not care about the grand dejeuner I am sure I think a great deal more about the Church and the Bishop—I wonder whether he will come by the railroad

At this moment the door was thrown back hastily and Elizabeth the elder sister of Katherine and Helen darted in looking full of indignation which she only wanted to pour forth without much caring whether it was listened to with sympathy or not

So have you heard she began these Hazlebys are coming Did you ever hear of such a nuisance Anything so preposterous Mrs Hazleby at a Consecration—I should as soon think of asking Gillespie Grumach

It is for the Majors sake of course said Helen he will like to come

Ay but he is not coming he cannot get leave said Elizabeth if he was I should not mind it so much but it is only Mrs Hazleby and the girls for she has the grace to bring Lucy on Mammas special invitation But only think of Mrs Hazleby scolding and snapping for ever and Harriet with her finery and folly and vulgarity And that at a time which ought to be full of peace and glorious feelings Oh they will spoil all the pleasure

All said Helen

All that they can touch all that depends upon sympathy said Elizabeth

Well but I do not see— said Katherine

No no said Elizabeth we all know that you will be happy enough with your beloved Harriet How frivolous and silly you will be by the end of the first evening she has been here

I am sure I think Harriet is very silly indeed said Katherine I cannot bear her vulgar ways bouncing about as she does and such dress I never did see Last time she was here she had a great large artificial rose upon her bonnet I wonder what Papa would say if he saw me in such a thing

Pray keep the same opinion of her all the time she is here Kate said Elizabeth but I know you too well to trust you I only know they will keep me in a perpetual state of irritation all the time and I hope that will not quite spoil my mind for the Service

How can you talk of Mammas relations in that way Lizzie said Helen

I do not care whose relations they are said Elizabeth if people will be disagreeable I must say so

Mrs Staunton used to say replied Helen that people always ought to keep up their connexion with their relations whether they like them or not There were some very stupid people relations of Mr Stauntons near Dykelands whom Fanny and Jane could not endure but she used to ask them to dinner very often and always made a point—

Well if I had any disagreeable relations said Elizabeth I would make a point of cutting them I do not see why relations have a right to be disagreeable

I do not see how you could said Helen For instance would you prevent Mamma from ever seeing the Major her own brother

He cannot be half so well worth seeing since he chose to marry such a horrid wife said Elizabeth

Would you never see Horace again if he did such a thing said Katherine I am sure I would not give him up Would you

I could trust Horace I think said Elizabeth I will give him fair warning and I give you and Helen warning that if you marry odious people I will have done with you

When I was at Dykelands said Helen everybody was talking about a man who had married—

Never mind Dykelands now Helen said Elizabeth and do put down your pencil That drawing was tolerable before luncheon but you have been making your tree more like Mr Dillons Sunday periwig every minute since I have been here And such a shadow But do not stop to mend it You will not do any good now and here is some better work Mamma wants us to help to finish the cushions We must do something to earn the pleasure of having St Austins Church consecrated on St Austins day

What do you mean that I am to work on that hard velvet said Helen who was a little mortified by the unsparing criticism on her drawing

Yes I undertook that we three should make up the two cushions for the desk and eagle Mrs Webbes hands are full of business already but she has explained it all to me and Kate will understand it better than I can

I thought Sarah Webbe was to help said Helen

She is doing the carpet said Elizabeth Oh if you look so lamentable about it Helen we do not want your help Dora will sew the seams very nicely and enjoy the work too I thought you might be glad to turn your handiwork to some account

Really Lizzie said Helen I shall be very glad to be useful if you want me What shall I do

This was said in no gracious tone and Elizabeth would not accept such an offer of assistance No no never mind said she putting a skein of crimson sewingsilk over Katherines outstretched hands and standing with her back to Helen who took up her pencil again in silence and made her black shadows much darker

Elizabeth who had not been of the walking party and had thus heard of all the arrangements which had been made that afternoon went on talking to Katherine As soon as Church is over the Bishop is coming to luncheon here and then to settle some business with Papa then is to be the schoolchildrens feast—in the quadrangle of course Oh how delightful that will be And Mamma and I have been settling that we will have a little table for the smallest creatures because the elder sisters get no time to eat if they are attending to them and if the little ones are all together everyone will come and help them

The old women in the Almshouses will said Katherine

Yes and Dora will manage that nicely too the table will not be too high for her to reach and she will be very happy to be able to wait on her little class And they are to have tea and cake instead of dinner for we do not want to have more cooking than can be helped that people may not be prevented from going to church and the children will be thirsty after being in church all the morning

But we have a dinnerparty do not we said Katherine

Yes but our youth and innocence will save us from being much plagued by it said Elizabeth

Oh I thought you and Anne at least would dine with the company said Katherine

So Mamma thought said Elizabeth but then she recollected that if we did and not Harriet Mrs Hazleby would be mortally offended and when we came to reckon it appeared that there would be thirteen without us and then Papa and I persuaded her that it would be much less uncivil to leave out all the Misses than to take one and leave the rest You know Anne and I are both under seventeen yet so that nobody will expect to see us

Only thirteen people said Katherine I thought the Bishop was to dine and sleep here

Oh no that was settled long ago Papa found he had engaged to go to Marlowe Court said Elizabeth and so there was room for the Hazlebys I hoped he would have guarded us from them

But will there be room said Katherine I cannot fancy it

Oh half the rooms can be made Knights Templars horses and carry double said Elizabeth Mrs Hazleby and both the girls may very well be in the blue room

And there is the best room for the Mertons and Horaces for Rupert said Katherine

Poor Horace it is a shame that he who laid the first stone should not be at the Consecration said Elizabeth

Well but where is Anne to be said Katherine if we take Dora into our room and Winifred goes to the nursery there is their room but Aunt Annes maid must have that

Anne shall come to my room—if Aunt Anne will let her that is to say said Elizabeth I wonder I never thought of that before it will counteract some of the horrors of the Hazlebys I shall have the comfort of talking things over with the only person who knows what to feel Yes I will go and speak to Mamma and shew her that it is the only way of lodging the world conveniently Oh how happy we shall be

As soon as Elizabeth had finished winding her skein she hastened to Mrs Woodbourne and found no great difficulty in gaining her consent to the plan and she then sat down to write to Miss Merton to inform her of the change of day and invite her to share her room

Elizabeth Woodbourne and Anne Merton were first cousins and nearly of the same age They had spent much of their time together in their childhood and their early attachment to each other strengthening as they grew older was now becoming something more than girlish affection Anne was an only daughter and Elizabeth though the eldest of a large family had not hitherto found any of her sisters able to enter into her feelings as fully as her cousin and perhaps there was no one who had so just an appreciation of Elizabeths character as Anne who though hers was of a very different order had perhaps more influence over her mind than anyone excepting Mr Woodbourne

Sir Edward Merton was brother to Mr Woodbournes first wife the mother of Elizabeth Katherine and Helen he had been Mr Woodbournes principal assistant in the erection of the new church and indeed had added all the decorations which the Vicars limited means aided by a subscription could not achieve and his wife and daughter had taken nearly as much interest in its progress as the ardent Elizabeth herself Anne eagerly read Elizabeths note to her mother and waited her consent to the scheme which it proposed

Well Mamma said Anne can you consent to this arrangement or are you afraid that Lizzie and I should chatter all night

I hope you have outgrown your old habits of gossipping and idling said Lady Merton I believe I may trust you and it may be inconvenient to Mrs Woodbourne to find room for you elsewhere

I am very much obliged to you Mamma said Anne at first gravely then laughing I mean that I shall enjoy it very much But pray Mamma do not trust too much to our age and experience for I do not know anything more difficult than to stop short in a delightful talk only just for the sake of going to sleep

Yes it requires some selfcontrol said Lady Merton

Selfcontrol repeated Anne Mamma I am sure that Patient cautious selfcontrol is wisdoms root must be your motto for you are sure to tell me of it on every occasion

I hope you are not tired of it Anne said Lady Merton for most probably I shall often tell you of it again

Oh yes I hope you will said Anne there will be more need of it than ever in this visit to Abbeychurch

Yes said Lady Merton you live so quietly here excepting when Rupert is at home that you must take care that all the excitement and pleasure there does not make you wild

Indeed I must said Anne I cannot fancy enjoying anything much more than the Consecration of a church for which Papa has done so much and going with Lizzie and meeting Rupert Really Mamma it is lucky there is that one drawback to keep it from seeming too pleasant beforehand

You mean the Hazelbys said her mother

Yes Mamma replied Anne I am rather surprised to hear that they are to be there I should not think that a vulgarminded Scotchwoman such as Lizzie describes Mrs Hazleby would take much delight in a Consecration but I suppose Uncle Woodbourne could not well avoid asking them on such an occasion I believe she is rather touchy

You must take care what you say to Lizzie about the Hazlebys said Lady Merton a very little might make it appear that we wished to set her against her stepmothers relations

Oh that would never do said Anne but I am afraid it will be very difficult to keep from shewing what we think if Mrs Hazleby is all that Lizzie says

Your Papa was pleased with what he saw of Major Hazleby last year said Lady Merton

Oh yes Lizzie likes him very much said Anne it is the lady of whom she has such a horror

I should fancy said Lady Merton that Mrs Woodbournes horror of her was almost equal to Lizzies

Kind gentle Aunt Mildred said Anne do you think she ever had a horror of anyone

It is certainly rather a strong word said Lady Merton but you will allow me to say that she has a great dread of her I think Mrs Hazleby scolds and frightens her

What a fury she must be said Anne laughing to be able to scold and frighten such a gentle Desdomona as Mrs Woodbourne

Do not say too much on that subject said Lady Merton or we shall be forced to call your beloved Lizzie a fury

O Mamma cried Anne you cannot say that she is impetuous and violent now She used I allow to be rather overbearing to Mrs Woodbourne but that was before she was old enough fully to feel and love her gentleness Then she did take advantage of it and argue and dispute but now—

She has her own way without disputing said Lady Merton

O Mamma do you think so said Anne as if she thought it a terrible accusation Yes I really think that she has but then her way is generally right

Yes said Lady Merton she is in some respects more fit to govern herself than most girls of sixteen Her good sense will keep her from going very far wrong

Very far Mamma repeated Anne

Yes for such an excitable impetuous creature is not likely to escape going wrong without steady control from herself or from someone else said Lady Merton

But I can hardly imagine Lizzies actually doing wrong said Anne we were certainly both naughty children but I think the worst we did was rather what makes nurses scold than what would seriously displease you or Papa

Oh she was always an upright noblespirited child said Lady Merton

And now continued Anne when she is much interested in anything when her brilliant dark eyes are lighted up and her beautiful smile is on her lips and her whole face is full of brightness and she looks slight and airy enough to be a spirit and when she is talking about some things—I could fancy her some higher kind of creature

Lady Merton smiled I think I know what you mean said she I used to feel something of the kind with her mother

What a wonderful person Aunt Katherine must have been cried Anne She paused and presently added Mamma I do not know whether I ought to say so but much as I like Mrs Woodbourne I do rather wonder that Uncle Woodbourne married again

So did your Papa and I said Lady Merton but you must excuse him when you think of his three little girls Elizabeth especially requiring such anxious care of body and mind

But you do not think Mrs Woodbourne could manage Lizzie said Anne

No said Lady Merton she could not manage her in the least but her mild influence has I think been of great service to her Lizzie has certainly grown more gentle of late and I think it is from consideration for her and the little children

And I suppose said Anne that Mrs Woodbourne has done as much for Kate as anyone could

Not quite said Lady Merton I think your Aunt Katherine would have made her a little less trifling and silly

But no one could ever have made her like Lizzie said Aune

No but I think she might have been rather more than a mere goodnatured gossip said Lady Merton

It is curious to see how much difference expression makes in those two sisters said Anne their features are so much alike that strangers never know them apart the only difference between them that I could mention is that Lizzie is the most delicate looking yet how exceedingly unlike they are to each other

Yes said Lady Merton though Lizzies whole countenance and air is almost exactly her mothers yet there is nothing about Kate but her voice which they have in common that reminds me of her

Helen is very unlike the others in everything said Anne

Helen will be the handsomest as far as regularity of features goes said Lady Merton

Do you think so said Anne

Certainly said Lady Merton her features are less prominent and her colour has not that fixed hectic look that both the others have especially Lizzie

But she wants brightness and animation said Anne and she so often looks dismal and fretful that I cannot fancy admiring her

There has never been much sympathy between you and Helen said Lady Merton smiling

No said Anne I never felt as if I knew or liked her I believe Rupert and I were very unkind to her in our younger days but oh she was the most tiresome whining child I ever knew

I believe that though she was too young to know it said Lady Merton poor little Helen suffered more from your aunts death than either of her sisters

How so Mamma said Anne looking rather alarmed

She was a very delicate baby requiring a great deal of care said Lady Merton indeed we have always thought that your aunt laid the foundation of her illness by sitting up with her while she was cutting her large teeth and during your aunts illness it was painful to see how the poor child missed her And after her mother died though Helen had grown strong and healthy old Margaret still made her the pet and uncertain nursery treatment without her mothers firm kindness was not the best cure for such a temper as hers

Yes said Anne I remember she was always called Baby and allowed to have her own way till she was six years old when Horace was born How very illnatured I must have been to her and how cruel it really was of me But I wonder my uncle did not prevent Margaret from spoiling her

My dear a man with a parish of fifteen hundred inhabitants cannot watch his own nursery very minutely said Lady Merton he taught Elizabeth admirably and that was all that could be expected of him Besides with all his perfections managing little girls is not what he is best fitted for

Anne laughed No he is too grave and cold I am rather afraid of him still I do not think he has any toleration for nonsense but of course he must be different with his own children And how do you think Mrs Woodbourne trained Helen

I can hardly tell said Lady Merton I used to admire her patience and sweetness of temper when Helens fretfulness was most wearisome at the same time that I thought it might have been better for the child to speak sharply to her and punish her if she did not leave off whining directly I believe I should have done so though I do not know that it would have been the best way or in accordance with what you call my motto

Well said Anne if Dykelands has done such wonders for Helen as they say I hope I shall make friends with her if she will let me which I do not think I deserve after my illusage of her Last time I saw her it was but for two days and she was so odd and grave and shy that I could not get on with her besides that I wanted to make the most of my time with Lizzie

I hope Rupert will not teaze her as he used to do said Lady Merton last time she was here his teazing and her whining were nearly unbearable

Oh she must have outgrown whining said Anne

I am afraid you cannot promise me that he has outgrown teazing said Lady Merton

The one depends upon the other said Anne if she does not whine he will not teaze But had I not better finish my letter to him and tell him he must shorten his stay on the Border

Yes do so said Lady Merton and tell him not to lose his keys as usual

I suppose they are gone by this time said Anne as Lady Merton left the room and she sat down to her desk to write to her brother

CHAPTER II

Abbeychurch St Marys was a respectable old town situated at the foot of St Austins Hill a large green mound of chalk named from an establishment of Augustine Friars whose monastery now converted into almshouses and noble old church were the pride of the county Abbeychurch had been a quiet dull place scarcely more than a large village until the days of railroads when the sober inhabitants and especially the Vicar and his family were startled by the news that the line of the new Baysmouth railway was marked out so as to pass exactly through the centre of the court round which the almshouses were built Happily however the difficulty of gaining possession of the property required for this course proved too great even for the railway company and they changed the line cutting their way through the opposite side of St Austins Hill and spoiling three or four watermeadows by the river Soon after the completion of this work the town was further improved by the erection of various rows of smart houses which arose on the slope of the hill once the airy and healthy playplace of the rising generation of Abbeychurch and the best spot for flying kites in all the neighbourhood London tradesmen were tempted to retire to the beautiful and venerable town of Abbeychurch the houses were quickly filled one street after another was built till the population of the town was more than doubled A deficiency in church accommodation was soon felt for the old church had before been but just sufficient for the inhabitants Various proposals were made—to fill up the arches with galleries and to choke the centre aisle with narrow pews but all were equally distasteful to Mr Woodbourne who placing some benches in the aisle for the temporary accommodation of his new parishioners made every effort to raise funds to build and endow an additional church He succeeded as we have heard and it was the tall white spire of the now Church of St Austins which greeted Anne Mertons delighted eyes as on the 27th of August she with her father and mother came to the top of a long hill about five miles from Abbeychurch What that sight was to her only those who have shared in the joys of churchbuilding can know She had many a time built the church in her fancy she knew from drawing and description nearly every window every buttress every cornice she had heard by letter of every step in the progress of the building but now that narrow white point in the greyish green of the distance shewed her for the first time what really was the work of her father—yes of her father for without him that spire would never have been there with the best intentions Mr Woodbourne could not have accomplished more than a solid wellproportioned building with capabilities of embellishment It was not till they had nearly reached the town that her thoughts turned to the pleasure of seeing her cousins or even of meeting her brother whom she expected to find at the Vicarage on his return from Scotland where he had been spending the last six weeks

In this anticipation however she was disappointed he was not among the group who stood in the hall eager to greet the travellers and no tidings had been heard of him After talking over the chances of his arriving in the course of the evening Sir Edward went with Mr Woodbourne to see the new church and the ladies were conducted to their apartments Mrs Woodbourne making apologies to Anne for lodging her with Elizabeth and Anne laughingly declaring that she enjoyed Elizabeths company much more than solitary grandeur The two cousins were followed by the whole tribe of children flaxenhaired and blueeyed little sprites the younger of whom capered round Anne in high glee though with a little shyness sometimes looking upon her as a stranger sometimes recollecting former frolics till Elizabeth declared that it was time to dress and Dorothea the eldest a quiet and considerate little maiden of seven years old carried off Winifred and Edward to their own domains in the nursery

Elizabeths room had been set to rights for the accommodation of the visitor so that it suited most peoples ideas of comfort better just then than in its usual state A number of books and papers had been cleared from the table to leave it free for Annes toilette apparatus and a heap of school girls frocks and tippets which had originally been piled up on two chairs but daily increasing in number had grown topheavy fallen down and encumbered the floor had that morning been given away so that there was at least room to sit down Elizabeths desk and painting box were banished to the top of her chestofdrawers where her lookingglass stood in a dark corner being by no means interesting to her Near the window was her bookcase tolerably well supplied with works both English and foreign and its lower shelf containing a double row of brownpaper covered volumes and manycoloured and much soiled little books belonging to the lending library The walls were hung with Elizabeths own works for the most part more useful than ornamental There were genealogical and chronological charts of Kings and Kaisars comparisons of historical characters tables of Christian names and their derivations botanical lists maps and drawings—all in such confusion that once when Helen attempted to find the Pope contemporary with Edward the First she asked Elizabeth why she had written the Pope down as Leo Nonus Cardinal on which she was informed with a sufficient quantity of laughter that the word in question was the name of a flower Leonurus Cardiaca looking like anything but what it was intended for in Elizabeths writing and that Pope Martin the Fourth was to be found on the other side of the Kings of France and Spain and the portrait of Charles the First The chimneypiece was generally used as a place of refuge for all small things which were in danger of being thrown away if left loose on the table but often forgotten in their asylum had accumulated and formed a strange medley which its mistress jealously defended from all attacks of housemaids In the middle stood a plaster cast of the statue of the Maid of Orleans a present from her little brother Horace above it hung a small Geneva watch which had belonged to Elizabeths own mother and there were besides a few treasures of Horaces too tender to be trusted in the nursery in his absence at school

The window looked out upon the empty solitary street of the old town and though little was to be seen from it which could interest the two girls yet after the little ones were gone they stood there talking for some minutes Elizabeth inquiring after half the people about Merton Hall a place which she knew almost as well as her own home

When does Mrs Hazleby come said Anne beginning to dress

Oh do not ask me said Elizabeth I do not know and hardly care quite late I hope and trust

But Lizzie asked Anne what have these unfortunate Hazlebys done to offend you

Done answered Elizabeth oh a thousand things all too small to be described but together they amount to a considerable sum I can tell you There has been a natural antipathy an instinctive dislike between Mrs Major Hazleby and me ever since she paid her first visit here and seeing me listening to something she was saying to Mamma she turned round upon me with that odious proverb Little pitchers have long ears

Perhaps she meant it as a compliment said Anne you know Mary of Scotland says that Sovereigns ought to have long ears

I suppose her son was of the same opinion said Elizabeth when he built his famous lug As to Mrs Hazleby she is never happy but when she is finding fault with someone It will make you sick to hear her scolding and patronizing poor Mamma

She has been in India has she not said Anne in order to avoid answering

Yes replied Elizabeth she married the poor Major there and the eldest son was born there I often think I should like to ask old Mrs Hazleby how she felt on her first meeting with her fair daughterinlaw They were safe in Ireland when Papa married and did not burst upon us in full perfection till Horaces christening when the aforesaid little pitcher speech was made

And her daughters said Anne I never heard you mention them

Lucy is a nice quiet girl and a great ally of Helens unless she has cast her off for her new friends at Dykelands said Elizabeth she is rather creepmouse but has no other fault that I know of She is like her fathers family something like Mamma But as for Harriet the eldest and her mothers darling you will soon be sensible of some of her charms I only hope she will not teaze the children into naughtiness as she did last year I do not know what would be done if Horace was at home One day he had a regular battle with her It began of course in fun on both sides but he soon grew angry and at last tore her frock and trod pretty hard on her foot I could not be sorry for her she deserved it so completely but then poor Horace had to be punished And another time she shut Dora up in a dark room and really it did the poor little girl a great deal of harm she could not sleep quietly for three nights after Dora is old enough to take care of herself now and Edward is quieter than Horace which is a great comfort but oh I wish the Hazlebys were forty miles off

Now Lizzie said Anne is it not a very strange thing to hear you talk in this manner—you the most goodnatured person in the world

Thank you said Elizabeth that is as much as to say that I am the greatest goose in the world

And you had rather be a goose than illnatured said Anne

It does not follow that I should be a goose for want of illnature said Elizabeth

But you say that to be goodnatured is to be a goose said Anne

Yes but goodnature is too poor a thing to be the reverse of illnature said Elizabeth it is only a negative quality

I thought goodnatured people were those who never used the negative said Anne laughing

Do not pun in the middle of a serious argument Miss Anne said Elizabeth putting on a solemn face

Well I will be quite as grave as the occasion requires said Anne I believe I ought to have used the word kindness as that is as active in good as illnature in evil But pray Lizzie do not let us get into any of these abstruse metaphysical discussions or we shall arrive at conclusions as wise as when we reasoned ourselves into saying nine years ago that it was better to be naughty than good because good people in books were always stupid

Idle as we were said Elizabeth smiling I do not think that we ever intended to act on that maxim But really Anne I do believe that if you had been a prim pattern of perfection a real good little girl a true Miss Jenny Meek who never put her foot in a puddle never tore her frock never spoke above her breath and never laughed louder than a sucking dove I should never have cared two straws for you

I think little Dora might convince you that goodness and stupidity need not always be united said Anne after a short pause

Demure Dolly as Horace calls her said Elizabeth yes she is a very choice specimen but sweet little thing as she is she would not be half so good a subject for a story as our highspirited Horace and wild Winifred Dora is like peaceful times in history—very pleasant to have to do with but not so entertaining to read about

Poor Dora I thought she looked disconsolate as well as demure without Horace said Anne

She has been very forlorn poor child said Elizabeth there was quite a beautiful chivalrous friendship between the brother and sister he delighting in her gentleness and she in his high daring spirit Edward and Winifred are scarcely companions to her yet so that she is forced to turn to us and be one of the elders

You think Horace is happy at Sandleford said Anne I should hope he would be Rupert always looks back to his days there with a great deal of pleasure

I hope Horaces teeth will not meet with the same disaster as Ruperts said Elizabeth he has not quite so much beauty to spare but he really is a very fine looking boy and just the bold merry fellow to get on well at school so that he is quite happy now that he has recovered the leaving home But I am afraid my classical lore will die of his departure for my newly acquired knowledge of Virgil and the Greek declensions will not be of use to Edward these three years He is only just conquering Lapis lapidis

But you can go on with Latin and Greek alone as you did with German cannot you said Anne

I do sometimes construe a little Virgil said Elizabeth but Horace is his natural contemporary and he is not happy without him Besides when I have nothing to oblige me to learn regularly I do not know when to do it so Dido has been waiting an unconscionable time upon her funeral pile for who could think of Jupiter and Venus in the midst of all our preparations for the Consecration

I am glad Helen came home in time for it said Anne

I began to think we should never see her more said Elizabeth there was no gentleman at Dykelands to escort her and Papa was too busy to fetch her till at last Captain Atherley Mrs Stauntons brother took pity upon her or rather on us and brought her home

Captain Atherley is the only one of the family whom I have ever seen said Anne I have always wished to know something more of them they were all such friends of Papas and Mammas and Aunt Katherines

If you wish to hear anything of Mrs Staunton and her daughters said Elizabeth you have only to ask Helen you will open the floodgates of a stream which has overwhelmed us all ever since she came home

Then I hope Helen likes them as well as they seem to like her said Anne Mrs Staunton spoke very highly of her in her letter to Mamma

Oh yes said Elizabeth they seem to have done nothing but sit with their mouths open admiring her and she really is very much improved positively grown a reflective creature and the most graceful as well as the prettiest of the family She would be almost a beau ideal of a sister if she had but a few more home feelings or as you say if she did not like the Stauntons quite so much I wonder what you will think of her Now are you ready Let us come down

When the two cousins came into the drawingroom they found the rest of the ladies already there Katherine and Helen Woodbourne were busy arranging a quantity of beautiful flowers which had been brought from Merton Hall to decorate the Vicarage on this occasion Mrs Woodbourne was sitting at her favourite little worktable engaged as usual with her delicate Berlin embroidery A few of the choicest of the flowers had been instantly chosen out for her and were placed on her table in a slender coloured glass which she held up to Elizabeth as she entered the room

Oh how beautiful cried Elizabeth advancing to the table which was strewn with a profusion of flowers What delightful heliotrope and geranium Oh Anne how could you tear off such a branch of Cape jessamine that must have been your handiwork you ruthless one

Anne has been more kind to us than to her greenhouse said Mrs Woodbourne I am afraid she has displeased Mr Jenkins but I hope the plants are not seriously damaged

Oh no indeed said Anne you should see the plants before you pity them Aunt Mildred we never let Mr Jenkins scold us for helping ourselves or our friends out of our own garden for making a great glorious nosegay is a pleasure which I do not know how to forego

Do you call this a nosegay said Elizabeth I call it a forest of flowers Really a Consecration opens peoples hearts—I do not mean that yours is not open enough on ordinary occasions Aunt Anne but when the children took their walk in the almshouse court this morning they were loaded with flowers from all quarters beginning with old Mr Dillon offering Winifred his best variegated dahlia by name Dods Mary

Mr Dillon exclaimed Katherine I thought he never gave away his flowers on any account

I know said Elizabeth but I have also heard him say that he could not refuse little Miss Winifred if she asked him for the very house over his head

Did she ask him for the dahlia said Mrs Woodbourne

No said Elizabeth it was a free offer on his part Dora the discreet tried to make her refuse it but the dahlia had been gathered long before Winifred could make up her mind to say no and when the little things came in this morning they looked like walking garlands Did you see the noble flowerpot in the hall

You must go and look at the fruit which Lady Merton has been so kind as to bring us Lizzie said Mrs Woodbourne you never saw such fine grapes and pines

I hear you have undertaken that part of the arrangement young ladies said Lady Merton

Yes said Elizabeth but I am afraid we do not know much about the matter

I am sure I cannot tell what I should do if you did not undertake it my dears said Mrs Woodbourne

Do not begin thanking us till we have done the deed Mamma said Elizabeth it may turn out a great deal worse than if we had left it to the unassisted taste of the maids

The four girls continued to arrange the flowers Elizabeth inquiring after many of the plants at Merton Hall Anne telling how the myrtle was prospering how well the geraniums had flowered describing a new fuchsia and triumphing in the prize which the salpiglossis had gained from the Horticultural Society Helen comparing the flora of Merton Hall with that of Dykelands Mrs Woodbourne rejoicing in cuttings to be saved from the branches gathered by Annes unsparing hand and Lady Merton promising to send her seeds and young plants by Rupert when he should return to Oxford

When the forest of flowers had been dispersed in the epergne and in various bowls and glasses to ornament the drawingroom the three sisters began to collect the green leaves and pieces of stalks remaining on the table and as they bent down to sweep them off into a basket their heads chanced to be almost close together

Why Lizzie said Lady Merton where are your curls Have you made yourself look so very different from Kate to prevent all future mistakes between you and Helen have you really become a Pasha of two tails

Is it not very silly of Helen to wear them Aunt Anne said Elizabeth

Indeed dear Aunt Anne said Helen my hair never will curl well and Mrs Staunton always said it made me look like an old woman in the way I wore it before so what could I do but try it in the way in which Fanny and Jane wore theirs

Oh we must all bow before Dykelands said Elizabeth

And I have been wondering what made you look so altered Lizzie said Lady Merton and now I see it is your hair being straight I like your curls better

Ah so do I said Mrs Woodbourne but Lizzie docs not like the trouble of curling it

No said Elizabeth I think it a very useless plague It used really to take me two hours a day and now I am ready directly without trouble or fuss People I care about will not think the worse of me for not looking quite so well

Perhaps not said Lady Merton but they would think the better of you for a little attention to their taste

They might for attention to their wishes Aunt Anne said Elizabeth but hardly to their taste Taste is such a petty nonsensical thing

I shall leave you and Anne to argue about the fine distinction between taste and wishes said Lady Merton it is more in your line than mine

You mean to say that I have been talking nonsense Aunt Anne said Elizabeth

I say nothing of the kind Lizzie said her aunt I only say that you are in the habit of splitting hairs

Elizabeth saw that her aunt was not pleased She went to the chimneypiece and employed herself in making a delicate piece of ixia get a better view of itself in the lookingglass Presently she turned round saying Yes Aunt Anne I was very wrong I was making a foolish pretence at refinement to defend myself

I did not mean to begin scolding you the very moment I came near you Lizzie said Lady Merton

Indeed I wish you would Aunt Anne said Elizabeth pray scold me from morning till night there is no one who wants it more

My dear child how can you say so cried Mrs Woodbourne

Many thanks for the agreeable employment you propose to me Lizzie said Lady Merton

If Rupert docs not come tonight I mean to undertake a little of that agreeable employment myself when he arrives said Elizabeth and to make Anne help me

I believe Rupert is so fond of being scolded that it only makes him worse said Lady Merton

Here are Papa and Uncle Edward coming back at last said Katherine who was as usual sitting in the window

Mrs Woodbourne looked greatly relieved she had been for some time in trouble for the dinner not being able to console herself in the way in which Elizabeth sometimes attempted to reassure her in such cases—Never mind Mamma the dinner is used to waiting

CHAPTER III

As soon as dinner was over the girls proposed to walk to the new church that Anne might see it at her leisure before the Consecration The younger children were very urgent to be allowed to accompany them but Mrs Woodbourne would only consent to Doras doing so on her eldest sisters promise to return before her bedtime

And Mamma said Elizabeth as soon as this question was decided and the other two children had taken out their basket of bricks at the other end of the room have you settled whether Edward is to go to the Consecration tomorrow

I really think he is almost too young my dear said Mrs Woodbourne you know it is a very long service

Oh Mamma said Dora he is five years old now and he says he will be very good and he will be very much disappointed if he has to stay at home now he has had his new frock and trousers and Winifred and I are going

Really Dora said Elizabeth I think he had better not go unless he has some reason for wishing to do so better than what you have mentioned

I believe he understands it all as well as we do said Dora we have all been talking about it in the nursery this evening at supper—and you know Mamma he has quite left off being naughty in church

Still my dear said Mrs Woodbourne I scarcely think that we can take him I cannot have him sitting with me among the people whom we have invited and he will certainly grow tired and restless

I do not think his being tired just at last will signify said Elizabeth he will attend at first I am sure and it is a thing he must never forget all his life I will take care of him and Winifred and Dora can behave well without being watched

Very well my dear said Mrs Woodbourne in her plaintive voice I shall be glad for him to go if you can undertake to keep him in order but you must take care you do not tire yourself You will have almost too much to do afterwards and you must not let yourself be harassed by his restlessness

Oh no Mamma thank you said Elizabeth he will not fidget and I am not afraid of anything in the summer and on such a great day as tomorrow I could walk to Johnny Groats house and take care of fifty children if need were

Edward was called examined as to his reasons for wishing to go to the Consecration made to promise to behave well and sent back in high glee to play with Winifred Elizabeth and Dorothea then followed the others upstairs to prepare for the walk

It is very strange remarked Mrs Woodbourne as they left the room that Elizabeth can manage the children so much better than anyone else can they always like best to be with her though she always makes them mind her and Kate is much more what people would call goodnatured

Do you not think Lizzie goodnatured said Lady Merton rather surprised

Oh yes indeed I do said Mrs Woodbourne she is a most kindhearted creature I really believe there is nothing she would not do for the children or me I do not know what would become of me without her but you know her way of speaking she does not mean any harm but still when people are not used to her it vexes them indeed I did not mean to say anything against her she is a most excellent creature quite her Papas right hand

Horace grew almost too much for her to manage before he went to school did not he said Lady Merton

Poor little boy said Mrs Woodbourne we miss him sadly with his merry face and droll ways You know he was always a very highspirited child but Lizzie could always make him mind her in the end and he was very obedient to his papa and me Edward is a quiet meek boy he has not his brothers high spirits and I hope we shall keep him at home longer

Horace is certainly very young for a schoolboy said Lady Merton Rupert was ten years old when he went to Sandleford but Sir Edward afterwards regretted that he had not gone there earlier and the little boys are very well taken care of there

Yes Mr Woodbourne said everything looked very comfortable said Mrs Woodbourne sighing and I suppose he must rough it some time or other poor little fellow so that it may be as well to begin early

And he has taken a good place said Lady Merton Lizzie wrote in high glee to tell Anne of it

Yes said Mrs Woodbourne she had brought him on wonderfully I am sure I wonder how she could with only a little occasional assistance from her papa but then Horace is certainly a very clever child and few have Lizzies spirits and patience to be able to bear with a little boys idleness and inattention so goodhumouredly And I do believe she enjoyed playing with him and the others as much as the children themselves I used to say it was no use to send Lizzie to keep the children in order she only promoted the fun and noise

She is a merry creature said Lady Morton her spirits never seem to flag and I think she is looking stronger than when I saw her last

Indeed I am very glad to hear you say so said Mrs Woodbourne she has seemed very well and strong all the summer but she still has that constant cough and we must always be anxious about her I wish she would take a little more care of herself but she will not understand how necessary precautions are she goes out in all sorts of weather and never allows that anything will give her cold indeed I let Dora go out with them this evening because I knew that Lizzie would stay out of doors too long unless she had her to make her come in for her sake

How bright and well Helen looks said Lady Merton she seems to have been very happy at Dykelands

Very happy indeed said Mrs Woodbourne I am sure we are exceedingly obliged to Mrs Staunton for asking her She has come back quite a different creature and can speak of nothing but the kindness of her friends at Dykelands

Here the conversation dropped for a minute or two for Lady Morton found it difficult to reply Mrs Staunton had lived in the village where Merton Hall was situated and where both Lady Merton and her sisterinlaw had spent their childhood She had been much attached to Mrs Woodbourne and was Helens godmother but having settled in a distant county had scarcely kept up any intercourse with the Woodbourne family since her friends death though constantly corresponding with Lady Merton and occasionally writing and sending presents to her little goddaughter Chancing however to come to London on business she had written to Mr Woodbourne to beg him to bring Helen to meet her there and allow her to take her back with her into Lincolnshire to spend some time with her and her daughters Mr Woodbourne knowing that his wife had esteemed her very highly complied after a little deliberation Helens visit had lasted longer than at first proposed and she only returned home after an absence of five months just in time to wish her little brother farewell on his departure for school a few weeks before the Consecration of St Austins Lady Merton would have been glad to read Mrs Woodbourne all the admiration of Helen which Mrs Staunton had poured forth to her in a letter written a short time before but the terms in which it was expressed were more exaggerated than Lady Merton liked to shew to one who was not acquainted with Mrs Staunton and besides her praise of Helen was full of comparison with her mother

Visiting Abbeychurch was always painful to Lady Merton and her manner usually rather cold was still more constrained when she was there for although both she and Sir Edward had been very careful not to shew any want of cordiality towards Mr and Mrs Woodbourne they could not but feel that the Vicarage never could be to them what it once had been It was certainly quite impossible not to have an affection for its present gentle kindhearted mistress and Lady Merton felt exceedingly grateful to her for having some years ago nursed Rupert through a dangerous attack of scarletfever with which he had been seized at Abbeychurch when on his way from school when she herself had been prevented by illness from coming to him and Mrs Woodbourne making light of her anxiety for her own children had done all that the most affectionate mother could have done for him and had shewn more energy than almost anyone had believed her to possess comforting Sir Edward with hopes and cheerful looks soothing the boys waywardness and bearing with his fretfulness in his recovery as none but a mother or a friend as gentle as Mrs Woodbourne could have done Still much as she loved Mrs Woodbourne for her own sake Lady Merton could not help missing Katherine her first playfellow the bright friend of her youth her sisterinlaw Mrs Woodbourne a shy timid person many years younger felt that such must be the case and always feared that she was thinking that the girls would have been in better order under their own mother so that the two ladies were never quite at their ease when alone together

In the mean time Elizabeth quite unconscious that Dora was intended to act as a clog round her neck to keep her from straying too far was mounting the hill the merriest of the merry party

It is certainly an advantage to the world in general to have the church on a hill said Anne both for the poetry and beauty of the sight but I should think that the world in particular would be glad if the hill were not quite so steep

Oh said Elizabeth on the side towards the new town it is fair and soft enough to suit the laziest it is only on our side that it resembles the mountain of fame or of happiness and St Austins as the new town is now to be called is all that has any concern with it

I wish it was not so steep on our side said Katherine I do not think I ever was so hot in all my life as I was yesterday when we carried up all the cushions ourselves and Papa sent me all the way back to the Vicarage only just to fetch a needle and thread for Mamma to sew on a little bit of fringe

Really Kate said Elizabeth you might have thought yourself very happy to have anything to do for the Church

All it was all very well for you to say so said Katherine you were sitting in the cool at home only hearing Edward read not toiling in the sun as I was

That is not fair Kate said Helen you know it is sometimes very hard work to hear Edward read and besides Mamma had desired Lizzie to sit still in the house because she had been at the church ever since five helping Papa to settle the velvet on the pulpit after the people had put it on wrong

You would not imagine Anne said Elizabeth how fearfully deficient the world is in common sense Would you believe it the workmen actually put the pulpitcloth on with the embroidery upsidedown and I believe we were five hours setting it right again

Without any breakfast said Anne

Oh we had no time to think of breakfast till Mr Somerville came in at ten oclock to see what was going on and told us how late it was said Elizabeth

By this time they had reached the brow of the hill from whence they had a fine view of Abbeychurch old and new Anne observed upon the difference between the two divisions of the town

Yes said Elizabeth our town consists of the remains of old respectable England and the beginning of the new great workshop of all nations met together in tolerably close companionship I could almost grudge that beautiful Gothic church to those regular redbrick uniform rows of deformity

I do not think even the new church can boast of more beauty than St Marys said Anne

No and it wants the handiwork of that best artist old Time said Elizabeth it will be long before Queen Victorias head on the corbel at the new church is of as good a colour as Queen Eleanors at the old one and we never shall see anything so pretty at St Austins as the yellow lichen cap and plume of spleenwort feathers which Edward the First wears

How beautiful the old church tower is said Anne turning round to look at it and the gable ends of your house and the tall trees of the garden with the cloistered almshouses have still quite a monastic air

If you only look at the tower with its intersecting arches and their zigzag mouldings said Elizabeth and shut your eyes to our kitchen chimney on which rests all the fame of the Vicar before last

What can you mean said Anne

That when anyone wishes to distinguish the Reverend Hugh Puddington from all other Vicars of Abbeychurch his appellation is The man that built the kitchen chimney

That being I suppose the only record he has left behind him said Anne

The only one now existing said Elizabeth since Papa has made his great horrid pew in the chancel into open seats—Do not you remember it Kate and how naughty you used to be when Margaret left off sitting there with us and there was no one to see what we were about—oh and there is a great fat Patience on a monument on the wall over our heads and a very long inscription recording things quite as unsuitable to a clergyman

I do not understand you Lizzie said Helen unsuitable as what Patience or building chimneys or making pews

Patience is a virtue when she is not on a monument said Elizabeth

And neither pews nor chimneys can be unsuitable to a clergyman said little Dora there are four pews in the new church and Papa built a chimney for the school

Everyone laughed much to Doras surprise and somewhat to Helens and Elizabeth was forced to explain for Doras edification that what she intended by the speech in question was only that it was unsuitable to a clergyman to leave no record behind him but what had been intended to gratify his own love of luxury

I am sorry I said anything about him said she to Anne it was scarcely right to laugh at him especially before Dora I am afraid she will never see the monument without thinking of the chimney

At this moment they arrived at the church and all their attention was bestowed upon it It was built in the Early English style and neither pains nor expense had been spared Anne who had not been there since the wall had been four feet above the ground was most eager to see it and Elizabeth who had watched it from day to day was equally eager to see whether Anne would think of everything in it as she did herself

As the door opened a flood of golden light poured in upon the pure white stone Font while the last beams of the evening sun were streaming through the western window shining on the edges of the carved oak benches and glancing upon the golden embroidery of the crimson velvet on the Altar above which the shadows on the groined roof of the semioctagonal chancel were rapidly darkening and the deep tints of the five narrow lancet windows within five arches supported and connected by slender clustered shafts with capitals of richly carved foliage were full of solemn richness when contrasted with the glittering gorgeous hues of the west window

Oh Anne whispered Elizabeth as they stood together in the porch giving a parting look before she closed the door it is all glorious within even now and think what it will be tomorrow

Nothing more was said till they had left the churchyard when Anne exclaimed looking wistfully towards the railroad Then there is but one chance of Ruperts coming tonight

When the eight oclock train comes in said Katherine it is that which is to bring the Hazlebys

I really think said Helen that the gas manufactory and the union poorhouse grow more frightful every day I thought they looked worse than ever when I came home and saw the contrast with Lincolnshire I hope the old and new towns will long be as different as they are now

I am afraid they hardly will said Anne the old town will soon begin to rival the new one You must already find new notions creeping into it

Creeping cried Elizabeth they gallop along the railroad as fast as steam can carry them However we are happily a quiet dull race and do not take them in we only open our eyes and stare at all the wonders round I do not know what we may come to in time we may be as genteel as Kates friend Willie Turner says the people are in Aurelia Place—that perkedup row of houses whose windows and doors give them such a comical expression of countenance more like butterflies than aurelias

Who is Kates friend asked Anne in a wondering tone

Willie Turner said Elizabeth oh the apothecarys daughter Wilhelmina You must have heard of Mr Turner Rupert has made a standing joke of him ever since the scarletfever

Oh yes said Anne I know Mr Turners name very well but I never knew that Miss Turner was a friend of Kates

She was not said Elizabeth till Helen went to Dykelands and poor Kitty was quite lonely for want of someone to gossip with and so she struck up a most romantic friendship with Willie Turner and really it has done us one most important service—May I mention it Kate without betraying your confidence

Nonsense Lizzie said Katherine

Oh you do not object said Elizabeth then be it known to you Anne that once upon a time Kitty confided to me what I forthwith confided to Papa that Mrs Turner was working in crossstitch a picture of St Augustine preaching to the Saxons which she intended to present as a cushion for one of the chairs of St Austins Church

Oh dreadful cried Anne

Papa walked up and down the room for full ten minutes after he heard of it said Elizabeth but Mamma came to our rescue She the mildspoken Mildred you know set off with the Saxon Winifred the peacemaker to reject the Saint of the Saxons more civilly than the British bishops did She must have managed most beautifully so as to satisfy everybody I believe that she lamented that the Austin Friars who named our hill were not called after the converter of our forefathers looking perfectly innocent of Kittys secret all the time and Winifred eat Mrs Turners plumcake and stared at her curiosities so as to put her into good humour Thus far is certain from that day to this no more has been heard of St Augustine or King Ethelbert

Oh her work is made up into a screen now said Katharine and is very pretty

And last time Mrs Turner called at the Vicarage she was very learned about the Bishop of Hippo said Elizabeth she is really very clever in concealing her ignorance when she does not think herself learned

I thought they were not likely to promote the decoration of the new church said Anne

Oh she does not trouble herself about consistency said Elizabeth anything which attracts notice pleases her She thinks our dear papa has done more for the living than nine out of ten would have thought of and if there was any talk of presenting him with some small testimonial of respect her mite would be instantly forthcoming and Sir Edward Merton he is the most munificent gentleman she ever heard of if all of his fortune were like him now—Only my dear Miss Lizzie does not your papa think of having a lightning conductor attached to the spire such an elevation it quite frightens me to think of it and the iron of the railroad too—

Oh is she scientific too aaid Anne

Yes you see how the march of intellect has reached us said Elizabeth poor Kate is so much afraid of the electric fluid that she cannot venture to wear a steel buckle You have no idea of the efforts we are making to keep up with the rest of the world We have a wicked Radical newspaper all to ourselves I wonder it has the face to call itself the Abbeychurch Reporter

Your inns are on the move said Anne I see that little beershop near the Station calls itself The Locomotive Hotel

I wish it were really locomotive said Elizabeth so that it would travel out of Abbeychurch it is ruining half the young men here

Well perhaps the new town will mend said Anne it will have a Christian name tomorrow and perhaps the influence of the old town will improve it

I think Papa has little hope of that kind said Elizabeth if the new town does grow a little better the old will still grow worse It is grievous to see how much less conformable Papa finds the people of the old town than even I can remember them But come we must be locomotive or Dora will not be at home in time

CHAPTER IV

The clock was striking eight as the young ladies entered the house but Dora was allowed to sit up a little longer to see her aunt Mrs Hazleby It was not long before a loud knock at the door announced that ladys arrival

Mrs Hazleby was a tall bony Scotchwoman with fiercelooking grey eyes She gave Mrs Woodbourne a very overpowering embrace and then was careful to mark the difference between her niece little Dora whom she kissed and the three elder girls with whom she only shook hands She was followed by her daughters—Harriet a tall showy girl of sixteen and Lucy a pale quiet delicatelooking creature a year younger Rupert Merton was still missing but his movements were always so uncertain that his family were in no uneasiness on his account

As Mrs Woodbourne was advancing to kiss Harriet a loud sharp yap was heard from something in the arms of the latter Mrs Woodbourne started turned pale and looked so much alarmed that Anne could not laugh Harriet however was not so restrained but laughed loudly as she placed upon a chair a little Blenheim spaniel with a blue ribbon round his neck and called to her sister Lucy to look after Fido It presently appeared that the little dog had been given to them at the last place where they had been staying on the road to Abbeychurch and Mrs Hazleby and her eldest daughter continued for some time to expatiate upon the beauty and good qualities of Fido as well as those of all his kith and kin He was not however very cordially welcomed by anyone at the Vicarage for Mr Woodbourne greatly disliked little dogs in the house his wife dreaded them much among her children and there were symptoms of a deadly feud between him and Elizabeths only pet the great black cat Meg Merrilies But still his birth parentage and education were safe subjects of conversation and all were sorry when Mrs Hazleby had exhausted them and began to remark how thin Elizabeth looked—to tell a story of a boy who had died of a fever some said of neglect at the school where Horace was—to hint at the possibility of Ruperts having been lost on the Scottish mountains blown up on the railroad or sunk in a steamvessel—to declare that girls were always spoiled by being long absent from home and to dilate on the advantages of cheap churches

She had nearly all the conversation to herself the continual sound of her voice being only varied by Harriets notes and comments given in a pert shrill high key and by a few syllables in answer from Lady Merton and Mrs Woodbourne The two gentlemen happily for themselves had a great quantity of plans and accounts of the church to look over together which were likely to occupy them through the whole of Sir Edwards visit Elizabeth was busy numbering the Consecration tickets for the next day and Anne in helping her so that they sat quietly together in the inner drawingroom during the greater part of the evening

When they went upstairs to bed Elizabeth exclaimed Oh that horrid new bonnet of mine I had quite forgotten it and I must trim it now for I shall not have time tomorrow morning I will run to Kate and Helens room and fetch my share of the ribbon

As she returned and sat down to work she continued It is too much plague to quill up the ribbon as the others have theirs It will do quite well enough plain Now Anne do not you think that as long as dress is neat which of course it must be prettiness does not signify

Perhaps I might think so if I had to trim my own bonnets said Anne laughing

Ah you do not think so—Anne you who have everything about you from your shoestrings upwards in the most complete order and elegant taste But then you know you would do quite as well if the things were ugly

If I wore yellow gowns and scarlet bonnets for instance asked Anne

No no that would not be modest said Elizabeth you would be no longer a lady so that you could not look ladylike which I maintain a lady always is whether each morsel of her apparel is beautiful in itself or not

Indeed Lizzie said Anne I cannot say that I think as you do at least as far as regards ourselves I think that it may be possible to wear ugly things and still be ladylike and I am sure I honour people greatly who really deny themselves for the sake of doing right if anyone can seriously care for such a thing as dress but I consider it as a duty in such as ourselves to consult the taste of the people we live with

As your mother said about my hair said Elizabeth thoughtfully I will do as she advised Anne but not while she is here for fear Mamma should fancy that I do so because Aunt Anne wished it though I would not to please her I believe you are right but look here will my bonnet do

I think it looks very well said Anne but will it not seem remarkable for you to be unlike your sisters

Ah it will give Mrs Hazleby an opportunity of calling me blue and tormenting Mamma said Elizabeth besides Mamma wished us all to be alike down to the little ones so I will make the best of it and trim it like any London milliner But Anne you must consider it is a great improvement in me to allow that respectable people must be neat I used to allow it in theory but not in practice

I do not think I ever saw you untidy Lizzie said Anne except after a days nutting in the hanging wood

Oh yes I could generally preserve a little outward tidiness said Elizabeth besides a visit at Merton Hall is very different from every day in shabby old Abbeychurch No you must know that when I was twelve years old I was supposed to be capable of taking care of my own wardrobe and for some time all went on very smoothly only that I never did a stitch towards mending anything

Did a beneficent fairy do it for you then

Not a sprite nor even a brownie but one of the old wrinkled kind of fairies Old Margaret that kindest of nurses could not bear to see her dear Miss Lizzie untidy or to hear her dear Miss Lizzie scolded so she mended and mended without saying anything encouraging me in habits of arrant slovenliness and if I had but known it of deceit Dear old Margery it was a heartbreaking thing when she went away to all from Winifred upwards and to none more than to me who could remember those two melancholy years when she often seemed my only friend when I was often naughty and Papa angry with me and I feeling motherless and wretched used to sit on her lap and cry Dear old Margery it is a shame to abuse her in spite of the mischief her overkindness did us all Well when our new maid came on the supposition that Miss Woodbourne took care of her own clothes she never touched them and as Margarets work was not endowed with the fairy power of lasting for ever I soon grew as ragged as any raggedrobin in the hedge Mamma used to complain of my slovenliness but I am afraid I was naughty enough to take advantage of her gentleness and outargue her so things grew worse and worse till at last one fatal day Papa was aware of a great hole in my stockings Then forth it all came he asked question after question and dear kind Mamma even more unwilling to expose me than I was myself was forced to answer and you may suppose how angry he was Oh Anne I can hardly bear to think of the stern kindness of his voice when he saw I was really quite wretched And only think how kind it was in him he spoke seriously to me he shewed me that building the church helping our poor people even Mammas comforts and the boys education depend upon home economy and how even I could make a difference by not wasting my clothes and making another servant necessary

Then could you really gain neat habits immediately asked Anne there could be no doubt of your resolving to do so but few people could or would persevere

Oh I am not properly tidy now said Elizabeth opening a most chaotic tabledrawer see there is a proof of it However I do not think I have been shamefully slovenly in my own person since that explosion and I have scarcely been spoken to about it Who could disregard such an appeal But Anne are you not enchanted with sweet Mrs Hazleby

I wish you would not ask me Lizzie said Anne feeling very prudent you know that I know nothing of her

No and you never will know enough of her to say such savage things as I do said Elizabeth but at any rate you saw her when she came in

Certainly

I mean the kissing I am sure I am glad enough to escape it and always think Mamma and the children seem to be hugged by a bear but you know making such distinctions is not the way to make us like her even if we were so disposed Oh and about me in particular I am convinced that she thinks that Mamma hates me as much as she does for she seems to think it will delight her to hear that I am thinner than ever and that such bright colour is a very bad sign and then she finishes off with a hypocritical sigh and half whisper of It can be no wonder poor thing trying to put everyone especially Papa and Uncle Edward in mind of my own poor mother I declare I have no patience with her or Harriet or that ugly little wretch of a dog

In the mean time Katherine and Helen were visiting their guests Harriet and Lucy Hazleby whom contrary to Elizabeths arrangement Mrs Woodbourne had lodged in the room where her own two little girls usually slept Harriet was sitting at the table at her ease curling her long corkscrew ringlets with Fido at her feet Lucy was unpacking her wardrobe Katherine lighting her and admiring each article as it was taken out in spite of her former disapprobation of Harriets style of dress Helen stood lingering by the door with her hand on the lock still listening or talking though not much interested and having already three times wished her guests good night Their conversation though not worth recording for any sense or reflection shewn by any of the talkers may perhaps display their characters and add two or three facts to our story which may be amusing to some few of our readers

Oh Lucy cried Harriet with a start take care of my spotted muslin it is caught on the lock of the box You always are so careless

Katherine assisted Lucy to rescue the dress from the threatened danger and Harriet continued Well and what do you wear tomorrow Kate

White muslin with pink ribbons said Katherine

I have a green and orange striped mousseline de laine Mamma gave only fifteenpence a yard for it I will shew it to you when Lucy comes to it and you will see if it is not a bargain And what bonnets

Straw with ribbon like our sashes said Katherine Oh we had so much trouble to get—

My bonnet is green satin said Harriet but if I had been you Kate I would have had Leghorn Wouldnt you Lucy

Five Leghorn bonnets would have cost too much said Katherine and Mamma wished us all to be alike

Ah she would not let you be smarter than her own girls eh Kitty said Harriet laughing

I had been obliged to buy a very nice new straw bonnet at Dykelands said Helen and it would have been a pity not to use that

Well I have no notion of a whole row of sisters being forced to dress alike said Harriet Aunt Mildred might—

Here Lucy stopped her sisters speech by bringing the gown forward to display it When Harriet had sufficiently explained its excellence she began So your cousin young Merton is coming is he

Yes said Katherine we expected him last night or in the course of this day but he has not come yet

Well what sort of a young fellow is he said Harriet

Very clever indeed said Katherine

Oh then he will not be in my line at all said Harriet those clever boys are never worth speaking to are they Lucy

Do you like stupid ones better said Helen

Capital isnt it Lucy cried Harriet I did not mean stupid I only meant clever boys as they call them have no fun they only read read for ever like my brother Allan

I am sure Rupert is full of fun said Katherine

Oh but he is quite a boy is not he said Harriet

Nineteen and at Oxford said Katherine

Oh I call that quite a boy—dont you Lucy said Harriet is he handsome

Yes very said Katherine

Not like his sister then I suppose said Harriet

Oh do not you think Anne pretty said Katherine

I do not know—no too small and pale to suit me said Harriet

Rupert is not like Anne said Katherine he has a very bright pink and white complexion and light hair

Is he tall

No not so tall as your brother George but slighter He has had two of his front teeth knocked out by a stone at school said Katherine

What a fuss they did make about those teeth muttered Helen

Was that the school where Horace is said Harriet

Yes said Katherine Sandleford

How you must miss Horace said Lucy

Poor little fellow yes that we do said Katherine but he was so riotous he would pull all my things to pieces Nobody could manage him but Lizzie and she never minds what she has on

What a tear he did make in my frock said Harriet laughing didnt he Lucy

How tired you look Lucy said Helen I am sure you ought to be in bed

Oh no I am not very sleepy said Lucy smiling

I am dead tired I am sure said Harriet yawning it was so hot in the railway carriage

Cannot the rest of those things be put away tomorrow morning Harriet said Helen

Oh said Harriet yawning there will not be time Lucy may as well do them all now she has begun How sleepy I am we walked about London all the morning

Come Helen said Katherine it is quite time for us to be gone we must be up early tomorrow

CHAPTER V

The morning of the twentyeighth of August was as fine as heart could wish and the three sisters rose almost as soon as it was light to fulfil their promise of attending to all the small nondescript matters of arrangement needful when a large party is expected by a family not much in the habit of receiving company Katherine who had quite given up all thoughts of equalling her elder sister in talent and who prided herself on being the useful member of the family made herself very busy in the storeroom Helen arranged the fruit with much taste and Elizabeth was upstairs and down here there and everywhere till it was difficult to find anything which she had not rectified by labour of head or hand

Well said she as she brought Helen a fresh supply of vine leaves from the garden I wonder whether Rupert will come in time I shall be very sorry if he does not for he has done a great deal for the church

Has he indeed said Helen with an air that expressed I should not have thought it

O Helen how can you take so little interest in the church said Elizabeth do not you remember how much trouble Rupert took to find a pattern for the kneelingstools and what a beautiful drawing he sent of those at Magdalen Collegia Chapel I am sure he would be very much vexed to miss the Consecration

I suppose he might come if he pleased said Helen but perhaps he did not choose to get up early enough

That is the first time I ever heard Rupert accused of indolence said Elizabeth

I do not mean that he does not generally get up in good time said Helen he is not lazy but I do not think he chooses to put himself out of the way and besides he rather likes to make people anxious about him

I know you have never liked Rupert said Elizabeth drily

Papa thinks as I do said Helen I have heard him say that he is a spoiled child and thinks too much of himself

Oh that was only because Aunt Anne worked that beautiful waistcoat for him said Elizabeth that was not Ruperts fault

And Papa said that he was quite fond enough already of smart waistcoats said Helen and he laughed at his wearing a ring

That is only a bloodstone with his crest said Elizabeth and I am sure no one can accuse Rupert of vulgar smartness

Not of vulgar smartness said Helen but you must allow that everything about him has a—kind of—what shall I say—recherche air that seems as if he thought a great deal of himself I am sure you must have heard Papa say something of the kind

Really Helen said Elizabeth I cannot think why you should be determined to say all that you can against that poor Rupert

Helen made no answer

I do believe said Elizabeth that you have had a grudge against him ever since he made you an April fool Oh how capital it was cried she sitting down to laugh at the remembrance To make you believe that the beautiful workbox Uncle Edward sent you was a case of surgical instruments for Mr Turner to shew his gratitude for his attendance upon Rupert when he had the fever and for setting his mouth to rights when his teeth were knocked out at school Oh there never was such fun as to see how frightened you looked and how curious Kate and Horace were and how Mamma begged him not to open the box and shew her the horrid things

I wish Rupert would keep to the truth with his jokes said Helen

Helen said Elizabeth you cannot mean to say that he ever says what is untrue You are letting yourself be carried much too far by your dislike

If he does not positively assert what is not true he often makes people believe it said Helen

Only stupid people who have no perception of a joke said Elizabeth he never deceived me with any joke it is only that you do not understand

I wonder how such a candid person as you are can defend the slightest departure from truth for any purpose said Helen

I would not defend anyone whom I did not believe to be upright and open said Elizabeth but it is only your slowness and old spite against Rupert because he used to joke you that puts these fancies into your head Now I must go to the children I hope Helen you will really enter into the spirit of the day little as you seem to care about the church

Helen gave a deep sigh as her sister left the room she was vexed at having been laughed at at the disregard of her arguments at the reproach and perhaps a little at Elizabeths having taken no notice of the beautiful pyramid of cherries which had cost her half an hours labour

There was some truth in what Helen said of her cousin though few would have given his faults so much prominence Rupert Merton was an only son and very handsome and this was the history of nearly all his foibles No one could say that his career at school and so far at college had not been everything that could be wished and most people had nearly as high an opinion of him as he had of himself but Helen who had almost always been made a laughingstock when he was with her had not quite so agreeable a recollection of his lively graceful pleasant manners as her sisters had and was glad to find that his tormenting ways were not entirely caused by her own querulous temper as Elizabeth sometimes told her they were

When Mrs Woodbourne came down Helens handiwork received its full share of admiration and Mrs Woodbourne was much pleased by the girls forethought and activity which had saved her from a great deal of fatigue

The breakfast was quickly finished and immediately afterwards the four eldest Miss Woodbournes together with Anne went to the school to see if the children were ready to go to church It was pleasant to see the smiling courtesying row of girls each with her Prayerbook in her hand replying to Elizabeths nods greetings and questions with bright affectionate looks or a few words which shewed that they were conscious of the solemnity of the service in which they were about to bear a part

Elizabeth left her sisters and Anne to assist the schoolmistress in marshalling them on their way to church and returned home to fetch Edward and Winifred whom she had engaged to take with her She found that nearly all the party were gone and report said that the Bishop had arrived at the house of Mr Somerville who was to be curate of St Austins Winifred and Edward were watching for her at the door in great dread of being forgotten for they said Papa had come for Mamma and fetched her away in a great hurry and then Harriet and Lucy set off after them and Uncle Edward had taken Aunt Anne long before to look at the church Elizabeth was rejoicing in the prospect of a quiet walk with the children and was only delaying in a vain attempt to reduce the long fingers of Winifreds glove to something more like the length of the short fingers of its owner when a sharp voice at the top of the stairs cried out Wait for me and Mrs Hazleby appeared looking very splendid in a short black silk cloak trimmed with scarlet

Where have you been all this time said she to Elizabeth while she caught hold of Winifreds hand or more properly speaking of her wrist we shall all be too late

I have been at the school said Elizabeth

What do you keep school today asked Mrs Hazleby

No said Elizabeth but the children are going to the Consecration

Poor little things exclaimed Mrs Hazleby how will they sit out such a service

None under seven years old are to be there said Elizabeth and of the older ones only those who are tolerably good and I should think they could join in the service sufficiently to prevent them from finding it tedious

Well I hope so said Mrs Hazleby in a voice which meant What nonsense How steep the hill is added she presently what a fatigue for old people

It is not nearly so steep on the other side replied Elizabeth and the people on this side have the old church

Why did they choose such an exposed situation continued Mrs Hazleby so hot in summer and so cold in winter

There was no other open piece of ground to be had near enough to the new town answered Elizabeth keeping to herself an additional reason which was that tradition said that there had once been a little chapel dedicated in the name of St Augustine on the site of the new church Mrs Hazleby was silent for a few moments when as they came in sight of what was passing at the top of the hill she saw a gentleman hasten across the churchyard and asked who he was

Mr Somerville the new curate was the answer

What another curate I thought Mr Walker might have been enough exclaimed Mrs Hazleby

Papa did not think so said Elizabeth drily

Well I suppose that is another hundred a year out of Mr Woodbournes pocket said Mrs Hazleby enough to ruin his family

I am sure said Elizabeth beginning to grow angry Papa had rather do his duty as a clergyman than lay up thousands for us

Fine talking for young things said Mrs Hazleby besides it is nothing to you you three elder ones will be well enough off with your mothers fortune

Elizabeth was more annoyed and provoked by this speech than by anything Mrs Hazleby had ever said to her before her cheeks burnt with indignation and something which felt very like shame but her bonnet concealed them and she attempted no reply Mrs Hazleby began talking to Winifred about her new sash and criticizing Elizabeths dress and though Elizabeth could have wished Winifreds mind to have been occupied with other things at such a time yet she was glad of the opportunity this diversion gave her to compose herself before entering the church

Almost everyone who has ever joined in our beautiful Consecration Service can imagine the feelings of some of the party from the Vicarage—can figure to themselves Mrs Woodbournes quiet tears Doras happy yet awestruck face Anne sympathizing with everyone rather than feeling on her own account can think of the choking overwhelming joy with which Elizabeth looked into little Edwards wondering eyes as the name of their father was read the first among those who petitioned the Bishop to set that building apart from all ordinary and common uses can feel or perhaps have known the exultation with which she joined in the Psalms and the swelling of heart as she followed the prayer for a blessing on the families of those who had been the means of the building of that House But we must go no farther for such thoughts and scenes are too high to be more than touched upon in a story of this kind therefore we will only add that Winifred and Edward behaved quite as well as Elizabeth had engaged that they should do only beginning to yawn just before the end of the service

After they had returned from the church the luncheon at the Vicarage gave ample employment to Elizabeths hands and nearly enough to her thoughts in carving cold chicken and doing the honours of Merton Hall peaches at the sidetable and she was very glad when at three oclock the company adjourned to the quadrangle to see the schoolchildrens feast

The quadrangle was enclosed on the north side by the old church on the south and west by the almshouses and on the east by the low wall of the Vicarage garden there was a wide gravel path all round the court and here tables were spread around which were to be seen the merry faces of all the children of the two schools—the boys a uniform rank arrayed in King Edwards blue coats and yellow stockings with but a small proportion of modernlooking youths in brown or blue and deep white collars—the girls a long partycoloured line only resembling each other in the white tippets which had lately encumbered Elizabeths room

Much activity was called for from all who chose to take part in supplying the children the young ladies baskets of buns were rapidly emptied and Mr Somervilles great pitcher of tea frequently drained although he pretended to be very exclusive and offer his services to none but the children of St Austins to whom Winifred introduced him The rest of the company walked round the cloisters which were covered with dark red roses and honeysuckles talking to the old people admiring their flowers especially Mr Dillons dahlias and watching the troop of children who looked like a living flowerbed

Mrs Hazleby chanced to be standing near Mrs Bouverie a lady who lived at some distance from Abbeychurch and who was going to stay and dine at the Vicarage She was tolerably well acquainted with Mr Woodbourne but she had not seen the girls since they were quite young children and now remarking Elizabeth she asked Mrs Hazleby if she was one of Mr Woodbournes daughters

Oh yes said Mrs Hazleby the eldest of them

She has a remarkably fine countenance said Mrs Bouverie

Do you admire her said Mrs Hazleby well I never could see anything so remarkably handsome in Lizzie Woodbourne Too thin too sharp too highcoloured Kate is twenty times prettier to say nothing of the little ones

I should not call Miss Woodbourne pretty said Mrs Bouverie but I think her brow and eye exceedingly beautiful and full of expression

Oh yes cried Mrs Hazleby she is thought vastly clever I assure you though for my part I never could see anything in her but pertness

She has not the air of being pert said Mrs Bouverie

Oh she can give herself airs enough said Mrs Hazleby my poor sisterinlaw has had trouble enough with her just like her mother they say

So I was thinking said Mrs Bouverie looking at Elizabeth who was stooping down to a little shy girl and trying to hear her whispered request

Mrs Bouverie spoke in a tone so different from that which Mrs Hazleby expected that even she found that she had gone too far and recollected that it was possible that Mrs Bouverie might have known the first Mrs Woodbourne She changed her note Just like her poor mother and quite as delicate poor girl

Is she indeed said Mrs Bouverie in a tone of great interest

Yes that she is scarcely ever without a cough Full of spirits you see—rather too much of it but I should not be surprised any day—

At this moment Winifred came running up to cry Look Aunt Hazleby at the basket of balls I have been to the house to fetch them and now the boys are going away to the cricketground and the girls are to have a famous game at play

Mrs Hazleby only said Hm but the other lady paid more attention to the little girl who was very little troubled with shyness and soon was very happy—throwing the balls to the girls and—at the same time—chattering to Mrs Bouverie and saying a great deal about Lizzie telling how Lizzie said that one little girl was good and another was naughty that Lizzie said she should soon begin to teach her French Lizzie taught her all her lessons Mamma only heard her music Lizzie had shewn her where to look in her Consecrationbook so that she should not be puzzled at Church today Lizzie said she had behaved very well and that she should tell Papa so she had a red ribbon with a medal with Winchester Cathedral upon it which Lizzie let her wear to shew Papa and Mamma when she was good at her lessons she hoped she should wear it today though she had not done any lessons for Lizzie said it was a joyful day like a Sunday All this made Mrs Bouverie desirous of being acquainted with Lizzie but she could find no opportunity of speaking to her as Elizabeth never willingly came near strangers and was fully occupied with the schoolchildren so that she and Anne were the last to come indoors to dress

They were surprised on coming in to find Helen sitting on the last step of the stairs with Dora on her lap the latter crying bitterly and Helen using all those means of consolation which with the best intention have generally the effect of making matters worse As soon as Elizabeth appeared Dora sprang towards her exclaiming Lizzie dear Lizzie do you know Aunt Hazleby says that my mamma is not your mamma nor Kates nor Helens and I do not like it What does she mean Lizzie I do not understand

Elizabeth looked up rather fiercely but kissing her little sister said gently Yes Dora it is really true my own mother lies in the churchyard I will shew you where

And are you not my sisters asked Dora holding firmly by the hands of Elizabeth and Helen

Oh yes yes Dora cried Helen we are your sisters only not quite the same as Winifred

And have you no mamma really no mamma continued Dora looking frightened although soothed by Elizabeths manner and by feeling that the truth was really told her

Not really Dora but your mamma is quite the same to us as if she really was our mother said Elizabeth leading the little girl away and leaving Anne and Helen looking unutterable things at each other

Helen then went into the large drawingroom to fetch some of her outofdoor apparel which she had left there and Anne followed her No one was in the room but Mrs Hazleby who looked more disconcerted than Helen had ever seen her before She seemed to think it necessary to make some apology and began I am sure I had no notion that the child did not know it all perfectly at her age

Mamma has always wished to keep the little ones from knowing of any difference as long as possible said Helen rather indignantly but recollecting herself she added I think Dora is rather tired and perhaps she was the more easily overcome for that reason

Ah very likely poor child said Mrs Hazleby it was folly to take her to such a ceremony

She seemed to enjoy it and enter into it as much as any of us said Helen

Ah well some peoples children are vastly clever said Mrs Hazleby Do you know where Fido is Miss Helen if one may ask you such a question

Helen replied very courteously by an offer to go and look for him He was quickly found and as soon as she had brought him to his mistress she followed Anne to Elizabeths room where in a short time they were joined by the latter looking worn and tired and with the brilliant flush of excitement on her cheeks

Is Dora comforted was the first question asked on her entrance

Oh yes said Elizabeth that was soon settled she was only scared so I took her to Mamma who kissed us both told Dora she loved us all the same and so on which made her quite happy again

Dear little affectionate creature exclaimed Helen warmly

How very angry with her Mrs Hazleby seemed said Anne

Yes said Helen because Dora came to me in her distress and would not let Mrs Hazleby kiss her

How came Mrs Hazleby to begin upon it said Elizabeth was it from her instinctive perception of disagreeable subjects

I can hardly tell said Helen I was not there at first I rather think— but here she stopped short and looked confused

Well what do you think

Why I believe it arose from her seeing Uncle Edward playing with Edward on the green began Helen with a good deal of hesitation saying that he was his godfather and—and she—she hoped he would be would be as—he would do as much for him as if he was actually his uncle

Horrid woman said Elizabeth blushing deeply

My dear Lizzie said Anne laughing do you hope he will not

Nonsense Anne said Elizabeth laughing too but I hope you quite give up the Hazlebys after this specimen

Now Lizzie said Helen that is quite in your unjust sweeping style of censuring You do not mean to say that Lucy or the Major or the boys are disagreeable

Root and branch they are all infected said Elizabeth who could help it living with Mrs Hazleby

Pray do not be so unfair Lizzie continued Helen I am sure that Lucy is a most amiable sensible gentle creature the more to be admired for having such a mother and sister

By way of foil I suppose said Elizabeth still saving your presence Helen I think that if Lucy had all the sense you ascribe to her she might keep things a little more straight

Really Lizzie said Helen it is not like you to blame poor Lucy for her misfortunes but I know very well that you only do it to contradict me

Well said Elizabeth impatiently I do allow that she is a redeeming point but I do not give her such hyperbolical praise as you do I may say she is the best of them without calling her a paragon of perfection

I never called her any such thing exclaimed Helen but you will always wrest my words and pretend to misunderstand me

I am sorry I have vexed you Helen said Elizabeth more kindly and Helen left the room

Indeed Lizzie said Anne I cannot think why you argued against this poor girl after what you said yesterday

Because I cannot bear Helens sententious decided manner said Elizabeth and she exaggerates so much that I must sometimes take her down

But said Anne do you not exaggerate the exaggeration and so put her more in the right than yourself

You mean by turning her string of superlatives into a paragon of perfection said Elizabeth I certainly believe I was unjust but I could not help it

Anne did not see that her cousin might not have helped it but she thought she had said enough on the subject and let it pass

Now Anne said Elizabeth presently after what strange people we are to stand here abusing Helen and the Hazlebys instead of talking over such wonderful happiness as it is to think that your father and mine have been allowed to complete such a work as this church

Indeed it is wonderful happiness said Anne her eyes filling with tears but I do not know whether you feel as I do that it is too great too overwhelming to talk of now it is fresh We shall enjoy looking back to it more when we are further from it

Yes said Elizabeth this morning I was only fit to laugh or cry at I did not know what and now I am vexed with myself for having been too much occupied and annoyed with little things to be happy enough This Consecration day will be a glorious time to look back to when it is alone on the horizon and we have lost sight of all that blemishes it now I will tell you what it will be like I once saw the Church on a misty day from a great distance It was about the middle of the day and the veil of mist was hanging all round the hill but there stood the Church clear and bright and alone in the sunshine all the scaffold poles and unfinished roughness lost sight of in the distance I never saw a more beautiful sight

And do you expect that distance of time will conceal all blemishes as well as distance of place said Anne

Yes unless I take a telescope to look at them with answered Elizabeth perhaps Anne in thirty years time if we both live so long we may meet and talk over this day and smile and wonder that we could have been vexed by anything at such a time

You like looking forward said Anne I suppose I am too happy for I am afraid to look forward any change of any sort must bring sorrow with it

I suppose you are right said Elizabeth that is I believe the safest frame of mind to be that which resigns itself to anything that may be appointed for it rather than that which makes schemes and projects for itself

Oh but Lizzie said Anne I did not mean that Mine is rather an indolent frame which does not scheme because my present condition is I do believe happier than any I could imagine upon earth I do not think that is resignation—there are some things under which I do not think I could be resigned at least not with my present feelings

Yes you would Anne said Elizabeth you are just the calm tempered person who would rise up to meet the trial in peace—But I do not know what I am talking about and so I shall go on with what I meant to say before—that bright visions are my great delight I like to fancy what Horace and Edward may be I like to imagine my own mind grown older I like to consider what I shall think of the things that occupy us now But then I am not likely to be disappointed even if my castles in the air should fall down You know I am not likely to be a longlived person

Oh do not say so my dear Lizzie cried Anne I cannot bear it

Indeed Anne said Elizabeth I did not mean to say anything which could shock you I only touched upon what you must have known half your life and what Mrs Hazleby has taken good care that I should not forget I am perfectly well now and have nothing the matter with me but then I know that a little illness has a great effect upon me and my colds are much sooner caught than cured

Before Anne could answer there was a knock at the door and Lady Mertons maid appeared ready to dress her young lady for the evening and thus the conversation ended

The girls were to drink tea in the inner drawingroom as soon as the company were gone into the diningroom and Anne and Elizabeth waited to come downstairs till dinner had begun

As soon as they entered the room Harriet began to admire the lace trimming of Annes dress asking many questions about it to all of which Anne replied with great good nature As soon as the lace had been sufficiently discussed Harriet turned round to Elizabeth exclaiming Why Lizzie why in the world have you taken to that fashion of doing your hair it makes you look thinner than ever Such dark hair too it wants a little colour to relieve it why do you not wear a red band in it like mine

I thought this way of wearing it saved time said Elizabeth but I believe I shall curl it again

Indeed I hope you will you have no notion how thin it makes you look said Harriet

Of course I must look thin if I am thin said Elizabeth a good deal annoyed by Harriets pertinacity

Thin you are indeed continued Harriet taking hold of her wrist Elizabeth drew back hastily and Harriet relinquished it conscious perhaps that however thin the arm might look her own broad ruddy hand would hardly bear a comparison with Elizabeths long slender white fingers and returned to the subject of the hair shaking her profusion of ringlets

And straight hair is all the fashion now but I think it gives a terrible dowdy look Only that does not signify when you are not out—Bythebye Miss Merton are you out

I shall not be seventeen these three months said Anne

Well I am not seventeen yet nor near it pursued Harriet but I always dine out and at home too Dont I Lucy

Elizabeth did not think it necessary to make any apology for Harriets not having been asked to dine with the company since Mrs Woodbourne had already settled that matter with Mrs Hazleby but Katharine who though younger had more idea of manner said after a little hesitation Mamma talked of it but Papa said that if one dined all must and there would be too many

Oh law Kate said Harriet never mind I do not mind it a bit I would just as soon drink tea here as dine—You are not out are you Lizzie

If you consider that dining constitutes being out I generally am said Elizabeth rather coldly and haughtily

Ay ay cried Harriet laughing you would be out indeed to go without your dinner—Capital is not it Kate but I wanted to know whether you are regularly come out

I do not know replied Elizabeth

Oh then you are not said Harriet everyone knows who is out I should not have been out now if it had not been for Frank Hollis he is senior lieutenant at last you know—well when our officers gave the grand ball at Hull Frank Hollis came to Mamma and said they could do nothing without the Majors daughter and I must open the ball Such nonsense he talked—didnt he Lucy Well Mamma gave way and said shed persuade the Major Papa was rather grumpy at first you know Lucy but we coaxed him over at last Oh it was such fun I danced first with Frank Hollis—just out of gratitude you know and then with Captain Murphy and then—O Lucy do you remember who—and I had a silk dress which Mamma brought from India trimmed just like yours Miss Merton only with four rows of lace because I am taller you know and a berthe of—

Elizabeth could endure this no longer and broke in And pray Harriet did you learn the book of fashions by heart

Not quite said Harriet with provoking obtuseness or good humour I did very nearly though when I was making my dress Now Lizzie do not you wish you were out

No not in the least said Elizabeth by this time quite out of patience I think society a nuisance and I am glad to be free of it as long as I can

Lizzie said Helen gravely you are talking rhodomontade

By no means Helen said Elizabeth it is my serious opinion that unless you can find real friends minds that suit you you should keep to yourself and let bores and geese keep to themselves

Becoming yourself one of the interesting tribe of bears or perhaps of crabs whispered Anne

Well what an odd girl you are cried Harriet well if ever—

But Lizzie what would become of the world if there was no society said Katherine

And Lizzie began Helen very seriously do not you know that it is a duty to take part in society that—

Oh yes Helen answered Elizabeth I know all that books and wise people say but what I say is this if a sumptuary law could decree that wits should be measured by one standard like the ruffs and rapiers in Queen Elizabeths time so that those found wanting might be banished there might be some use in meeting people but in the present state of things there is none

But how would you choose your standard said Anne everyone would take their own degree of sense as a measure

Let them said Elizabeth there would be a set of measures like the bolters in a mill one for the pastryflour one for the breadflour one for the blues one for the bran

I am glad you put the blues after the bread said Anne there is hope of you yet Lizzie

Elizabeth was too far advanced in her career of nonsense to be easily checked even by Anne and she continued Sir Walter Scott says in one of his letters that he wishes there could be a whole village of poets and antiquaries isolated from the rest of the world That must be like what I mean

I do not think he meant what he said there said Helen

And pray remember said Anne that your favourite brown bread is made of all those kinds mixed—bran and pastryflour and all

Yes said Helen all the world would turn idiots if there were not a few sensible people to raise the others

Well said Elizabeth you know the Veillees du Chateau says there is a village where all the people do turn idiots at fourteen

You are just the right age Helen said Anne you had better take care since Lizzie says you live in such a foolish world

Helen had not tact enough to perceive that it was better to turn off the discussion by a joke and continued And you forget how useful it is to the sensible people to be obliged to bear and forbear

I should be content if the foolish people would be raised by the wise instead of debasing them said Elizabeth

If people are really wise they will not let themselves be debased said Anne

Helen glanced towards Lucy Elizabeth caught her eye and smiled in a way which almost compensated for all her unkindness in their dispute an hour before

Harriet and Katherine who had not been much interested by this argument now started another subject of conversation which they had almost entirely to themselves and which occupied them until tea was over somewhat to Annes amusement and Elizabeths disgust as they listened to it

As soon as the teathings were removed Elizabeth and Anne went to fetch the children Elizabeth let loose her indignation as soon as she was out of the drawingroom

Did you ever hear anything so vulgar said she

Indeed it was very ridiculous said Anne beginning to laugh at the remembrance

How can you be diverted with things that enrage me said Elizabeth

It is better than taking them to heart as you do my poor Lizzie said Anne they are but folly after all

Disgusting provoking folly said Elizabeth and then to see Kate looking as if she thought it must be so delectable Really Kate is quite spoiled between Harriet and the Abbeychurch riffraff and I can do nothing to prevent it

But said Anne diffidently seeing that her cousin was in a graver mood this evening do not you think that perhaps if you could be a little more companionable to Kate and not say things so evidently for the sake of contradiction you might gain a little useful influence

Well said Elizabeth smiling I believe I do deserve a good scolding I fancy I was outrageously rude but when people talk such stuff I do not much care what I say as long as I am on the other side of the question

Still the reverse of wrong is not always right said Anne

They now found themselves at the nursery door and summoned the children from that scene of playthings and bread and butter Downstairs one of those games at romps arose for which little children are often made an excuse by great ones and which was only concluded by the entrance of the ladies from the drawingroom which caused Harriet hastily to retreat into the inner drawingroom to smoothe her ruffled lace while Katherine was retying Winifreds loosened sash and laying a few refractory curls in their right places

Mrs Woodbourne called Elizabeth and introduced her as my eldest daughter to Mrs Bouverie and to Mrs Dale a lady who had lately come to live in the neighbourhood and who discovered a most striking resemblance between Mrs Woodbourne and Elizabeth certainly at the expense of a considerable stretch of imagination as Mrs Woodbourne was a very little and very elegant looking person very fair and pale and Elizabeth was tall darkeyed darkhaired her figure much too slender for her height and her movements too rapid to be graceful altogether as different a style of person as could well be imagined

Not much prepossessed in favour of the party in general by this specimen Elizabeth after shaking hands with Miss Maynard and her niece people whom she seldom saw and did not much like retreated to one of the windows and there began to meditate as was her usual custom on such occasions Once when accompanying Mrs Woodbourne on a morning visiting expedition she had translated the Erl King which she knew by heart into English far more literal than Sir Walter Scotts and with no fault except that not above half the couplets professed to rhyme and most of those that did were deficient in metre Another time she had composed three quarters of a story of a Saxon hero oppressed by a Norman baron and going to the Crusades and at another time she had sent back the whole party to the times of Queen Elizabeth and fancied what they might be saying about the Spanish Armada But now whether because there was too much talking in the room or because the Consecration had lately left no room for the fancies on which she was accustomed to feed she could find nothing more sublime to reflect upon than the appearance of her cousin Anne who was entertaining the young Miss Maynard a shy girl yet pleased with notice by a conversation which if not very interesting saved her from belonging to any of the four agreeable tribes mentioned at teatime

Now Anne though she did not posses the tall figure or striking countenance of her cousins the Woodbournes or the brilliant complexion of her brother was one of those people who always look well She was small and slightly made and very graceful and everything she wore was appropriate and becoming so that without bestowing much thought on the matter she never looked otherwise than perfectly well dressed She was rather pale her eyes were grey with long dark lashes and her hair brown her features were well formed and animated and though by no means remarkable everyone called her nicelooking some said she was pretty and a few thought and felt that her countenance was lovely So much had lately been said about dress—about Elizabeths curls and Helens tails and Annes lace—that wonderful to say it was the readiest subject Elizabeth could find to meditate upon As she looked at her cousins white muslin frock with its border of handsome Moravian work and its delicate blue satin ribbons at her well arranged hair and pretty mosaic brooch she entered upon a calculation respecting the portion of a womans mind which ought to be occupied with her dress—a mental process the result of which might perhaps have proved of great benefit to herself and ultimately to Dora and Winifred had it not been suddenly cut short in the midst by a piercing scream from the latter young lady who had been playing on the floor with Edward and Fido

Mrs Woodbourne instantly caught up the little girl in her arms and sat down on the sofa with her on her lap while Winifred buried her hand in her pockethandkerchief screaming and sobbing violently Fido slunk away under the sofa and Elizabeth hastily made her way through the circle of ladies who surrounded Mrs Woodbourne

That is what comes of teazing him said Mrs Hazleby reproachfully to Edward who answered in a loud voice I am sure I did not make him do it

Elizabeth knelt down by Mrs Woodbourne and began to unroll the handkerchief in which Winifred had wound up her hand but she was prevented by a fresh scream from the patient

Oh my dear never mind do not cry come be a brave woman said poor Mrs Woodbourne her voice quivering with alarm

Poor little dear exclaimed Mrs Dale she bears it like a little angel but it is quite a severe bite

Mamma said Elizabeth rising I think she had better come upstairs with me Do not you come Mamma I will send for you if—if it is more than a scratch

She took Winifred in her arms and carried her off followed by Mrs Dale Miss Maynard Harriet Katherine and Dora the lastmentioned looking quite pale with fright

If you please said Elizabeth turning round at the foot of the stairs I can manage her better alone

She gained her point though at the expense of politeness Mrs Dale and Miss Maynard retreated and Harriet and Katherine followed in their train Dora looked inquiringly at her eldest sister

Yes Dora you may come said she running upstairs to her own room where she shut the door and set Winifred on her feet again Well Winifred let us see said she cheerfully are you much hurt

It bleeds said Winifred withholding her hand

Not very much said Elizabeth removing the handkerchief and washing off the blood which had been more the cause of the scream than the pain She soon satisfied herself and her sisters that the bite was scarcely more than a scratch and a piece of stickingplaster fetched by Dora whose ready eye and clear thoughtful head had already made her the best finder in the family had covered the wound before Mrs Woodbourne came up to satisfy herself as to the extent of the injury Winifred had by this time been diverted from the contemplation of her misfortunes by the fitting on of the stickingplaster and by admiration of Annes bright rosewood dressingbox and was full of the delight of discovering that A K M engraven in silver upon the lid stood for Anne Katherine Merton when her mamma came in It appeared that the little girl and her brother had been playing rather too roughly with Fido and that he had revenged himself after the usual fashion of little dogs especially of those not come to years of discretion Winifred was quite ready to assure her mamma that he had scarcely hurt her and that she was very sorry she had cried so much Mrs Woodbourne and Elizabeth however agreed that it would be better for her to appear no more that evening and Dora undertook to keep her company in the nursery—glad as Elizabeth could see to escape from the presence of Aunt Hazleby who had sunk much in Doras good graces since her conversation with her in the afternoon

If people would but let children alone said Elizabeth as the two little girls departed hand in hand it puts me out of all patience to see her first made silly by being pitied and then told she is an angel Too bad and too silly I declare

You should consider a little my dear and not speak so hastily said gentle Mrs Woodbourne they mean it kindly

Mistaken kindness said Elizabeth as she opened the drawingroom door

In a moment they were overwhelmed with inquiries for the sweet little sufferer as Mrs Dale called her

I only hope there is no fear of the dogs being mad observed that lady

Oh there is no danger of that said Elizabeth knowing how such a terror would dwell on Mrs Woodbournes spirits See he can drink

Mrs Hazleby had taken possession of the creamjug which had accompanied the coffee and was consoling the offender by pouring some of its contents into a saucer for him

But I thought it was water that mad dogs refuse said Mrs Dale

Mad dog cried Mrs Hazleby he is as mad as I am I fancy it was quite enough to make him bite when Edward there was pulling his ears

I did not pull his ears Aunt Hazleby I did not make him bite Winifred vociferated Edward I told you so before Aunt Hazleby and you will say so

Fine little fellow whispered Mrs Dale quite loud enough for Edward to hear her I quite admire his spirit

Do not be rude Edward my dear said his mother

But Aunt Hazleby will say that I made Fido bite Winifred Mamma said Edward and I did not he did it of himself

Never mind now my love pray be quiet my dear boy said Mrs Woodbourne imploringly and Edward who was really a very tractable boy walked off to his sister Katherine

Mrs Dale then seized upon Mrs Woodbourne to tell her some horrible stories of hydrophobia and Elizabeth in hopes of lessening the impression such stories were likely to make on Mrs Woodbournes mind listened also sometimes not very courteously correcting evident exaggerations and at others contradicting certain statements At last just as the subject fertile as it was was exhausted Annes going to the piano and carrying off a train of listeners brought Mrs Bouverie next to Elizabeth and she took the opportunity of entering into conversation with her

Do you play Miss Woodbourne

No I do not replied Elizabeth who particularly disliked this mode of beginning a conversation

Do not you like music continued Mrs Bouverie

I seldom have heard any I liked said Elizabeth shortly

Indeed you have been unfortunate said Mrs Bouverie but perhaps you are not fond of the piano

No said Elizabeth with rather less of the manner of a suspected criminal examined in sight of the rack I am sick of all the Abbeychurch pianos I know them all perfectly and hear nothing else

Mrs Bouverie laughed and was glad to obtain something like an answer Your cousin plays very well said she

Yes said Elizabeth I like her music better than most peoples and she does not make a great fuss about it she plays when she thinks people like it and not when they ask only out of politeness without caring about it

Do you think many people ask in that manner said Mrs Bouverie

Oh yes everyone said Elizabeth what can they do when they see a disconsolate damsel sitting in a corner with nothing to say and only longing to be at the piano by way of doing something It would be too cruel not to ask her

Did you ever do so said Mrs Bouverie smiling

No said Elizabeth luckily it is no affair of mine yet but if ever it was there would be a hard struggle between my politeness and sincerity

Sincerity would be most likely to gain the day thought Mrs Bouverie Perhaps said she you are not a fair judge of other peoples sincerity since you do not like music yourself

I think said Elizabeth that even if I did play I could see in peoples faces whether they meant what they said that is if vanity and love of applause did not blind me

Mrs Bouverie was silent for a moment and then said Well I must say I am disappointed to find that you do not play

Elizabeth remembered how well her mother had played and it was plain to her that Mrs Bouverie was noticing her for her mothers sake She looked down and coloured as she replied Both my sisters are musical and Helen is said to be likely to sing very well I believe the history of my want of music to be added she with a bright smile that I was too naughty to learn and now I am afraid—I am not sorry for it as it would have taken up a great deal of time and two singing sisters are surely enough for one family

I was in hopes of hearing said Mrs Bouverie that you had trained your schoolchildren to sing the sixtyfifth Psalm as nicely as they did today I am sure their teacher must have come from the Vicarage

No said Elizabeth it was the schoolmaster who taught them Perhaps if Helen had not been from home so long she might have helped the girls but when she came home three weeks ago it was hardly worth while for her to begin That is the only reason I ever wished to understand music

Mrs Bouverie now began talking to her about the church and its architecture and of the children in exactly the way that Elizabeth liked and in half an hour she saw more of Elizabeths true self than Miss Maynard had ever seen though she had known her all her life Miss Maynard had seen only her roughness Mrs Bouverie had found her way below it Elizabeth was as sincere and open as the day although from seldom meeting with anyone who could comprehend or sympathize with her ideas her manners had acquired a degree of roughness and reserve difficult to penetrate and anything but attractive suiting ill with her sweet smile and beaming eyes She was talking quite happily and confidentially to Mrs Bouverie when she caught Mrs Woodbournes eye and seeing her look anxious she remembered Winifreds disaster and took the first opportunity of hastening upstairs to see whether the little girls hand was still in as favourable a state as when she left her

A few moments after she had quitted the room Sir Edward Merton approached Mrs Bouverie and took the place beside her which Elizabeth had lately occupied

I hope Elizabeth has been gracious to you as I see you have been so kind as to talk to her said he smiling

Oh I hope we are becoming good friends said Mrs Bouverie I have seldom seen so young a girl shew as much mind as your niece

I am very glad to hear you say so said Sir Edward for she is apt to be rather more reserved with strangers than could be wished

Perhaps she did not consider me as an entire stranger I remember seeing her once when a most engaging little child of four or five years old said Mrs Bouverie and now I hope our acquaintance will continue Shall we see her at Marlowe Court tomorrow as I believe we meet you there Of course we shall see Miss Merton

No I believe not said Sir Edward we are rather too large a number without the girls who really form quite a troop by themselves

I like to see your daughter and Miss Woodbourne together said Mrs Bouverie I am sure they must be great allies

Yes said Sir Edward there is a tolerably strong cousinly friendship between them Anne has a wholesome feeling of inferiority which makes her rather proud of her cousins preference

Do you not think Miss Woodbourne very like her mother said Mrs Bouverie I knew her immediately by the resemblance

Very—very like her a little darker certainly said Sir Edward but she reminds me of her constantly—there—that smile is my sisters exactly

Elizabeth had just then reentered the room and was assuring her mamma that Winifred had been as playful as ever all the remainder of the evening and was now fast asleep in bed

I am only afraid she is too fragile and delicate a creature said Mrs Bouverie is her health strong

Strong no not very said Sir Edward she requires care but there is nothing much amiss with her I know most people about here are in the habit of lamenting over her as in a most dangerous state but I believe the fact is that Mrs Woodbourne is a nervous anxious person and frightens herself more than there is any occasion for

Then I hope she generally looks less delicate than she does tonight said Mrs Bouverie

Oh she may well look overworked tonight said Sir Edward she has a spirit in her which would not let her rest on such a day as this—Come here Miss Lizzie said he beckoning to her I want you to account for those two red spots upon your cheeks Do you think they ought to be there

Yes if they come in a good cause Uncle said Elizabeth

Do you mean then to wear them any longer than necessary said Sir Edward pray have you sat still for five minutes together today

Yes while I was at tea said Elizabeth

And why are not you in bed and asleep at this moment asked her uncle

That is the very question Mamma has been asking said Elizabeth and I have been promising to depart as soon as I can make my escape so good night Uncle Edward—good night said she giving her hand to her uncle and to Mrs Bouverie with almost equal cordiality

Good night Lizzie get you gone said Sir Edward and if you can carry off my girl with you I shall be all the better pleased

Elizabeth succeeded in touching Annes arm and the two cousins flitted away together and soon forgot the various delights and annoyances of the day in sleep

CHAPTER VI

The next morning was gloomy and rainy as Elizabeth informed Anne at about seven oclock and I am not sorry for it said she for I want to have you all to myself at home so we will turn the incubi over to Kate and Helen and be comfortable together

Will they submit to such treatment said Anne

Oh yes my dear said Elizabeth they want us as little as we want them they only want a little civility and I will not be so sparing of that useful commodity as I was yesterday evening And now Anne I am going to beg your pardon for being so excessively rude to Harriet as I was last night She did not mind it but you did and much more than if it had been to yourself

I believe I did said Anne other people do not know what you mean when you set up your bristles and I do Besides I was sorry for Lucy who looks as if she had sensitiveness enough for the whole family

Poor Lucy said Elizabeth

A weary lot is thine fair maid
     A weary lot is thine

Yes Lucy has very deep feeling you may see it in the painful flushing of her cheek and the downcast look of her eye when her mother and sister expose themselves I really believe that that poor girl has more to endure than most people

O Lizzie said Anne how differently you spoke of her yesterday

Yes said Elizabeth but then I was furious with Mrs Hazleby and besides I believe the truth was that I was very tired and very cross not exactly the way in which I intended to conclude the Consecration day and now I am in my senses I am very sorry I behaved as I did But Anne though I hereby retract all I said in dispraise of Lucy and confess that I was rude to Harriet do not imagine that I disavow all I said about society last night for I assure you that I expressed my deliberate opinion

Your deliberate opinion my dear said Anne laughing

Yes my deliberate opinion my dear repeated Elizabeth Pray why should not I have a deliberate opinion as well as Hannah More or Locke on the Human Understanding or anyone else

Because rejoined Anne I think that if the rest of the world were of your deliberate opinion there would soon be a lock on the human understanding

I am sure I think there is at present returned Elizabeth did you see Aunt Anne last night wasted upon Mrs Dale obliged to listen to the dullest stuff that ever was invented and poor Mamma frightened out of her wits I should not wonder if she had dreamt of mad dogs all night

I do not defend Mrs Dales powers of intellect said Anne but I should have thought that you at least had little reason to complain You were very well off next to Mrs Bouverie

Oh Mrs Bouverie is a rara avis an exception to the general rule said Elizabeth but you know she or my uncle or aunt or Papa are generally forced to put a lock on their understanding Why Anne what are you laughing at

Lizzie I beg your pardon said Anne trying to check herself but I could not help it Your speech put me in mind of the prints from Albanos four elements Do not you remember Junos visit to AEolus where he is opening the door of a little corner cupboard where he keeps the puffcheeked winds locked up Do you mean to say that Mamma keeps her mighty powers of mind locked up in the same way for fear they should burst out and overwhelm everybody

Elizabeth heartily joined in her cousins merriment I will tell you what I do mean Anne what the great law of society is Now do not put on that absurd face of mock gravity or I shall only laugh instead of arguing properly

Well let us hear said Anne

It is almost more important than the law that you must eat with a knife and fork said Elizabeth There is one level of conversation fit for the meanest capacity and whoever ventures to transgress it is instantly called blue or a horrid bore c c

Nonsense Lizzie said Anne laughing I am sure I have heard plenty of clever people talk about sensible things too and never did I hear them called bores or blue or any of your awful et ceteras either

Because people did not dare to do so said Elizabeth but they thought it all the same

What do you mean by people said Anne

The dull respectable commonplace gentry who make up the mass of mankind said Elizabeth

Do they said Anne

Do not they said Elizabeth

I do not know what the mass of mankind may be at Abbeychurch said Anne but I am sure the people whom we see oftenest at home are such as I think it a privilege to know And she began to enumerate these friends

Oh Anne interrupted Elizabeth do not for pitys sake make me discontented here am I in Abbeychurch and must make the best of it I must be as polite and hypocritical as I can make myself I must waste my time and endure dullness

As to waste of time said Anne perhaps it is most usefully employed in what is so irksome as you find being in company Mamma has always wished me to remember that acquiring knowledge may after all be but a selfish gratification and many things ought to be attended to first

That doctrine would not do for everybody said Elizabeth

No said Anne but it does for us and you will see it plainer if you remember on what authority it is said that all knowledge is profitable for nothing without charity

Charity yes said Elizabeth but Christian love is a very different thing from drawingroom civility

Not very different from bearing and forbearing as Helen said answered Anne

Politeness is not great enough said Elizabeth to belong to charity

You are not the person to say so said Anne

Because I dislike it so much said Elizabeth but that is because I despise it It is such folly to sit a whole evening with your hands before you doing nothing

But do you not think said Anne that enduring restraint and listening to what is not amusing for the sake of pleasing others is doing something

Passively not actively said Elizabeth but it is not to please others it is only that they may think you well bred or rather that they may not think about you at all

It is to please our father and mother said Anne

Yes and that is the reason it must be done said Elizabeth it is the way of the world and cannot be helped

Rather say it is the trial which has been ordained for us said Anne

Well said Elizabeth smiling I know all the time that you have the best of the argument It would not be so if it was not good for us

And as it is said Anne I believe that there is more enjoyment in the present order of things than there would be in any arrangement we could devise

Oh doubtless said Elizabeth just as the corn ripens better with all the disasters that seem to befall it than it would if we had the command of the clouds

Of course said Anne you really are a much more reasonable creature than you pretend to be Lizzie

Am I said Elizabeth Well I will just tell you my great horror and I suppose you will laugh at me I can endure gossip for old people who cannot employ themselves and must talk and have nothing to talk of but their neighbours but only think of those wretched fainéants who go chattering on wasting their own time and other peoples doing no good on the face of the earth and a great deal of harm

But these unfortunates are probably quite as unable to talk on any very wise subjects as your beloved old people to whom you give a license to gossip said Anne and you do not wish to condemn them to perpetual silence They are most likely to be estimable people who ought to be amused

Estimable—yes perhaps said Elizabeth but then I cannot esteem a silly gossip

Why Lizzie cried Anne you are still at the old story that it is better to be wicked than stupid at least you reason upon that foundation though you do not really think so

I believe said Elizabeth that there must be some great crook in my mind for though I know and believe as firmly as I do any other important thing that mere intellect is utterly worthless I cannot feel it it bewitches me as beauty does some people and I suppose always will till I grow old and stupid or get my mind into better order

Really said Anne I think the strongest proof of your beginning to grow old and stupid is your doing such a very commonplace thing as to abuse honest gossip

There was service at St Marys Church on Wednesday and Friday mornings but on this day the rain was so violent that of all the party at the Vicarage the Mertons and Elizabeth Katherine and Helen alone ventured to go to church

When they returned Anne followed her mother to her room to talk over the events of the previous day After much had been said of the Consecration and also of their wonder and regret at Ruperts absence Anne said How strange it seems to lose sight of you and Papa as I have done ever since I have been here Mamma I have scarcely been with you at all and never see Papa but when he is talking to Uncle Woodbourne and everyone else is in the room

But I hope you are enjoying yourself my dear said Lady Merton

Oh yes Mamma cried Anne Lizzie is more delightful than ever when we are alone

Are you taking a sudden romantic turn said Lady Merton smiling do you mean in future to keep one friend all to yourself

Oh no Mamma said Anne laughing I only meant that Lizzie is more like herself when we are alone together Sometimes when the others are there she gets vexed and says things which I do not like to hear only for the sake of differing from them

I have seen something of the kind about her before said Lady Merton but not enough to be unpleasant

No Mamma because you do not talk as Miss Hazleby did yesterday said Anne smiling She certainly did make a very ridiculous oration about officers and flirtations but Lizzie instead of putting a stop to it quietly and gently only went into the other extreme and talked about disliking all society

I am very sorry to hear this said Lady Merton I am afraid she will make herself absurd and disagreeable by this spirit of contradiction even if nothing worse comes of it

It was not all out of a spirit of contradiction said Anne though she said this morning that she was very tired and very cross yesterday evening But Mamma she also said that she thinks the time she spends in company wasted and she really believes that no one dares to talk sense or that if he does everyone dislikes him

That is only a little unconscious affectation of being wiser than other people assisted by living in a place where there are the usual complement of dull people and where her fathers situation prevents him from associating only with those whom he would prefer said Lady Merton her good sense will get the better of it I am much more anxious about this spirit of contradiction

Yes it certainly led her to be very unjust as she acknowledged this morning said Anne and rather unkind to Helen But then it was no wonder that she was mad with the Hazlebys

Anne then told the history of poor Doras trouble and was quite satisfied with her mothers displeasure at Mrs Hazleby and her admiration of little Dora

And what do you think of Helen asked she presently

I can hardly tell said Anne she is still very demure with very little of Lizzies sparkling merriment indeed she does not seem in the least able to enter into a joke But then she said some very sensible things Lizzie said she wondered what we should think of her She thinks her very much improved but complains that she has lost her home feelings and cares only for Dykelands I scarcely know what she means

I think that I can guess said Lady Merton from knowing a little more of Mrs Stauntons character She is a very amiable person and has in reality I believe plenty of good sense but she has allowed herself to fall into an exaggerated style of feeling and expression which I dare say bewitched a girl like Helen and now makes her find home cold and desolate

Like the letter which Mrs Staunton wrote to you about Rupert and which Papa called ecstatic said Anne

That is an instance of Mrs Stauntons way of expressing herself said Lady Merton now I will give you one of her acuteness of feeling as she calls it Your Aunt Katherine was her greatest friend when she was a girl though I believe the kind epithets she lavished upon me would have been enough to stock two or three moderate friendships We all used to walk together and spend at least one evening in the week together One evening your aunt who had a good deal of the same high careless spirit which you observe in Lizzie chanced to make some observation upon the rudeness of sailors in general forgetting that Helen Atherleys brother was a sailor

Or if she had remembered it said Anne judging by Lizzie she would have said the same thing she would have taken it for granted that the present company was always excepted

Captain Atherley was not of the present company said Lady Merton he was in the Mediterranean and it happened that he had not had time to call at Merton Hall in due form the last time he had been at home so that poor Helen thought that this speech was aimed at him She said nothing at the time but next morning arrived a note to me to entreat me to find out what her darling Henry could possibly have done to offend dearest Katherine Merton for she should be wretched till she understood it and Katherine had forgiven her and him She assured me that she had lain awake all night thinking it over and had at last come to the conclusion that it must be this unfortunate omission and she promised to write to dear Henry immediately to make him send all possible apologies

Poor Captain Atherley exclaimed Anne and what could my aunt say

Unfortunately said Lady Merton both she and I had entirely forgotten the speech and could not guess what could have given rise to Helens imaginations After a consultation I was deputed to Helen with many assurances that Katherine was very sorry she could not exactly tell why but for whatever had grieved Helen and after a good deal of kissing and lamenting on both sides which I believe Katherine considered as a punishment for her inconsiderate speech things were set right again

Inconsiderate Mamma said Anne that seems as if you blamed my aunt when it seems to me that Mrs Staunton deserved all the blame for her excessive folly and what I should think want of confidence in her friends affection

It was certainly very silly said Lady Merton but you know Anne that when people have once accustomed themselves to get into a habit of making mountains of molehills they cannot see anything as it really is I thought Katherine quite in the right as you do now but I believe she considered that knowing as she did the oversensitiveness of her friend she should have been more cautious in what she said

That was the right way for her to take it said Anne but I still think Mrs Staunton must be an excessively silly person Of course one would wish to keep from hurting peoples feelings but it really is hardly possible to help it if they will ride out to meet offence in such a way

Yet Anne said her mother you may comfort yourself with knowing that as long as you do what is commanded set a watch before your lips you are not likely to wound the feelings of others however sensitive

I know Mamma said Anne that would correct every fault of that kind but then I hardly know how to do so thoroughly And I think sensitiveness is a good thing—at least it makes people know better what will hurt others

Be sensitive for others without being ready to take offence for yourself then Anne said Lady Merton And now that you have fitted the moral to my story I must go down and help Mrs Woodbourne to entertain Mrs Hazleby

I pity you said Anne If everyone or indeed if half the world were like her I should be more violent in my opinions than Lizzie is

And what are you going to do asked Lady Merton

I am going to sit in the schoolroom said Anne I had a special invitation from Dora this morning

On going downstairs Anne found that Katherine and Harriet had gone to spend the morning with the Mrs Turner mentioned during the walk to St Austins as her daughter Miss Wilhelmina had engaged to teach Harriet to make wax flowers Lucy was upstairs writing to Major Hazleby and Helen was sitting in the schoolroom where Elizabeth was teaching the children Little Winifred had just finished her lessons and was skipping off in high glee with her medal round her neck to tell her mamma that she had gained four good marks Dora was perched on a high stool at Elizabeths desk with a broadly ruled paper before her on the top of which the words My dear Horace St Austins Church was consecrated yesterday were to be seen in fair round hand No more was visible for the little girl laughingly laid down her rosy cheek and all her light wavy curls flat upon the letter as Anne advanced and made a stealthy attempt to profit by the intelligence she was sending to her brother Edward was standing by Elizabeth reading Mrs Trimmers Fabulous Histories for though five years old he made very slow progress in English literature being more backward in learning to read than any of the others had been excepting Helen He did not like the trouble of spelling and was in the habit of guessing at every word he did not know and on his very composedly calling old Joe the gardener the old gander Anne burst into an irrepressible giggle and Helen sedate as she was could not help following her example They had just composed themselves when Edward made another blunder which set them off again and Elizabeth who when alone with the children could bear anything with becoming gravity also gave way

Edward finding that he was diverting them began to make absurd mistakes on purpose so that Elizabeth was forced to call him to order Anne thought it best to leave the room and Helen followed her saying We had better leave Lizzie to manage him by herself she always does better without me

You have never shewn me your drawings Helen said Anne I should like very much to see them if you will let me

If you please said Helen Will you come up to my room I keep all my own things there out of the way of the critics

What critics inquired Anne

Lizzie to be sure and Papa said Helen I think them the severest people I know

Do you indeed said Anne

Do not you said Helen does not Lizzie say the sharpest things possible I am sure she does to me and she never likes anything I do If there is any little fault in it she and Papa always look at that rather than anything else

Well said Anne it is a comfort that if they like anything you do you are sure it is really very good Their praise is worth more than that of other people

Helen sighed but made no reply as by this time they had arrived at the door of the room which she shared with Katherine It was a complete contrast to Elizabeths it was larger and lighter and looked out upon the bright garden the almshouses and the church tower The upper part of the window was occupied by Katherines large cage of canary birds and below was a stand of flowerpots a cactus which never dreamt of blossoming an iceplant and a columnia belonging to Katherine a nourishing daphne of Helens and a verbena and a few geranium cuttings which she had brought from Dykelands looking very miserable under cracked tumblers and stemless wineglasses On a small round table were very prettily arranged various little knicknacks and curiosities which Elizabeth always laughed at such as a glass ship which was surrounded with miniature wateringpots hummingtops knives and forks a Tonbridgeware box a goldstudded horn bonbonniere a Breakwatermarble ruler several varieties of pincushions a penwiper with a doll in the middle of it a little dish of moneycowries and another of Indian shot the seed of the mahogany tree some seaeggs a false book made of the wreck of the Royal George and some pieces of spar and petrifactions which Helen had acquired on an expedition to Matlock with the Stauntons The bookshelf however was to Anne the most attractive object in the room and whilst Helen was untying the strings of her portfolio she went up to it

What a beautiful little Bishop Wilson exclaimed she taking out one of the books

Yes said Helen with a sigh that was dear Mrs Stauntons last present to me before I left Dykelands She said that perhaps she should not see me again before I was confirmed and it was the fittest Godmothers gift she could find

And is this pretty Lady of the Lake yours too said Anne what a pretty binding with the Douglas arms on it

Yes said Helen that was Fannys present and Jane gave me the pretty forgetmenot brooch I wore yesterday You see I have plenty of keepsakes from the dear people

Anne then turned to the portfolio on the table Helen shewed her in the first place a rather stiff and formal looking forgetmenot painted by Fanny Staunton and a carelessly sketched but neatly shaded head drawn by Jane both which specimens of art Anne tried hard to admire for Helens sake but could not find it in her heart to do so Helens own drawings which were landscapes gave more promise of improvement and displayed a good deal of taste and freedom of hand though some were by no means correct in the outline Helen pointed out several faults which she candidly acknowledged to be wrong and some others which she said Lizzie called blunders

There said she is the house at dear Dykelands there is my window with the Banksia roses clustering round it so that I could gather them as I stood in my room That room is still to be called Helens But now Anne do you think that line ought to be straight Lizzie says it should but I think the perspective alters it I am sure I saw it so

Indeed Helen said Anne I think the shadow must have deceived you And with a little trouble she proved that Elizabeth was right

Ah said Helen if Lizzie would but have shewn me patiently instead of saying Why Helen cannot you draw a straight line I should have understood her Then she continued while taking out Indiarubber and pencil to rectify the mistake I used to draw a great deal at dear Dykelands we had a sketching master and used to go out with him twice a week but it was very delightful when we three went alone when one of us used to read while the others drew I am sure these sketches will for ever remind me of those happy days

Why Helen said Anne smiling you speak as if you never meant to be happy again

Do I said poor Helen I am afraid I do seem rather silly about dear Dykelands The other day I was singing

My hearts in the Highlands my heart is not here
My hearts in the Highlands gone chasing the deer
when in came Lizzie and said No Helen

Your heart is at Dykelands your hearts in the bogs
Your heart is at Dykelands gone chasing the frogs
for she is always laughing at it for being so damp dear place And it was before Horace went to school and he would do nothing but sing it at me all day and make Winifred do so too

Anne could not help laughing

Then you too think me absurd said Helen but if you only knew how happy I was at Dykelands and how desolate I sometimes feel here you would not wonder at me

Then you do not like Abbeychurch said Anne incredulously she could not say you are not happy at home

Who could prefer a little dismal town to a pleasant house in the country said Helen you like Merton Hall better than this place do not you Anne

Of course replied Anne but then Merton Hall is my home

And Abbeychurch is mine sighed poor Helen I believe it is very wrong to be discontented with home but I cannot help it

My dear Helen what do you mean exclaimed Anne quite aghast

Indeed Anne said Helen I do not wonder that you are shocked but you do not know how I feel here At Dykelands I felt that people liked me and were pleased with me but at home nobody wants me nobody cares for me I am in the way wherever I go

My dear Helen cried Anne that must be fancy

I wish it was said poor Helen shaking her head

But only think proceeded Anne what you are accusing them of Not loving you and wishing you away

No I do not say it is as bad as that said Helen but I am sure I am of no use here and might as well be away

I suppose said Anne that you have been so long away as to have lost all your old home occupations and you have not yet had time to make new ones

Perhaps it is so said Helen but I do not think I had any occupations before I went to Dykelands at least none worth having and now I cannot make myself new ones Lizzie does everything and will not let me help her for fear I should do mischief

Now Helen said Anne who had by this time collected her ideas which had been completely startled by her cousins avowal of dislike of home I will tell you what I think Mamma would say to you I think you used to be indolent and waste your senses but now Dykelands has given you a spur and you are very much improved

Do you really think so interrupted Helen who had lately felt quite starved for want of praise

Yes said Anne and so does everyone and so Lizzie told me

Lizzie said Helen I thought she considered me as great a baby as ever

No no my dear said Anne I will tell you what she said of you She said you were almost all she could wish in a sister and that you were quite a reflective creature and that is high praise from her

Well if she thinks so said Helen she does not shew it she is always making game of my opinions and feelings

So she does of almost everyones said Anne but that is no proof that she does not love them

And she will never listen to anything that I say or take interest in anything I care for continued Helen

Indeed Helen you only think so because you do not understand her ways said Anne all last month she could think of nothing but the Consecration and Horaces going to school Now all that is over and you are quiet again after we are gone you will get on capitally together

I am sure she contradicts every word I say said Helen

That is not out of unkindness I assure you said Anne who unfortunately could not deny that such was the fact She only likes an argument which sharpens your wits and does no harm if both sides are but goodhumoured and cheerful She will find you out in time and you will understand her better

Oh Lizzie is delightful when she does not contradict said Helen she is cleverer than anyone I ever saw even than Fanny Staunton and Papa says her patience and diligence with Horace were beyond all praise but I can never be clever enough for her to make me her friend

But you do not think people choose their friends only for their cleverness said Anne

Why no said Helen I do not think they ought but Lizzie does You would not be her friend if you were not clever

Well said Anne but try and convince her that you can be her friend without being clever if you will not allow that you are

Oh said Helen brightening up if Lizzie would but make a friend of me how happy we should be if she would but talk to me of her own concerns and listen to mine But she never chooses to hear me speak of Dykelands

Then said Anne you must remember that she has never been there and does not know the people

Yes said Helen but I think that if she had been there and I at home I should have listened for her sake besides that Mrs Staunton was our own mammas dearest friend

Anne had always thought that her own mother had been Aunt Katherines dearest friend but she had forbearance enough to leave the honour to Mrs Staunton in Helens imagination and answered And for that very reason and for your sake too Helen she will delight to hear about Mrs Staunton when you are quiet together if you do not give her too much at a time or talk of Dykelands when she is thinking of something else Oh yes Helen you and Lizzie will be excellent friends unless you are much more silly than I think either of you

Anne smiled so cheerfully that Helen could not help smiling too but she would probably have found another sorrow to lament over if at this moment Dora had not come up to summon them to their early dinner

Helen felt exceedingly grateful to Anne for having listened so kindly and patiently to her list of grievances It was the first sympathy as she considered that she had met with since she had left Dykelands and it atoned in her mind for various little thoughtless ways of Annes which had wounded her in former years and which she had not perhaps striven sufficiently to banish from her memory and this was a great advantage from this conversation even if she derived no further benefit from it

On her side Anne had some thoughts of telling Elizabeth what Helens feelings really were in hopes that she might shew a little regard for them but sisterless herself she thought the bond of sisterhood too sacred to be rashly interfered with by a strangers hand besides she considered Helens complaints as really confidential if not expressly so and resolved to mention them to no one but Lady Merton and to limit her attempts at being useful to bringing the two sisters before each other in their most amiable light and at any rate to avoid saying anything that could possibly occasion a discussion between them though she could hardly imagine that it was possible to dislike one of the merry arguments that she delighted in However remembering her mothers story of Mrs Staunton she decided that though it was a great misfortune for people to have such strange fancies yet their friends ought to respect them

CHAPTER VII

As soon as dinner was over Elizabeth went up to her own room and was followed in a few moments by Anne who found her putting on her bonnet and cloak Can you be going out in such weather as this exclaimed she

Yes said Elizabeth I must

Let content with my fortunes fit
Though the rain it raineth every day

But what are the fortunes which oblige you to go out said Anne

The fortunes of an old woman to whom Kate or I read every Friday said Elizabeth and the fortunes of various young schoolchildren who must be prepared for Papa or Mr Walker to catechize in Church on Sunday

Why do not you send Kate or Helen instead of murdering yourself in the wet said Anne

Miss Kitty is three inches deep in the mysteries of a spencer I do not mean Edmund said Elizabeth and it will not be out of her head these three days at least not till she has made Mammas old black satin gown into one after Harriets pattern I heard her asking for it as I came upstairs

And would not Helen go said Anne she does not catch cold as easily as you do

Helen has contrived somehow or other said Elizabeth to know no more about the schoolchildren than if they were so many Esquimaux besides anyone with any experience of Helens ways had rather walk ninety miles in the rain than be at the pains of routing her out of the corner of the sofa to do anything useful

Indeed said Anne I think Helen does wish to make herself useful

I dare say she sits still and wishes it in the abstract for I think it must be a very disagreeable thing to reflect that she might as well be that plaster statue for any good that she does said Elizabeth but she grumbles at every individual thing you propose for her to do just as she says she wishes to be a companion to Dora and Winifred yet whenever they wish her to play with them or tell them a story which is all the companionship children of their age understand she is always too much at her ease to be disturbed And now as she is the only person in the house with whom poor Lucy is tolerably at her ease it would be cruel to take her away

That is more of a reason said Anne what a pity it is that Lucy is so shy

Excessive shyness and reserve is what prevents her mother from being able to spoil her said Elizabeth so do not regret it

Still I do not like to see you going out in this way said Anne

I may truly say that rain never hurts me said Elizabeth and if I once let one trifle stop me in these parish matters I shall be stopped for ever and never do anything Perhaps I shall not come back this hour and a half for old Mrs Clayton must be dying to hear all about our Consecration luncheon dinner c and as she is the widow of the last Vicar we are in duty bound to be civil to her and I must go and call upon her Oh you poor thing I forgot how deserted you will be and really the drawingroom is almost uninhabitable with that Bengal tiger in it Here is that delightful Norman Conquest for you to read pray look at the part about Hereward the Saxon

Elizabeth would not trust herself to stay with Anne any longer and ran downstairs and might soon be heard putting up her umbrella and shutting the front door after her

Anne found the afternoon pass rather heavily in spite of the companionship of William the Conqueror and Hereward the Saxon of assisting the children in a wet day game of romps and of shewing Dora and Winifred the contents of the box they had admired the day before Helen and Lucy were sitting at work very comfortably in the corner of the sofa in the inner drawingroom Harriet and Katherine very busy contriving the spencer in the front drawingroom keeping up a whispering accompaniment to the conversation of the elder ladies—if conversation it could be called when Mrs Hazleby had it all to herself while giving Lady Merton and Mrs Woodbourne an account of the discomforts she had experienced in country quarters in Ireland

Sir Edward and Mr Woodbourne were engaged in looking over the accounts of the church in the study and Fido was trying to settle his disputes with Meg Merrilies who with arching back tail erect and eyes like flaming green glass waged a continual war with him over her basket in the hall

Anne was very glad to hear her cousins footstep in the hall as she returned Coming straight to the drawingroom Elizabeth exclaimed Mamma did you tell Mrs Clarke that she might have a frock for Susan

Yes my dear said Mrs Woodbourne she asked me yesterday when you were not near and I told her you would give her one I thought the child looked very ragged

I suppose she must have it said Elizabeth looking much vexed I told her she should not a month ago unless she sent the children to school regularly and they have scarcely been there five days in the last fortnight

I wish I had known it my dear said Mrs Woodbourne you know I am always very sorry to interfere with any of your plans

O Mamma there is no great harm done said Elizabeth She then went to fetch the frock and gave it to the woman with a more gentle and sensible rebuke than could have been expected from the vehemence of her manner towards Mrs Woodbourne a minute before When this was done and she had taken off her bonnet she came to beckon Anne upstairs

So you have finished your labours said Anne taking up her work while Elizabeth sat down to rule a copybook for Winifred

Yes said Elizabeth we are free to sport and play I have read to the old woman and crammed the children and given old Mrs Clayton a catalogue raisonnee of all the company and all their dresses and a bill of fare of our luncheon and dinner and where everything came from

And yet you profess to hold gossip in abomination said Anne

Oh but this is old gossip regular legitimate amusement for the poor old lady said Elizabeth She really is a lady but very badly off and most of the Abbeychurch gentility are too fine to visit her so that a little quiet chat with her is by no means of the commonplace kind Besides she knows and loves us all like her own children It was one of the first pleasures I can remember to gather roses for her and carry them to her from her own old garden here

Well in consideration of all that you say said Anne I suppose I must forgive her for keeping you away all this afternoon

And what did you do all that time said Elizabeth Have you read Hereward and do not you delight in him

Yes said Anne and I want to know whether he is not the father of Cedric of Rotherwood

He must have been his grandfather said Elizabeth Cedric lived a hundred years after

But Cedric remembered Torquilstone before the Normans came said Anne

No no he could not though he had been told what it had been before FrontdeBoeuf altered it said Elizabeth

And old Ulrica was there when FrontdeBoeufs father took it said Anne

I cannot tell how long a hag may live said Elizabeth but she could not have been less than a hundred and thirty years old in the time of Richard CoeurdeLion

CoeurdeLion came to the throne in 1189 said Anne No I suppose Torquil Wolfganger could not have been dispossessed immediately after the Conquest But then you know Ulrica calls Cedric the son of the great Hereward

Her wits were a little out of order said Elizabeth either she meant his grandson or Sir Walter Scott made as great an anachronism as when he made that same Ulrica compare Rebeccas skin to paper If she had said parchment it would not have been such a compliment

How much interest Ivanhoe makes us take in the Saxons and Normans said Anne

And what nonsense it is to say that works of fiction give a distaste for history said Elizabeth

You are an instance to the contrary said Anne no one loves stories so well and no one loves history better

I believe such stories as Ivanhoe were what taught me to like history said Elizabeth

In order to find out the anachronisms in them said Anne I think it is very ungrateful of you

No indeed said Elizabeth why they used to be the only history I knew and almost the only geography Do not you remember Aunt Annes laughing at me for arguing that Bohemia was on the Baltic because Perdita was left on its coast And now I believe that Coeur de Lion feasted with Robin Hood and his merry men although history tells me that he disliked and despised the English and the only sentence of their language history records of his uttering was He speaks like a fool Briton I believe that Queen Margaret of Anjou haunted the scenes of grandeur that once were hers and that she lived to see the fall of Charles of Burgundy and die when her last hope failed her though I know that it was not so

Then I do not quite see how such stories have taught you to like history said Anne

They teach us to realize and understand the people whom we find in history said Elizabeth

Oh yes said Anne who would care for Louis the eleventh if it was not for Quentin Durward and Shakespeare makes us feel as if we had been at the battle of Shrewsbury

Yes said Elizabeth and they have done even more for history They have taught us to imagine other heroes whom they have not mentioned Cannot you see the Black Prince his slight graceful figure his fair delicate face full of gentleness and kindness—fierce warrior as he is—his black steel helmet and tippet of chainmail his clustering white plume his surcoat with Englands leopards and Frances lilies Cannot you make a story of his long constant attachment to his beautiful cousin the Fair Maid of Kent Cannot you imagine his courteous conference with Bertrand du Guesclin the brave ugly Breton—Edward lying almost helpless on his couch broken down with suffering and disappointment and the noble affectionate Captal de Buch who died of grief for him thinking whether he will ever be able to wear his black armour again and carry terror and dismay to the stoutest hearts of France

Give Froissart some of the credit of your picture said Anne

Froissart is in some places like Sir Walter himself said Elizabeth but now I will tell you of a person who lived in no days of romance and has not had the advantage of a poetical historian to light him up in our imagination I mean the great Prince of Conde Now though he is very unlike Shakespeares Coriolanus yet there is resemblance enough between them to make the comparison very amusing There was much of Coriolanus indomitable pride and horror of mob popularity when he offended Beaufort and his kingdom in the halles when though as Louis de Bourbon he refused to do anything to shake the power of the throne he would not submit to be patronized by the mean fawning Mazarin Not that the hardhearted Conde would have listened to his wife and mother even if he had loved them as Coriolanus did or that his arrogance did not degenerate into wonderful meanness at last such as Coriolanus would have scorned but the parallel was very amusing and gave me a great interest in Conde And did you ever observe what a great likeness there is in the characters of the two apostates Julian and Frederick the Great

Then you like history for the sake of comparing the characters mentioned in it said Anne

I think so said Elizabeth and that is the reason I hate abridgements the mere bare bones of history I cannot bear dry facts such as that Charles the Fifth beat Francis the First at Pavia in a war for the duchy of Milan and nothing more told about them I am always ready to say as the Grand Seignior did about some such great battle among the Christians that I do not care whether the dog bites the hog or the hog bites the dog

What a kind interest in your fellowcreatures you display said Anne I think one reason why I like history is because I am searching out all the characters who come up to my notion of perfect chivalry or rather of Christian perfection I am making a book of true knights I copy their portraits when I can find them and write the names of those whose likenesses I cannot get I paint their armorial bearings over them when I can find out what they are and I have a great red cross in the first page

And I will tell you of something else to put at the beginning said Elizabeth a branch of laurel entwined with the beautiful white bindweed One of our laurels was covered with wreaths of it last year and I thought it was a beautiful emblem of a purehearted hero The glaring sun which withers the fair white spotless flower is like worldly prosperity spoiling the pure simple mind and you know how often it is despised and torn away from the laurel to which it is so bright an ornament

Yes said Anne it clings more safely and fearlessly round the simplest and most despised of plants And would you call the little pink bindweed childish innocence

No I do not think I should said Elizabeth it is not sufficiently stainless But then innocence from not seeing or knowing what is wrong is not like the guilelessness which can use the world as not abusing it

Yet Adam and Eve fell when they gained the knowledge of good and evil said Anne

Yes because they gained their knowledge by doing evil said Elizabeth but you must allow that what is tried and not found wanting is superior to what has failed only because it has had no trial St Johns Day is placed nearer Christmas than that of the Holy Innocents

And St John knew what evil was said Anne yes you are right there

You speak as if you still had some fault to find with me Anne said Elizabeth

No indeed I have not said Anne I quite agree with you it was only your speaking of knowledge of evil us a kind of advantage that startled me

Because you think knowledge and discernment my idol said Elizabeth but we have wandered far away from my white convolvulus and I have not done with it yet When autumn came and the leaves turned bright yellow it was a golden crown

But there your comparison ends said Anne the laurel ought to vanish away and leave the golden wreath behind

No said Elizabeth call the golden wreath the crown of glory on the brow of the old saintlike hero and remember that when he dies the immortality the world prizes is that of the coarse evergreen laurel and no one dreams of his white wreath

I wish you would make a poem of your comparison for the beginning of my book of chivalry said Anne

It will not do said Elizabeth I am no poet besides if I wished to try just consider what a name the flower has—convolvulus a prosaic dragging botanical term a mile long Then bindweed only reminds me of smothered and fettered raspberry bushes and a great hoe Lily as the country people call it is not distinguishing enough besides that no one ever heard of a climbing lily But Anne do tell me whom you have in your book of knights I know of a good many in the real heroic age but tell me some of the later ones

Lord Exmouth said Anne I am sure he was a true knight

And the Vendeen leaders I suppose said Elizabeth

Yes I have written the names of M de Lescure and of Henri de la Rochejaquelein I wish I knew where to find their pictures and I want a Prussian patriot I think the Baron de la Motte Fouque who was a Knight of St John and who thought so much of true chivalry would come in very well

I do not know anything about himself said Elizabeth though certainly no one but a true knight could have written Sintram I am afraid there was no leader good enough for you among the Spanish patriots in the Peninsular war

I do not know said Anne I admire Don Jose Palafox for his defence of Zaragoza but I know nothing more of him and there is no chance of my getting his portrait I am in great want of Cameron of Lochiel or Lord Nithsdale or Derwentwater for Claverhouse is the only Jacobite leader I can find a portrait of and I am afraid the blood of the Covenanters is a blot on his escutcheon a stain on his white wreath

I am sorry you have nothing to say to bonnie Dundee said Elizabeth for really between the Whiggery and stupidity of England and the wickedness of France good people are scarce from Charles the Martyr to George the Third How I hate that part of history Oh but there were Prince Eugene and the Vicomte de Turenne

Prince Eugene behaved very well to Marlborough in his adversity said Anne but I do not like people to take affront and abandon their native country

Oh but Savoy was more his country than France said Elizabeth however I do not know enough about him to make it worth while to fight for him

And as to Turenne said Anne I do not like the little I know of him he was horribly cruel was he not

Oh every soldier was cruel in those days said Elizabeth it was the custom of their time and they could not help it

Anne shook her head

Then you will be forced to give up my beloved Black Prince continued Elizabeth piteously you know he massacred the people at Limoges

I cannot do without him said Anne he was ill and very much exasperated at the time and I choose to believe that the massacre was commanded by John of Gaunt

And I choose to believe that all the cruelties of the French were by the express order of Louis Quatorze said Elizabeth you cannot be hard on a man who gave all his money and offered to pawn his plate to bring Charles the Second back to England

I must search and consider said Anne I will hunt him out when I go home and if we have a print of him and if he is tolerably goodlooking I will see what I can do with him

You have Lodges portraits said Elizabeth so you are well off for Cavaliers do you mean to take Prince Rupert in compliment to your brother

No he is not good enough I am afraid said Anne though besides our own Vandyke there is a most tempting print of him in Lodge with a buff coat and worked ruffles but though I used to think him the greatest of heroes I have given him up and mean to content myself with Charles himself the two Lindsays Ormond and Strafford Derby and Capel and Sir Ralph Hopton

And Montrose and the Marquis of Winchester said Elizabeth you must not forget the noblest of all

I only forgot to mention them said Anne I could not leave them out The only difficulty is whom to choose among the Cavaliers

And who comes next said Elizabeth

Gustavus Adolphus and Sir Philip Sydney

Do not mention them together they are no pair said Elizabeth What a pity it was that Sir Philip was a euphuist

Forgive him for that failing in consideration of his speech at Zutphen said Anne

Only that speech is so hackneyed and commonplace said Elizabeth I am tired of it

The deed was not commonplace said Anne

No and dandyism was as entirely the fault of his time as cruelty was of Turennes said Elizabeth Sir Walter Raleigh was worse than Sydney and Surrey quite as bad to judge by his picture

It is not quite as bad a fault as cruelty said Anne little as you seem to think of the last

Now comes the chivalric age said Elizabeth never mind telling me all the names only say who is the first of your heroes—neither Orlando nor Sir Galahad I suppose

No nor Huon de Bordeaux said Anne

The Cid then I suppose said Elizabeth unless he is too fierce for your tender heart

Ruy mi Cid Campeador said Anne I must have him in consideration of his noble conduct to the King who banished him and the speech the ballad gives him

For vassals vengeance on their lord
     Though just is treason still
The noblest blood is his who best
     Bears undeserved ill

And the loyalty he shewed in making the King clear himself of having any share in his brothers death even though Alphonso was silly enough to be affronted

Like Montroses feeling towards his ladylove said Elizabeth not bearing the least stain on what he loved or honoured

But he is not our earliest knight said Anne I begin with our own Alfred with his blue shield and golden cross

King Alfred exclaimed Elizabeth do you consider him a knight

Certainly said Anne besides that I care more for the spirit of chivalry than for the etiquette of the accolade and golden spurs we know that Alfred knighted his grandson Athelstane so that he must have been a knight himself

Bythebye said Elizabeth I think I have found out the origin of the golden spurs being part of a knights equipment Do you remember when the Cids beloved king Don Sancho was killed that Rodrigo could not overtake the traitor Bellido Dolfos because he had no spurs on whereupon he cursed every knight who should for the future ride without them Now that was at the time when the laws of chivalry were attaining their perfection but—

Not so fast said Anne I have a much earlier pair of golden spurs for you Do not you remember Edmund the last King of East Anglia being betrayed to the Danish weddingparty at Hoxne by the glitter of his golden spurs and cursing every new married pair who should ever pass over the bridge where he was found I think that makes for my side of the question Here is Edmund a knight in golden spurs when Alfred was a child Ah ha Miss Lizzie

Before Elizabeth could answer Winifred came to tell her that her mamma wanted her and she was forced to leave the question of King Alfreds and King Edmunds chivalry undecided for to her praise be it spoken she was much too useful a person ever to be able to pursue her own peculiar diversions for many minutes together She had to listen to some directions and undertake some messages so that she could not return to her own room till after Anne had gone downstairs She herself was not ready till just as the elders were setting off to the dinnerparty at Marlowe Court and rejoicing in the cessation of the rain and the fineness of the evening

About half an hour afterwards the young ladies assembled in the inner drawingroom to drink tea Helen however remained in the outer drawingroom practising her music regardless of the sounds of mirth that proceeded from the other room until Elizabeth opened the door calling out

Sweet bird that shunnest the noise of folly
Most musical most melancholy
come in to tea so please your highness

What can you mean said Helen I am sure I am not melancholy

I am sure you shun the noise of folly said Elizabeth

I am sorry you consider all our merriment as folly said Anne hoping to save Helen

Indeed I do not said Elizabeth it was no more folly than a kittens play and quite as much in the natural course of things

Helens occupation being out of the natural course of things said Anne I should think she was better employed than we were

In making a noise said Elizabeth so were we I do not see much difference

O Lizzie it was not the same thing said Helen exceedingly mortified at being laughed at for what she considered as a heroic piece of selfdenial and so it was though perhaps not so great in her as it would have been in one who was less musical and more addicted to the noise of folly

How touchy Helen is this evening thought Elizabeth I had better let her alone both for her sake and my own

How foolish I was to interfere thought Anne it was the most awkward thing I ever did I only roused the spirit of contradiction and did Helen more harm than good I never will meddle between sisters again

Presently after Elizabeth asked Harriet Hazleby whether she had ever been at Winchester

Yes was the answer and a duller place I would not wish to see

It is a handsome old town is it not inquired Anne turning to Lucy but Harriet caught up the word and exclaimed Handsome indeed I do not think there is one tolerable new looking street in the whole place except one or two houses just up by the railroad station

Anne still looked towards Lucy as if awaiting her answer Lucy replied The Cathedral and College and the old gateways are very beautiful but there are not so many old looking houses as you would expect

It must be badly off indeed said Elizabeth if it has neither old houses nor new but I wanted to know whether William Rufus monument is in a tolerable state of preservation

Oh the monuments are very grand indeed said Harriet everyone admired them There are the heads of some of the old kings most beautifully painted put away in a dark corner They are very curious things indeed I wonder they do not bring them out

Those are the heads of the Stuart kings whispered Lucy

Why Harriet exclaimed Dora William Rufus was not a Stuart he was the second of the Normans

Very likely very likely Dora my dear answered Harriet I have done with all those things now thank goodness I only know that seeing the Cathedral was good fun I did not like going into the crypts I said I would not go when I saw how dark it was and Frank Hollis said I should and it was such fun

Dora opened her eyes very wide and Elizabeth said There could certainly never be a better time or place

Looking up she saw poor Lucys burning cheeks and was sorry she had not been silent No one spoke for a few moments but presently Anne said Alfred the Great is not buried in the Cathedral is he

No one could tell at last Helen said I remember reading that he was buried in Hyde Abbey which is now pulled down

There is a street at Winchester called Hyde Street said Lucy

Yes I know said Harriet where the Bridewell is I remember—

Bythebye Anne said Elizabeth anxious to cut short Harriets reminiscences I never answered what you said about Alfred and Athelstane I do not think that Alfred did more than present him with his sword which was always solemnly done even to squires before they were allowed to fight and might be done by a priest

But when Athelstane is called a knight and the ceremony of presenting him with his weapons is mentioned said Anne I cannot see why we should not consider him to have been really knighted

Because said Elizabeth I do not think that the old Saxon word knight meant the sworn champion the devoted warrior of noble birth which it now expresses You know Canutes old rhyme says Row to the shore knights as if they were boatmen and not gentlemen

I do not think it could have been beneath the dignity of a knight to row Canute said Anne considering that eight kings rowed Edgar the Peaceable

Other things prove that Knight meant a servant in Saxon said Elizabeth

I know it does sometimes as in German now said Anne but the question is when it acquired a meaning equivalent in dignity to the French Chevalier

Though it properly means anything but a horseman said Elizabeth we ought to have a word answering to the German Ritter

Yes our language was spoilt by being mixed with French before it had come to its perfection said Anne but still you have not proved that King Alfred was not a knight in the highest sense of the word a preux chevalier

I never heard of Alfred on horseback nor did I ever know him called Sir Alfred of Wessex

Sir is French and short for seigneur or senior said Anne besides I suppose you never heard CoeurdeLion called Sir Richard Plantagenet

I will tell you how you may find out all about it interrupted Katherine Mrs Turners nephew Mr Augustus Mills is going to give a lecture this evening at seven oclock upon chivalry and all that Mrs Turner has been telling us all day how much she wishes us to go

Mr Augustus Mills said Elizabeth is he the little redhaired wretch who used to pester me about dancing all last year

No no said Katherine that was Mr Adolphus Mills his brother who is gone to be clerk to an attorney somewhere This is Mr Augustus a very fine young man and so clever Willie says and he has most beautiful curling black hair

It wants a quarter to seven now said Elizabeth and the sky is most beautifully clear at last Do you like the thoughts of this lecture Anne

I should like to go very much indeed said Anne but first I must go and seal and send some letters for Mamma so I must depart while you finish your tea So saying she left the room

Pray Kate said Helen as Anne closed the door where is this lecture to be given

At the Mechanics Institute of course said Katherine

So we cannot go said Helen

And pray why not my sapient sister said Elizabeth what objection has your high mightiness

My dear Lizzie said Helen I wish you had heard all that I have heard at Dykelands about Mechanics Institutes

My dear Helen said Elizabeth I wish you would learn that Dykelands is no Delphos to me

Nay but my dearest sister exclaimed Helen clasping her hands do but listen to me I am sure that harm will come of your going

Well ope your lips Sir Oracle said Elizabeth impatiently no dog shall bark only make haste about it or we shall be too late

Do you not know Lizzie said Helen that Socialists often hold forth in Mechanics Institutes

The abuse of a thing does not cancel its use said Elizabeth and I do not suppose that Mr Mills preaches Socialism

Captain Atherley says persisted Helen that all sorts of people ought not to mix themselves up together on equal terms

Oh then he never goes to church retorted Elizabeth

No no that was only my foolish way of expressing myself said Helen I meant that he says that it is wrong for Church people to put themselves on a level with Dissenters or Infidels or Socialists for aught they know to the contrary

Since you have been in the north Helen said Elizabeth you have thought every third man you met a Chartist or a Socialist but as I do not believe there are specimens of either kind in Abbeychurch I see no harm in taking our chance of the very few Dissenters there are here and sitting to hear a lecture in company with our own townspeople

Really I think we had better not go without asking leave first said Katherine

In the first place said Elizabeth there is no one to ask and next I know that Mrs Turner has offered hundreds of times to take us there and I suppose Papa would have refused once for all if he had been so very much afraid of our turning Chartists as Helen seems to be I can see no reason why we should not go

Then you consider my opinion as utterly worthless cried Helen losing all command of temper which indeed she had preserved longer than could have been expected I might have known it you never care for one word I say You will repent it at last I know you will

It is not that I never care for what you say Helen said Elizabeth it is only when you give me Dykelands opinions instead of your own and talk of what you do not understand I suppose no one has any objection to a walk at least Shall we get ready

Everyone consented and they went to prepare It should be said in excuse for Elizabeth that both she and Helen had been absent from home at the time of the establishment of the Mechanics Institute at Abbeychurch so that they had not known of their fathers opposition to it Helen who when at Dykelands had been nearer the manufacturing districts had heard more of the follies and mischiefs committed by some of the favourers of these institutions Unfortunately however her temper had prevented her from reasoning calmly and Elizabeth had wilfully blinded herself and shut her ears to conviction being determined to follow her own course Anne who had always lived at Merton Hall excepting two months of each year which she spent in London knew nothing of country town cabals and thinking the lecture was of the same nature as those she had heard in London asked no questions as she had not heard the debate between Elizabeth and Helen Katherine however hesitated to go without the permission of her father and mother or, in other words, she was afraid they would reprove her and she was not unwilling to listen to Helens representations on the subject while they were putting on their bonnets

It is not only said Helen that we are sure that it is not right to go anywhere without leave from Papa or Mamma but that I know that these Mechanics Institutes are part of a system of—

Oh yes I know said Katherine of Chartism and Socialism and all that is horrible I cannot imagine how Lizzie can think of going

Then you will not go said Helen

Oh I do not know said Katherine it will seem so odd and so particular if Anne and Lizzie and the Hazlebys go and we do not. It would be like setting ourselves up against our elders

You do not always think much of that Kate said Helen besides if our eldest sister thinks proper to do wrong I do not see that we are forced to do so too

Well but Lizzie said it was not wrong and she is the eldest argued Katherine

Lizzie said it was not wrong that she might have her own way and contradict me said Helen

We shall see what Anne says said Katherine but if they go I must you know It was to me that Mrs Turner gave the invitation and she and Willie would think it so odd to see the others without me and Mr Mills too he said so very politely that he hoped that he should be honoured with my presence and Harriets it would be an additional stimulus to his exertions he said

My dear Kate exclaimed Helen how could you listen to such affected nonsense

Why Lizzie says everybody talks nonsense said Katherine but we must listen and be civil you know I am sure I wish people would not be so silly it is very disagreeable to hear it but I cannot help it and after this I really think I ought to go it would be very odd if I did not

Better do what is odd than what is wrong said Helen

In her secret soul Katherine had been of the same opinion the whole time and now that she thought she had made a sufficient merit of giving up the expedition she was about to promise to follow Helens advice when she was interrupted by the entrance of Harriet with her shawl and bonnet in her hand coming to gossip with Katherine and thus escape from Lucy who had been quietly suggesting that in a doubtful case such as the present seemed to be it was always best to keep to the safe side Harriet had laughed at Lucy for not being able to give any reasons told her that it was plain that Helen knew nothing about the matter and declared that she thanked goodness that if Mr Woodbourne was ever so angry he was not her master and her own mamma never minded what she did Lucy could make no answer in words but her silent protest against her sisters conduct made Harriet so uneasy that she quitted her as soon as she could

Helen still hoped that Anne would see the folly of the scheme and persuade Elizabeth to give it up and content herself with taking a walk or that her sisters better sense would prevail but she was disappointed when as they left the house Anne asked where the lecture was to be given Elizabeth replied At the Mechanics Institute and no further observation was made Annes silence confirming Elizabeth in her idea that Helen had been talking nonsense Still as St Martins Street where Mr Turner lived was their way out of the town Helen remained in doubt respecting her sisters intentions until they reached Mr Turners house and Elizabeth walked up the steps and knocked at the door

Helen immediately wheeled round and walked indignantly homewards too full of her own feelings to make any attempt to persuade Katherine to follow her example and every step shewing how grieved and affronted she was

Lucy laid her hand on her sisters arm and looked up imploringly in her face

Pooh said Harriet pettishly jerking the ribbon by which she was leading Fido give me one reason Lucy and I will come

What Helen said answered Lucy

Stuff and nonsense said Harriet that was no reason at all

What did Helen say asked Anne who had been rather startled by her departure

Only some Dykelands fancies about Socialists said Elizabeth that is the reason she has gone off like a tragedy queen I did not think all Abbeychurch was ready for the French Revolution—that was all

There Lucy you see said Harriet come along theres a good girl

Here Mrs Turners page opened the door and answered that his mistress was at home

Dora my dear said Elizabeth this is too late an affair for you we shall not be at home till after you are gone to bed Goodnight—run after Helen

Dora obeyed and Lucy also turned away Katherine lingered Come Kate said Harriet mounting the steps —Lucy you nonsensical girl come back everyone can see you out of the window it is very rude now if Mrs Turner sees you what will she think Mamma would be very angry to see you so silly Come back I tell you

Lucy only looked back and shook her head and then hastened away but Katherine fearing that her friends would be irrecoverably offended if she turned away from their house thinking that she had gone too far to recede and trusting to Elizabeth to shield her from blame followed the others upstairs

Helen turned back much surprised as Lucy and Dora overtook her and they hastened to give explanations

Lizzie said I had better come home said Dora

And I thought it would be the safest thing to do said Lucy

I am very glad of it said Helen I am sure it is not right to go but when Lizzie has once set her mind on anything she will listen to no one

Then do you think Papa and Mamma will be displeased said Dora I do not think Lizzie thinks so

I cannot be quite sure said Helen but I do not think Lizzie chooses to believe that they will

But let me understand you Helen said Lucy I only know that you think that Uncle Woodbourne would not approve of your going What are your reasons for thinking so I did not clearly understand you Churchpeople and Dissenters put themselves on a level in almost every public place

They do not meet in every public place on what they agree to call neutral ground said Helen or profess to lay aside all such distinctions and to banish religion in order to avoid raising disputes You know that no subject can be safely treated of except with reference to the Christian religion

How do you mean said Lucy

Why said Helen hesitating a little how many people run wild and adopt foolish and wicked views of politics for want of reading history religiously And the astronomers and geologists without faith question the possibility of the first chapter of Genesis and some people fancy that the world was peopled with a great tribe of wild savages instead of believing all about Adam and Eve and the Patriarchs Now if you turn religion out you see you are sure to fall into false notions and that is what these Mechanics Institute people do

Yes said Lucy I have heard what you say about those things before but I never saw them in connection with each other

Nor should I have seen them in this light if it had not been for a conversation between Captain Atherly and another gentleman one day at Dykelands said Helen But Lucy did you leave this party then only because I said it was wrong or because you thought so yourself

Indeed I can hardly tell answered Lucy I scarcely know what to think right and what wrong but I thought I might be certain that it was safer to go home

I do not see said Helen drawing herself up and feeling as if she had done a very wise thing and known her reasons for doing it too I do not see that it is so very hard to know what is right from what is wrong It is the easiest way to think what Papa and Mamma would approve and then try to recollect what reasons they would give

But then you are not always sure of what they would say replied Lucy at least I am not and it is not always possible to ask them What did you do all the time you were at Dykelands

Oh dear Mrs Staunton was quite a mother to me said Helen and besides it was as easy to think what would please Papa there as it is here You were from home for some time last year were you not Lucy

Yes replied Lucy I spent several months at Hastings with Grandmamma and I am almost ashamed to say that I felt more comfortable there than anywhere else I liked being by the sea and having a garden and being out of the way of the officers Papa and Grandmamma talked of my always living there and I hoped I should but then I should not have liked to leave Papa and the rest and not to be at home in my brothers holidays so I believe things are best as they are

How you must wish to have a home said Helen

Do not you think that home is wherever your father and mother and brothers and sisters are Helen said Lucy

Oh yes certainly said Helen quickly but I meant a settled home

I do sometimes wish we were settled said Lucy but I have been used to wandering all my life and do not mind it as much as you would perhaps We scarcely stay long enough in one place to get attached to it and some places are so disagreeable that it is a pleasure to leave them

Such as those in Ireland that Mrs Hazleby was talking of yesterday said Helen

I did not mind those half so much as I do some others said Lucy we could easily get into the country and I used to walk with Papa every day or ride when Harriet did not want the horse It was rather uncomfortable for we were very much crowded when George and Allan were at home but then they had leave to shoot and fish and enjoyed themselves very much

Really Lucy said Helen I cannot think how you can be so very contented

I did not know there was anything to be discontented with said Lucy smiling I am sure I am very happy

But what did you say just now you disliked said Helen

Did I say I disliked anything said Lucy Oh I know what it was I do not like going to a large town where we can only walk in the streets and go out shopping every day and the boys have nothing to amuse them And it is worst of all to go to a place where Papa and Mamma have been before and know all the people we go out to tea half the days we are there or to dinner or have company at home and I never get a quiet evenings reading with Papa and Allan has a very great dislike to company

As Lucy finished her speech they came to the Vicarage and as they opened the door Meg Merrilies came purring out to meet Dora They looked round for Fido in order to keep the peace between the two enemies but he was nowhere to be seen and Dora remembered to have seen him with Harriet just as they left the rest of the party at Mr Turners door so dismissing him from their minds they went to finish their walk in the garden where Helen gave Lucy a full description of all the beauties of Dykelands and the perfections of its inhabitants and finding her an attentive and obliging listener talked herself into a state of most uncommon good humour and amiability for the rest of the evening On her side Lucy though she had no particular interest in the Stauntons and indeed had never heard their name before Helens visit to them was really pleased and amused for she had learnt to seek her pleasures in the happiness of other people

CHAPTER VIII

If Helen had not been too much offended by Elizabeths disregard of her counsel to think of anything but her own dignity and had waited to remind Katherine of her argument with her the latter might perhaps have taken the safest course for it was not without many qualms of conscience that she ascended the stairs to Mrs Turners drawingroom

There was no one in the room and as soon as the page had closed the door Elizabeth exclaimed I declare Anne there is the bone of contention itself—St Augustine in his own person Oh look at King Ethelberts square blue eye and Kate is not this St Austins Hill itself in the distance

Nonsense Lizzie said Katherine crossly you know it is no such thing It was in the pattern

I assure you it is round and exactly the colour of St Austins said Elizabeth there can be no doubt about it

Elizabeths criticisms were here cut short by the entrance of Mrs Turner and her daughter ready dressed for the evenings excursion

Mrs Turner said Elizabeth with all the politeness she was capable of towards that lady we are come to claim your kind offer of taking us to the Mechanics Institute this evening

Oh my dear Miss Lizzie cried Mrs Turner I am so delighted to have the honour you cannot think It is my nephew Augustus Mills who lectures tonight Most talented young man poor fellow is Augustus—never without a book in his hand quite in your line Miss Lizzie

At this moment the gentleman quite in Elizabeths line came into the room He had a quantity of bushy black hair a long gold chain round his neck a plaid velvet waistcoat in which scarlet was the predominant colour—and his whole air expressed full consciousness of the distinguished part which he was about to act Poor Elizabeth little reliance as she usually placed in Katherines descriptions she had expected to see something a little more gentlemanlike than what she now beheld and her dismay was increased when Mrs Turner addressed her nephew—Augustus Augustus my dear you never were so flattered in your life Here is Miss Merton and Miss Hazleby and Miss Lizzie Woodbourne all come on purpose to hear your lecture

Mr Augustus said something about being very happy and bowed but whether to the young ladies or to his own reflection in the lookingglass was doubtful He was then regularly introduced to Anne and Elizabeth and upon Mr Turner making his appearance they arranged themselves for the walk to the Mechanics Institute Mr Turner a fat silent old gentleman very ceremoniously offered his arm to Miss Merton who though by this time exceedingly amazed and disgusted by all she saw and heard could scarcely refrain from laughing at the airs and graces of her squire or at the horror she plainly perceived in Elizabeths face when the talking Mrs Turner exclaimed Now Augustus I must have you take Miss Woodbourne—I know you will be such friends

Little did Mrs Turner suspect as in the overflowing of her pride and delight she bestowed upon Elizabeth the hero of the night the mingled feeling of shame and repugnance which the poor girl had to encounter as she placed her hand within the offered arm of Mr Mills almost groaning at her own folly and vainly seeking some possible means of escape Mrs Turner followed with Harriet and Katherine and Wilhelmina brought up the rear

You are very fond of study I believe Miss Woodbourne said Mr Mills as they left the house

Elizabeth made some inarticulate answer she was in the utmost dread of meeting either of the curates or worse still her cousin Rupert Merton if he should chance to arrive that evening

Most interesting pursuit continued Mr Mills wishing to shew his aunt how well he and his companion agreed I am quite devoted to it always was You are a classical scholar I presume

Elizabeth was ready to wish she had never learnt to read she fancied she saw a figure like Ruperts at the other end of the street and was too much frightened to reply

While they were traversing one street of the old town crossing the bridge over the little stream which flowed along the valley and walking along the principal street of the new town Mr Mills continued to talk and Elizabeth to echo the last word of each sentence or when that would not serve for a reply she had recourse to the simple interjection Oh that last refuge of listeners with nothing to say After a walk which she thought was at least as many miles in length as it was yards they arrived at the Mechanics Institute outside which they found sundry loiterers and a strong scent of tobacco and inside some crowded benches a table with some chairs ranged round it and a strong odour of gas

After a good deal of pushing and shoving the ladies were safely deposited on one of the front benches while Mr Turner who was one of the managing committee seated himself on one of the chairs and Mr Augustus Mills stood at the table

Elizabeth felt as if the crimson flush called up by vexation and embarrassment together with her hasty walk would never leave her cheeks she held her head down till Katherine touched her to make her look up and trusting that her bonnet would screen her heightened colour from observation she obeyed the sign A flaring gaslight hung opposite to her and as she raised her face she encountered the gaze of Mr Higgins the Radical and Dissenting editor of a newspaper which had several times abused Mr Woodbourne The moment he caught her eye he bowed with something of a triumphant air and she doubly ashamed of herself and provoked with him bent her head so low that he might well imagine that she returned the bow She hoped by looking down to escape all further observation but unfortunately for her Mrs Turner had taken care to find a conspicuous place for her party and Katherine who had by this time quite forgotten her doubts and misgivings was nodding and smiling to everyone with what she considered the utmost grace and affability Anne meanwhile was trying to account for Elizabeths ever having thought of going to such a place wondering what Sir Edward and Lady Merton would think of the expedition and for a moment considering whether Mr Woodbourne could approve of it yet at the same time keenly enjoying all that was ludicrous in the scene and longing to talk it over with Rupert She was also much diverted with Mr Augustus Millss eloquent lecture in which she afterwards declared that she heard the words barbarous institution fifteen times repeated and civilized and enlightened age at least twentythree times She was however not a little fatigued before it was nearly concluded and was heartily glad when after an hour and a half it was terminated by a mighty flourish of rhetoric upon the universal toleration civilization and liberty enjoyed in the nineteenth century

Deafened by the applause of those who had heard little and understood less half stifled by the heat of the room and their heads aching from the smell of gas the girls now hoped to escape but they were forced to wait till the crowd nearer the door had dispersed and then to listen to the numerous compliments and congratulations which poured in upon Mrs Turner from all quarters before they could reach the open air and then strenuously refusing all invitations to take tea in St Martins Street they happily regained the Vicarage Helen and Lucy met them at the door with hopes that they had had a pleasant evening

Elizabeth answered quickly Come come say no more about it it was a foolish affair altogether but the inquiry after the feelings she had seen expressed in Elizabeths face struck Anne as so excessively ridiculous that the moment they were in the drawingroom she sank down upon the sofa giving way to the laughter which long repressed now burst forth louder and more merrily upon every fresh remembrance of the scene while the other girls though persisting in declaring that they had seen nothing diverting were soon infected by her joyous merriment and the room rang again with laughter

Well Lizzie said Anne recovering her breath I hope as Helen says you have had a pleasant evening I hope you were very much edified

How can you be so absurd Anne answered Elizabeth trying to look serious but the corners of her mouth relaxing in spite of her attempts to control her risible muscles

I hope continued Anne with a very grave face that Mr Augustus was fully sensible of your wisdom love of erudition and classical scholarship though I cannot say they appeared on the surface

You may be sure he thought me very wise said Elizabeth I only echoed his own words—and what would a man have more

And how tenderly you touched him with the tip of your glove continued Anne I wish you could have seen yourself

Indeed I wish you had Lizzie said Katherine I think you would have been ashamed of yourself

I am ashamed said Elizabeth gravely and shortly

Lucy here asked where Fido was

No one knew no one could recollect anything about him from the time they had left Mr Turners house to go to the Mechanics Institute Katherine and Harriet went to the front door they called they searched they even went to Mr Turners to inquire for him but all their researches were fruitless and Harriet turned angrily upon her sister saying It is all your fault Lucy for running home in such a hurry and never thinking of him How was I to be watching him there did you think

I should have supposed said Elizabeth that the person who was leading the dog was more likely—

No no Elizabeth hastily interrupted Lucy it was my fault in some degree I know I ought to have thought of him

Well say no more about him said Elizabeth I dare say he will come home before morning

And Elizabeth left the room to take off her bonnet and to visit the nursery where the children were in bed All were asleep excepting Dora and as Elizabeth leant over her kissing her and bidding her goodnight the little girl put her arm round her neck and said Lizzie will you tell me one thing Was it naughty to—to go where you went tonight

Elizabeth had felt annoyed and provoked and surprised at herself for her folly but she had not thought herself in fault but now Doras soft sweet caressing tone sounded in her ears like a serious reproof and turned her thought upon her sin She was too upright and sincere to evade such an inquiry as this even from a younger sister and a pupil and answered Indeed Dora I can hardly tell yet how wrong it was but I am afraid it was very wrong for I am sure it is a thing I hope you will never do Besides I know I was very selfwilled and unkind to Helen I have set you a very bad example Dora and I believe I ought to beg your pardon for it Goodnight my dear

Was Elizabeth lowered in her sisters eyes by humbling herself

Just as the girls were arranging themselves in the drawingroom for the evening a loud knocking was heard at the frontdoor and Harriet and Anne both sprang up—the one exclaiming Someone has brought Fido back—the other Can that be Rupert

The last supposition was proved to be right and in another moment Rupert Merton was receiving the affectionate greetings of his sister and cousins Elizabeth felt some embarrassment in performing a regular introduction of Mr Merton to the Miss Hazlebys but Ruperts easy wellbred manners rendered the formidable ceremony much easier than she had expected and the cousins soon fell into their usual style of conversation

Well Mr Rupert said Elizabeth better late than never that is all that can be said for you

Am I late said Rupert I hope no one has waited for me

I hope not indeed said Elizabeth pray did you expect the Bishop and Clergy and the whole town of Abbeychurch St Mary and St Austin to wait your pleasure and convenience Anne did you ever hear the like Do you think Prince Rupert himself was ever so favoured and honoured

What do you mean said Rupert

That you have come a day too late you idle boy said Anne

I thought next Tuesday was to have been the day of the Consecration said Rupert

Did you never get my letter said Anne I wrote to tell you that the day was altered and you were to meet us here on the Wednesday

Can I ask you to believe a gentlemans word in opposition to a ladys said Rupert looking round I did indeed receive a letter from my amiable sister full of—let me see—histories of dogs and cats and the harvest and old Dame Philips and commissions for pencils which I will produce if I have not lost the key of my portmanteau but not one word of the Consecration

But indeed I wrote a good many words about it said Anne have you the letter Rupert

Have I the letter cried Rupert Young ladies did you ever hear of such overweening presumption Here is a damsel who expects her scraps of angular writing to be preserved with as much care as the Golden Bulls of the Pope

That is to say you burnt it without reading it said Anne

The former part of your supposition is true sweet sister mine replied Rupert not knowing what spells it might contain seeing that Miss Mertons caligraphy is more like the cabalistic characters of a sorceress than the Italianhand of a gentle demoiselle I exorcised it—I committed it to the devouring element

Without turning over the second page of the second piece of notepaper I suppose said Anne

How was I ever to suppose that anyone would write a letter for the purpose of giving me an important piece of information said Rupert and then put the pith of it in a place where no one would ever dream of looking No Lady Elizabeth if by my absence your feast has lost its brightest ornament its wittiest and wisest cavalier it is this sister of mine whom you must accuse

It was really not a little provoking to be blamed in this manner for Ruperts own carelessness but Anne was used to her brothers ways and could bear them with good humour Elizabeth however attacked him Why Rupert one would suppose you had never heard where a womans mind is to be found These are most futile excuses

I will only attempt one other said the truant—the utter worthlessness of young ladies letters which is such as not to encourage their friends to make any very strict researches into them

Worse and worse said Elizabeth you have certainly behaved most cavalierly that must be confessed We are only considering what punishment you deserve

I deserve the punishment I have had Lizzie said Rupert I have missed the Consecration and three days of this fair company

Besides that you will be held up ever after as a warning to Horace and Edward said Elizabeth

I saw that firstmentioned pupil of yours on Sunday said Rupert

Oh how pleased Mamma will be cried Elizabeth then you went to Sandleford

Yes finding myself too late for the coach on Saturday afternoon by which I had intended to go to Ely said Rupert I made up my mind to spend Sunday at Sandleford and take a cursory view of the young gentleman and of my old haunts

Thank you said Elizabeth her eyes beaming with pleasure I am sure that was very kind of you And how did he look poor little fellow and what did he say and was not he delighted to see you

I shall leave you to judge of that said Rupert and say that he looked very happy and flourishing with face and shirtcollar all over ink on Saturday afternoon and he said more than I can remember on Sunday evening

And what does Dr Freeman say of him said Elizabeth

Dr Freeman assured me—what do you think young ladies—that Master Horatio Woodbourne is by far the most promising youth who has entered his celebrated academy since—of course you know whom I mean and will spare my blushes

Unluckily said Anne the evident fabrication of the latter part of that speech destroys our belief in the beginning of it

No no said Elizabeth it is only the most promising not the most performing No one can doubt of Ruperts promises

Rupert you always do talk such nonsense said Katherine

Many thanks for the compliment Lady Kate said Rupert with a bow considering how my intelligence is received I think I shall spare it in future I have a letter and parcel from Master Horatio in my portmanteau and they may speak for themselves if I have not lost my keys as I said before

O Rupert cried Anne how could you lose them again after all the pains Mamma took to save them

Indeed Anne I did behave better than usual said Rupert I kept them safe till yesterday I assure you I wish you would come and give me the carriage keys perhaps some of them may unlock the portmanteau

Anne did not think they would she said they had all been tried twice before but Rupert would not be satisfied till the experiment had been repeated once more and long after all the other girls were gone to bed he kept his sister up looking out some things which had been brought from Merton Hall for him while he sat by recounting all his adventures in Scotland Anne was much delighted to listen and very glad to have her brother with her again but perhaps if he had not been quite so much engrossed by his own affairs he would have seen that she looked very tired and have remembered that it was much later than her usual bedtime

While Katherine and Helen were undressing the former began

Helen I wish you had gone it was such fun

Was it said Helen I thought Lizzie did not seem much gratified

Lizzie Oh no said Katherine she only hung her head and looked vexed though there were such a number of people all so civil and bowing—Mr Wilkins and the Greens and Mr Higgins

Did Mr Higgins bow to you and Lizzie exclaimed Helen

Yes that he did said Katherine triumphantly and a very polite bow he made I assure you Helen I was quite glad to see him I hope he is coming round

How did Lizzie like it asked Helen

Oh she is so odd you know said Katherine she seemed really quite angry I jogged her once or twice to make her look up but she shook me off quite crossly I thought she would have been pleased

I should think few things would vex her much more said Helen

Well said Katherine Willie once told me that some people think Lizzie very proud and disdainful and I really begin to believe so too

Oh no Kate said Helen I am sure she is not proud it is only—

Mercy Helen here interrupted Kate what are you doing to your hair

Curling it replied Helen in her composed manner

Why in the world said Katherine I thought you liked your plaits better

Lizzie does not said Helen

Well said Katherine I am sure I should never dream of doing such a thing only because Lizzie chooses to make a fuss

Perhaps not said Helen

There was a silence Presently Helen said I suppose Mr Higginss next Sundays paper will mention that the Mechanics Institute was honoured by the presence of the Miss Woodbournes

Dear me do you think so said Katherine who could not guess from her sisters manner what opinion she intended to express

I think it very probable indeed said Helen such a sanction to the educationwithoutreligion system is not to be neglected

System said Katherine looking bewildered how are we to sanction anything

Our station here as the daughters of the clergyman gives us some weight said Helen besides that what each person does however trifling is of importance to others

This was not very clearly expressed and Katherine did not trouble herself to understand it She only said Well I hope we have not got into a scrape however you know it was Lizzies doing not mine

I thought you went said Helen

Yes said Katherine but that was only because Lizzie said it was not wrong She is the eldest and you know she is accountable

I should think that poor consolation said Helen

Well said Katherine sleepily goodnight Those horrid gaslights have made my head ache I cannot talk any more

CHAPTER IX

Although she had sat up so much later than usual the night before Anne was dressed on Saturday morning in time to go to her mothers room for a little while before breakfast

Mamma said she after they had spoken of Ruperts arrival where do you think we went yesterday evening

Where my dear

To hear a lecture at the Mechanics Institute Mamma

I should not have thought that your uncle would have approved of his daughters going to such a place said Lady Merton

Do you think we ought not to have gone Mamma said Anne

I do not know the circumstances my dear said Lady Merton the Mechanics Institute may perhaps be under your uncles management and in that case—

Oh no said Anne I do not think it is—at least I do not think Uncle Woodbourne would have liked the lecture we heard much better than Lizzie and I did and after it was too late I found that Helen had declared it was very wrong of us to go She would not go and I found that when I was out of the room she and Lizzie had had a great debate about it

Anne then gave a full account of all that had occurred and ended with Now Mamma do you think we could have helped going on after we once came to Mrs Turners and found what kind of a thing it was likely to be

People certainly cannot stop themselves easily when they have taken the first wrong step said Lady Merton

Anne sighed Then I am afraid we have done very wrong said she

For yourself Anne said her mother I do not think you are much to blame since I cannot see how you were to know that your cousins were going without their fathers consent

I am glad you think so Mamma said Anne but I cannot be quite happy about it for I might certainly have supposed that there was some reason against our going when Helen and the youngest Miss Hazleby turned back and went home

You heard none of Helens remonstrances said Lady Merton

No Mamma I was foolish enough to be satisfied with Lizzies saying that she had been talking nonsense said Anne besides I could see that Helen was out of temper and I thought that might account for her objecting

These are very good reasons Anne said Lady Merton

Indeed they are not Mamma said Anne I am afraid the real cause was that my head was so full of the pleasure I expected in going to the lecture that I did not choose to think that we ought not to go I am afraid I am growing thoughtless as you said I should here

No no Anne said Lady Merton smiling I did not say you would I only said you must guard against doing so and as far as I have seen you have shewn more selfcommand than when you and Lizzie were last together

Ah but when you are not looking on Mamma said Anne that is the dangerous time especially now Rupert is come he and Lizzie will make us laugh dreadfully

I hope they will said Lady Merton provided it is without flippancy or unkindness

But Mamma said Anne presently after what do you think about Lizzie was she in the wrong

I cannot tell without knowing more about it said Lady Merton do you know what she thinks herself

No Mamma said Anne she was asleep before I went to bed last night and up before I awoke this morning But I do firmly believe that if Lizzie had had the slightest idea that she was doing wrong in going there she would as soon have thought of flying as of doing so

It was now breakfasttime and Rupert came up to summon his mother and sister and to inform them that his portmanteau had just been broken open for the seventh time since it had been in his possession He said this with some satisfaction for he was somewhat vain of his carelessness for of what cannot people be vain

During breakfast it was arranged that the three elder ladies should go in the Mertons carriage to Baysmouth a large town which was about ten miles distant from Abbeychurch and take Winifred and Edward with them Dora was to accompany the other young people in a long walk to a farmhouse which report said had been a baronial castle in the days of King Stephen and from exploring the antiquities of which some of them expected great things especially as it was known by the mysterious name of Whistlefar Mr Woodbourne and Sir Edward expected to be engaged all day in the final settlement of accounts with the architect of the church

As soon as the two parties of pleasure had been arranged Elizabeth left the breakfasttable to tell the children of the treat in store for them and to write a little note to Horace to accompany Doras letter which had been finished that morning before breakfast

Just after she had quitted the room Sir Edward asked what the smartlooking building at the corner of Aurelia Place was

You mean the Mechanics Institute said Mr Woodbourne

Never was new town without one said Rupert

Is this one well conducted inquired Lady Merton

Not much worse than such things usually are replied Mr Woodbourne two or three Socialist lectures were given there but they were stopped before they had time to do much harm

Were you obliged to interfere said Sir Edward

Yes said Mr Woodbourne I went to some of the managing committee—Mr Green and old Mr Turner—and after some rather strong representations on my part they found means to put a stop to them Higgins their chief promoter made several violent attacks upon me in his newspaper for my illiberality and bigotry and poor Mr Turner was so much distressed that he came to entreat me to go myself or at least to allow my girls to go to some lectures which he promised should be perfectly harmless I told him that I disapproved of Mechanics Institutes in general and especially of the way in which this one is conducted and that I had resolved long before that none of my family should ever set foot in it Here the matter ended and I have heard no more of it except that Mrs Turner is constantly tormenting my wife with offers to take the girls to some peculiarly interesting lecture

If Elizabeth had been present she would certainly have immediately confessed her indiscretion of the evening before but she was not there and Katherine who was on the point of speaking was checked by an imploring glance from Harriet The conversation was changed and nothing more was said on the subject As soon as they could leave the breakfasttable all the young ladies instantly flew to the schoolroom where Elizabeth was sitting alone writing

Lizzie Lizzie exclaimed three voices at once do you know what you have done

Is it anything very fatal said Elizabeth looking quite composed

A fine scrape you have got into cried Katherine

A pretty kettle of fish you have brought us into exclaimed Harriet

But what is the matter good ladies said Elizabeth why do you look so like the form that drew Priams curtains at the dead of night

Come Lizzie said Katherine pettishly do not be so provoking with Priam and all that stuff but tell us what is to be done about that horrid Institute

Oh that is it is it said Elizabeth so I suppose Fido was stolen there and you are afraid to tell

I am afraid he was said Katherine but that is not the worst of it—I know nothing about him But do you know what Papa says Uncle Edward has been asking about the Institute and oh dear oh dear Papa said he could not bear Mechanics Institutes and had resolved quite firmly that none of his family should ever set foot in one

Elizabeth really looked quite appalled at this piece of intelligence and Katherine continued And Chartists and Socialists and horrible people have been lecturing there I remember now that when you were at Merton Hall in the spring there was a great uproar and the Abbeychurch Reporter behaved very badly to Papa about it A fine affair you have made of it indeed Lizzie

And pray Miss Kate said Elizabeth sharply who was the person who first proposed this fine expedition Really I think if everyone had their deserts you would have no small share of blame What could prevent you from telling me all this yesterday when it seems you knew it all the time

I forgot it said Katherine

Exactly like you continued her sister and how could you listen to all Helen said and not be put in mind of it And how could you bring me back such a flaming description of Mrs Turners august puppy of a nephew If we are in a kettle of fish as Harriet says you are at the bottom of it

Well Lizzie said Katherine do not be so cross you know Mamma says I have such a bad memory I cannot help forgetting

And she began to cry which softened Elizabeths anger a little

I did not mean to throw all the blame upon you Kate said she I know I ought not to have trusted to you besides that I led you all into it being the eldest I only meant to shew you that you are not quite so immaculate as you seem to imagine We have all done very wrong and must take the consequences

Helen was leaving the room when Harriet died out O Helen pray do not go and tell of us

Helen has no such intention said Elizabeth I am going to tell Papa myself as soon as he has done breakfast

Oh Lizzie dearest Lizzie cried Harriet I beg you will not you do not know what Mamma would do to me

Pray Harriet said Elizabeth scornfully do you think that I am going to conceal my own faults from my own father

But Lizzie stop one moment said Harriet you know it was you and Kate who took me I did not know it was wrong to go and now Fido is lost Mamma will be certain to say it was by my going and she will be dreadfully angry with me and you would not wish me to be scolded for what was your fault

Should not you wish me to tell Anne said Elizabeth turning her back upon Harriet

I told Mamma this morning said Anne

Told her exclaimed Harriet and what did she say—

She said she wondered that my cousins were allowed to go to such a place said Anne and she seemed very sorry we had gone

But was she angry with you persisted Harriet

Anne hesitated and Elizabeth replied No of course she could not be angry with Anne when it was all my doing She must be displeased enough with me though

But will she tell Mamma and Aunt Mildred said Harriet

I do not think she will answered Anne

No because she trusts to me to tell said Elizabeth so that you see I must Harriet

Must you said Harriet I cannot see why it will only get us all a scolding

Which we richly deserve said Elizabeth

I am sure if you like to be scolded said Harriet you are very welcome only do not make Mamma scold me too

I am sure if you like to be insincere and cowardly said Elizabeth you shall not make me so too

I do not want you to tell a fib said Harriet I only want you to say nothing

Lun vaut bien lautre said Elizabeth

What said Harriet do only wait till we are gone if you are determined to tell—theres a dear girl

Deceive Papa and Mamma for three whole days cried Elizabeth I wonder you are not ashamed of yourself Besides Harriet I do not see what you have to fear It was Kate and I who did wrong we knew better and cast away Helens good advice we shut our eyes and went headlong into mischief but you had no reason to suppose that you might not do as we did

No said Harriet I should not care if it was not for Fido

But will my silence find Fido said Elizabeth

No said Harriet but if Mamma knows we went there she will scold us for going because she will be angry about Fido and if she once thinks that it was I who lost him—oh Lizzie you do not know how angry she will be

But Harriet said Katherine I thought you used to say that you could do anything with your Mamma and that she never minded where you went

Oh that is when she is in good humour said Harriet she is not often cross with me but when she is you may hear her from one end of the house to the other Cannot you Lucy And now she will be dreadfully cross about Fido and the other thing coming upon it I do not know what she may say O Lizzie you will save me

I will only tell of Kate and myself said Elizabeth or I will ask Papa not to mention it to Mrs Hazleby though Harriet there are some people who prefer any suffering just or unjust to deceit

Then you mean to tell directly said Katherine in a piteous tone

Of course I do said Elizabeth there is the diningroom door shut Come with me Kate

Katherine rather unwillingly followed her sister into the passage but when there fear making her ingenious a sudden thought struck her Lizzie whispered she if you tell Papa that you and I went Mrs Hazleby will be sure to hear and if she asks Harriet about it perhaps she—you know—may tell a story about it

Fine confidence you shew in your chosen friend said Elizabeth

Why one must be civil and Harriet is a sort of cousin said Katherine but I am sure she is not half so much my friend as Willie

Well never mind defending your taste in friends said Elizabeth for as I do think your scruple worth answering I will tell you that I had thought of the same thing but I do not choose to do evil that good may come or that evil may not come I shall tell Papa what an excellent opinion you have of Harriet and leave him to do as he pleases

Elizabeths hand was on the lock of the door of her fathers study when Katherine exclaimed There is someone there—I hear voices

Uncle Edward said Elizabeth I do not mind his being there we ought to beg his pardon for leading Anne astray

Oh but do not you see said Katherine here are a hat and a roll of papers on the table Mr Roberts must be come

Tiresome man cried Elizabeth he will be there all day and I shall not see Papa I do not know when It really was a very convenient thing when the architects of the old German cathedrals used to take a desperate leap from the top of the tower as soon as it was finished Well I must find Mamma now

Cannot you wait till the evening when you may see Papa said Katherine hoping to put off the evil day

I cannot have this upon my mind all day unconfessed said Elizabeth besides Harriet will pester me with entreaties as long as it is untold Come Kitty do not be such a coward

I am sure I do not want you not to tell said Katherine looking rather miserable only I am not in such a hurry about it as you are You do not know where Mamma is

No but I will find her said Elizabeth

The sisters set off on the chase they looked into the drawingroom the diningroom Mrs Woodbournes room without success they ran up to the nursery but she was not there and they were going down again when Katherine seeing Elizabeth go towards the kitchen stairs exclaimed Well I will go no further it is so ridiculous as if it was a matter of life and death You may call if you want me

Katherine retreated into her own room and Elizabeth ran down to the kitchen where she found Mrs Woodbourne ordering dinner

Elizabeth stood by the fire biting her lip and pinching her finger and trembling all over with impatience while Mrs Woodbourne and the cook were busily consulting over some grouse which Rupert had brought from Scotland

Lizzie my dear said Mrs Woodbourne presently would you just run to my room and fetch down the green receiptbook

Elizabeth obeyed running was rather a relief to her and she was downstairs again in another instant

Why Lizzie said Mrs Woodbourne with a smile you must be wild today you have brought me the accountbook instead of—But my dear child what is the matter said she perceiving that Elizabeths face was scarlet and her eyes full of tears

I will tell you presently whispered Elizabeth breathlessly when you have done She darted away again and returned with the right book but Mrs Woodbourne was too much alarmed by her manner to spend another moment in giving directions to the cook and instantly followed her to her own room Elizabeth hastily shut the door and sat down to recover her breath

My dear Lizzie there is nothing amiss with any of the— exclaimed Mrs Woodbourne almost gasping for breath

Oh no Mamma said Elizabeth a smile passing over her face in spite of her distress it is not Winifred who is mad It is I who have been more mad and foolish and selfwilled than you would ever believe Mamma I have been with Mrs Turner to the Mechanics Institute

My dear Lizzie you do not mean it said Mrs Woodbourne

Yes Mamma indeed it is so said Elizabeth mournfully I did not know what had happened there certainly but I would not listen to Helens good advice and so I have made Papa seem to consent to what he abhors I have led Kate and Anne and Harriet all wrong Oh Mamma is not it terrible

Indeed I wish I had told you what your Papa said to Mr Turner said Mrs Woodbourne I am afraid your papa will be very much annoyed but my dear do not distress yourself you could not know that it was wrong

Yes but Mamma said Elizabeth I did know that it was wrong to go out without asking your leave Simple obedience might have kept me straight But now I will tell you all and you shall judge what had best be done about the Hazlebys and Fido

Rather incoherently and with many sobs Elizabeth told the history of the preceding evening Mrs Woodbourne listened to her with the utmost kindness and said all she could to soothe and console her assuring her that Mr Woodbourne could not be seriously displeased with her for having transgressed a command of which she was ignorant Elizabeth was much relieved by having been able to talk over her conduct in this manner and though she still felt that she had been very much to blame and by no means sure that Mr Woodbourne would pass over her fault so lightly was greatly comforted by her mammas kindness She went away to bathe her swollen eyes before she went down to the schoolroom to read the Psalms and Lessons with her sisters as was their regular custom when there was no service at the church before they began their mornings work Mrs Woodbourne undertaking to call the children down in a few minutes and saying that she would speak to Katherine in the course of the day She willingly promised to say nothing to Mrs Hazleby and only wished she was quite sure that there were no symptoms of madness about Fido

What a strange girl Lizzie is cried Harriet just as Elizabeth departed on her search for her father or Mrs Woodbourne

But Harriet said Lucy drawing her aside to the window what difference is her saying nothing to make Mamma will ask how Fido was lost

I am sure Lucy that was more your fault than mine said Harriet I could not be watching him all the time we were at that place

Then why did you take him there said Helen

Because Lucy chose to run away without ever thinking what I was to do said Harriet

But when you were leading him and it must have been you who let go his string said Helen I cannot see how you can accuse Lucy of having been the means of losing him when she was safe at home

Harriet was saved from the necessity of finding an answer by hearing her mother calling her in the passage and she hastened to obey the summons

Do you know where Fido is was Mrs Hazlebys question

No said Harriet finding she had only escaped one dilemma to fall into another She avoided any further questions however by hastening past her mother and running upstairs

Lucy Lucy then called Mrs Hazleby and as Lucy came out of the schoolroom she repeated the inquiry

I do not know Mamma answered Lucy in a low voice but standing quite still

Go and ask for him in the kitchen then said Mrs Hazleby

I am afraid it would be of no use Maam said Lucy firmly but not daring to raise her eyes we missed him when we came in from walking yesterday evening

Yesterday evening cried Mrs Hazleby and did you never speak of it I never knew anyone so careless as you are in all my life It is of no use to leave anything in your charge you care for—

Here Lucy leant back and shut the door behind her so that Anne and Helen could distinguish nothing but the sound of Mrs Hazlebys loud angry voice raised to its highest pitch

Poor Lucy sighed Helen

Dreadful said Anne

And how can anyone say that Lucy is not one of the noblest most selfdevoted creatures upon earth exclaimed Helen with tears in her eyes there she is bearing all that terrible scolding rather than say it was Harriets fault as everyone knows it was I am sure no one is like Lucy And this is going on continually about something or other

How can she exist said Anne

With her acute feelings and painful timidity said Helen it is worse for her than it would be for anyone else yet how gently and simply she bears it all and old Mrs Hazleby says that she is often ill after these scoldings and she would have taken her away to live with her as the Major proposed after Miss Dorothea Hazleby died but that she thought it would be taking away all the comfort of her fathers life Oh Anne cried Helen walking up and down the room as Mrs Hazlebys voice became louder and louder I cannot bear it what shall I do Oh if it was but right if it would not make it worse for Lucy I could I would go out and tell Mrs Hazleby what everybody thinks of her

I do not wonder that Miss Hazleby was ready to do almost anything to avoid such a scene said Anne

Mean selfish creature said Helen she ran away on purpose that Lucy might stay and bear all this Anne I do believe that if martyrs are made and crowns are gained by daily sufferings and hourly selfdenial that such a crown will be dear dear Lucys

Annes answer was—

And all the happy souls that rode
Transfigured through that fresh abode
Had heretofore in humble trust
Shone meekly mid their native dust
The glowworms of the earth

Thank you Anne said Helen wiping away her tears I will think of Lucy as the light the glowworm of her family Thank you the thought of her meek clear light in darkness need not be gloomy as it has been

Anne had never thought of Helen as possessing so much enthusiasm and was almost more inclined to wonder at her than at Lucy While they had been talking Mrs Hazlebys voice had ceased steps were now heard in the passage and a letter was brought in and given to Helen It was from Fanny Staunton but she had only just time to glance it over before the three children came in followed by their mother and Elizabeth Anne went to call her mother to join them in reading the Psalms and Lessons and Winifred was sent to summon Katherine who had purposely lingered upstairs till all the rest were assembled

Elizabeths eyes were very red and she was afraid to trust her voice to read the first verse of the Psalm as it was always her part to do but little Dora who sat next to her and who seemed in part to enter into her feelings although she said nothing read the first verse for her and Elizabeth took Edward who always looked over her book upon her knee when the Lessons began so as to screen her face from her aunt When they had finished attention was drawn away from her by Edward who was eagerly assuring Lady Merton that the Bible and Prayerbook which Uncle Edward his godfather had given him were quite safe and he was to use them himself when Lizzie thought he could read well enough This Dora explained as meaning when he had for a week abstained from guessing words instead of spelling them and Elizabeth proposed to him to try whether he could read today without one mistake Edward objected to reading at that time as he was to go out at halfpast twelve and there would be no time for lessons Elizabeth demonstrated that it was now only halfpast ten and that it was impossible that he could spend two hours in putting on his best frock and trowsers and in settling what to buy with the bright halfcrown which Uncle Edward had given him and Winifred assured him that she meant to do all her lessons today Edward looked round to appeal to his mother but both she and Lady Merton had left the room and he was forced to content himself with asking Anne whether she thought there was time

Oh yes Edward I hope you will let me hear how well you can read I want to know whether the young robins saw any more monsters said Anne goodnaturedly

Winifred rather inopportunely was ready with the information that the nest was visited by two more monsters but Anne stopped her ears and declared she would hear nothing but from Edward himself and the young gentleman was thus persuaded to begin his lesson

Helen did not wait to see how the question was decided but went up to her own room to enjoy Fanny Stauntons letter She paused however a few moments to consider whether she should go to Lucy but thinking that it must certainly be painful to her to speak of what had passed she proceeded to her own room there to send her whole heart and mind to Dykelands

Fanny Stauntons letter was overflowing with affection and with regrets for Helens departure and this together with her descriptions of her own and her sisters amusements and occupations made Helens heart yearn more strongly than ever after the friends she had left Annes cheerful manner and Lucys quiet content had the day before made Helen rather ashamed of herself and she had resolved to leave off pining for Dykelands and to make herself happy by being useful and obliging without thinking about little grievances such as almost everyone could probably find in their own home if they searched for them When she had curled her hair it was with the hope that the sacrifice of her tails would convince Elizabeth that she had some regard for her taste unfortunately however her hair was rather too soft to curl well and after having been plaited for the last three months it was most obstinate in hanging deplorably straight in a way very uncomfortable to her feelings and irritating to her temper besides which Elizabeth had been too much occupied by her own concerns all the morning to observe the alteration and indeed if she had remarked it she was not likely to feel as much flattered by this instance of deference to her opinion as Helen thought she ought to be Last night Helen had lamented that her own petulance had prevented her from reasoning calmly with Elizabeth and from setting before her all the arguments upon which she had discoursed so fluently to Lucy after the imprudent step had been taken but now she threw the blame upon Elizabeths impetuosity and unkindness and felt somewhat aggrieved because neither of her sisters had expressed a full sense of her firmness and discretion She compared Fannys affectionate expressions with Elizabeths sharp and hasty manner the admiration which her friends had made rather too evident with the wholesome though severe criticisms she sometimes met with at home the quietness at Dykelands with the constant bustle at the Vicarage and ended by thinking Mrs Woodbourne the only person of the family who possessed any gentleness or kindness and making up her mind that Dykelands was the only pleasant place in England and that she herself was a most illused person whose merits were not in the least appreciated

Such were the feelings which gradually took possession of her mind while she was writing her answer to Fannys letter and by the time she had finished had brought her into that agreeable frame which is disposed to be offended with the first person who does not act up to its expectations

Katherines study through the whole morning was to avoid a private interview with Mrs Woodbourne and she really shewed considerable ingenuity in evading her If Mrs Woodbourne called her she answered Yes Mamma I am coming directly but she took care not to come till she knew that her mamma was no longer alone if Lady Merton wanted anything which she had left upstairs Katherine would officiously volunteer to fetch it when particularly told that she was not wanted if Mrs Woodbourne moved to the door and made signs to Katherine to follow her she worked with double assiduity and never looked up unless to speak to Rupert or to Harriet and thus she contrived to elude the reproof she expected until the whole party except the two gentlemen met at twelve oclock for an early luncheon so that there was no longer any danger that Mrs Woodbourne would find an opportunity of speaking to her at present

The three children were to dine late with the rest of the party and were in high glee at the prospect of the afternoons amusement Elizabeth seemed to have recovered her spirits Harriet was as noisy as ever and Lucy if possible a little quieter than was her wont Anne as usual ready to be amused with anything and Rupert quite prepared to amuse everyone

Fido was again mentioned and Rupert who had heard about half of the history of his loss suggested the possibility of his having been despatched by the railroad to London there to be converted into sausages Harriet after many exclamations of O Mr Merton declared that if she believed such a thing could ever happen she would never eat another sausage in her life and concluded as usual with would you Lucy Mrs Woodbourne inquired anxiously after Winifreds hand Mrs Hazleby was on the point of taking fire at the implied suspicion of her lamented favourites sanity when Rupert averted the threatened danger by a grave examination of Winifred and Meg Merrilies who had both been wounded and concluded by recommending that as soon as puss shewed symptoms of hydrophobia Winifred should be smothered between two featherbeds to prevent further mischief Everyone laughed except Dora who thought the proposal exceedingly shocking and Rupert argued very gravely with her on the expediency of the measure until she was called away to prepare for the walk

CHAPTER X

Dora reconsidered her arguments while putting on her bonnet and the instant the walking party were outside the front door she began again But Rupert it would be committing murder to kill Winifred even if she had the Fidophobia

No no Dora said Rupert it is your mamma and Lizzie who have the Fidophobia

What can you mean said Helen how can you frighten the child so Rupert

Do not you know Helen said Elizabeth tis his vocation He is a true Knight Rupert

Expound most learned cousin said Rupert you are too deep

You must know said Elizabeth that Knecht Ruprecht is the German terrifier of naughty children the same as the chimneysweeper in England or Coeur de Lion in Palestine or the Duke of Wellington in France

Baby baby hes a giant
     Tall and black as Rouen steeple
And he dines and sups tis said
     Every day on naughty people

I should have thought said Rupert that considering my namesakes babebolting propensities and his great black dog that he would have been more likely to be held up in terrorem in England

I suppose there was some old grim Sir Rupert in Germany said Elizabeth but my dictionary is my only authority

You are taking knecht to mean a knight said Anne contrary to your argument last night Knecht Ruprechts origin is not nearly so sublime as you would make it out Keightleys Fairy Mythology says he is only our old friend Robin Goodfellow Miltons lubber fiend the Hob Goblin You know Rupert and Robert and Hob are all the same name Rudbryht bright in speech

And a hobbish fellow means a gentleman as clumsy as the lubber fiend said Elizabeth

No doubt he wore hobnails in his shoes said Rupert

And chimney hobs were so called because his cream bowl was duly set upon them said Anne

And he was as familiar as the Robin Redbreast said Elizabeth

And wore a red waistcoat like him and like Herb Robert said Anne

As shabby as this flower said Elizabeth gathering a ragged Robin from the hedge

Well done etymology said Rupert now for syntax and prosody

I hope we have been talking syntax all this time said Elizabeth we will keep prosody for the evening and then play at Conglomeration

They now came to some bright green watermeadows which bordered the little stream as soon as it left the town There was a broad dry path by the river side and as they walked along it there was no lack of laughter or merriment in anyone but Helen and she could find no amusement in anything she saw or heard At last however she was highly delighted at the sight of some plants of purple loosestrife growing on the bank Oh cried she that is the flower that is so beautiful at Dykelands

What the loose strife said Elizabeth it is common enough in all damp places

Poor Helen as if this slight to the flower she admired were not a sufficient shock to her feelings Rupert perfectly unconscious on what tender ground he was treading said If it is a lover of damp I am sure it can nowhere be better suited than at Dykelands Did you grow webfooted there Helen

O Rupert said Helen I am sure the garden is always quite dry

Except when it is wet said Elizabeth

That was certainly the case when I was there two years ago observed Rupert I could not stir two steps from the door without meeting with a pool deep enough to swim a manofwar

Rupert said Elizabeth I hereby give notice that whosoever says one single word against the perfect dryness cleanliness and beauty of dear Dykelands commits high treason against Miss Helen Woodbourne and as protecting disconsolate damsels is the bounden duty of a true knight and cavalier I advise you never to mention the subject on pain of being considered a discourteous recreant

Lizzie how can you said Helen peevishly

How strange it is said Anne that so many old family houses should have been built in damp places

Our ancestors were once apparently frogs said Rupert unhappily reminding Helen of her sisters parody

Well said Elizabeth I can understand why monasteries should have been built in damp places near rivers or bogs both for the sake of the fish and to be useful in draining but why any other mortal except Dutchmen tadpoles and newts should delight in mud and mire passes my poor comprehension

Rupert pointed to a frog which Doras foot had startled from its hidingplace and said Pray why according to my theory should not the human kind have once been frogs leapfrog being only a return to our natural means of progression

And bullfrogs in a course of becoming stalwart gentlemen said Anne

Yes we often hear of a croaking disposition do not we Helen said Elizabeth you see both that propensity and a love of marshes are but indications of a former state of existence

And I am sure that your respectable neighbour Mr Turner is a toad on his hind legs said Rupert

Minus the precious jewel said Elizabeth

Bythebye said Rupert is there not some mystery about that gentleman This morning I hazarded a supposition in the drawingroom that the lost darling we have heard so much of might have been dissected for the benefit of Mr Turners pupils and thereupon arose a most wonderful whispering between Kate and one of your sweet cousins there Lizzie about some nephew an Adolphus or Augustus or some such name but the more questions I asked the more dark and mysterious did the young ladies become

I wonder if it is possible cried Elizabeth with a sudden start

What is possible asked Anne

That Rupert should be right said Elizabeth was Mrs Hazleby in the room when you spoke

Yes but what of that said Rupert

That you talking at random said Elizabeth very nearly betrayed Harriets grand secret

Really the affair becomes quite exciting said Rupert pray do not leave me in suspense explain yourself

I do not think I can Rupert said Elizabeth not wishing to expose Harriet for Mrs Woodbournes sake

Then I am to understand said Rupert that Miss Hazleby has presented Fido to this noble Adolphus as a pledge of the tenderest friendship and that you and Kate act as confidants

Nonsense Rupert said Anne trying to check him by a look

And I suppose proceeded Rupert that the gentleman is to extract poor Fidos faithful heart and wear it next his own I never should have devised so refined and sentimental a souvenir It is far beyond forgetmenots and arrows So professional too

Elizabeth and Anne laughed so much that they could neither of them speak for some moments but when Anne recovered she took her brother by the arm and whispered Rupert the less you say about the Turners or Fido the better I will explain it all to you when we have an opportunity

Elizabeth thanked her by a look and at this moment Dora who had been far in advance with Katherine and the Hazlebys came running back to beg Rupert to gather for her some fine bulrushes which grew on the brink of the river Rupert was very willing to comply with her request but Elizabeth recommended Dora to leave them till they should return and not to take the trouble of carrying them to Whistlefar Castle and back again

Leaving the river they began to ascend a steep chalky lane which had been wet all the winter and was now full of rough hardened wheelruts and holes made by slipping horses Elizabeth thought that Robert Bruces calthorps could hardly have made the ground more uneven and she was just going to say so when Helen groaned out What a horrid place I slip and bruise my ancle every minute Upon which she immediately took the other side of the question and answered It is not nearly so bad as the long lane on the down and you never complain of that

Oh but this is all uphill said Helen

I am not in the least tired Helen said Dora who with Ruperts assistance was taking flying leaps over the ruts

You no I should think not said Helen in so piteous a tone that Rupert very goodnaturedly waited till she came up to him and then offered her his arm

On seeing this Harriet was rather vexed that she had not been first noticed by the gentleman and began to make heavy complaints of the badness of the road but no one paid much attention to her Elizabeth however gave her arm to Lucy who never could bear much fatigue

After they had gained the top of the hill they walked on for some distance between high hedges and as none of the party knew the way further than the river except from some directions given them by Mr Walker the Curate they begun to think that they must have missed a turn to the left which he had told them to take Harriet and Helen both declared that they had passed the turning Katherine was sure they had not and Elizabeth said that she had seen a turn to the right some way behind them but that to the left was yet to come As they could not agree upon this question Rupert walked onwards to explore leaving the young ladies to rest on the trunk of a tree lying by the side of the road While he was gone Elizabeth drew Helen aside saying Helen you had better take care I hope Rupert has not observed how much out of humour you are

I am not out of humour said Helen according to the usual fashion of denying such a charge

Then why do you look and speak as if you were said her sister you had better watch yourself

I think you are enough to vex anyone Lizzie said Helen bringing me ever so far out of the way on such a road as this and then scolding me for saying I do not like it

I see answered Elizabeth you are not in a fit state to be reasoned with

No retorted Helen who had indulged in her illhumour till she hardly knew what she said you will never condescend to hear what I have to say Perhaps it might be as well sometimes if you would

Yes Helen said Elizabeth colouring and turning away it would indeed I know I have given you a right to upbraid me

At this moment Rupert came back cheering the drooping courage of the wearied and heated damsels with intelligence that there is no lane without a turning and he had found the one they were seeking

Things now went on better they came to a shady green path by the side of a wood and Helen was more silent her temper having perhaps been a little improved by the coolness Soon however they had to cross two long fields where gleaning was going on merrily Helen made several complaints of the heat and of the small size of her parasol and Elizabeth had to catch Dora and hold her fast to prevent her from overheating herself by a race after Rupert through the stubble At the first stile Harriet thought proper to make a great outcry and was evidently quite disposed for a romp but Rupert helped her over so quietly that she had no opportunity for one They now found themselves in a grass field the length of which made Helen sigh

Why Helen how soon you are tired said Rupert I am afraid Dykelands did not agree with you

Helen is only a little cross she will be better presently said Dora in so comical a tone that Rupert Katherine and Harriet all laughed and Helen said sharply Dora do not be pert

Rupert was really a very goodnatured youth but it would have required more forbearance than he possessed to abstain from teazing so tempting a subject as poor Helen was at this moment

And how do you know that Helen is a little cross Dora my dear said he

Because she looks so said Dora

And how do people look when they are a little cross Dora

I do not know answered Dora

Do they look so my dear said Rupert mimicking poor Helens woebegone face in a very droll way

Dora laughed and Helen was still more displeased Dora it is very naughty said she

What to look cross said Rupert certainly is it not Dora

Elizabeth and Anne were far in the rear reaching for some botanical curiosity on the other side of a wet ditch or they would certainly have put a stop to this conversation which was not very profitable to any of the parties concerned Dora was rather a matteroffact little person and a very good implement for teazing with as she did not at all suspect the use made of her until a sudden thought striking her she stopped short saying very decidedly We will not talk of this any more

Why not said Rupert rather sorry to be checked in the full enjoyment of his own wit

Because Helen does not like it said Dora

But Dora said Rupert wishing to try the little girl rather further do not you think she deserves it for being out of temper

I do not know said Dora gravely but I know it is not right or kind to say what vexes her and I shall not stay with you any longer Rupert if you will do it

So saying Dora wellnamed Discreet Dolly ran away to Lucy of whom she was very fond

Rupert was both amused and surprised at Doras behaviour and perhaps at the same time a little ashamed and piqued by a little girl of seven years old having shewn more right feeling and selfcommand than he had displayed and to cover all these sensations he began to talk nonsense to Katherine and Harriet as fast as he could

In the mean time Helen walked on alone a little behind the rest of the party for by this time Elizabeth and Anne had come up with the others and had passed her As they entered a little copse she began to recollect herself She had from her infancy been accustomed to give way to fits of peevishness and fretfulness thinking that as long as her illhumour did not burst forth in open name as Elizabeths used formerly to do there was no great harm in letting it smoulder away and make herself and everyone else uncomfortable Some time ago something had brought conviction to her mind that such conduct was not much better than bearing malice and hatred in her heart and she had resolved to cure herself of the habit Then came her visit to Dykelands where everything went on smoothly and there was little temptation to give way to illhumour so that she had almost forgotten her reflections on the subject till the present moment when she seemed suddenly to wake and find herself in the midst of one of her old sullen moods She struggled hard against it and as acknowledging ill temper is one great step towards conquering it she soon recovered sufficiently to admire the deep pink fruit of the skewerwood and the waxen looking red and yellow berries of the wild guelder rose when suddenly the rear of the darkness dim which overshadowed her spirits was scattered by the lively din of a long loud whistle from Rupert who was concealed from her by some trees a little in advance of her She hastened forwards and found him and all the others just emerged from the wood and standing on an open bare common where neither castle nor cottage was to be seen nothing but a carpet of purple heath dwarf furze and short soft grass upon which a few cows a colt and a donkey were browsing The party were standing together laughing some moderately others immoderately

What is the matter asked Helen

I do not know said Elizabeth unless Rupert is hallooing because he is out of the wood

Wait till you have heard my reasons unfolded said Rupert did you never hear how this celebrated fortress came by its name

Never said several voices

Then listen listen ladies all said Rupert You must know that once upon a time there was a most beautiful princess who lived in a splendid castle where she received all kinds of company Well one day there arrived an old grim palmer just like the picture of Hopeful in the Pilgrims Progress with a fine striped cockleshell sticking upright in his hatband Well the cockleshell tickled the Princesss fancy very much and she made her pet knight for she had as many suitors as Penelope promise that he would steal it from him that very night So at the witching hour of midnight the knight approached the palmers couch and gently abstracted the cockle hat and staff placing in their stead the jesters cap and bells and bauble Next morning when it was pitch dark for it was the shortest day up jumped the palmer and prepared to resume his journey Now it chanced that the day before the lady had ordered that the fool should be whipped for mocking her when she could not get the marrow neatly out of a bone with her fingers and peeped into it like a hungry magpie so that the moment the poor palmer appeared in the courtyard all the squires and pages set upon him taking him for the fool and whipped him round and round like any pegtop Suddenly down fell the cap and bells and he saw what had been done upon which he immediately turned into an enchanter and commanded the Princess and all her train to fall into a deep sleep all excepting the knight who had committed the offence who is for ever riding up and down the castle court repenting of his discourtesy with his face towards the tail of a creamcoloured donkey wearing a cap and bells for a helmet with a rod for a lance and a cockleshell for a shield and starfishes for spurs and the Princess can only be disenchanted by her devoted champion doing battle with him All however has vanished away from vulgar eyes and can only be brought to light by being thrice whistled for A slight tradition has remained and the place has ever since been known by the mysterious name of Whistlefar

And has no one ever found it said Dora

I cannot say answered Rupert

A deed of such high emprise can only be reserved for the great Prince Rupert himself said Elizabeth

How can such nonsensical traditions be kept up said Harriet I thought everyone had forgotten such absurd old stories only fit to frighten children

Oh you know nobody believes them said Katherine

But Rupert said Helen this must be a modern story it cannot be a genuine old legend it is really not according to the spirit of those times to say that a palmer could be an enchanter or so revengeful

Oh said Rupert you know everything bad is to be learnt among the Saracens

Still said Helen if you consider the purpose for which the Palmers visited the Holy Land you cannot think them likely to learn the dark rites of the Infidels and scarcely to wish to gratify personal resentment

The frock does not make the friar said Rupert and this may have been a bad palmer Think of the Knights Templars

Besides said Helen how could the squires see either palmer or jester when it was pitch dark

I suppose there were lamps in the court said Rupert but

I cannot tell how the truth may be
I tell the tale as twas told to me

But who told you Rupert said Helen

Why the story of Red Mantle Helen cannot you see said Elizabeth it was on the table all the morning

O Lizzie was there ever anything so cruel cried Rupert Edie Ochiltree was nothing to you Everyone was swallowing it so quietly and you will not even let me enjoy the credit of originality

I am sure I give you credit due said Elizabeth it is really an ingenious compound of Red Mantle the Sleeping Beauty Robert of Paris and Triermain and the cockleshell shield and starfish spurs form an agreeable variation

I never will tell another story in your presence Lizzie said Rupert evidently vexed but carrying it off with great good humour you are worse than Quarterly Edinburgh and Blackwood put together

I really think you deserved it Rupert said Anne I cannot pity you you ought not to laugh at the pilgrims

Oh I dare not open my lips before such devotees of crusading said Rupert

And pray Rupert said Elizabeth what did you mean by comparing me to Edie Ochiltree did you mean to say that you were like Monkbarns I never heard that that gentleman fabricated either legends or curiosities and made them pass for genuine ancient ones

At this moment happily for Rupert they came to the top of a small rising ground and beheld a farmhouse at about a hundred yards before them Rupert whistled long and loud and shrill and two or three of the young ladies exclaimed Is this Whistlefar Castle

It is only enchanted said Elizabeth clear away the mist of incredulity from your eyes and behold keep drawbridge tower and battlement and loophole grates where captives weep

It cannot be denied that the young party were a little disappointed by the aspect of the renowned Whistlefar but they did ample justice to all that was to be seen a few yards of very thick stone wall in the court a coat of arms carved upon a stone built into the wall upside down and the wellturned arch of the doorway Some putting on Don Quixotes eyes for the occasion saw helmets in milkpails dungeons in cellars battleaxes in billhooks and shields in pewterplates called the baby in its cradle the sleeping Princess agreed that the shield must have been reversed by order of the palmer and that one of the cows was the mischievous knights creamcoloured donkey so that laughter happily supplied the place of learned lore

On the way home the party were not quite so merry although Helen was unusually agreeable and enjoyed a very pleasant conversation with Rupert and Anne who she was pleased to find really thought her worth talking to Elizabeth was occupied with Dora who was tired and wanted to be cheered and amused She did not however forget her bulrushes and when they came in sight of them she ran forwards to claim Ruperts promise of gathering some for her and her little brother and sister This was a service of difficulty for some of the bulrushes grew in the water and others on deceitful ground where a pool appeared wherever Rupert set his foot With two or three strides and leaps however he reached a little dry island covered with a tuft of sedges in the midst of the marsh and was reaching some of the bulrushes with the hook of Annes parasol when he suddenly cried out Hollo what have we here

What said some of the girls

A dead dog I believe said Rupert

Oh let me see cried Harriet advancing cautiously over the morass

Are you curious in such matters Miss Hazleby said Rupert laughing as Harriet came splashing towards him through the wet holding up her frock with one hand and stretching out the other to him to be helped upon the island He pulled her upon it safely but it quaked fearfully and there was hardly room for them both to stand on it while Harriet holding fast by Ruperts hand bent forwards beheld the object of her curiosity uttered a loud scream lost her balance and would have fallen into the river had she not been withheld by Ruperts strength of arm They both slipped down on the opposite sides of the island into the black mud and Harriet precipitately retreated to the mainland

Well what is the matter said Elizabeth

Oh my poor dear little doggie cried Harriet

Is it Fido said Elizabeth then Harriet there is no fear of your eating him in a sausage you may be at rest on that score

But can it really be Fido said Katherine pressing forwards

Do you wish to see said Rupert for if so I advise you to make haste the island is sinking fast

I am splashed all over so I do not care Can I have one more look said Harriet in a melancholy voice

Rupert handed her back to the island where she took her last farewell of poor Fido all his long hair drenched with water and the very same blue ribbon which she had herself tied round his neck the day before floating a funeral banner on the surface of the stream She contemplated him until her weight and Ruperts had sunk the island so much that it was fast becoming a lake while Elizabeth whispered to Anne to propose presenting her with a forgetmenot on Fidos part

I hope said Rupert as they proceeded with their walk that you are fully sensible of poor Fidos generous selfsacrifice he immolated himself to remove by the manner of his death any suspicions of Winifreds having the Fidophobia

Perhaps said Elizabeth he had some knowledge of the frightful suspicions which attached to him and like the Irish varmint in St Patricks days

                 went flop
Slap bang into the water
And thus committed suicide
To save himself from slaughter

They now began to consider how Fido could have met with his death Harriet was sure that some naughty boy must have thrown him in Lucy thought that in that case he would have lost his blue ribbon Dora indignantly repelled the charge of cruelty from the youth of Abbeychurch Elizabeth said such a puppy was very likely to fall off the bridge and Rupert decided that he had most probably been attacked by a fit to which he said halfgrown puppies were often liable

Rupert and Anne then began talking about a dog which they had lost some time ago in nearly the same manner and during this dialogue the party divided Harriet and Katherine walked on in close consultation and Lucy and Helen began helping Dora to sort and carry her bulrushes which detained them behind the others

What appears to me the most mysterious part of the story said Rupert is how the beloved Fido petted and watched and nursed and guarded as he seems to have been should have contrived to stray from your house as far as to the river

Oh that is no mystery at all said Elizabeth we crossed the bridge twice yesterday evening and I dare say we left him behind us there

What could you have been doing on the bridge yesterday evening said Rupert Oh I know I saw the people coming away from a teetotal entertainment you were certainly there Anne I hope you enjoyed it

How very near the truth you do contrive to get Rupert said Elizabeth

Then cried Rupert with a start I see it all I thought you all looked very queer at breakfast I understand it all You have been to the Mechanics Institute

Yes Rupert said Elizabeth

No but you do not mean to say that you really have Lizzie and Anne cried Rupert turning round to look into their faces

Each made a sign of assent and Rupert as soon as he had recovered from his astonishment burst into a violent fit of laughter which lasted longer than either his sister or cousin approved and it was not till after he had been well scolded by both that he chose to listen to their full account of all that had passed on the subject

The worst of it is now said Elizabeth that as soon as Mrs Hazleby hears that Fido has been found in the river she will ask how he came near it

And what then said Anne

Why she well knows that the bridge is not a place to which we are likely to resort she will ask what took us there I would not trust Harriet to tell the truth and I have promised not to betray her so what is to be done if Mrs Hazleby asks me said Elizabeth

I hope she will not ask her youngest daughter said Anne

That she shall not do said Elizabeth I will tell her myself that Fido was found in the river and answer all her questions as best I can

It is rather a pity said Anne archly that Miss Hazleby did not actually fall into the river for the sensation caused by Ruperts rescuing her would quite have absorbed all the interest in Fidos melancholy fate

Thank you Anne said Rupert I am sure I only wonder she was not submerged I never could have guessed any fair lady could be so heavy I am sure I feel the claw she gave my arm at this moment

How very ungallant said Anne

Still said Rupert without appearing as the preserver of the fair Harriet from a watery grave I think I have interest enough with Mrs Hazleby to be able to break the fatal news to her and calm her first agonies of grief and wrath

You Rupert said Anne

Myself Anne replied Rupert you have no notion what friends Mrs Hazleby and I have become We had a teteatete of an hour and a half this morning

What could you find to talk about said Anne

First said Rupert she asked about my grouse shooting where I went and with whom and whether I had seen any of the Campbells of Inchlitherock Of course we embarked in a genealogy of the whole Campbell race then came a description of the beauties of Inchlitherock Next I was favoured with her private history how she being one of thirteen was forced at eighteen to leave the lovely spot and embark with her brother for India

On speculation said Elizabeth

And finally how she came to marry the Major

O Rupert that is too much you must have invented it cried Anne

Indeed I did not Anne said Rupert it is a fact that she lived somewhere in the Mofussil with her brother and there she encountered the Major You young ladies may imagine how she fascinated him and how finally her brother seems to have bullied the Major into marrying her

Poor man said Elizabeth I always wondered how he chanced to fall into her clutches But did you hear no more

No more of her personal history said Rupert she kindly employed the rest of her time in giving me wise counsels

Oh pray let us have the benefit of them said Anne who had by this time pretty well forgotten her prudence

There were many regrets that I was not in the army said Rupert and many pieces of advice which would have been very useful if I had but which I am afraid were thrown away upon me ending with wise reflections upon the importance of a wise choice of a wife especially for a young man of family exposed to danger from designing young ladies with cautions against beauty because of its perishable nature and learning because literary ladies are fit for nothing

Meaning to imply said Elizabeth how fortunate was Major Hazleby in meeting with so sweet a creature as the charming Miss Barbara Campbell possessed of neither of these dangerous qualities

I do not know said Anne I think she might have possessed some of the former when she left Inchlitherock

Before twenty years of managing and scolding had fixed her eyes in one perpetual stare said Elizabeth But here we are at home

They found the hall table covered with parcels which shewed that Mrs Woodbourne and her party had returned from their drive and the girls hastened upstairs

Anne found her mamma in her room as well as Sir Edward who was finishing a letter

Well Mamma had you a prosperous journey said she

Yes very much so said Lady Merton Mrs Hazleby was in high goodhumour she did nothing but sing Ruperts praises and did not scold Mrs Woodbourne as much as usual

And what have you been doing Miss Anne said Sir Edward you are quite on the qui vive

Oh I have been laughing at the fun which Rupert and Lizzie have been making about Mrs Hazleby said Anne I really could not help it Mamma and I do not think I began it

Began what said Sir Edward

Why Mamma was afraid I should seem to set Lizzie against her stepmothers relations if I quizzed them or abused them said Anne

I do not think what you could say would make much difference in Lizzies opinion of them said Sir Edward but certainly I should think they were not the best subjects of conversation here

But I have not told you of the grand catastrophe said Anne we have found poor Fido drowned among the bulrushes

I hope Mrs Woodbourne will be happy again said Lady Merton

And Mamma he must have fallen in while we were at the Mechanics Institute said Anne there is one bad consequence of our folly already

I cannot see what induced you to go said Sir Edward I thought Lizzie had more sense

I believe the actual impulse was given by a dispute between Lizzie and me on the date of chivalry said Anne

And so Ruperts friends the Turners are great authorities in history said Sir Edward I never should have suspected it

Now I think of it said Anne it was the most ridiculous part of the affair considering the blunder that Lizzie told me Mrs Turner made about St Augustine What could we have been dreaming of

Midsummer madness said Sir Edward

But just tell me Papa said Anne do you not think Helen quite the heroine of the story

I think Helen very much improved in appearance and manners said Sir Edward and I am quite willing to believe all that I see you have to tell me of her

Do not wait to tell it now Anne said Lady Merton or Mrs Woodbourne will not think us improved in appearance or manners It is nearly six oclock

I will keep it all for the journey home said Anne when Papas ears will be disengaged

And his tongue too to give you a lecture upon Radicalism Miss said Sir Edward with a fierce gesture which drove Anne away laughing

Elizabeth had finished dressing a little too rapidly and had gone to find Mrs Woodbourne Well Mamma said she as soon as she came into her room Winifred has lived to say the dog is dead

What do you mean my dear said Mrs Woodbourne

The enemy is dead Mamma said Elizabeth we found him drowned by the green meadow

Poor little fellow your aunt will be very sorry was kind Mrs Woodbournes remark

But now Mamma said Elizabeth you may be quite easy about Winifred he could not possibly have been mad

How could he have fallen in poor little dog said Mrs Woodbourne

He must have strayed about upon the bridge while we were at the Mechanics Institute said Elizabeth it was all my fault and I am afraid it is a very great distress to Lucy Helen might well say mischief would come of our going

I wish the loss of Fido was all the mischief likely to come of it my dear said Mrs Woodbourne with a sigh I am afraid your papa will be very much annoyed by it with so much as he has on his mind too

Ah Mamma that is the worst of it indeed said Elizabeth covering her face with her hands if I could do anything—

My dearest child said Mrs Woodbourne do not go on making yourself unhappy I am very sorry I said anything about your Papa you know he cannot be angry with one who grieves so sincerely for what she has done amiss I am sure you have learnt a useful lesson and will be wiser in future Now do put your scarf even and let me pin this piece of lace straight for you it is higher on one side than the other and your band is twisted

On her side Lucy trembling as she entered her mothers room but firm in her purpose of preserving her sister from the temptation to prevaricate by taking all the blame which Mrs Hazleby chose to ascribe to her quietly communicated the fatal intelligence to Mrs Hazleby Her information was received with a short angry H—m and no more was said upon the matter as Mrs Hazleby was eager to shew Harriet some wonderful bargains which she had met with at Baysmouth

CHAPTER XI

As soon as Mrs Hazleby made her appearance in the drawingroom before dinner Rupert began repeating

The wound it seemed both sore and sad
     To every Christian eye
And while they swore the dog was mad
     They swore the child would die
But soon a wonder came to light
     That shewed the rogues they lied
The child recovered of the bite
     It was the dog that died

I beg to offer my congratulations continued he setting a chair for her

Mrs Hazleby looked surprised

On the demonstration we have this day received of your superior judgement Maam said Rupert though indeed we could hardly have doubted it before

Pray let me understand you Mr Merton said Mrs Hazleby

Have you not heard of the circumstance to which I allude said Rupert for if you are not already aware of it I must beg to be excused from relating it I could not bear to give so great a shock to a ladys feelings

Oh you mean about Fido said Mrs Hazleby almost smiling yes Lucy told me that you had found him Really my girls are so careless I can trust nothing to them

Indeed Madam said Rupert I assure you that nothing could have been more heartrending than the scene presented to our eyes when the Miss Hazlebys first became aware of the untimely fate of their favourite Who could behold it with dry eye—or dry foot added he in an undertone with a side glance at Anne

Rupert contrived to talk so much nonsense to Mrs Hazleby that he charmed her with his attention gave her no time to say anything about Fido and left Anne much surprised that she had never found out that he was laughing at her At dinner the grouse he had brought came to their aid Mrs Hazleby was delighted to taste a blackcock once more and was full of reminiscences of Inchlitherock and by means of these recollections and Ruperts newly imported histories Sir Edward and Mr Woodbourne contrived to make the conversation more entertaining than Elizabeth thought it ever could be in any party in which Mrs Hazleby was present

Afterwards in the drawingroom Doras bulrushes and the other childrens purchases were duly admired and the little people being rather fatigued were early sent to bed although Edward vehemently insisted with his eyes half shut that he was not in the least sleepy The elder girls then arranged themselves round the table Helen was working a bunch of roses of different colours Anne admired it very much but critics were not wanting to this as to every other performance of Helens

It is all very pretty except that rose said Katherine but I am sure that is an unnatural colour—Is it not Anne

I do not think that I ever saw one like it said Anne but that is no proof that there is no such flower

What do you think Lizzie said Katherine ought not Helen to alter it

Anne was rather alarmed by this appeal but Elizabeth answered carelessly without looking up Oh you know I know nothing about that kind of work

But you can tell what colour a rose is persisted Katherine now do not you think Helen will spoil her work with that orangecoloured rose who ever heard of such a thing

Helen was on the point of saying that one of the gableends of the house at Dykelands was covered with a single rose of that colour but she remembered that Dykelands was not a safe subject and refrained

Come do not have a York and Lancaster war about an orangecoloured rose Kate said Elizabeth coming up to Helen why Anne where are your eyes did you never see an Austrian briar just the the colour of Helens lambswools

Though this was a mere trifle Helen was pleased to find that Elizabeth could sometimes be on her side of the question and worked on in a more cheerful spirit

Why Anne said Elizabeth presently after you are doing that old wreath over again that you were about last year when I was at Merton Hall

Yes said Anne it is a pattern which I like very much

Do you like working the same thing over again said Katherine I always get tired of it

I like it very much said Anne going over the same stitches puts me in mind of things that were going on when I was working them before—Now Lizzie the edge of that poppy seems to have written in it all that delightful talk we had together at home about growing up that day when Papa and Mamma dined out and we had it all to ourselves And the iris has the whole of Don Quixote folded up in it because Papa was reading it to us when I was at work upon it

There certainly seems to be a use and pleasure in never sitting down three minutes without that carpetwork which I should never have suspected said Elizabeth

Anne thinks as I do said Mrs Woodbourne I find carpetwork quite a companion to me but I cannot persuade Lizzie to take any pleasure in it

I have not time for it said Elizabeth nor patience if I had time It is all I can persuade myself to do to keep my clothes from being absolute rags

Yes said Katherine you always read with Meg in your lap when you have no mending to do you have been six months braiding that frock

Oh that is company work said Elizabeth I began it at Merton Hall for Dora but I believe Winifred must have it now But now it is so nearly done that I shall finish while you are here

Elizabeth did not however long continue working for as soon as tea was over she proposed to play at the game of Conglomeration as she had talked of doing in the course of the walk I give notice however said she that we are likely to laugh more than will suit the gravity of the elders therefore I recommend adjourning to the inner drawingroom—Mamma may we have candles there

Consent was given and while the candles were being brought and Elizabeth was looking out some paper Anne whispered to her brother Rupert pray say nothing about Fido or the Mechanics Institute or something unpleasant will surely come of it

Oh Anne was the answer you have robbed me of my best couplet—

Weeping like forsaken Dido
When she found the slaughtered Fido
Where is the use of playing if there is to be no fun

Where is the use of fun said the cockchafer to the boy who was spinning it said Anne

Impertinence impertinence impertinence said Rupert shaking his head at her

By this time all was ready and Elizabeth called the brother and sister to take their places at the table in the inner drawingroom She then wrote a substantive at the upper end of a long strip of paper and folding it down handed it on to Lucy who also wrote a noun turned it down and gave the paper to Helen who after writing hers and hiding it passed it on to Rupert Thus the paper was handed round till it was filled It was then unrolled and each player was required to write a copy of verses in which these words were to be introduced as rhymes in the order in which they stood in the list Rupert was rather put out by his sisters not allowing him to turn the poem in the way he wished and he thought proper to find fault with half the words in the list

HARROGATE said he what is to be done with such a word

You can manage it very well if you choose said Elizabeth

But who could have thought of such a word said he holding up the list to the candle and scrutinizing the writing Some one with a watery taste doubtless

You know those things are never divulged said Anne

FRANCES too continued Rupert there is another impossible case I will answer for it Helen wrote that a reminiscence of dear Dykelands

No indeed I did not said Helen it is FRANCIS too I believe

Oh yes said Harriet it is FRANCIS I wrote it because—do not you remember Lucy—Frank Hollis—

Well never mind said Elizabeth who wished to hear no more of that gentleman you may make it whichever you please And Rupert pray do not be so idle put down the list no one can see it write your own verses and tell me the next word to witch

EYES said Rupert and then BOUNCE I do not believe that word is English

BOUNCE no said Katherine it is BONNET I wrote it myself

Then why do you make your t so short said Rupert I must give you a writing lesson Miss Kitty

I must give you a lesson in silence Mr Rupert said Elizabeth

I obey said Rupert with a funny face of submission and taking up his paper and pencil but in a minute or two he started up exclaiming What are they saying about Oxford and walked into the next room intending to take part in the conversation between his father and uncle Mr Woodbourne however who was no great admirer of Ruperts forwardness did not shew so much deference to his nephews opinion as to make him very unwilling to return to the inner drawingroom when Anne came to tell him that all the poems were finished and Elizabeth ready to read them aloud

So this is all that you have to shew for yourself said Elizabeth holding up a scrap of paper what is all this

A portrait of Miss Merton said Rupert do not you see the poets eye in a fine frenzy rolling

Is it said Elizabeth I took it for Miss Squeers in the agonies of death as I see that is the subject of the poem—all that there is of it at least

Did ever you see a stupider POEM
Pray who is the author I know him I know him
He went to school to Mr Squeers
Who often made the youth shed TEARS
Now for the next which is nearly as short

I will write a POEM
Clear and flowing
It will make you shed TEARS
And excite your fears
Tis about a witch
Drowned in a ditch
Your tears come from your EYES
If you are wise
Dont make a BOUNCE
Or youll tear your flounce
And upset the sugar JAR
Which I cannot spare
I must give some to FRANCIS
So well he dances
Sugar canes packed up in LEAVES
The canes are tied up like wheat sheaves
Francis wears a scarlet JACKET
He made a dreadful racket
At HARROGATE
Because he had to wait
In a field of BARLEY
To hold a parley
About a bone of marrow
His heart was transfixed by an ARROW
By a lady in VELVET
And he was her pet

All laughed heartily at this poem which perhaps diverted them more than a better would have done Harriet was highly delighted with what she considered their applause though she knew that of all the rhymes scarcely three had been found by herself

Why Mr Merton what are you doing asked Harriet are you writing any more

Oh I hope he will tell us about Mr Squeers said Katherine

No one could doubt that the next which Elizabeth read was her own

Im afraid you expect a beautiful POEM
Though I make a long and tedious proem
But great and dreadful are my fears
No poem of mine will put you in TEARS
My genius suggests neither fairy nor witch
My tales to adorn with cauldrons of pitch
Alarm the world with fiery EYES
And from the hero snatch his prize
Leap out from her den with a terrible BOUNCE
And on the trembling damsel pounce
And bottle her up in a close corked JAR
Or whirl her away in a flaming car
Then her knight the brave Sir FRANCIS
Upon his noble steed advances
All his armour off he LEAVES
Preserves alone his polished greaves
His defence is a buff JACKET
Nor sword nor axe nor lance can crack it
It was made at HARROGATE
By a tailor whose shop had a narrow gate
The elves attack with spears of BARLEY
But he drives them off oh rarely
Then they shoot him with an ARROW
From bowstrings greased with earwigs marrow
The feathers mothwings downy VELVET
The bowstrings of the spiders net
Thousands come armed in this PATTERN
Which proves their mistress is no slattern
Some wear the legs and hoof of PAN
And some are in the form of man
But the knight is armed for in his POCKET
He has a talismanic locket
Which once belonged to HERCULES
Who wore it on his bunch of keys
The fairy comes quite old and fat
Mounted upon a monstrous BAT
Around the knight a web she weaves
And holds him fast and there she LEAVES
Sir Francis weeping for his charmer
And longing for his knightly ARMOUR
But his sword was cast in the selfsame forge
As that of the great champion GEORGE
Thus he defies the witchs ARMY
He breaks his bands Ye elves beware me
I fear not your LEVIATHAN
No spells can stop a desperate man
Away in terror flies the REARGUARD
He seizes on the witch abhorred
Confines her in a COCKLE SHELL
And breaks all her enchantments fell
Catches her principal LIEUTENANT
Makes him of a split pine the tenant
Carries away the lady nimble
As eer Miss Merton plied her THIMBLE
Oh this story would your frowns unbend
Could I tell it to the END

Oh said Rupert glad to seize an opportunity of retaliating upon Elizabeth I give you credit a very ingenious compound of Thalaba Pigwiggin and the Tempest and the circumstance of the witch whirling away the lady is something new

No it is not said Elizabeth it is the beginning of the story of the Palace of Truth in the Veillees du Chateau I only professed to conglomerate the words not to pass off my story as a regular old traditional legend

Well well said Rupert go on have you only two more

Only two said Elizabeth Kate and Lucy behaved as shabbily as you did Helen I believe you must read yours I can never read your writing readily and besides I am growing hoarse

Helen obeyed

How hard it is to write a POEM
     Graceful and witty plain and clear
Harder than ploughing—tis or sowing
     So hard that I should shed a TEAR
Did I not know the highest pitch
     Of merit in the poets EYES
Is but to laugh a height to WHICH
     Tis not so hard for me to rise
For badness soon is gained forth BOUNCE
     My rhymes such as they are
Good critics on my lines dont pounce
     Though on the ear they JAR
Ive had a letter from dear FRANCES
     Who says through the light plane tree LEAVES
Upon the lawn the sunbeam glances
     The wheat is bound up in its sheaves
By Richard in the fustian JACKET
     His mistress bought at HARROGATE
And up in lofty ricks they stack it
     There for the threshing will it wait
Then will they turn to fields of BARLEY
     Bearded and barbed with many an ARROW
Just where the fertile soil is marly
     And in the spring was used the harrow
Drawn by the steeds in coats of VELVET
     Old Steady Jack and Slattern
Their manes well combed and black as jet
     Their tails in the same PATTERN
While Richards son with pipe of PAN
     His hands within his POCKETS
Walks close beside the old ploughman
     Dreaming of squibs and rockets
That youth he greatly loves his ease
     Hes growing much too fat
And though as strong as HERCULES
     Hell only use his BAT
He wont sweep up the autumn LEAVES
     The trees deciduous ARMOUR
No scolding Dickeys spirit grieves
     Like working like a farmer
Or labouring like his cousin GEORGE
     With arms all bare and brawny
Within the blacksmiths glowing forge
     He would be in the ARMY
But no young Dick youre not the man
     Our realms to watch and ward
For worse than a LEVIATHAN
     Youd dread the foes REARGUARD
And in the storm of shot and SHELL
     Youd soon desert your pennant
Care nought for serjeant corporal
     Or general LIEUTENANT
But prove yourself quite swift and nimble
     And thus would meet your END
No better take a tailors THIMBLE
     And learn your ways to mend

Capital Helen said Elizabeth

How very pretty said Lucy

And very well described said Anne you have brought in those ungainly words most satisfactorily

Now Helen here is Annes said Elizabeth it is a choice one and I have kept it for the last

Let me read Annes said Rupert no one can decypher her writing as well as I can

As was proved by the thorough acquaintance you shewed with the contents of her last letter said Elizabeth

Rupert began as follows

Now must I write in numbers flowing
Extemporaneously a POEM

Why Rupert cried Anne you must be reading Kates Mine began with—

I declare that I have yours in my hand Anne said Rupert

And I did not write one said Katherine

Now must I write in numbers flowing
Extemporaneously a POEM
One that will fill your eyes with TEARS
While I relate how our worst fears
Were realized in yonder ditch
Conveyed there by some waterWITCH
We found sad sight for longing EYES
Fido much loved though small in size
Hard fate but while our tears bemoan it
Let us take up the corpse and BONE it
Then place the mummy in a JAR
Keep it from sausagemakers far
Extract his heart to send to FRANCIS
This gift from HER his soul entrances
Within his scarlet goldlaced JACKET
His heart makes a tremendous racket
Visions of bliss arise a surrogate
Ay and a wedding tour to HARROGATE

When Rupert came to Fido Anne uttered one indignant Rupert but as he proceeded she was too much confounded to make the slightest demonstration and yet she was nearly suffocated with laughter in the midst of her vexation when she thought of the ball at Hull and Frank Hollis Elizabeth and Katherine too were excessively diverted though the former repented of having ever proposed such a game for so incongruous a party There was a little selfreproach mingled even with Annes merriment for she felt that if she had more carefully abstained from criticising the Hazlebys or from looking amused by what was said of them Rupert would hardly have attempted this piece of impertinence Helen who considered it as a most improper proceeding sat perfectly still and silent with a countenance full of demure gravity which made Elizabeth and Anne fall into fresh convulsions as they looked at her Lucy only blushed and as for Harriet the last two lines could scarcely be heard for her exclamations of O Mr Merton that is too bad O Mr Merton how could you think of such a thing O Mr Merton I can never forgive you Oh dear Oh dear I shall never stop laughing Oh dear Mr Merton what would Frank Hollis say to you how ridiculous

Now for Annes real poem Rupert said Elizabeth not choosing to make any remarks lest Rupert should consider them as compliments

Have you not heard it said Rupert

Nonsense said Elizabeth

Why I told you I had it in my hand said Rupert

And you have it still said Elizabeth deliver it up if you please it is the best of all I can tell you I had a cursory view of it

No no said Anne who saw that her brother meant to teaze her and not to restore her verses it was a very poor performance it is much better for my fame that it should never be seen Only think what a sublime notion the world will have of it when it is said that even the great Rupert himself is afraid to let it appear

Elizabeth made another attempt to regain the poem but without effect and Anne recalled the attention of all to Helens verses

What is a pennant said Elizabeth I do not like words to be twisted for the sake of the rhyme

A flag said Helen

I never doubted that you intended it for a flag said Elizabeth but what I complain of is that it is a transmogrified pennon

I believe a pennant to be a kind of flag said Helen

Let us refer the question to Papa said Anne as soon as he has finished that interminable conversation with Uncle Woodbourne

Really in spite of that slight blemish said Elizabeth your poem is the best we have heard Helen

And I can testify said Rupert that the description of the carthorses at Dykelands is perfectly correct But Helen is it true that your friend Dicky has been seized with a fit of martial ardour such as you describe

Yes said Helen he was very near enlisting but it made his mother very unhappy and Mrs Staunton—

Went down upon her knees to beseech him to remain and let her roast beef be food for him not himself be food for powder said Rupert never considering how glad the parish would be to get rid of him

No said Helen her powder became food for him she made him undergamekeeper

Excellent Helen you shine tonight cried Elizabeth such a bit of wit never was heard from you before

Your poem is a proof that the best way of being original is to describe things as you actually see them said Anne

Is not mine original I do not think it was taken from any book said Harriet willing to pick up a little more praise

Not perhaps from any book said Elizabeth with a very grave face but I am afraid we must convict you of having borrowed from the mother of books Oral tradition

Oral tradition repeated Harriet opening her mouth very wide

Yes said Elizabeth for I cannot help imagining that the former part of your ode is a parody upon

     Ill tell you a story
About Jack ANory
     And now my storys begun
Ill tell you another
     About Jack and his brother
And now my story is done
And that your friend Francis must have been the hero who complains so grievously of Taffy the Welshman whose house was doubtless situated in a field of barley while his making a dreadful racket is quite according to the ancient notions of what he did with the marrowbone

Oh there is Papa looking in at us said Anne now for the question of pennon and pennant

Oh Anne it is all nonsense cried Helen do not shew it

But Anne with Helens paper in her hand had already attacked Sir Edward who to the authors great surprise actually read the poem all through smiling very kindly and finished by saying Ah ha Helen it is plain enough that your friends are naval I can see where your pennant came from

But is it not a flag Uncle Edward asked Helen

A flag it is said Sir Edward and properly called and spelt pendant

There Helen you are an antidote to the hydrophobia said Rupert everything becomes—

Do not let us have any more of that stale joke said Elizabeth it is really only a poetical license to use a seaflag for a landflag and Helen had the advantage of us since we none of us knew that Pennant signified anything but the naturalist

And pray Helen said Sir Edward am I to consider this poem as an equivalent for the music you have cheated us of this evening

I hope you will consider that it is said Elizabeth is it not positively poetical Uncle Edward

Helen was hardly ever in a state of greater surprise and pleasure than at this moment for though she could not seriously believe that her lines were worthy of all the encomiums bestowed on them yet she was now convinced that Elizabeth was not absolutely determined to depreciate every performance of hers and that she really possessed a little kindness for her

When Mr Woodbourne rang the bell Elizabeth gathered up all the papers and was going to put them into a drawer when Harriet came up to her saying in a whisper evidently designed to attract notice Lizzie do give me that ridiculous thing you know of Mr Mertons I could not bear you to have it you would shew it to everyone

Indeed I should do no such thing said Elizabeth I never wish to see it more you are very welcome to it

Harriet received the precious document with great satisfaction carefully folded it up and placed it in her bag very much to Ruperts delight as he silently watched her proceedings

When they went up to bed Anne followed Lady Merton to her room in order to ask some question about the dress which she was to wear the next day Sunday and after remaining with her a few minutes she returned to Elizabeth She found her looking full of trouble quite a contrast to the bright animated creature she had been a few minutes before

My dear Lizzie exclaimed Anne has anything happened what has grieved you

Why Anne said Elizabeth with almost a groan has not enough happened to grieve me is it not terrible to think of what I have done

Anne stood still and silent much struck by her cousins sorrow for she had considered their expedition to the Mechanics Institute as a foolish girlish frolic but by no means as serious a matter as it now proved to be

I want you to tell me Anne continued Elizabeth was I not quite out of my senses yesterday evening I can hardly believe it was myself who went to that horrible place I wish you could prove that it was my doubleganger

Anne laughed

But does it not seem incredible said Elizabeth that I Elizabeth Woodbourne should have voluntarily meddled with a radical levelling affair should have sought out Mrs Turner and all the set I most dislike done perhaps an infinity of mischief and all because Kate wanted to go out on a party of pleasure with that foolish Willie Oh Anne I wish you would beat me

Would that be any comfort to you said Anne smiling

Yes said Elizabeth I should feel as if I was suffering a little for my madness Oh how I hope Papa will speak to me about it If he does not I shall see his displeasure in his eyes and oh I could bear anything better than the silent stern way in which he used to look at me once before when I had behaved very ill And then tomorrow is Sunday and I shall scarcely see him all day and he will have no time to speak to me and how can I get through a Sunday feeling that he is angry with me how shall I teach the children or do anything as usual Anne what do you think was the first sound in my ears when I awoke this morning and has been returning upon me all day—the words It was a tree to be desired to make one wise

Little wisdom we have gained from it said Anne

Eves wisdom said Elizabeth the knowledge of evil and the wisdom of vanity and vexation of spirit But was it not curious Anne when first I woke before I had opened my eyes those words were sounding in my ears like a dream of Papas voice reading the Lesson at church I almost fell asleep again and again those words came back in Papas voice and then I woke entirely and before I had seen what kind of day it was before I knew whether it was Saturday or Sunday I was sure there was something wrong and then there was all this black Mechanics Institute business before me And all through this day those words have been ringing in my ears and coming upon me like the pressure of King Jamess iron belt

Have they indeed said Anne I could hardly have believed it I have not seen your look oercast and lower like his

Perhaps not said Elizabeth but yet I was like him

Forward he rushed with double glee
Into the tide of revelry
And I believe that having anything on my mind puts me in wilder spirits apparently than usual but I am sure that my merriment today was no proof that I was happy It was partly I believe from a mad spirit like what drives wicked men to drinking and partly from folly and levity It was the same when Mammas sister Miss Dorothea Hazleby died I am sure I was very sorry for Aunt Dorothy for she was a most amiable person and had always been particularly kind to me and I was very sorry too for Mamma and old Mrs Hazleby who were brokenhearted about it yet would you believe it the very day that Papa was gone to Hastings to the funeral and Mamma was at home too ill and too wretched to go even to her mother I was out in the garden with Horace and Dora forgot all about her distress and began a noisy game with them close under her window She sent Kate to tell them not to make such a noise and when we came in and she found that it was my doing she gave me such a kind grieved reproachful look that I think I shall never forget it And now it is most strange to think how wildly and merrily I laughed at all Ruperts jokes when I knew I was in disgrace and after having behaved so very ill

Indeed I did not think it would have distressed you so much said Anne I never thought it was more than a very foolish affair

It is a very different thing for you said Elizabeth you have nothing to do with the town and you need not have known that it was not a fit place to go to

But you did not know that it was not fit for us said Anne

I did know that I ought not to go where I had not been told I might go said Elizabeth It was relying on my own judgement that led me astray But oh I wish I had been here at the time the Socialist lectures were given I should as soon have thought of climbing up the kitchenchimney as of going to that den and giving the ragamuffins such a victory over Papa

It was very silly of us not to ask a few more questions said Anne

Ah that is the worst part of my behaviour said Elizabeth that abominably unfair account which I gave you at Mr Turners door of Helens objections It was in fact almost deceit and the only thing that can take off from the blackness of it is that I was sufficiently senseless to believe it myself at the time I spoke

Oh yes of course you did said Anne

Yet there must have been a sort of feeling that your hearing her arguments would put a stop to the beautiful scheme said Elizabeth you do not know perhaps that Kate was nearly convinced by Helens good sense and I do believe that the reason I was not was what I tremble to think of that I have been indulging in a frightful spirit of opposing and despising Helen because I was angry with her for loving Dykelands better than home I do believe she hardly dares to open her lips I heard her telling Lucy afterwards that there was a rose at Dykelands of the colour of her pattern and I dare say she did not say so when it would have been to the purpose for fear I should say that damp turns roses orangecoloured and I could see she did not defend her pendant with Captain Atherley for fear I should tell her he was not infallible No wonder she pines for Dykelands a fine sort of sister and home she has found here poor child

Oh now you think so— Anne began but here she stopped short checked by her dread of interfering between sisters she could not bear to add to Elizabeths bitter feelings of selfreproach and she could not say that her conduct on the preceding evening had been by any means what it ought to have been that she had treated Helen kindly or that Helen had not suffered much from her want of consideration for her She only kissed her cousin and wished her good night very affectionately and nothing more was said that evening

But Annes silence was often very expressive to those who could understand it and of these Elizabeth was one

The toilette of Katherine and Helen passed in a very different manner that evening Katherine did nothing but giggle and chatter incessantly about the game they had been playing at in order to prevent Helen from saying anything about the result of their excursion the evening before and to keep herself from thinking of the cowardly part she had been acting all day Helen only wished to be left in peace to think over her share in all these transactions and to consider how she might become a tolerably useful member of society for the future and on her making no reply to one of Katherines speeches the latter suddenly became silent and she was left to her own reflections

CHAPTER XII

Elizabeth was always fully employed on a Sunday and on that which followed the Consecration she had perhaps more on her hands even than usual so that she had little opportunity for speaking or even for thinking of her troubles

Mr Woodbourne was going to assist Mr Somerville in the services at St Austins leaving Mr Walker to do the duty at St Marys as the old church was now to be always called

Mr Somerville had asked Mrs Woodbourne to bring all her party to luncheon at his house and had added a special invitation to the children to be present at the opening of the new Sundayschool which was to take place between the services It was however necessary that someone should stay and superintend what the young people called rather contemptuously the old school and this Elizabeth undertook saying that she did not like to lose one Sundays teaching of her own class Anne was about to offer to remain with her and assist her but on Helens making the same proposal she thought it better to give the sisters an opportunity of being alone together and as she was more desirous of doing right than of appearing eager to be useful she said nothing of what she had intended Elizabeth was much gratified by her sisters voluntary proffer of assistance for the head and front of Helens offences on her return from Dykelands had been that she had loathed the idea of helping to train the screaming schoolgirls to sing in church and had altogether shewn far less interest in parish matters than Elizabeth thought their due

I am sure said Elizabeth as they were walking from school to church it is worth while to stay to see the aisle now it is clear of the benches and there is breathing room left in the dear old church And listen to the bells does not it seem as if the two churches were exchanging greetings on St Austins first Sunday Yes St Marys is our home our mother church added she as she walked under the heavy stone porch its groined roof rich with quaint bosses the support of many a swallows nest and came in sight of the huge old square font standing on one large column and four small ones where she herself and all her brothers and sisters had been christened

The three little children were not to go to St Austins in the morning but Katherine had promised to come back to fetch them in time for the luncheon at Mr Somervilles and thus Dora had the full advantage of studying the Puddington monument before the service began

Katherine and Harriet came back whilst Elizabeth and Helen were at luncheon and after giving them a list of half the people who were at church they called the children to come to Mr Somervilles with them

Why do not you put on your bonnet Dora said Winifred

I am not going said Dora

Why not asked Winifred

Because I had rather not was the answer

Why you silly little child said Katherine are you shy of Mr Somerville look there Edward and Winifred are not shy and you are quite a great girl How Horace would laugh

I cannot help it said Dora I had rather not go

If you are thinking of your little class Dora said Elizabeth I will hear them for you you will trust them with me will you not and I will remember who is first

Thank you said Dora I had rather go to church and school with you

Nonsense Dora said Katherine I wish you would come

Now do said Harriet you cannot think what a nice luncheon Mr Somerville will have for you

There is a very nice luncheon here said Dora

Oh but not like a company luncheon said Harriet besides Mr Somerville will be so disappointed if you do not come Poor Mr Somerville wont you be sorry for him Dora

Oh no he does not want me—does he Lizzie said Dora

No I do not suppose he does said Elizabeth he only asked you out of good nature

Well if Dora will not come said Katherine there is no use in staying—Come Winifred and Edward

Elizabeth was sure that Dora had reasons of her own for choosing to remain with her but she thought it best to ask no questions and the reasons appeared when as they came into the Almshouse Court after evening service Dora pressed her hand saying in a low mysterious tone Lizzie will you shew me what you promised

Elizabeth knew what she meant and returning through the church into the churchyard led the way to the east end where close beside a projecting buttress Dora beheld a plain flat white stone with three small crosses engraven on it and with a feeling between awe and wonder read the simple inscription

KATHERINE

WIFE OF THE REV HORATIO WOODBOURNE

VICAR OF ABBEYCHURCH ST MARYS

MAY 14TH 1826

AGED 28

It was the first time that Elizabeth and Helen had stood together at their mothers grave for Helen was but three years old at the time she had been deprived of her and after their fathers second marriage a kind of delicacy in Elizabeth young as she was had prevented her from ever mentioning her to her younger sisters

After a few minutes during which no one spoke the three sisters turned away and reentered the church Helen and Dora had reached the north door and were leaving the church when they missed Elizabeth and looking round saw her sitting in one of the low pews in the centre aisle her face raised towards the flamboyant tracery of the east window Dora who seemed to have a sort of perception that her presence was a restraint upon her sisters whispered I am going to feed the doves and hastened across the quadrangle while Helen came back to Elizabeths side Her sister rose and with her own bright smile said Helen I could not help coming here it was where I sat at the day of the funeral and I wanted to look at that flameshaped thing in the top of the window as I did all through the reading of the Lesson Do you see What strange thoughts were in my head as I sat looking at that deep blue glass with its shape like an angels head and meeting wings and heard of glories celestial I never hear those words without seeing that form

With these words Elizabeth and Helen left the church Helen put her arm into her sisters a thing which Elizabeth very seldom liked anyone to do even Anne but now the two girls walked slowly arminarm through the quadrangle and along the broad gravel path in the Vicarage garden

Then you were at her funeral was the first thing Helen said

Yes said Elizabeth Papa wished it and I am sure I am very glad they let me go

No more was spoken till Helen began again When I was at Dykelands Mrs Staunton used often to talk to me about our mother and I began to try to recollect her but I had only an impression of something kind some voice I should know again but I could not remember her in the least

Ah I wish you could said Elizabeth thoughtfully

I suppose you remember her quite well said Helen and all that happened

Yes said Elizabeth I remember some things as well as if they had happened yesterday and others are all confusion in my mind I quite remember going to kiss her the last day and how strange and silent and sad all the room looked and Aunt Anne keeping quite calm and composed in the room but beginning to cry as soon as she had led me out I shall never forget the awful mysterious feelings I had then

And could she speak to you said Helen did she know you

Yes she gave me one of her own smiles and said something in a very low voice

Tell me a little more Lizzie said Helen for I have thought very much about her lately Can you remember her before she was ill

Oh yes said Elizabeth speaking slowly and pausing now and then I remember her well I sometimes fancy I can hear her voice and her step at night when she used to come up to the nursery to see us in bed I always used to listen for her and when she began to grow weak and could not come up so many stairs I used to lie and cry for half an hour And now when I am reading the same books with the children that I read with her things that she said to me come back upon me

Do you think said Helen that you are as like her as Uncle Edward once said you were

Elizabeth paused possibly said she in eyes nose and mouth but Helen I do not think there ever could be anyone really like our mother I was much too young to know all that she was whilst she was alive but as I have grown older and compared what I have seen of other people with what I recollect of her I have grown certain that she must have been the most excellent sensible clever kind charming person that ever lived

So Mrs Staunton says replied Helen she used to tell me that I was a good deal like her and should be more so but I do not think she would have said so if she had seen you I am so slow and so dull and so unlike to you in your quick active ways

Do you know Helen said Elizabeth who had been pursuing her own thoughts rather than listening to her sisters words I do believe that we should all have been more like her if she had lived at least I am sure I should

Helen did not answer and Elizabeth continued in her usual rapid manner I do not mean to lay all my faults at Mammas door for I should have been much worse without her and I have spurned away most of the good she would have done me in her kind gentle way but I do believe no one but my own mother ever knew how to manage me You never were so wild Helen and you will do far far better

O Lizzie what do you mean cried Helen

I mean my dear Helen exclaimed Elizabeth hardly knowing what she was saying that I have been using you shamefully ever since you came home I have done nothing but contradict you and snap at you whether right or wrong and a pretty spectacle we must have made of ourselves Now I see that you have twice the sense and understanding that I have and are so unpretending as to be worth a hundred times more I wish with all my heart that I had taken your advice and that the Mechanics Institute was at the bottom of the sea

Before Helen had recovered from her astonishment at this incoherent speech sufficiently to make any sort of reply the rest of the party were seen returning from St Austins and Winifred and Edward hastened towards the two sisters to tell them all the wonders they had seen

During the remainder of that day a few words in her mothers feeble voice rung in Elizabeths ears more painfully even than the text she had mentioned the day before It was Lizzie I know you will be a kind sister to Kate and poor little Helen

In the course of the evening Lady Merton found Anne and Helen alone together in the drawingroom Helen was reclining on the sofa in a dreamy state her book half closed in her hand and Anne was sitting at the window reading as well as she could by the failing light

So you are alone here said Lady Merton as she entered the room

Yes said Helen starting up I rather think the Hazlebys are packing up—you know they go by the one oclock train tomorrow—and I believe Kate is helping them and Mamma is hearing the little ones say the Catechism

So I thought said Lady Merton I was surprised to find you here

Oh said Helen we generally say the Catechism to Papa every Sunday evening and he asks us questions about it and we are to go on with him till we are confirmed

And when will that be said her aunt

Next spring said Helen we shall all three of us be confirmed at the same time But if Mrs Hazleby had not been here Papa would have heard us all downstairs I should have liked for you to hear how perfect Edward is now and how well Dora answers Papas questions though perhaps before you she would be too shy

And I should have been glad for Anne to have joined you said Lady Merton it is long since your godfather has heard you Anne

Not since we were here last said Anne and that is almost two years ago

And where is Lizzie said Lady Merton is she with your Mamma

No said Helen her other work is not over yet On Sunday evening she always reads with four great girls who have left school and have no time to learn except on Sunday evenings I am sure I cannot think how she can I should have thought morning and afternoon school quite enough for anyone And she threw herself back on the sofa and gave a very long yawn

Her aunt smiled as she answered You certainly seem to find it so

Indeed I do said Helen I think teaching the most tiresome work in the world

O Helen is it possible cried Anne

Helen is not much used to it said her aunt

No said Helen there used to be teachers enough without me but now Lizzie wants me to take a class I suppose I must because it is my duty but really I do not think I can ever like it

If you do it cheerfully because it is your duty you will soon be surprised to find yourself interested in it said her aunt

Now Aunt Anne said Helen sitting up and looking rather more alive I really did take all the pains I could today but I was never more worried than with the dullness of those children They could not answer the simplest question

Most poor children seem dull with a new teacher said Lady Merton besides which you perhaps did not use language which they could understand

Possibly said Helen languidly but then there is another thing which I dislike—I cannot bear to hear the most beautiful chapters in the Bible stammered over as if the children had not the least perception of their meaning

Their not being able to read the chapter fluently is no proof that they do not enter into it said Lady Merton it often happens that the best readers understand less than some awkward blunderers who read with reverence

Then it is very vexatious said Helen

You will tell a different story next year said Lady Merton when you have learnt a little more of the ways of the poor children

I hope so said Helen but what I have seen today only makes me wonder how Papa and Lizzie can get the children to make such beautiful answers as they sometimes do in church

And perhaps said Lady Merton smiling the person who taught Miss Helen Woodbourne to repeat Grays Elegy would be inclined to wonder how at fourteen she could have become a tolerably wellinformed young lady

Oh Aunt said Helen have not you forgotten that day How dreadfully I must have tormented everybody I am sure Mammas patience must have been wonderful

And I am very glad that Lizzie saves her from so much of the labour of teaching now said Lady Merton

I see what you mean said Helen I ought to help too

Indeed my dear I had no intention of saying so said Lady Merton yourself and your mamma can be the only judges in such a matter

I believe Mamma does think that Lizzie has almost too much to do said Helen but there has been less since Horace has been at school

But Edward is fast growing up to take his place said her aunt

Edward will never take Horaces place said Helen he will be five times the trouble Horace could learn whatever he pleased in an instant and the only drawback with him was inattention but Edward is so slow and so dawdling that his lessons are the plague of the schoolroom His reading is tiresome enough and what Lizzie will do with his Latin I cannot think but that can be only her concern And Winifred is sharp enough but she never pays attention three minutes together I could not undertake her I should do her harm and myself too

I am rather of your opinion so far said Lady Merton but you have said nothing against Dora

Dora said Helen yes she has always been tolerably good but she knows nearly as much as I do Lizzie says she knows the reasons of a multiplication sum and I am sure I do not

Perhaps you might learn by studying with her aaid Lady Merton

Yes Lizzie says she has learnt a great deal from teaching the children said Helen but then she had a better foundation than most people You know she used to do her lessons with Papa and he always made her learn everything quite perfect and took care she should really understand each step she took so that she knows more about grammar and arithmetic and all the latitude and longitude puzzling part of geography than I do—a great deal more

I am sorry to find there is some objection to all the lessons of all the children said Lady Merton

I suppose I might help in some said Helen but then I have very little time I have to draw and to practise and to read French and Italian and history to Mamma and to write exercises but then Mamma has not always leisure to hear me and it is very unsatisfactory to go on learning all alone At Dykelands there were Fanny and Jane

I should not have thought a person with four sisters need complain of having to learn alone said her aunt

No more should I said Helen but if you were here always you would see how it is Lizzie is always busy with the children and learns her German and Latin no one knows when or how by getting up early and reading while she is dressing or while the children are learning She picks up knowledge as nobody else can and Kate will only practise or read to Mamma and she is so desultory and unsettled that I cannot go on with her as I used before I went to Dykelands and Dora—I see I ought to take to her but I am afraid to do so—I do not like it

So it appears said Lady Merton

I should think it the most delightful thing cried Anne

You two are instances of the way in which people wish for the advantages they have not and undervalue those they have said Lady Merton smiling

Advantages repeated Helen

Why do not you think it an advantage to have sisters said Anne I wish you would give some of them to me if you do not

Indeed said Helen warmly I do value my sisters very much I am sure I am very fond of them

As long as they give you no trouble said Lady Merton

Well said Helen I see you may well think me a very poor selfish creature but I really do mean to try to improve I will offer to undertake Doras music Lizzie does not understand that and it is often troublesome to Mamma to find time to hear her practise and I think I should pay more attention to it than Kate does sometimes I think Dora will play very well and I should like her to play duets with me

I am glad you can endure one of your sisters said Anne laughing rather maliciously

Pray say no more of that Anne said Helen it was only my foolish indolence that made me make such a speech

As Helen finished speaking Elizabeth came into the room looking rather weary but very blithe I have been having a most delightful talk about the Consecration with the girls said she hearing what they saw and what they thought of it Mary Watson took her masters children up the hill to see the churchyard consecrated and the eldest little boy—that fine blackeyed fellow you know Helen—said he never could play at ball there again now the Bishop had read the prayers there I do really hope that girl will be of great use to those little things her mistress says no girl ever kept them in such good order before

I was going to compliment you on the good behaviour of your children at St Austins Lizzie said Lady Merton I thought I never saw a more well conducted party

Ah some of our best children are gone to St Austins said Elizabeth I quite grudge them to Mr Somerville I hate the girls to get out of my sight

So do I said Anne I am quite angry when our girls go out to service they will get such horrid places—public houses or at best farm houses where they have a whole train of babies to look after and never go to church

And very few of the most respectable fathers and mothers care where their children go to service said Elizabeth I am sure I often wish the children had no parents

In order that they may learn a childs first duty said Lady Merton

Well but is it not vexatious Aunt Anne said Elizabeth when there is a nice little girl learning very well in school but forgetting as soon as she is out of it her mother will not put herself one inch out of the way to keep her there regularly when the child goes to church continually the mother never comes at all or never kneels down when she is there If you miss her at school on the Sunday morning her mother has sent her to the shop and perhaps told her to tell a falsehood about it if her hand is clammy with lollipops or there is a perfume of peppermint all round her or down clatters a halfpenny in the middle of church it is all her fathers fault

Oh except the clatter that last disaster never happens with us said Anne the shop is not open on Sunday

Ah that is because Uncle Edward is happily the king of the parish said Elizabeth it has the proper Church and State government like Dantes notion of the Empire But you cannot help the rest and we are still worse off and how can we expect the children to turn out well with such home treatment

No Lizzie said Lady Merton you must not expect them to turn out well

O Mamma Mamma cried Anne

What do you teach them for exclaimed Helen

I see what you mean said Elizabeth we can only cast our bread upon the waters we must look to the work and not to the present appearance But Aunt Anne the worst is if they go wrong I must be afraid it is my fault that it is from some slip in my teaching some want of accordance between my example and my precept and no one can say that it is not so

No one on earth said her aunt solemnly and far better it is for you that you should teach in fear

I sometimes fancy said Elizabeth that the girls would do better if we had the whole government of them but I know that is but fancy they are each in the place and among the temptations which will do them most good But oh it is a melancholy thing to remember that of the girls whom I myself have watched through the school and out into the world there are but two on whom I can think with perfect satisfaction

Taking a high standard of course said Lady Merton

Oh yes and not reckoning many who I hope will do well like this one of whom I was talking but who have had no trial said Elizabeth there are many very good ones now if they will but keep so One of these girls that I was telling you of has shewn that she had right principle and firmness by her behaviour towards a bad fellowservant she is at Miss Maynards

And where is the other asked Anne

In her grave said Elizabeth

Ah said Helen I missed her today in the midst of her little class bending over them as she used to do and looking in their faces as if she saw the words come out of their mouths

Do you mean the deaf girl with the speaking eyes said Anne you wrote to tell me you had lost her

Yes said Elizabeth she it was whose example shewed me that an infirmity may be a blessing Her ear was shut to the noises of the world the strife of tongues and as her mother said she did not know what a bad word was only it was tuned to holy things She always knew what was going on in church and by her eager attention learnt to do everything in school and when her deafness was increased by her fever and she could not hear her mothers and sisters voices she could follow the prayers Papa read the delirium fled away from them Oh it is a blessing and a privilege to have been near such a girl but then—though the last thing she said was to desire her sisters to be good girls and keep to their church and school—she would have been the same have had the same mind without our teaching—our mere schoolkeeping I mean Aunt Anne you say you have kept school in your village for thirty years you were just in my situation the clergymans daughter so do tell me what effect your teaching has had as regards the children of your first set of girls Are they better managed at home than their mothers

More civilized and better kept at school otherwise much the same said Lady Merton Yes my experience is much the same as yours comparatively few of those I have watched from their childhood have done thoroughly well and their good conduct has been chiefly owing to their parents Some have improved and returned to do right perhaps partly in consequence of their early teaching

Sad work sad work after all said Elizabeth as she left the room to finish hearing the little ones and release Mrs Woodbourne

And yet said Helen as the door closed no one is so happy at school as Lizzie or delights more in the children or in devising pleasure for them

I never shall understand Lizzie said Anne with a kind of sigh who would have suspected her of such desponding feelings and I cannot believe it is so bad an affair How can it be taking those dear little things fresh from their baptism training them with holy things almost always before them their minds not dissipated by all kinds of other learning like ours

I do not know that that is quite the best thing though in a degree it is unavoidable said her mother

So I was thinking said Helen I think it must make religious knowledge like a mere lesson I know that is what Lizzie dreads and they begin the Bible before they can read it well

But can it can it really be so melancholy will all those brightfaced creatures who look so earnest and learn so well will they turn their backs upon all that is right all they know so well said poor Anne almost ready to cry O Mamma do not tell me to think so

No no you need not my dear said Lady Merton it would be grievous and sinful indeed to say any such things of baptized Christians trained up by the Church The more you love them and the more you hope for them the better You will learn how to hope and how to fear as you grow older

But I have had as much experience as Lizzie said Anne I am but a month younger and school has been my Sunday delight ever since I can remember Mamma I think the Abbeychurch people must be very bad—you see they keep shop on Sunday but then you spoke of our own people It must have been my own careless levity that has prevented me from feeling like Lizzie but I cannot believe—

You have not been the director of the school for the last few years as Lizzie has said Lady Merton the girls under your own protection are younger their trial is hardly begun

I am afraid I shall be disheartened whenever I think of them said Anne I wish you had not said all this—and yet—perhaps—if disappointment is really to come I had better be prepared for it

Yes you may find this conversation useful Anne said Lady Merton if it is only to shew you why I have always tried to teach you selfcontrol in your love of the school

I know I want selfcontrol when I let myself be so engrossed in it as to neglect other things said Anne and I hope I do manage now not to shew more favour to the girls I like best than to the others but in what other way do you mean Mamma

I mean that you must learn not to set your heart upon individual girls or plans which seem satisfactory at first said Lady Merton disappointment will surely be sent in some form or other to try your faith and love and if you do not learn to fear now that your hopes are high you will hardly have spirit enough left to persevere cheerfully when failure has taught you to mistrust yourself

I know that I must be disappointed if I build upon schemes or exertions of my own said Anne but I should be very conceited—very presumptuous I mean—to do so and I hope I never shall

I cannot think how you or anybody who thinks like you can ever undertake to keep school said Helen I never saw how awful a thing it is before not merely hearing lessons and punishing naughty children I am sure I dread it now I would have nothing to do with it if Papa did not wish it and so make it my duty

Nobody would teach the children at all if they thought like you Helen said Anne and then what would become of them

People who are not fit often do teach them and is not that worse than nothing said Helen I should think irreverence and false doctrine worse than ignorance

Certainly said Lady Merton and happy it is that as in your case Helen the duty of obedience or some other equally plain teaches us when to take responsibility upon ourselves and when to shrink from it

I must say said Anne I cannot recover from hearing Mamma and Lizzie talk of their little victims just in Grays tone

No said Lady Merton I only say

If thou wouldst reap in love
     First sow in holy fear

CHAPTER XIII

On Monday morning as soon as breakfast was over Elizabeth and Katherine went to the school to receive the pennyclub money and to change the lending library books They were occupied in this manner for about half an hour and on their return Elizabeth went to Mrs Woodbournes dressingroom to put away the money and to give her an account of her transactions While she was so employed her father came into the room with a newspaper in his hand

Look here Mildred said he laying it down on the table before his wife this is what Walker has just brought me

Mrs Woodbourne glanced at the paragraph he pointed out and exclaimed O Lizzie this is a sad thing

Elizabeth advanced she grew giddy with dismay as she read as follows

On Friday last a most interesting and instructive lecture on the Rise and Progress of the Institution of Chivalry was delivered at the Mechanics Institute in this city by Augustus Mills Esq This young gentleman from whose elegant talents and uncommon eloquence we should augur no ordinary career in whatever profession may be honoured with his attention enlarged upon the barbarous manners of the wild untutored hordes among whom the proud pageantry of pretended faith false honour and affected punctilio had its rise He traced it through its gilded course of blood and carnage stripped of the fantastic and delusive mantle which romance delights to fling over its native deformity to the present time when the general civilization and protection enjoyed in this enlightened age has left nought but the grim shadow of the destructive form which harassed and menaced our trembling ancestors We are happy to observe that increasing attendance at the Mechanics Institute of Abbeychurch seems to prove that the benefits of education are becoming more fully appreciated by all classes We observed last Friday at the able lecture of Mr Mills among a numerous assemblage of the distinguished inhabitants and visitors of Abbeychurch Miss Merton daughter of Sir Edward Merton of Merton Hall Baronet together with the fair and accomplished daughters of the Rev H Woodbourne our respected Vicar

I shall certainly contradict it continued Mr Woodbourne while Elizabeth was becoming sensible of the contents of the paragraph I did not care what Higgins chose to any of my principles but this is a plain fact which may be believed if it is not contradicted

O Mamma have not you told him said Elizabeth faintly

What do you mean to say that this is true exclaimed Mr Woodbourne in a voice which sounded to Elizabeth like a clap of thunder

Indeed Papa said she once looking up in his face and then bending her eyes on the ground while the colour in her checks grew deeper and deeper I am sorry to say that it is quite true that we did so very wrong and foolishly as to go Helen and Lucy alone were sensible and strongminded enough to refuse to go

Mr Woodbourne paced rapidly up and down the room and Elizabeth plainly saw that his displeasure was great

But Mr Woodbourne said her mamma she did not know that it was wrong Do you not remember that she was not at home at the time that Socialist was here and I never told her of all that passed then You see it was entirely my fault

Oh no no Mamma do not say so said Elizabeth it was entirely mine I was led away by my foolish eagerness and selfwill I was bent on my own way and cast aside all warnings and now I see what mischief I have done Cannot you do anything to repair it Papa cannot you say that it was all my doing my wilfulness my carelessness of warning my perverseness

I wish I had known it before said Mr Woodbourne I could at least have spoken to Mr Turner on Saturday and prevented the Mertons name from appearing

I did not tell you because I had no opportunity said Mrs Woodbourne Lizzie came and told me all the instant she knew that she had done wrong but I thought it would harass you and you were so much occupied that I had better wait till all this bustle was over but she told me everything most candidly and would have come to you but that Mr Roberts was with you at the time—My dear Lizzie do not distress yourself so much I am sure you have suffered a great deal

O Mamma said Elizabeth how can I ever suffer enough for such a tissue of illconduct you never will see how wrong it was in me

Yet Lizzie said her father kindly we may yet rejoice over the remembrance of this unpleasant affair if it has made you reflect upon the faults that have led to it

But what is any small advantage to my own character compared with the injury I have done said Elizabeth I have made it appear as if you had granted the very last thing you would ever have thought of I have led Kate and Anne into disobedience Oh I have done more wrongly than I ever thought I could

At this moment Katherine came into the room with some message for Mrs Woodbourne

Come here Kate said her father read this

Katherine cast a frightened glance upon Elizabeth who turned away from her She read on and presently exclaimed Fair and accomplished daughters dear me that is ourselves Then catching Elizabeth by the arm she whispered Does he know it

Yes Katherine said Mr Woodbourne sternly your sister has shewn a full conviction that she has done wrong a feeling of which I am sorry to see that you do not partake

Indeed indeed Papa cried Katherine bursting into tears I am very sorry I should never have gone if it had not been for the others

No excuses if you please Katherine said Mr Woodbourne I wish to hear exactly how it happened

First Papa said Elizabeth let me beg one thing of you do not tell Mrs Hazleby that Harriet went with us for she could not know that it was wrong of us to go and she is very much afraid of her mothers anger

Mr Woodbourne made a sign of assent and Elizabeth proceeded to give a full account of the indiscreet expedition taking the blame so entirely upon herself that although Katherine was on the watch to contradict anything that might tell unfavourably for her she could not find a word to gainsay—speaking very highly of Helen not attempting to make the slightest excuse or to plead her sorrow for what had happened as a means of averting her fathers displeasure and ending by asking permission to go to Mrs Turner the instant the Hazlebys had left Abbeychurch to tell her that the excursion had been entirely without Mr Woodbournes knowledge or consent For said she that is the least I can do towards repairing what can never be repaired

I am not sure that that would be quite a wise measure my dear Lizzie said Mrs Woodbourne

Certainly not said Mr Woodbourne it would put Lizzie in a very unsuitable situation and in great danger of being impertinent

Yes said Elizabeth I see that I do wrong whichever way I turn

Come Lizzie said her father I see that I cannot be as much displeased with you as you are with yourself I believe you are sincerely sorry for what has passed and now we will do our best to make it useful to you and prevent it from having any of the bad consequences to my character which distress you so much

Elizabeth was quite overcome by Mr Woodbournes kindness she sprung up threw her arms round his neck kissed him and taking one more look to see that his eyes no longer wore the expression which she dreaded she darted off to her own room to give a free course to the tears with which she had long been struggling

Katherine who had been studying the newspaper all this time seeing Elizabeths case so easily dismissed and not considering herself as nearly so much to blame now giggled out Mamma did you ever see anyone so impertinent as this man Fair and accomplished daughters indeed was there ever anything so impertinent

Yes Katherine said Mr Woodbourne there is something far more impertinent in a young lady who thinks proper to defy my anger and to laugh at the consequences of her giddy disobedience

Indeed Papa said Katherine I am very sorry but I am sure it was not disobedience I did not know we were not to go

Not when you had heard all that was said on the subject last year said Mr Woodbourne I am ashamed to see you resort to such a foolish subterfuge

I did not remember it said Katherine I am sure I should never have gone if I had but Lizzie was so bent upon it

Again throwing the blame upon others said Mr Woodbourne your sister has set you a far better example She forbore from saying what I believe she might have said with perfect truth that had you not chosen to forget my commands when they interfered with your fancies she would not have thought of going and this is the return which you make to her kindness

Well sobbed Katherine I never heard you say we should not go I do not remember it You know Mamma says I have a very bad memory

Your memory is good enough for what pleases yourself said Mr Woodbourne you have been for some time past filling your head with vanity and gossipping without making the slightest attempt to improve yourself or strengthen your mind and this is the consequence However this you will remember if you please that it is my desire that you associate no more with that silly chattering girl Miss Turner than your sisters do You know that I never approved of your making a friend of her but you did not choose to listen to any warnings

Katherine well knew that her father had often objected to her frequently going to drink tea with the Turners and had checked her for talking continually of her friend and anyone not bent on her own way would have thought these hints enough but as they were not given with a stern countenance or in a peremptory manner she had paid no attention to them Now she could not be brought to perceive what her fault really had been but only sobbed out something about its being very hard that she should have all the scolding when it was Lizzies scheme not hers Again forgetting that she had been the original proposer of the expedition

Pray my dear do not go on defending yourself said Mrs Woodbourne you see it does no good

But Mamma whined Katherine in such a tone that Mr Woodbourne could bear it no longer and ordered her instantly to leave the room and not to appear again till she could shew a little more submission She obeyed after a little more sobbing and entreating and as she closed the door behind her Harriet came out of the opposite room

What is the matter whispered she has it all come out

Yes it is in the paper and Papa is very angry sighed Katherine

Is there anything about me asked Harriet eagerly paying no regard to poor Katherines woful appearance and streaming eyes

Oh no nothing said Katherine hastening away as Mrs Hazleby and Lucy came into the passage

Heyday what is all this about exclaimed the former encountering Mr Woodbourne as he came out of his wifes dressingroom what is the matter now

I believe your daughter can explain it better than I can answered Mr Woodbourne giving her the paper and walking away to his study as soon as he came to the bottom of the stairs

As soon as Mrs Hazleby found herself in the drawingroom she called upon her eldest daughter to explain to her the meaning of what she saw in the newspaper

Why Mamma Harriet began you know Miss Merton and Lizzie Woodbourne care for nothing but history and all that stuff and do not mind what they do as long as they can talk talk talk of nothing else all day long So they were at it the day you dined out and they had some question or other whether King Arthurs Round Table were knights or not till at last Kate said something about the Institute and they were all set upon going though Helen told them they had better not so out we went we walked all together to Mrs Turners and she took them I suppose Fido must have fallen into the river while they were at the Institute

Poor dear little fellow I dare say that was the way he was lost said Mrs Hazleby when once young people take that kind of nonsense into their head there is an end of anything else Well and how was it we never heard of it all this time

I think no one would wish to tell of it said Harriet you would not have heard of it now if it had not been in the paper

Well I hope Miss Lizzie will have enough of it said Mrs Hazleby it will open her papas eyes to all her conceit if anything will

I am sure it is time said Harriet she thinks herself wiser than all the world one cannot speak a word for her

O Harriet said Lucy looking up from her work with some indignation in her eyes

I believe you think it all very grand Lucy said her mother you care for nothing as long as you can dawdle about with Helen Pray did you go to this fine place

No Mamma said Lucy

H—m said Mrs Hazleby rather disappointed at losing an opportunity of scolding her

Anne had gone to write a letter in her mothers room whilst Elizabeth was busy She had just finished it and was thinking of going to see whether anyone was ready to read in the schoolroom when Rupert came in and making a low bow addressed her thus So Miss Nancy I congratulate you

What is the matter now said Anne

Pray Anne said he did you ever experience the satisfaction of feeling how pleasant it is to see ones name in print

You were very near having something like that pleasure yourself said Anne it was only your arrival on Friday that saved the expense of an advertisement at the head of a column in the Times—

R M return return return to your sorrowing friends

Pray be more speedy next time said Rupert for then I shall be even with you

I am sure you have some wickedness in your head or all your speeches would not begin with Pray said Anne what do you mean

What I say answered Rupert I have just read Miss Mertons name in the paper

Some other Miss Merton you foolish boy said Anne

No no yourself Anne Katherine Merton daughter of Sir Edward said Rupert

My dear Rupert you do not mean it said Anne somewhat alarmed

I saw it with my eyes said Rupert

But where

In the Abbeychurch Reporter or whatever you call it

Oh said Anne looking relieved we are probably all there as having been at the Consecration

The company there present are I believe honoured with due mention of Sir Edward Merton and family said Rupert but I am speaking of another part of the paper where Miss Merton is especially noted alone in her glory

In what paper did you say Rupert said Lady Merton

The Abbeychurch Reporter said he

Mr Higginss paper said Anne O Mamma I see it all—that horrible Mechanics Institute

Why Anne said her brother I thought you would be charmed with your celebrity

But where have you seen it Rupert said Anne poor Lizzie has she heard it

Mr Walker came in just now in great dismay to shew it to Mr Woodbourne said Rupert and they had a very long discussion on the best means of contradicting it to which I listened with gravity quite heroic I assure you considering all things Then my uncle carried it off to shew it to his wife and I came up to congratulate you

I am sure it is no subject of congratulation said Anne where was Papa all the time

Gone to call on Mr Somerville said Rupert

But I thought Lizzie had told her father said Lady Merton

She told Mrs Woodbourne directly said Anne but she could not get at my uncle and I suppose Mrs Woodbourne had not told him What an annoyance for them all I hope Mr Woodbourne is not very much displeased

He was more inclined to laugh than to be angry said Rupert and it is indeed a choice morceau worthy of Augustus Mills Esquire himself I hope Mr Woodbourne will bring it downstairs that you may explain to me the rare part which describes the decrepid old Giant Chivalry sitting in his den unable to do any mischief only biting his nails at the passers by like the Giant Pope in the Pilgrims Progress

Anne could not help laughing But Rupert said she pray do not say too much about it in the evening I am not at all sure that Papa will not be very much displeased to see his name figuring in the paper as if he was a supporter of this horrid place I wish as Lizzie says that I had cut my head off before I went for it has really come to be something serious Papas name will seem to sanction their proceedings

My dear said Lady Merton you may comfort yourself by remembering that your Papas character is too well known to be affected by such an assertion as this most people will not believe it and those who do can only think that his daughter is turning radical not himself

Ay this is the first public decisive act of Miss Mertons life said Rupert no wonder so much is made of it

But Rupert said Anne I only beg of you not to say anything about it to Lizzie

You cut me off from everything diverting said Rupert you are growing quite impertinent but I will punish you some day when you do not expect it

I do not care what you do when we are at home said Anne I defy you to do your worst then only spare Lizzie and me while we are here

Spare Lizzie indeed said Rupert she does not want your protection she is able enough to take care of herself

I believe Ruperts five wits generally go off halting from the sharp encounter of hers said Lady Merton

And therefore he wants to gain a shabby advantage over a wounded enemy said Anne I give you up you recreant your name should have been Oliver instead of Rupert

There is an exemplification of the lecture said Rupert impotent chivalry biting its nails with disdain and despite

Well Mamma said Anne since chivalry is impotent I shall leave you to tame that foul monster with something else I will have no more to do with him

She went to fetch her work out of her bedroom but on seeing Elizabeth there her pockethandkerchief in her hand and traces of tears on her face was hastily retreating when her cousin said Come in and added So Anne you have heard the murder is out

The Mechanics Institute you mean said Anne not Fido

Not Fido said Elizabeth but the rest of the story is out I mean it is not known who killed Cock Robin and I do not suppose it ever will be but the Mechanics Institute affair is in the newspaper and it is off my mind for I have had it all out with Papa And Anne he was so very kind that I do not know how to think of it He made light of the annoyance to himself on purpose to console me and—but added she smiling while the tears came into her eyes again I must not talk of him or I shall go off into another cry and not be fit for the reading those unfortunate children have been waiting for so long Tell me are my eyes very unfit to be seen

Not so very bad said Anne

Well I cannot help it if they are said Elizabeth come down and let us read

They found Helen alone in the schoolroom where she had been sitting ever since breakfasttime thinking that the penny club was occupying Elizabeth most unusually long this morning

Helen said Elizabeth as she came into the room Papa knows the whole story and I can see that he is as much pleased with your conduct as I am sure you deserve

All was explained in a few words Helen was now by no means inclined to triumph in her better judgement for while she had been waiting alone with her drawing she had been thinking over all that had passed since the unfortunate Friday evening wondering that she could ever have believed that Elizabeth was not overflowing with affection and feeling very sorry for the little expression of triumph which she had allowed to escape her in her illtemper on Saturday Lizzie said she will you forgive me for that very unkind thing I said to you

Elizabeth did not at first recollect what it was and when she did she only said Nonsense Helen I never consider what people say when they are cross any more than when they are drunk

Anne was very much diverted by the idea of Elizabeths experience of what drunken people said or of drunkenness and illtemper being allied and her merriment restored the spirits of her cousins and took off from what Elizabeth called the awfulness of a grand pardoning scene Helen was then sent to summon the children to their lessons which were happily always supposed to begin later on a Monday than on any other day of the week

The study door was open and as she passed by her father called her into the room Helen said he Elizabeth tells me that you acted the part of a sensible and obedient girl the other evening and I am much pleased to hear it

Helen stood for a few moments too much overcome with delight and surprise to be able to speak Mr Woodbourne went on writing and she bounded upstairs with something more of a hop skip and jump than those steps had known from her foot since she had been an inhabitant of the nursery herself thinking What would he say if he knew that I only refused to go out of a spirit of opposition yet feeling the truth of what Anne had said that her fathers praise rarely given and only when well earned was worth all the Stauntons admiration fifty times over

When Mrs Woodbourne came down she advised Helen not to call Katherine saying that she thought it would be better for her to be left to herself so that she was seen no more till just before the Hazlebys departed when she came down to take leave of them looking very pale her eyes very red and her voice nearly choking but still there was no appearance of submission about her

Helen said Lucy as they were standing in the window of the inner drawingroom I should like you to tell Aunt Mildred how very much I have enjoyed this visit

I wish you would tell her so yourself said Helen I am sure you cannot be afraid of her Lucy

Oh no I am not afraid of her said Lucy only I do not like to say this to her It is putting myself too forward almost to say it to you even Helen but I have been wishing all the time I have been here to thank her for having been so very kind as to mention me especially in her letter to Papa

But have you really enjoyed your visit here said Helen thinking how much she had felt for Lucy on several occasions

Oh indeed I have Helen answered she to say nothing of the Consecration such a sight as I may never see again in all my life and which must make everyone very happy who has anything to do with your Papa and Aunt Mildred it has been a great treat to be with you all again and to see your uncle and aunt and Miss Merton I hardly ever saw such a delightful person as Miss Merton so clever and so sensible and now I shall like to hear all you have to say about her in your letters

Yes I suppose Anne is clever and sensible said Helen musingly

Do not you think her so said Lucy with some surprise

Why yes I do not know said Helen hesitating but then she does laugh so very much

Lucy could not make any answer for at this moment her mother called her to make some arrangement about the luggage but she pondered a little on the proverb which declares that it is well to be merry and wise

Mrs Hazleby had been condoling with Mr Woodbourne upon his daughters misbehaviour and declaring that her dear girls would never dream of taking a single step without her permission but that learning was the ruin of young ladies

Mr Woodbourne listened to all this discourse very quietly without attempting any remark but as soon as the Hazlebys had gone upstairs to put on their bonnets he said Well I wish Miss Harriet joy of her conscience

I wish Barbara had been more gentle with those girls replied Mrs Woodbourne with a sigh And this was all that passed between the elders on the subject of the behaviour of Miss Harriet Hazleby

Mr Woodbourne and Rupert accompanied Mrs Hazleby and her daughters to the railroad station Rupert shewing himself remarkably polite to Mrs Hazlebys pet baskets and saving Lucy from carrying the largest and heaviest of them which generally fell to her share

CHAPTER XIV

Well said Elizabeth drawing a long breath as she went out to walk with Anne and Helen there is the evenhanded justice of this world Of the four delinquents of last Friday there goes one with flying colours in all the glory of a successful deceit you Anne who to say the best of you acted like a very great goose are considered as wise as ever I who led you all into the scrape with my eyes wilfully blinded am only pitied and comforted poor Kitty who had less idea of what she was doing than any of us has had more crying and scolding than anybody else and Lucy who behaved so well—oh I cannot bear to think of her

It is a puzzle indeed said Helen I mean as far as regards Harriet and Lucy

Not really Helen said Elizabeth it is only a failure in story book justice Lucy is too noble a creature to be rewarded in a storybook fashion and as for Harriet impunity like hers is in reality a greater punishment than all the reproof in the world

How could she sit by and listen to all that Papa and Mrs Hazleby were saying said Helen

How could she bear the glance of Papas eye said Elizabeth did you watch it I thought I never saw it look so stern and yet that contemptible creature sat under it as contentedly as possible Oh it made me quite sick to watch her

Are you quite sure that she knew whether my uncle was aware of her share in the matter said Anne

She must have seen it in that glance or have been the most insensible creature upon earth said Elizabeth

Ah said Anne I have some notion what that eye of your Papas can be

You Anne said Elizabeth you do not mean that you could ever have done anything to make him look at you in that way

Indeed I have said Anne do not you remember

No indeed said Elizabeth

However it was not quite so bad as this said Anne

But do tell us what it was said Elizabeth or I shall think it something uncommonly shocking

I never spoke of it since because I was too much ashamed said Anne and it was very silly of me to do so now

But when was it said Elizabeth

Two years ago said Anne when you were all staying at Merton Hall just before that nice nurserymaid of yours Susan married our man Evans

Yes I remember said Elizabeth but what has that to do with your crime whatever it may be

A great deal said Anne do not you recollect our hunting all over the garden one day for Winifred and Dora and at last our asking old Ambrose whether he had seen them

Oh yes I think I do said Elizabeth and he said that he had seen Susan and the children go down the blind walk Then I said Dora had talked of seeing a blackbirds nest there and he answered with a most comical look Ah ha Miss Woodbourne I fancy they be twolegged blackbirds as Susan is gone to see

Why blackbirds have but two legs said Helen looking mystified what did he mean

That is exactly what Kate said said Elizabeth but really I thought you were sharper Helen Cannot you guess

Not in the least said Helen

That Evans was clipping the hedges said Anne

Elizabeth and Anne indulged in a good laugh at Helen as much as at Ambrose and presently Elizabeth said Well but Anne where is your crime

Oh I thought you had remembered and would spare me said Anne

But we have not said Elizabeth so now for it

Then if I am to tell said Anne do not you recollect that I began to tell Rupert the story in the middle of dinner when all the servants were there

O Anne I never fancied you such a goose said Elizabeth

My delinquencies made very little impression on you then said Anne I went on very fluently with the story till just as I had pronounced the words twolegged blackbirds I saw Uncle Woodbournes eye upon me as he sat just opposite with all its cold heavy sternness of expression and at the same moment I heard a strange suppressed snort behind my chair

Poor creature said Elizabeth but you certainly deserved it

I was ready to sink under the table said Anne I did not dare to look up to Papa or Mamma and I have been very much obliged to Mamma ever since for never alluding to that terrible dinner

It is a regular proof that Fun is one of the most runaway horses in existence said Elizabeth very charming when well curbed but if you give him the rein—

Yes I have been learning that by sad experience all my life said Anne with a sigh

You will never be silly enough to give him up though said Elizabeth

Silly do you call it said Helen

People think so differently on those matters said Anne

Yes but a spirit full of glee is what I think the most delightful thing in the world said Elizabeth and so do you

Yes in old age when its blitheness has been proved to be something beyond animal spirits said Anne

And it is right that people should have animal spirits in their youth said Elizabeth not grey heads on green shoulders like some people of my acquaintance—Do not be affronted Helen I dare say your head will grow greener all your life it is better today than it was on Saturday morning

But the worst of it is said Anne that I believe it is very silly of me but I am afraid Uncle Woodbourne has always thought me a most foolish girl ever since and I do not like the idea of it

Who would said Elizabeth I am afraid I cannot tell you what he thinks of your sense but of this I am sure that he must think you the choicest damsel of his acquaintance and wish his daughters were more like you

And there could not have been the same meaning in his eye when he looked at you as when he looked at Harriet said Helen

Oh no I hope not said Anne

And you understood it a little better than one who can only feel personal inconvenience said Elizabeth but how can I blame Harriet when I was the occasion of her fault it is a thing I can never bear to think of

As Elizabeth said this they came to a shop where Anne wished to buy some little presents for some children in the village at home who she said would value them all the more for not being the production of the town nearest them They pursued their search for gay remnants of coloured prints little shawls and pictured pockethandkerchiefs into the new town and passed by Mr Higginss shop the window of which was adorned with all the worst caricatures which had found their way to Abbeychurch the portraits of sundry radical leaders embossed within a halo of steelpens and a notice of a lecture on Personal Respectability to be given on the ensuing Friday at the Mechanics Institute by the Rev W Pierce the Dissenting preacher

Mr Higgins appeared at the shop door for the express purpose as it seemed of honouring Miss Merton and Miss Woodbourne each with a very low bow

There Helen is my punishment said Elizabeth since you are desirous of poetical justice upon me

Not upon you said Helen only upon Harriet

Harriet has lost Fido said Elizabeth

Here Rupert came to meet them and no more was said on the subject

Rupert obeyed his sister tolerably well during most of the day though he was sorely tempted to ask Elizabeth to send Anne an abstract in shorthand of the lecture on Personal Respectability but he refrained for he was really fond of his cousin and very goodnatured excepting when his vanity was offended

Anne however was in a continual fright for he delighted in tormenting her by going as near the dangerous subject as he dared and often when no one else thought there was any danger she knew by the expression of his eye that he had some spiteful allusion on his lips Besides he thought some of the speeches he had made in the morning too clever to be wasted on his mother and sister when his cousins were there to hear them and Anne could not trust to his forbearance to keep them to himself all day so that she kept a strict watch upon him

In the evening however Mr Woodbourne called her and Helen to play some Psalm tunes from which he wanted to choose some for the Church He spoke to her in a way which made her hope that he did not think her quite foolish but she would have been glad to stay and keep Rupert in order However she was rejoiced to hear Elizabeth propose to him to play at chess and she saw them sit down very amicably

This proposal however proved rather unfortunate for Elizabeth was victorious in the first battle the second was a drawn game and Rupert lost the third just as he thought he was winning it from forgetting to move out the castles pawn after castling his king He could not bear to be conquered and pushed away the chessboard rather pettishly

Good morning to you Prince Rupert said Elizabeth triumphantly do you wish for any more

Rupert made no answer but pulled the inkstand across the table opened the papercase and took up a pen

Oh said Elizabeth I suppose we may expect a treatise on the art of fortification salient angles and covered ways not forgetting the surrender of Bristol

No reply but Rupert scratched away very diligently with his pen the inkstand preventing Elizabeth from seeing what he was about

Anne said Elizabeth leaning back and turning round I am thinking of making a collection of the heroes who could not bear to be beaten at chess beginning with Charlemagnes Paladins who regularly beat out each others brains with the silver chessboard then the Black Prince and Philippe of Burgundy Can you help me to any more

Anne did not hear and Rupert remained silent as ever and Elizabeth determining to let him make himself as silly as he pleased took up her work and sewed on her braid very composedly Katherine had come down again at dinnertime and was working in silence She had been standing by the piano but finding that no one asked her to play or took any notice of her she had come back to the table

Dear me Prince Rupert said she looking over his shoulder what strange thing are you doing there

A slight sketch said he to be placed in Lizzies album as a companion to a certain paragraph which I believe she has studied

Rupert threw his penandink drawing down before Elizabeth It was really not badly done and she saw in a moment by the help of the names which he had scribbled below in his worst of all bad writing that it represented the Giants Pope and Pagan as described in the Pilgrims Progress while close to Pope was placed a delineation very like Don Quixote purporting to be the superannuated Giant Chivalry biting his nails at a dapper little personification of Civil and Religious Liberty A figure whose pointed head lame foot and stout walkingstick shewed him to be intended for Sir Walter Scott was throwing over him an embroidered surcoat which a most striking and ludicrous likeness of Mr Augustus Mills was pulling off at the other end and the scene was embellished by a ruined castle in the distance and a quantity of skulls and crossbones in the foreground Elizabeth could not but think it unkind of him to jest on this matter while her eyelids were still burning and heavy from the tears it had caused her to shed but she knew Rupert well enough to be certain that it was only a sign that he was out of temper and had not yet conquered his old boyish love of teazing She put the paper into her basket saying in a low tone Thank you Rupert I shall keep it as a memorial of several things some of which may do me good but I fear it will always put me in mind that cavaliers of the present day would have little objection to such battles as I was speaking of even with women if this poor old gentleman did not retain a small degree of vitality

Rupert was vexed both at being set down in a way he did not expect and because he was really sorry that his wounded selfconceit bad led him to do what he saw had mortified Elizabeth more than he had intended

What is it what is it asked Katherine

Never mind Kate said Rupert

Well but what fun is it persisted Katherine

Only downright nonsense said Rupert looking down and unconsciously drawing very strange devices on the blotting paper unworthy the attention of so wise a lady

Only the dry bones of an illnatured joke said Lady Merton who had seen all that passed from the other end of the table She spoke so low as only to be heard by her son but Elizabeth saw his colour deepen and as he rose and went to the piano she felt sorry for him and soon found an opportunity of reminding him that he had promised to draw something for Edwards scrapbook and asked him if he would do so now

Willingly said Rupert but only on one condition Lizzie

What said Elizabeth

That you give me back that foolish thing said Rupert fixing his eyes intently on the coach and horses which he was drawing

There it is said Elizabeth restoring it to him No no Rupert do not tear it up it is the cleverest thing you ever drew Sir Walter is excellent

Yet in spite of this commendation Rupert had torn his performance into the smallest scraps before his sister came back to the table

Anne had been in some anxiety ever since the conclusion of the games but Sir Edward and Mr Woodbourne were standing between her and the table so that she could neither see nor hear and when at length she had finished playing and was released she found Rupert and Elizabeth so quiet and so busy with their several employments that she greatly dreaded that all had not gone right She bethought herself of the sketches Rupert had made in Scotland asked him to fetch them and by their help she contrived to restore the usual tone of conversation between the cousins so that the remainder of the evening passed away very pleasantly

When Anne and Elizabeth awoke the following morning Anne said that she had remembered the evening before just when it was too late to do anything that the last Sunday Rupert had left his Prayerbook behind him at St Austins and as they were to set off on their journey homewards immediately after breakfast she asked Elizabeth whether there would be time to walk to the new church and fetch it before breakfast

I think it would be a very pleasant walk in the freshness of the morning if you like to go said she

Oh yes said Elizabeth there is plenty of time and I should like the walk very much but really Anne you spoil that idle boy in a terrible way

Ah Rupert is an only son said Anne he has a right to be spoilt

Then I hope that Horace and Edward will save each other from the same fate said Elizabeth I do not like to see a sister made such a slave as you have been all your life

Wait till Horace and Edward are at home in the holidays before you talk of slavery said Anne there will be five slaves and two masters that will be all the difference

Well are the male kind called barons in heraldry said Elizabeth there is no denying that they are a lordly race but I think I would have sent Mr Rupert up the hill himself rather than go before breakfast with a days journey before me

Suppose he would not go said Anne

Let him lose his Prayerbook then said Elizabeth

But if I had rather fetch it for him said Anne

I can only answer that there are no slaves as willing as sisters said Elizabeth

The two cousins had a pleasant morning walk up the hill enjoying the freshness of the morning air and watching the various symptoms of wakening in the town They carried the keys of the church with them as no clerk had as yet been appointed and they were still in Mr Woodbournes possession so that it was not necessary to call anyone to open the doors for them

Whilst Anne was searching for the Prayerbook Elizabeth stood in the aisle her eyes fixed on the bright red cross in the centre window over the Altar The sunbeams were lighting it up gloriously and from it her gaze fell upon the Table of Commandments between it and the Altar Presently Anne came and stood by her side in silence Anne said Elizabeth after a few minutes I will tell you what I have been thinking of On the day when Horace laid the first stone of this church two years ago something put me I am sorry to say into one of my old fits of ill temper It was the last violent passion I ever was in I either learnt to control them or outgrew them And now may this affair at the Consecration be the last of my selfwill and selfconceit for indeed there is much that is fearfully wrong in me to be corrected before I can dare to think of the Confirmation

Perhaps we cannot take leave of Elizabeth Woodbourne at a better moment therefore we will say no more of her or of the other inhabitants of the Vicarage but make a sudden transition to the conversation which Anne had hoped to enjoy on the journey back to Merton Hall

She had told her father of nearly all her adventures had given Fidos history more fully informed Rupert of all that he had missed and was proceeding with an account of Helen Really said she I have much more hope of her being happy at home than I had at first

I will answer for it that she will be happy enough said Rupert she has been living on flummery for the last halfyear and you cannot expect her to be contented with muttonchops just at first

Helen does not find so much fault with the muttonchops as with the pepper Lizzie adds to them said Anne

I should be sorry to live without pepper said Rupert

I am not so sure of that said Lady Merton

At least you do not wish to have enough to choke you said Anne you must have it in moderation

I think Lizzie is learning moderation said Lady Merton she is acquiring more command of impulse and Helen more command of feeling so that I think there is little danger of their not agreeing

Is it not curious Mamma said Anne that we should have been talking of the necessity of selfcontrol just before we set out on this visit when I told you that line of Burns was your motto and now we find that the want of it is the reason of all that was wrong between those two sisters I wonder whether we could make out that any more of the follies we saw in this visit were caused by the same deficiency in anyone else

Beginning at home said Sir Edward

Of course Papa said Anne I know that my failure in selfcontrol has done mischief though I cannot tell how much I laughed at the Hazlebys continually in spite of Mammas warning and encouraged Lizzie to talk of them when I had better not have done so and I allowed myself to be led away by eagerness to hear that foolish lecture I suppose I want control of spirits

And now having finished our own confession how merrily we begin upon our neighbours said Rupert whom shall we dissect first

Indeed Rupert said Anne I do not want to make the most of their faults I only wish to study their characters because I think it is a useful thing to do Now I do not see that Kates faults are occasioned by want of selfcontrol do you think they are Mamma

Do you think that piece of thistledown possesses any selfcontrol said Rupert

You mean that Kate does not control her own conduct at all but is drifted about by every wind that blows said Anne yes it was Miss Hazlebys influence that made her talk so much more of dress than usual and really seem sillier than I ever saw her before

And what do you say of the fair Harriet herself said Rupert

Nothing said Anne

And Mrs Hazleby is her daughter in a magnifying glass said Rupert a glorious specimen of what you all may come to And Mrs Woodbourne

Oh I have nothing to do with the elders said Anne but if you want me to find you a fault in her I shall say that she ought to control her unwillingness to correct people And now we have discussed almost everyone

From which discussion said Rupert it appears that of all the company at Abbeychurch the sole possessor of that most estimable quality the root of all other excellencies is—your humble servant

On this unfortunate speech of poor Ruperts father mother and sister all set up a shout of laughter which lasted till Rupert began to feel somewhat enraged

Oh I did not say that I had done with everybody said Anne but perhaps whatever I might think I might not have presumed—

O Rupert said Lady Merton

Could some fay the giftie gie us
To see oursels as others see us—

Mammas beloved Burns Justice again interrupted Rupert

No no we do not mean to let our mouths be stopped said Lady Merton such a challenge must be answered

Shew him no mercy Anne said Sir Edward he likes pepper

Pray Rupert said Anne what would you have been without selfcontrol if possessing such a quantity of it you still allowed so much spirit of mischief to domineer over you that you frightened Dora out of her wits about Winifred and tormented Helen all the way to Whistlefar and worst of all that you could not help writing that wicked poem and then pretending that it was mine why it was an outrage upon us all it would have been bad enough if the name had belonged to no one but when you knew that he was a real man—

And that Miss Hazleby wrote his name on purpose that something of the kind might be done said Rupert I gratified her beyond measure and then was so kind and disinterested as to give you the credit of it if you would have accepted it You may be sure that she will shew the poem to her hero and tell him what a charming fellow that young Rupert Merton is

Now just listen Mamma said Anne I begged of Mr Rupert not to write anything about Fido in the Conglomeration on Saturday evening and because I did so he would write nothing on his own account but pretending to read my verses he brings out a horrible composition about a certain Mr Francis Hollis who Miss Hazelby had been telling us had been the means of her going to an officers ball at Hull and whom she had danced with—

Capital capital cried Rupert I never heard all this I did not know how good my poem was I knew the truth by intuition

But having heard this made it all the worse for me said Anne and Mamma this dreadful doggerel—

Anne I declare— cried Rupert

And Mamma this dreadful doggerel proceeded Anne proposed to send Fidos heart to this Mr Hollis and so put him in raptures with a gift from Miss Hazleby and fill his mind with visions of a surrogate and a wedding tour to Harrogate Now was it not the most impertinent ungentlemanlike thing you ever heard of

How can you talk such nonsense Anne said Rupert do you think I should have written it if I had not known it would please her

I believe you would not have dared to behave in such a manner to Lizzie or to anyone else who knew what was due to her said Anne if Miss Hazleby is vain and vulgar she is still a woman and ought to be respected as such

Rupert laughed rather provokingly It is just as I say said Anne now is it not Mamma

Oh yes Anne said Rupert perfectly right you have caught Helens sententious wisdom exactly I have no doubt that such were the thoughts which passed through her mind while she sat like propriety personified wondering how you could have so little sense of decorum as to laugh at anything so impudent

I know I ought not to have laughed said Anne that was one of the occasions when I did not exert sufficient selfcontrol But there was really very little to laugh at it was quite an old joke Rupert had disposed of Fidos heart long before but he is so fond of his own wit that he never knows when we have had enough of a joke

I could tell you of something much worse Anne said Lady Merton which quite proves the truth of what you say

Rupert coloured made an exclamation about something in the road and seemed so much discomposed by this hint that Anne forbore to ask any questions

Rupert fitted himself to a T that we must say for him said Sir Edward

What do you mean Papa said Anne

There is another word which begins with selfcon— said Lady Merton which suits him remarkably well

Ah ha cried Anne

At any rate cried Rupert vigorously do not make it appear as if I were the only individual with a tolerable opinion of my own advantages—when Helen looks like the picture of offended dignity if you presume to say a syllable contrary to some of her opinions or in disparagement of dear Dykelands and Kate thinks herself the most lovely creature upon earth and the only useful person in the house and Harriet believes no one her equal in the art of fascination and Mrs Woodbourne thinks no children come within a mile of hers in beauty and excellence and Lizzie—

I am sure few people are more humbleminded than Lizzie interrupted Anne indignantly

What when she would take no ones advice but her own if it were to save her life said Rupert

But she thinks everyone better than herself and makes no parade either of her talents or of her usefulness said Anne

Still she has a pretty high opinion of her own judgement said Rupert

Well she may said Anne

When it leads her to go to Mechanics Institutes said Rupert that is the reason Anne respects her so much

I advise you to throw no stones at her Sir said Sir Edward it would be well if some people of my acquaintance were as upright in acknowledging deficiencies in themselves as she is

Besides I cannot see that Helen is conceited said Anne if she was she would not be made unhappy by other peoples criticisms

Helen wants a just estimate of herself said Lady Merton she cares more for what people say of what she does than whether it is good in itself

But Anne said Sir Edward why do not you claim to be the only person in the world devoid of conceit

Because I am conceited in all the ways which Rupert has mentioned said Anne I believe myself witty and wise and amiable and useful and agreeable and I do not like taking advice and I am very angry when my friends are abused and I do believe I think I have the most exquisite brother in the world and besides if I said I was not conceited it would be the best possible proof of the contrary—But Mamma there is a person whom we have not mentioned who has no conceit and plenty of selfcontrol

Do you mean little Dora said Lady Merton

No not Dora though I am pretty much of Mrs Woodbournes opinion respecting her said Anne I meant one who is always overlooked Miss Lucy Hazleby

She may have every virtue upon earth for aught I know said Rupert I can only testify that she has un grand talent pour le silence

I only know her from what my cousins told me said Anne they seem to have a great respect for her though Helen is the only person she ever seems to talk to I never could make her speak three words to me

She has a fine countenance and very sweet expression certainly said Lady Merton

Poor girl said Sir Edward she blushes so much that it was almost painful to look at her

You seem to be utterly deficient in proofs of her excellence said Rupert you will leave her a blank page at last

Pages are not always blank when you see nothing on them said Lady Merton characters may be brought out by the fire

Yes Mamma the fire of temptation said Anne and I have heard Lucy tried by her mothers violence and she never concealed any part of the truth as far as only regarded herself even to avoid those terrible unjust reproofs and put herself forward to bear her sisters share of blame and she was firm in turning back from the Mechanics Institute when her sister scolded her

Firmness which in so timid a person proved that she had more selfcontrol than any of you said Sir Edward

Then let us wind up the history of our visit in a moral style said Anne and call it a lesson on Selfcontrol and Selfconceit

Nonsense said Rupert do you think that if anyone read its history they would learn any such lesson unless you told them beforehand

Perhaps not said Sir Edward as you have not learnt it from your whole life

No said Lady Merton that lesson is not to be learnt by anyone who is not on the watch for it

So we conclude with Mammas wisdom said Rupert

And Ruperts folly said Anne

THE END

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